Startled Birds

(This chapter is free.)

Cultivation at the Spirit Communion realm was vastly different from that of the Three Mortal Gates. Yu Ci remembered Crimson Yin Female Immortal once saying that below the Spirit Communion realm, all cultivation methods were acquired arts. To continue advancing in the Spirit Communion realm, one had to possess a unique formula for transforming the acquired into the innate—or abandon one's former methods and cultivate an innate art directly.

The so-called innate arts were precisely the "arts of immortality" monopolized by the cultivator community. Yet Yu Ci could not find the legendary "arts of immortality," nor did he know the secret to transforming the Nine Palaces Moon Bright True Return Marvelous Method from acquired to innate. As for how he should proceed down the road ahead, he was still utterly at a loss.

Of course, he was not discouraged. During his twelve years of cultivating alone, he had encountered such things more times than he could count. That was the way of a Rogue Cultivator: no master to pass down teachings, no expert to offer guidance, naturally no theoretical framework either. One could only feel one's way forward, until one smashed one's head bloody against a wall and realized there was no road ahead—please turn back...

One would get used to it.

Yu Ci was thinking, and wanted to keep thinking, but sounds drifted over from the surrounding pine forest, growing louder and louder.

Irritably, he raised his head. Then the ground beneath him suddenly shuddered, as though the entire mountain were shaking. From where he stood, he could see birds bursting into flight among the trees—not merely in one corner, but across this entire half of the mountain forest. The birds rose with a thunderous roar, and above the pines hung what seemed like a dark cloud, their buzzing chirps enough to burst one's eardrums.

What could cause such an effect?

Yu Ci gathered his thoughts, cautiously lowered his body, and peered down over the edge of the hollow.

From this angle, he could not make out the details within the forest. Yet when a mountain wind swept past, Yu Ci faintly caught a pungent, fishy stench entirely unfamiliar to him. It was unfamiliar because it clashed utterly with the usual scents of plants, birds, and beasts in the mountains. Its irritant quality was also extremely strong; the instant it entered his nostrils, an inexplicable unease rose in Yu Ci's heart. He felt that whatever gave off such a smell could not possibly be anything good.

The birds circling endlessly overhead seemed to prove it as well.

As he was thinking, another scream rang out from below. So shrill was it that it crashed through the mountains in echo, even suppressing the buzzing clamor of the birds for a moment. Yu Ci sensed the intense terror and deathly aura erupting from that scream and immediately knew that someone below had met their end.

Perhaps the scream had been too piercing. After it ended, an abnormal hush appeared in the mountain forest. Of course, that was more likely Yu Ci's illusion. Still, he could sense that although the birds' noisy chatter had not yet ceased, the forest itself seemed to have fallen silent with the man's death. The thing emitting that pungent stench was moving away.

Only after nearly half a quarter-hour did the cloud of birds above the forest descend again. Yu Ci did not delay. He flipped out of the hollow where he had hidden and leapt down.

The mountain wind carried a faint scent of blood, along with a heavy reek of scorching. Guided by it, Yu Ci slipped through branches and leaves, reaching the vicinity of the incident before long. To his surprise, there were already people there—seven or eight of them, at least.

Only, these people were clearly all lost in thought.

Yu Ci walked straight over, deliberately making his footsteps heavier, yet still failed to draw their attention. Only after he gave a light cough did someone turn around and assume a defensive stance. Then the entire group spun about, guarding themselves closely. That reaction was somewhat excessive.

Yet from the speed with which they mobilized their blood and qi, he could tell that these people were at most at the Long Breath level. They were not particularly dangerous and looked like ordinary herb gatherers.

Seeing that Yu Ci was alone, with burn marks on his body and a somewhat bedraggled appearance, the herb gatherers' vigilance naturally eased. Only then did Yu Ci step forward and introduce himself as an independent cultivator gathering herbs, who had come over after hearing the commotion.

"It's a monster!"

That was the herb gatherers' answer. Even as they spoke, they were still shaken, their gazes unconsciously darting toward the depths of the forest while they tried their best to keep their distance from that direction.

A monster? Thinking of that irritating fishy stench, Yu Ci was somewhat inclined to believe it.

During his four months around Sky Rift Valley, he had learned that what that swindler Xuanqing said that night had not been entirely unfounded. He often heard rumors that deep within the layered clouds and mists of Sky Rift Valley lived savage creatures beyond ordinary people's imagination. They formed a world of their own. Though each was cruel and bloodthirsty, they rarely ventured into the upper reaches of Sky Rift Valley. But once someone provoked them, these vicious creatures would pursue their target upward, refusing to rest until they had killed them.

Still, compared to monsters, Yu Ci preferred to call them vicious beasts. That fit better with his understanding.

Yu Ci also asked what the vicious beast looked like, but the herb gatherers were vague. They all said it had moved too fast for them to see clearly. They only knew it was enormous, rode the clouds and mist, and wielded lightning and fire—exceedingly uncanny.

Riding clouds and mist? Wielding lightning and fire? Yu Ci found such things difficult to comprehend. But he had already seen that behind the herb gatherers lay a corpse. Glancing past the human wall, he could tell that the man had died horribly. He was likely the monster's victim.

"Your companion?"

At the sudden question, some nodded, while others shook their heads.

Yu Ci smiled. Earlier, he had seen two of the herb gatherers rise from beside the corpse, stuffing something into their clothes. That was probably why.

He had no intention of profiting from the dead, but neither did he care what these herb gatherers thought. Saying, "Excuse me," he moved forward to inspect the body. Some among the herb gatherers stepped aside, while others did so unwillingly. One even directly harbored murderous intent.

At that very instant, Yu Ci cast a glance at the face of the man who had formed that murderous intent.