Grave Mountain

Yu Chen was no ordinary person. His spiritual sensitivity ranked among the very best within the same realm.

The scope of his divination was not large, nor did it last long. It did not draw too much power from the unseen, so he managed to break free from part of its influence and began to perceive—and even control—this force.

Yu Chen's spiritual sensitivity drifted along with that power, feeling the pulse between heaven and earth. Gradually, during the divination, he sensed an aura beyond the spiritual nature of mountains and rivers. It was a loftier, holier power.

Following a faint connection in the unseen, Yu Chen raised his head and saw a field of light.

In an instant, his mind was drawn into that radiance. His entire consciousness merged with it and entered an unknown realm beyond perception. Dimly, he seemed to see a seal-script character. Its manifestations were boundless and profound beyond words. One glance was like beholding the mortal world, birds and beasts, mountains and waters, grass and trees—every natural thing contained within it, all-encompassing, leaving nothing out.

He even saw familiar traces within it: Snake Shamanic Script, Wind Shamanic Script, Rain Shamanic Script...

But when he tried to study it closely, his consciousness kept falling from its peak, returning to his physical body.

Yu Chen frowned. The divine soul within his sea of consciousness was dim and lusterless, yet he did not care. He was deep in thought. Within that radiance just now, he seemed to have seen endless truths, and countless insights had arisen in his heart. Yet he could never seize that wisp of "feeling." When he thought back on it, there was only emptiness, without the slightest trace.

After remaining silent for quite some time, Yu Chen finally murmured inwardly, So that's how it is!

At the same time, Yu Chen glanced at the burning tortoiseshell. It had already shattered into powder. Within his cheat, quite a few methods of the Seventy-Two Earthly Baleful Arts glimmered faintly, as though they were about to be activated. The "Instance Travel Key" had also returned to its milky-white color, with even threads of pale red emerging within it.

Unity of Heaven and Man? Yu Chen now had a rough understanding of divination.

Just as with the shamanic path he had comprehended before, a shaman was one who communicated with heaven, earth, and the four directions. When there was no specific object of inquiry, shamanic divination would automatically question the spiritual nature between heaven and earth.

At such times, the shaman's own spiritual sensitivity would blend with heaven and earth. In the immortal path, this state was called Unity of Heaven and Man.

Yet during divination, shamans had no ability to control their own spiritual sensitivity. They merely moved along with the spiritual nature of heaven and earth.

It was both helplessness and protection. Had Yu Chen, as before, forcibly controlled his own spiritual sensitivity to explore the changes of heaven and earth, he could only have been assimilated by their spiritual nature and become a part of heaven and earth.

Yu Chen had been fortunate this time. The tortoiseshell he used was of average quality and could sense only shallow spiritual traces. On top of that, his cheat helped bear the information his spiritual sensitivity had comprehended. Only then had he avoided being assimilated by the endless flood of spiritual information.

But if someone asked Yu Chen to do it again, he would have no such intention.

Yu Chen could feel that his spiritual sensitivity had begun to become divine—or rather, it had begun unconsciously blending with heaven and earth. If he did not quickly find a way to stop it, serious trouble could easily arise.

With that thought, Yu Chen took out the tortoiseshells he had obtained, extracted the Incense and Fire Prayer Power within them, and fused it into the "Instance Travel Key," enlarging those threads of pale red slightly.

After recuperating for some time and allowing his divine soul to recover, Yu Chen opened the bamboo scroll formed from his cheat. He focused on one of the strips and touched it lightly.

Just like last time, Yu Chen had no time to react. His vision blurred, and in the next moment, he appeared somewhere else.

It was a shrine built halfway up a mountain, likely dedicated to some mountain god.

However, the mountain god's statue was badly damaged. He could only make out that it wore armor and held a weapon. As for what weapon or armor it had been, that was no longer discernible. Outside the main hall was a fairly large plaza paved entirely with bluestone. Yet it too had fallen into ruin. Weeds sprouted from the cracks, making the place look rather disorderly.

Yu Chen stepped out of the hall. A chill, gloomy mountain wind swept over him. Though it was not yet noon and the Golden Crow had not begun to sink westward, this mountain wind carried a coldness that pierced straight to the heart.

His expression changed slightly. Yu Chen's pupils contracted, taking on something of the appearance of Snake Eyes. He surveyed the surroundings and was astonished to discover that the mountain god shrine was surrounded by streams of black primal energy.

Yu Chen reached out and drew in a wisp. At once, he sensed an aura of decay, and the mana within his body involuntarily began resisting it.

His spiritual sensitivity turned as he observed the area. The surroundings were filled with bitterly cold yin energy, carrying sorrow and loneliness within it. Even Yu Chen's spiritual sensitivity was faintly affected.

Yu Chen swiftly left the area and drifted toward a place not far away.

There, under his observation, he could vaguely see threads of Incense and Fire Prayer Power and the smoke of the mortal world.

However, after descending the mountain, Yu Chen chose another path instead.

He turned toward a grave mountain. Numerous burial mounds rose sporadically across the place, but closer inspection revealed that their arrangement was actually fairly orderly.

Moreover, certain places that might once have formed auspicious burial sites had instead been occupied by scattered households.

Yu Chen glanced around and roughly guessed what had happened here. This place had likely once been where a wealthy family buried its ancestors. Later, perhaps that family declined, or perhaps it found a better feng shui treasure land and moved its ancestors elsewhere.

Now, all that remained were common folk who knew nothing of the matter but wanted to bask in the lingering blessings left behind by that wealthy family.

What can one even say about this? Yu Chen shook his head. Looking at the aura around the grave mountain, he found a faint demonic aura, indicating that members of the Demon Race lived here.

Upon thinking carefully, there were only a few kinds of Demon Race that would cultivate beside graves.

And several of the burial mounds here had been newly raised, showing that nothing unusual had happened in this place. That was enough to basically determine what kind of Demon Race had appeared here.

It could only be foxes or weasels that liked to cultivate with human skulls.

Yu Chen shook his head and followed the demonic aura to an ancient tree. To his surprise, he found several sticks of burned incense at its roots. He lightly knocked on the ancient tree twice and smiled. "Is the master of this place present? Independent cultivator Yu Chen requests an audience."

Yu Chen had learned this practice from novice players who entered later in the game world of his previous life.

Foxes, weasels, and their like had a very special cultivation system known as Household Guardian Immortals.

This system was quite interesting. It had such terms as the "Four Great Immortals," the "Five Great Immortals," "spirit mediumship," and "household guardians." In the real world, there was even a saying: "Spirit-medium immortals do not cross Shanhai Pass."

In essence, such beings resembled totemic faiths. They absorbed parts of Buddhist and Daoist culture to construct a unique animal-worship faith, or perhaps a heterodox totemic faith.

Among them, animal spirits such as "fox, yellow, white, willow, and gray" relied on this system and the faith of living beings to establish their own family genealogies, building something akin to a divine pantheon. Even among unorthodox paths and heretical ways, they stood out as a distinctive branch.