As the sect-protecting barrier vanished, the scene within Apricot Grove Sect was clearly laid out before Song Wen's eyes.
Yin energy drifted through Apricot Grove Sect, far denser than outside.
However, this yin energy was insufficient to interfere with Song Wen's divine sense, which easily probed deep within.
As a sect overseen by a cultivator at the Tribulation Transcendence stage, Apricot Grove Sect had remarkably few members—only several thousand.
"Immortal Venerable, our sect has more than eight thousand seven hundred people in total, but only several hundred are formal disciples. The rest are servants and menials."
Ghost Bone introduced the sect as he flew through the air, bowing and scraping all the while.
"The servants and menials dress differently from the formal disciples, and their cultivation techniques are different as well. Most importantly, formal disciples must be proficient in the Dao of alchemy. Without talent in alchemy, no matter how high one's cultivation aptitude may be, one cannot enter our Apricot Grove Sect."
Song Wen swept his divine sense over the area and found that it was exactly as Ghost Bone had said. Every formal disciple's cave abode contained at least one pill furnace, and quite a few people were currently refining pills.
"Since your sect excels in the Dao of alchemy, where does this sky-filling yin energy come from?" Song Wen asked.
Ghost Bone replied, "Senior, you may not know this, but although our sect is skilled in alchemy, our primary cultivation method is the path of ghost cultivators. Yet for the sake of alchemy, some disciples also cultivate orthodox techniques."
Song Wen nodded slightly and said nothing further.
Before long, the two arrived above a mountain valley.
Unlike elsewhere, there was not the slightest trace of yin energy within the valley. Instead, it radiated the scorching heat of