Darkening Wood

Ye Fan followed Zhang Wentao to a warehouse at a military base. Only after arriving did he learn that Dragon Tiger Mountain worked with the military.

Several masters from Dragon Tiger Mountain served in the Military Special Department, helping the military resolve unusual cases. In return, the military regularly collected and supplied special materials for them.

"Darkening wood!" Ye Fan held a piece of wood and nodded in satisfaction.

Seeing his expression, Zhang Wentao asked, "Young Master Ye, have you found something you like?"

Ye Fan nodded. "I certainly have." Darkening wood was a favorite material among cultivators of the ghost path. Every year, the Yin Ghost Sect paid handsomely to collect it. It could also be used to refine a Soul-Summoning Banner. With darkening wood, success was practically guaranteed.

"What's this?"

"Spider silk. It's spun by a special species of spider from the Miao Frontier. It's highly poisonous, but used properly, it can be a formidable weapon."

Ye Fan blinked and reached out to touch a clump of fine black threads. The instant his hand touched them, an icy chill surged into his body.

This must be the yin soul thread found on the Cultivation Continent, Ye Fan thought. Yin Soul Spiders produce it. In the Cultivation World, even a small clump can sell for several hundred spirit stones. To think this place has it too.

The spiritual qi in this world may be thin, but there are plenty of useful things here, Ye Fan thought. Better still, there are hardly any cultivators, so there's little competition. Looking at it that way, perhaps I still have a chance to attain the Great Dao and ascend in broad daylight.

It was only a passing thought; Ye Fan did not dare hope for too much. After all, he had discovered that this body was a peculiar one, possessing both the great five elements and the lesser three wonders.

In the Cultivation World, the fewer spiritual roots one had, the greater one's cultivation aptitude. Yet Ye Fan's body had spiritual roots of all eight attributes: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, and ice. In the Cultivation World, that made him trash among trash! Still, eight-attribute spiritual roots did have an advantage: at the same cultivation level, his spiritual qi would be far more abundant than that of his peers.

In truth, Ye Fan did not particularly mind his useless spiritual roots. An extraordinary celestial phenomenon had accompanied his birth.

No one knew that, the moment he was born, the Heavenly Dao had passed down the Nine Heavens Myriad Things Art to him. As its name suggested, it refined all things, making it perfectly suited to cultivators with mixed spiritual roots of all eight attributes.

During his time in the Jade Cloud Sect, Ye Fan had considered passing this cultivation art down. Unfortunately, the sect had not had a single cultivator with eight-attribute mixed spiritual roots. People with such roots generally struggled even with the first step of drawing qi into their bodies and had virtually no chance of entering the path of cultivation. No sect would accept someone like that as a disciple.

Having found several useful things in the warehouse, Ye Fan left in high spirits.

Inside the hospital.

Bai Momo sat on the bed, looking rather unwell.

"Why on earth did you go playing Pen Immortal with those people?"

Bai Momo said miserably, "It wasn't my fault! Playing Pen Immortal was fine, but that idiot Zhao Yu just had to ask the ghost how it died. Didn't that idiot know you must never ask that question? Still, this ghost was pretty strange. Instead of going after Zhao Yu, it possessed me."

"That creature looked like a hungry ghost! Maybe it saw how fair and plump you were, figured you ate well, and decided to possess you," Bai Yunxi said.

Bai Momo's expression changed instantly. "Uncle, you're so mean! How am I fat?"

"If you're not fat, why did that thing pick you?" Bai Yunxi asked dryly.

Bai Momo pouted and said sulkily, "Uncle, I heard you got yourself a boyfriend?"

Bai Yunxi frowned. "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Bai Momo smiled. "It's not nonsense. I heard you've been keeping a pretty little lover tucked away lately!"

Bai Yunxi was speechless. Was Bai Momo talking about Ye Fan? Ye Fan was fairly good-looking, but he could hardly be called a delicate beauty. "Get some rest."

"Uncle, that thing won't come after me again, will it?" Bai Momo asked cautiously.

Bai Yunxi shook his head. "I don't know!"

Bai Momo said despondently, "Then... then what am I supposed to do?"

"Now you're scared? Why didn't you think of that before?" Bai Yunxi asked irritably.

Bai Momo was speechless.