Mind-Cleansing Art

Bright moonlight coated the surrounding woods in white frost.

Above the woods hovered a handsome young man who looked to be in his early twenties, holding a long, silvery-white weapon.

His robes and the hair at his temples swayed in the breeze.

This man was Lu Shang.

Not long before, Lu Shang had encountered a Core Formation cultivator.

Seeing how furtively the man behaved, Lu Shang had slowly followed him, intending to see what he was up to.

Perhaps Lu Shang had been too careless in concealing himself, or perhaps the cultivator truly possessed an extraordinary awareness of his surroundings.

A mere moment of carelessness had been enough for the Core Formation cultivator to discover Lu Shang.

As expected, the man was not a cultivator from this kingdom.

Judging by the cultivation technique he used, Lu Shang thought he was more likely a cultivator from the Six Demonic Sects.

But the man was nothing special, and he seemed to have only recently reached Core Formation.

After just a few exchanges, he could barely hold out.

The demonic cultivator had even wanted to kneel and beg for mercy.

Yet, for some reason, Lu Shang's mind had been filled with nothing but murderous intent, and when the cultivator was almost incapable of casting another spell...

Lu Shang had drawn the Silver Frost Dragon Halberd and slashed at him.

That single slash had left not even a chunk of ice behind. The man had turned into a cloud of icy mist and vanished completely.

Only after the slash did Lu Shang come back to his senses.

"This..."

"What on earth happened?!"

Although Lu Shang felt guilty for killing the man before getting to the bottom of things, the most important issue was...

During that halberd strike, Lu Shang seemed to have lost control of his own body. Even his mind had felt as though it no longer belonged to him.

At that moment, only one word had echoed through Lu Shang's mind-kill!

Unable to understand what had happened, Lu Shang pondered it in a daze.

"What are you putting on an act for, you useless host? You only killed a demonic cultivator!"

A familiar voice rang out.

"System Sis?" Lu Shang snapped out of it. He had System Sis, after all. What was there to fear?

"What exactly happened? I clearly didn't mean to kill him just now, but..."

Lu Shang could not put that feeling into words.

"But you couldn't control yourself, right?" System Sis nailed it in a single sentence.

"Yes."

"It's because of your soul, of course."

"My soul?"

Her words left Lu Shang puzzled.

"Ultimately, you're still someone from that other world."

"Your soul doesn't change. The moment you entered this 'universe,' your soul began slowly merging with this world."

"In the end, your soul will merge completely with this world."

"Will I end up like that again? Or will something happen after it merges?" Lu Shang asked.

"Your mental fortitude is too weak to prevent it. You'd best practice a mind-cleansing cultivation technique."

"If you don't suppress it, as your cultivation rises and the bloody aura around you grows too heavy, you may well lose control of your body and end up a walking corpse."

"What am I supposed to do?!"

Hearing this, Lu Shang's face was written all over with helplessness.

He truly feared becoming a walking corpse.

"Why are you interrupting me? What are you scared of? I'm the system!" System Sis's voice carried an irritated edge.

"Look at you! It's only a mind-cleansing art!"

As her words fell, a scripture appeared.

"Pure Leaf Soul-Cleansing Art! Take it!"

Lu Shang took the pale blue manual.

"This art doesn't just cleanse the mind; it's also a divine ability. But you'll have to reach the later stages of its practice before it can affect others."

"Next time something this trivial happens, could you act like a hundred-year-old cultivator ought to?"

"Yes, yes! I understand. Thank you again, Almighty System."

After thanking her, Lu Shang held the Pure Leaf Soul-Cleansing Art in his hand, then tucked it away on his person and flew off.

He intended to find a secluded place to practice this mind-cleansing art.

Spirit mines were the ultimate source of cultivators' spirit stones.

Every spirit mine was a resource cultivators valued immensely.

Cultivators here usually assigned their sect's Qi Refining Stage disciples to them, led by a handful of Foundation Establishment disciples.

The spirit mine where Lu Shang now stood was one within the Yue Kingdom.

It contained considerable reserves of spirit stones.

But Lu Shang had little desire for those spirit stones.

To him, spirit stones were merely money in the eyes of this world's cultivators.

He had no need to trade for anything himself.

If he needed something, he could play pitiful before System Sis, and the lottery had always been a powerful source of supplies.

Although Lu Shang had not drawn many times, quite a few things had already accumulated in his system inventory.

Spirit stones, medicinal pills, talismans, and some minor magical artifacts that were useless to him-it was quite an assortment.

Lu Shang had come here to inspect the teleportation formation.

This was the very teleportation formation Han Li had originally used to reach the Chaotic Star Sea.

Lu Shang knew little about formations, but thanks to the system, he had more or less repaired it.

The difference was that each use required a hundred spirit stones, along with the Heaven-and-Earth Shift Token, to teleport him to the Chaotic Star Sea.

Lu Shang vaguely remembered that there was actually a White Jade Spider here.

White Bone had probably brought it here before he died.

It had grown to its present state over time.

Still, it was nothing special.

Lu Shang also intended to capture it, then enter the Void Sky Hall after reaching the Chaotic Star Sea and retrieve that cauldron treasure.

The Azure Ice Flame and the Void Sky Hall were both formidable things. If they fell into someone else's hands, they could still pose a threat to him.

Lu Shang did not need Heaven Mending Pills, and that cultivator White Bone had some as well.

After easily capturing the White Jade Spider, Lu Shang collected the spider eggs too and placed them all in a Spirit Beast Bag.

"That more or less settles what I came here for. Time to leave. Once the great war begins, I'll get ready to complete the mission."

As he spoke, Lu Shang slowly walked toward the exit.

"Who are you?"

A Foundation Establishment disciple looked at Lu Shang in puzzlement.

Not wanting to bother with him, Lu Shang kept walking.

"Stop! State your name and where you come from!"

With that, he approached Lu Shang, apparently intending to seize him.

"Heh."

Lu Shang released his aura, and the surging spiritual power hurled the Foundation Establishment Stage disciple straight against the rock wall.

The fierce aura surrounding Lu Shang immediately told him that the man before him had to be a Core Formation Stage senior.

He hurriedly adopted a different expression.

"I failed to recognize you, Senior, and offended you. Please spare me this once!" the Foundation Establishment Stage disciple pleaded anxiously with Lu Shang.

Lu Shang actually had some understanding of situations like this.

No matter what he did, it was difficult to remain completely hidden while moving through this small mining cavern, so he had simply decided to walk openly.

Lu Shang had him follow behind. That way, anyone else who saw them would not repeat what had just happened.

"You?" came a puzzled female voice.

Lu Shang looked toward the voice.

"Fellow Daoist from Yellow Maple Valley, do you know this senior?" asked a nearby disciple wearing Spirit Beast Mountain attire.

"No..." the woman replied awkwardly.

This female disciple was the Yellow Maple Valley disciple he had happened to save in the Blood Secret Realm.

"Are you Chen Qiaoqian of the Chen Family?"

Lu Shang broke the stalemate by speaking first.

"Yes. Do you know me, Senior?"

During the Blood Trial, Chen Qiaoqian had been too dazed to see who had saved her.

Seeing Lu Shang today, she had merely felt that he looked very familiar. But he possessed Core Formation strength, so she had initially thought she might simply be remembering wrong.

Yet, to her surprise, that word, "you," had still slipped from her lips.