A short while later, the two arrived outside the cavern.
The morning sun rose in the east, bathing everything in sunlight.
Much of the mist from the Illusory Heart Grass had dissipated.
Lin Ke and Nan Shang were soon stunned by the sight before them.
The ridge, less than a thousand meters long, was covered in cultivators' corpses.
Some had been pierced through by Spirit Artifacts; some had been poisoned to death by Illusory Heart Grass; others had died fighting Imperial Clan cultivators, taking their opponents down with them.
Corpses truly littered the wilderness, bodies strewn across the ground.
Lin Ke saw no one he recognized. With a turn of his palm, the Insect Tide swept out and devoured all the corpses.
Only white bones remained in the snow.
He explained to Nan Shang, "Leaving flesh and blood behind could attract vicious Spirit Beasts."
"It's better to dispose of it."
Nan Shang nodded silently and darted after him.
A short while later, the two found a patch of reeds beside the frozen lake at the foot of the mountain.
Together with the surrounding land, it could perhaps be cleared into lakeside fields.
Lin Ke summoned Mystic Flame, burning the reeds and the other plants to nothing almost instantly.
A thick layer of ash covered the cold ground.
Following the slash-and-burn method, the fields here now had a measure of fertility.
They were essentially ready for cultivation.
Once the flames rapidly subsided, Nan Shang also channeled his Spirit Power to help Lin Ke level the ground and turn out the stones.
They buried some of the ash in the soil.
Lin Ke found an excuse to slip into a secluded spot.
He scattered the spirit lotus seeds he had hidden earlier into the lake, then dripped a few drops of Spirit