Fortuitous Opportunity?

After three days of travel, Shen Ge finally saw the forest shrouded in mist. Viewed from above, the entire valley lay beneath a blanket of white fog, looking for all the world like an immortal paradise of legend.

"Is this white fog miasma?"

Shen Ge was unsure. He knew far too little about such things. To be safe, he didn't go straight in, instead absorbing some of the fog at the outskirts to see whether it was poisonous.

About an incense stick later, Shen Ge opened his eyes. "Not bad. There's hardly any poison. It's not a problem for me."

Having confirmed that the white fog wasn't poisonous, Shen Ge strode inside. To keep from getting lost, he used his sword to cut marks as he went.

As luck would have it, Shen Ge was heading along the very route carved out by Su Liuyue and the Devil Cultivator during their chase that day.

After walking for less than half an incense stick, Shen Ge sensed something was wrong. The weeds around him were flattened in one direction, while those on either side leaned outward to the left and right.

Shen Ge frowned gravely and walked several more li. The broken trees and pits in the ground confirmed his suspicion.

"Damn it, how could someone at the Golden Core Stage have shown up here, and there was even a huge battle? This is fucking unscientific!"

After muttering a few curses, Shen Ge looked at the path ahead, carved out by oppressive pressure, and decisively chose to steer clear of it.

Judging by the breaks in the trees, the battle had taken place several days ago, but Shen Ge didn't want to take the risk. As for picking up leftovers, what right did someone at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement have to pick up the leftovers of a Golden Core cultivator? If the other party was still here recovering from injuries, he might well end up with another seat of honor in the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

Shen Ge would never take a risk he had no business taking!

Only after moving about five li away did Shen Ge breathe a sigh of relief. He didn't know where the final battleground was, but it was at least twenty li away, while a Golden Core cultivator's Divine Sense could cover a little over ten li at most. For now, he was safe.

Without wasting a moment, Shen Ge immediately began searching for Clear Brightness Grass. With the threat of a Golden Core cultivator hanging over him, he didn't want to stay here a moment longer than necessary.

In less than an hour, Shen Ge found a large patch of Clear Brightness Grass in a damp spot at the bottom of a cliff.

The grass looked rather strange, though its appearance made it easy to mistake for ordinary weeds. The only thing that set it apart was the pair of black spots resembling eyes on the underside of its leaves.

He hadn't expected such a large patch of Clear Brightness Grass here. If it were all refined into Detoxification Pills, it would be worth at least two hundred Spirit Stones.

Shen Ge quickly gathered every last stalk of Clear Brightness Grass, tied it into small bundles with thin vines, and put them in his carrying basket.

Although such rough harvesting would damage the Clear Brightness Grass's medicinal properties, Shen Ge had no tools to harvest it without doing so. He had no choice but to make do.

Besides, as long as he refined it into Detoxification Pills promptly, it wouldn't actually lose much of its medicinal potency.

"Not a bad haul this time. I'll find somewhere to turn this stuff into Spirit Stones later."

Shen Ge turned and walked to the cliff face. He had only climbed a few steps when he suddenly stopped, having caught a glimpse of a faint red light. Though it had vanished in a flash, he had still caught it. Such were a cultivator's five senses, far sharper than an ordinary person's. This was only the Qi Refining Stage; if he reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, seeing in the dark would be a trivial matter.

Shen Ge stood there hesitating for a while, torn over whether to take a look. After all, according to the novels, there were almost always treasures at the bottom of cliffs: either rare wonders encountered once in ten thousand years or inheritances left behind by mighty predecessors. Either one was tempting.

But he had recently come across traces of a Golden Core cultivator, which left him deeply conflicted. He was afraid of stumbling into their hands.

Besides, the treasures and such were only a halo the novels had forced on their protagonists to make them stand out. Although he had transmigrated too, he really didn't think he deserved that protagonist's halo.

After all, if he really had one, he wouldn't have started out by taking a trip inside the Ten Thousand Souls Banner. If he hadn't been a little lucky, his soul would have been scattered by now.

"Forget it. I should be fine if I'm careful. Let's take a look, if only to put the thought to rest."

In truth, Shen Ge still entertained the fantasy that he was the protagonist. After all, something as outlandish as transmigration had happened to him, so he was at least qualified to be one.

After setting down his basket, Shen Ge crept over cautiously. Before long, he found a small cave. It was pitch-black inside, like a monster with its bloody maw wide open, waiting for a fated person to enter.

To be honest, Shen Ge wanted to back out. It was pitch-black inside, and being unable to see what lay within made him uneasy. But he had finally worked up the courage to come this far, and he would be even more unwilling to leave without going in for a look.

"This is so annoying. Why do I run into such difficult choices every time? It's driving me crazy."

After spending a long time wavering at the entrance, Shen Ge finally went in. He had come all this way, and he really couldn't bear to leave without looking. What if there was treasure inside? Wouldn't he miss it if he didn't go in?

Shen Ge conjured a small flame and controlled it at a distance of ten meters from himself. With a source of light, much of the unease brought on by the darkness gradually faded.

After he advanced several hundred meters, the space ahead suddenly opened up into a stone chamber.

Shen Ge had barely taken a step inside when he sensed something was wrong. His gaze snapped to the side, and he spotted a figure in a hidden corner.

Before he could get a clear look, that foot withdrew like lightning. Almost reflexively, Shen Ge turned and ran.

Although he hadn't seen it clearly, those white clothes streaked with red definitely weren't from long ago. In particular, the red looked like blood.

Shen Ge ran all the way to the cave entrance without stopping. With no time to spare a thought for anything else, he ran straight to his basket, slung it on his back, and climbed the cliff face as fast as he could, terrified that a moment's delay would cost him his life.

But shortly afterward, Shen Ge, who had already vanished into the white fog, climbed back down the cliff face.

"Shen Ge, oh Shen Ge, how can you be such a coward? Couldn't you see that huge bloody hole in her abdomen? There wasn't even a trace of life left in her, and you're afraid of a dead person? You're an embarrassment."

Cursing himself, Shen Ge returned to the cave. This time he didn't hesitate and strode straight inside.

When he reached the entrance to the stone chamber, Shen Ge hesitated as he raised his foot, but after only a few breaths, he stepped inside.

This time, Shen Ge took a careful look at the figure in the corner.

It was a woman, a peerless beauty by mortal standards. Her chest was rather small, though, which didn't quite suit Shen Ge's tastes. He liked them big, after all.

"Good heavens, a bloody hole that big-how much must that have hurt?" After that remark, Shen Ge stepped forward to loot the corpse. She was dead anyway, and leaving her things here would be a terrible waste. He might as well have them.

When he came closer and took a look, Shen Ge frowned in puzzlement. "She looks a little familiar. Have I seen this woman somewhere before?"

"Judging by her clothes, she seems to be from the Spirit Moon Sect. Did I see her in the Verdant Sea before?"

After thinking for a while without coming up with an answer, Shen Ge promptly put it out of his mind. "Who cares? She's dead anyway. So what if I've seen her before?"