Chapter 27: The Demonic Cultivator

Li Meng felt his vision blur.

Before he could even glance around, the ground suddenly vanished beneath his feet. A sensation of weightlessness followed immediately. His surroundings transformed into a boundless expanse of sky. Below him lay a forest shrouded in dense mist.

Li Meng hastily formed a hand seal. A flying sword shot out from his storage pouch. Stepping onto the sword, Li Meng soared above the forest.

“This should be the Ghost Mist Forest, right?”

The forest beneath his feet was incredibly vast. The outlines of distant mountain ranges were barely visible on the far horizon. Although Li Meng had never been to the Scarlet Forbidden Ground before, the major regions within it were no secret.

Li Meng descended, landing within the forest. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he quickly slapped a Stealth Talisman onto his body. The moment the flying sword retreated into his storage pouch, Li Meng’s figure vanished into thin air. Only the soft rustling of footsteps betrayed that someone was present.

Half an hour later, deep within the mist-enshrouded forest…

“Six-hundred-year-old Earth Spirit Grass?”

Li Meng’s figure materialized out of nowhere. A pleased expression on his face, he crouched beside a large tree.

Before him grew a cluster of yellow spirit plants on the ground. While Five Elements Spirit Grass was among the most common spirit plants, specimens over five hundred years old were exceedingly rare. Furthermore, Five Elements Spirit Grass was an indispensable ingredient for alchemy. The simplest method to improve a pill’s quality was to use it. The higher its age, the greater its effect.

Li Meng wasn’t about to be polite; he harvested all dozen or so stalks of Earth Spirit Grass. Harvesting spirit plants required care—one must not uproot them entirely.

“It seems my luck is holding!” Li Meng chuckled as he stood up.

“Earth Spirit Grass? Judging by its spiritual aura, it must be over five hundred years old.”

“At least six hundred!”

“It seems our luck is quite good too!”

Just then, voices suddenly emerged from the mist behind him. Male and female voices chimed in one after another.

The sound made Li Meng frown slightly. He turned to look deep into the mist.

From within the haze, three figures clad in yellow robes—two men and a woman—emerged and approached. They were Outer Disciples of Giant Sword Mountain.

The leading male cultivator looked Li Meng up and down, a flash of disdain and mockery in his eyes. He wore a false smile and performed an exaggerated bow.

“Senior Brother from the Joyous Union Sect. Seeing as your Lifespan Limit approaches, you likely have little use for a treasure like Earth Spirit Grass. Why not yield it to us? If we succeed in Foundation Establishment, we shall surely light incense and pray for your fortune!”

“Yes, yes! Senior Brother speaks wisely!” Another male cultivator chimed in, barely suppressing a burst of laughter as he bowed.

The female disciple merely rolled her eyes, watching her two Senior Brothers’ antics with clear boredom. They were obviously just toying with the old man; she had no interest in such mean-spirited amusement.

Li Meng swept his gaze over the trio. With a single-handed seal, a talisman flew out from the storage pouch at his waist and attached itself to his chest.

In the next moment, Li Meng vanished into thin air.

“What? An Earth Shrinking Talisman?”

The three were stunned. They hadn’t expected that old man from the Joyous Union Sect to possess such a talisman.

“Not good! After him! He must still be nearby!”

“Junior Sister, use the Spirit Seeking Beast!”

The female disciple from Giant Sword Mountain slapped the spirit beast pouch at her waist. A creature that resembled both a rabbit and a dog leaped onto her shoulder.

“No one is nearby!”

“Impossible! Could it be a High-grade Earth Shrinking Talisman?”

Only a High-grade Earth Shrinking Talisman could instantly move someone beyond the detection range of a Spirit Seeking Beast.

“Damn it! That old fossil actually had such a treasure!” The leading male cultivator’s face was full of regret. If he had known, he would have just ambushed and killed him directly. Why waste so many words with an old geezer?

Meanwhile, deep within another part of the forest…

Li Meng strolled leisurely through the mist-filled woods.

Li Meng walked calmly through the grey haze. “Only a fool would trade talismans for a headache,” he muttered.

Fighting three people at once was a losing game. They were merely Outer Disciples; the loot they carried likely wouldn’t even cover the cost of the charms he’d burn to kill them.

“The Mystic Yin Grass is the priority.”

The Ghost Mist Forest was thick with the chilling energy of Yin and Baleful Qi—the perfect breeding ground for his target. However, finding a thousand-year-old specimen would require more than just skill; it required destiny.

He activated a Spirit-Guiding Talisman. The paper strip hovered before him, glowing with a faint amber light before spinning rapidly and pointing toward the northwest.

“That way.”

After trekking for the time it takes three incense sticks to burn, a figure appeared through the fog. A lone cultivator was crouched under a tree, muttering excitedly as he dug into the dirt.

“Perfect! Four-hundred-year-old Baleful Yin Grass! I’m rich!”

Li Meng watched the man from the shadows, momentarily speechless. The cultivator was harvesting with such reckless abandon that he had completely forgotten to mask his presence or check his surroundings.

“Forget it. It’s just Baleful Yin Grass,” Li Meng thought, turning away. Despite the similar names, Baleful Yin Grass was common weeds compared to the sovereign Mystic Yin Grass he sought.

He slipped back into the mist. He hadn’t gone a hundred yards when a blood-curdling scream pierced the silence behind him.

“You… what are you—? AHHH!”

Li Meng’s Spirit-Guiding Talisman suddenly spun 180 degrees, vibrating violently—a sign of a massive, sudden eruption of spiritual power.

“Did that Qingxu disciple get himself killed already?”

Suddenly, the air grew heavy. An eerie chorus of ghostly wails rose from the fog, the sounds echoing from all directions at once. A ball of sickly green ghost-fire ignited in the mist to his left, hurtling toward him with unnatural speed.

A semi-transparent Vengeful Spirit tore through the haze, its ethereal claws extended, its face a mask of eternal agony.

“A Demonic Cultivator?” Li Meng’s eyes narrowed.

Vengeful Spirits were forged from the tortured souls of the living—a forbidden art that violated the natural order. The Scarlet Forbidden Grounds were supposedly restricted to the five righteous sects of the Zhao Kingdom. How had a practitioner of the dark arts slipped in?

Li Meng didn’t hesitate. A High-Quality Golden Shield Talisman flew from his pouch, circling his head.

Clang!

A dome of brilliant golden light erupted around him just as the spirit struck.

“REEEEE!”

The spirit let out a soul-shredding shriek as it slammed into the barrier. Since the Metal element represents pure Yang energy, the golden shield acted like a searing furnace to the ghostly entity. Thick black smoke billowed from its claws as it was hurled backward into the mist.