Chapter 287: Soul Water

Such dense soul mist was already on the verge of condensing into water. Therefore, no overly complicated methods were needed; it only had to be made more compact and dense.

He didn't know if this would work; after all, it was just a spur-of-the-moment idea. But if it did, the reward would be immense. If it didn't, there was no loss anyway.

He raised his hand and pressed it on the mist in front of him. Spiritual energy surged rapidly, as visually discernible yin-yang dual-elements interlocked and connected. Each basic unit was roughly the size of a palm, and in an instant, they spread out in all directions.

The City Lord, who had been leisurely watching the scene from beside the Soul Cleansing Pool, was slightly stunned. A look of surprise flashed in his eyes; he seemed not to have expected Lu Ye to be a Spirit Pattern Master, capable of constructing spirit patterns so freely.

"This spirit pattern..." The City Lord carefully observed the rapidly forming gigantic spirit pattern. "Is it a Spirit Gathering pattern?"

However, this Spirit Gathering pattern was somewhat different from ordinary ones. Not only was it enormous, but its shape was also rather peculiar. It protruded in the middle, and curved outwards and upwards at the sides, looking like a funnel.

"A funnel?" The City Lord immediately straightened up, vaguely realizing something.

This young fellow who came this time seemed a bit troublesome. The reason he agreed to let Lu Ye and his companions enter the Soul Cleansing Pool was that even if they entered, they wouldn't consume much of the Soul Cleansing Pool's power. As a price for releasing those transformed phantoms, it was considered a fair trade.

But if things truly went as he thought, he seemed about to suffer a loss from this transaction.

Beneath the Soul Cleansing Pool, Lu Ye let out a long breath. This was the largest Spirit Gathering pattern he had ever constructed, covering an area of ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) in radius. Moreover, it was a funnel-shaped Spirit Gathering pattern.

Just this one action consumed a good portion of his spiritual energy.

It wasn't that he didn't want to construct a larger one; it was just that if it were any larger, even he might fail.

The spirit pattern was constructed. Whether his idea would succeed depended on the subsequent changes.

Carefully perceiving, he noticed that within the spirit pattern's coverage area, the already dense soul mist became even denser, surging in from all directions. It then continuously gathered and vented out from the funnel's opening. In an instant, a powerful current appeared at the tip of the large funnel, continuously gushing out a large amount of soul mist.

No, this wouldn't work. Although it could gather soul mist this way, it couldn't make the soul mist condense.

He still needed to block the funnel's opening. Lu Ye immediately raised his hand and activated his spiritual energy to do so.

The gathered soul mist, unable to vent, continuously accumulated and compressed within the funnel. Slowly, a liquid-like substance appeared on the funnel's walls, gradually expanding, flowing down along the funnel walls, and collecting at the tip of the funnel.

It worked!

Lu Ye was overjoyed. He watched the accumulating soul water, seeing it increase and expand drop by drop, like morning dew flowing to the center of a lotus leaf.

Beside the Soul Cleansing Pool, the City Lord, witnessing this scene, could no longer bear it. The Soul Cleansing Pool was not only the foundation of Immortal Essence City but also the foundation of other Boundless Mirage Realms. Its power could not be allowed to diminish too much.

He now deeply regretted giving Lu Ye three hours. In his mind, three hours would have been more than enough for a small cultivator like Lu Ye to satisfy his appetite. But now, it seemed he had given too much!

He should have given half an hour instead.

But words spoken were like water spilled. It wouldn't be proper to simply drag Lu Ye out now; it would be undignified.

He glanced left and right, seeing all the Immortal Essence Guards standing nearby with their backs to him. He then raised a finger, pointed towards the Soul Cleansing Pool, and gently stirred it.

Beneath the Soul Cleansing Pool, Lu Ye was watching the continuous accumulation of soul water with great joy, when the soul mist suddenly surged violently. The large funnel twisted, and then collapsed with a crash. The gathered soul mist, no longer constrained, scattered in all directions.

The soul water he had painstakingly accumulated also splashed away as the spirit pattern disintegrated.

Lu Ye was quick-eyed and quick-handed. He activated his spiritual energy to envelop the soul water. Although he lost some, he managed to salvage most of it. He quickly took out a jade bottle for medicine from his storage bag and poured the soul water into it.

He gently shook it. It was about half a bottle, containing at least a dozen drops of soul water.

Even if someone had taken soul water from Immortal Essence City before, it would have been at most a few drops, far less than what he had obtained.

Having already had one successful experience, performing it a second time would be simple.

However, his previous experience made him realize that the spirit pattern he constructed was still a bit too large. While being large had its benefits, allowing for faster and greater accumulation of soul mist and formation of soul water, it wasn't stable enough. Once the soul mist surged violently, it could easily cause the spirit pattern to collapse.

Therefore, it would be best to make the spirit pattern smaller.

He raised his hand again, activated his spiritual energy, and the yin-yang dual-elements rapidly spread outwards.

In a moment, another large funnel took shape. However, this funnel was a circle smaller than the previous one, covering an area of only seven zhang.

His spiritual energy consumption was immense. Lu Ye quickly took out Breath Fruit Wine from his storage bag and drank it, rapidly restoring his depleted energy.

The funnel was smaller than before, and the efficiency of condensing soul water was also a bit lower. However, what puzzled Lu Ye was that the funnel's duration was, for some unknown reason, shorter than before...

When the violently surging soul mist broke through the funnel, the prepared Lu Ye quickly snatched up the scattered soul water and put it into the jade bottle.

Lu Ye began constructing the large funnel again.

Time flowed, cycle after cycle. Even with the Breath Fruit Wine restoring his spiritual energy, Lu Ye was starting to falter. His recovery speed couldn't keep up with the consumption. The funnels he constructed became smaller and smaller, and each time, his harvest diminished.

After an unknown period, a powerful force suddenly seized him. Lu Ye immediately sensed something was wrong. He didn't care about anything else and quickly gathered the small amount of soul water that had just formed.

The next moment, his vision spun. By the time he recovered his senses, he was back in the small courtyard from before, having fallen to the ground, looking quite disheveled.

Yiyi, Amber, and Jujia were standing beside him. Seeing Lu Ye fall, Yiyi probably wanted to come forward and help him up, but her current state was clearly abnormal. Flashes of spiritual light shimmered on her body, and she couldn't even walk in a straight line.

Not only her, but Amber and Jujia were also like this, as if they were drunk, staggering as they walked.

After three hours, the benefits gained in the Soul Cleansing Pool were immense. Everyone felt light-headed and weak-legged, finding it difficult to adapt immediately.

However, this was not a bad thing; they only needed a few days to recover.

Lu Ye stood up, waved his hand at them, indicating that he was fine.

Seeing this, Jujia simply sat down on the ground, closed his eyes, and meditated.

Yiyi also couldn't hold on anymore. She plunged into Amber's body and disappeared. Amber then jumped onto Jujia's thigh, curled up, and didn't move, soon a snoring sound was heard.

In the City Lord's residence, the City Lord checked the condition of the Soul Cleansing Pool. After a moment, he let out a slight sigh. The loss this time was considerable, but fortunately, still acceptable.

He hadn't expected that the small cultivator in the eighth realm would possess such peculiar methods, actually being able to condense soul mist into soul water and take it away.

He originally thought that even if the other party had such a method, with his spiritual energy reserves, he wouldn't be able to do it many times. Who knew that kid also had something that could quickly restore spiritual energy, repeatedly constructing that large funnel spirit pattern.

He also couldn't be too obvious about it. He could only wait until the other party had made some progress, then step in to destroy the funnel, to avoid being discovered.

If he hadn't been secretly messing with it, who knew how much soul water that kid would have taken away this time.

At this moment, Lu Ye was examining his gains from this trip. Setting aside the improvements to his soul, Lu Ye had collected three or four bottles of soul water alone.

The bottles weren't large, originally used for pills. But even if each bottle only contained thirty drops of soul water, he had still gained over a hundred drops this time.

That was condensed soul mist; it was concentrated essence.

If he took this out and gave some to the Sect Master, it would undoubtedly be of great benefit to him.

And his second senior sister; she was currently in the True Lake Realm and seemed about to advance to the Divine Sea Realm, so she would also need this.

And his fourth senior brother, Li Baxian. Like him, Li Baxian couldn't yet access soul power directly. However, soul water could strengthen the foundation of one's soul, benefiting various aspects.

While quietly planning, Lu Ye examined the changes in himself.

Although he could feel he had gained a lot in the Soul Cleansing Pool earlier, he had been busy collecting soul water and hadn't checked thoroughly.

Upon this examination, he immediately discovered differences from before.

Previously, his perception of himself was somewhat vague. Even with the flow of spiritual energy, he could only get a general sense, not a clear one, as if there was a thick membrane. But now it was very clear, as if he had gained a pair of invisible eyes within himself, able to see whatever he wished.

This feeling he had experienced once when his soul left his body, so it was not unfamiliar.

This ability to clearly examine his own condition was very useful. For instance, if he suffered a hidden injury during an intense battle, he might not have been able to ascertain the specific details of the injury before, but now he could see it clearly.

Not only perceiving himself, Lu Ye felt that his perception seemed to have formed an invisible and intangible power, which, with a slight activation, could cover an area of ten zhang in radius.

Any anomalies within this ten-zhang radius he could sense. However, the further the distance, the vaguer the perception; the closer the distance, the clearer it was, especially within one zhang of himself.

This made him realize a great advantage.

He would no longer have to worry about ghost cultivators secretly sneaking up on him.

Earlier, a ghost cultivator had snuck up behind him, intending to ambush him. If not for the Nine Realms Map he had set up beforehand to trap the opponent, Lu Ye wouldn't have even noticed.

His Insight Spirit Pattern could also see through ghost cultivators' stealth, but spirit patterns needed to be actively activated. Perception, however, was constant and omnipresent, and full-coverage without blind spots. Compared to the Insight spirit pattern that needed to be constructed in his eyes, this clearly had a greater advantage.

Currently, the ghost cultivators he encountered were still low in cultivation. Although they could employ some ghost cultivation methods, they hadn't truly grasped their essence.

In the future, as his cultivation increased, the ghost cultivators he encountered would become increasingly troublesome. With such powerful perception, when dealing with ghost cultivators' attacks, he would undoubtedly be more at ease.