Chapter 90: Unexpected Discovery

Wang Changsheng put away the puppet beast and quickly stepped forward, collecting the storage bags from the corpses. Two of these, magic tool-grade storage bags, contained the remains of several second-tier demonic beasts.

The silver giant python's body was severely damaged. Wang Changsheng chopped it into several sections, placing them into a storage bag for safekeeping.

He summoned his spirit artifact and attacked the pool, confirming there were no anomalies. He then cast a protective shield on himself, jumped into the pool, and picked the black lotus.

Just then, a buzzing sound reached his ears.

A swarm of fist-sized crimson mosquitoes flew into the valley, heading straight for the corpses on the ground.

These crimson mosquitoes had two pairs of thin green wings on their backs and a pair of exposed blood-red fangs, making them look terrifying and ferocious.

"Oh no, Azure-Winged Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes!"

Wang Changsheng cried out inwardly, a hint of fear in his eyes.

Azure-Winged Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes are a unique type of demonic insect found in the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range. They are extremely sensitive to the smell of blood; legend has it that wherever these mosquitoes go, no living creature remains.

This swarm of Azure-Winged Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes numbered over a thousand, with the lead Mosquito King being a mid-grade second-tier demonic insect.

Wang Changsheng had only managed to kill the second-tier demonic python because it was already heavily wounded, its defenses greatly diminished. That was how he succeeded. With only a few spirit artifacts in hand, he didn't believe he could contend with a thousand Azure-Winged Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes.

Some of the Azure-Winged Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes swarmed the cultivators' corpses, tearing at them frantically, while most of them flew towards Wang Changsheng.

Seeing hundreds of bloodthirsty mosquitoes approach, Wang Changsheng's face changed. He quickly submerged himself in the water.

Protected by a water shield spell, he slowly sank to the bottom of the pool.

He took out a moonstone, which emitted a soft glow that illuminated an area of more than ten zhang around him as he slowly moved along the bottom of the pool.

Suddenly, Wang Changsheng spotted a faint light in the distance. Overjoyed, he moved towards it.

After about a quarter of an hour, Wang Changsheng surfaced. Before him was a stone cave spanning over a hundred zhang, with an expanse of stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Several moonstones were embedded in the cave walls.

To the left of the stone cave was a man-made stone chamber, with two stone doors, each over a zhang tall, lying on the ground.

Wang Changsheng released two puppet beasts and controlled them to go ahead.

The stone chamber was only about ten zhang in size. In the lower left corner were two black fruit trees, each over two zhang tall. One of the trees had six fist-sized black persimmons hanging from it.

"These are Black Luo Persimmons. It looks like they're ripe."

Wang Changsheng was delighted at the sight of the black persimmons on the tree.

Black Luo Persimmons are Yin-attribute spirit fruits, typically growing in dim caves, and taking a hundred years to bear fruit.

Wang Changsheng carefully noticed that the spiritual energy inside the stone chamber was much more abundant than outside, suggesting there might be a spiritual脉 here.

Wang Changsheng picked the six Black Luo Persimmons. Looking at the uneven stone chamber, his gaze shifted. He summoned two shimmering blue flying daggers and struck them against the stone wall.

Initially, there was no anomaly, but when one blue flying dagger struck a certain spot on the wall, a faint yellow light appeared.

"This is a formation!"

Wang Changsheng's expression grew somewhat excited. Stories of cultivators accidentally discovering the abandoned cave dwellings of seniors and subsequently making rapid progress in cultivation, becoming high-tier cultivators centuries later, were widely known in the cultivation world.

"Could it be that my opportunity has arrived?"

Wang Changsheng was secretly thrilled. He quickly controlled his spirit artifacts and puppet beasts to attack the yellow-glowing stone wall.

Before long, the yellow light dissipated, revealing a simple stone cave.

The two puppet beasts walked ahead, with Wang Changsheng following behind.

The stone cave was small, with a humanoid skeleton lying in the center. A yellow storage bag hung from its waist, and a simple circular stone door was to its right.

Wang Changsheng controlled a puppet beast to remove the storage bag from the skeleton's waist.

The contents were sparse: a dozen jade slips, two dimly glowing spirit artifacts, only a dozen spirit stones, a few changes of clothes, and several books.

Wang Changsheng was somewhat disappointed. It seemed this person was only a Qi Condensation stage cultivator in life, and the porcelain bottle was empty.

He examined the contents of the jade slips one by one. Besides three widely circulated cultivation techniques, the most useful items were several recipes for second-tier spiritual wine. He wondered how this person had obtained them.

Wang Changsheng carefully flipped through several books. In a classic titled "Zhou Yang's Travels," he found an account of this cultivator.

This cultivator's name was Zhou Yang. He came from a scholarly family in the mortal world and was still a scholar at thirty-two. By chance, he obtained a cultivation technique and became a cultivator almost by accident.

He entered the path of immortality too late and had poor aptitude, surviving by hunting demonic beasts.

During one such hunt, he encountered a flock of demonic birds and was forced to jump into a pool to escape. He discovered that the pool connected to a stone cave, where he excavated a stone chamber to cultivate. Unexpectedly, he found a malevolent pit containing a large amount of Earth Fiend Qi.

At that time, he was already at the peak of the seventh layer of Qi Condensation, at fifty-nine years old. He spent all his wealth to buy multiple bottles of elixirs, barely reaching the ninth layer of Qi Condensation before turning sixty. He then attempted to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage using the Earth Fiend Qi, but his cultivation had advanced too quickly, his foundation unstable, leading to his failure and demise.

The last two pages of the book mentioned the name of this Earth Fiend Qi: Kuiyuan True Fiend. It could slowly improve a cultivator's physique and accelerate their cultivation speed. Kuiyuan True Fiend was only suitable for cultivators who practiced Yin-attribute cultivation techniques.

Wang Changsheng's Cloud-Rain Art was a Yin-attribute cultivation technique, suitable for refining Kuiyuan True Fiend.

Wang Changsheng's heart pounded, filled with immense excitement.

He had expected nothing, but unexpectedly, there was a Fiend Pit here.

Wang Changsheng took a deep breath, slowly calming himself.

Foundation Establishment pills were the most effective, but given his aptitude, his chances of obtaining them from his family were low, and purchasing them from external sources was even less likely. This Kuiyuan True Fiend had the effect of improving physique, which was much better than a Foundation Establishment pill.

Thinking of this, Wang Changsheng looked towards the circular stone door.

The circular stone door had no restrictions; it was just an ordinary stone door. Wang Changsheng controlled two spirit blades and easily destroyed it.

A stone cave, about thirty zhang in size, appeared before Wang Changsheng. Inside the cave was a giant pit, about twenty zhang in size, filled with a dense expanse of shimmering blue mist, resembling a deep blue sea.

The jade slips left by Zhou Yang contained methods for collecting Earth Fiend Qi, as well as a vessel for holding it. Wang Changsheng first refined the vessel for the Earth Fiend Qi. Then, following Zhou Yang's instructions, he threw a palm-sized blue gourd into the air above the Fiend Pit. He rapidly formed hand seals, successively striking several incantations onto the blue gourd.

The blue gourd spun, its size expanding dramatically. Its mouth faced the Earth Fiend Qi below, and a powerful suction force emerged from thin air. The blue mist, as if guided by something, surged into the blue gourd.

After about a quarter of an hour, the blue mist vanished, and the blue gourd flew back into Wang Changsheng's hand.

Using Earth Fiend Qi to achieve Foundation Establishment had two drawbacks: the Earth Fiend Qi would continuously damage the cultivator's physical body, and if the fiend energy was not resolved, the cultivator would become a mindless monster. Additionally, the process of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage would damage the cultivator's meridians, causing extreme pain. Wang Changsheng could endure the pain. As for the damage to the physical body from the fiend energy, he could always seek out elixirs or treasures.

If it were other types of Earth Fiend Qi, Wang Changsheng might hesitate, but Kuiyuan True Fiend could slowly improve his physique and accelerate his cultivation speed. He felt that Kuiyuan True Fiend was tailor-made for him, and he had no reason to refuse.

Compared to his future path in immortality, the drawbacks of the Earth Fiend Qi were insignificant.

Zhou Yang's failure was due, firstly, to an unstable foundation, having advanced two minor realms within a year; and secondly, to not having enough spirit stones to buy elixirs for meridian repair, which led to his meridians rupturing and his death during his attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

Wang Changsheng returned to the location of the fruit trees, sat down, took out a Black Luo Persimmon, and took a bite.

The juice was sweet, and the flesh was plump. Soon, a massive surge of spiritual energy rose from his abdomen.

The spiritual energy contained in a hundred-year-old spirit fruit was immense. He dared not delay and quickly circulated his cultivation to refine it.

He stayed in the stone cave for half a month.

After refining the immense spiritual energy contained in four hundred-year-old spirit fruits, Wang Changsheng successfully advanced to the eighth layer of Qi Condensation.

After half a month, the Azure-Winged Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes should be gone.

Wang Changsheng cast the Earth Wall spell to block the entrance to the stone chamber, then cast a Water Shield spell on himself and jumped into the water.

Before long, Wang Changsheng emerged in the pool.

The bodies of several cultivators had disappeared, replaced by humanoid skeletons.

Wang Changsheng released his Azure-Scaled Horse and jumped onto its back.

The Azure-Scaled Horse unfurled its wings, flapped them gently, and ascended into the air, carrying Wang Changsheng towards the sky.

Soon, the man and beast disappeared into the horizon.