Chapter 422

Chapter 422: Sleepy Moon Ridge

In the Royal City of Great Summer, on Huangting Mountain.

This place has served as the trade center of the Wutu Continent for thousands of years, with profound depth and countless treasures traded here daily.

Talismans, alchemy, spiritual materials, exotic treasures, and ancient texts.

Li Hui managed to dispose of a large batch of materials in just one morning. He spent a bit longer dealing with some highly coveted herbs, but even that did not take more than a day.

Acquiring items was incredibly convenient; as long as one could afford the price, Huangting Mountain had everything.

Remarkably, his External Transformation could take the form of anyone he saw, without revealing any flaws. After a trial run, Li Hui began mass selling goods, transforming into countless figures to buy and sell!

After running for ten days, everything was finally settled.

He spent another five or six days drawing up a large number of treasure talismans to hand over to Jieyin. However, the latter took advantage: “Your Excellency, you have two incredibly powerful jade symbols, yet you still hold back the Jade Cicada Heavenly Chapter, Azure Cloud Ripple Bottle, and Daoist Jade Tablet? I’m preparing for a grand battle across the realms. The emperor won’t starve the soldiers; how can you bear to…”

“Get lost! If you keep talking, I’ll take back the Golden Shell and the Buddha’s Fruit.”

“Alright, I’m leaving! Your temper is too much,” Jieyin said, preparing to leave when he suddenly turned back, stretching out his hand. “Where’s the item? The Creating Heart Talisman drawn with outer domain demons?”

Li Hui stared in surprise: “You distracted me, and I almost forgot the main matter. With this talisman, we can make quick contact and even project our spiritual senses across to the other side. I must commend the demon lair; they actually found a way to decompose and transform outer domain demons, allowing spiritual senses to descend like those demons with just a slight modification.”

“Understood, see you later!” Jieyin beamed as he took his share of the Creating Heart Talisman and ran off quickly.

After tidying up, Li Hui sealed his cave, refusing outside visitors. He planned to elevate his cultivation to the Bosa Stage, bring his Ideal Body to the corresponding level, and aim to reach the seventh step of mastery with his profound qi…

In the blink of an eye, it was June 19th.

Under the dark moon, the people of Great Summer and the evil spirits had adjusted to the moon’s presence. Those who needed to build defenses were fortifying, while those who sought blood and food were searching, both sides gathering strength, waiting for a change in fortune.

Two hundred miles north of Kunlu City stood a flat-topped mountain extending outward into mountain ranges, always shrouded in mist. In the past, this area had unmarked graves and a mass burial ground. Now, it was filled with evil winds, ghostly mists, and occasional chilling cries, creating a sinister atmosphere.

Phantom Mountain, in earlier days, caused shivers among passing migration convoys; now, it had effectively transformed into a forbidden zone, with even accomplished practitioners hesitant to step foot.

Yet today, a convoy appeared.

Twenty-eight blood-red carriages lined up in a row, leaving deep tracks in the ground, indifferent to the increasingly cold atmosphere, moving forward with eerie calmness, undisturbed.

The convoy seemed to travel slowly but quickly left the surroundings behind, soon reaching the foot of the mountain. Surprisingly, there appeared a grand mountain gate that hadn’t been there before, inscribed with the three characters “Sleepy Moon Ridge.”

“This is truly bizarre! When did Phantom Mountain turn into Sleepy Moon Ridge? And it even has a mountain gate! Is this a sect or a ghostly trap?”

Suddenly, the convoy and the mountain gate vanished, appearing and disappearing in a supernatural manner.

Li Hui frowned, stepping out from the shadows to look at the spot where the tracks disappeared, muttering, “Such a clever technique! It hides the boundary between yin and yang; without seeing it with my own eyes, I could never have sensed it with my spiritual sense.”

With the Creating Heart Talisman, he could assume control of his External Transformation at any time. However, without Bai Ze’s divine eye, he could only scan with his ordinary spiritual sense. Even with the exceptional Divine Bird Technique and the heavenly marrow worm, he had only recently formed his Dao Body and needed time to strengthen his cultivation.

“The two realms of yin and yang? Taking a step forward leads to the underworld. Although still within the Phantom Mountain domain, it’s like flipping a coin from heads to tails.”

“Let’s go; even if it’s the Den of Dragons and Tigers, I’ll charge in today.” With that, Li Hui stepped through the mountain gate, only to suddenly encounter ghostly claws.

No mountain gate allows casual entry, so even though the ghostly claws appeared abruptly, he was mentally prepared and immediately suppressed them.

“Diamond Zen Staff Chant!”

“Clang, clang, clang, clang…” Buddhist light gathered into a Zen staff, continuously striking the ghostly claws. For every ghostly claw, there was a Zen staff.

Looking up, he saw a vast, hazy mountain before him, with a torrent of dark water flowing from an unknown source, cascading down into nine blackish-purple waterfalls that converged at various points on the mountain to form the Xuan Yin Pool.

Countless vengeful souls, angry spirits, and evil ghosts were embedded in the mountainside, clawing and roaring, bound and unable to escape. Don’t be fooled; restraints are not good—a longer confinement only strengthens these ghouls, clearly building up their power.

His spiritual sense swept in but quickly dispersed.

“This is Sleepy Moon Ridge? Who knows how many evil beings it harbors, unfathomable.” Li Hui quickly retreated, turning to leave the area.

“Bold…” an angry roar sounded from behind, with terrifying power chasing after him, but with a flash of light, there was no longer a trace.

Did Li Hui flee? No, he raced toward the main road of Great Summer.

Along the main road, many black towers were erected, each time the dark moon appeared; the tower tops absorbed dark energy autonomously. Every two months, Ten Thousand Gu Sect practitioners would take the dark energy jars from the tops of the towers back to their sect to cultivate dark gu.

Rumor has it that every 999 bug worms thrown into the dark energy to battle would yield one king gu. And from 99,999 Xuan Yin king gu’s guaranteed kill, one extreme yin gu would arise, and finally, the battle and devouring of nine extreme yin gu could create one Yang gu.

A voice echoed in his mind: “Your Excellency, that’s right! I have the Impermanence Worm in hand; if I don’t use all this dark energy to cultivate a few Yang gu, it would be a waste.”

“Exactly! The dark energy here in Sleepy Moon Ridge is too rich. We need two dark energy jars to set a talisman formation with storage talismans, then use the Heavenly and Earthly Arrays to attract the dark energy here—it can hold a hundred to a thousand times the dark energy. The universe breeds everything to nourish talismans; even if it’s the underworld, I will still cultivate talisman gu.”

“Talisman gu?”

“Indeed! Construct spirit talismans using the Impermanence Worm as a foundation. These spirit insects are suitable for nurturing with various spiritual energies; even dark energy and demonic energy aren’t a problem. Moreover, they are naturally combative and breed quickly. Using the Time-Flowing Talisman to accelerate the bug worms’ battling and devouring should yield some Yang gu.”

“Hehe, in short, this Impermanence Worm is like a universal solution.”

Li Hui moved swiftly, casting two spatial retrieval talismans from a distance.

With two loud “bangs,” he acquired the cocoon-shaped dark energy jars. The real challenge was setting up storage talismans and the talisman formation for breeding and battling the Impermanence Worms. He also needed to use them to make talismans, requiring intricate design. Fortunately, Jieyin had brought most of their belongings, so these expenses were nothing.

Li Hui applied the Time-Flowing Talisman to his transformation, sitting on the ground to accelerate the flow of time. About three incense sticks later, he quickly stood up and bolted toward Phantom Mountain, fearing that delays would bring unexpected changes.

“Boom…” The mountain gate shattered as Li Hui made his return.