This place really isn’t as scary as I was expecting it to be.
After finishing his conversation with Elder Yuanlei a few days ago, Mo Duan had immediately set out to the Vanishing Mist Woods. He had several goals while there, such as gathering valuable Spiritual Plants, testing his abilities against the Three-Headed Venomous Storm Serpent, and making progress on his investigation into the wood’s abnormalities.
Despite the fact that Mo Duan had inherited his predecessor’s memories, a part of him had expected something a bit more ominous from the local haunted forest. The Vanishing Mist Woods had claimed the lives of several cultivators before people had wised up enough to stay away, and was generally considered to be extremely dangerous.
However, the only thing that Mo Duan could really feel was a surprising sense of serenity and peace that he found difficult to achieve while he was in the Verdant Valleys Sect.
While it was true that Mo Duan mostly felt like a disassociated third party when looking at his predecessor's memories, it would be a lie to say that he had not been affected by them at all. The man had lived a violence-filled life of perpetual danger and paranoia, where any nearby person could potentially attack him at any sudden moment.
There was so much about this world that he didn’t truly know or understand, so Mo Duan frequently found himself needing to rely on his predecessor’s understanding so that he wouldn’t get himself killed. An understanding that had been formed from growing up as a demonic cultivator in the Shadowed Isles, a lawless chain of islands to the east that was much more chaotic and dangerous than the Celestial Jade Empire.
It was because of these memories that Mo Duan found it difficult for him to completely let his guard down while in the sect.
The Vanishing Mist Woods on the other hand was not only filled with dense wood Qi, but it was completely empty of cultivators. Of course, Mo Duan would have to be careful of the deadly Spiritual Beasts that inhabited the woods, but they were a much more straightforward threat when compared to cultivators. Even if they were much more intelligent than normal animals, their actions were fairly easy to predict.
Mo Duan paused in his musings as he felt his surroundings suddenly shift.
To all of his senses, it didn’t seem like anything had changed at all, but Mo Duan was still able to tell that his surroundings had inexplicably shifted. If he wasn’t able to sense the spirits of the plants around him then he would have almost certainly failed to notice anything and would have ended up getting lost.
These woods really want to kill me, huh?
Despite this, Mo Duan found himself completely unconcerned as he simply turned back in the correct direction and continued on his way.
It was strange that walking through the deadly woods was the first time that Mo Duan could truly feel himself relax since he woke up in a new world. He could feel a sense of wonder grow in him as he observed the surrounding plant life and their spirits. Many of them had managed to develop rudimentary instincts thanks to their Qi-rich environment and were reacting to his presence.
Most of them were attracted to his powerful wood Qi and were instinctually doing their best to seek his attention. Many of these Spiritual Plants subtly bent toward him, released sweet scents, or changed into beautiful colors as he passed them by. They understood that if Mo Duan decided to supply them continuously with his Qi, then they would grow at a much faster pace than they currently were.
However, a few of the Spiritual Plants that had managed to develop slightly more complex minds were doing their utmost to hide away from him. They knew that a cultivator would be far more interested in digging them up and turning them into alchemical materials than nurturing them.
Mo Duan could feel a small smile grow on his face and he allowed his stoic immortal’s facade to fade away. He let out a chuckle as one such plant caught his attention, a rather innocuous bush that was trying its hardest to suppress its Qi and avoid his attention.
Mo Duan walked over to the bush and didn’t hesitate to reach into it and search for the treasure that it was trying to conceal. The bush immediately ceased its attempts to hide as its leaves turned fleshly and shifted their shape into something vaguely resembling hands.
While the Grasping Hands Bush did its best to drag him down to the floor, Mo Duan channeled Qi into his muscles and ignored it. The Demonic Plant would have probably succeeded to drag down a cultivator in the Early Foundation Establishment stage, but Mo Duan was simply too strong for it to do anything.
After a few moments, Mo Duan let out a satisfied hum once he found his target and pulled it out of the bush’s grasp.
The spirit of the Grasping Hands Bush let out the equivalent of a mournful cry, but Mo Duan didn’t pay it any mind. This particular Demonic Plant would not hesitate to pull cultivators into its grasp and devour them whole if it had the capability to do so.
Even if this’ll only sell for a Mid-Grade Spiritual Stone, beggars can’t be choosers. My funds are starting to run low after all that spending I did, so I can’t afford to complain.
Mo Duan studied the fruit of the Grasping Hands Bush; it was about the size of an apple and had a sort of fleshy texture that reminded him of a mushroom.
After only a moment of hesitation, Mo Duan took a bite of the fruit, careful to avoid the seed at its center that was its source of value.
How strange… it has the texture of a mushroom, but it’s as sweet as a strawberry.
Mo Duan quickly placed the seed in his spatial ring and once again began making his way toward the territory of the Three-Headed Venomous Storm Serpent. The seed of the Grasping Hands Bush was usually used to create weak elixirs that temporarily increased a person’s hand-eye coordination. Even if the elixir was rather a niche one, it was fairly popular among the disciples at the Hall of Talismans, so it sold for a decent price.
Several other Spiritual Plants managed to catch Mo Duan’s attention as he passed through the woods. Many of them had fruits that were either unripened, or they would not be able to survive being harvested, so Mo Duan chose to leave them alone. However, there were still more than enough that fit his criteria for him to gather many valuable Spiritual Plants.
Honestly, it felt obscene to Mo Duan that he was capable of making enough money to feed a small village just by taking a casual walk through the woods; that more than anything displayed to Mo Duan the value of being a powerful cultivator. It was thanks to both his strength and his unchallenged monopoly over the Vanishing Mist Woods that he could gather such valuable Spiritual Plants so easily.
I could really get used to this.
By the time Mo Duan had reached the edges of the Thee-Headed Venomous Storm Serpent’s territory, he had managed to find several Spiritual Plants that could greatly benefit some of his disciples. Once he was there, however, Mo Duan ceased paying any attention to the Spiritual Plants around him and focused entirely on the battle ahead.
Even if he knew that the serpent was significantly weaker than him, Mo Duan had absolutely no intention of underestimating it. His predecessor’s memories were filled with examples of people dying to those that were weaker than them simply because they became overconfident. That didn’t even count the fact that this would be Mo Duan’s first real experience with combat.
He had long since verified that he had inherited all of his predecessor’s abilities and also his muscle memories, but there was no way for Mo Duan to know how he would perform in a dangerous situation until he was placed in one.
Mo Duan took closed his eyes and took a moment to settle his nerves.
I just need to calm down and remember why I’m doing this, and it's not like I’ll be able to avoid fighting forever when I live in a world as violent as this one.
Besides, although Mo Duan primarily needed to deal with the serpent due to his deal with Elder Yuanlei, this was also a good chance for him to satiate the… needs that came with his demonic cultivation method.
Hunger. Curiosity. Confusion.
Mo Duan could feel it practically writhing beneath his skin, growing restless now that he was actively thinking about it.
Seeing no reason to continue hesitating, Mo Duan quickly cast a cultivation technique that would help hide his presence from the serpent. Slowly, Mo Duan’s Qi began shifting to match that of the surrounding woods, his scent became no different from that of a plant, and every breath he took sounded like leaves drifting in the breeze.
The senses of a Core Formation Spiritual Beast were absurdly sharp, so all of this would be necessary if he didn’t want it to immediately notice him.
He would still need to avoid stepping on twigs, and there wasn’t much that Mo Duan could do to fool its eyes, but neither of those was very important. Almost every cultivator was trained in martial arts, so sneaking around like a ninja was well within his capabilities.
With that done, Mo Duan stepped into the serpent's territory and started sneaking his way to its approximate location.
According to what Elder Yuanlei had told him, the Three-Headed Venomous Storm Serpent preferred to live in the highest tree in its territory so that it could absorb lightning strikes during storms to feed its cultivation. Unless it was out hunting, finding the creature should be as simple as walking into the center of its territory and searching for the tallest tree.
It didn’t take long for Mo Duan to find the tallest tree and for Elder Yuanlei’s words to be proven true when he spotted his target coiled around the top of a massive tree.
It had a long, sinuous body covered in dark scales that Mo Duan knew were many times harder than steel. Its most striking feature was obviously its three heads, each of which contained large fangs filled with venom potent enough to paralyze a Core Formation cultivator. The creature was about as large as a bus, and Mo Duan could see tiny sparks of electricity continuously jolting across its scales.
Even from where he was, Mo Duan could still distinctly smell the scent of ozone.
He wasn’t able to feel the serpent directly with his spiritual sense without alerting it, but he knew that it was exuding a powerful sense of oppression. As a Spiritual Beast that had managed to make it to the Core Formation stage, the three-headed serpent was absolutely qualified to consider itself an apex predator in its area.
Its presence alone was enough that weaker beasts would not dare to casually approach it, which was likely why it was paying so little attention to its surroundings.
Mo Duan studied the snake for a moment and felt a faint pity that he needed to kill it. The three-headed serpent must have fought many life-and-death battles and struggled hard to reach its level of cultivation.
If it actually ever succeeded in surpassing the Core Formation stage, then it would likely have developed a complex enough soul to become sapient.
Though, it’s unlikely that it would have ever managed to reach that point.
Mo Duan steeled his heart and began making preparations to ambush the serpent while it was still unaware. One of the few things that he and his predecessor agreed about was that there was little point in fighting fair.
With a wave of his hand, Mo Duan retrieved his predecessor’s favored weapon from his spatial ring.
A cultivator’s choice of weapon varied significantly depending on a wide variety of factors, but certain spirit roots were generally well-suited for specific kinds of weapons. For example, it was not a coincidence that almost all of the greatest swordmasters in the world possessed a metal spirit root.
Mo Duan’s predecessor had trained extensively in the most popular melee weapon among cultivators with wood roots, the staff.
It turns out that when a cultivator could manipulate wood as they please, one of the best weapons that they could use was simply a long stick carved out of Spiritual Wood.
Mo Duan studied the weapon that his predecessor had used to great effect throughout his life.
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The staff was about six feet long, or as long as Mo Duan was tall, and was a dark crimson color that reminded him of blood. The weapon exuded an aura of baleful malevolence that would have almost certainly alerted the serpent had Mo Duan not been making efforts to hide it.
I suppose I’ve stalled long enough.
Before he could lose his resolve, Mo Duan set his staff to the side and used a cultivation technique that formed a wooden spear in his hand. After taking a moment to sharpen and strengthen the spear as much as possible, Mo Duan channeled Qi into his muscles, took aim, and threw the spear with his full strength.
The spear immediately caused a thunderclap of sound as it shattered the sound barrier and hurtled through the air toward the unsuspecting Spiritual Beast.
Displaying the terrifying speed and awareness of a Core Formation stage Spiritual Beast, the serpent almost immediately detected the incoming missile and nearly succeeded in dodging the super-sonic projectile.
Nearly.
Mo Duan watched in satisfaction as the spear pierced through the serpent's scales and buried itself into the creature’s side.
Releasing a deafening hiss filled with anger and pain, all three of the serpent's heads turned to glare at Mo Duan, assessing the cultivator that had dared to enter its territory and injure it.
At this point, Mo Duan was no longer suppressing his power, which meant that the serpent was easily able to sense that he was a Late Core Formation stage cultivator. If they were anywhere else, the Spiritual Beast would almost undoubtedly be attempting to flee from such a superior foe, but Mo Duan knew that Spiritual Beasts did not abandon their territories so easily.
Besides, if it managed to defeat him, then Mo Duan’s corpse would provide a sizable boost to the serpent's cultivation.
It was for these reasons that the beast hesitated for only a moment before curling its body into a spring and launching itself at Mo Duan from the top of the tree.
As it flew through the air with shocking speed, Mo Duan didn’t hesitate to use the environment to his advantage. The woods came alive as trees tried to use their branches to swat the Spiritual Beast from the air, countless razor-sharp leaves attempted to pierce through its scales, and the spear still buried into its side grew thorns and buried itself deeper into the serpent’s side.
The serpent cried out in pain as it used its immense strength to plow through the obstructions, though not without suffering injury. All of this happened within the space of the few seconds it took for the serpent to close the distance between it and Mo Duan.
As soon as it got close, the serpent summoned a dark cloud around its body that crackled with lightning and obscured its movements. Its three heads immediately began lunging at Mo Duan from multiple different angles, intent on filling him with their venom and tearing him to pieces.
The next few minutes were a blur of movement as Mo Duan used his staff to fight off the swift attacks that were coming his way. He quickly found himself controlled by his body’s well-honed instincts, dodging and sticking in ways that he would have never thought possible.
As their battle moved them through the woods, the two of them left a path of devastation in their wake.
The three-headed serpent used the lack of visibility caused by its storm cloud to attack Mo Duan from many oblique angles, but its efforts proved useless. Not only was he simply faster than the serpent, but he could also use the malleable nature of his staff to attack in unexpected ways of his own.
This went on for several minutes before Mo Duan decided to disengage.
It's good to know that I can fight up close, but I’d really rather not.
As soon as Mo Duan saw an opportunity, he shifted his staff into a long vine that he used to wrap around the Spiritual Beast and hurl it into the distance. Before it could recover and close the distance, Mo Duan melded himself into a tree and disappeared from sight.
The three-headed serpent looked around in confusion before it managed to sense him reappearing some distance away.
Mo Duan considered his ability to seamlessly transport himself between any tree that was within his spiritual sense to be his greatest asset in a wooded environment, and he intended to make full use of it.
Although the three-headed serpent was absurdly fast, there was little that it could do once Mo Duan decided to keep a distance. It would usually rely on its speed and impressive defense to outlast enemies that were more mobile, but Mo Duan simply had a higher level of cultivation that such tactics couldn’t overcome.
Eventually, the snake began to grow exhausted as it was worn down by an unrelenting wave of attacks that it could not defend against. Wooden spears, branches, and sharpened leaves gradually wore it down until the Spiritual Beast was almost completely covered in injuries.
It might have had some hope of survival if it had fought Mo Duan in any other environment, but it was simply at too large of a disadvantage.
Hunger. Anticipation. Impatience.
Mo Duan let out a grunt of annoyance before deciding that he had tested his strength enough.
The next time that the Spiritual Beast charged at him, hatred and desperation in its eyes, Mo Duan calmly stood his ground as an intense demonic aura began emanating from him. The snake was far too furious to notice the change and did not hesitate to lunge at Mo Duan as soon as it was close.
Just before it could finally sink its fangs into the troublesome cultivator that had invaded its territory, numerous blood-red vines emerged from Mo Duan’s body and wrapped themselves around the Spiritual Beast.
Mo Duan watched as his demonic bloodvines engulfed the weakened serpent, piercing it with countless thorns that quickly devoured its blood and Qi. Its dying struggles were violent enough to shake the earth, but Mo Duan was not particularly worried.
Instead, the only thing that concerned him as the Spiritual Beast took its final breath was how completely unbothered he had been throughout the entire fight.
I didn’t think these memories were affecting me all that much, but maybe I’m wrong about that…
It wasn’t long before the Three-Headed Venomous Storm Serpent was left as nothing more than an exsanguinated husk, and Mo Duan’s demonic bloodvines were writhing their way back where they came. He could tell that the vines had been satiated after eating the Core Formation beast.
Satisfaction.
Even by the standards of demonic cultivators, Mo Duan’s cultivation method was a decidedly strange one.
The Demonic Sublimation Method was a method that allowed Mo Duan to absorb a Demonic Plant into his own body and acquire its specific abilities. The one that he had inherited from his predecessor was known as the Vampiric Bloodvine.
This Demonic Plant was carnivorous and would further its cultivation by trapping powerful creatures in its grasp and slowly drinking them dry, sometimes over the course of years. Mo Duan’s predecessor had decided to mimic this plant and frequently kidnapped cultivators with pure wood spirit roots in order to increase his own cultivation. These cultivators would be devoured by the bloodvines and their spirit roots would be harvested.
Easy access to vulnerable cultivators with pure wood spirit roots was one of the man’s motivations for joining the Verdant Valley Sect, although not the primary one.
Because Mo Duan’s Demonic Plant lived completely within his body, it was not too difficult for him to hide the fact that he was a demonic cultivator. It was a fairly powerful method and Mo Duan would not mind continuing to use it, if not for the fact that he would need to rely on pseudo-cannibalism to further his cultivation.
Mo Duan turned his attention back to the dead serpent and placed the corpse in his spatial ring. Harvesting its venom glands properly was delicate work, so it would be best to bring it back to someone who had a better idea of what they were doing. Once that was done, Mo Duan began making his way into the deeper parts of the woods.
Now all I have left to do here is to do a little investigating, and then I can head back to my valley.
Luckily, Mo Duan already had a decent idea of where to start. According to his memories, there was a strange multi-colored flower that grew deep in the Vanishing Mist Woods.
It was strange primarily because Mo Duan did not recognize it at all, and there were no records of it in the sect’s archives. Given that he had a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of Demonic and Spiritual Plants, that was no small feat.
Once he got his hands on one, Mo Duan intended to hand over the multi-colored flower to Elder Yuanlei and let the scholars handle the problem of discovering what it was.
Mo Duan already had enough problems on his hands.
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Ling Jun channeled Qi into his muscles as he lifted the filled buckets from the river and began making his way back home.
Ling Jun used to need both hands to carry a single bucket, but now he could easily hold one in each hand. He had always known that reaching the Qi Condensation stage would increase his strength significantly, but it was still amazing to feel it for himself.
As he walked, Ling Jun took a moment to examine the new faces that had come to the valley. A pair of older disciples were examining the village and quietly discussing between themselves.
According to rumors, Elder Mo had made a visit to Spirits Rest Valley a few days ago and posted several missions at the Hall of Administration, a few of which were for the construction of new facilities for his valley. Those rumors were validated this morning when a pair of disciples arrived to survey the valley in preparation for future construction.
The entire valley was talking about it and many of the disciples were feeling excited and hopeful for the future.
Ling Jun thought that things were moving along pretty fast, but he was glad to see it.
If he was going to be stuck in Tranquil Garden Valley, then he would prefer that it actually have some decent infrastructure.
“Hey, kid!”
Ling Jun groaned in annoyance as one of the valley's most annoying disciples began running over to him.
“Can I help you, Senior Xiao?” said Ling Jun, not bothering to stop walking as the older disciple approached him.
Was it disrespectful to treat an older disciple like that? Probably, but Ling Jun didn’t particularly care.
“Kid, where were you yesterday? Me and Xue Chenying were giving advice to the new disciples, but I didn’t see you there,” said Xiao Li, falling into step beside Ling Jun.
“I’m grateful for your concern, Senior Xiao, but I spent most of yesterday cultivating,” said Ling Jun. While most of his peers might benefit from a little bit of advice, Ling Jun had already been given a robust education about cultivation.
“Uh-huh, and you’re sure it's not because a fancy little noble like you doesn’t feel like he has anything to learn from his seniors?” Xiao Li said doubtfully.
That was a good example of why Ling Jun considered Xiao Li to be one of the most annoying disciples in the valley. He was entirely too blunt, didn’t know how to mind his own business, and was unexpectedly perceptive.
As one of the valley’s older disciples, Elder Mo had instructed Xiao Li to do everything that he could to help the newly arriving disciples, and he had taken it to heart.
Likely because he’s desperate for more Spirit Stones, Ling Jun thought unkindly.
“Would I be wrong to believe so?” asked Ling Jun as he set the water-filled buckets down by his lodgings and turned to the older disciple. “I’ve already managed to reach the Qi Condensation stage while most of my peers still haven’t even begun to sense Qi. I almost certainly know more about cultivation than any of them, so why would I waste my time listening to things I already know when I could be cultivating instead?”
Although Ling Jun was the kind of person to be respectful to those that he respected, he had never seen the need to hide his thoughts from those whom he didn’t. People could whine and call him arrogant as much as they wanted, but it did nothing to change reality.
Ling Jun was surprised that instead of becoming angry, Xiao Li simply sneered and responded to him in a mocking tone, “If you had actually attended our little lecture yesterday, then you would have known that it had nothing to do with cultivation. It mostly had to do with that bracelet around your wrist.”
Ling Jun could feel his eyes widen and his face begin to heat up as he looked down at his wrist.
He had completely forgotten about the bracelets that the Hall Master had given all the disciples during the selection ceremony. The Hall Master had told them then that its functions would be explained later, but it seemed like Ling Jun had missed that explanation in favor of cultivating.
Stupid!
He had no doubt that the bracelet was extremely important given that every disciple had one, and he was already regretting his decision. Just as Ling Jun started thinking about how to convince the older disciple to offer him that explanation, Xiao Li’s expression seemed to soften.
“I can see you understand that you messed up, kid,” said Xiao Li, letting out a sigh. “Don’t worry, I’ll explain things to you. Just don’t think you’re too good to learn from your seniors in the future, okay? You would’ve been pretty screwed if nobody told you how to use that thing..”
As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Ling Jun couldn’t help but feel relieved, “I will take your words to heart, Senior Xiao.”
“Good,” said Xiao Li, nodding in satisfaction. “Now listen closely. I don’t want to go over this a third time.”
Ling Jun did indeed listen closely as Xiao Li explained the many functions of the bracelets. Apparently, they were a Spirit Tool that would allow the sect to know the locations of their disciples, monitor their health, and serve as proof of identity. If the disciple managed to get lost during a mission outside of the sect, then the bracelets were the most reliable method that the Verdant Valley Sect had for tracking them down. Not only that, but the disciples could also use the bracelets to call for help.
However, its most important function was to serve as a jade slip that contained updated information about the sect’s available missions.
“That’s amazing, how do they do that?” Ling Jun asked with wide eyes.
“How should I know? The important thing is that it works,” said Xiao Li. “Go ahead and try it now. All you need to do is put in a bit of your Qi. Elder Mo registered a bunch of new missions with the Hall of Administration; you should take a look.”
Ling Jun did as he was told and the mission information was immediately projected into his mind. As he looked, Ling Jun noticed that there were many missions that were exclusive to members of his valley. Most of them required a higher level of cultivation than Ling Jun currently had, but there were still a few that could be taken by new disciples.
However, all of them seemed to offer rewards that were far more generous than he had expected.
Ling Jun eyed one in particular that rewarded a wood-based cultivation technique that could be used during the Qi Condensation stage. In order to complete it, Ling Jun would need to survey Tranquil Garden Valley and record any interesting plants that grew in it.
The mission wasn’t dangerous since it was entirely in the sect, but it would likely be tedious.
But… that would be good information to know, especially for my Woodland Dominion Method. Plus I could use that technique.
“Did you manage to get it working?” asked Xiao Li, dragging Ling Jun away from his thoughts.
“Yes I did, senior,” Ling Jun said gratefully.
“Good. Then I guess I’m done here. Elder Mo promised to give a lecture on cultivation to the entire valley once he returned, do your best not to miss it,” said Xiao Li, turning to leave as soon as he finished speaking.
“I won't,” Ling Jun said honestly as Xiao Li left, picking up the buckets and making his way into his lodgings. He had some chores that needed to be done.
Elder Mo was the one who had accurately seen his potential and given him the Woodland Dominion Method, so he had absolutely no intention of missing his lessons. In fact, he was looking forward to it seeing what the Elder had planned for them.