Qi Zhiheng wanted to see the stream in the town and why it gave him this feeling.
The twelve people first wandered around the town at random, and then were led by Qi Zhiheng to the stream.
Qi Zhiheng casually scooped up a handful of stream water. The coolness of the water seeped through his skin. He gently sniffed it; it had no particular smell, and the color was perfectly clear. There was really nothing special about its appearance.
When he probed the water with his divine sense, he did not feel the same sensation of being swallowed by soul power as he had in the previous two days. From these points, he could be certain that this was a very ordinary stream.
Or, what changes will occur at night?
Qi Zhiheng stood up, looked upstream of the stream, and asked, "Is the upstream of this stream the mountain range that leads to this town?"
He didn't specify who he was asking, and Wu Yinyin replied, "Yes, Uncle-Master, this stream flows out from the mountains."
Qi Zhiheng nodded and said, "If we don't find anything today, we'll go into the mountains tomorrow."
Qi Zhiheng had some guesses. The stream was normal during the day, so would it change at night? He decided to come out again tonight to check the situation.
Originally, he didn't intend to get too involved after coming along, and wanted Yang Yitian to make the decision himself. However, now that he has encountered something that can enhance his soul power, his thoughts have changed to some extent.
After a symbolic search of the town, the group headed back home.
That night, Qi Zhiheng told Yang Yitian to look after the disciples of the Slaughtering God Sect for the time being, and then he went out.
Yang Yitian didn't ask any further questions, only telling him to come back as soon as he found out what he needed.
After agreeing, Qi Zhiheng went to the stream he had visited during the day.
The night breeze was a bit chilly, but it had no effect on cultivators; it was easy to overlook. Fortunately, Qi Zhiheng was there to investigate, so he was very attentive to even the slightest change in seating arrangements.
This slightly chilling sensation felt like the wind had penetrated directly to the bone, ignoring the skin, like... something filthy, like a ghost. But strangely, there was a chilling coldness here, but no evil energy.
Qi Zhiheng's attention returned to the stream. The stream was still the same as it had been during the day, without the element he had previously sensed that could enhance soul power. At this moment, he couldn't help but wonder if he had truly misunderstood, and if the real thing that enhanced his soul power had nothing to do with this stream?
As he was thinking this, the stream flowing downstream underwent a change. A hazy mist seemed to float on the surface of the water, and that mist was moving towards him along the direction of the stream.
Qi Zhiheng's heart skipped a beat. What exactly was this mist? He threw a ball of spiritual energy at it, wanting to test the mist's authenticity. The ball of spiritual energy drew a graceful arc and focused on the target, but the mist seemed to have never existed before. After the attack landed, it passed through the mist and hit the water's surface, causing the originally flowing water to splash and then return to calm. The whole process was as if it ignored the white mist. Clearly, the white mist had no substance.
Thinking of the surrounding yin energy, Qi Zhiheng made some guesses. He condensed another ball of spiritual energy in his hand. This ball of spiritual energy, along with the previous Tu Tong, transformed the gray mist into a ball of light-attribute spiritual energy in his hand. He flicked it lightly, and the light-attribute energy lightly struck the ball of white mist. At this moment, the ball of white mist could no longer maintain its previous indifference and made a "plop" sound, just like a red-hot iron being put into water.
This experiment can be considered a positive proof of Qi Zhiheng's conjecture: the white mist may be a wisp of ghosts, but it is a pure ghost, as innocent and pure as a baby that has just started to cry, without any karmic obstacles.
Qi Zhiheng narrowed his eyes. Yin spirits, these are good things for enhancing soul power, especially yin spirits without memories or consciousness, they are a great tonic for him.
Just as the white mist was about to reach him, Qi Zhiheng swallowed it, and his soul power made some progress.
Qi Zhiheng was very satisfied, but where did this ghost come from? It came from upstream, which is in the mountain range where the incident occurred. So, is there something in that mountain range?
Qi Zhiheng originally intended to go into the mountains to take a look, but then he remembered that Yang Yitian was still waiting for him at Master Huang's house, so he temporarily put aside his plan and went back to discuss it with Yang Yitian first.
After returning, Qi Zhiheng described what he had encountered that day and explained that there might be something in the valley that could be beneficial to him.
Yang Yitian said with some worry, "Could it be bait released by some kind of demonic beast? Didn't the previous earthquake say that a demonic beast at the Golden Core stage appeared? I think that's quite possible."
Qi Zhiheng shook his head and said, "I'm saying those things are good for me, but only for me. For others, these ghosts are useless, so they shouldn't be bait."
Yang Yitian retorted, "That's not necessarily true. Maybe he's targeting fish like you, which are special. Others might not think much of this white mist, but people like you are different."
Qi Zhiheng pondered for a moment and said, "What you said is not wrong, but we have to go into the mountains eventually. If we don't go in, how can we complete the mission?"
Yang Yitian reluctantly agreed, and early the next morning, he gave the order for Wu Yinyin and Sun Zhong to lead the way into the mountains.
Wu Yinyin and Sun Zhong had been here once before with the team, so they knew the way to enter the valley well. However, they did not take the path that went up the stream, but a path that was a bit further away.
Qi Zhiheng interrupted, "Did you take this same road last time?"
Wu Yinyin replied, "Uncle-Master, this is the same road we took last time."
Qi Zhiheng waved his hand and said, "Let's take another route and follow the stream upstream."
Sun Zhong asked with some confusion, "Uncle-Master, why is that? We've traveled this road twice already, so we're more familiar with it and there shouldn't be as much trouble, right?"
Qi Zhiheng said, "You've already gone twice without any results. Going again will be futile. Maybe you'll find something if you try a different route."
The ten disciples of the Slaughtering God Sect looked at each other, not agreeing much with this statement. They, as Foundation Establishment cultivators, might not be able to find anything, but it was uncertain what would happen if a Golden Core cultivator were to investigate.
However, they were all at the Foundation Establishment stage and didn't dare to refute a Golden Core cultivator. If that Golden Core cultivator was also someone who cared about his reputation, then they would have offended him.
So, on Qi Zhiheng's advice, the group changed direction and headed towards the stream.
Qi Zhiheng arrived at the stream. The stream looked exactly the same as it had yesterday, with nothing particularly special about it. He led his men upstream.
After walking for a while, some small waterfalls appeared above the stream, and the path became much more difficult to traverse.
However, it was no big deal in the eyes of cultivators; they easily entered the outer perimeter of the mountain range.
However, the source of this stream is still some distance away; at least Qi Zhiheng could not see the end within the range of his soul power.
Even at the edge of the inner perimeter, their troops still encountered no attacks.
Yang Yitian smiled with satisfaction and said, "It seems we've come on the right track. We haven't encountered any attacks here."
That's a fact, but whether it's because they chose the right path or because there were two Golden Core cultivators in the team is hard to say.
"You said there were Golden Core demon beasts here before, who said that?" Yang Yitian wandered around for a while. The demon beasts in this mountain range were not of high level. With Yang Yitian and Qi Zhiheng's auras around, those low-level demon beasts did not dare to approach at all, which saved them a lot of trouble on their way here.
Wu Yinyin said, "This was reported by the rogue cultivators outside. They said that due to the earthquake, a demonic beast had run out and was eating people. At first, it didn't get much attention, so when we came over, we found that the opponent was a bit troublesome, so we classified the demonic beast as a Golden Core level demonic beast."
Qi Zhiheng calmly asked, "So, no one is certain it's a demonic beast, and no one is certain it's a Golden Core demonic beast? It's all based on guesses from the participating cultivators?"
“That’s right.” Wu Yinyin probably also thought that such an investigation was a bit far-fetched, but they were misled at the beginning and then confused by the actual attack. No one thought of the possibility that it was not a demon beast.
Just then, Qi Zhiheng suddenly became alert!
"Ah!" Sun Zhong in the group suddenly screamed, clutching his stomach, "Attack!"
Qi Zhiheng stopped in his tracks. He had just entered the inner perimeter when he encountered them. He said to them, "Be careful. I can't sense their presence either."
The disciples of the Slaughtering God Sect immediately tensed up. How could they not be nervous when even a Golden Core cultivator couldn't handle someone? One by one, they unleashed their spiritual energy to prepare for the upcoming battle.
Qi Zhiheng said to Sun Zhong, "Let me see your wound."
Sun Zhong released his hand from his stomach. Apart from his clothes being a little wet, he had no other injuries.
Qi Zhiheng couldn't see anything through the clothes. The attack hadn't damaged the clothes at all. Qi Zhiheng directly used his soul power to check the situation inside the clothes. There were only some bluish-purple marks inside. As long as he circulated his spiritual power a little, he could recover from the injury quickly.
"Is there any discomfort in your spirit?" Qi Zhiheng asked about the injuries after seeing that there was no problem with the body's injuries. He didn't want any issues with possession to arise.
Sun Zhong shook his head and said, "Thank you for your concern, Uncle-Master, but I'm fine."
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