There was a sound of steady footsteps, like an old man walking slowly from the other end of the mansion in the garden. His broad robe was obviously a cassock, his beard and hair were all white, but he had a childlike appearance.
This is Gao Lian, a famous Kanyu master in Yongling City.
It seems that ordinary Kanyu masters cannot do such a job as finding a spiritual place.
Lu Zhong had almost no choice.
"Your Excellency is Fellow Daoist Lu, come here to invite me!"
"Fellow Taoist, this garden is really nice. I'm afraid a lot of thought was put into decorating it, right?" Lu Zhong could see that every flower and plant here was carefully selected and trimmed, and was not placed randomly.
From the previous angle, you can see the leaves but not the flowers, and from the next angle, you can see the flowers but not the leaves.
So every step you take, you can see different beautiful scenery.
"Hahaha, fellow Taoist, you have good eyesight!" Gao Lian laughed.
He usually doesn't have any hobbies. He just likes to take care of flowers and plants alone. Now when he heard someone praising his work, he was naturally happy. He suppressed the thought of showing off his knowledge. Gao Lian led Lu Zhong through the garden and came to a furnished room.
In an elegantly furnished room.
There is a faint scent of incense floating in the air, which makes people feel calm.
They sat down at the guest table nearby, and the two began to talk about business. Gao Lian poured a cup of tea for Lu Zhong and asked, "What kind of spiritual place are you looking for, fellow Taoist, when you come to this old man?"
Lu Zhong knocked his knuckles on the table to thank him, and then said: "A place to nourish the soul, I don't know where to find a place to nourish the soul!"
"Oh?" Gao Lian hesitated, put down the teapot and said, "This is not a good place..."
Soul-nurturing place, as the name suggests, nourishes the soul.
This kind of place is often haunted by evil things, such as ghosts or zombies. It is not impossible to even attract the souls of mourners, and there are usually demonic cultivators entrenched there.
However, he didn't ask any more questions. After all, he still had to have professional ethics.
The key to being a Kanyu teacher is to ask less and do more.
"Well, let me think about it carefully, this soul-nurturing place is not easy to find..." Sitting slowly on the mahogany armchair, Gao Lian pressed his eyebrows and searched his memory carefully.
The appearance of the spiritual land is not traceless, but there are certain rules.
The same is true for soul-nurturing places.
Its formation must meet three conditions:
One is a place of eternal shade, a place where the sun does not shine even for a year.
The second is that a large number of creatures have died.
Third, there are spiritual veins everywhere.
Normally, the first of these three conditions is the easiest to meet, but if you want to meet the second and third conditions at the same time, the difficulty will increase exponentially, so soul-nurturing places are very rare.
Even if the conditions are met, it is still unclear whether a soul-nurturing place can be formed.
The most valuable asset of a Kanyu master is not the skill of Kanyu, but the fact that he has traveled across mountains and rivers. What Gao Lian is doing now is to list the suspected locations, write them down and give them to Lu Zhong.
Going out with a benefactor to perform a massage is something only a novice Kou master would do.
"Yes." Gao Lian clapped his hands lightly.
Then he picked up the jade pen on the table and started writing straightly on the paper.
After a while, the paper was filled with writing.
He handed the piece of paper to Lu Zhong and then said: "These are the suspected places I saw when I traveled to Lingyue Territory with my master in the past. Fellow Taoist, follow the names of the places and look for them one by one. Maybe you can find them.
A place to nourish the soul.”
Lu Zhong took it and saw that it was full of place names, and thought of the Ling Yue domain in the other party's words.
Lingyue Territory refers to a vast land including Yongling, Luoyun, Yanling Mountain and other areas. It belongs to the Lingyue Sect of Yuanying Sect. It is said that the narrowest point is one hundred thousand miles wide.
He is just a Qi-refining monk, how dare he set foot in the outside world?
Suddenly, a wry smile appeared on his face.
"This soul-nurturing place is what I need. I would like to ask fellow Taoists to circle a nearby location."
"I didn't think well." Gao Lian apologized with his hands in hand.
To be honest, he did think that it was someone else who wanted to find a place to raise his soul.
Pick up the jade pen and draw dots.
Most of the place names on the paper were deleted, and in the end only thirty-seven were left.
Lu Zhong looked at it and found that there were seven in the Yongling area, five in the Yanling Mountain area in the south, five in the Luoyun area in the northwest, and the remaining fifteen were all in the Lanyue area in the southeast.
The Lan Yue area refers to where the Five Spirit Sect is located. It is an area no less vast than Yingling, and is spread over a dozen foundation-building sects. After the former Jindan Sect, the Lan Yue Sect, collapsed, this area has never been integrated again.
Pass.
"Holding the moon, the general's tomb..."
Seeing this place name, he couldn't help but think to himself, isn't this the one next to Qingliu Ruins?
Unexpectedly, it is also a suspected soul-nurturing place.
No, I guess it really is!
When Lu Zhong thought of this, he didn't have the idea of going to check it out. After all, the second-level zombies were raised there, and he couldn't afford to offend him with his current strength.
Putting the list of places in his storage bag, he took out a bag of spiritual stones.
There are one hundred spiritual stones in the bag. This is Gao Lian's charging standard. It is neither expensive nor cheap.
…
After coming out of Gao Lian's house, Lu Zhong walked towards the central area without stopping.
Considering the danger of exploring the soul-nurturing land, he directly spent nearly a thousand spirit stones to prepare, buying twenty dozen evil-exorcism talismans, the Sun Stone worth three hundred spirit stones, and five evil-destroying talismans.
The Evil-Breaking Talisman is a second-level low-grade spiritual talisman. It is an upgraded version of the Evil-Expelling Talisman. Its effect is equivalent to the second-level spell Rising Sun Spear.
With this talisman, even if he accidentally encounters a second-level evil object, Lu Zhong will still have the power to escape.
Compared with your own safety, it is worthwhile to spend more on these spiritual stones.
Furthermore, if it is really not used, the talisman can be resold and the loss will not be big.
After making full preparations, Lu Zhong told Hongfu and the two girls to continue printing the storybook, and then took the soul-seeking mouse out of Yongling City and began to search for a place to raise souls.
The first location is on the northwest side of Yongling City, which is only a hundred miles away.
Being so close to Yongling City, one can imagine the consequences.
The second location is Shuiyan Lake where Yongling City and Luoyun Sect meet.
Likewise, no established soul-nurturing place has been found.
Time passed little by little, and Lu Zhong took his breath away during the day, wandering among the mountains and forests, avoiding the monks along the way, as well as the monsters lurking and waiting for prey to come to his door, and searching for them one by one.
I spent a full month searching all over Yongling but could not find a place to raise my soul.
He was neither discouraged nor surprised by this.
It is generally accepted that spiritual places are hard to find.
Otherwise, a Kanyu master like Gao Lian would have made a fortune long ago because of Lingdi. After all, the definition of Lingdi contains mineral veins, and he would only be a small fortune like he is now.
Luoyun and Yanling Mountain were also not found.
Another four months have passed like this, and there are less than three months left before the Heling Sect ranking competition is held.
After all the hard work, Lu Zhong was not without gains.
Just from the elixirs collected along the way and the various monsters killed, the harvest amounted to more than a thousand spirit stones.
Not to mention, the cultivation level has been broken through through hard work.
Today, Lu Zhong is a seventh-level Qi Refining monk.
In the later stage of Qi refining, the total amount of spiritual power has been directly increased by two times, and this is only the beginning of foundation building. In the next two small realms, the spiritual power will increase by the same amount.
At the same time, physical fitness has also improved a lot.
Reflected in speed, it can reach four hundred miles per hour under full sprint.
Although it is only a moment of sprinting, it is enough to be feared when used in a fight.
…
night.
In the campsite, Lu Zhong built a bonfire and roasted the newly hunted monster meat. The fat sizzled and exuded a charming aroma. After sprinkling the seasonings, the aroma was even more fragrant and made people's mouth water.
Next to it, the ghost-seeking rat, which had grown a lot bigger, was grinding its teeth and wiping its hands, very excited.
"Here you go." After roasting the meat, he gave the ghost rat a skewer as a reward.
These days, the spirit-seeking rats have found quite a few elixirs.
While paying attention to the situation around the camp, Lu Zhong thought about his next action. Since the ranking battle was about to begin, it was impossible for him not to participate when he broke through to the late stage of Qi refining.
After all, after reaching the seventh level of Qi refining, the conflict of spiritual power in the body becomes more and more intense, and even taking the Heling Pill cannot suppress it for a long time.
"If we still can't find a place to nourish our souls in another month, we'll go back home."
He silently set a deadline in his heart.
Suddenly the surrounding temperature dropped, and Lu Zhong was slightly startled, thinking that he had encountered something dirty again.
Pinch the channel to detect malicious intent, and the warning signs are very obvious.
In the past few months, he has encountered a lot of dirty things. Most of them are wandering souls that pose no threat. Only a very small number of ghosts can pose a threat to monks. The most dangerous ones are the ghosts wandering in the forest.
.
So much so that now when you encounter something dirty, you can immediately judge its strength.
"It should be an ordinary ghost, something that can be eliminated with an exorcism charm." Lu Zhong predicted.
In the field of vision of the Qi Watching Technique, behind a dead tree on the left front, there is a large mass of black and yin energy, vaguely showing the shape of a human being, looking greedily at the stranger beside the fire.
He didn't look stupidly. Some ghosts have hallucinogenic abilities, which can make people fall into hallucinations and be unable to extricate themselves. Even monks have to be trapped for several breaths. A lot of things can happen in the time it takes to count breaths.
Make three hand seals in a row and draw an exorcism talisman to fly out.
After a pause, there was only a muffled "bang" sound, and the exorcism charm exploded after being activated.
The golden light formed by the manifestation of Yang Qi penetrated the body of the ghost hiding behind the tree, and then ignited the Yin Qi on its body, and the entire body suddenly turned into a golden torch.
After a while, there was only a pile of white ash on the ground.
White ash is a kind of material called "Jing Ling Chen".
A pile like this is worth about the same as the Five Spiritual Stones.
Along the way, Lu Zhong has collected more than ten piles.
Recalling his experiences along the way, he couldn't help but feel a little strange. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be so many ghosts in the world. This world is not suitable for them to exist for a long time. This is the conclusion verified by the research of the Yuanying monks.
But now...
Shaking his head, Lu Zhong didn't think any more.
Given his current state of affairs, he is destined to have no answer for this kind of matter.
…
Early the next morning, Lu Zhong set off early.
After walking through a section of alpine mountain road, we officially entered the Lanyue area.
Not long after I entered, local specialties were delivered to my door.
Wild dogs, degenerate wandering cultivators in the wilderness.
A total of seven people, both men and women, were slaughtered by him.
When he stopped, Lu Zhong couldn't help but sigh that he was becoming more and more decisive.
When I first came here, I would have hesitated for a while. It would be nothing like now.
"That's right."
After all, if you want to go far in the world of cultivation, it is impossible to be kind to a woman. You may be able to retain your compassion, but it is definitely charity when you are bored. Only those who are decisive in killing can adapt to the cruel world of cultivation.
"Well, be cautious too." Lu Zhong added in his heart.
Comparing the map, he walked towards the Bijia Peak ahead. There was a crack in the ground there, which could potentially form a soul-nurturing place. It was necessary to go there and explore it.
Not long after, we were standing on the cliff.
Looking down, one can only see layers of mist. In the vision of the Qi-gazing technique, the mist is tinged with black. It is obvious that the concentration of Yin Qi in it is not low, indicating that it is very likely to encounter wandering souls or ghosts below.
After checking the pocket containing the evil-repelling talisman and the evil-destroying talisman in his arms, and making sure there was nothing wrong, he performed a light body technique, then jumped forward and began to fall towards the cliff.
The further it falls, the higher the concentration of fog.
At the same time, the concentration of Yin Qi is also rising sharply.
After descending for more than three hundred feet, the fog suddenly disappeared. What appeared in front of Lu Zhong's eyes was a narrow land thousands of feet long and more than a hundred feet wide, glowing with phosphorus, and there was a pool in the center of the low-lying area.
When it fell gently to the ground, it was sandy soil with no fertility.
At this point, it can be seen that the glowing things underneath are all moss clinging to the rocks.
Looking around, he saw a lot of skeletons scattered on the ground. He sensed an aura similar to that of the Withered Bone Demon on these skeletons. He thought they were all low-level ghosts.
Walking slowly towards the water pool he saw just now, Lu Zhong now wanted to confirm whether this place was a place for soul nourishment.
The method is very simple, just use the mental nourishment technique.
As he pinched his hands and recited the incantation, Lu Zhong's expression was dull at first, then ecstatic.
After finally calming down, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew, I finally found it!"
The next step is to reconnoiter the situation and eliminate potential threats.
Divine consciousness is related to the divine soul, and Lu Zhong does not want to encounter interference from external forces when he performs the soul-nurturing technique.
First, there is the waterhole here.
As a place where Yin Qi accumulates, he would never believe it if there was nothing in it.
Approach quietly and use the scene retrieval to successfully figure out what is inside.
A zombie's aura is similar to that of a monk in the late stage of Qi Refining.
At this moment, it is sleeping.
This is the normal state of most ghosts.
"Then I'm not welcome!"
Lu Zhong released an iron wolf machine beast, and then began to fill the wolf's belly with exorcism charms.
Facing the thick-skinned zombie, he had no intention of fighting with it. Since it was still in a sleeping state, a sneak attack without martial ethics was the best way.
One dozen...two dozen...a full five dozen evil charms.
In addition, you should also put a piece of Evil-Breaking Talisman.
Lu Zhong took out the talisman pen and ink again, and drew five talismans filled with straight lines.
As a talisman maker, he naturally knows very well how to activate talismans on a large scale. This talisman functions as a bridge, and can detonate dozens of connected evil-exorcism talismans at the moment the evil-destroying talisman is activated.
This is a skill that only a charm maker can have.
By doing this, not only can the power of all the talismans be superimposed, but it can even have an amplifying effect.
If you were an ordinary monk, you would just stack all the talismans together, causing the talismans to activate at different speeds, which would affect the final explosion, which would result in a loss of power.
As the two rise and fall, the gap comes from this.
After preparations were completed, the Iron Wolf puppet rushed out and jumped into the pool with a thud.
After three breaths, a golden beam of light erupted.