Chapter 261 - 251: Traces of the Spirit Vein (Part 2)

Chapter 261: Chapter 251: Traces of the Spirit Vein (Part 2)

Three days after he finished, the surface of the vein showed almost no change. Only through his Evil Vein sense could he tell that a few of the deep, returning streams of Evil Qi felt slightly heavier, as if the earth below had stored up a bit more power.

Li Yuan stood in the natural cavity and came to a conclusion.

’Relying on this alone is too slow.’

’Since the slow method has already started, I have to take the second path at the same time.’

Chen Yi had mentioned before that if he could find a source of Evil Qi at Tier Two or above, he could directly nourish the vein. Although the amount would be limited, it could more quickly catalyze an upgrade in the vein’s quality.

The next morning, Li Yuan left the market and headed directly for the deeper parts of the Ghost Mist Forest.

The southern part of the Ghost Mist Forest had heavy mist and low-lying terrain, so the Evil Qi accumulated more thickly.

As Li Yuan ventured deeper, he extended his Divine Sense.

After walking nearly a thousand zhang, the forest ahead began to darken. It wasn’t that the color of the trees had changed, but that the ground, the rocks, and a few gnarled old trees were all covered in a faint layer of dark gray. The rotten smell in the air also grew heavier.

After exploring another hundred-odd zhang forward, Li Yuan stopped in his tracks.

There were drag marks on the ground.

The marks were wide, and their edges had fine scratches, as if something covered in a hard shell had slowly scraped its way through this patch of forest. At the end of the drag marks was a sunken area of black mud.

As soon as Li Yuan’s Divine Sense swept into it, the center of the mud patch suddenly bulged upward.

BANG!

A demonic beast over two zhang long charged out from within. Its entire body was covered in a dark gray carapace, a row of bone spikes lined its spine, and its head was long and slender. What it breathed out was not hot air, but wisps of blackening Evil Qi.

A Tier Two Evil Demon, its aura was around Tier Two Middle Grade.

The moment the beast appeared, it charged straight for him at great speed. Its bony claws tore through the ground, flinging up a spray of black mud and gravel as a blast of Evil Qi rushed toward his face.

Li Yuan didn’t immediately attack with full force, instead twisting on his heel to dodge the pounce.

The beast shot past him, already spewing a cloud of Evil Qi as it turned. Li Yuan raised his hand and cast the Fire Python Skill. A crimson Fire Serpent slammed into the mist, instantly burning most of it away, though the serpent itself was diminished by the continuous surge of Evil Qi.

But Li Yuan didn’t rush to cast again.

He circulated the Spiritual Power in his Dantian and followed up with a Fireball Technique, then deliberately slowed his rhythm. The Evil Demon charged closer and closer, its bone claws striking the edge of his spiritual shield several times, causing the layer of Spiritual Power to ripple.

A moment later, a portion of the Spiritual Power in his Dantian had been depleted.

With a single thought, Li Yuan drew a current of Qi Blood from his body, pouring it into his Dantian along a newly opened pathway. The warm, heavy power rapidly diminished during the conversion, and in the end only about half of it transformed into Spiritual Power to replenish his reserves.

His Spiritual Power was topped up.

The Evil Demon pounced again. The bone spikes on its spine trembled, and it flung out several black-gray rays of Evil Qi. Li Yuan’s figure flashed, dodging most of them, but the remaining two struck his earth shield, instantly corroding a layer from its surface.

Li Yuan did not retreat. Instead, he pressed down hard with his Divine Sense.

His Soul Condensation Skill was at Minor Achievement, and with the added effects of soul-light tempering, Divine Soul refinement, and the "Three Essences as One" state, his Divine Soul was already quite strong. Under its pressure, the Evil Demon froze for an instant, the ferocious glint in its eyes dimming for a fraction of a second.

In that very instant, Li Yuan raised his hand and pointed.

The Fire Python Skill, again.

The crimson Fire Serpent was more solid than before. It burrowed directly into the side of the Evil Demon’s neck and exploded with a BOOM, tearing apart half of its shoulder and back.

The Evil Demon howled in agony, and the Evil Qi enveloping it flared violently, becoming even more ferocious than before.

Li Yuan didn’t end it immediately. He tried converting his Divine Soul into Spiritual Power once more.

His Sea of Consciousness seemed to sink slightly, and a cool sensation flowed into his Dantian. His Spiritual Power was replenished again.

Li Yuan made a mental note. ’In the future, it’s better to stick to consuming my Qi Blood and Spiritual Power. After all, both of those can recover on their own.’

The Evil Demon tried to charge again, but Li Yuan stomped his foot and met it head-on. Fire Spiritual Power and heavy Qi Blood simultaneously flooded his arm. He raised one palm to slap away its swinging bone claw, while in his other hand, the Golden Blade Skill flashed.

A slender golden light slashed diagonally up from under its throat.

Pfft.

The bone carapace split open, flesh and blood peeling back.

The Evil Demon’s body swayed. Li Yuan immediately followed up with another Fireball Technique, blasting it directly into the wound’s depths. Fiery light exploded, and the Tier Two Evil Demon staggered two steps before crashing heavily into the black mud, never to get up again.

The forest grew quiet again, with only the Evil Qi slowly dissipating.

Li Yuan walked over, carved up the Evil Demon, and took out its Evil Pill.

The Evil Pill was dark black, but fine purple patterns flowed across its surface. Holding it in his hand, he could feel the heavy and solid Evil Qi within, much purer than a Tier One Evil Stone.

Li Yuan stored it away safely. He didn’t waste the other materials either, placing them all into his storage bag before heading straight back to the market.

By the time he returned to the vein, it was already evening.

Li Yuan didn’t delay, going straight down into the natural cavity and taking out the Tier Two Evil Pill.

Through his Evil Vein’s perception, the locations of the few highest-quality Evil Stones in the vein were exceptionally clear. They normally fed on the Evil Qi that slowly accumulated within the vein, a very slow process.

Li Yuan placed the Evil Pill on the return-flow node in the center of the cavity and slowly pressed his Spiritual Power into it.

The Evil Pill first trembled lightly, then the purple patterns on its surface gradually lit up. The condensed Evil Qi inside was drawn out by his Spiritual Power. It didn’t rush out in all directions but was instead guided bit by bit into the depths, following the vein’s original return flow.

This process lasted for a full hour.

When the last wisp of Evil Qi had dispersed, the cavity fell silent once more.

Li Yuan closed his eyes, using his Evil Vein sense to peer into the depths of the vein.

The change had come.

The few high-quality Evil Stones, which were already darker in color, now seemed to be covered by a deeper, darker sheen. The Evil Qi was a bit thicker, and their substance felt a little more solid.

The absorption range for the Evil Qi expanded. The Evil Qi that originally only circulated within the vein and the nearby earth strata could now pull in a little more from the outer periphery. The increase wasn’t large, but it was tangible growth.

Returning to his stone house at night, Li Yuan sat cross-legged and cultivated.

The Evil Qi supplied by the Evil Vein was still stable, but its purity seemed to be a sliver higher than before. The difference was minuscule; if he hadn’t been constantly dealing with the vein and its Evil Qi recently, he would have barely noticed it.

When the night of cultivation ended and Li Yuan opened his eyes, his aptitude seemed to have risen slightly.

The improvement wasn’t obvious. It was just that his Spiritual Power circulated a bit more smoothly during cultivation, and the Spiritual Qi his meridians absorbed felt more tractable. It wasn’t a sudden, drastic improvement, like a stat on a screen suddenly skyrocketing, but rather like a thin layer of water slowly seeping into dry soil.

The nourishment from the Evil Vein was already taking effect, bit by bit.

This kind of improvement wasn’t large, but it was long-lasting.

Li Yuan didn’t let his mind linger on it and got up to leave as usual. But as he reached the entrance of the vein, his steps suddenly faltered.

He sensed a fluctuation.

It was like the aftershock of some Spiritual Power that had been cut off and was now slowly surging back from deep underground. It was very weak, very distant, and was hidden behind the strata outside the vein, faint and intermittent.

Li Yuan stood in place, his Divine Sense following the sense of backflow for a distance, but the connection eventually broke.