Returning Immortal

Chapter 29 : Ancient Formation

Coming out of the formation, a rather wide grassland was visible.

But unlike before, the shadows of demonic beasts or monsters were hardly seen.

However, at the edge of the grassland, a hideously shaped demonic creature was hanging in the air, wrapped in mist.

"Vice Director! Is that the skull rock?"

He had heard that the skull rock at the entrance of the ancient formation also looked like an evil dragon depending on the viewing direction.

But now, in the Grand Prince's eyes, it appeared as the form of a hideous ghost.

"That's right. The entrance to the ancient formation was under that mark."

"Was there no danger in entering?"

"Why wouldn't there be? When we first arrived here three years ago, the formation of the gate was already half-destroyed. Even so, it was different from other formations, and there were not a few sacrifices in breaking it."

"Since it was completely destroyed at that time, there shouldn't be a big problem in entering now."

"I wish that were the case too. However, seeing that the formations of the forbidden zone have evolved on their own... it's not impossible that the gate installed at the entrance has been restored again."

"Are you saying it could be more difficult than before?"

"That's right."

Ne Jinja's complexion, as he nodded his head, was not very bright.

It was because he thought it would be impossible to enter the ancient formation with their current strength.

"What are your thoughts, Vice Director? Do you think we can see the Heavenly Demon's Tomb today?"

"To be honest... I think it will be a little difficult."

"But we can't just go back like this, can we?"

"You're right. We must at least confirm whether the ancient formation has evolved or not."

"That doesn't seem easy either... Isn't there some way?"

The Grand Prince's gaze slowly turned to the Raging Fire Divine Lord.

The best master among the group was now having a hard time even standing.

The same went for the Ghost Medicine Hall Master.

Although he was suppressing his internal injuries with the pills and Three-Branched Nine-Leaf Herb he had, his body condition was also not normal.

Ne Jinja's gaze, which had followed the Grand Prince's to the Raging Fire Divine Lord, naturally turned to the Ghost Medicine Hall Master.

But the expression with which he was looking was a little strange.

"It will be difficult, but it might be possible if the Ghost Medicine Hall Master helps. Hall Master! Isn't that right?"

At Ne Jinja's question, the Ghost Medicine Hall Master gave a bitter smile.

It was because it seemed Ne Jinja was looking right through his inner thoughts.

"Gekekeke. How on earth did you know I had the Demonic Poison Pill? Do you have a ghost attached to your eyes?"

"I just made a guess."

"A guess? Hohoho."

The Ghost Medicine Hall Master burst out laughing as if it were absurd.

He had not told anyone that he had brought the Demonic Poison Pill on this trip.

But to have guessed by inference...

The Ghost Medicine Hall Master, who had stopped laughing coldly, opened his clenched fingers one by one, and five pills wrapped in golden oil paper were revealed.

They were Demonic Poison Pills.

"You all should know that this medicine is a secret medicine that can trigger the latent power in the body in a short period of time."

"I also know that if you take the pill and excessively pour out your internal energy, your body will become weak and your mind will become confused afterwards."

Ne Jinja continued the Ghost Medicine Hall Master's words.

In fact, most of the Luminous Cult members knew about this Demonic Poison Pill.

However, most had only heard rumors, and not many people had seen the pill.

It was because the pill was very expensive and was only supplied to some privileged classes.

"As the Vice Director just said, this medicine has fatal side effects after use. So don't take it right away, but it would be better to take it when you are in a life-and-death situation. However, I recommend that you, Divine Lord, take it right now."

With the words that they should judge the timing of taking it themselves, the Ghost Medicine Hall Master distributed the Demonic Poison Pills to each of them.

What was unexpected was the fact that he had also handed one to Gwi Seongjin.

"Gekekeke. This medicine is not compatible with you, so the side effects will be particularly large. So use it only in an absolute crisis situation."

"Yes, thank you."

Gwi Seongjin answered politely as he put the Demonic Poison Pill into the antidote pouch that Adjutant Cheok had given him.

The Ghost Medicine Hall Master, who had handed out one Demonic Poison Pill to each person, slowly moved his steps to a rock a little away from the entrance.

It was a wide rock located in a place that was open on all sides.

When the Ghost Medicine Hall Master, who had climbed onto the rock, peeled off the pill's shell and put it into his mouth, the Raging Fire Divine Lord, who had hesitated for a moment, also swallowed the pill with a look of helplessness.

And he sat down next to the Ghost Medicine Hall Master.

As the two began to circulate their qi and the Grand Prince and Ne Jinja stood guard side by side, Gwi Seongjin went to a place a little away from them and silently performed qi circulation and breathing regulation.

Although he had been in danger for a moment due to the surging yin qi from drinking the Three-Eyed Toad's blood without realizing it, Gwi Seongjin's internal energy was in a stable state thanks to taking the Child Ginseng and the Three-Branched Nine-Leaf Herb and the strange virtue.

But that didn't mean he had turned all the spiritual medicines he had taken into internal energy.

He had only slightly slowed down the speed at which the spiritual medicines were turning into internal energy with a secret method passed down in the Ghost Valley Sect.

Since he had resolved the danger with such a temporary measure and had come out of the formation, the current qi circulation and breathing regulation was a truly golden opportunity for Gwi Seongjin.

The Primordial Chaos Art, an immortal cultivation method passed down in the Ghost Valley Sect, was originally called the Primordial Chaos Spirit Qi Art.

As its name suggests, it was a cultivation method for accumulating spirit energy, but creating spirit energy was not that easy.

The primordial qi of heaven and earth also included spirit energy and demonic qi.

But unfortunately, the cultivation method Gwi Seongjin had learned was a method of drawing external qi into the lower dantian like ordinary martial artists.

The difference from ordinary people was that he could refine this and turn it into spirit energy.

When one circulated the Primordial Chaos Spirit Qi Art, among the internal energy absorbed into the lower dantian, the energies that matched the cultivator's spirit root attribute were absorbed into the middle dantian.

The internal energies that were condensed and moved to the middle dantian were usually called true qi, and when the five elements' true qi that had entered the middle dantian like this fused according to the spirit root attribute, that was spirit energy.

Fortunately, this forbidden zone was a place where the primordial qi of heaven and earth was rich, making it the optimal place for cultivating internal energy.

If one's essence was overflowing from taking spiritual beings or spiritual herbs, the effect would be doubled.

Perhaps because of that, the speed at which the spiritual medicines were being refined was beyond Gwi Seongjin's expectations.

The energy of the spiritual medicines, which had been absorbed into the organs and mixed with the primordial qi of heaven and earth in the spleen, accepted Gwi Seongjin's consciousness and then immediately flowed into his dantian.

When the internal energy created like that filled his dantian, this time the middle dantian began to draw out true qi.

It was absorbing only the energies that matched Gwi Seongjin's spirit root attribute.

Was it because the efficacy of the spiritual medicines was outstanding?

The amount of true qi passing from the lower dantian to the middle dantian far exceeded Gwi Seongjin's expectations.

Even though it was condensed and its volume was reduced by hundreds of times, he could feel the flow of the true qi.

The qi circulation and practice continued for a long time.

Then, suddenly, one person stopped the practice, and the one who opened his eyes first between the Ghost Medicine Hall Master and the Raging Fire Divine Lord was the Ghost Medicine Hall Master.

It was because his internal injury was less than the Raging Fire Divine Lord's.

When the Ghost Medicine Hall Master stood up, Gwi Seongjin also carefully stopped his qi circulation and practice.

Before getting up, Gwi Seongjin examined the inside of his body with his spiritual sense.

Perhaps because the refinement was sufficient, there were not many medicinal ingredients left in his organs.

It was to the extent that he could now refine them while moving his body.

Gwi Seongjin's spiritual sense, whose mind had become much lighter, this time turned to his lower dantian.

In his lower dantian, internal energy corresponding to the mid-stage of the first-rate was accumulated.

Even though a lot of true qi had been drawn from the middle dantian, he had grown into a master of the mid-stage of the first-rate in a short moment.

The more dramatic change was the middle dantian.

Gwi Seongjin, whose spirit root had the three attributes of fire, wood, and earth, did not have a very good cultivation aptitude.

It was because to create spirit energy in the middle dantian, the three five elements' attributes of fire, wood, and earth had to be complete.

This was the reason why Gwi Seongjin had almost no spirit energy in his upper dantian even though he had learned the cultivation method from a young age.

Instead, a considerable amount of true qi was staying in his middle dantian.

The problem was the fact that the remaining true qi was mostly of the wood attribute.

When he was dragged to the Luminous Cult, there was a little bit of the earth attribute left, but after the Raging Fire Divine Lord had cleared his blocked meridians, even that had completely disappeared.

In that middle dantian, a considerable amount of earth attribute true qi was now contained.

The fire attribute was still in an extremely minute state.

The wood attribute had increased even more and was spread thickly on the bottom like a mist.

Huh!

Gwi Seongjin, who was about to withdraw his spiritual sense and stand up, once again observed his middle dantian at a strange feeling.

A strange-looking golden bead was hidden between the mist.

'What is this?'

Although he examined it closely with his spiritual sense, he still could not figure out its identity.

In response, the moment Gwi Seongjin was about to attack the bead with his spirit energy.

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who was next to the Ghost Medicine Hall Master, stopped his qi circulation and suddenly stood up.

Ugh.

Gwi Seongjin had no choice but to open his eyes as well.

Gwi Seongjin, who was standing up, felt a feeling of overflowing strength in his whole body.

His body also felt light, and it felt as if he could fly into the sky if he kicked the ground.

Gwi Seongjin's complexion, who had looked at the two with such full energy, once again changed to be humble.

It was because he was overwhelmed by the divine might of the two masters who had taken the Demonic Poison Pill.

The two, whose faces had turned red, were now emitting internal energy from their entire bodies.

Especially the Raging Fire Divine Lord, whose internal energy was high, was to the extent that his internal energy was overflowing from his body.

"Shall we go now?"

Ne Jinja, who had confirmed that the Ghost Medicine Hall Master and the Raging Fire Divine Lord had completely refined the Demonic Poison Pill, said to the two.

While the three were circulating their qi and regulating their breathing, more than ten demonic beasts that had escaped from the formation where they had killed the Three-Eyed Toad had come out.

They all had extraordinary divine forms, and they immediately ran towards the skull rock at the entrance of the ancient formation.

But the forms of the demonic beasts, which should have been loitering at the entrance of the ancient formation, had disappeared without a trace.

It was a feeling as if they had been sucked into the formation.

'Could it be that the formation at the entrance has disappeared?'

At the strange feeling, Ne Jinja urged the group's steps.

Ne Jinja's eyes, who had arrived at the entrance of the ancient formation like that, widened.

As expected, the prohibitions were not visible at the entrance of the ancient formation.

It was to the extent that he couldn't even find a trace that there had been a gate.

What was even more surprising was the scenery inside the prohibition.

In the past, a desolate field like a desert had continued endlessly, but now, a lake of about forty zhang was located inside the prohibition.

It was a strange lake where black waves were undulating like a sea, and large and small whirlpools were soaring high into the sky.

Moreover, a suspicious-looking black mist was also floating on the water.

As Ne Jinja looked, most of the demonic beasts that had entered the gate were standing at the edge of the lake.

Swish!

At that time, a small demonic beast with long red fur on its neck jumped into the lake.

It was an otter demonic beast with webbed feet between its toes.

The demonic beast ran on the water and advanced about ten zhang in an instant.

When a wave rose, it naturally rode the current, showing that it was extremely accustomed to water.

But when a whirlpool formed under its feet and sucked it in with a powerful suction, the demonic beast was dragged into the water without being able to resist properly.

Bubble, bubble.

After a while, a clump of red fur, presumed to be the remains of the demonic beast, floated to the surface of the water.

But as time passed, even that melted and sank into the water.

Ne Jinja, who was watching this from afar, frowned, and then looked around with a pleased expression again.

It was because they had smoothly entered the gate of the ancient formation, which he had thought would be impossible to enter due to its evolution, without shedding any blood.

As they passed through the gate, the Grand Prince, who was next to him, said to Ne Jinja.

"Fortunately, the formation at the entrance has not been restored."

"I'm also surprised. But there are some suspicious parts."

"What do you mean by that?"

"As I looked while passing by, there were a great many corpses and bones of dead demonic beasts outside the entrance of the ancient formation. However, seeing that there are almost no remains inside the entrance, we must also keep in mind the possibility that the prohibition has been released recently."

"Well, if the entrance had been opened a long time ago, there would have been not a few corpses of demonic beasts here too... Who do you think the culprit is, Vice Director?"

"I don't know yet. But what's certain is that... like the absolute forbidden zone, this place has also evolved."

"Is there any basis for that?"

"Yes. In the past, that place was just a desolate and rough field."

Ne Jinja answered, pointing to the lake spread out before his eyes.

For a flat wilderness to have changed into a lake that eats demonic beasts in three years...

It was a dramatic change that was difficult to explain without evolution.

"Huh... Then isn't that a big problem?"

At Ne Jinja's answer, the Grand Prince's steps suddenly became heavy.

It was because he thought it would be difficult to achieve this mission.

At the conversation between the two, everyone's face hardened, but Gwi Seongjin's expression did not change.

It was because it was something he had also guessed.

Then, Gwi Seongjin suddenly showed a surprised look.

'Ugh! This energy is...'

A strange light flashed for a moment in Gwi Seongjin's eyes as he was scanning the vicinity of the entrance with his spiritual sense at the strange feeling.

It was because a stone that was transmitting a spirit energy wave was discovered deep underground.

'It's a spirit stone. And a fire attribute one at that...'

What Gwi Seongjin had discovered with his spiritual sense was a fire attribute spirit stone, which was extremely rare.

This meant that spirit energy had been used in the prohibition that had been spread out here...

In that case, the person who had installed the ancient formation here might not have been a martial artist.

There was a very high possibility that an immortal cultivator who handled spirit energy and performed spells had installed the prohibition here.

'I can't be sure yet. By the way, a spirit stone of that size would be of great help in deploying a barrier...'

Although he was greedy, Gwi Seongjin tried hard to control his mind.

Although it was a spirit stone that was extremely useful to cultivators, he couldn't dig up the ground while the group was watching.

'I guess it's not meant to be mine.'

Gwi Seongjin's mouth fell open as he entered the gate, having emptied his mind like that.

It was because as he entered the ancient formation, the primordial qi of heaven and earth had become surprisingly rich.

(End of Chapter)