novelraw Chapter 241
Chapter 241
Some people, after seeing towering mountains, gradually realize their own insignificance. Others, never having faced the vastness of the world, only feel their blood boiling like the sun.
The first type is meticulous in thought, while the latter is pure and brave. Both are admirable in their own way.
Wang Yu belonged to the former, yet he was not without the courage to take risks. A touch deep within his heart seemed to awaken his true nature.
After a brief moment of confusion, calmness returned to him.
“So this is the true essence of going out for tempering. To touch the self and attain enlightenment.”
In that instant, a subtle and indescribable transformation occurred within Wang Yu.
It felt as though a towering mountain blocking his heart had been moved away. Through the Lesser Asura Killing Fist, the half-forged Asura Killing Heart became even purer.
A faint sound of Buddha chanting prayers entered his ears.
That untouchable killing heart emitted a trace of golden light. He could feel that the upper limit of the killing intent he could control had suddenly surged, nearly tripled.
“Enlighten one’s own heart.”This was a spiritual awakening, yielding great gains. If in the past Wang Yu’s comprehension of the Path of the Mind-Heart had been on the verge of entry, then now he had truly stepped across the threshold.
His Asura Killing Heart could soon be perfectly forged, and even his understanding of the Prajna Heart Sutra deepened further.
He could now control tangible materialization killing intent.
“Heart-Mind power…”
In the poisonous miasma jungle, Wang Yu suddenly stopped. A faint red light flickered at his fingertips, illusory yet real. Normally, heart-mind power manifested as milky white, but his took on this appearance due to the influence of the Asura Killing Heart.
After all, the Lesser Asura Killing Fist was not merely a divine ability, but a special one involving the cultivation of heart-mind power.
“To take a killing heart as one’s foundation… If one masters it to the highest level, a single word could determine life or death.”
Because of the existence of the killing intent stone slates, Wang Yu’s progress in the Lesser Asura Killing Fist had always been rapid. That slate carried the mental imprint of a Spirit Transformation cultivator’s emotional outburst.
Even time could not erode it. Its value surpassed any treasure Wang Yu possessed.
Yet this killing fist was, in essence, centered on the mysteries of combat. The parts involving the cultivation of heart-mind power all lay in the forging of the Asura Killing Heart.
As for the Prajna Heart Sutra, this secret scripture without rank was the true grand Dao of cultivating heart-mind power. Having no rank, it might be weak or incomparably strong.
Wang Yu believed it was not inferior to any ordinary Nascent Soul inheritance.
Moreover, it seemed to nurture his wisdom roots. The feeling was vague and difficult to describe, but he was certain that continuing to cultivate it would bring great benefits.
This unexpected experience was indeed a good thing.
A few days later—
He arrived at the “White Serpent Lowlands,” the area he had previously marked.
The Heavenly Demon Bone Forest stretched across Cloud Ridge Prefecture, Night Jewel Prefecture, and You Prefecture, vast and boundless. Because a mysterious Spirit Transformation poisonous beast resided in its core, it was almost impossible to cross directly, and travelers could only move diagonally.
It was generally divided into four regions: the outer perimeter, the inner perimeter, the central area, and the core zone. The deeper one ventured, the greater the danger.
In the central area, there was already a chance of encountering fourth-rank poisonous beasts. Wang Yu naturally would not rush into it blindly.
Thus, he entered from the north of Cloud Ridge and advanced northwestward, gradually approaching Night Jewel Prefecture.
After some time of traveling, a lowland covered with fallen leaves and dead wood came into view. Some parts had sunken into sludge, forming man-eating swamps.
The damp air gathered into pools of stagnant water, from which rose a foul toxic gas. The water bubbled constantly until it burst, polluting the air with an unbearable stench.
In short: foul beyond words.
Even Wang Yu frowned. No wonder few people came here. This place was no better than a cesspit, yet strangely perfect for secluded cultivation.
No one would disturb him.
He recalled the vow he once made in Black Mountain, feeling a bit of regret.
“Searching Mountain, Hunting Demons.”
Without delay, Wang Yu directly spread out his divine sense. Since there were no traces of ruins on the surface, they must lie underground.
What he discovered was shocking.
Five meters below the surface was a dense layer of white serpents, each about one or two meters long, yet numbering beyond imagination.
Except for the swampy areas, the entire lowland was filled with them. Beyond this layer of serpents, about a thousand meters deeper, his divine sense could barely penetrate further.
In open air, his divine sense could extend up to five thousand meters, but when burrowing through solid earth, the effect was drastically weakened.
As he considered whether his Purple Dragon Earth Escape Technique could allow him to pass through the serpent layer to explore deeper, something happened.
Not far away, in a small swamp about three zhang wide, the mud began to boil. It quickly formed a humanoid shape of sludge, which turned its head and looked at him from afar.
“Are you from the Ruan Clan?”
“Hmm…”
Wang Yu quickly looked over, both surprised and enlightened. “You are Master Long of Earth Formations?”
As he spoke, he took out the jade token given by Elder Ruan. Upon seeing it, the muddy figure’s attitude relaxed considerably.
“So, you have also come for this place. Follow me down.”
The clay figure collapsed. At the center of the small swamp, a vortex appeared and rapidly expanded, leaving behind a vertical passage that reached deep into the ground, with muddy water occasionally dripping down.
Holding the newly obtained Heavenly Thunder Talisman tightly in his palm, Wang Yu jumped directly into the muddy tunnel.
His divine sense remained alert, silently calculating the distance he was descending.
Before long, he reached the bottom—and came to a conclusion. Eight thousand meters.
The other party had actually opened up an underground chamber this deep below the surface. He did not sense the presence of a spiritual vein, yet the spiritual energy concentration here was high.
It should have been gathered through formation methods, enough to sustain a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s daily cultivation.
The ceiling had been transformed into stone by spellcraft. Luminous stones embedded above drove away the darkness. The ground was paved with stone slabs, and nearby stood a stone table and several stone stools. The entire area was about one hundred and twenty square meters—like a room.
The owner of this place, the formation master Long Yiran, calmly observed him. Her eyes contained no malice, only a trace of doubt.
“That token—how did you obtain it?”
Wang Yu looked back at her.
This formation master was a woman, yet unusually plain-looking. Her clothes were unremarkable, and a faint weariness lingered between her brows, resembling a white-collar worker from his past life.
Ordinary—that was his first impression.
After all, cultivation did not just bring power. Every breakthrough in a major realm was a leap in life essence that repaired a cultivator’s innate flaws.
Unless one’s cultivation method caused it, there were few who remained unattractive.
Among male cultivators, many did not care about appearance, but among female cultivators, almost all did. Especially those of the Joyous Union Sect—there were no ordinary-looking ones at all.
In the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain, female cultivators were either extremely ugly or breathtakingly beautiful, with almost nothing in between. Long Yiran’s appearance was indeed rare.
“That token was given to me by Elder Ruan. He said it would allow me to request your assistance once.”
“That is correct. I am the formation master Long Yiran. How should I address you, fellow Daoist?”
“A rogue cultivator, Wang Yu.”
This time, he chose to use his real name. According to the intelligence he had gathered from the Listening Wind Pavilion, the mysterious formation cultivator matched Long Yiran perfectly—a formation expert at the peak of Foundation Establishment.
“Since Fellow Daoist Wang has found this place and met me, you surely did not come here deliberately seeking me. Are you perhaps here for the Serpent Mansion as well?”
“Serpent Mansion?” Wang Yu frowned, immediately realizing that he had come to the wrong place. This must be a cave dwelling left behind by a predecessor—an entirely different kind of opportunity than the ruins of a sect.
Considering the other party’s cultivation realm, she might also be seeking an opportunity to form her Core. The thought stirred a bit of interest in his heart.
Cave-dwelling opportunities were divided into three periods: the Ancient Era, the Archaic Era, and the Current Era. Their numbers decreased in that order.
Ancient cave dwellings were the most numerous and the most straightforward. Upon breaking through them, one could obtain a large number of cultivation method inheritances, though spiritual treasures were fewer. This was related to the customs of the ancient immortal dynasties.
Archaic cave dwellings were neither few nor many, containing both profound inheritances and abundant rare spiritual materials—even extinct spiritual species. Among the three types, these were the most valuable.
As for cave dwellings from the Current Era...
There was much sorrow to be said. Any cultivator capable of leaving behind a cave dwelling with layered restrictions, tests, and tempting treasures was at least at the late stage of Core Formation.
And such individuals often mastered life-preserving techniques, or even inferior branches of the Body Seizing Technique—known as the “Soul Snatching Technique.”
Therefore, more than eighty percent of the cave dwellings from the Current Era were traps—infamous deathtraps. Even if one were to find an intact cave dwelling today, few cultivators dared to venture inside.
Over time, those with malicious intent became even more skilled. They decorated cave dwellings, underground palaces, and hidden towers in the exact styles of the Archaic or even Ancient eras.
From carvings to architecture, every detail was perfectly reproduced.
Heh, they forged them deliberately—to lure you in.
From then on, every cave-dwelling opportunity required careful discernment.
Back in the Blackbone Mountain underground palace, when Liu Jinxian encountered a remnant soul of a powerful expert, she had even suspected that the palace might have been forged by modern hands.
However, this information had never been shared with Wang Yu.
He actually knew nothing of it. Having inherited the Taiyin Nether Eye fortune, he merely suspected that the place had been a sub-sect’s mountain gate—much like the four prefectural cities under the Blood Reversal Sect.
Returning to the present topic—
Facing Long Yiran’s question, Wang Yu replied.
“Formation Master Long, to tell you the truth, I came to the Heavenly Demon Bone Forest seeking an opportunity as well. It is the site of an Ancient sect’s ruins. I require a formation master’s help to locate and restore its inheritance.”
“I see. Then I agree.”
Long Yiran answered lightly. Before Wang Yu could ask further, she continued.
“I cannot leave here for the moment.”
“This Serpent Mansion was left behind by an Ancient formation grandmaster. It is closely related to my own inheritance, so I can be certain—the cave dwelling is genuine.”
“I arrived here five or six years ago and have been trying to dismantle its defensive formation ever since. If you are not in a hurry, wait here for a few years. What do you say?”
Their conversation was unusually harmonious, something rare in the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain. Yet, since Wang Yu had cultivated the heart-mind power to the beginner stage, he could faintly sense that her words were true.
This ability to distinguish truth from falsehood had not yet been tested.
Still, he chose to trust the power of his mind. Such power was mysterious indeed, and even achieving entry-level mastery was beyond the reach of ordinary people.
“How about this then...”