"Ningyun, do you want to take it?"
"I'll ask around at Artifact Peak later to see if there are any portable herb gardens for sale. A portable herb garden usually has about a hundred square meters of land where a cultivator can project their divine sense to grow spirit herbs."
"You could put the Yin-Gathering Pearl inside, and then you'd be able to cultivate Soul-Nourishing Flowers and Soul-Nourishing Wood."
"Oh, right! Jiang Yao, you're so clever."
Wen Xuan's voice was also filled with excitement. "Then in the future, if I need to refine Soul-Nourishing Pills, I can just buy the materials from Ningyun."
"I'll give it a try."
Gu Ningyun reached out her hand. The Yin-Gathering Pearl spun around a few times, completely pulling in all its yin energy before obediently hopping into her palm.
She projected her divine sense toward the Yin-Gathering Pearl. Without meeting the slightest resistance, she easily placed her brand in the center of the pearl.
Once the bonding was complete, Gu Ningyun moved her mind, and the Yin-Gathering Pearl was taken into her sea of consciousness, settling down beside her primordial spirit.
Seeing the Yin-Gathering Pearl disappear, Jun Luo asked, "How is it?"
Gu Ningyun nodded. "It's done."
Now that the Yin-Gathering Pearl was subdued, Mu Chenze divided the Soul-Nourishing Wood into five portions.
He specifically left one portion with the main trunk and root system and handed it to Gu Ningyun. "See if you can keep it alive."
Gu Ningyun didn't refuse and took it directly.
"This isn't a place to linger. I'll take you out first."
After Mu Chenze finished speaking, he guided them back behind the old tree.
At this moment, the skeleton on the mass grave had been smashed to pieces, but the cultivators didn't make a move immediately.
A burly man rested an axe on his shoulder. "The Raging Fire Gang is taking this Soul-Nourishing Flower. Any bystanders should leave quickly. If you're late, don't blame my axe for being blind."
Several cultivators on the perimeter whispered among themselves and backed away slightly, but they didn't go far.
"Zuo Hu, everyone killed that skeleton together. If you want to hog the flower for yourself, aren't you being a bit too thick-skinned?"
A sinister-looking man narrowed his eyes, then suddenly laughed. "Then again, who doesn't know that your Raging Fire Gang has always been overbearing and shameless? Especially you, the gang leader—you're the ultimate role model for your subordinates."
"Wu Chao, you're looking for death!"
The burly man, Zuo Hu, gripped his axe, barely able to restrain himself from attacking.
At the same time, he couldn't help but want to curse his subordinates in his heart.
Their Raging Fire Gang clashed with Wu Chao's Spirit Snake Gang almost every few days. Those lackeys had come to the mass grave to dump bodies so many times, yet they never noticed the skeleton or the Soul-Nourishing Flower it was hiding.
If they had been more careful and found it sooner, the Soul-Nourishing Flower would have been his already. There would be no need to listen to the Spirit Snake Gang barking here.
Zuo Hu's murderous gaze swept over his underlings and then landed on the cultivators at the perimeter.
And these damned rogue cultivators—just trash struggling to survive in Border City—actually dared to covet his Soul-Nourishing Flower.
Once he reached Foundation Establishment and killed that dog Wu Chao to annex the Spirit Snake Gang, this city would belong entirely to him. When that time came, he would kill all these disobedient rogue cultivators to see who else would dare to ignore his words.
The sinister man's smile remained unchanged, but a flicker of killing intent flashed in his eyes as he stared at Zuo Hu.
He was the leader of the Spirit Snake Gang, Wu Chao, the arch-rival of the Raging Fire Gang.
Because he had been harmed by a vengeful ghost as a youth, Wu Chao was extremely sensitive to yin energy.
He had discovered the Soul-Nourishing Flower and the skeleton twenty years ago. However, at that time, one flower had already withered and become useless, while the other was not yet mature.
He saw that the skeleton was deliberately protecting the flower. In a desolate place like Border City, no one but someone sensitive to yin energy like himself could have found it. Thus, he had stayed his hand, waiting for the flower to mature.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought about using an array plate to hide and protect it. But for one, the skeleton was the one caring for the flower; interfering recklessly would easily alert it. If a fight broke out with the skeleton, his entire plan would go down the drain.
Secondly, the Raging Fire Gang and his Spirit Snake Gang were evenly matched, and Zuo Hu was watching him like a hawk. As long as everything at the mass grave remained normal, it was fine. If he suddenly did something here, it would be a dead giveaway, leading Zuo Hu to investigate.
Therefore, he hadn't set up any defenses or stationed anyone at the mass grave.
In truth, ten years ago, people only occasionally dumped bodies here. Most of the bones in the mass grave had accumulated over many years, with few fresh corpses added.
When the Spirit Snake Gang and Raging Fire Gang fought, they would usually feed their enemies' corpses to dogs or burn them to settle the matter. That changed once he discovered the skeleton and the Soul-Nourishing Flower.
Because the mass grave lacked fresh corpses, it didn't have enough death qi and yin energy. To make the Soul-Nourishing Flower grow better and faster, he ordered his gang to provoke the Raging Fire Gang and throw their corpses into the mass grave.
Zuo Hu had always lacked brains, only knowing how to speak with brute force. Once provoked, Zuo Hu took the bait, believing the Spirit Snake Gang was intentionally insulting their members' remains. Consequently, he ordered his men to throw the Spirit Snake Gang's corpses into the mass grave as well.
This series of maneuvers caused the two gangs, already plagued by constant friction, to pile new grudges on top of old ones, leading to even more conflict and bloodshed.
While they recruited rogue cultivators and outlaws to replenish their ranks and expand their power, they were also constantly at odds, with a batch of people dying every few days.
Coupled with their influence, the cultivators in Border City and its surrounding areas had all developed the habit of dumping bodies at the mass grave. As the number of cultivator corpses increased, the Soul-Nourishing Flower and the skeleton grew faster and faster.
Just as the flower was a few days away from maturity and Wu Chao was planning to bring his men to kill the skeleton and take the flower, the skeleton had actually slaughtered Little Stone Village to break through to Foundation Establishment, exposing itself.
Furthermore, while fighting Zuo Hu and the others, the skeleton had been too exhausted to maintain its concealment of the Soul-Nourishing Flower, completely revealing the secret.
Thinking of this, Wu Chao felt a surge of hatred. He wanted to grind the skeleton's bones to dust and tear his rival of decades, Zuo Hu, into pieces.
As the two gangs confronted each other, the yin energy at the mass grave began to swirl as if drawn by some force.
Wu Chao was the first to notice the anomaly. With a wave of his sleeve, he led his gang to back away.
After retreating, he stared intently at the center of the swirling yin energy—the center of the skeleton's skull, where a blue light so dim it was almost imperceptible flickered.
At the same time, he felt tiny, invisible specks of cold matter flying out from the bones in the mass grave, entering the skeleton's skull along with the swirling yin energy.
This cold aura was very similar to the aura of the vengeful ghost that had harmed him in his youth. Wu Chao instinctively realized that this was the residual energy of souls.
Although they had smashed the skeleton apart and couldn't see a blue soul fire in its skull earlier, the fire hadn't been extinguished as they thought; a tiny ember still remained.
The skeleton's current state looked as though it was preparing to make a comeback!
Dealing with the skeleton earlier had already forced these Qi Refining cultivators to use every trick they had, and the spirit energy in their bodies was mostly depleted.
Rate on N.U.
