Interesting.
Wang Xiu slowly reached out and touched the rock wall.
Where his fingers landed, he felt no obstruction—it was an extremely sophisticated illusion.
Pushing aside the vines, Wang Xiu walked into the rock wall. Light flickered before his eyes, transforming into a stone passage winding deep underground.
Walking along the tunnel for several hundred meters, a stone door appeared before him.
Array formations were engraved on the door.
They weren't particularly profound; presumably, they had been added after that tiger demon arrived.
Four tiny soul pets around him emitted faint light, condensing into dharma seals that shot toward the stone door.
Rumble~
The stone door blasted open, and rich yin energy rushed out. The temperature in the passage instantly dropped by tens of degrees, and breath turned to frost.
This was a massive stone cavern, about twenty zhang square and roughly three zhang high, with layers of ice covering the rock walls.
The yin energy in the cavern was incredibly dense—it could practically be called a holy land for ghost cultivators.
In the center of the cavern was a circular pool, occupying nearly half the space.
The pool didn't contain clear water but turbid yellow mud water that made one's heart palpitate just looking at it.
"This is Yellow Spring Water!"
"Netherworld Yellow Spring—why would it appear here in Bright Moon Mountain?"
"Could it be..."
"Is there a Netherworld passage hidden beneath this mountain?"
As the heir to the 'Nether Emperor's Prison-Suppressing Scripture,' Wang Xiu was extremely sensitive to Netherworld objects like Yellow Spring water and immediately noticed something was off.
Yellow Spring Water.
Water from the Forgetfulness River in the Netherworld, mixed with Netherworld soil to form mud.
Living beings cannot drink it.
But for many yin-attribute and ghost-attribute spirit medicines, it is supreme nourishment.
At this moment, growing in that turbid Yellow Spring were stalks of white lotuses, standing gracefully, emitting an intoxicating fragrance that made even the soul feel like unfurling.
"Soul-Nourishing Lotus!"
Wang Xiu thought to himself, "No wonder that tiger demon could simultaneously control forty or fifty Foundation Establishment ghosts—it had this kind of spirit medicine."
Soul-Nourishing Lotus.
A special spirit medicine that only grows in places of extreme yin. Its growth cycle is extremely long—said to require a hundred years to fully mature.
Ghosts who consume it can nourish their souls and increase their cultivation speed.
However, only a spendthrift would choose to use Soul-Nourishing Lotus, such a precious spirit medicine, to raise minor ghosts.
This spirit medicine's greatest use is in treating soul injuries for cultivators.
Those with minor soul damage can be healed by consuming a single petal.
For severe soul damage, using the lotus seeds as ingredients to refine Soul-Supplementing Pills and taking them regularly can gradually bring recovery.
Under normal circumstances, a Soul-Nourishing Lotus of decent quality can sell for at least a thousand spirit stones on the black market.
If the market for such medicine is scarce and many people have soul injuries, the price can double or even increase tenfold.
As in today's chaotic times, with constant battles between orthodox and demonic sects.
Every major immortal sect has seniors who have suffered soul damage fighting demons, waiting for spirit medicine to heal.
Once a Soul-Nourishing Lotus appears on the black market, it will trigger a bidding war. Even ordinary quality ones can easily sell for two thousand spirit stones.
Here, there were densely packed Soul-Nourishing Lotuses—at least a hundred, with dozens already fully bloomed. It was dizzying to behold.
Furthermore, each one was of excellent quality. If the quantity released to market were controlled properly, the unit price could reach at least three thousand spirit stones, or even higher!
"I've struck it rich!"
Wang Xiu couldn't help but smile until his eyes narrowed: "Only Netherworld Yellow Spring water could supply so many Soul-Nourishing Lotuses and maintain such excellent quality."
According to Wang Xiu's observations.
Nourished by the Yellow Spring water, the growth rate of these Soul-Nourishing Lotuses was simply inconceivable.
He estimated that there was no need for hundreds of years—one harvest per year would be possible. Just saying it would scare people to death!
"From now on, this place shall be the Divination Vein's branch stronghold."
Wang Xiu chuckled.
He took out a blank flag from his storage bag, wrote 'Divination Vein Branch Stronghold, No Trespassing' in large characters, and planted it before the stone door.
Then, he began carefully harvesting the fully bloomed Soul-Nourishing Lotuses, as tenderly as caressing a girlfriend.
After all, these were all white, gleaming spirit stones!
Soon, all the fully bloomed Soul-Nourishing Lotuses were picked by Wang Xiu—thirty-four in total. As for those not yet bloomed or whose medicinal power hadn't reached its peak, Wang Xiu didn't pick them.
This spirit medicine only has maximum potency when fully mature. If picked early, the potency drops by more than half.
The price naturally drops significantly too.
"So I'm just saying,"
Wang Xiu looked at the pool full of Yellow Spring water and narrowed his eyes: "You probably can't use all this Yellow Spring water, can you? How about giving me some to take away?"
"That way, later on Spirit Turtle Peak, I can plant some siblings for you using the lotus seeds."
"If you don't speak, I'll take that as agreement."
Saying this, Wang Xiu took out a jade bottle from his storage bag, carefully inscribed a 'Water-Drawing Incantation' on it, and aimed it at the Yellow Spring pool.
Collect~!
The Yellow Spring water, emanating rich Netherworld aura, immediately transformed into a stream pouring toward the jade bottle in Wang Xiu's hand.
The small bottle was like a bottomless pit.
It held several large barrels of Yellow Spring before finally filling up.
Then, Wang Xiu took out a second jade bottle.
Two bottles! Three bottles! Four bottles! Five bottles!
Sixteen bottles! Seventeen bottles!
Soon, the Yellow Spring pool, several meters deep, was reduced by Wang Xiu to just two feet shallow, with the roots of the Soul-Nourishing Lotuses almost exposed.
Of course, Wang Xiu knew his limits. The Netherworld aura contained in the Yellow Spring water.
Even with only two feet remaining, it would be completely sufficient to supply these Soul-Nourishing Lotuses. There was no need for a full pool.
Huh~
Suddenly, Wang Xiu's brow furrowed. He discovered that in the center of the pool, there was a raised stone platform, noticeably higher than the surrounding area.
Washing away the filth on the stone platform with water.
Wang Xiu found it was a Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams diagram engraved with countless Daoist array patterns. Judging from the aura it emitted, it should be a sealing array.
Perhaps because too much time had passed, a crack had appeared on this sealing stone platform, and the Yellow Spring water was slowly seeping out from this crack.
However, judging from the seepage rate, it would take at least a thousand years to fill such a large pool.
"As expected, a Netherworld passage is sealed here, and there's a problem with the seal."
Wang Xiu's gaze turned grave.
Many places in the human world have spatial rifts leading to the Netherworld, Demon Realm, or Magic Realm.
These rifts are mostly discovered and sealed by major immortal sects.
But after long ages pass, the array's energy gradually depletes, and seals may loosen or even be damaged.
The catastrophe at Demon-Surrounded Island eight hundred years ago was caused by damage to the Demon Realm seal.
This Netherworld passage before him, even if less dangerous than the Demon Realm seal at Demon-Surrounded Island, absolutely couldn't be underestimated.
From the sealing patterns, this should be the 'Two Polarities Heaven-Sealing Array,' the mountain-supreme ultimate technique of the Three Pure Immortal Sect's Array Vein—the strongest existence among spatial sealing arrays.
Outside the Two Polarities Heaven-Sealing Array, several other arrays were additionally laid for support. Although Wang Xiu couldn't identify them.
But from the residual Daoist resonance, they should all be the Array Vein's most treasured techniques.
To make the Three Pure Immortal Sect's Array Vein, even at its peak, be so cautious, shows the importance of this seal.
Perhaps, in the distant past, a tragedy of Netherworld invasion really did occur here.
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