Chapter 627: Soul-Corroding Water |
"Alright, we'll split up and work separately."
Ning Qi nodded, then walked toward the backyard.
The Pill Spirit stayed in the front yard and began flying toward the side chambers.
As for Ning Qi, he had already reached the backyard.
In the open space here, there was a built martial stage.
But because of erosion over time, it had already collapsed.
Clearly, the previous owner of this place had also been a cultivator.
Ning Qi even discovered some spirit marrow here.
He walked around the martial stage and arrived at the side chambers.
On the bookshelf against the wall, he spotted some ancient texts.
Ning Qi opened them to take a look, but they were all written in ancient script, completely indecipherable to him.
So, he directly summoned Shi Xiaokun.
"Master."
The moment Shi Xiaokun appeared, he greeted respectfully.
"Take a look at these texts and see what they record."
Ning Qi pointed to the texts on the wall and said to him.
"Alright, let me have a look."
After Shi Xiaokun agreed, he walked over to the bookshelf and began examining the texts.
Meanwhile, Ning Qi continued searching the area for anything else useful.
But after going around, he found nothing new.
"Master, most of these texts record the history of this family."
By now, Shi Xiaokun had finished reading through them.
"Mm, anything valuable?"
Ning Qi nodded and asked further.
"Master, there's some information related to this city, but it's mostly just records of their business dealings."
"Also, it introduces some details about the City Lord here, but none of it is useful to us anymore."
"Everyone here has already been killed."
Shi Xiaokun shook his head and continued, "Even the valuable things are meaningless now, since this Inner World has already decayed."
"Are there any cultivation techniques or formation manuals?"
Ning Qi pressed on.
"No, this wasn't a cultivation clan."
"However, there is one note: a hundred miles outside this city, there's a sect."
"It's called the Ten Thousand Cloud Sect. Though it was also destroyed long ago, we can't be sure we'll find anything if we go there."
Shi Xiaokun suddenly remembered something and picked up a text, saying, "This family once supplied them with resources, so there's a record of it."
"Mm, put that away. Let's search this city thoroughly, then head over to check the situation."
Ning Qi nodded and said.
"Alright, I'll search too."
"With more of us, we'll find things faster."
After Shi Xiaokun agreed, he suggested.
"By the way, how many people are currently available in our Inner World?"
Ning Qi thought of something and asked.
"Master, none for now. They need to be nurtured by the Origin Source power here."
"It won't be that quick. Once they're ready, I'll let you know."
Shi Xiaokun shook his head and explained.
"Good, then go ahead."
"Let's split up and search."
Ning Qi nodded, then walked out of the study.
He headed toward the other side chambers.
After searching diligently for a while, he found nothing.
Finally, after greeting the Pill Spirit, he completely split up with both of them.
Leaving the mansion, he rushed forward.
Soon, he arrived at the City Lord's Mansion.
He probed the area, finding it completely devoid of life. As for the Pill Spirit and Shi Xiaokun, they had gone to search in different directions.
So, Ning Qi directly soared above the City Lord's Mansion, looking down at it from above.
This was clearly where the fiercest battle had taken place.
In the courtyard, there were several deep trenches that had caved in.
Still, there must have been formations here at the time that prevented the place from being completely destroyed.
Ning Qi hovered in the void, beginning to probe for anything worth taking.
He passed from the front yard to the backyard, crossing several courtyards, but still found nothing.
The difference here was that the ground in the City Lord's Mansion was dotted with more side chambers.
From time to time, he could see corpses—though they had long turned to bones.
Ning Qi found leftover storage bags beside these skeletons.
He grabbed over a dozen in one go without opening them. Instead, he collected them all to inspect later when he had time.
Perhaps he'd find some useful information inside.
The City Lord's Mansion was full of cultivators, so they might have kept some secrets of this place.
Ning Qi searched the entire area and finally arrived at the rear garden.
It was actually a small courtyard. The garden here was still well-preserved.
The rockery remained, though weeds had grown on the ground.
But the tiled areas showed no trace of weeds.
"This feels more like a woman's boudoir."
Ning Qi looked at the surroundings, speaking with certainty.
He glanced around and then walked straight into a side chamber.
Inside, he saw dried bloodstains and skeletons on the stools and bed.
They had been mummified by the wind.
Apparently, a battle had occurred here too, but the people here weren't strong enough to cause much destruction.
Other than that, Ning Qi found nothing useful.
He walked back out and looked at the relatively intact rear garden.
Ning Qi extended his Spiritual Sense to probe the area, hoping to find something.
But after a thorough search, he found nothing.
As he leaped up to leave, he happened to be above the garden.
"Whoosh."
Suddenly, he felt a fluctuation from below.
This fluctuation carried a hint of excitement.
It made Ning Qi stop abruptly.
"Is there something alive?"
He stared below, frowning slightly.
Then, he probed with his Spiritual Sense again, but still found nothing.
However, there had definitely been a fluctuation just now.
Ning Qi thought for a moment, then activated his Dao Patterns.
They transformed into layers of water-wave patterns, surging downward.
"Sssss."
Instantly, a sharp, piercing sizzling sound erupted above the garden.
Clearly, a formation existed here.
Otherwise, there wouldn't have been such a fluctuation.
Ning Qi became intrigued and immediately descended.
But when he reached mid-air, a light barrier suddenly rippled into existence.
It tried to block him from landing in the garden.
"Interesting."
This only made Ning Qi more curious.
With that, he stomped hard on the light barrier.
Cracks instantly appeared on the barrier.
Then, as Ning Qi forcefully shook, the barrier shattered completely.
He landed smoothly on the garden ground.
This time, he could finally sense a hidden passage here.
Without further delay, Ning Qi struck out with his palm, shattering the restrictions here.
A crack appeared before him.
This crack led downward, with a depth that seemed bottomless.
"Whoosh."
A faint wind blew up from below.
Ning Qi frowned slightly, then walked downward.
The stone steps were well-preserved.
The walls were intact too, clearly untouched.
Even the mechanisms and restrictions in the passage had never been breached.
Unfortunately, these restrictions were no match for Ning Qi.
Without even using his Dao Patterns, he relied solely on his powerful physique to break through each restriction one by one.
"Whoosh."
Finally, he reached the deep underground.
It was an open space, with a stone gate ahead.
But the stone gate had already collapsed.
"Nobody's been here, so why is the gate like this?"
Ning Qi frowned, observing the scene.
He couldn't make sense of it.
Clearly, someone stronger, or someone more skilled in formations and restrictions, had been here.
He thought for a moment, then stepped over the stone gate and walked inside.
Before him appeared another passage.
He moved forward again and quickly crossed it.
He reached another open space, but it was different from the first.
This one had some skeletons scattered around, and there were a few chests on the ground.
Ning Qi walked over and probed the chests with his Spiritual Sense, finding resources inside.
There were some spirit marrow and ordinary weapons and equipment.
Ning Qi collected everything and looked ahead again.
Beyond this open space, there were two or three passages.
He had no idea where they led, but each passage showed signs of someone having passed through.
Ning Qi thought briefly, then randomly chose a passage and continued forward.
This passage also bore signs of being breached, with occasional corpses on the ground.
Clearly, some weak individuals had lost their lives here.
He continued without finding anything, but soon emerged again.
This time, he wasn't in an open space but at a deep pool.
The water in the pool was black, and streams of black mist churned above it.
At the center, there was a small island, roughly the size of a single side chamber.
But around the deep pool lay many rotting corpses.
Unlike the others, these corpses were pitch-black all over.
"This pool water is toxic."
Ning Qi quickly judged. He then tried to gather a bit of the black mist.
Just probing it with his Spiritual Sense made him sense danger.
It startled him.
These black mists could corrode a person's soul, even more potent than the mists in the Black Water Region of the Realm Sea.
"Shi Xiaokun."
Ning Qi frowned, entering his own Consciousness Sea to summon Shi Xiaokun.
His physical body was outside, but Shi Xiaokun had a thread of his soul in Ning Qi's Consciousness Sea.
So, he could easily summon him.
"Master!"
When Shi Xiaokun's ethereal Soul Entity appeared, he bowed respectfully.
"Take a look at this pool water."
"It's even stronger than the Black Water in the Realm Sea."
Ning Qi pointed at the pool water and said to Shi Xiaokun.
"Oh? That strong?"
Shi Xiaokun perked up at this.
He floated his ethereal Soul Entity to the shore.
"Sssss."
Before he could move forward, his Soul Entity began to burn.
"Come back."
Ning Qi waved his hand and instantly recalled him.
"Whew, that was close."
Shi Xiaokun let out a long breath, looking at the pool water with lingering fear. "It can actually harm one's soul. It's certainly no ordinary thing."
"So, do you know what this water is?"
Ning Qi only asked seriously after seeing Shi Xiaokun suffer the consequences.
"Master, though I've never seen it, I've heard of it."
Shi Xiaokun grew serious. "If I'm not mistaken, this should be Lijiang Water, a product of the same era as Chaos Stones."
"Oh, how can you be sure?"
Ning Qi asked curiously.
"Just now was enough—it harms one's soul."
"In the past, a Great Luo Golden Immortal refined it to use as a weapon against enemies."
Shi Xiaokun explained, "But it's extremely rare, even rarer than Chaos Stones. I never expected to see so much here."
"If we could refine it too, it would be a major killing weapon."
"If we move all this water into our Inner World, would it damage it?"
That was Ning Qi's real concern.
"No, it affects people's souls and corrodes their physiques."
"But look—the normal soil and rock here aren't affected."
"Though if it's vaporized by high heat, the vapor might harm innocents."
"But if we take it to the Inner World, we can make a similar cave to store it. Then it won't cause any issues."
Shi Xiaokun thought for a moment and then analyzed.
"Mm, good. Have your physical body come over and collect all this black water."
Ning Qi nodded in satisfaction and gave the order.
"Master, no need. My soul can handle it."
Shi Xiaokun shook his head with a grin.
"Oh, since when did your soul become so strong?"
Ning Qi became intrigued.
He hadn't expected Shi Xiaokun to suddenly grow stronger.
"Master, after you broke through, the Inner World changed."
"My strength rose with it."
Shi Xiaokun chuckled.
"Good, then I'll leave this to you. Once you're done, rejoin your physical body and find me."
Ning Qi nodded.
"Yes, Master."
After agreeing, Shi Xiaokun prepared to start.
"Your soul is vulnerable to this water—can you subdue it?"
Ning Qi suddenly thought of something and quickly asked.
"Yes, I can."
Shi Xiaokun nodded. "Open the Inner World. I'll have the Origin Source power backing me."
"Mm, be careful."
Ning Qi agreed, then dropped the words and left directly.
He retraced his steps and returned to the courtyard.
Looking at his surroundings and then at the sky,
After a day's work, the sky was dimming again.
It seemed necessary to stay here overnight.
Ning Qi thought to himself, then shifted his focus forward.
He sensed the Pill Spirit's fluctuations here.
With a flash, he appeared right beside the Pill Spirit.
"Master!"
The Pill Spirit noticed Ning Qi coming to find him and quickly greeted, "Any discoveries?"
"Mm, I found Lijiang Water."
Ning Qi nodded and said solemnly.
"Lijiang Water? Such a venomous water exists here?"
Hearing this, the Pill Spirit became tense. "We need to stay away. This water can corrode a person's soul."
"Moreover, once vaporized, it can contaminate the surroundings."
"So, this kind of water is usually sealed underground, and it requires formations and restrictions to contain it."
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