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Chapter 277: A Probe into the Nine Leaves (Please subscribe)

Chapter 277: A Probe into the Nine Leaves (Please subscribe)

With Fang Xi's current cultivation, if he wished to conceal himself, no one in Myriad Islands Lake would be able to discover him.

He first visited Peach Blossom Island to reminisce for a while, then made a detour to Maple Leaf Island.

A few days later, a streak of escape light departed from Maple Leaf Island.

“This island is guarded by a second-order array, and Ruan Xiuxiu is also a promising immortal seedling. . . The Foundation Establishment cultivators of Myriad Islands Lake, out of respect for me, won't make things difficult for Maple Leaf Island. . . In the next few decades, there shouldn't be any major issues. ”

“If Maple Leaf Island cannot produce a Foundation Establishment cultivator within the next few decades, then it can only be said to be their fate. . . ”

“It's just a pity about Xingling. . . One can only say that the world is always full of unforeseen coincidences. ”

If Ruan Xing Ling could have waited a few more years, the current Fang Xi would have been fully capable of acquiring Core Formation Spiritual Items for her.

The Five Elements Spirit Fruit would require waiting for a century-long restriction, but Profound Crystal Essence and Heavenly Fire Glaze wouldn't be much of an issue, especially since Dan Ya had obtained them before.

One could only say that after forming a Core, both one's magical power and one's insight differed greatly from before.

At the very least, Core Formation Spiritual Items, which were incredibly difficult for Foundation Establishment cultivators to obtain, were no longer so unattainable for Core Formation Ancestors.

For Fang Xi, who possessed numerous channels, this was even more true.

It was just a pity that the woman had limited lifespan and was wholeheartedly devoted to the Great Dao, so she wouldn't place all her hopes on others.

Perhaps it was also due to being stimulated by Fang Xi's impending Core Formation, that she directly traveled to another country to seek out a Core Formation opportunity.

It counted as a small regret.

The azure long rainbow flickered a few times, heading north all the way.

Before long, he arrived at a region where no living person dared to enter.

Ever since the disaster of ghost cultivators erupted on Emerald Island, a ghostly mist had perpetually enveloped the vicinity of the island. The closer one got to it, the more likely one was to encounter spectral entities, many of which were at the Foundation Establishment level.

The cultivators of Myriad Islands Lake naturally avoided this place like the plague.

In the sky, Fang Xi no longer concealed himself. A streak of azure light surged past, a layer of inky black radiance swirling around his body, covering dozens of feet around him.

Within the black halo, a faint, illusory projection of a gigantic demonic tree seemed to appear and disappear, its numerous spirit roots spreading out like countless grasping arms. . .

Wherever it passed, the ghost cultivators previously within the ghostly mist vanished completely. . .

“This Core Formation domain, while unrivaled for bullying the weak, isn't particularly useful against cultivators of the same realm. ”

Fang Xi muttered, halting his escape light.

Within his sight, a small, emerald-like island was already in view!

Ever since he learned that the Nine Leaves Sect was extraordinary, its founding ancestor not only a Nascent Soul cultivator but even a disciple of the Soul Transformation sect, Green Emperor Mountain, Fang Xi had resolved to visit and observe.

Now unburdened and at ease, he naturally wouldn't miss the opportunity.

Upon approaching, the wisps of pure spiritual energy mingled within the ghostly mist caused Fang Xi's expression to subtly shift: “This spiritual vein. . . it's at least third-order and above. . . It's truly a pity for it to be occupied by a group of ghost cultivators. ”

“According to legend, the core of this island contains a Netherworld earth vein, as well as several ghost cultivators. . . I wonder why it was like this originally; even Old Ghost remained tight-lipped about it. . . ”

Fang Xi looked at Emerald Island but did not force his way in.

Even though he had already formed his Core, he still acted with extreme caution.

High in the sky, fierce astral winds buffeted Fang Xi's Green Bamboo Spirit Robe, revealing the golden patterns on his 'Golden Light Earth-Traversing Boots'.

Fang Xi slapped his spirit beast bag, releasing a puppet. It was none other than You Kun!

Venturing alone into Emerald Island was too dangerous; it was better to let You Kun go first!

Roar!

You Kun expressionlessly formed hand seals, and streaks of fire dragons emerged.

The Nine Dragons Pearl, as an External Core, was frantically absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth, converting it into Core Formation-level magical power!

Extremely potent fire-attributed spiritual energy was drawn in, transforming into fire dragons that coiled around him, making him seem like a Fire God from the Nine Heavens!

You Kun still seemed unsatisfied, opening his mouth once more and spitting out an artifact.

This artifact resembled a translucent cover, which expanded rapidly against the wind, transforming into a shield burning with Three Yangs True Fire, protecting his entire body within it.

Three Yangs True Fire Shield!

This artifact, having been refined by Fang Xi and then handed over to his puppet for use, was quite a perfect fit.

After all, it was originally You Kun's own artifact!

Roar!

The next moment, nine fire dragons pounced onto the True Fire Shield, merging with the Three Yangs True Fire, creating a truly peculiar sight.

“Hmm? ”

Even Fang Xi found this development rather strange.

“This artifact. . . how is it somewhat similar to a legendary Spiritual Treasure—the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Shield? ”

“It seems You Kun indeed imitated the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Shield to craft this artifact. . . ”

Spiritual Treasure!

When an artifact is nurtured by a Core Formation cultivator for a long time, developing a trace of sentience, or even an artifact spirit, leading to a surge in power, it becomes a 'Spiritual Treasure'!

They are typically fourth-order, wielded by Nascent Soul Old Monsters.

The Nine Dragons Divine Fire Shield was a renowned Spiritual Treasure of the Hunyuan Sect, the life-bound artifact of a certain Nascent Soul Old Monster from their ancestors who had passed away!

According to Fang Xi's guess, You Kun must have also obtained the refining method, but could only create a degraded version, the 'Three Yangs True Fire Shield'!

Even so, this person took a different approach, combining it with the Nine Dragons Pearl, and it actually possessed several tenths of the power that the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Shield had when it was still a top-grade artifact!

“Three Yangs True Fire is a Yang-attributed true flame; combined with this artifact, it's quite a good choice for dealing with ghost cultivators. ”

Fang Xi chuckled lightly, his figure vanishing as he entered the void.

The You Kun puppet, expressionless, entered Emerald Island.

Hiss!

A large amount of ghostly mist surged forth, but dozens of feet away from him, it was rapidly evaporated by layers of fire spiritual energy.

From afar, it looked like a stretch of crimson glow, dozens of feet wide, stirring up the entire dark cloud.

Within the ghostly mist, a skull the size of a carriage wheel appeared, emerald phosphorescent flames burning in its eye sockets as it opened its bony maw and bit towards You Kun.

Roar!

Its cultivation had astonishingly reached the late Foundation Establishment stage. Breaking through layers of crimson glow, it arrived before You Kun, opening its mouth to spit out several pallid white bone beads.

Clatter!

The pallid bone beads seemed to be ground from cultivators' bones, entwined with blood qi and resentment, possessing immense power.

But striking the Three Yangs True Fire Shield, they only produced crisp sounds, like rain pattering on banana leaves.

Roar!

A fire dragon coiling above the Divine Fire Shield seemed to disdainfully extend its claws, and three crimson light blades flashed, tearing the skull into fragments.

Fang Xi, manipulating You Kun with his Divine Consciousness, continued to delve deeper. Along the way, he could see numerous corpses of low-level cultivators.

Many of them had already turned into white bones, with only broken artifacts and tattered robes. . . left carelessly strewn about.

As he delved deeper, he could also see some ruined restrictions, still clinging to the broken walls and crumbling ruins, their faint spiritual light still flickering, seemingly still active.

The Spirit Field Zone.

Fang Xi naturally held a map previously explored by rogue cultivators.

Walking casually, he arrived at the location of the former spirit herb garden.

This place was already very close to the core zone.

Within the spirit herb garden, the few remaining spirit herbs had been infected by the ghostly qi and had long since withered and died.

Fang Xi shook his head and approached a patch of spiritual wood.

Most of these spiritual woods were second-order, and there were several cultivator corpses nearby.

Judging by their appearance at death, they weren't killed by spectral entities, but rather died from infighting.

“What a pity. . . these spiritual woods have also been corrupted and are no longer of much use. ”

Fang Xi shook his head, about to leave, but then suddenly controlled You Kun to take a few steps forward.

Whoosh!

A ball of spirit fire emerged, instantly reducing a large amount of spiritual wood to ashes, leaving only one remaining.

It was unknown what species this spiritual wood had been before, but it seemed to have undergone a mutation, stubbornly surviving in the ghost qi-filled environment and developing some kind of mutation.

It had even advanced to become a third-order spiritual wood!

‘A third-order spiritual wood mixed with ghostly qi. . . that's truly rare. It's an excellent material for refining certain Yin-attributed artifacts and talismans. . . ’

Since he had seen it, Fang Xi naturally wouldn't miss it.

You Kun stepped forward, his withered fingers merely swiped, severing the spiritual wood from its roots, and he grabbed it.

Whoosh!

Just then, a black shadow flickered in the void, actually breaking through You Kun's outer defense of dozens of feet of red spiritual glow in an instant, and an emerald ghostly claw swiped towards his head!

Roar!

A fire dragon pounced out of the air, baring its fangs and claws as it charged towards the enemy, only to be enveloped and trapped directly by a large green net that descended from above!

Even though flames capable of melting gold and iron spurted from the fire dragon's mouth, they couldn't affect the green net in the slightest!

“Heheheh! ”

A strange laugh echoed from the void. Behind You Kun, a small white bone sword appeared, its spiritual light shimmering and runes emerging from it. It was a third-order artifact, originally hidden without a trace, but now it suddenly appeared, stabbing onto the Three Yangs True Fire Shield, causing the artifact to hum!

Snap!

The green claw likewise grasped the True Fire Shield, entangled by two fire dragons, yet tendrils of black qi emerged, resisting the True Fire's refining.

“Core Formation ghost cultivator! ”

Fang Xi's Divine Consciousness tensed, having already detected a figure within the ghostly mist.

“No. . . there are two of them! ”

Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated, pointing at the fire dragon trapped in the green net: “Explode! ”

The fire dragon let out a mournful cry, transforming into a ball of crimson flame that violently exploded.

Blazing Core Formation-level fire-attributed spiritual energy continuously spread outwards, blasting the emerald giant net into pieces.

Within the ghostly mist, a figure grunted, clearly having suffered a slight loss from this move.

“Explode! Explode! ”

Seeing this, Fang Xi hesitated even less, pointing at the two fire dragons again.

Two masses of crimson fire spiritual energy instantly exploded outside the Three Yangs True Fire Shield, engulfing the ghostly claw and the white bone sword.

Seizing this opportunity, Fang Xi controlled the You Kun puppet to retreat rapidly, fleeing Emerald Island.

Within the ghostly mist, six fire dragons encircled a figure, transforming him into a streak of crimson escape light that fled Emerald Island in a sorry state.

And behind him, the two ghost cultivators no longer concealed themselves. Their Core Formation-level aura surged wildly as they manipulated the ghostly mist, directly giving chase.

Even though Core Formation ghost cultivators wouldn't easily leave the Netherworld earth vein, they had suffered a slight loss from You Kun earlier, which had instead provoked their ferocity!

The two ghost cultivators, one after another, left Emerald Island.

And behind them, another azure long rainbow flashed into existence.

Fang Xi, in his azure robe, smiled faintly and formed hand seals: “Wood Spirit Divine Thunder. . . descend! ”

Boom!

A bolt of azure lightning, as thick as a bucket, struck into the ghostly mist, instantly sweeping away a large section of it and revealing the figures of the two ghost cultivators!