Chapter 58: Danger All Around

“Well done!” said the Golden Core Sage of Elixir Peak after he gave out the spiritual stones. Then, he laughed aloud and said, “Senior brothers and junior brothers, since Heavenly Essence Fruit has appeared in the secret zone, it is clear that the value of this secret zone is astronomical.”

“It is undoubtedly a large secret zone,” said the Golden Core Sage of Lijian Peak as he nodded his head. “We just don’t know how many spiritual leylines there are. There should be at least three for Heavenly Essence Fruit to grow.”

“Regardless of how many leylines there are, there should be enough to change it into a spiritual herb secret zone. When that time comes, the sect will have another resource secret zone,” said the Golden Core Sage of the Heavenly Artisan branch. But, he added, “About that fishy gadflies…”

“It is best if we can control them,” the Golden Core Sage of Yunchao Peak immediately said. “Grade 3 fishy gadflies are extremely hard to come by. If we can get them to serve the sect, they can produce Heavenly Fish Mint.”

“Everyone, don’t forget. Today is only the eighth day,” said the Golden Core Sage of Wine Celestial Peak with his wine gourd in his hand. “We have just discovered a medicine garden. So there might still be even more surprises in store.”

“Indeed!” said the other Golden Core Sages, with smiles on their faces.

A secret zone rich in resources could bring great benefits to the sects.

The Heavenly Essence Fruit alone was a rare item.

It was similar to the Heavenly Spirit Fruit, but its medicinal properties were more than 100 times greater than the latter.

It was the main ingredient for concocting Heavenly Essence Pills.

As for the Heavenly Essence Pills, their most significant use was to allow Golden Core Sages a greater chance of transcending the Golden Core stage and reaching the Nascent Plane.

Even with the deep pockets of Elixir Peak, they still lacked Heavenly Essence Fruit.

They had a few Heavenly Essence Pills remaining.

Now that they had discovered Heavenly Essence Fruit, Elixir Peak would have enough material for several batches of Heavenly Essence Pills in the future.

When that time came, countless Golden Core Sages would be able to benefit!

Sage Cui Chengen from Daoxuan Peak was also very pleased, but he was more concerned about the whereabouts of Little Master-Uncle and wanted to ask the others about it.

He wondered if Little Master-Uncle had managed to obtain anything during the past few days.

Even if Little Master-Uncle managed to save face now by remaining in the secret zone instead of being kicked out by the Foundation Establishment Plane disciples, he would have to face the public verification 100 days later when everyone emerged from the secret zone.

He would be humiliated if he had not obtained enough treasures by then.

However, Sage Cui could not find the right time to interrupt this joyous moment and pop the question in his mind.

Therefore, he could only secretly hope that Little Master-Uncle would return with many treasures.

If Little Master-Uncle came back empty-handed, not only would he be humiliated, but everyone from Daoxuan Peak would feel ashamed too.

The competition among the peaks was fierce. Sage Cui did not wish for Daoxuan Peak to lose.

On the other hand, Chen Jingzhai had spent the past few days exploring various corners of the secret zone.

He was certain that the scale of this secret zone was large. Its size was only slightly smaller than that of the Blessed Land.

This secret zone was complete with mountains, prairies, forests, valleys, and rivers.

Moreover, he speculated that plenty of spiritual leylines were hidden in this zone. It was because the essence power in some places was very rich.

He could sense a much denser essence power right now than when he first stepped into the secret zone.

Therefore, he did not hold back and immediately utilized his Burrowing Technique to locate resources.

He killed two Grade 2 demonic beasts along the way.

One of them was a poisonous deer with wood attributes. Its body was slender, and it looked like a tree when it remained stationary.

It was vicious, and it attacked its opponent by emitting poisonous gas.

If it weren’t for his miraculous celestial bone, Chen Jingzhai would have perished in its attack.

Another demonic beast was a legless insect with a ghost face. Its appearance was akin to a dark-colored stone, and it was inconspicuous.

It had no legs, but it had a pair of wings. It flew very fast, and it was a Grade 2 demonic beast.

There was a pair of retractable hook claws on its abdomen. Naturally, one would suffer great pain if they were injured by them.

The legless insect attacked Chen Jingzhai from about 100 feet away. However, it came to a halt when it came into contact with his robes, which was a spiritual item.

Then, it was set ablaze and turned to dust. Even though Chen Jingzhai was unharmed, he was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat.

After these two incidents, he became even more cautious as he advanced in the secret zone.

Over the next few days, he encountered some disciples from other peaks.

However, he went unnoticed due to the Presence Concealment Technique and the Burrowing Technique.

He discovered those inner disciples, but they did not detect his presence.

It was common to see the other disciples rallying around and advancing in groups.

After all, countless dangers were lurking around in a secret zone this size.

Moreover, if they were left alone, they might be mercilessly kicked out of the secret zone by others due to the competition among the peaks.

Remarkably few cultivators chose to work alone. Most of those who did so were cultivators who were ranked high in the battle forum.

The dangers lurking around in the secret zone were unpredictable.

Many of the challenges were unexpected.

Even the transportation slips could not guarantee their safety.

In fact, Chen Jingzhai encountered an unfortunate disciple being possessed by a demonic spirit in the cave residence.

A demonic spirit refers to the ghost of a dead demonic beast formed under special circumstances.

Unlike ordinary ghosts, which only possessed part of the powers they acquired when they were still alive, a demonic spirit possessed a unique ability the moment it was born.

Demonic spirits are categorized as a separate species in some field guides.

This alone demonstrated the uniqueness of the demonic spirits.

Aside from its peculiarity, demonic spirits have also had other miraculous uses.

For example, demonic spirits could be captured and refined into spiritual items or treasures to increase the latter’s spiritual power.

In the eyes of item alchemists, demonic spirits were a type of bizarre raw materials.

The power of a demonic spirit is entirely dependent on its abilities when it was alive and the abilities it gains when it becomes a spirit.

All demonic spirits have the ability to possess a host. This ability was highly troublesome.

That was because being possessed was the same as having one’s soul consumed.

The host would be in a daze as the demonic spirit possessed their body.

They would instinctively act like the demonic spirit did and inherit the habits it had when it was still alive.

A Grade 2 demonic spirit had high sentience. However, it relied entirely on instinct and did not have the memories of its previous life.

Hence, the disciple of Yunchao Peak embarrassed himself by acting weird after he was possessed by the spirit.

Luckily for him, his fellow sect members were beside him and had mastered the art of exorcising demonic spirits. Otherwise, things would have ended ugly.

There are three stages to demonic spirit possession.

The first stage was when the spirit first possessed the host. It would then immediately cloud the mind of its host.

If the host could not resist, they would be slowly consumed by the nature of the demonic spirit.

The second stage began when the spirit and host were completely merged. Then, the demonic spirit would begin to take over the host’s body.

It would enter the host’s mind and reveal its true form. Next, it would consume the host’s consciousness as it invaded their mind.

The third stage was when the demonic spirit eradicated the cultivator’s consciousness, forming an entirely new existence.

It was neither the demonic spirit nor the cultivator’s previous self. In the end, it was a unique demonic cultivator.

The attribute of the spiritual power of the cultivator would change.

Their consciousness, nature, and appearance would be completely different as well.

However, the third stage usually would not succeed. They would eventually end up perishing when their consciousness was destroyed.

However, even if the possession only reached the second stage, it was already a huge disgrace for the disciples of a sect.

After the disciple of Yunchao Peak, who was possessed, awakened, he immediately went on a rampage.

He went on a killing spree in the cave residence and destroyed all the demonic spirits.

He did not even bother to refine them into spiritual items, which was the best option.

Even the demonic spirits his companions wanted to refine were restricted by him with red eyes.

He then made a deal with them as compensation.

Due to being too embarrassed, his anger would not be extinguished until he eliminated all these demonic spirits.

Chen Jingzhai observed these proceedings from start to finish without being discovered.

He felt for the poor cultivator, but he also cautioned himself.

Having a rich and tough divine mind was crucial if he wanted to deal with demonic spirits.

As insurance, Chen Jingzhai felt that he needed to cultivate a soul refining spell.

He had many of these spells.

Both the Fire Raven Burning Sky Celestial Code and the Jade Toad Swallowing Moon Celestial Code were very suitable.

However, it was not the time to cultivate them now in the secret zone.

After Chen Jingzhai reminded himself to be careful, he once again unleashed the Burrowing Technique and left the place.

This time, he emerged from the back of the mountain range and into a wetland.

There was a river valley to the right of the wetlands.

In the river valley, Chen Jingzhai discovered many demonic beasts. But, of course, there were also disciples at the Foundation Establishment Plane.

Most importantly, he saw a disciple of Daoxuan Peak.

It was Sun Changrong, whose cultivation was at the Advanced Foundation Plane and who had created his own formation!

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