Chapter 245
Long Yiran was truly generous.
A short while later.
Seeing that Wang Yu was still immersed in the contents of the Earth Mother Scripture, Long Yiran reminded him softly.
“Brother Wang, you can study it slowly when there’s time. The Earth Mother Scripture is not something that can be mastered in a short period. Some cultivators spend their entire lives studying it and still fail to grasp its essence.”
Wang Yu nodded. “True enough. But how much have you comprehended from it, Master Long?”
“A little insight,” she replied modestly.
Her foundation was solid, and with the inheritance completed, she had spent over a year meditating and comprehending in silence. In truth, she was pushing the upper limits of her own abilities.
Next, the two began dividing the spiritual herbs.
The most important were the third-rank spirit items. Among them, one or two were helpful for Long Yiran’s Core Formation, as her inheritance seemed to contain a matching supreme-grade Core Formation Pill formula.
After a friendly discussion, they divided everything according to their needs. Each obtained six plants. Wang Yu received a few third-rank poisonous herbs, most of which could be used in alchemy. Among them, one was an ingredient for the Exquisite Inner Pill, known as the Impure Qi Root.
From its name alone, one could tell that it was a counterpart to the Golden Qi Root. However, its main property was impurity, making it even more toxic to divine sense than most poisons.
If an ordinary cultivator were to consume it by mistake, their meridians would clog, their body would be defiled, and their soul would weaken. Their potential and aptitude would suffer greatly.
This thing was one of the three main Qi Roots required for refining the Exquisite Inner Pill. Even Wang Yu could not completely understand the pharmacology behind such a pill formula.
Aside from that, the remaining five were common in quality. Because they were poisonous, their price would be slightly higher if sold to the right buyer. If sold to merchant guilds such as Heaven Treasure Pavilion or Golden Abundance Tower, each might fetch around two hundred thousand spirit stones at best—not worth much.
After clearing out the underground medicine garden, Wang Yu brought up the matter of the Ancient Heavenly Soul Sect ruins, sharing the clues he had gathered.
The mention of the inverted “mountain” shaped landmark made Long Yiran thoughtful. She said, “Brother Wang, this is indeed a formation, one derived from the Earth Formation but transformed into a Human Formation known as the Nether Tiger Prison-Sealing Formation.”
Wang Yu frowned. “What does that mean?”
She explained, “In geomantic arts, ‘mountain’ often symbolizes suppression and sealing. An inverted mountain means suppression while simultaneously locking everything within the formation.
“It’s like a wedge pinning one end of an iron chain, fixing it deep into the earth, forming an inescapable prison.”
Wang Yu suddenly understood. “Then what does the ‘Nether Tiger’ refer to?”
“The tiger is the lord of the mountain. When the mountain is inverted, it becomes the Nether Tiger. The Ancient Heavenly Soul Sect cultivated the Soul Path, so this formation was likely used to seal the vengeful and fierce spirits they captured.”
The so-called Soul Path was the cultivation of divine soul and spiritual sense.
Though soul and spiritual sense are inseparable, they are distinct. The latter functions like the limbs of the former—by tempering it, one strengthens both power and resilience.
They share glory and loss. Strengthening either side leads to the growth of the other.
During the height of the ancient demonic path, the Heavenly Soul Sect, based in the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain, was one of its branches. They absorbed the power of wandering souls and fierce spirits to strengthen themselves—a common practice in demonic cultivation.
However, such acts easily tainted one’s own soul, making it difficult to condense a Nascent Soul in the future.
Wang Yu understood the intricacy of it.
The Ancient Soul Art was precisely a method to counter this problem. By cultivating an Ancient Soul, one could block out all impurities, chaotic wills, and lingering memories from invading.
Whoever created this art was indeed a genius.
After this realization, Wang Yu moved to the key question.
“How do we find it?”
“Don’t worry, Brother Wang. Since the formation is so distinct, we only need to locate the Yin veins. Let’s head out first—you’ll understand soon.”
“Alright.”
After performing the Purple Dragon Earth-Escape Technique, Wang Yu moved underground without obstruction. Traveling beneath the surface was easy for him.
Long Yiran, true to her status as a earth formation master, used a triangular flag. With a gentle wave, the earth and stones automatically parted before her.
Once she passed through, the soil restored itself perfectly, leaving no trace of her presence—not even a hint of true essence remained. The Earth-Escape Technique could not achieve such precision.
“Amazing,” Wang Yu exclaimed, drawing a faint smile from her.
“This is the Earth Mother’s Breath Soil Flag. It will one day become my life-bound spiritual artifact. Unfortunately, my cultivation is insufficient, and I lack a rare spiritual material, so it remains incomplete for now.”
Her frankness and openness only made Wang Yu respect her more. She was like a piece of gold shining in plain sight—something everyone admired.
Especially since she possessed strengths he could not match, his appreciation grew even more.
They soon returned to the surface.
As expected, they were no longer at the White Serpent Lowlands. Instead, they found themselves within a dense forest.
After climbing to the highest nearby elevation and ascending a tall tree to survey the landscape, they confirmed that they had drifted about three hundred li north of their original position.
At that moment, golden rings appeared in Long Yiran’s eyes—the manifestation of the secret art Golden Vision of Qi Observation. This technique allowed her to see through the earth and perceive the flow of ground energy.
In the geomantic arts, earth qi was a crucial element.
Areas rich in earth qi often indicated the existence of an earth vein. By following its flow to the source, one could often discover a naturally formed formation.
Similarly, spirit veins, five-element veins, and dragon veins—all derived from earth veins—could be tracked through the Golden Vision of Qi Observation. Within the lineage of Earth Masters, this was considered a top-tier secret art.
Its only flaw was that its range was limited.