Infinite Professions from a Pearl Collector

In an instant, everything around him seemed to slow down.

Then, he clearly saw a black thread, as fine as a hair, wrapped tightly around Yun Heqing’s neck. The other end of the thread stretched silently into the depths of the thick fog in the distance.

’That’s not a physical object. It’s a manifestation of resentment and a Curse!’

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Ye gripped the hilt of his saber, pouring all the Sun and Moon Essence Qi he had gathered and refined recently into the blade.

SHING!

The long saber left its sheath, tracing a cold, bright arc through the air.

Xiao Hongye’s heart skipped a beat at the sight. Just as she was about to speak, Chen Ye’s saber was already slashing toward the back of Yun Heqing’s head.

A faint glimmer, barely visible to the naked eye, shimmered on the blade’s edge.

HISS!

As if scalded by the shimmering light on the blade, the invisible black thread snapped.

At the same time, for Yun Heqing, who was drooling at the thought of finally touching the peerless beauty’s ankle, the scene before his eyes shattered.

The beautiful woman, the green flagstones—it all vanished like a popped bubble.

He jolted awake from the Illusion Realm. The first things he saw were Chen Ye’s expressionless face and a long saber resting on his neck, radiating a bone-chilling cold.

"Uh..."

Yun Heqing’s Adam’s apple bobbed. In an instant, cold sweat soaked through his Daoist Robe.

"What... what just happened?" he asked, his voice trembling. He still hadn’t figured out what was going on.

"You fell for an Illusion Technique," Xiao Hongye said as she walked over, her expression grave. "If Younger Brother Chen hadn’t acted in time, you would have ended up just like Lei Cang."

Although she hadn’t seen the black thread, she had already deduced what had happened.

Only then did everyone understand.

No one had expected Chen Ye’s Saber Technique to be so formidable that it could sever an intangible Illusion Technique!

"Th-thank you, Brother Chen Ye, for saving my life!" Yun Heqing stammered, having come to his senses. He bowed repeatedly to Chen Ye, his face pale with lingering fear.

The admiration in Xiao Hongye’s gaze deepened as she looked at Chen Ye.

’With an expert like him on our side, our chances of success on this trip have definitely increased.’

Meanwhile, Lü Song, who stood to the side, looked even more sullen. His eyes, fixed on Chen Ye, were filled with apprehension.

’This kid from the Qi Cultivation Realm keeps shattering my expectations.’ His arrogance had completely vanished, replaced by a profound sense of danger.

After this incident, the group didn’t dare to be the slightest bit careless.

However, the rest of the journey was uneventful. The group reached the deepest part of Black Wind Stronghold without any further trouble.

Before them stood a small, solitary temple.

The temple wasn’t large and was even somewhat dilapidated, but the strangest thing was that the plaque above its entrance was hanging upside down.

A cold, ominous aura emanated from within.

The group exchanged glances, braced themselves, and then stepped into the temple.

The temple’s interior was dim and sparsely furnished, with only a solitary shrine in the center.

When the group looked up and got a clear view of the statue enshrined in the shrine, they all gasped in shock.

The statue’s facial features, hands, and feet were all inverted!

Its nose was on its forehead, its mouth was on its chin, and its eyes were positioned corner to corner, gazing down at the intruders with a twisted, cold stare.

An indescribable chill instantly shot up everyone’s spines.

In that moment, Chen Ye felt his scalp tingle and the hair on his head stand on end—his body’s most primal reaction to extreme danger!

At that very same moment.

"Cough... COUGH COUGH!"

The face of Zhao Ada, the Sickly Ghost, suddenly turned a deathly shade of blue. But his reaction was lightning-fast. He threw his mouth open and spat out a fist-sized ball of dense black gas!

The black gas rapidly solidified in mid-air, transforming into a dripping wet Water Ghost that bared its fangs and brandished its claws, shielding him.

This sickly man, who looked like he could drop dead at any moment, was actually a Yin Nourishing Master who specialized in controlling ghostly creatures!

At the same time, countless colorful butterflies began to flutter around the seemingly innocent young girl, Su Yuan, without any warning.

Each of these butterflies’ wings bore a large, ghastly green, and unnervingly lifelike eye. They swarmed around Su Yuan, forming a strange yet beautiful protective barrier.

These were the Gu Insects she had nurtured with her own lifeblood since childhood—the Dream Awakening Butterflies!

On another side, Lü Song hadn’t moved, but his face had turned deathly pale. The dark circles under his eyes had become almost pure black, and his aura was completely listless, as if his Essence Qi had been drained.

In this state, he suddenly pulled a palm-sized black earthenware jar from his robes, ripped off the lid, and stuffed a handful of white powder into his mouth!

The moment the powder appeared, a dense wave of Yin Qi spread out.

’It’s human ashes!’

It turned out that the Dietary Stream Sect, to which Lü Song belonged, possessed a Secret Technique for cultivation that involved devouring Souls and Yin Qi.

The constant influx of Yin Qi clashed with his body’s natural yang energy, which was why he always looked so weak and depleted.

These ashes had been refined by his Sect’s Secret Technique. To an ordinary person, they were a substance of extreme yin and evil, but to him, they were a life-saving restorative in a moment of crisis.

Sometimes, he would even grab a handful and stuff it in his mouth mid-battle, after which he’d fight with increasing ferocity, as if he were on drugs.

However, the most stunning display of all came from Xiao Hongye!

"Break!"

With a sharp cry, she unsheathed her longsword. A brilliant Sword Light, as bright as a red leaf, slashed toward the shrine like a bolt of silk!

CRACK!

The Sword Light flashed past, and a clear crack appeared on the bizarre, upside-down statue.

But before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, a wave of Yin Qi, ten times denser than before, erupted from the crack in the statue, instantly flooding the entire small temple!