Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Magical Artifact Pinecone, Invitation from Locust Village
"You said you felt its spiritual power?"
Li Ye gently stroked the turtle transformed from the Cyan Bird, "At the Temple of All Gods..."
Now, being far away from the mother plant of the Love Life and Death Beans, its spirituality has slightly weakened, making communication a bit slower, but still able to convey its meaning.
Li Ye spent some effort to understand its meaning.
Simply put, when it was purified at the Temple of All Gods, it absorbed the spiritual qi of the Flint Fire Divine Turtle and perfectly replicated it— in its view, leaving the Temple of All Gods was also a separation.
Every separation imprints on its mind.
"Doesn’t that mean when you encounter the gods of the Four Seasons Sect again, you’ll have the ability to transform?"
The turtle nodded.
Although it wanted to lift its head proudly, the structure of the turtle and the Cyan Bird was ultimately different.
Finally, it kept silent for a while, then suddenly turned back into the Red Bean, burrowing into Li Ye’s pocket.
"..."
"You little one, are you actually shy?"
Li Ye shook his head helplessly, patting his pocket, "Thank you, have a good rest, we should be able to return soon."
So the situation had now become that Li Ye was connected with it through a divine sense crystal line, and it could control the pine cone.
So the pine cone was also within Li Ye’s control range.
"Is that how it works?"
Li Ye beckoned to the pine cone again.
The latter immediately fell into his palm, and as he urged the mana, the fragrance of pine resin stored within instantly spread, turning into clouds tightly wrapping around Li Ye.
"Is there anything else?"
He tried to urge the power of the flint fire.
With a "huff," the pine cone immediately ignited in terrifying flames, burning everything around along with the overflowing pine resin. This flame’s strength could flow with Li Ye’s heartthought.
He could attack wherever he pointed.
Li Ye curiously controlled and researched its power for a while, finally discovering it was essentially three powers: fire control, emitting pine resin, and concealing aura.
The ability to emit pine resin was solely reliant on the Love Life and Death Beans melting the pine resin into the pine cone interior. Once the pine resin was exhausted, only fire control and aura concealment remained.
But it was still quite good.
Considered a very fine magical artifact, it saved him the time for his own refinement, and it would be used more comfortably than exhausting refinement efforts.
Li Ye directly put it into his pocket.
At this point, the injuries inside his body had completely disappeared, and his breathing felt smooth.
And the previously brought vital essence amounted to three hundred points in total, counting what he had accumulated during this period, amounting to over a thousand.
He could clearly feel the vital essence being beneficial to his body.
His whole aura was vibrant, emanating a spiritual qi fluctuation that involuntarily attracted closeness.
Even though he hadn’t practiced body-forging cultivation techniques, his body was already very strong, thanks to the result of the vital essence and the constant intake of various spiritual materials.
If he didn’t suppress the spiritual qi inside, continuously purifying it, he would probably have already naturally broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage.
"If I were to appear before flesh-eating demons, wouldn’t they drool?"
Li Ye muttered to himself, packing up his things, and stepped out of the secret chamber.
Outside, a young girl in a Taoist robe was waiting.
Upon seeing Li Ye, she quickly cupped her hands in greeting, "Uncle, Master asked me to wait here for you. If you exit seclusion, I’ll take you to Locust Village to meet her."
"What kind of place is Locust Village?"
The girl’s cultivation had just entered Qi Refining, her expression fearful when mentioning Locust Village:
"Master said some souls unwilling to enter the cycle of reincarnation head to Locust Village, and over time it forms a Ghost Village. Sometimes evil ghosts intending to harm the world appear."
"But the place also produces beneficial items for us cultivators, so Master goes there periodically to clean it up. I heard a Hungry Bone seemed to be mutating there this time."
"Master said if you’re interested, let me take you to have a look."
"Oh."
Hungry Bone, evil ghosts, ghosts.
Li Ye thought about the flint fire power he carried and the Buddha’s light given by the Beaver. If necessary, the Life Breath Spirit Transformation Scroll and Love Life and Death Beans by the Black Cat meant no problem whatsoever.
And since it’s a "Ghost Village," there should be something he needs, right?
So he happily nodded, "Alright, take me there."
The young girl immediately brought over a flying shuttle, and then took Li Ye flying skyward, directly heading west.
The flying shuttle traveled extremely fast, stopping before a somewhat eerie village in just over half a tea time.
From a distance, countless locust trees grew within the village, their branches shrouded in darkness, resembling ghosts.
Li Ye stood on the ground, gazing into the distance.
He vaguely smelled a stench, a quite familiar stench precisely like that emitted by the Hungry Bone, a manifestation of inner soul resentment qi.
"Such a wide-ranging Hungry Bone, huh."
He thought carefully and decisively took out a Red Bean.
The newly placed Red Bean immediately transformed into a Cyan Bird, landing on his shoulder, and anthropomorphically blocked its nose with a feather, clearly disgusted.
"Let’s go."
With the Cyan Bird perched on his shoulder, he felt more at ease, letting the trembling girl wait here, asking for directions before entering directly.
If there were dangers, he’d still have to worry about protection, better to enter alone, avoiding potential mishaps.
Upon entering the village, Li Ye sensed a large amount of death qi useful for making "Mo," surprisingly, all surrounding locust trees being Second Tier Spirit Plants "Soul-Stabilizing Locust Tree."
Their thick branches nearly merged with the worn houses below, overhanging branches covering tightly shut windows, with vague shadows seemingly visible inside.
Overgrown weeds lined the sides of the ancient bluestone path, distant chirps from birds and beasts could be heard.
If he weren’t a cultivator, and this wasn’t a visit invited by Senior Sister Liu, or lacking protective magic against ghostly evils.
He would never come to such an evidently foreboding place.
Yet, to be honest, he did have some doubts.
Why did Senior Sister Liu want him to "watch the fun" here, does it relate to sponsorship solicitation? Or to show him something?
He slowly walked toward the depths of the village.
The surrounding stench intensified, black qi grew darker.
Then, rounding a corner, he suddenly saw a massive purple-red flower, as tall as three or four people, and white bone fragments below it growing in the clearing.
The contrasting colors were extremely striking, with the panel clearly indicating the thing was called "Hungry Ghost Evil Bone," evidently more terrifying than a Hungry Bone.
Senior Sister Liu and Senior Brother Su stood beside the Hungry Ghost Evil Bone, faces showing no stress.
Seeing Li Ye, Senior Brother Su impatiently waved, "You’re finally here! Hurry over!"
"What’s going on here?" Li Ye walked over, puzzled.
Su Ya didn’t answer but took out a small bottle and poured it directly on the Hungry Ghost Evil Bone, even though the bottle was small, the quantity of liquid poured was vast.
The shimmering golden light instantly covered the entire Hungry Ghost Evil Bone.
Li Ye observed closely, realizing it was undoubtedly Qi Fortune Shining Gold! And judging by the quantity, it must be at least dozens of pounds.
A regular Hungry Bone produces only a couple of ounces of Shining Gold, how much does this require?
Moreover, he’s still puzzled, what exactly is being done?