30. The Great Qianluo Marsh (Part IV)

Yao Qian frowned deeply; her cultivation was still too weak, as she hadn't even noticed how the evil spirit had transported her to this place. Just as she was contemplating how to contact her sect, she suddenly smelled a foul stench. Taking a lantern from her storage bag, she peered in the direction of the odor.

The evil spirit she had been grappling with had shed its pallid, ghostly aura, leaving behind only a completely decomposed corpse, which was the source of the stench. Having lived two lifetimes and begun cultivating in this one, Yao Qian could face such a severely decayed corpse without a change in expression.

She began to understand the creature's origins. In life, it must have been a fish demon; in death, for reasons unknown, it had transformed into a corpse demon. Living beings of flesh and blood were highly tempting to such entities, which explained why it had ambushed their camp. The pallid aura it emitted must have been corpse miasma.

After a moment's thought, she raised her hand and cast a Five-Thunder Talisman, intending to incinerate the remains. To her surprise, as the lightning struck the corpse, tiny green specks darted toward her with lightning speed.

Yao Qian had been on guard; how could she let them succeed? Her Golden Light Talisman activated once more, and simultaneously, she quickly condensed her divine sense into a needle and flicked it toward the green lights. Between her past and present lives, she had over a decade of experience, and her mastery of divine sense was superb.

The divine sense needle struck each green speck with precision, causing them to fall to the ground. Up close, Yao Qian saw they were tiny insects. Their luminescence looked familiar; they were the same ones that had raided the camp earlier.

She raised an eyebrow. She had assumed the evil spirit was opportunistically looting, but perhaps it had been in league with these insects, or maybe it was being controlled by them? As she pondered, more insects swarmed her, only to be blocked by the golden light.

Yao Qian stopped attacking them directly and focused on maintaining her defensive talisman. Once a cluster of insects had gathered outside the barrier, she unleashed another Five-Thunder Talisman, obliterating them. Their numbers were fewer than she had expected; after two rounds of attacks, few remained, and she finished them off with her divine sense needles.

She cast two more Five-Thunder Talismans and a Three-Sun Talisman upon the corpse, finally reducing the remains to smoke and ash. The surrounding stench dissipated. Gazing at the gloomy, terrifying marsh under the moonlight, she hesitated for a long while before deciding against setting off to find the main group immediately.

The situation here was unclear, and traveling at night was too dangerous. Since the evil spirit had chosen this as its primary battlefield, it was likely its territory, so nothing else should disturb her for the time being.

She summoned the gu insects from her spirit beast bag, sending some to scout the surroundings while keeping others to stand guard. She deployed a concealment formation and activated her concealment divine ability, completely masking her aura. While she could not move while using the ability, it did not hinder her from meditating.

She closed her eyes to regulate her breath, restoring the true essence and divine sense consumed during the battle. The fight had not drained her much, as she had primarily used talismans and techniques infused with talisman seeds, which did not deplete her inner essence; the real toll had been on her spirit.

This was her first fight against a sentient creature. The ghosts in the Yama Cave, however strong, lacked intelligence; she had never been discovered while using her concealment ability there, yet this evil spirit had found her with ease.

Yao Qian reasoned that she would need to master a flexible movement technique in the future to ensure her hiding spots remained undetected; otherwise, her concealment ability would be wasted. While lost in thought, she let her divine sense enter the Heaven-Deriving Stele space, where she began practicing the Three-Sun Talisman again.

Time passed until a faint light appeared on the horizon. Yao Qian opened her eyes, collected the postnatal purple breath, and practiced the Sun-Harvesting Technique. By the time she finished, it was broad daylight.

Yet, the gu insects she had sent to scout returned with no information. Could the evil spirit possess teleportation abilities? Otherwise, how could it have brought her so far? Yao Qian felt a heavy weight in her heart.

If she couldn't find the main force, could she survive in the marsh on her own? She still had the task of harvesting spirit plants. Even if the Wuji Sect seemed no different from other righteous sects on the surface, she knew well that it was merely a facade.

If she failed to submit one hundred spirit plants within six months, they would, at best, abandon her here, or at worst, refine her into a tool. Frowning, she sighed softly. She would take it one step at a time; perhaps she would encounter her sect members soon.

Suppressing her restlessness, she observed her surroundings. The place that looked so eerie at night appeared tranquil and beautiful in the daylight. Various aquatic plants of different shapes and heights grew in the clear, bottomless pools, and occasionally, small birds flew by to drink.

The traces of last night's battle remained. Bleached bones lay exposed under the sun, with countless gold silkworm gu gnawing on them. Yao Qian had initially found it strange that they were eating bones instead of other available food, but she soon realized they were consuming the residual corpse miasma within them. As the miasma vanished, the bones turned to ash, and the gu insects appeared visibly more ferocious than before.

She ignored them and took out a compass to survey the area. It flickered with a faint light. She had learned how to identify spirit plants at the Yao family academy, but pictures and reality were different. Furthermore, the academy had taught few varieties, and she hadn't recognized a single one in the marsh. The Wuji Sect must have anticipated this, hence the spirit-sensing compass.

Every spirit plant contained spiritual energy, and the compass would alert her once the energy reached a certain threshold. Yao Qian then used sealing boxes to store the plants. These boxes, lacking their own storage space, were only suitable for smaller specimens.

For larger plants or spirit trees, she needed sealing boxes with built-in storage capabilities. Many members of the Wuji Sect carried packs containing such vessels.

Yao Qian carried a few, though she kept most of her findings in the Heaven-Deriving Stele space. The corpse miasma from the evil spirit was also a resource the sect desired; although she hadn't thought to seal it at the time, feeding it to the gold silkworm gu was no waste.

After harvesting the plants and meditating, she set off around noon, guided by her pathfinding talisman. The sun's energy was strongest at midday, making it the safest time in the marsh.

She traveled alone, preferring caution. She also needed to use this time to perfect her Solar True Essence; once she reunited with the main group, she would have little time for such cultivation.

Yao Qian was no longer naive. Even with the talisman, she let the gold silkworm gu scout ahead. Despite her caution, she encountered various obstacles.

The most common issue was when a path simply ended, forcing her through dense water reeds where insects were rampant. A single tap with her wooden staff would stir up clouds of blood-sucking black mosquitoes.

These mosquitoes were not even ranked, but their reproductive capacity was immense. Initially, she used Five-Thunder Talismans against them, but eventually, she simply activated her Golden Light technique and ran. Killing them was a waste of talismans, and she had no intention of donating her blood.

Mosquitoes and dead ends were minor problems; her main concerns were the beasts lurking in the grass and the harsh weather.

A low, rumbling thunder echoed. Yao Qian sighed inwardly, using her God-Slaying Needle to dispatch a serpent hidden in the grass. She lifted the several-meter-long snake with her staff, and her gold silkworm gu swarmed it, devouring the fresh meat.

She encountered such unranked snakes once or twice a day; mostly water snakes, which she fed to her gu. During this time, she had hatched tens of thousands of gold silkworm gu; without these beasts, she would not have been able to sustain them.

She let the insects feed while she dug a pit with a shovel. Rain was coming, and she needed a shelter. As a Qi-Opening stage cultivator, she was still mortal and lacked water-evasion techniques; getting soaked could lead to sickness, or at the very least, great discomfort.

Having practiced for many years, Yao Qian’s physical strength, though not intentionally trained, far exceeded that of an ordinary man. She quickly dug a burrow and released a mud-covered stone sphere from her storage bag, which filled the entire space.

She performed a hand seal, and the stone sphere opened a door. Inside was a cramped space, enough for two or three people. She slipped in, and the door closed.

Sitting inside, she used her divine sense to manipulate a storage gourd she had left outside. It was filled with the mud she had dug up. She tilted it, pouring enough mud to cover the exterior of the sphere.

She lit a spirit lamp, stripped off her clothes, and used a Dew-Dispelling technique to shower. Then, she circulated her Solar True Essence to dry herself. Only then did her nerves, taut for days, finally relax.

Wearing loose sleepwear, she leaned against the cushioned stone wall, drifting toward sleep. She had learned that rain was the quietest time in the marsh; as long as she stayed put, she was safe. She had been using her concealment ability in the wild for three days, and today was a chance to rest.

She brought out "Little Black," and seeing the creature tilting its head at the ceiling, she smiled, rubbed its head, and whispered, "We're staying in a stone house today. It's small, but I can spend more time with you, and I'll make you something delicious!"