Chapter 283: False Death to Cross the Netherworld
Jiang Li was a little embarra.s.sed, but he quickly recovered from his shock. He had not done anything wrong, so what was there to be embarra.s.sed about?
“Junior Sister Qiuhua has been feeling a little unwell recently. Come and take some medicinal pills from me. However, I’m not a professional medical cultivator. If the situation doesn’t improve, you still have to find a real doctor.”
Only then did Jiang Li discover that Shenshan Qiuhua’s face was indeed a little flushed. Her aura did not seem very stable either.
It seemed that there was indeed a problem.
Most of the cultivators who came from the Great Mountain Region were old foxes above the Core Formation realm.
The two of them were similar in age and their cultivation level was similar. They were both female cultivators, and because of Jiang Li, they usually had a certain amount of interaction. During this period of time, their relations.h.i.+p had suddenly improved.
These few days, Shenshan Qiuhua suddenly felt uncomfortable, so she came to look for Little Four to ask for some medicinal pills to aid in regulating her breathing.
“I’m fine. Perhaps I’m a little anxious from cultivating. This has happened before. I’ll be fine after eating some medicinal pills and resting for a few days. Don’t worry about me.”
“Did something go wrong with your cultivation? Take a break for a while. Junior Sister Qiuhua, you cultivate both fire and water. You have to be more careful when cultivating.”
Shenshan Qiuhua did not cultivate a dual-attribute cultivation method like Jiang Li. Instead, she cultivated the two sword techniques of Shu Mountain. She dual cultivated water and fire at the same time. It was not an exaggeration to say that her usual cultivation was like walking on thin ice.
However, since she had already established her Dao Foundation, she should be much safer than before. When he heard her say this, Jiang Li felt slightly relieved.
“Right, Senior Brother Jiang Li, why have you come here?”
After speaking about Shenshan Qiuhua, Little Four looked at Jiang Li again. Although they were on good terms, this Senior Brother who was once Junior Brother Jiang Li’s current Alliance Leader had always had the personality of not visiting unless he needed something.
Since he was here, he most likely had something to ask her.
“The most important goal is to visit Senior Sister Little Four and Junior Sister Qiuhua. Of course, I have something else that I need your help with.”
“I heard that you guys repaired an ancient pill formula for Broken Limb Regeneration last time and need the flesh of a dragon as the main material. Perhaps you can use this to try.”
Jiang Li comforted Shenshan Qiuhua for a while, and then he took out some of the wyrm flesh and a piece of wyrm bone that was left behind.
As soon as the wyrm bone was exposed to the air, a ferocious aura spread out.
Senior Sister Little Four and Shenshan Qiuhua’s cultivation levels were still relatively shallow. When they were attacked by the baneful aura, they took more than ten steps back.
“Good! What a fierce baneful aura!”
“Senior Brother Jiang, where did you get the wyrm meat paste? This grade… is really unbelievable!”
To cultivators, ordinary limb injuries, such as the missing limbs caused by slas.h.i.+ng and chopping, might be troublesome to recover, but as long as a reliable medical cultivator spent some spirit stones, it was not difficult to grow or replace a new limb.
There were even many rogue cultivators who would specially exchange their body parts for the organs of demon beasts to increase their combat strength. Jiang Li had once encountered such rogue cultivators.
However, the problem was that the cultivation world was not only fighting with kitchen knives. There were all kinds of endless methods and extremely stubborn injuries.
Due to some special methods, the injuries created were not so easy to recover from.
For example, the eye and arm of that Benevolent Travel Temple’s Abbot Le Ku had yet to grow back.
The Sacrificial Meditation Technique could forcefully transfer one’s injuries to a portion of the limbs. Then, by abandoning a portion of the limbs, it could achieve the effect of removing fatal injuries.
This was a powerful meditation technique that could turn the tables in an emergency. However, even if he really abandoned this portion of the cultivation method, he would not be able to heal himself with ordinary methods.
Abbot Le Ku was an important figure and combat strength of the Great Mountain Region. It was a pity to lose an eye and an arm.
It was not until the ancient pill formula that Little Four, the Alchemy Elder of the Hundred Tempering Mountain, Ma Minglou, and the others repaired that Abbot Le Ku saw a glimmer of hope.
Jiang Li had seen the vitality of the wyrm beast before. To be able to withstand the effects of the altar’s live sacrifice for so long, using its essence, flesh, and blood to refine medicine should not be a problem to repair the limbs.
However, now that he had the pill formula, the materials became a problem. If he wanted to refine a “Body Repairing Golden Wyrm Pill” that could be effective on Soul Formation cultivators, he needed the flesh and blood of Soul Formation realm wyrm beasts as the material.
In this era, powerful beasts like wyrms with ancient dragon blood were extremely rare, let alone Soul Formation realm wyrms.
At the very least, they had never seen such an existence in the Great Mountain Region.
Even in the history of the auction houses in Phoenix Sun City, there had only been two records, and each time, they were sold for a sky-high price.
If he captured it himself, a famous beast like the wyrm beast would have extraordinary strength and could overturn rivers and water. Its combat strength would surpa.s.s human cultivators of the same level.
Even if they really discovered such an existence, with Benevolent Travel Temple’s strength, they might not be able to defeat it even if they mobilized all their forces.
If Jiang Li could use these flesh, blood, and bones to refine a body refinement pill for Le Ku, then Benevolent Travel Temple would owe him a huge favor.
“I obtained this by accident. I’ll get the highest-level alchemist to cooperate with you and see if you can refine one or two Body Repairing Golden Wyrm Pills.”
“I’ll give it a try.”
Jiang Li wanted to use the flesh and blood of this Raksha Black Wyrm to refine the Body Repairing Golden Wyrm Pill.
On the one hand, he felt that as his strength increased, his recovery status gradually could not keep up with his footsteps. He needed some powerful recovery status to make up for this “shortcoming”.
On the other hand, Abbot Le Ku was also a trusted aide of the Great Mountain Alliance. If he could help him recover, Jiang Li naturally had to help him.
Of course, with Benevolent Travel Temple’s personality, they definitely could not take such a precious thing for free. Therefore, Jiang Li would reluctantly borrow the Benevolent Travel Temple’s relic for a period of time.
Jiang Li had experienced the benefits of Ananda’s blood tears before, but the production speed was too slow.
If he could obtain the enhancement of the Buddhist Relic, the hope of the tens of thousands of people in the statue would grow even faster. Then, it would collide with the chaotic will inside, and the speed at which blood tears would appear would naturally increase greatly.
At that time, he would completely neutralize the Overlord-level blood of madness and use it on himself. Jiang Li’s strength would definitely welcome a breakthrough.
This was really exciting.
After obtaining the flesh and blood of the Raksha Black Wyrm, Senior Sister Little Four immediately found someone to start refining pills. Of course, medicinal pills of this level had to be at least at the Nascent Soul realm. Her cultivation level was too low, and it was difficult for her to even approach the flesh and blood.
After dealing with some more trivial matters, the Great Mountain Alliance gradually got on track.
The interior of the cultivation world of the Great Mountain Region became more and more harmonious. The alliance army rode a large flying s.h.i.+p and left their hometown in an orderly manner, stationed in the former defense encampment of Ink Sect.
Repairing array formations, drawing talismans, forging artifacts, refining medicinal pills, and all the preparations for war were arranged in secret.
The higher-ups of the Great Mountain Alliance traveled everywhere because of this, and Jiang Li, who did not want to be involved, happily played a game of looting with the Asura clone of the Asura World in the coffin.
Blood Crystals, Mad Stones, Blood Dripping Ores, and various unique products of the Asura World were sent over by the Asura clone bit by bit, causing the collection in Jiang Li’s coffin to become even richer and more abundant.
…
In the Ghost King Desolate Ground, in this land of extreme yin that was often enveloped by dark clouds and fog, due to the irregular appearance of a certain overlapping illusionary realm, many Eastern Region cultivators who did not care about their lives surged in.
Under the nourishment of the flesh and blood of the Raksha Black Wyrm, the sword cultivator clone who had already broken through to the Core Formation realm and the six Core Formation realm cultivators had already been wandering here for more than a month.
However, other than the wastelands, skeletons, and undead, there seemed to be nothing here. It was barren and dangerous, no wonder it was not welcomed.
“Quiet!”
Two kilometers ahead, a black whirlwind suddenly rose from the ground.
Then, a huge translucent shadow appeared in the air.
“d.a.m.n it! It’s a Ghost King!”
The sword cultivator clone cursed softly before suddenly raising his right hand to pound his heart.
As if he had pressed a switch, the originally powerful beating heart suddenly stopped. Jiang Li’s clone lost his vitality just like that and lay on the ground stiffly.
Dead?
The other six Hidden Rock cultivators also decisively gritted their teeth. One of the poison capsules hidden in their mouth immediately broke. The poisonous liquid instantly flowed into their internal organs, causing them to immediately fall into a false death state.
Their blood flow stopped, their organs stopped functioning, and their souls began to leave their bodies. They looked no different from real dead people.
Ghost Kings were terrifying existences that even Soul Formation cultivators would turn around and leave when they saw them.
In the eyes of ordinary cultivators, the most brilliant and hidden methods were completely exposed in the eyes of the Ghost King.
This was because not only did they have a huge suppression in terms of rank, ghosts without flesh and blood or eyes could only observe life and souls. This kind of thing could not disappear if it was a living person.
Therefore, there were once cultivators who joked that the best way to avoid the Ghost King’s gaze was to commit suicide.
However, the cultivator’s joke sounded like a bolt out of the blue to those who were interested. It opened the door to a new world.
Who could say that suicide was not a good idea?
Jiang Li’s sword cultivator clone had experienced a long half-living state in the ruins of the Black Lotus Divine Sect.
It gave him a special ability, this kind of false death status that could be switched at any time.
As for the other six Hidden Rock cultivators, they did not have such convenient abilities.
Jiang Li prepared a bottle of medicinal pills for each of them. Each pill was embedded in a tooth and could take effect with a bite.
That was actually not very precious. It was one of the testing versions of the Hundred Tempering Mountain’s Death Pills during the experimental stage.
It did not have the ability to ignore injuries. It only had side effects. Once eaten, it could cause a person to fall into a state close to death and maintain the soul in the body for a period of time.
Without any vitality, they looked no different from ordinary corpses.
This was originally a worthless test version, but Jiang Li took a fancy to its only advantage.
This kind of false death status was reversible.
They did not expect the Ghost King to not discover them, but he did not want those powerful Ghost Kings to be interested in them. This was enough.
Sure enough, after the huge phantom glanced at them, it turned around and slowly floated away without any interest.
A cold wind that was completely fatal to mortals blew past.
On the barren ground, a “corpse” suddenly sat up straight.
The heart in his chest began to beat slowly. The gray skin on the sword cultivator clone’s body quickly surged with a layer of blood color.
After exiting the false death status, he quickly took out a porcelain bottle and stuffed the six antidotes into the mouths of the six Hidden Rock cultivators.
The false deaths on their bodies were removed, and only then did they spit out black blood to come back to life.
They were not as convenient as the sword cultivator clone. This state of near death was very damaging to their bodies. It was not inferior to being beaten up by a body cultivator of the same level. If they did it a few more times, they might not be able to survive.
However, they had relied on this method to stay in the Ghost King Desolate Ground for so long.
“Lord Burning Rainbow, let’s leave quickly. It won’t be good if the Ghost King returns.”
Burning Rainbow was the code name after the sword cultivator clone wore the mask.
After a Hidden Rock cultivator recovered from his shock, he suggested this. They had all done this before. When they saw such a dangerous high-level ghost, they could avoid it as much as they could.
However, this time, Jiang Li’s clone looked in the direction the Ghost King left in and did not turn around to leave.
“Lord Burning Rainbow, are we not leaving?”
The six Hidden Rock cultivators helped each other up and could not wait to leave. However, the decision of the sword cultivator clone made them feel abnormally uncomfortable.
“No, let’s follow it!”
Jiang Li felt that they had fallen into a wrong mentality.
They clearly knew that these high-level ghosts would be attracted by the Netherworld Illusion, but during this period of time, for safety’s sake, they had always done the opposite of these ghosts.
They had not discovered anything for a month. Perhaps this was the reason.
“But… but that’s the Ghost King. Isn’t following it courting death?”
Even parasitized cultivators would fear death.
These few fellows were all people who had once ambushed Jiang Li and eaten the Nine Nether Earth Fruit after being convinced by others. With a thought from Jiang Li, they could only obediently obey.
The group of seven people dispersed. After lowering their auras, they rushed in the direction where the Ghost King had left.
One mile, two miles, five miles, ten miles, fifty miles, a hundred miles.
Due to the fear of being discovered by high-level ghosts, they did not dare to use their spiritual qi to fly and could only rely on their two legs to run on the ground. Their speed was naturally not inferior to before.
After running for 50 kilometers, the sword cultivator clone gradually discovered a difference.
The air seemed to be filled with a familiar smell.
Through communication with his mind, Jiang Li’s main body instantly descended.
With a sniff, he quickly identified it.
“This is the fragrance of the spider lily!”
Jiang Li’s eyes lit up. Although the Yin qi in the Ghost King Desolate Ground was dense, the land was barren. It was impossible for the spider lilies to reproduce on a large scale here.
He reached out and grabbed a handful of dark red powder in the air.
This was the pollen of the spider lily. To be able to reach this level, there must be a large spider lily field nearby.
Other than his Yin Burial Coffin, the only other place where such a large spider lily could appear was the legendary Netherworld Illusion.
“Oh? These are… the tire tracks?”
The clone continued to approach, and Jiang Li quickly saw a few traces not far away. There were many footprints around the traces.
The traces were very new, so it should not have been left for long.
But why would anyone use the carriage here? Why did this group happen to appear here?
Or could it be that the appearance of this environment was related to this group of people?
“It seems that this illusion might not have been formed naturally.”
He knocked on the heart again with his right hand, and his body fell into a state of suspended animation. All his attributes had decreased to less than 30% of their original level, but he could still maintain his mobility and walk along the tracks.
After traveling for another half an hour, Jiang Li controlled his clone to stop, and the carriage beneath his feet suddenly stopped.
What was going on?
There were no signs of battle, so it did not seem like they had been attacked. Had a group of people flown away at the same time?
Otherwise, this group of people would have suddenly disappeared here.
While Jiang Li was thinking, an extremely cold aura suddenly appeared from behind him.
Jiang Li did not need to turn around to know that this was definitely another Ghost King.
Under the state of false death, the sword cultivator clone could not break out in a cold sweat, but the pressure also made him unable to move at all.
Fortunately, this phantom that was a hundred meters tall did not even look at the sword cultivator clone on the ground as it floated forward by itself. After that, the phantom that was a hundred meters tall quickly shrunk, and it transformed into a red clothed woman before Jiang Li’s eyes before gradually vanis.h.i.+ng.
Jiang Li heaved a sigh of relief. He had thought that this clone was done for.
However, after seeing the scene just now, he already knew where the disappearing carriage headed. He controlled his clone to step forward.
With every step he took, the surrounding environment changed a little. After ten steps, a layer of fog seemed to have been torn apart in front of Jiang Li, and an expanse of flickering red flowers and yellow gra.s.s appeared before his eyes.
These were the accompanying spider lilies and carefree gra.s.s.