Translator: AnubisTL
Guided by the Profound Yellow True Flame's resonance, Li Qing located the area within the Boundary River with the most concentrated aura of Great Yin True Water.
In the midstream region of the great river, the surrounding temperature plummeted to extreme lows, sending a bone-chilling cold even through Li Qing's defenses.
This was no ordinary cold; even cultivators with slightly weaker cultivation bases would be frozen into ice shards and sink to the riverbed.
Li Qing's purpose here wasn't to immediately temper his body. His life essence hadn't fully replenished yet, and attempting further refinement now would be counterproductive, leading to a significant loss of Lifespan.
Having discerned that the Boundary River was once the site of an ancient immortal dao faction, Li Qing deduced that the entrance to this former stronghold likely lay where the aura of Great Yin True Water was most concentrated.
"Before the Red Moon Era, this Boundary River wasn't nearly this cold. Something must have changed."
"Perhaps after the onset of the End of Dao Era, some calamity befell the sect, causing their Holy Artifact—the Great Yin True Water—to leak out?"
"Did the Great Yin True Water merge with the Boundary River, ultimately forming this current state?"
Li Qing surmised that the area with the densest concentration of Great Yin True Water's aura must be the entrance to the ancient sect's ruins.
Without hesitation, he activated the heavenly spirit fire within his body, unleashing a relentless barrage of flames upon the river.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The spiritual flames erupted with blinding intensity, their heat nearly irresistible. A terrifying heatwave surged outward, colliding with the frigid air to create thick, billowing mist that soared into the night sky.
Soon, the entire river was shrouded in a dense, heavy fog, within which flickering firelight occasionally pierced through.
Before long, the water level in the river's midsection had dropped significantly, finally revealing the hidden depths below.
Indeed, a grotto-heaven lay concealed beneath the surface!
A barrier of flowing water stretched across the riverbed, beneath which lay an abandoned sealing formation.
Without a word, Li Qing darted through the water barrier and into the sealing formation below.
The formation had indeed been completely abandoned. After all, this realm had entered the End of Dao Era, and even the most powerful formations could no longer be sustained.
The formation sealed an entrance leading to the deepest depths of the riverbed.
Li Qing extended his divine sense to investigate, but to no avail. The entrance seemed impossibly deep, with no end in sight.
Finally, Li Qing decided to personally enter and explore the depths.
In an instant, his figure vanished from sight.
On the shore beyond the Boundary River, Crown Prince Miao Tuo, mounted on his Exotic Beast Treasure Steed, stared in utter bewilderment.
First, he had witnessed Senior Li Qing suddenly rush into the middle of the river for some unknown reason, then continue to bombard the water with that mystical heavenly spirit fire.
Soon, thick clouds of mist billowed upward. As the mist dissipated, Li Qing's figure had vanished without a trace.
"W-where did Senior Li Qing go?"
"How could he just disappear like that? Could something have happened to him?"
A look of worry crossed Miao Tuo's face. The Blood Martial Dynasty knew little about the Boundary River, a place shrouded in mystery. Even crossing it was a perilous undertaking, let alone uncovering its secrets.
It was then that Miao Tuo realized Senior Li, whom he deeply respected, had ventured into the river alone. His mount, the Exotic Beast Treasure Steed, had been left behind.
Beside him, Fan Tong yawned lazily and sprawled out on the ground.
To Miao Tuo, this scene was unsettling.
This strange beast was undoubtedly immensely powerful, capable of threatening his life with ease.
If Senior Li met with misfortune within the river, would the beast go berserk, losing its reason and turning on him?
As if sensing Miao Tuo's gaze, Fan Tong sent a haughty telepathic message:
"What are you staring at? Afraid this tiger will eat you?"
The telepathic message struck Miao Tuo's mind like a thunderclap. He whirled around in shock, looking around wildly.
"Who's there? Who's speaking?"
Seeing the young man's spineless demeanor, Fan Tong's tiger eyes flashed with smug satisfaction. It continued, "This king is a subordinate of the Limitless True Monarch, the Black Fiend Tiger King himself!"
Though it hadn't yet undergone transformation, Fan Tong had already bestowed upon itself the grandiose title of Black Fiend Tiger King, which sounded impressively imposing.
Upon hearing these words, Miao Tuo finally realized that the voice he'd heard earlier must have belonged to Senior Li's mount!
He stiffly twisted his neck, finally meeting Fan Tong's remarkably human-like gaze.
It really is that strange beast!
A talking strange beast! This is utterly astonishing!
"Hmph! Hurry up and massage this king's body!"
Thus, Miao Tuo, his face now radiating respect, scurried to Fan Tong's side and began kneading the Black Fiend Tiger King's powerful muscles.
"My deepest apologies, Senior Black Fiend Tiger King. I never imagined you were such a venerable figure."
Meanwhile, Li Qing, having already plunged deep into the Boundary River's underwater entrance, remained blissfully unaware of the farcical scene unfolding above.
He had reached the end of the tunnel, where a breathtaking grotto-heaven unfolded before him—a realm utterly distinct from the outside world, as if he had stepped into another dimension entirely.
Li Qing's divine sense revealed a ruined site completely surrounded by rivers—clearly the former territory of an immortal dao faction that had once claimed the Boundary River as its mountain gate.
At his feet lay a massive, dark gray plaque, its four characters carved in bold strokes:
Yellow Springs Holy Sect!
Only then did Li Qing realize that the ruins of this cultivation sect's mountain gate below him possessed an eerie, netherworld-like atmosphere.
"Yellow Springs Holy Sect, eh? Quite the grandiose name."
With that, Li Qing approached the foot of the Yellow Springs Holy Sect's mountain gate, crossing the surrounding Yellow Springs River in a single, impossibly long stride.
Alas, no matter how majestic the sect's name had been, it was now nothing more than a desolate ruin.
Soon, Li Qing noticed numerous white skeletons buried within the ruins of the Yellow Springs Holy Sect.
Perhaps due to the passage of eons, these skeletons had completely weathered. At the slightest touch, they crumbled into swirling clouds of bone dust that scattered into the air.
It was easy to discern that these skeletons had once belonged to disciples of the Yellow Springs Holy Sect.
As Li Qing continued to scan the ruins with his divine sense, he searched for anything of value or traces of his missing disciple.
Li Qing discovered that the so-called Yellow Springs Holy Sect consisted only of collapsed, ruined buildings and wind-weathered skeletons scattered across the ground.
Worse still, the aura of the Great Yin True Water had vanished upon entering, even weaker than the Boundary River outside.
Li Qing frowned. If he found nothing here either, he truly wouldn't know where else to begin searching for Lin Jing.
But then, the Profound Yellow True Flame within him couldn't contain itself any longer.
"Boy, go check those Yellow Springs Rivers. The terrain here is extraordinary—a perfect place for nurturing spirits with yin energy."
Having no understanding of terrain himself, Li Qing had no choice but to follow the guidance of this spiritual flame that had once served the Crimson Radiance Heavenly Monarch.
Approaching the Yellow Springs River again, Li Qing finally noticed something amiss.
The river bisected the entire mountain gate, encircling the Yellow Springs Holy Sect's grounds.
When he had scanned the area with his divine sense earlier, he hadn't detected anything unusual and had simply stepped over it.
But now, standing at the riverbank, he could clearly see what lay beneath the surface.
Submerged within the Yellow Springs River were countless skeletons, remarkably well-preserved and showing no signs of weathering.
As Li Qing followed the Yellow Springs River upstream, he noticed the number of skeletal remains gradually decreased, but the bones themselves grew increasingly extraordinary. Several still bore identity tokens made of some kind of spirit gold.
"The Yellow Springs River's waters can actually block divine sense detection. When I scanned the river earlier, I couldn't see any of these remains inside."
"Judging by the bones submerged in the river, these must be the disciples of the Yellow Springs Holy Sect. Ordinary disciples were simply discarded on the banks, while only elders of significant status were granted the privilege of being submerged in the Yellow Springs River?"
"This is getting stranger and stranger. Instead of returning to the earth after death, their corpses were immersed in this river that looks like the Yellow Springs itself."
With that, Li Qing continued upstream.
Based on his visual examination, he estimated that the remains currently visible belonged to cultivators in the core formation realm.
The pattern held true across multiple Yellow Springs Rivers: the closer he got to the source, the more extraordinary the submerged remains became. Soon, Li Qing even spotted the skeletal remains of a Nascent Soul cultivator, seated cross-legged at the riverbed.
As he approached the source, Li Qing's heart quickened. For the first time in a long while, he felt a faint sense of oppressive pressure.
This was the first time Li Qing had experienced such a sensation since advancing to the nascent soul realm, causing him to feel a sudden sense of unease.
"Even I can sense this faint pressure. Could a Divine Transformation stage cultivator be buried at the source?"
Because the Yellow Springs River's peculiar waters blocked his divine sense, he had to physically enter the river to observe its depths with his own eyes.
Taking a step forward, he arrived at the source of the Yellow Springs River, his heart pounding wildly.
A stone tablet stood there, inscribed with the words: "Yellow Springs: The Place of Rebirth!"
Vast quantities of Yellow Springs River water gurgled endlessly from the ground, splitting into numerous tributaries that flowed through the Yellow Springs Holy Sect's mountain gate.
The ancient immortal script carved on the tablet sent a shock through Li Qing. Could he have stumbled upon the true entrance to the Nine Netherworld Hell?
Soon, Li Qing discovered the source of the oppressive aura.
Within the source, lay a human skeleton as crystalline and lustrous as jade, its entire frame resembling a masterpiece crafted from the finest jade.
Behind the skeleton leaned the massive bones of a bird, its skeletal structure appearing to be composed of some kind of black crystal, resembling obsidian in texture.
"Incredible! These skeletal remains—both the human and the demon bird—must have belonged to beings at the divine transformation stage!"
"And such powerful entities simply buried themselves in the Yellow Springs River?"
Legend has it that the Yellow Springs River is also known as the Bone-Melting River. Crossing it signifies entering the cycle of reincarnation, naturally leaving behind no trace of one's past life.
As Li Qing gazed at the two sets of bones at the river's source, a fervent glint finally ignited in his eyes.
He needed demon bird wing bones to refine the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings, and it seemed he had found the perfect materials!
Though it was difficult to identify the exact species of demon bird from the skeleton, Li Qing was certain that wing bones from a divine transformation stage creature would be more than sufficient for refining this heaven-piercing spirit treasure.
Originally, he had anticipated needing only a fourth-tier demon bird skeleton. If the Ten Thousand Treasures Merchant Guild couldn't procure one, he would have had to venture into the demon realm to try his luck.
But now, it seemed that trip wouldn't be necessary.
However, no matter how eager Li Qing was, he couldn't rashly wade in to retrieve the bones.
This was Yellow Springs water. Even if it wasn't the legendary Yellow Springs River itself, Li Qing had no desire to touch it directly with his fleshly body.
Leaving aside whether the river water would harm his fleshly body, Li Qing felt deeply repulsed by the countless corpses and bones submerged within it.
With this in mind, Li Qing retrieved an ordinary magic artifact and tossed it into the river.
In an instant, the artifact dissolved completely, vanishing without a trace, as if it had never existed.
Seeing this, Li Qing's expression grew solemn. He then produced a Magic Treasure belonging to a core formation realm cultivator—the natal magic treasure he had seized from True Lord Chang Jue of the Free and Unfettered Sect.
This natal magic treasure held little value for Li Qing. He had originally intended to gift it to an elder of the Lingyun Sect, but foundation establishment realm cultivators couldn't activate Magic Treasures. As for the other supreme elders, they already possessed their own preferred Magic Treasures.
"The only use for this treasure now is refining talisman treasures," Li Qing mused. "Testing the strength of the Yellow Springs River with it won't be a waste."
With that, Li Qing submerged the natal magic treasure into the Yellow Springs River.
This time, True Lord Chang Jue's natal magic treasure didn't immediately dissolve. Instead, it held its own.
But Li Qing quickly noticed that the treasure's spirituality was rapidly draining away. Within moments, it had lost more than half its spirituality—a loss that would require centuries of nourishing to restore.
Before long, the severely weakened magic treasure was practically half-destroyed, its power greatly diminished.
Seeing this, Li Qing's expression finally turned grave.
"If even a magic treasure can't withstand the Yellow Springs River's waters, how can those bones inside endure it?"
He refused to believe that the bones could be stronger than the magic treasure in his hand. That was simply impossible!
"There must be something strange going on."
As Li Qing pondered, a faint, ethereal voice echoed softly:
"Master."
(End of the Chapter)
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