As they ventured deeper into the cave, Ye Chu and Tan Miaotong could feel the air growing thinner. Yet the thinness did not bring any sense of suffocation. On the contrary, with each breath, they felt refreshed and invigorated.
“What incredibly dense spiritual energy!” Ye Chu muttered under his breath. To feel so clear-headed and refreshed even in such thin air could only be due to the spiritual energy.
The further in they went, the clearer Ye Chu’s mind became, as though some power were penetrating directly into his spirit.
“Indeed, this is Spirit Moulding Qi!” Ye Chu murmured again. He glanced at Tan Miaotong and noticed that with every breath she took, wisps of cloud-like mist swirled around her. The vapour entered her body through her pores and breathing, lending her an ethereal, otherworldly aura.
Ye Chu looked at her with a trace of astonishment. He naturally recognised what those misty vapours were: extremely concentrated spiritual energy, and the kind most perfectly suited for shaping the primal spirit!
Tan Miaotong’s affinity was simply too strong. The spiritual energy had gathered thickly into mist-like form around her of its own accord. No wonder she had said this place would be of great benefit to her.
Ye Chu stayed close to Tan Miaotong, and even he benefited greatly from it. He felt his own mind growing sharper and more transparent.
After walking a considerable distance and carefully avoiding the drifting patches of miasma, Ye Chu and Tan Miaotong finally reached the deepest part of the cave. There, a warm spring bubbled gently. The hot spring water released thin strands of white vapour into the air. Yet these were not ordinary steam; they were tangible spiritual energy, drifting ethereally through the space. Whenever Ye Chu absorbed even a trace into his body, he could clearly feel his spirit being stimulated.
After taking a few dozen more steps forward, the entire cave was enveloped in dense, misty vapour. Visibility dropped to less than three metres. Even though Tan Miaotong stood right beside him, Ye Chu could only see her vaguely through the fog.
“Such thick Spirit Moulding Qi. No wonder Demon Origin Grass can grow here,” Tan Miaotong murmured. She reached out her hand, trying to grasp the mist, only to realise she could barely see her own fingers clearly.
Ye Chu was equally shocked. He thought to himself that it was no wonder this village had grown so powerful. Cultivating with such rich and pure Spirit Moulding Qi was practically like turning on a cheat mode.
Ye Chu and Tan Miaotong moved about in search of Demon Origin Grass. Yet every time they moved, the swirling mist around them erupted into bursts of “bang bang” sounds, like small explosions, with flashes of firelight flickering in the space.
But the moment they stopped moving, the explosive noises ceased, and everything returned to calm.
The phenomenon left Ye Chu momentarily stunned before he understood. “No wonder cultivators who have practised Spirit Moulding techniques cannot enter. Even our simple movements stir the Spirit Moulding Qi enough to cause collisions and explosions. If a cultivator who practises a Spirit Moulding technique came in, the disturbance from their technique circulating would be hundreds of times stronger than mere walking. The resulting collisions of spiritual energy would be devastating enough to collapse the entire cave! Moreover, the Spirit Moulding Qi entering their bodies would directly harm their primal spirit.”
Since neither Ye Chu nor Tan Miaotong had cultivated a Spirit Moulding technique, the mist simply flowed into their bodies naturally. Although a great deal entered Tan Miaotong, because it was not forcibly absorbed but rather drifted in of its own accord, it did not disrupt the distribution of the misty vapour in the cave.
Ye Chu and Tan Miaotong searched through the cave where visibility was less than three metres, but they found no sign of the Demon Origin Grass they sought.
“Ye Chu, let us check near the source of the spring!” Tan Miaotong said softly, gesturing for him to follow the direction from which the spring water flowed.
They walked along the warm spring for quite some distance until they arrived at a secluded deep pool in the depths of the cave. The spring water was flowing out from this very pool.
“Ye Chu! Look, there are mature Demon Origin Grasses over there!” Tan Miaotong said excitedly. Though her exquisite face was not fully visible through the mist, Ye Chu could still sense her joy and breathtaking beauty.
Following her gaze, less than three metres away grew a plant with a faint cyan glow and three blades of grass. It absorbed the mist on its own, as though the vapour were its nourishment, giving it an eerie, almost demonic appearance.
“It is Demon Origin Grass!” Ye Chu had seen descriptions of it in the classics of Qingmi Mountain and recognised it immediately as exactly what he needed.
Ye Chu crouched down and carefully dug out the entire root. He then took out the jade box he had prepared in advance and placed the plant inside.
Demon Origin Grass could only be preserved by storing it in jade. Any other material would cause it to wither instantly, its spiritual energy dissipating completely.
Looking at the Demon Origin Grass inside the jade box, its entire body radiating a faint green halo, Ye Chu knew that the flowing light was the Spirit Moulding Qi that had been repeatedly absorbed and refined by the plant to an extreme degree of purity. Though it was only a single small stalk, the amount of Spirit Moulding Qi required for it to grow to maturity was thousands or even hundreds of times greater than what it currently contained.
Ye Chu closed the jade box and scanned the surroundings. This spot was truly an excellent place. There were quite a few Demon Origin Grasses here. Soon, he harvested several more.
“Ye Chu, that should be enough. We can only use so much. One person can at most use one or two stalks. Any more would have almost no additional effect. You already have six. That is plenty for all of us,” Tan Miaotong reminded him. “The man we knocked out earlier will not wake up for a while, but his body is still there. If someone else from the village comes in, they will definitely notice. There will be trouble. Let us leave.”
“Just a few more right in front of us, then we go!” Ye Chu said to Tan Miaotong, eyeing the ones practically within arm’s reach. It would be too much of a pity to leave them behind now that they were so close.
Tan Miaotong nodded without urging him. Together, they crouched down and carefully dug up a few more stalks.
Though they knew there were still more inside, neither of them was greedy. They sealed the jade boxes. Ye Chu tucked them into his robes and prepared to lead Tan Miaotong away.
“What is it?” Ye Chu noticed Tan Miaotong looking at her own hand, then at the surface of the deep pool, her expression puzzled. Curious, he asked.
“There seems to be something unusual in this deep pool!” Tan Miaotong suddenly said to Ye Chu. “Just now, when I was absorbing the energy, I felt an abnormal stirring in my spirit. You know I am a bit special. Even touching the Demon Origin Grass did not cause this sensation, yet the moment I came into contact with the spring water from this pool, I felt something that could affect my spirit.”
“Hm?” Ye Chu had already noticed Tan Miaotong’s odd behaviour. Qing Wenting had said Tan Miaotong possessed a certain power, even going so far as to claim that if Tan Miaotong could fully utilise that power, even she would not be her match.
Ye Chu did not know exactly how strong Qing Wenting was, but it was obvious she far surpassed him. After all, when he first met Qing Wenting, she had already reached the Innate Realm long ago.
Yet here was Tan Miaotong, someone Qing Wenting had praised so highly and who carried an air of mystery, saying such a thing. She must have a solid basis for it!