Chapter 162: Five Ghosts Sealing the Mountain

Jiang Min's clear eyes flickered slightly.

The next moment, spiritual light surged in her palm. With a wave of her hand, six palm-sized glazed jade bottles appeared neatly on the stone table. Each bottle was brimming with a thick, purple-blue liquid, within which glowing golden threads drifted, faintly emitting a scalp-tingling, sizzling sound.

"This..."

True Person Yushu widened her eyes in profound astonishment.

"I chanced upon these thunder jade marrows from a deceased cultivator. I used some for body refining, and only these few bottles remain. I wonder if they will be enough to help heal Master," Jiang Min explained, concealing the true origin of the thunder jade marrows.

"The thunder jade marrows Junior Sister has provided are already more than enough."

With a look of pleasant surprise, True Person Yushu hurriedly produced a palm-sized jade slip, pressed her fingers against it, and recorded the details using her divine sense.

Amidst Jiang Min's puzzled gaze, True Person Yushu explained, "This jade slip records the origins of all the spiritual herbs Master has consumed this time—whether drawn from the sect's treasury, given by several grand-masters, or helped collected by True Monarch Yinshu, every single one must be accounted for. These are personal favors and debts of gratitude, which cannot be handled carelessly."

"The few bottles of thunder jade marrows provided by Junior Sister must be logged as well."

Jiang Min raised her hand to gently block Yushu's, stopping her from recording it, and argued, "How can this be considered a favor? Master has treated me kindly; over the years, she has guided my cultivation and bestowed upon me countless spiritual treasures and herbs. Her kindness is already beyond measure. Now that Master needs healing, it is only right that I do my utmost to share her burdens."

Hearing this, True Person Yushu smiled with gratification and said, "Look at that, Junior Sister has her own measure of things and remembers Master's usual kindness. Since our Master has received grace from all sides, we must keep a clear tally in our hearts. No one's spiritual herbs simply fall out of the sky from a great wind."

Jiang Min had no choice but to withdraw her hand and continued to ask, "Are these thunder jade marrows enough?"

True Person Yushu's expression paused for a moment before she said with a trace of dejection, "Not enough..."

Even with so many thunder jade marrows, it was still not enough?

Jiang Min grew even more suspicious that her Master must have fallen victim to some heterodox methods that required the power of thunder to suppress. She immediately declared, "I will also go down the mountain to help search for medicine."

In the Sea of Thunder beneath the Soul Burial Gorge in the Southern Wilderness Ridge of the Jin Yun Kingdom, plenty more thunder jade marrows could be harvested, which only needed a bit of purification before use.

Since thunder jade marrows were still lacking, she would set off right away and make a trip back to the Jin Yun Kingdom.

Having finished recording on the jade slip, True Person Yushu put away the bottles of thunder jade marrows. Standing up, she said, "I will deliver these thunder jade marrows to the Secluded Abode immediately. Junior Sister, go back and enter seclusion. Leave these matters to me and your Eldest Senior Brother. You must wholeheartedly prepare for the Nine Sects Palace Secret Realm three years from now."

"Senior Sister Yushu, with Master in this state, how can I possibly settle down in seclusion?" Jiang Min shook her head and said earnestly, "My cultivation is low and what I can do is limited. I can only do my best to gather information. If you tell me to go back into seclusion now, my heart simply cannot find peace."

Since Jiang Min put it this way, True Person Yushu turned serious and relented, "Since Junior Sister is determined, exercise utmost caution in everything. Do not expose this matter. If you encounter trouble you cannot resolve, contact me without hesitation."

...

A few days later.

At the borderlands between the Jin Yun Kingdom and the Wanshou Kingdom.

Amidst towering mountains and precipitous ridges, two figures streaked across the sky as swiftly as lightning, then came to a halt above a swamp, revealing their forms.

One of them sat upon the back of a white eagle—a young woman dressed in silver-white gauze dresses. With a light veil covering her face, she revealed a pair of tranquil and shimmering clear eyes, possessing an otherworldly aura uniquely her own. She was none other than Zhao Xianchun of the Yanyue Zhao Clan, as well as the renowned Tianxi Daoist Maiden of the Immortal Sound Valley.

Beside Zhao Xianchun stood an old woman with white hair and black robes, treading the wind. With her hands clasped behind her back, she stepped through the empty air as if on solid ground—she was actually a True Person at the Golden Core realm.

The white-haired old woman's gaze fell upon the swamp below, her divine sense already spreading out to blanket the entire mountain range. A moment later, she said, "The beast's aura has vanished; it must be hiding deep underground. Xianchun, shall we continue searching?"

"The Nine-Tailed Treasure Kangaroo can nurture the Nine-Sun Precious Pearl, a rarity in this world. Moreover, it is a newly advanced third-tier demonic beast with an unstable aura. Since we happened to encounter it on our return journey, we might as well capture it if we can," Zhao Xianchun said softly, her voice as clear and cold as a spring.

The white-haired old woman nodded and said, "Very well, I shall deploy a formation to flush that beast out. The terrain here happens to be perfect for setting up the Five-Ghost Mountain-Sealing Formation, using the five ghosts to burrow underground and hunt it down."

"The Five-Ghost Mountain-Sealing Formation?"

Zhao Xianchun's eyes shifted, and she raised an eyebrow, asking, "Doesn't that require the fresh flesh, blood, and souls of five cultivators to set up?"

"It is of no consequence. We can simply kill a few Foundation Establishment cultivators nearby," the white-haired old woman replied casually, as if she were talking about everyday matters rather than taking lives.

"Hmm."

Zhao Xianchun nodded faintly, offering no objection to the old woman's methods.

The next moment.

The white-haired old woman's expression stirred, and her figure vanished from the spot almost instantly. A moment later, she reappeared slowly, carrying the corpse of a middle-aged man in her hand. The body was still steaming, indicating he had just been slain.

Then, spreading her divine sense to its fullest, she killed three more cultivators at the Foundation Establishment realm, throwing their bodies together in preparation for setting up the Five-Ghost Mountain-Sealing Formation. These four had happened to be out in the mountains hunting for treasures, yet they lost their lives in an instant without ever knowing why...

"One more is missing."

"Hmm? Someone is passing by just in time..."

A thought flickered in the white-haired old woman's mind, and her figure vanished from the spot in a flash to hunt down the final ingredient for her formation.

Above the sea of clouds.

Disguised using a spiritual treasure, Jiang Min stood upon a small flying skiff, gazing far out toward the vast sea of clouds and the distant horizon as she sped toward the Jin Yun Kingdom with all her might. A barrier condensed from spiritual energy blocked her front, deflecting the fierce gales blowing against her.

"Having left the Jin Yun Kingdom for five years, I wonder if everything at home is well, not to mention Senior Sister Xue and Uncle-Master He whom I haven't seen in a long time..."

At this thought, Jiang Min remembered that her seniority within the sect had changed.

Or rather.

They could no longer even be considered fellow disciples; they could only address each other as Daoist friends now.

"My eldest brother is holding down the fort at home. If anything happens, he will send me a message. As for the East Spirit Sect... after the Nine Sects Dao Discussion, I will go pay a visit."

Jiang Min buried these thoughts deep within her heart.

Her priority right now was to find enough thunder jade marrows, bring them back to Mount Taiji, and gather the spiritual herbs needed to save her Master so that she could wake up as soon as possible. Human lives hung in the balance.

She continued steering her skiff toward the Southern Wilderness Ridge.

Suddenly.

A chill ran down her spine, making her hair stand on end. Her scalp tingled, her heart skipped a beat, and her sense of crisis prompted her to instantly grasp a peach branch in her hand. Activating the Nine-Towers of the Sun—a spiritual treasure she carried with her—she poured boundless spiritual energy into it to block her side. At that exact moment, a wrinkled hand with fingernails as sharp as blades struck the golden light emitted by the Nine-Towers of the Sun. It was as if the hand had plunged into a thick swamp, its momentum stubbornly hindered and dragged down by the golden radiance.

"Oh?"

Seeming quite surprised that Jiang Min could produce a spiritual treasure, the attacker let out a soft cry of disbelief upon missing the initial strike. Moments later, an aged, white-haired figure emerged, radiating a suffocating and profound pressure that caused Jiang Min's expression to change immediately.

"A Golden Core cultivator?!"

Judging from her powerful aura, she was even stronger than Third Senior Sister True Person Yushu. She was likely at the Great Completion or perfection stage of the Golden Core realm!

Having failed her first strike, the white-haired old woman immediately formed hand seals. Countless vines formed from wood spiritual energy manifested in a flash, transforming into agile, vine-like serpents that viciously lashed toward Jiang Min at a speed too fast for her eyes to track.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Wherever the thick, spiritual-energy-infused vines swept past, they whipped up biting gales whistling like blades, tearing through the air with explosive cracks.