Qin Yi felt as though his entire body was wrapped in cotton, and he seemed to have slipped into a soft, dreamy realm. Everything around him became blurry and gentle, resembling an ink wash painting slowly blooming on rice paper. His body felt weightless, as if freed from the bonds of gravity, and he hovered suspended in midair.
His consciousness gradually grew clearer, but with it came waves of sharp pain. He squinted open his eyes to see that same purple-gold light, hovering just a yard away from him.
"Is this a dream?" He slowly curled up his body. Pain washed over him like a tide, every breath accompanied by a stabbing, needle-like agony.
He tried to shift his body slightly, only to find that an invisible force had bound him, rendering him completely immobile.
"What is going on here?" he muttered in astonishment internally, beads of fine sweat breaking out across his forehead.
Suddenly, that purple-gold light began to slowly dissipate, and the surrounding environment gradually came into focus. Qin Yi finally saw his situation clearly.
He frowned and channeled his mental power to rouse his inner Qi-mystery, causing it to slowly gather and form small, golden-blue bubbles one after another.
"The fifth level of the Mysterious Guidance Art! I haven't used this once since I mastered it—who would have thought it would come in so handy here!"
Surrounded by the small bubbles, Qin Yi rose to his feet and steadied himself upon a boulder platform. The little bubbles drifted away, resembling the faint light of distant stars, and he felt his body regain some spiritual energy, dispelling the previous weakness.
However, when Qin Yi looked closely, he found himself in an expansive space whose walls were constructed of bright blue gemstones. The sounds he made echoed in every corner, making the entire space feel tightly sealed.
"The air is ample, so it shouldn't be a completely enclosed space..." Qin Yi staggered a few steps, looked all around him, and then fixed his gaze upon the purple-gold light on the ground.
"It was sucked down here too?" Qin Yi said as he stepped forward to investigate. "It's still emitting spiritual energy. Could it be that this was what eased the pain in my body just now?"
Just as Qin Yi was about to reach out, he felt a cold breeze brush past his back, as if something was approaching rapidly.
A shock ran through his heart. He instinctively wanted to turn his head, but then he recalled his previous defeat and felt utterly unwilling to accept it.
No matter what, he had to get this mysterious herb glowing with a faint phosphorescence this time!
"Sixth level of the Mysterious Guidance Art—Formless Divine Concealment!" Qin Yi silently recited the incantation, his body rapidly turning illusory as if melting into the air. The dark shadow smashed straight through the Qi-mystery barrier, only to lose Qin Yi's trace. It rolled in the air once and stopped, somewhat bewildered.
"I got it!" Qin Yi rejoiced, but panic immediately followed. "Oh no, with my current abilities, the sixth level of the Mysterious Guidance Art can only hold for seven seconds at most. I need to hurry and find a place to hide!"
With that, Qin Yi quickly looked around and spotted an irregular stone on his right. He hurriedly tucked the item away and immediately slid into a crouch against the edge of the rock wall.
How thrilling!
Yet before Qin Yi could even catch his breath, the dark shadow streaked past like lightning, lunging straight toward him with such force that it felt as though it would tear the void apart!
Qin Yi's gaze sharpened, and his body instinctively sidestepped, dodging the dark shadow.
Having missed its first strike, the shadow carved an arc through the air and assaulted Qin Yi once more.
A bad feeling rose in Qin Yi's heart. His current footing was precarious; if he accidentally fell to the bottom of this abyss, he would surely lose his life. Yet this shadow moved with extreme velocity, and judging by its movement technique, its destructive power must be immense as well...
Trapped between a rock and a hard place.
Was he truly going to perish here?!
With a deafening "bang," dust filled the air in a thunderous explosion.
Why didn't it hurt at all?
Qin Yi slowly opened his tightly shut eyes. He only felt his Qi-mystery tremble slightly, while his body remained completely unharmed.
Ahead of him, that familiar figure slowly emerged—it was the demon spirit from before!
It had come back.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss..."
The demon spirit hovered in midair, making sounds from beneath its mask. It was as if Qin Yi could now communicate with it, for he slowly opened his mouth and asked, "Did you... come back to fetch me?"
"Hiss-hiss... hiss-hiss-hiss-hiss..."
"You... are going to take me out of here..."
"Hiss-hiss!"
"Mm-hm?"
The demon spirit had a good temper. Seeing that Qin Yi had misinterpreted every single word, it simply stepped forward to lead the way. Qin Yi held back a laugh and followed closely behind, completely forgetting the thrill of just moments ago.
Along the way, Qin Yi felt the spiritual energy within his body growing increasingly vigorous. For some reason, it felt as though the spiritual power that had been devoured over the past few years was returning to him!
"Following this path—can we really get out?"
"Hiss-hiss!"
The demon spirit turned around and nodded. Seeing that Qin Yi had recovered, it also began to pick up the pace. However, as they ventured deeper, Qin Yi began to feel that something was amiss.
"This isn't the way out!" Qin Yi stopped in his tracks, eyeing his surroundings with vigilance as the surrounding chill grew more intense and the space visibly narrowed.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss..."
The demon spirit made a few sounds, then raised its hands and released a wisp of spiritual energy. The light sources converged to form a small lotus flower.
Qin Yi was shocked. This was identical to the one he had seen up above—could it be that it was taking him to harvest the Phoenix Spirit Ice Lotus?
Rumble—
The next moment, the surroundings shook, and the terrain began to shift. The cliffs at both ends of the path slowly rose—or more accurately, sank. The stone platform Qin Yi was standing on was descending. As they drew closer to the bottom of the abyss, the faint sound of flowing water could be heard.
"That presence from earlier is getting closer!" A jolt went through Qin Yi's heart as he sensed numerous auras of Earth-grade spiritual herbs rapidly approaching.
He looked around to see the blue gems on both sides of the cliff walls glowing with a dim light, illuminating the gloomy space. The demon spirit seemed to want to express something further as it suddenly turned its head to look at Qin Yi.
Feeling exceptionally puzzled, Qin Yi couldn't help but touch the cluster of mysterious herbs in his bosom, muttering softly, "Could it be that it brought me here because it saw me take this thing?"
"By the way, what does this thing actually look like?" Wondering to himself, Qin Yi intended to take it out and look, but felt a sudden jolt beneath his feet—they had descended to the deepest depths of the abyss.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss!" The demon spirit called out, turning around to continue leading the way.
"Forget it, I'll follow it for now." Abandoning the thought, Qin Yi hurried to keep up with the demon spirit's pace, only to be struck dumb by the sight before him.
A sea of flowers!
Every single one of them was a purple-gold Earth-grade quality mysterious herb, numbering around a hundred. The moment Qin Yi touched the single stalk in his bosom, it instantly lost its appeal.
"This is... the Phoenix Spirit Ice Lotus!"
Upon closer inspection, Qin Yi realized that these were not ordinary Earth-grade mysterious herbs at all, but rather Phoenix Spirit Ice Lotus of the lower Heaven-grade quality!
Moreover, their quality was not a pure purple-gold; at the very center of the lotus hearts was a wisp of verdant divine charm—these were 'Phoenix Spirit Seven-Star Lotuses'! The blending of two distinct colors inside and out served to mislead and prevent ordinary people from seeing through them.
Did Seven-Star Lotuses of this caliber truly exist in the lower realm?
Lost in thought, Qin Yi reached out and gently touched one of them. The moment his hand brushed it, it felt as though life was blossoming right in his palm, brimming with vital energy.
The lotus twitched lightly in Qin Yi's palm, its purple-gold petals opening and closing slightly between his fingers to reveal a crystal-clear fruit.
With wide eyes, Qin Yi felt the rich spiritual energy emanating from it. He was completely immersed in this wondrous sensation, as if standing in a mystical world where everything around him became blurry and distant.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss..."
The demon spirit seemed to be celebrating, drawing Qin Yi's attention. He straightened up, placed his hands on his hips, and gazed down at this sea of lotuses that should have belonged only to the mightiest of experts. "With so many Seven-Star Lotuses, how am I supposed to carry them all away?"
Qin Yi made a rough count: there were two thousand five hundred and ninety-six Seven-Star Lotuses in total, each lotus boasting upwards of a hundred petals.
Taking them all, however, was impossible.
Such a massive quantity of Heaven-grade Seven-Star Lotuses would produce spiritual energy comparable to the Dao essence of a Reincarnator, or perhaps even more exaggerated. Yet such an opportunity was exceedingly rare; if he didn't take advantage of it to gather more now, he would surely regret it bitterly for the rest of his days.
"Should I... just eat them all?!"
"Hiss-hiss?"
"I'm joking." Qin Yi chuckled softly, then fell into earnest thought. Countless ideas for packing and carrying them away flashed through his mind, but they all ultimately stalled at the problem of concealing the spiritual energy.
"Conceal the aura?"
"I've got it!"
With a smile, Qin Yi reached up and removed a ring from his hair crown—a parting gift left to him by his master before going into seclusion, meant for storing important items. He never expected it would come in handy today.
No time to worry about the consequences.
Gently stroking the ring, Qin Yi carefully channeled his spiritual energy into it. He then aimed it at a single Seven-Star Lotus and exerted a tiny bit of force. To his amazement, the lotus was sucked straight inside!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Suddenly, a magnetic force was released. Spiritual energy surged out from the ring, instantly filling the entire space.
A jolt went through Qin Yi's heart; he hadn't expected it to truly conceal the aura—it was utterly miraculous.
Taking a deep breath, he attempted to channel more spiritual energy, driving the ring to continue its absorption.
One, two, three... Under his control, the Seven-Star Lotuses vanished rapidly from the sea of flowers.
That once-lush sea of Seven-Star Lotuses gradually thinned out under the ring's suction. As each lotus disappeared, the color of the purple-gold flower bed faded.
Qin Yi accelerated the ring, quickening the pace of absorption. In no time at all, that once-flourishing sea of Seven-Star Lotuses had vanished entirely, leaving only himself and the hissing demon spirit to look somewhat desolate beneath the blue light of the abyss.
He stared at his own actions in disbelief, as if the whole spectacle were an illusion. Two thousand five hundred and ninety-six Phoenix Spirit Seven-Star Lotuses had just vanished into the ring under his command.
"Hiss-hiss!"
"Store!"
With a soft cry, Qin Yi reined in the suction force while driving the ring to absorb the remaining spiritual energy to the last drop. He turned his head to see the demon spirit staring at him, a hint of confusion and puzzlement in its eyes.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss!"
As the demon spirit seemed to be asking a question, Qin Yi smiled faintly. "Don't worry, there's a share for you too."
The words had barely left his lips when Qin Yi realized that the moment he used the ring to suck up the Seven-Star Lotuses, the water in the pool had rapidly receded and was now completely dry.