Congyun Mountains.
Gu——
A strange, piercing cry echoed from a corner of the mountain range.
The Black Eyed Ghost Crow flapped its heavy wings, quickly diving into the depths of the mountain range.
On the crow's back, Lin Sheng sat cross-legged, a faint white glow subtly emanating from his body.
With this flying Spirit Beast providing transportation, there was no need for him to travel laboriously himself.
Sitting on it, he couldn't feel the slightest bump.
After a while, the white glow retracted, and he opened his eyes, looking at the dense mountain forest below.
After discerning the direction, he urged the Black Eyed Ghost Crow to shoot towards a certain location.
The Black Eyed Ghost Crow circled freely above the jungle.
This was Lin Sheng's deliberate action, hoping to attract some powerful avian Spirit Beasts.
And the result did not disappoint him.
A grey shadow suddenly shot up from the jungle, heading straight for the Black Eyed Ghost Crow. Its speed was extremely fast, and it reached its vicinity in just a breath's time.
The Black Eyed Ghost Crow was greatly alarmed and instinctively flew to the side. However, its speed was clearly more than a little slower than the grey shadow, and it had no time to evade the attack.
Layers of black mist immediately surged around its body, enveloping it, attempting to use this to defend against the potential attack.
However, with a fierce cry.
A gust of foul wind actually surged around the grey shadow, blowing the black mist aside.
Before the Black Eyed Ghost Crow could employ any further defensive measures, the grey shadow's sharp, pointed beak was already upon it.
The Black Eyed Ghost Crow began to panic. Just then, a large hand with clearly defined knuckles reached out.
It directly squeezed the neck of the grey shadow.
Without giving it a chance to struggle, with a crisp sound of bones shattering, its neck was directly twisted off. It would be more accurate to say that all the bones throughout its body were shattered.
In just a blink of an eye, this aggressive Spirit Beast lost its life on the spot.
Looking at the avian Spirit Beast in his hand, which was a circle larger than the Black Eyed Ghost Crow.
"So it's an eagle-type Spirit Beast. No wonder Little Black, you were so panicked."
Lin Sheng's finger pierced the skin of this grey eagle, and with a thought, he had already devoured all the blood within its body.
In an instant, the plump body of this large grey eagle withered.
His gaze fell upon the panel. The activation progress for the fourth imprint had reached 9%.
Looking at the activation progress that had only increased slightly, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and shake his head.
"Fully absorbing the blood from an Elementary Level Spirit Beast only increased the activation progress by about two points."
To completely activate the fourth imprint, it is estimated that he would need to fully devour and refine at least fifty to sixty Elementary Level Spirit Beasts.
Converting fifty to sixty Elementary Level Spirit Beasts into monetary value, it would be at least over a million taels, and even two million taels would not be an exaggeration.
Although he currently controlled many businesses in Luoshui County relying on the Seed Devil Secret Art, two million taels of silver was still a huge sum for him at present.
Even if he had this much money, wanting to purchase over 50 Elementary Level Spirit Beasts was definitely not an easy task.
Although he had successively raised over a dozen Elementary Level Spirit Beasts in the manor during this period, as time passed, the efficiency of collecting Elementary Level Spirit Beasts was clearly not as good as before.
Therefore, simply relying on purchasing Spirit Beasts to activate the fourth imprint would undoubtedly take a very long time.
Relatively speaking, the activation progress brought by High Level Spirit Beasts would undoubtedly be much higher.
That's why he had the people from the Wind Cloud Gang and the Medicine Gang investigate the whereabouts of High Level Spirit Beasts while collecting Elementary Level Spirit Beasts.
With multiple activations of the In-body Imprint, he had also basically figured out the pattern for each activation of the In-body Imprint.
As his Realm improved, the quality of beast blood required for the In-body Imprint activation also became higher and higher.
Now, for the fourth imprint, the blood of ordinary beasts was completely ineffective.
If he waited until the fifth imprint was activated, it was likely that even the effect of Elementary Level Spirit Beast blood would be greatly reduced, or even have no effect at all, like the current ordinary beast blood.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a headache.
"Activating the fifth imprint will likely require a large amount of demon beast blood."
Demon beasts, even within the entire Northern Yan Kingdom, demon beast-level Strange Beast are extremely powerful existences.
Within the entire Northern Yan or South Qi countries, although the number of demon beasts is not large, there are at least dozens of them, which should definitely be enough to activate the fifth imprint. But what about the sixth imprint after that?
Thinking of this, he shook his head slightly.
"Forget it, I've only just stepped into the Bone Transformation Realm. Divine Transformation Realm is still very far away. Considering these things is meaningless."
He gave a self-deprecating smile, plucked some relatively rare Materials from the eagle beast in his hand, and then threw it down.
Half an hour later, he had arrived at his destination.
This was the outer region of the Congyun Mountains. In front of him was a cave, and several stone houses had been built outside. This was a rest point established by the Wind Cloud Gang in the outer region.
With a cry from the Black Eyed Ghost Crow.
Lin Sheng had landed on the ground.
Outside the cave, Sun Hai was waiting respectfully. Seeing Lin Sheng, he immediately hurried forward to greet him.
"Gongzi."
"Where is the Ink Scale Black Bear?" Lin Sheng nodded and asked directly.
"Reporting, Gongzi, that big fellow is currently in Black Mist Valley."
"Lead the way."
"Yes."
After Sun Hai gave a few instructions to his trusted gang members behind him, he immediately led the way forward.
Lin Sheng followed behind, riding the Black Eyed Ghost Crow.
Although he had also spent some time in the Congyun Mountains, his understanding of this vast mountain range was not very deep. The map in his hand only recorded some relatively prominent mountain forests within the range.
However, Black Mist Valley was not among them, otherwise, Sun Hai wouldn't need to lead the way.
Sun Hai was very fast. He was at least a mid-stage Bones Transformation Martial Artist, and the martial arts he cultivated were also speed-oriented. Naturally, his speed was not slow when he exerted his full strength.
Moreover, with Lin Sheng following behind, he had basically no reservations and wasn't worried about attracting any Spirit Beasts.
However, although he was exerting his full strength, it was still a bit slow in Lin Sheng's eyes.
Lin Sheng frowned slightly. Finally, he simply tapped his toe, descended from the Black Eyed Ghost Crow's back, and landed beside Sun Hai.
"You point the way, I'll take you."
"Yes, Go... Gongzi..."
Sun Hai spoke subconsciously. Before he finished speaking, he felt a large hand holding him under the armpit.
"Fifty li forward, then a hundred li to the east..."
He spoke with his mouth, and the next moment, he felt his vision blur.
He only felt the surrounding ancient trees and bushes receding rapidly backward. The biting wind directly blew apart his neatly tied hair bun.
A journey that would have originally taken three days took only one day. The valley shrouded in black mist had already appeared in sight.
"This... this is Black Mist Valley, Gongzi."
Sun Hai tied up his disheveled hair, pointed at the valley not far away, and said respectfully.
"The black mist in this valley is a highly poisonous miasma. Without taking the corresponding antidote pills, Blood Transportation Warriors will turn into pus in a short while. Even Bones Transformation Martial Artists, without antidote pills, although they can pass through the black mist, will inevitably be severely poisoned and their vitality greatly damaged."
While speaking, Sun Hai had already taken out the antidote pills he had prepared from his pocket.
"Gongzi, this is the Black Flower Jade Dew Pill. It can ward off the strange poison of Black Mist Valley."
"No need. You don't need to go in with me. Just wait for me here."
Lin Sheng shook his head slightly and did not take the so-called antidote pills.
Looking at the dense black mist not far away, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes.
To be able to have such lethality against Bones Transformation Martial Artists, the toxicity of this black mist miasma is indeed considerable.
He had the Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm. Ordinary poisons had no effect on him at all. Even without the Soul Severing Palm, with his high Physique, these toxins could not threaten him in the slightest.
Leaving the Black Eyed Ghost Crow in place as well, he darted into the black mist in a few flashes of his figure.
As soon as he entered the black mist, these mists were like living creatures, desperately trying to drill into his body. Even holding your breath could not stop the erosion of the poisonous gas.
"It seems like a Fusion toxin of Corrosive Poison and Depression. The toxicity content of both poisons is not low, and they are fused together, no wonder it's so troublesome."
Feeling the toxicity contained within the black mist, a look of realization appeared on Lin Sheng's face.
The intensity of the Corrosive Poison and Depression in the mist was slightly stronger than the Corrosive Poison and Depression he had refined.
Coupled with this Fusion situation which elevated the toxicity, it was normal for it to have such power.
Originally, he thought it would be a new powerful toxin and was even considering refining it into his Qi and blood.
Now it seems he was happy for nothing. He also had no intention of staying in the black mist for long. His figure sped through and disappeared into the mist, only taking about ten breaths to rush out of the mist and appear inside the valley.
However, after he clearly saw the situation in the valley, he frowned slightly.
All the vegetation in the valley before him presented a strange black-grey color.
Although he had left the black mist, the sky above the valley was still shrouded in a layer of black mist at this moment.
"It's because of this highly poisonous miasma that these plants have mutated and become like this."
He tore off a blade of grass from the nearby bush. The black-grey grass juice dripped onto the ground, immediately producing a layer of corrosive white smoke. Clearly, these bushes contained considerable toxicity.
To be precise, all the vegetation in the entire valley contained toxicity.
"Why would the Ink Scale Black Bear choose to inhabit a place like this?"
Lin Sheng stroked his chin, feeling somewhat puzzled.
Bear-type Strange Beast are generally known for their defensive power. Highly poisonous bear beasts are quite rare, and the Ink Scale Black Bear is not among them.
Even if the Ink Scale Black Bear has a strong Physique and can ignore these potent poisons, living in this environment for a long time would definitely not be comfortable.
Especially the Strange Beast that can survive in this environment, most of them contain potent poisons. It would be a problem for the Ink Scale Black Bear to even eat.
Although he was puzzled, he didn't think Sun Hai would lie to him.
Immediately, with a thought, he switched to a high-perception Strange Beast and began to sense the aura and environment in the valley. At the same time, his figure quickly moved through the valley.
The area of this valley was not very large. With his speed, he had searched most of it in just half an hour.
Let alone large Spirit Beasts like the Ink Scale Black Bear, he didn't even find any traces of activity from other small Strange Beast. It was as if this valley was a dead land.
"Could it be that that big fellow has already left this valley?"
Lin Sheng's eyebrows were furrowed.
He simply switched all his In-body Imprints to perception Strange Beast.
Instantly, his perception was raised to its peak and continuously spread outwards.
A large amount of information flooded into his mind, being processed and digested by him.
After a while, Lin Sheng opened his eyes, then his figure quickly sped towards the edge of the valley.
About ten breaths passed, and he had already crossed several li, arriving at the edge of the valley.
Appearing before him was a rough cave about the size of a single person.
Looking at the cave before him, Lin Sheng flicked his finger, and a burst of force shot out.
Subsequently, a crisp sound came from the cave.
Lin Sheng's palm opened and closed, emitting a powerful suction force. A black centipede the size of a domestic dog was sucked out of the cave.
The upper half of this centipede Strange Beast had shattered, clearly due to the force just now.
"Just a High-grade Ordinary Beast?"
The information of this centipede popped up on the panel. Lin Sheng didn't even have the interest to make it an In-body Imprint and directly crushed it.
Just now, within his perception, he had detected the aura of a living creature here.
He didn't expect it to be just an Ordinary Beast.
Before he could think further, scattered rustling sounds came from the cave again. Lin Sheng's eyebrows raised.
"There's more?"
Immediately, his figure plunged into the cave.
The cave was very dark, but it was nothing to him.
The cave was much deeper than he had imagined. It was intricate and complex, actually having many forks.
His perception spread out and quickly made a discovery.
Within his perception, there were actually many Strange Beast inside the cave. Although there were many forks before him, they all converged in the end.
While thinking, his steps did not stop, and he soon reached the depths of the cave.
Before him were all sorts of poisonous insects and Strange Beast.
There were half-human-sized red spiders, and calf-sized giant toads covered in black sticky liquid...
Various poisonous insects and Strange Beast were gathered here. At this moment, these poisonous insects were lying prostrate on the ground, looking extremely listless. Threads of sticky liquid flowed from their mouths and bodies, finally seeping into the ground.
Besides these poisonous insects and Strange Beast, there were more skeletal remains. Judging from the shape of the bones, they were basically also various poisonous insects and poisonous beasts.
"This is..."
Looking at the scene before him, Lin Sheng frowned slightly.
Having cultivated all the way to the present, he considered himself to have seen some storms and the ways of the world, but this kind of bizarre situation was the first time he had seen it.
The life force of these poisonous insects was slowly draining away. It looked like they would run out of vitality soon, but they showed no intention of resisting at all.
His gaze fell upon the ground of the cave.
Immediately, his Divine Transformation Realm plunged into it, heading downwards into the cave.
Upon entering the underground, he just discovered that the underground at this moment was like a honeycomb, with countless holes. The vital essence of those poisonous insects surged into the depths of the underground along these holes.
This scene caused a chill to rise in Lin Sheng's heart.
The number of poisonous insects in the cave just now was several hundred, and the skeletons were even countless. What exactly was underground, devouring the vitality of such a large number of Strange Beast?
This thought popped into his mind. Soon, his feet felt empty, and he had already arrived in a few underground spaces.
And after seeing the scene in the underground space, his heart tightened even more.
This cave-like space was filled with piles of white bones. Judging from the shape of these bones, they were basically various types of Strange Beast. And on top of the white bones lay fierce beasts of various forms.
"Three-eyed Poison Spider... Thousand-legged Centipede... Jade Blood Toad..."
These fierce beasts of various forms emitted considerable power. They were actually Spirit Beasts, and at a glance, there were as many as twenty to thirty of them.