Chapter 180: Lure beast
Chapter 180: Lure beast
Time flies, more than half a month has passed.
Yuan Ming’s cultivation has made rapid progress, and he has once again broken through, finally reaching the tenth level of Qi Refinement.
This means that he now has the qualification to establish a foundation.
However, Yuan Ming did not immediately take the rare Foundation Establishment Pill.
Ordinary disciples of the Bi Luo Cave can only reach the tenth level of Qi Refinement and then establish a foundation by relying on the Bi Luo Gong cultivation method. But if he continues to cultivate the "Nine Elements Formula - Volume One," he can reach the thirteenth level of Qi Refinement as rumored.
Although Yuan Ming does not yet know the profound impact of these three levels on his future cultivation path, he understands that a more solid foundation will be more beneficial to him.
Compared to the rapid progress of the "Nine Elements Formula" cultivation, Yuan Ming’s cultivation speed in the "Death Moon Method" has slowed down significantly.
After advancing to the second level, his cultivation speed in soul cultivation has noticeably decreased.
Even when he used the nourishing incense for the soul, the cultivation speed did not increase significantly. Therefore, Yuan Ming temporarily stopped cultivating the "Death Moon Method" and focused on cultivating the "Nine Elements Formula."
At the same time, every few days, Yuan Ming would stop cultivation to test the incense he newly formulated.Speaking of which, this was also inspired by the "Xuanhua True Immortal" he encountered by chance in the Heiyan Fang Market. The Qingxuan Incense and the Nourishing Incense are indeed quite mysterious and can help with cultivation. If he could research and develop them himself, it would be of great help to his future cultivation.
This time, he added three types of spiritual materials to the incense, with the most important one being a spiritual material called "Mist Xuan Grass," which is usually used to refine Illusion Spirit Pills.
The reason for choosing this spiritual material is because it has a certain hallucinogenic effect, and the Illusion Spirit Pills made from it can temporarily enter a hallucinatory realm, which also has an effect on the soul.
Yuan Ming inserted the long incense into the incense burner. Before igniting it, he took out an antidote pill and put it in his mouth.
He was cautious because in a previous incense testing, he accidentally added a poisonous herb, and when it was ignited, the colorless and tasteless poison was amplified by the incense burner.
Within a few breaths, Yuan Ming felt his limbs weaken and his mind become heavy.
At the same time, his vision began to blur, and for a moment, he didn’t know if he was going to possess someone or be poisoned to death. Fortunately, at the critical moment, Yuan Ming communicated with his storage ring and took out the Hanxing Sword in time. He used his mana to activate the sword and release its cold aura to extinguish the incense fire, interrupting this attempt.
Yuan Ming didn’t manage to possess someone in this chaotic state, but he didn’t immediately recover either. He lay weakly for the time it took to drink a cup of tea before finally waking up.
Because of this incident, Yuan Ming realized that there are risks in experimenting with incense made from various materials.
Although this incident was relatively minor, it was stopped in time. Next time, he might not be so lucky.
After this, he made preparations against poison and tried again to ignite the poison incense he had previously made while the Taiji pattern was extinguished. The result was that the effect of the poison incense was significantly enhanced.
The intermediate-level fierce beast he used for testing couldn’t last for three breaths before falling to the ground.
However, this poison incense is more of a stupefying effect and does not directly cause death.
Moreover, the range of diffusion of the poison incense is limited, basically covering a radius of one hundred zhang. Without the support of the incense burner, the coverage range is reduced by half.
In the case of inhaling a whole incense stick, the fierce beast would at least fall asleep for half an hour.
After this incident, Yuan Ming decided that while trying to imitate possessing someone with the Black Incense, he would also make some spirit incense with different functions. With the support of the incense burner, there might be unexpected effects as well.
In this attempt to make incense, Yuan Ming directly removed the incense ash, which is the key element for triggering possession and spirit descent. He simply wanted to try and explore more possibilities for making incense.
After igniting the long incense, a wisp of white smoke slowly rose, with a denser and whiter color than before.
Yuan Ming subconsciously glanced at the green wolf tied to a tree beside him, struggling in fear.
After waiting for a moment, the green wolf continued to struggle and did not fall unconscious. The Third Eye God also showed no changes, and there was no obvious poisoning or hallucination reaction. Before Yuan Ming could finish saying "it seems like nothing special," he couldn’t help but freeze.
He didn’t know when, but a thick white mist had enveloped his surroundings, making him feel like he had returned to the Snake King Valley in an instant.
But what was different was that this mist was even denser, presenting a milky white color, and its obstructive effect on vision was more pronounced.
Almost five steps away, the dense fog obscured everything, and nothing could be seen clearly.
Yuan Ming picked up the incense burner and climbed up a towering ancient tree beside him, all the way to the top. Looking down, he saw that the area within a radius of ten li was completely covered by the dense fog.
As he brought the incense burner to the treetop, white mist began to condense in the high sky around him.
With a thought, Yuan Ming tried to extend his divine sense and perceive his surroundings.Upon testing, he discovered that the dense fog not only obscured his vision, but also significantly hindered his spiritual sense.
He wasn’t sure how it would affect higher-level cultivators, but for him at present, the range of his spiritual sense was reduced to a mere ten meters, almost the same as his visual distance.
His spiritual sense was practically useless at this point.
Surprised, Yuan Ming returned to the base of the tree, staring at the incense burner in his hand. Only after it extinguished did the surrounding fog begin to dissipate.
It completely disappeared after the time it took to brew a pot of tea.
Yuan Ming bundled up the incense he had made from the same batch, wrapped it with a white strip of paper, and wrote "Fog Incense" on it. He then stored it with the previously made "Poison Incense".
This was the second special spiritual incense he had experimented with.
Time passed as he diligently cultivated and experimented with incense making, and another month rolled by.
Yuan Ming had always been worried about the side effects of constantly using the Peiyuan Pill and Qingxuan Incense to catalyze his cultivation.
However, no side effects appeared. Instead, he had consumed most of the Qingxuan Incense, and his Peiyuan Pills were all gone.
The effects of using a large amount of elixirs and Qingxuan Incense were evident. Yuan Ming’s cultivation had improved significantly, and he had reached the eleventh level of Qi Refining.
However, he also found that the enhancement brought by the Peiyuan Pill and Qingxuan Incense had noticeably decreased in the later stages.
Moreover, the materials he used in his previous incense trials were plentiful, but the results were not satisfactory. Whether it was imitating the Black Incense or refining special spiritual incense, there was no progress for the time being.
But today, Yuan Ming came to a secluded valley in the Hundred Thousand Mountains. The material he used was one he had high hopes for.
It was the three black fruits he had bought in the ghost market in the city. According to the stall owner, the faint scent emitted by this fruit would attract all the surrounding beasts to fight for it.
If there was any spiritual material left in Yuan Ming’s hands that could be made into extraordinary incense, it would be this.
After a busy period, he used one fruit and other spiritual materials to make three sticks of deep black incense.
Yuan Ming chose to test it with the incense burner before the Taiji pattern lit up.
The moment the black incense was lit, a faint fragrance immediately emanated from it.
Upon smelling this scent, Yuan Ming was slightly taken aback.
This fragrance was quite unique, different from any other fragrance he had smelled before, emitting a unique spiritual power fluctuation.
At first, Yuan Ming didn’t feel anything wrong, but after a while, he felt something unusual.
He felt a sense of heat on his body and subconsciously wanted to get closer to the incense fire to take a deep sniff of the unique fragrance.
"What is this effect?" Yuan Ming was greatly surprised.
He immediately activated the Death Moon method, mobilizing the power of his soul to suppress this thought.
Fortunately, this thought was not strong. As long as his will was firm and he slightly adjusted the power of his soul, he could resist it.
But at this moment, a series of "rumbling" sounds began to come from all directions.
Yuan Ming leaped up and climbed to the top of the ancient tree next to him, looking around.
He saw that in the surrounding forest, dust was billowing, hoofbeats were thunderous, and through the gaps in the trees, he could see various beasts of different sizes and appearances gathering towards him.
"The incense made from this black fruit is too powerful," Yuan Ming was secretly surprised.
At first glance, there were already hundreds, if not thousands, of them. In addition to various beasts, there were even more ordinary wild animals, their eyes blood-red, as if they were mad.
"What kind of incense are you testing again? The beasts have gone mad," a pleasant voice suddenly came from below the tree.
Yuan Ming looked down and saw that Xiying had somehow arrived. He quickly jumped down.
"Extinguish the incense, put the incense burner..." Before Xiying could finish, Yuan Ming had already done so the moment he landed.
At this point, he was certain that the new incense made from the black fruit had a huge attraction to wild animals.
"Let’s get out of here," Xiying said, seeing the situation.
"It’s too late, the beasts have surrounded us," Yuan Ming shook his head.
"What did you make this with? It’s so powerful, tell me! It’s amazing," Xiying was both excited and curious, exclaiming.
"Don’t worry, let’s deal with these beasts first," Yuan Ming smiled, showing no signs of nervousness.
As he spoke, he took out the incense burner again, inserted another stick of black incense, and lit it with a pinch of his fingers.
The smoke from the incense, guided by Yuan Ming, formed a circle and quickly spread out. Following that, he took out two detoxification pills, swallowed one himself, and gave the other to Xiying.
At this moment, the noise around them was getting louder, and the figures of the beasts and ordinary wild animals were revealed. Their eyes were red, drool dripped from their mouths, and they were rushing towards them in a frenzy.