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Chapter 24: Lesser Yang True Fire
After firmly memorizing the location and terrain here and ensuring that all traces were cleared, Meng Zhang, along with Tian Zhen and the others, mounted their horses and left the area, returning to Taiyi Sect.
Back in Taiyi Sect, the three of them cleaned the harvested scarlet copper ores and stored them in the sect's repository.
At night, Meng Zhang once again entered the Trial Ground. A few nights ago, he had noticed groups of yin soldiers gathering together, surrounding a certain location. To understand what was happening, Meng Zhang slowly started clearing out the yin soldiers from the periphery. He lured them one by one, as if playing a game, and then killed them individually.
However, reality wasn't as simple as a game, and these yin soldiers exhibited a certain level of intelligence. As soon as Meng Zhang eliminated two groups of yin soldiers, it was like poking a hornet's nest, attracting more and more yin soldiers in organized army formations. They moved to surround him with an overwhelming momentum, relying on their numerical advantage to engulf him.
Meng Zhang didn't dare to engage them directly and quickly fled to avoid being trapped by the yin soldiers' army formation. It was unfair, to face one or two groups or even two to three groups of yin soldiers, he would dare to confront them head-on. However, the vast number of yin soldiers was too much for him to handle. Moreover, these yin soldiers were not only instinctual but also more intelligent than ordinary ones, not easily fooled by Meng Zhang's tricks.
Unable to break through their encirclement, Meng Zhang used the Soul technique, "Obscuring Mist," to make his Soul hazy and indistinct. Taking advantage of the surrounding mist, he stealthily sneaked past them. However, he couldn't get too close, as the yin soldiers were highly perceptive, and even in his current state, they could still detect him if he got too near.
Meng Zhang activated the Soul technique, "Eagle Eye," and looked through the thick mist, carefully observing the situation ahead. The yin soldiers were guarding the entrance of a canyon. The canyon was deep and obscure, making it impossible to see the situation inside even with "Eagle Eye." The canyon was surrounded by towering mountains shrouded in mist, obscuring their peaks from view.
Around the canyon entrance, there were at least ten groups of yin soldiers. Inside the canyon, there were probably even more, and these intelligent beings wouldn't be easily separated from the group. Meng Zhang couldn't break through directly here and chose to detour, avoiding the canyon entrance from a distance.
As ghosts, even low-level ones had the ability to float. With Meng Zhang's current Soul strength, simple flying shouldn't be a problem. He gradually floated up and flew towards the mountains in front. However, as soon as his Soul approached the mountains, he felt an invisible barrier blocking his path. No matter what he tried, he couldn't surpass this barrier.
"I knew it wouldn't be that simple," Meng Zhang muttered to himself. It seemed that the mountains next to the canyon were also protected by a formation that prevented intruders from approaching. Since this route was blocked, Meng Zhang had to temporarily give up the idea of venturing further. Anyway, there were plenty of ghosts around him to clear out.
Meng Zhang left the area proactively and began clearing the surrounding ghosts. Whether it was the ghosts or yin soldiers, as long as they encountered him, they would be killed without mercy. While clearing these ghosts, Meng Zhang also explored the surrounding terrain. Busy throughout the night, killing a large number of ghosts and yin soldiers, it was another fruitful night.
In the daytime, after completely dispelling the yin qi within his body, Meng Zhang continued cultivating the "Lesser Yang Qi Art." Once the "Lesser Yang Qi Art" reached the fifth level of Refining Qi, he could start practicing the inherent spell, "Lesser Yang True Fire."
By absorbing the scorching midday sun's rays and fire-element spiritual energy, and repeatedly tempering it with Lesser Yang True Qi, he could achieve the pure and powerful yang energy of "Lesser Yang True Fire."
Now that Taiyi Sect's population was so small, everyone could freely absorb the spiritual energy from the spirit vein and obtain sufficient supplementation. With an abundant supply of spiritual energy, not only did Meng Zhang's cultivation base progress rapidly, but his "Lesser Yang True Fire" was also close to completion.
Once the Lesser Yang True Fire reached completion, it could efficiently expel and purify the invading yin qi from Meng Zhang's body. Furthermore, after the stimulation and tempering from these yin qi, the Lesser Yang True Fire had also become more refined. The two aspects complemented each other perfectly.
At night, Meng Zhang continued entering the Trial Ground, reaping various Ghosts inside. After several nights of hard work, Meng Zhang finally understood the general terrain of the Trial Ground. It was a plain with a radius of over twenty li (approximately 6.6 miles), occasionally dotted with hills and slopes.
The Trial Ground was surrounded by an invisible barrier that acted as a boundary, preventing all Ghosts from passing through. Meng Zhang had tried many times, but his Soul was also unable to break the barrier and go to other places.
One of the boundaries of the Trial Ground happened to be the mountains Meng Zhang had previously attempted to pass through. It seemed that if he wanted to leave the current scope of the Trial Ground and head to a broader area, he would have to pass through the canyon guarded by yin soldiers.
In addition, at the approximate center of the Trial Ground, there was a small hill. Around the small hill, there were also groups of yin soldiers guarding, preventing other Ghosts from approaching. Meng Zhang tried, and these yin soldiers were the same as those guarding the canyon entrance, possessing certain intelligence. The methods that Meng Zhang had used previously to lure yin soldiers to separate wouldn't work on these ones. So he had to temporarily give up attacking there.
Apart from these two places, Meng Zhang had almost completely swept through the Trial Ground. He had hunted and killed almost all the Ghosts. While clearing the Trial Ground, Meng Zhang also discovered another new type of Ghost. This type of Ghost wasn't humanoid but took on various fierce and ferocious beast-like forms. Meng Zhang named them "Ghost Beasts." The number of Ghost Beasts was scarce; he had traveled throughout the entire Trial Ground and hadn't encountered many. Ghost Beasts were stronger than ordinary yin soldiers. However, after killing several Ghost Beasts with much effort, Meng Zhang found that it was all in vain. Killing these Ghost Beasts didn't restore and strengthen his Soul with Yin Qi, nor did it grant him any knowledge. These Ghost Beasts were a unique type of Ghost in the Trial Ground.
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