Disorienting Ghost Canyon (2)

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His combat prowess was the greatest in this region since his strongest asset was his mental energy at this moment and enhanced by his Fiery Golden Pupils, the attacks of his mental projection would even make a Spirit Douluo with ordinary mental fortitude pale in shock.

Around Ja Sun, clingy violet tendrils of mist instantly spread out and covered the spirit rings. Greedily absorbing their essence. But since he was alone, Ja Sun also let the Bright Goddess Butterfly out and allowed her to feast on the cultivation of others.

Her cultivation already reached 1600 years. Undoubtedly, to a normal human, it was slow. But in the span of a week, Bright Goddess Butterfly accumulated cultivation worth almost 400 years. How could that he slow in any manner?

Ordinarily, Ja Sun wouldn't kill to such a degree but when such benefits were involved and the environment itself promoted killing, Ja Sun didn't have any issues.

After all, he had already found that the Ghost Canyon was not ordinary.

Well, of course, it wasn't. But by this, Ja Sun meant that after every demise of a yin beast, another one would be created, the cultivation of which would he rapid till they reached the strength of a 100-year-old beast. This was because the Disorienting Ghost Canyon was a natural array.

Bibi Dong once said that in various environments, natural arrays are quite a common sight. Even his second spirit soul: Nightmare's Fantasy was the product of two beasts that are developed by the world itself.

[Objective: Explore the Disorienting Ghost Canyon entirely.

Optional Objectives:

1) Explore it in a month.

2) Explore it in two months.

3) Explore it in three months.

Mission Ranks: C/A/B/C

Mission Rewards: Blueprint of Trembling Ghost Array/ Blueprint of Devil's Howl Array/ Blueprint of Shriek of Lady Red Array/ Blueprint of Trembling Ghost Array.

Time Limit: 3/1/2/3 months.]

Ja Sun only accepted the mission to increase his knowledge of Arrays. This was a wonderful profession that didn't limit him to smithing alone and with his State of Realm being perfect control, this profession suited him greatly.

He stepped into the deeper sections of the valley, his mental energy spread out as Astral Combatant returned to his mental scape and continued to refine the rotten mental energy that saturated the canyon.

*Huuuuu*

Ghastly gusts blew with various kinds of howls and hisses. This was a natural mental attack that the canyon created at numerous moments. But Ja Sun enjoyed the breeze and moved forward.

Others might only call him a cheat if they saw it, but Ja Sun felt that he had bled enough to have an easy time finally.

Now that he had reached the second level of Fiery Golden Pupils, his preparations were truly complete. Aside from strengthening his blood artifact over time, he had nothing else to complete aside from cultivating.

Once crossed the one-kilometer mark, the surrounding fog grew denser. The mist covering the ground reached his knees and hidden within it were many beasts that were instantly torn apart by Astral Combatant. Now, Ja Sun didn't have to create needles. He can bring mental attacks as a close combat technique. After all, he could control the Astral Combatant as he wished. Surely, creating mental arms to attack a person is a sophisticated manner but entering their sea of consciousness and tearing with bare phantom hands had its own desiring attributes, too.

But unlike the exterior entrance of the canyon, the rotten mental energy in this location was quite heavy. This was the first time Ja Sun stepped into this location and he instantly felt countless dangerous presence around him. Below him, too.

Pulling Bright Goddess and Nightmare's Fantasy back into his mental scape, unwilling to actually damage the two spirit souls for even in their actual form, their combat power wasn't high, Ja Sun's fourth spirit ring, 64000-year-old black spirit ring instantly rotated around him.

In this mist, the best spirit ability to use wasn't his fourth one but the third one: Bright World. It was practically made for this Canyon.

However, Ja Sun had practiced with his first three spirit rings long enough to develop useful variations. The Feathers of Freedom was one such instance.

The moment the fourth spirit ring quietly rotated around his left middle finger, a dangerous pressure was released out of his body willingly.

*Swish*

Tilting his head, Ja Sun avoided a thin tentacle and instantly caught it.

A violet light burst out of Ja Sun's palm and it instantly traveled through the tentacle.

'Heaven's Descent.'

Ja Sun narrowed his eyes.

Nightmare's Fantasy is the best of both worlds. Dangerous narcotics poison and top illusion capabilities. Heaven's Descent, Ja Sun's fourth spirit ability, sends a stream of such spiritual narcotics upon physical contact, making the target feel euphoric to the extreme as if Heaven is brought to it. But this technique was two effects like his third one. Aside from heavy illusions hard to break, the poison itself will make the target dizzy and if not treated by a stronger and purer spirit energy, the individual will end up dying silently. Of course, the main focus was on illusion after the contact. The method of silent poisoning was the renowned method of a nightmare beast.

The effects were quick.

The spirit energy instantly affected the target heavily and Ja Sun violently tugged on the tentacle, fishing out a small plant-like spirit beast with a bamboo stem divided in three sections while the top extended into this eldritch tentacle layered with mucus, probably poisonous that would have affected Ja Sun momentarily if he wasn't wearing Vajra Gauntlets.

Astral Combatant flashed out and entered the body of the spirit beast, viewing the eldritch dream of the massacre it considered a heaven and killed it from within, absorbing the poison and the mental energy from the corpse simultaneously.

'A 10000-year-old Mucus Bamboo,' Ja Sun pursed his lips. Cutting of the tentacle, he stored the bamboo shoot which also happened to be nutritious to one's mental energy. Not for him alone, but the soup for dinner. Every meal in here was already a dinner to them at this point.

Meanwhile, he let Bright Goddess Butterfly and Nightmare's Fantasy out to absorb the spirit energy from the ring.

Both gained another 100 years of cultivation!

While Nightmare's Fantasy only took a few seconds to absorb, being weaker, Bright Goddess needed more time. After a few minutes, Ja Sun began exploring the inner section of the canyon. He wasn't in a hurry to enter the core region where even stronger beasts exist. Instead, after three hours, he returned to the dungeon with a gloomy expression and revealed the stalk of bamboo, surprising others momentarily before Bibi Dong and the few others after him decided to eat the delicacy and improve their mental energy slightly and then traverse the canyon alone.

This was a needed break for everyone since the soup from the Mucus Bamboo refreshed their minds and temporarily improved the passive cultivation of mental energy brought by the pressure of this location.

Suppression and cultivation go hand-in-hand. Without enough pressure, the body, mind, and soul cannot achieve true excellence.

With their mental energy thoroughly suppressed in this location, not only will it grow with each rest but to survive three hours of the venture, they would also have to find ways to deal with dangerous situations other than mental energy.

Of course, they could cheat and stay at the entrance of the dungeon but who would want to cheat their own future?

After fifteen more minutes of consolidation, Bibi Dong left and the group returned to their routine, bringing materials after each round of hunts. Sometimes it is usable but most of the time it isn't and is only worth selling to rich aristocrats for gold or Spirit Hall for merit points. After all, many materials are needed to create essence tools. Even Ja Sun himself isn't too familiar with the process of creation of such items.

Every time Ja Sun left, he would venture deeper and deeper into the inner region of the Ghost Canyon. Since Bibi Dong herself entered this region, there weren't too many beasts near the border of the inner region, and even the recently created specters would become Ja Sun's nourishment. Bloated? He didn't feel a thing when it comes to absorbing benefits. But deeper into the canyon were beasts that Ja Sun didn't dare take lightly despite his benefits. Instead, he would find a relatively safe space to settle and send out the Astral Combatant.

It wouldn't fight any spirit beast but harass it slightly, trying to find information on the various abilities of the beasts.

Ja Sun's personal record in the next three days was already taking care of a 40,000-year-old Gentle Touch Specter.

The most frustrating thing, however, was the fact that he didn't find any spirit bone at all, finally making him realized just how much of a wealth he had truly amassed when it comes to spirit bones.

But in three days, Ja Sun personally brought Bright Goddess Butterfly to the strength of a 3000-year-old spirit beast and the Nightmare's Fantasy to 69000-year-old spirit beast.

As things stood, after the reinforcement of his mental energy due to Fiery Golden Pupils, Astral Combatant, and the skull bone, Ja Sun could easily accommodate the two spirit souls even if they grow in strength.

But to absorb an even higher spirit soul, Ja Sun needed to grow even stronger.

After all, Fiery Golden Pupils only increased the impact and damage of his mental attacks by two realms and not the actual quality of it. So, even if Ja Sun's mental attacks should be as strong as a Titled Douluo's, he didn't hold any expectations of matching an actual Titled Douluo with just this meager strength.

But the limit of completing the A-ranked objective was growing and Ja Sun forcefully increased his speed. The objective was to completely explore the canyon and not killing every spirit beast so for the moment, he stopped actively cultivating his two spirit souls and began exploring every nook and corner of the canyon. Each time, he would go even deeper but would also have to return since three hours was the limit of his explorations.

He could decide to not return but that was his last resort. Making others feel that something happened to him would not only be irresponsible but may even rouse them to look for him which can be disadvantageous for many reasons.

If he couldn't explore it till the last day, he was planning to give everyone a rest at his own 'expense.'

However, even after a total of five days of patient exploring, Ja Sun was only met with disappointment and finally posed his thoughts.

"For an entire day?"

Hu Lana was the first to gasp. Her skin no longer as smooth and the bags under her eyes already prominent. This was the case with everyone, even Ah Yin. Even if her skin looked supple, her mental exhaustion did show signs on her face. Only Ja Sun held bright eyes as he nodded calmly.

"3 hours aren't enough for me. Take the day off and rest properly while I will train for the day."

Bibi Dong frowned before nodding. She was their teacher but the difference in age wasn't much and by now, everyone had revealed themselves to be quite capable, showing that Bibi Dong herself could trust their judgments.

If Ja Sun said that three hours isn't enough then it may really be the case. Not even Bibi Dong would take the initiative to venture alone in the inner section of the canyon.

"You've already entered the inner section so be careful. There may be a spirit beast that has been following our movements for a long time. Here, we can defend. Not outside."

Ja Sun looked at her for a moment before stating, "Of course, if I don't return in 24 hours, don't just think I'm dead. I may be in trouble so do look for me."

"Asking for our help? Do I hear a 'please'?" Xie Xan cackled, color returning to his pale countenance for a moment.

"Please do look after me or all the spirit bones that are useful to you in the future may just get lost with me."

Ja Sun smiled himself before Xie Xan's lips twitched.

"We will look for you," Hu Lana smiled and nodded.

"Don't fall into a trap," Liu Erlong commented.

"Be sure to keep your distance from unknown spirit beasts if you manage to locate them," Ah Yin smiled.

"You could just keep the spirit bones with us for safeguard," Bibi Dong stated with an imploring tone and a crafty look in her eyes.

"Oh, do that!" Xie Xan snickered.

"Hmm," Ja Sun frowned for a moment, revealing a hint of hesitation, "If I die, it does sound prudent to hand over the spirit bones now."

His words instantly curbed the group's cheerfulness as Bibi Dong snorted coldly, "Just go!"

With a snicker, Ja Sun left while counting how many flags were raised.

Meanwhile, Hu Lana pouted, "Even in such a situation he wants to leave with the last laugh. What a selfish guy."

"He may be saying the truth," Liu Erlong suddenly spoke up, "And we took his last words as jokes..."

"Don't be so morbid," Ah Yin was speechless.

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