Zhang Ling tapped the stone table beside him, looking thoughtful. He didn't want to be trapped here, as over time, even the strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator would decline. "That place is so special, naturally I have to take a look. By the way, you said that Nascent Soul cultivators have been trapped here, is that true?"
The old man nodded affirmatively. "Nascent Soul cultivators have indeed been trapped here, and more than one. I learned from previous inhabitants that at least three seniors have been trapped in this place."
"Three?"
"A thousand years ago, a senior named True Person Tianyu was trapped here. This senior was the Supreme Elder of the Tianyu Sect in the Northern Plains cultivation world. However, he passed away five hundred years ago. This senior's tomb is in a mountain gully three hundred miles away. Three thousand years ago, I heard that an unknown senior from the Eastern Region Islands appeared here, but only showed his face once before disappearing.
Even further back, I heard of a Master Zhiguang from the Western Continent. It is said that this master saw the Snake Ancestor and left this place."
"Speaking of which, the reason we can survive here is because Master Zhiguang passed down a body tempering method, the Vajra Art, which allowed many people to cultivate body tempering techniques and have some ability to protect themselves."
Zhang Ling had only asked casually, but the old man's words surprised him. He had never heard of the Eastern Region Islands or the Western Continent.
Although he was certain that the human realm they were in was not just the Northern Plains cultivation world and the Liuyun Sea, no information about other places had been spread in the Northern Plains cultivation world for tens of thousands of years.
He didn't expect to find such unexpected news here.
"Vajra Art, could it be a Buddhist technique?" Zhang Ling also showed interest.
"Vajra Art. It is indeed a Buddhist technique. Before I was drawn into this place, I didn't know that the Western Continent existed. I heard that Buddhism and Taoism are prevalent in the Western Continent. There is an ancient village called Gu Xi Village, thousands of miles away from our Ghost People Village, which was established by Master Zhiguang. Although thousands of years have passed, Gu Xi Village is several times larger than our Ghost People Village and is the largest village here.
Although most of the people drawn into this place are from the Northern Plains cultivation world, some are from other places. My friend Zhao next to me is from the Eastern Region Islands. My friend Wang on my right is from a place called Liuyun Sea. I had never heard of them before."
"Liuyun Sea."
Hearing Liuyun Sea, Zhang Ling's heart stirred. He glanced at the two people next to the linen-clad old man. The one on the left was an old man with gray hair and a yellow face, and the one on the right was a thin old man. When they saw his gaze, they quickly responded, looking a little uneasy.
Zhang Ling didn't ask any more questions, glanced away, and asked again, "The vitality in your bodies is not weak, have you all practiced the Vajra Art? I see that he seems to have demonic energy, which doesn't seem like a Buddhist technique." His gaze shifted to the bald-headed burly man, Ghost Snake.
Ghost Snake stood beside him, listening quietly. Suddenly being named, he felt a little at a loss. The linen-clad old man spoke first, "Haha, Senior has sharp eyes. My grandson indeed doesn't practice the Vajra Art, but a demonic technique given by Fellow Daoist Wang, which is also a good body tempering technique. This kid took a fancy to the demonic technique's secret technique of demonization. I even caught a fourth-order demon beast's demon soul that fell into this place for him, but the fusion failed and he was seriously injured."
"A Refiner's technique, taking a different approach, fusing demon beast bloodlines to stimulate potential, naturally has risks." Zhang Ling nodded.
"Senior knows about Refiners, could it be that you are also from Liuyun Sea." The thin old man stood up with joy. He looked at Zhang Ling expectantly, a little excited.
Zhang Ling shook his head and smiled. "I just accidentally obtained a related book and have some understanding of Refiners."
Of course, he wouldn't tell these people that he had been to Liuyun Sea, and responded casually. The thin old man sat down again, slightly disappointed.
Then Zhang Ling didn't ask anything else. After thinking for a moment, he waved his hand, and more than twenty mid-grade spirit stones, hundreds of low-grade spirit stones, and seven or eight magical artifacts appeared on the stone table beside him.
Seeing these things, the linen-clad old man and others showed a hint of joy. Especially when they saw the mid-grade spirit stones.
"Alright, consider these things as an exchange for this information." Zhang Ling stood up, suddenly he looked at the linen-clad old man and asked, "Copy a copy of the Vajra Art for me."
Hearing this, the linen-clad old man frowned slightly, hesitating.
"Is it difficult?"
Zhang Ling's face turned cold. Hearing what this person said, this Buddhist technique should have spread here and was not a secret.
The linen-clad old man cursed himself for being muddled, but he gritted his teeth and said, "Senior, please calm down. I have a copy of the Vajra Art here, and I can give it to you immediately. But I would like to ask, does Senior have any confidence in leaving this place?"
"What, you want to leave with me?"
"I have been trapped here for three hundred years, and my lifespan is running out. It doesn't make much difference whether I leave or not. But I do want Senior to take two juniors with you."
"Nascent Soul cultivators have been trapped in this place, I have no confidence in whether I can leave. You want me to take two people with me, aren't you afraid of encountering unforeseen events?" Zhang Ling's face showed impatience, a layer of yellow light appeared on his body, and he instantly reached the door, intending to fly away directly.
Now that he had obtained some information, he didn't want to have too much entanglement with these people. He was still anxious to find a way out, and taking two burdens would only add to his troubles.
"Senior, please wait, I have a few things found under the Great Snake Mountain, which may be useful to Senior." The linen-clad old man hurriedly called out again.
Zhang Ling's heart stirred, and he turned his head to look at this person.
"I can't see the clues of those things, but they must not be ordinary items."
"Alright, then I'll go take a look with you."
The old man's face lit up with joy, "Senior, please come this way." He led Zhang Ling out of the stone house and towards a stone house in the distance.
Seeing this, the others looked at each other, some frowning slightly, some sighing, but they all knew better than to follow.
The stone house in front of him was a two-zhang-high black stone house, surrounded by many rocks and debris. It looked like few people entered or exited. The old man directly pushed open the stone door and walked in.
Inside, there was only five or six zhang of space, without any impropriety. Zhang Ling also walked in.
Inside the house, against the wall on one side, there was a long square table with more than a dozen stone tablets similar to spirit tablets, and a small incense burner, which was still a high-grade magical artifact. It seemed to be a shrine for worshiping the deceased, and there was nothing else.
The linen-clad old man pressed on a certain stone slab on the left stone wall. With a soft sound, the stone wall shook and cracked open, revealing a downward stone staircase.
Zhang Ling immediately sensed a wave of spiritual energy coming from below. Without him asking, the old man took the lead and walked down, "Senior, please, a spirit gathering array is arranged below, and several juniors with spiritual roots in the village are practicing inside."
Walking down twenty zhang deep, they arrived at a ground cave that was fifty or sixty zhang wide. This was a square ground cave, with more than thirty stone rooms opened around it. It really looked like a place dedicated to cultivation.
With a sweep of his gaze, Zhang Ling saw that three stone rooms were illuminated by a layer of white light restriction, and several stone rooms were filled with cold air, sealing many fish and meat foods, and a food similar to potatoes, which were obviously the food reserves of these people.
Zhang Ling's divine sense easily passed through the restrictions of the three stone rooms, and saw five cultivators practicing inside. However, they were only at the first or second level of Qi Refining, and they were not very old, all of them were disciples who had just started to come into contact with cultivation.
The linen-clad old man directly led him to the deepest black stone door and entered inside.
"This is the place where I usually practice." The old man said, and walked to a row of stone shelves inside, took out a cyan jade box from it, and opened it directly to hand it over.
"Senior, please take a look, these are the treasures I found in an exploration under the Great Snake Mountain."
Zhang Ling's gaze fell on the box, which contained only three things. After only one glance, his face revealed a different color. An oval-shaped thing with pointed ends was actually a peach pit of the Ghost Wood Spirit Peach.
Five or six black bamboo pieces, a broken bamboo slip strung together, with dark black characters on it, although broken and incomplete. But this bamboo slip was very similar to the green bamboo slip he snatched from Elder Guiche.
The last thing was a ghost head token, with the words Ghost King written on the front, which seemed to be the identity token of someone.
Zhang Ling gently waved his hand, and the three things flew out of the jade box and floated in front of him, and he carefully checked them.
"Senior, don't look at this thing that looks like a peach pit, it's inconspicuous, but this thing has the effect of dispelling ghosts and warding off evil. In my deepest exploration of the Great Snake Mountain before, I accidentally ran into a space crack, and several demon ghosts no weaker than the Golden Core strength ran out of it. I thought I was doomed at the time, but this peach pit shook and let out a ghost laugh, and those demon ghosts fled in panic. Afterwards, I studied it, and this thing has a strong ghost-dispelling power."
"If that's the case, it's a good treasure." While listening to this person's narration, Zhang Ling also held the ghost peach pit in his hand. This thing was cold to the touch, and exactly the same as the ghost peach pit that the Yan Sect Master took out for them to check before.
He really didn't know that this thing had the effect of dispelling ghosts and warding off evil.
A flash of spiritual light in his hand, and a little spiritual power was injected, the peach pit vibrated as if it had life, and let out a sharp and ear-piercing ghost laugh. It made people's scalps tingle when they heard it.
The linen-clad old man's face stiffened and he took a few steps back, showing a terrified expression. Obviously, he was more affected.
Zhang Ling stared at the ghost peach pit carefully for a while, and found that with the ghost cry, the natural patterns on the ghost peach pit were constantly changing, changing into patterns of evil ghosts.
He thought even more in his heart that the peach pit had such power, could it be that the ghost wood spirit peach really had the effect of increasing a thousand years of life. This idea appeared in his mind again, and he was very skeptical at first, but now he believed it a bit.
Then Zhang Ling picked up the ghost head token again, and there was no reaction when spiritual power was injected into it, but looking at the words Ghost King on the token, it largely proved that this token might be the identity token of a Ghost King Sect cultivator.
Zhang Ling flicked his hand lightly, and these three things were put into his storage bag by him, and he looked at the somewhat uneasy linen-clad old man and said, "These things are indeed useful to me."
"Ah, then thank you, Senior, for your accomplishment." The old man showed joy.
"Don't rush to say thank you, let's talk about who you want me to take with me." Zhang Ling snorted again with a blank expression.
"The people I want Senior to take with me are my two great-grandchildren. If Senior has the opportunity to go out, it would be best to bring them to the outside world." The old man chuckled and said who he wanted him to take with him.
Zhang Ling didn't feel surprised by this, "Bring the people here and let me take a look."
"You wait a moment, these two little cubs are practicing in the quiet room next door, I will bring them here." The old man immediately walked out quickly.
After a while, a boy and a girl, two children of twelve or thirteen years old, followed behind him. These two seemed to have been specially instructed by the old man, and as soon as they saw Zhang Ling, they immediately bowed and worshiped. "Jin'er, Ying'er, pay respects to Senior Zhang."
Zhang Ling's gaze was calm, and with a gentle shake of his hand, a ball of yellow light held them up, preventing the two children from worshiping.
He had seen these two when he was exploring the stone rooms with restrictions just now. The boy was at the second level of Qi Refining, and the girl was at the third level of Qi Refining.
"Senior, these are my great-grandchildren, Meng Jin, Meng Ying. It would be a blessing if they could go out." The old man looked at them lovingly. "I wonder if Senior can accept them as disciples, their spiritual root qualifications are not bad."
Zhang Ling frowned slightly, this old man was really rude.
After a cup of tea, Zhang Ling turned into a yellow light and soared into the sky, leaving Ghost People Village.
"Grandpa, do you think this senior can take them away?" Ghost Snake looked at the disappearing Zhang Ling with great worry.
"Senior Zhang is the highest-level person I have seen in three hundred years. If he can't leave..." The linen-clad old man didn't finish his words, when his face suddenly sank and asked about another matter. "Those village elders have a lot of opinions about me taking this senior into our secret vault, right?"
"Hmph, what dare they say? Although your strength has declined, Grandpa, it's still easy to deal with them. If they still want to stay safely in Ghost People Village, they won't be too presumptuous."
"That's good..."
Flying at low altitude, Zhang Ling smiled and looked at Meng Jin and Meng Ying, who were being dragged by him with spiritual power. The two guys looked nervous, looking at their feet as if they were worried about falling down.
"You two were born here, have you ever thought about going out?"
"Ah, I haven't thought about it. Master, my sister and I have never seen the outside world, we have only been to a few villages nearby. I just occasionally heard my great-grandfather talk about some things outside, Master, can you really take us out?"
Meng Jin's face was still a little childish, revealing some longing. Meng Ying didn't speak, but also looked at Zhang Ling curiously.
Zhang Ling chuckled, "Maybe."
