#60 - Exploration, Demon Mist Mountains, Ichor Lake

The map given by Guan Zilan was indeed a bit rough; one could tell it was a hand-drawn map. Later, Guan Zilan successively found other related ancient books.

After a full month of piecing things together and carefully sorting them out, Qin Changqing had a general understanding of the situation.

This cultivation world was too vast, often spanning tens of thousands of miles. The territory was so vast that even a single Jing Country was a land that mortals could not cross in their entire lives.

Therefore, even though cultivators could fly and遁地 (dùn dì - escape underground), very few cultivators would cross territories to explore other locations. It would not only consume energy but also potentially bring about their own deaths.

The place where Jing Country was located was called the Eastern Region, and it was one of the Seven Kingdoms of the Eastern Region.

Of course, these seven kingdoms only covered a part of the Eastern Region's territory. Beyond the broader territory, there were many unknown places, including some hidden cultivation sects that did not reveal themselves to the world.

Beyond the Eastern Region, there were also the myriad races of the Demon Region, the Immortal Islands of the Northern Region, the three thousand continents of the Central Region, and other more vast and mysterious places.

However, the descriptions of these places were also very vague, indicating that the recorders had not explored them in depth.

Cultivators had a strong sense of territoriality, and some places were more exclusive to foreign cultivators. This was one of the reasons why the records of certain places in ancient books were incomplete.

“It seems that I still need to explore some places myself…” Qin Changqing closed the ancient scroll, deeply engraving the map of the Eastern Region in his mind.

He had the system's concealment and teleportation abilities, so he didn't need to worry about encountering unknown dangers. At worst, he could just run away.

As it stood, whether it was secret realms, formations, or special terrains, none of them could block the teleportation function, especially after the stealth function was activated. Even a Transformation God Heavenly Lord would not be able to detect him.

Three months later.

In the westernmost part of the Eastern Region, there was a mountain range shrouded in mist all year round, stretching for tens of thousands of miles. These mists seemed to have the natural effect of weakening divine sense detection. In addition, it was filled with demon beasts, including great demons no weaker than the Nascent Soul stage, and was called the “Demon Mist Mountain Range” by the surrounding cultivators.

Sparse of people and full of demon beasts, it also meant that many natural treasures were not easily picked. Therefore, even knowing the danger, many cultivators still liked to come here to take risks.

At this moment, a flash of white light appeared, and Qin Changqing's figure appeared on an ancient tree.

“This should already be very close to the core area of the Demon Mist Mountain Range…”

Qin Changqing was a little surprised and quickly flew away. After seeing it clearly, he couldn't help but gasp.

He then realized that this was not an ancient tree at all, but a huge brown python. Before, it seemed to be asleep, and its body would turn into the appearance of an ancient tree when it was asleep, which was also a disguise.

The hissing sound just now was the demon python spitting out its tongue.

It wasn't the first time Qin Changqing had seen this kind of strange thing, but he was still a little apprehensive. This demon python was at least a Golden Core stage demon beast. If he didn't have the system's stealth function, he would probably have been eaten without even leaving behind any residue.

After the demon python wandered in place for a while, it slowly swam away into the distance, seemingly to hunt for food.

Qin Changqing shook his head and continued to fly around with the jade slip, recording the terrain while looking for a suitable location.

Because his divine sense was weakened, he could only use the most foolish method of traveling and recording. If he really wanted to establish a stronghold here in the future, the map would be particularly important.

In addition, he also marked the demon beasts that often appeared in each location, distinguishing the places he had passed through by the degree of danger.

After all, the children did not have his stealth function.

In this way, Qin Changqing teleported to the Demon Mist Mountain Range to explore whenever he had time. Although each teleportation consumed decades of lifespan, this point of lifespan was completely insignificant to him now.

Another month passed quietly.

Qin Changqing's figure appeared again, continuing to go deeper according to the place he had left last time.

“Why is it getting more and more wrong?”

Qin Changqing noticed the changes around him. The traces of demon beasts were becoming less and less, and the ones that occasionally appeared were all powerful demon beasts with thick skin and flesh, at least great demons equivalent to the Nascent Soul stage. Moreover, the surrounding flowers and plants were becoming more and more sparse.

Not only that, but the surrounding area also began to be filled with an increasingly dense green mist.

Originally, Qin Changqing didn't know what this was, until he saw a demon beast forced into a desperate situation rushing into the green mist in a panic. Before long, it let out a scream, and its whole body was quickly corroded under the erosion of the green mist, and he understood.

“Poisonous miasma?!”

Qin Changqing's face was a little unsightly. The demon beast just now was at least in the Golden Core stage, but it couldn't withstand the erosion of this poisonous miasma. I'm afraid even a great demon in the Nascent Soul stage would have a hard time.

If he didn't have the system's stealth function to avoid all external influences, I'm afraid he would have died and become a pile of white bones… No, referring to the unlucky guy just now, his mere Foundation Establishment stage should not even leave behind white bones.

The terrain of the mountain range in front of him was rugged, with two peaks twisting and connecting, like a huge arch, surrounded by strange vines, forming a natural barrier.

Qin Changqing was a little curious, how exactly was this strange place formed?

Quickly flying through the air, he teleported directly through the arch!

The scene inside the poisonous miasma had a feeling of "At first it was extremely narrow, only enough for one person to pass through…" The view in sight suddenly opened up, and it turned out to be an extremely vast valley. The poisonous miasma outside disappeared after passing through the arch.

In the very center of the valley, there was a lake, the turquoise lake water gently rippling, with dreamlike spiritual mist floating above it.

Around the lake, there were densely packed various spiritual herbs and plants growing.

After investigating around, these spiritual herbs were all of ancient age, and their sizes were several times larger than ordinary spiritual herbs, emitting various strange lights.

These spiritual herbs almost filled the valley, and for a time, they were countless.

“This is… spiritual liquid!”

Qin Changqing's eyes widened instantly, his face full of disbelief.

Spiritual liquid was a manifestation of spiritual energy being concentrated and condensed to a certain degree of liquefaction, which was incomparably precious. Even in the top ten sects, it was an extremely rare treasure.

But at this moment, in front of Qin Changqing, there was a whole lake of it!

Qin Changqing rubbed his eyes, even feeling like he was hallucinating.

It wasn't until he took a pool of spiritual liquid and carefully investigated it that he finally confirmed that it was not an illusion, this was indeed spiritual liquid!

No, so big, it should be called a spiritual lake!