Volume Three: Rising Fame - Chapter 89: Surging Mental Energy

Li Yu gathered the daily supplies on the ground, and suddenly, his spiritual sense transmitted a strange wave of yearning.

"You want to eat this... Can this be eaten?!"

Li Yu hesitated slightly.

Had it not been for the observation through his spiritual sense, it would have been nearly impossible for him to discover the deeper, wondrous nature hidden within the snow-blowing ghost crystals!

Before opening his mud-pill palace, relying merely on his mortal eyes, this was just an ordinary snow-blowing ghost crystal—at best somewhat "inferior." Although all its exterior features matched the descriptions, in actual use, there remained subtle discrepancies.

Namely, the spiritual energy content was slightly lacking.

However, seeing that others used them without any abnormalities, and experiencing no ill effects himself, he had suppressed his inner doubts.

Yet, now that he possessed spiritual sense, under the scan of his divine will, Li Yu could clearly perceive subtle details within the internal liquid of every snow-blowing ghost crystal that had previously escaped his notice.

That was the containment of spiritual energy! Aside from spiritual energy, there were other energies present within the liquid. Combining this with the records in Mu Yinhua's notes, these must have been crafted by mixing vital essence with spiritual energy!

These snow-blowing ghost crystals were artificially manufactured items!

"I've never heard of other soul-devouring tree spirits having this ability... Is this particular one unique, or has the truth about other tree spirits been covered up?!"

Li Yu found it difficult to be certain. Yet, since the records of the Qing Clan made no mention of it, this must be a singular mutation unique to this specific tree.

"Alright, alright, let's test one first!"

Li Yu muttered to himself.

Prompted by the urgent feedback of his spiritual sense, he did not act rashly. Instead, he extracted only a tiny fraction of the internal liquid from a single snow-blowing ghost crystal.

His spiritual sense pierced into it, and swiftly, the spiritual energy within the liquid dissipated into the heavens and the earth.

Meanwhile, his spiritual sense exuded a feeling of satisfaction; the absorbable substances within the liquid had already been consumed by it.

Those portions of spiritual energy had also dissipated because the medium they adhered to was absorbed, causing their protective rocky shells to fracture.

"My spiritual sense has grown somewhat stronger!"

Li Yu sensed the change, a flicker of pleasant surprise rising in his heart. Even his physical body showed signs of recovery.

Strictly speaking, this was not a matter of his spiritual sense having gained independent intelligence to converse with him. It was more akin to a nose catching a rich fragrance, causing the stomach to rumble with hunger.

It was simply that after Li Yu employed his spiritual sense, the feedback from it indicated that there were usable substances to be absorbed within.

"Since it's like this, let's absorb them all!"

The spiritual sense within Li Yu surged forth in a torrent, instantly sweeping up dozens of snow-blowing ghost crystals. Under this invisible force, the crystals cracked open one after another with popping sounds under the unbearable pressure, their vital essences absorbed entirely.

"Such terrifying pressure!"

Can Yishuang, standing to the side, felt the formidable pressure radiating from Li Yu. She muttered under her breath, "It's getting more and more terrifying!"

As a treasure essence capable of swallowing vast amounts of spiritual energy in a single gulp, her spiritual perception was astonishing. While a fourth-rank cultivator might struggle to detect the latent, horrifying power hidden within Li Yu's thunder-acupuncture points, she could easily perceive the fierce thunder force surging inside his body.

Especially back outside, after he absorbed those sixty-odd snow-blowing ghost crystals, the terrifying power lodged in each of those thunder-acupuncture points gave her a pricking sensation of pain every time she looked at them.

The thunder force contained within each of those acupuncture points was no less than the spiritual energy reserves of a fifth-rank cultivator!

Li Yu remained oblivious to the thoughts of the treasure essence beside him.

After his spiritual sense absorbed the internal liquid, it grew stronger; growing stronger allowed it to absorb even more liquid; absorbing more liquid made his spiritual sense stronger still!

This was a terrifying cycle of growth.

Within his newly opened mud-pill palace, the spiritual sense—originally produced solely by the tree heart and refined by him—had been limited in quantity and hardly pure.

Yet now, following the absorption of a massive amount of vital essence, the quantity of spiritual sense within the mud-pill palace multiplied exponentially, even beginning to feel saturated.

Li Yu opened his eyes. Looking at the snow-blowing ghost crystals that were less than a third depleted, he muttered, "There's still so much left; how could I let it go to waste?! Since it's saturated, I'll just compress it. I can still absorb plenty more!"

How could he possibly halt such visible and tangible progress midway?

Spiritual energy was normally absorbed first, then compressed into a liquid state once it became too abundant, and further compressed into a solid state once the liquid state reached its limit.

If spiritual energy could be treated this way, why couldn't spiritual sense?

Once a thought arose, Li Yu wasted no time in executing it, possessing an exceedingly high capacity for practical action.

Thus, more and more snow-blowing ghost crystals were swept up by his spiritual sense, revolving around him in a tight orbit.

"Compress! It can still be compressed!"

Li Yu roared internally!

Lacking any formal cultivation techniques for spiritual sense, this was the only method he could manage.

The spiritual sense within his mud-pill palace grew increasingly dense. Under his manipulation, strands of spiritual sense intertwined and squeezed against one another. Gradually, two strands merged into one, and then four strands merged into one.

Finally, multiple strands of these already-merged spiritual senses fused together once more!

"Crack!"

The very last snow-blowing ghost crystal within the cavern shattered.

Li Yu opened his eyes. He rubbed the slightly stinging space between his eyebrows, a deeply satisfied smile spreading across his face.

"Are you done?" Can Yishuang walked over.

Suddenly, her heart skipped a beat with intense dread. The massive boulder beside her—large enough for four people to embrace—exploded with a thunderous roar.

"What is this?" Can Yishuang asked in sheer terror.

Li Yu replied, "This is my new ability. What do you think, impressive or not?"

Can Yishuang swallowed hard. She nodded, her eyes filled with profound bewilderment.

There was no visible surge of spiritual energy whatsoever. What kind of ability was this? It left not a single trace, entirely untraceable and invisible.

"Twenty thousand meters..." Li Yu muttered softly, then suddenly burst into laughter. "The mist has cleared!"

"What?!" Can Yishuang looked slightly dazed. She felt as though the young man she had spent the past few days with had undergone some subtle change, yet she could not quite pinpoint where that change lay.

"It's nothing. Let's head out."

"Oh, right, you can try consuming some snow-blowing ghost crystals later; it might just accelerate your recovery!"

After a short while, the two emerged from the underground cavern.

Can Yishuang cast a curious gaze around. She had been sent away for a brief moment, and upon her return, the deceased Mu Yinhua had vanished without a trace. Li Yu, however, offered no explanation, wearing an expression that discouraged further inquiry, leaving her to bury her doubts deep within her heart.

"Young Master!" Xing Chengping and Wen Xiangxuan greeted him in unison. When they looked at Li Yu, a trace of shock flickered in their eyes. Through some unknown fortuitous encounter, the latter's physical condition had recovered yet again!

"Mm..." Li Yu nodded. His physical state had previously suffered because his foundation was insufficient when opening the mud-pill palace, causing a massive drain on his vital origin.

While consuming Can Yishuang's essence could have restored him, since life energy existed within the snow-blowing ghost crystals, he simply used those to mend his body instead.

Glancing around, he saw that Ning Ankang had been decapitated, his body bearing wounds that suggested his final moments were far from painless. Skipping over the sight without a word, his gaze swept past and landed on the corpses of the others.

"Young Master, these people are tied to too many clans. If we let them go, it will bring endless future troubles!" Wen Xiangxuan voiced her concern.

"..." Li Yu remained silent.

Merely considering those who had followed Xiang Yadan, they belonged to four or five different clans. Add to them the followers of Ying Feiguang and Ning Ankang, and the clans standing behind these individuals numbered around a dozen.

If the clans of these followers united, they would form a formidable faction in their own right—not to mention that Ying Feiguang was a member of the Great Ming imperial family.

Under such circumstances, letting even a single person escape—leaving aside the exposure of Li Yu's true strength—would generate immense external pressure. Rather than wrestling over whether to spare this person or that one, it was far better to make a clean break and eliminate them all.

This was also the pledge of allegiance Wen Xiangxuan and Xing Chengping were offering to Li Yu. Killing these individuals meant that their fates were irrevocably bound to Li Yu's on the same boat, leaving zero possibility of any leaks.

After a long pause, Li Yu nodded. "Let's go!"

He swept up the snow-blowing ghost crystals harvested by those people and took the lead, flying outward.

*How does the Young Master know we came in from this direction?* Wen Xiangxuan felt a shiver of apprehension.

This exact route was the one they had used to enter the underground cavern, and those individuals below the fifth rank had all been stationed in this area.

Li Yu offered no explanation. His spiritual sense was one of his closely guarded secrets; how could he easily reveal it?

Even those snow-blowing ghost crystals were being levitated by ordinary spiritual energy rather than his spiritual sense.

Before long, the island receded behind them until it was out of sight. Continuing their flight forward, they quickly reunited with the rest of the group who had remained in the dark.

"Brother Yu, the mist outside has cleared!"

Xiong Xiuer exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

Li Yu nodded and said, "The directional markers on the tokens have shifted multiple times; it seems the dangerous zones are expanding. Let's head straight toward the center."

Hearing this, no one offered any objections.

Only Can Yishuang, upon hearing Xiong Xiuer's words, cast a secret, startled glance at Li Yu's profile. Just how had he known about the conditions outside while still trapped deep inside the mountain cave?!

Reaching the foot of the mountain, they found the mist had indeed vanished entirely.

Joy blossomed in the hearts of everyone present.

Li Yu took to the air first. Turning back to look at the bizarre mountain, he noticed that once outside, looking back at it made the peak appear vastly smaller than before.

"Such miraculous changes!"

Dismissing further thoughts, Li Yu led the group onward in the direction marked on their tokens.

"Did you notice? The Young Master seems to be in a rather poor mood," Xing Chengping whispered quietly.

"Since when did you start caring about such things?" Wen Xiangxuan shot him a sidelong glance, then lowered her voice as well. "Though... it does seem like he's in a somewhat bad mood."

Of course his mood was poor.

In this otherworldly realm, the only people he had established a good relationship with were Mu Yinhua and Qing Anqi. The latter had been poisoned, prompting him to seek life-saving herbs, yet before that matter could be resolved, he was met with the news of Mu Yinhua's death.

*I have no idea what the origin of that tree heart is. Even though it was forced out of my body, I have a feeling that relying on it, there's still a chance to revive Sister Mu... I just don't know if I can find a way to save her!*

Li Yu muttered inwardly.

Although Mu Yinhua had long since been considered dead after turning into a tree puppet, possessing the tree heart—which continued to generate spiritual sense—left him with a faint intuition that he might yet restore her ability to act.

If he could find a method in the future, perhaps she could be saved. Furthermore, he possessed the system; maybe with items obtained through system check-ins, he could directly bring Mu Yinhua back to life!

"Oh? To think there are still people daring to follow us from behind! Aren't these old acquaintances?"

Without turning his head, the corners of Li Yu's mouth curled into a smile as he spoke aloud, "Running has made me a bit tired. Let's rest here for a moment!"