Grief Valley Immortal City was located in the Spirit Butterfly Valley.
It was rich in soul path and dark path resources.
Although its scale could not compare to Inclined Moon Immortal City or Flowing Flower Immortal City, it was still a mid-sized immortal city.
The scenery of Grief Valley Immortal City was rather unique.
At a glance, the buildings lining both sides of the streets were all constructed from white paper, giving off an eerie and sinister atmosphere.
Yin energy lingered in the sky above Spirit Butterfly Valley, blocking out the sun year-round.
He Shu held a long-lasting lamp in her hand as she walked along the main street of the immortal city.
“Young miss… I’m so scared…”
Beside He Shu, Mu Xinlian shrank behind her.
Although she was taller than He Shu, she acted like a frightened child.
“What’s there to be scared of? Grief Valley Immortal City doesn’t have many residents to begin with. It’s normal for it to feel empty.”
“But… isn’t this a little too empty?”
They had already been walking for half an hour, yet they had encountered fewer than a hundred people along the way.
Suddenly, a ghost spirit wreathed in green flames rushed out from a small alley, startling Mu Xinlian into letting out a sharp cry.
The ghost spirit was not humanoid. It resembled a floating ball of flame without a fixed form.
It shot toward He Shu and Mu Xinlian at extreme speed.
He Shu gripped a straight blade with both hands and was about to slash at the ghost spirit when its form suddenly wavered.
A female cultivator sucked it into a yin-yang gourd in her hand.
“Haha, the two of you fellow daoists. I only captured this ghost spirit a short while ago. It still has some vicious nature that hasn’t been refined yet. It just escaped earlier. I hope it didn’t frighten you.”
From the aura the female cultivator exuded, she was a Qi Refining cultivator.
While sealing the yin-yang gourd, she apologized to the two of them.
“It’s fine, no harm done. Although ghost spirits with fierce temperaments are difficult to control, once they are completely refined, they become far more loyal than those with milder dispositions.”
Ghost spirits had a very special origin.
They were products born when dense yin energy gradually developed spiritual intelligence under the nourishment of spiritual energy.
They were not formed from the souls of the deceased.
Places capable of naturally nurturing them were extremely rare. Spirit Butterfly Valley was one such location.
He Shu waved her hand, indicating that she did not mind the female cultivator’s apology.
After this small incident, He Shu and Mu Xinlian continued walking along the street.
Their purpose for coming here was very clear.
They wanted to gather intelligence and buy some of the local specialty medicinal pills along the way.
Five days had already passed since the Soul Transformation pursuit battle.
Logically speaking, wanted posters for He Shu and her group should have already appeared on the wanted boards of major immortal cities.
However, what puzzled He Shu was that she had not seen any portraits of her group on the wanted boards.
She stopped in front of the wanted board and touched her chin with one hand, deep in thought.
Logically speaking, the clone she had left behind should have already exhausted its spiritual power and completely dissipated by now.
Could it be that Hua Yanyun did not want too many people to know about her escape?
He Shu had never stood at Hua Yanyun’s level before, so she naturally could not understand what the latter was truly thinking.
However, He Shu could confirm one thing — Hua Yanyun had definitely already sent people to hunt them down.
“Soul-Nourishing Pill, Heart-Nourishing Pill, Cloud-Hidden Azure Bone Flower, Ni Sheng Luo, Crystal-Mist Ice Heart…”
He Shu stood at the entrance and sighed while looking at the pile of items Mu Xinlian had just bought from the pill shop.
“Forget it, forget it. It’s not like this is Little Mu’s first time being so careless. Besides, she cultivates the pill dao herself. She’s probably planning to refine them on her own.”
After leaving the pill shop, the two of them met up with Shen Qingci and the others.
“How did it go on your end? Did you manage to gather any useful information?”
He Shu turned to face Bai Liuli. Bai Liuli was leaning against a white paper wall. Upon hearing the question, she shook her head.
“Nothing useful. I only heard some gossip, like how the second young master of the Jian family in the city is preparing to get married, or how the Liu family ancestor seems to be nearing the end of his lifespan.”
Seeing that they had not obtained any useful leads, He Shu turned to look at Shen Qingci and He Qingyuan.
“What about the two of you?”
“He Qingyuan and I went to the black market together. We happened to learn that the Flying Crane Sect and the Myriad Beast Sect are preparing to hold a joint competition to recruit a new batch of disciples.”
“Other than that, the distribution of powers in the city is as follows…”
After summarizing all the intelligence they had gathered, He Shu formed a rough outline of Grief Valley Immortal City in her mind.
There were three major families in Grief Valley Immortal City — the Jian family, the Sheng family, and the Liu family.
Each of the three families had two Golden Core ancestors overseeing them.
In addition to the three major families, there were four other powers in the city — the black market, the Ghost Weeping Gang, the Heavenly Ripple Academy, and the Myriad Medicine Hall branch.
“Myriad Medicine Hall…”
Myriad Medicine Hall was a super power that spanned half of the Jade Water Immortal Kingdom. Its headquarters was located in Cloud Mist Immortal City.
He Shu and the others had not only seen it before but had even crossed hands with two of its Supreme Elders.
Generally speaking, the straight-line distance between two immortal cities ranged from one million to three million li.
Therefore, Grief Valley Immortal City was basically He Shu and her group’s final supply point.
The wilderness was filled with dangers.
Demonic beasts and demonic plants appeared endlessly.
Foundation Establishment cultivators usually had to travel in groups when venturing outside.
Even Golden Core cultivators did not dare to be careless in the wild.
Places like immortal cities and sect territories would regularly issue missions to clear out demonic beasts, or directly organize large-scale hunting activities.
The group gathered together and discussed for a while.
After confirming their general itinerary, they decided to stay in Grief Valley Immortal City for a few days.
Inside the inn, He Shu had a room to herself.
She did not sleep. Instead, she sat cross-legged with her eyes closed in meditation.
Four hours had already passed.
During this time, He Shu had attempted to draw qi into her body and open her dantian dozens of times, but all attempts had ended in failure.
“The twenty-sixth time…”
“The twenty-seventh time…”
She muttered softly under her breath. He Shu’s small face was tightly furrowed.
She calmed her mind, emptied her thoughts, and sensed the spiritual energy drifting in the air.
Then she mobilized her divine sense and sank it into her dantian, attempting to draw qi into her body.
Under He Shu’s full concentration, strands of spiritual energy in the air were slowly guided into her body one by one.
However, before they could form any significant scale, they would scatter and explode outward.
“The twenty-eighth time… failed again…”
Twenty-eight failed attempts to break through to the Qi Refining realm had already left He Shu feeling completely exhausted and drowsy.
“No… I’ll try one last time.”
She forced herself to stay alert and prepared for her twenty-ninth attempt to draw qi into her body.
The pressure in He Shu’s heart multiplied. Every failure made her even more nervous.
Their time was extremely limited.
If Hua Yanyun sent people to hunt them down, they would definitely head to the nearest city — Grief Valley Immortal City — first.
According to the plan, He Shu and her group would only stay in Grief Valley Immortal City for three days. Once those three days were up, they would have to leave and begin their journey.
Once they reached the wilderness, they would no longer have such a stable environment for He Shu to cultivate in peace.
There were four great difficulties on the path of immortal cultivation.
The first was drawing qi into the body and opening the dantian, formally stepping onto the path of cultivation from being a mortal.
The second was undergoing the Nascent Soul tribulation, enduring the test of the Heavenly Dao, receiving the baptism of heaven and earth, shedding one’s mortal body, transcending the ordinary, and breaking through to Soul Transformation.
The third was comprehending the Great Dao of heaven and earth. In the midst of heavenly tribulation, one would face death and be reborn, advancing to the Great Vehicle realm.
The fourth, and also the most difficult, was transforming one’s body into the Dao.
One would compete with the will of heaven for authority in order to contend for the sole position of True Immortal in the current era!