Beast-Taming Cultivator from Two Realms

Chapter 27: Grass Within the Stone

Cultivators who broke through to the middle stage of Qi Refining could awaken a special mental power known as divine sense.

Generally, a cultivator at the Fourth Level of Qi Refining had a divine sense coverage radius of about one chi. Advancing to the Fifth Level increased it to three chi, and at the Sixth Level it could reach five chi.

As the saying went, within five chi, perception was complete.

A cultivator at the Sixth Level of Qi Refining, when employing divine sense, could completely evade talisman bullets with only their physical body.

As for late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, the range of their divine sense would transform according to their innate talent. The stronger the talent, the broader the coverage.

Typically, a cultivator at the Seventh Level of Qi Refining had a divine sense radius of about one zhang, the Eighth Level around two zhang, and the Ninth Level around three zhang.

However, under the augmentation of the Nine-Breath Chaos Divine Ability and the Nine-Breath Chaos Supreme Treasure, Chen Beiwu’s divine sense underwent a terrifying qualitative transformation, with a perception range far exceeding cultivators of the same stage, reaching an immense five zhang.

It was no exaggeration to say that in terms of divine sense coverage and strength alone, even a Ninth Level Qi Refining cultivator riding clouds could not match Chen Beiwu. But this was not the most terrifying part.

Perhaps because the level of Nine-Breath Chaos was too high—capable of veiling the sky and seizing fate—Chen Beiwu’s nurtured divine sense also possessed a rather outrageous trait: concealing presence and form. As a result, his divine sense perception was extremely hidden, nearly undetectable by cultivators of the same stage.

‘Daring to set up a honey trap under my divine sense—if you don’t die, who will.’ Chen Beiwu shook his head in exasperation, casually picked up a storage pouch from the ground, and turned toward the direction of the thick smoke.

Within the dust and smoke, a female corpse with a severed arm had lost all flesh and blood, revealing a nail with faint bloodstains.

‘Such a vicious artifact!’ Chen Beiwu’s pupils slightly contracted.

With his insight, he could naturally tell that Lin Yu had not died from Iron Egg’s sneak attack, but from the backlash of her own artifact.

“Seal!”

Chen Beiwu did not hesitate to press a Sealing Talisman on it, carefully putting away the Soul-Piercing Nail.

This artifact was very sinister. Until he figured out the exact method of its use, he would not use it lightly.

“It’s time to go, Iron Egg.”

After briefly cleaning up the traces of battle, Chen Beiwu immediately used Wind Control to hurry on his way and avoid encountering other cultivators.

…

Inside a cave dozens of li away from the battlefield, Chen Beiwu cut off a large piece of Phantom Rat Wolf meat and handed it to the eager Iron Egg, then began sorting through the spoils.

‘These bandit cultivators are so poor!’ Chen Beiwu shook the storage pouch slightly, puzzled.

It was said that murder and arson brought gold belts, so why did these bandit cultivators have such a strangely low amount of spirit stones? The three storage pouches combined had only ninety-seven low-grade spirit stones—not even a full hundred.

There was, however, a pile of worn and damaged talismans and artifacts, unidentifiable bottles and jars, messy books and jade slips, and scattered gold and silver trinkets.

After sorting out some useful talismans and artifacts, Chen Beiwu looked at the pill labels.

Hmm, just a pile of chicken-scratch script—he couldn’t recognize a single character.

But it didn’t matter. Even if Chen Beiwu were literate, he wouldn’t consume these pills of unknown origin.

He wasn’t a pill master and couldn’t discern the specific toxicity levels of these pills, nor whether they had been poisoned.

Unless there were particularly rare pills among the bottles and jars worth experimenting with on test mice.

‘Sure enough, no rushing—it’s still necessary to learn to read first.’ Chen Beiwu shook his head and took out a jade slip to study.

…

Controlling the wind along steep cliffs, gliding through swirling clouds and mist.

Relying on his divine sense perception, Chen Beiwu passed over mountain after mountain until he arrived at a perilous precipice, where he stopped, a trace of surprise flashing across his face.

He had discovered a rare spiritual herb named Grass Within the Stone.

Grass Within the Stone was a Second-Tier Spiritual Herb that grew in the cracks of rocks. Its roots appeared as semi-transparent crystalline clusters, and its leaves were only the size of a copper coin.

The front of the leaf had a patina-like bronze luster, while the back was covered with lotus-white patterns, making it easy to identify.

Foundation Establishment cultivators could consume it to stabilize their foundation, strengthen meridians, and improve body-tempering efficiency.

Qi Refining cultivators who consumed it might find it too tonic, potentially causing partial petrification of the meridians and dantian.

In addition, this spiritual herb was adept at concealing its presence. After maturing, it would self-crack and propagate, vanishing without emitting any anomaly or fragrance—making it extremely rare.

On the Immortal Alliance Official Website, its price was even higher than Blood-Faced Vine, fetching at least six hundred low-grade spirit stones.

Chen Beiwu hadn’t expected such good fortune—to encounter a Second-Tier Spiritual Herb while simply on the road.

Back then, when he toured Mount Ziluo of the Immortal Alliance for seven days and nights, he didn’t even see a single Second-Tier Spiritual Herb. All visible Second-Tier Spiritual Herbs were within protected nature zones delineated by the Immortal Alliance.

Those herbs were all visible but untouchable, and almost no one dared to harbor thoughts about them.

Any cultivator sneaky enough to try picking herbs there would surely end up shackled in silver bracelets, enjoying a miner’s life in the mines.

‘This little girl’s luck isn’t bad, to actually discover such a spiritual herb.’

Following Chen Beiwu’s gaze, a girl in coarse clothes and straw sandals stood on the dark stone cliff.

She carried a bamboo basket on her back, and held a herb shovel in hand, carefully chiseling the crack in the rock, producing crisp tapping sounds.

It was precisely because of the presence of this herb-gathering girl that Chen Beiwu was able to notice the Grass Within the Stone hidden in the rock crevice—otherwise undetectable even by divine sense.

Yet blessings often came with misfortunes—a mere village girl could hardly withstand possession of such a spiritual herb.

‘This herb looks really pretty—just like the Azure Crystal Exotic Herb described in the books. Selling it should cover Dad’s medical fees.’

With that thought, the herb-gathering girl took a deep breath and hastened her chiseling.

As the wild mountains became too dangerous at night, she needed to finish gathering herbs and descend before the hour of You.

“Sss sss sss!”

Just then, a strange sound from the right made the girl’s heart tremble.

She turned her head and saw a triangular-headed exotic serpent with bronze-red pupils sticking out its tongue in warning.

‘Five-Red Snake!’ The girl’s expression instantly turned grim.

The Five-Red Snake was a notoriously venomous snake in the wild mountains, its poison so fierce that medicine was useless.

What were the five reds? As the name suggested, a person bitten by this snake would experience surging blood, their face turning crimson like blood, and ultimately bleed from all five orifices before death.

‘I finally found an exotic herb—I can’t run!’

Mo Li gritted her teeth, forcibly suppressing her fear, and pulled a packet of powder from her bosom with her right hand.

Since she dared to gather herbs alone in the mountains, she naturally had means of self-defense. Otherwise, she would’ve long been targeted by the village’s local ruffians.

Seeing Mo Li not retreating, the Five-Red Snake’s eyes flashed fiercely. It let out a hiss and its body turned into a streak of red light, shooting through the air.

“Get away from me!”

Mo Li threw the powder with all her strength, colliding head-on with the incoming snake’s bite.

‘Still not enough?’

Seeing that the snake’s momentum had not diminished, despair surfaced in Mo Li’s eyes.

She nervously closed her eyes, quietly waiting for death to arrive.

‘Strange... why doesn’t it hurt at all?’

Mo Li cautiously opened her eyes. What entered her vision was not the putrid face of the Five-Red Snake, but an unfamiliar, strikingly handsome face beyond description—leaving her completely dazed.