The First Immortal of Destiny

Seeing Shen Mo effortlessly catch up to her, a trace of surprise crossed Chen Mengze's face.

However, she didn't ask much about it.

She just assumed that he had learned a sophisticated form of sword-controlling magic.

The two sword lights flew side by side, heading towards the Ghost Nation Ruins.

"The morning glow and solitary wild ducks flew together; autumn waters merged with the endless sky."

Through the clouds, the majestic and winding mountains and rivers were all taken in at a glance.

One's spirits also broadened and became joyful.

The journey was long.

An hour into their sword flight, Chen Mengze couldn't help but initiate the conversation.

"Yesterday, I went to Jiyun Town to look for Elixirs and noticed quite a few Alchemists in the streets. Apparently, there was an Elixir Tasting Conference. Did you attend?"

It wasn't convenient to talk while flying, so she used Divine Sense to transmit her voice.

So she was also one of the onlookers, Shen Mo thought, laughing to himself as he transmitted his reply, "I happened to be there and even saw Zhao Lingyin's alchemy. It was truly an immortal's fart!"

"Immortal's fa—"

Chen Mengze muttered unconsciously.

Realizing what he'd said, a blush swept across her face, and she retorted unhappily, "If you're going to praise someone, do it properly. If her ardent supporters heard you, they'd definitely cause trouble for you."

"However, despite her young age, she's already made a huge name for herself in the Alchemy Zone."

"It seems her alchemy skills must be superb, being a Direct Disciple of a Grade IV Alchemist. Aren't you also an Alchemist? If you could befriend her…"

Shen Mo had previously refined a Grade II Thunder Transforming Pill for Uncle Chen.

Therefore, Chen Mengze knew that his skills in the Alchemy Path were at least at the level of a Grade I Alchemist.

Shen Mo understood her meaning and said with a sheepish smile, "Let's forget about it. She's the foremost prodigy of the Alchemy Zone. A favored daughter of heaven like her is beyond the reach of a humble, unaffiliated Alchemist like me."

"Indeed!" Chen Mengze nodded in agreement.

Huh? Hey, at least offer a token objection! What's with this complete agreement? Even if you really think so, couldn't you be a bit more tactful? Being so blunt, aren't you afraid of hurting my feelings? Shen Mo felt a bit gloomy.

"This Junior Sister Lingyin seems to have a soft spot for an Alchemist named Mo Shen."

Chen Mengze, oblivious to Shen Mo's expression, continued, "I've heard people say that Master Mo Shen's alchemy skills are even more amazing than Zhao Lingyin's! The main attraction of the Elixir Tasting Conference was the Grade II Elixir he refined."

"I wonder who this Mo Shen is. Even a prodigy like Zhao Lingyin holds him in high regard."

"What's even more remarkable is how low-profile he is."

"His fame has spread throughout the Alchemy Zone, yet only a name has surfaced. To this day, nobody knows his true identity!"

Excellent praise, wonderfully put. Please, do lavish me with more!

Shen Mo savored the secret pleasure.

As for being low-profile, he wished he could be high-profile, but alas, he had too many reservations.

A year ago, I knew nothing about alchemy, but now my skill is approaching Grade III, even surpassing Zhao Lingyin, the foremost prodigy in the Alchemy Zone. If people found out, wouldn't it immediately expose the "great fortune" I possess? When that happens, I could be captured by those Spirit Sea Realm experts or even Golden Core Patriarchs, dissected, and meticulously sliced into mincemeat. That would be a tragedy. Unless I have enough strength to protect myself, otherwise, I would rather die than shed this alias!

「At the temporary Market near the Ghost Nation Ruins.」

Shen Mo and Chen Mengze had flown for a full sixteen hours before finally arriving.

They could have arrived earlier.

However, while taking a direct route as the crow flies, they encountered a powerful thunderstorm.

Unless one was a Spirit Sea Realm expert or someone with a Thunder Body like Lu Ming, traversing the thunderstorm cloud layer on a sword was extremely dangerous.

So, Shen Mo and Chen Mengze took a detour.

Wearing the Special Destiny of [Adventure (Mundane)], Shen Mo also found a wild spiritual medicine and two demonic beast corpses along the way.

Based on a preliminary judgment, it seemed that two Class II demonic beasts had been fighting over the spiritual medicine.

The battle was so fierce that they both ended up mortally wounded, and in the end, Shen Mo reaped the benefits.

Since they discovered it together with Chen Mengze, Shen Mo couldn't very well accuse her of freeloading off his Luck and then hogging all the benefits. They split the spoils: the wild spiritual medicine went to Chen Mengze, and both demonic beast corpses went to Shen Mo.

After taking some edible Flesh and Blood and the most valuable materials from the demonic beasts, Shen Mo used the remaining corpses, along with their Demon Cores, to cultivate the Dragon Elephant Blood Fiend Body.

This slightly increased the experience points for this external magic.

At the temporary Market, numerous materials related to Nether Soul Ghosts were on sale, making Shen Mo eager to buy.

The Dragon Elephant Blood Fiend Body could not only absorb the Flesh and Blood essence of demonic beasts but also refine the soul cores left by Nether Soul Ghosts after their demise.

I don't have many Spirit Stones; I have to use them sparingly. Once we enter the Ghost Nation Ruins, there'll be plenty of ghosts to kill! It's not worth spending Spirit Stones on these materials.

Shen Mo didn't squander Spirit Stones. With the powerful Soul Refining Flag he currently possessed, ghosts below the late-stage Qi Gathering Realm were not difficult to kill, so there was no need to waste them.

With luck, by the time I emerge from the Ghost Nation Ruins, my Dragon Elephant Blood Fiend Body should see a significant improvement.

"Senior Sister Chen, there's a Fengshui map of the ruins for sale over there. Let's go take a look."

For any newly discovered ruins, tomb complexes, Dungeons, or other treasure-hunting sites, cultivators who entered early would always draw maps and mark various kinds of information.

Some cultivators who found nothing while exploring could, on the contrary, make a fortune by selling information after they came out.

"How much for this map and information?"

Chen Mengze walked up to a stall, picked up a jade slip, scanned it with her sense, and then asked the vendor for the price.

There were quite a few stalls nearby selling topographical information and news.

However, the cultivation of the vendors varied greatly.

Even middle-stage Body Tempering Realm cultivators dared to openly set up stalls to sell information.

Given their strength, they had probably only lingered around the periphery of the ruins, not daring to venture deeper. The information they brought out was essentially worthless.

"Fifty Lower Grade Spirit Stones, non-negotiable!"

The vendor was an emaciated young man, so thin he looked like a mummy that had just crawled out of a coffin.

However, his cultivation was at the Layer VI Qi Gathering Realm, making him the highest-level cultivator among the nearby vendors.

Relatively speaking, his topographic jade slip would be more valuable than others'.

"If the information you provide isn't worth fifty Spirit Stones, don't blame me for causing you trouble!" Chen Mengze warned him beforehand.

The emaciated man snorted coldly but didn't reply.

After buying the jade slip and breaking the Prohibition on it, Chen Mengze scanned it with her sense and then handed it to Shen Mo.

"Not bad, it's worth the price!"

The jade slip not only detailed the general topography within the Ghost Nation Ruins but also marked seventy to eighty percent of the areas with labels like 'safe,' 'dangerous,' 'perilous,' and 'forbidden land.'

The emaciated man alone probably couldn't have gathered such complete information. He most likely exchanged information with others and pieced it together.

Shen Mo then spent another ten to thirty Spirit Stones on several more pieces of Fengshui information.

After comparing them one by one, he nodded to Chen Mengze, "It's largely correct. However, we still need to be careful once we enter the ruins."