In the southern part of the Eastern Continent, there is a canyon known as the Valley of Death.
The canyon is littered with bones, and sunlight never reaches it. It is perpetually shrouded in a chilling, gloomy aura, yet it serves as an excellent environment for various ghosts to cultivate and survive.
On this day, Xiao Lan walked into the Valley of Death alone. Soon, several small ghosts emerged from the ground, baring their fangs and claws as they appeared before her, looking exceptionally ferocious.
"Who dares trespass into the Valley of Death?"
However, Xiao Lan paid no heed to these two minor ghosts, who were only at the Foundation Establishment realm. Her mouth suddenly opened, like a colossal black hole, and she inhaled the two ghosts.
"Ah! Spare..."
Before the two ghosts could plead for mercy, they were already swallowed by Xiao Lan.
After consuming the two ghosts, Xiao Lan let out a satisfied burp, licked her lips with her scarlet tongue, and felt immensely pleased.
As a ghost cultivator, advancing her cultivation was far easier than for humans. She only needed to continuously devour other spirits to gather the energy required for advancement, and she would naturally progress.
However, the dangers faced by ghost cultivators during advancement were unimaginable.
More than eighty percent of ghost cultivators would be annihilated by the tribulation lightning during their advancement.
Having devoured two Foundation Establishment ghost cultivators, Xiao Lan was not content. She continued deeper into the canyon, swallowing every malevolent spirit she encountered along the way.
As she continued to devour other malevolent spirits, the malevolent aura emanating from Xiao Lan's body grew increasingly potent.
Simultaneously, her aura became more and more violent, as if she were on the verge of losing control at any moment.
Dark clouds had already begun to gather in the sky, with tribulation lightning flickering within them.
Xiao Lan paid no mind and continued to walk forward. The malevolent spirits in the canyon now knew she was a mad ghost, and none dared to provoke such a reckless individual.
Even the few powerful beings within the canyon were now hiding far away, fearing they might be affected by the tribulation lightning.
"Boom, boom, boom..."
Finally, the first bolt of tribulation lightning formed in the sky and descended, striking Xiao Lan directly.
The malevolent aura leaking from Xiao Lan's body surged upwards wildly, colliding fiercely with the tribulation lightning in the void.
The collision produced a deafening roar, and both forces finally dissipated into nothingness.
Having successfully weathered the first tribulation lightning, Xiao Lan knew that from Golden Core to Nascent Soul, ghost cultivators had to endure nine bolts of tribulation lightning, each stronger than the last.
The second bolt of tribulation lightning was already forming in the sky, descending towards the ground...
Within Xiao Fei's spatial artifact, the five million spirit stones that Fei Xin had delivered last time were all thrown into the space. After being absorbed by the space, the rate of time flow reached thirty-nine times.
Seeing this number made Xiao Fei's obsessive-compulsive tendencies flare up. He scrounged around and gathered another million spirit stones, investing them into the space.
With this, the spiritual energy concentration of the space increased, and the rate of time flow finally reached a clean forty times.
With a faster time flow, he could cultivate more high-grade spiritual herbs more quickly.
The Wood Spirit Fruit tree, which he had transplanted into the space, bore fruits that had grown larger.
However, after the last flowering, a total of five fruits had been produced. One of them was not very healthy and had fallen off a while ago. Now, only four Wood Spirit Fruits remained.
As for the strange vine in the very center, after many years of growth, it had sprouted over a hundred leaves.
Calculating that it grew one leaf every ten years, it should now be over a thousand years old.
Yet, this item had still not revealed any special characteristics, nor had it bloomed or borne fruit.
It was unknown how many more years it would take before any clues could be discerned.
Xiao Fei familiarized himself with plucking tender leaves from the Spirit Nourishing Tea tree, which he could later process into spiritual tea for consumption.
He often used his spiritual sense to nurture the Spirit Calming Talisman, and the Spirit Nourishing Tea was of great help in restoring his spiritual sense.
After feeding Fei Yu some food, he then carried the spiritual tea out of the space.
The process of making spiritual tea was quite complex, requiring careful refinement step by step to achieve the best results.
Just as Xiao Fei finished processing the spiritual tea, he saw a sound transmission talisman resting at his doorstep. He picked it up and listened.
It turned out that a Golden Core elder from the Scarlet Sun Hall had sent over several cultivators who were possessed by demonic seeds, requesting Xiao Fei's assistance in healing them.
Xiao Fei opened the entrance to his cave dwelling. Standing respectfully outside were several cultivators. Besides the elder from the Scarlet Sun Hall, the rest were hosts possessed by demonic seeds.
"I am Lü Wei from the Scarlet Sun Hall, greetings, Divine Doctor Xiao."
Lü Wei, as a Golden Core elder of the Scarlet Sun Sect, appeared very respectful before Xiao Fei, a cultivator of the same realm.
"Come in!"
As Xiao Fei beckoned, the five cultivators entered the cave dwelling in single file.
Since returning to Lümen and settling down, the sect had been sending cultivators possessed by demonic seeds to Xiao Fei for treatment.
Xiao Fei accepted all these patients without hesitation. Healing one more person now could preserve a portion of their own strength and weaken the demon race's power by a fraction.
Xiao Fei walked up to a cultivator and released his Thunder Spirit.
The Thunder Spirit zipped into the cultivator's body. The cultivator immediately collapsed, convulsing. After a long while, the Thunder Spirit emerged from his body.
Lü Wei casually took out a jade plate and had the cultivator place his hand on it. After a long time, no red dots appeared.
Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.
Xiao Fei ignored them and continued to treat the next cultivator.
This was a cultivator who looked pale. Just as Xiao Fei summoned his Thunder Spirit to enter his body, the cultivator suddenly attacked him. A large hand rose from behind and lunged towards Xiao Fei.
Xiao Fei was quick to react, hastily retreating and then rolling on the ground, barely dodging the attack.
"Who are you? How dare you attack Divine Doctor Xiao!"
Lü Wei roared and lunged towards the pale cultivator.
However, the pale-faced man extended sharp fingernails, plunged them into Lü Wei's chest, and with a tug, a beating heart appeared in his palm.
"You are a demon!"