A mortal cultivating immortality can nurture spirit beasts.

Chapter 145 Sky-Piercing Mist Sea

In a general store in Tianxing City, Lin He entered. A female disciple immediately stepped forward and said, "Elder Lin, you've arrived!"

Lin He was taken aback. He didn't remember ever seeing this female disciple before. How could she recognize him as soon as they met?

The female disciple led Lin He to a private room on the second floor. Lin He quickly realized that there was a portrait of him hanging on the second floor, clearly stating that he was a guest elder of the sect.

Seeing this, Lin He suddenly realized what was going on. Zhou Yuan quickly walked over and, after telling the female disciple to leave, led Lin He to a room with an isolation array set up.

Upon entering the room, Zhou Yuan hurriedly apologized, "Protector Lin, I'm so sorry, but our sect has no choice but to rely on your influence in order to protect ourselves."

Lin He wasn't angry, after all, he had promised to be a guest elder of the Miaoyin Sect on the surface. This was probably a way for Vice Sect Master Zhou to reassure people, since having another Core Formation Elder in the sect would make the disciples of the Miaoyin Sect feel more at ease.

Twenty years have passed, and the appearance of this Deputy Sect Leader Zhou has hardly changed. She is still a beautiful woman, which means she must have cultivated some kind of age-preserving technique.

Zhou Yuan was taken aback. She had subconsciously scanned the area with her divine sense and discovered that Lin He was already at the mid-stage of Core Formation. She had actually formed her Core earlier than Lin He, but she hadn't expected him to surpass her. This made her feel somewhat depressed.

However, Zhou Yuan was a Core Formation cultivator after all, and she quickly put away these thoughts. Without Lin He asking any further questions, she took out two storage bags. One of them contained various rare materials for preparing Star Spirit Liquid, but it was missing one ingredient: Star Marrow Ganoderma.

Another storage bag contained various materials for refining early-stage Core Formation puppets. Lin He scanned it and found that there were as many as twenty sets, far exceeding the previous eight sets.

"As expected, using the entire power of the Myriad Sounds Sect to search makes a world of difference in efficiency."

Lin He was very satisfied with this and praised her a few times, but Zhou Yuan shook her head and said, "This is all what our Miaoyin Sect should do. If it weren't for Protector Lin's intervention, my husband and I would have died at the hands of those people from the Six-Linked Hall long ago."

Lin He asked again, "It seems this Star Marrow Fungus is very difficult to find. Isn't there even a single clue?"

"This—" Zhou Yuan hesitated for a moment, but finally said it, "Recently, I don't know who started it, but there are rumors everywhere that a rare treasure has appeared in the Tongtian Mist Sea. If Protector Lin really wants to find it, I suggest you go there and try your luck."

"Oh?" Lin He frowned. He always avoided such unfounded rumors, but since Zhou Yuan said so, he asked with some curiosity, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, is there some other explanation behind this?"

Zhou Yuan countered with a question, "Does Protector Lin know what this Heavenly Mist Sea is?"

Lin He was taken aback when he heard this. He really didn't know. In the original story, it was only mentioned casually that the Hidden Fiend Sect had been hiding in the Tongtian Mist Sea for decades. They finally came out once, but after their whereabouts were exposed, they were tricked by the Extreme Yin.

Seeing Lin He shake his head, Zhou Yuan explained, "The most distinctive feature of this Tongtian Mist Sea is the dense fog that never dissipates. Some Nascent Soul cultivators have tried to break through this fog, but even after using several earth-shattering methods, they could only temporarily dispel the fog. Before long, new fog would form again. As a result, naturally no one wants to do such a thankless task."

Zhou Yuan paused slightly at this point, and seeing that Lin He was listening attentively, she continued, "The most distinctive feature of this dense fog is that it greatly suppresses divine sense, and it's also poisonous. Within this fog, the range of divine sense is limited, and flying in the sky makes one vulnerable to attacks from various flying beasts. However, this is a sea area, not land, dotted with numerous small islands, making it very difficult to explore on foot. Therefore, very few people have ever ventured into the Tongtian Fog Sea to search for treasure."

Lin He understood what the other party meant and nodded, saying, "I see. It is precisely because there are few treasure hunters that some rare spiritual herbs can be found. If I want to find something like Star Marrow Mushroom, I'm afraid I really have to try my luck inside."

Zhou Yuan nodded with a smile, "Not to boast, but when it comes to direct combat, we are indeed not good at it. However, when it comes to gathering intelligence, we have quite a few channels."

Lin He did not refute this point. When a delicate girl lies in a man's arms, as long as she acts coquettishly, it is generally difficult for the man to keep a secret. In this respect, Miaoyin Sect has indeed done it to the extreme.

However, Lin He still asked, "The dense fog in this Tongtian Fog Sea is poisonous. Even if we are Core Formation stage cultivators, it would be difficult for us to stay inside for long."

"I've already inquired about this," Zhou Yuan said with a smile. "Since more people have gone to the Tongtian Mist Sea to search for treasures, a business has emerged. I don't know which Nascent Soul stage senior came up with this, but they made a lot of Poison-Repelling Beads. These beads are not magic treasures, but magic tools. Moreover, they can only be used temporarily for a period of time, and their spiritual energy will be lost. But they are just right for people who go there to search for treasures."

Lin He nodded and said, "Alright, in that case, I'll trouble Fellow Daoist Zhou to purchase a Poison-Repelling Bead for me."

Seeing that Lin He was about to give her spirit stones, Zhou Yuan shook her head and said, "Protector Lin has helped us so much, it is only natural for him to help us purchase a bead, but I cannot accept these spirit stones."

Lin He did not take back the spirit stones. Instead, he frowned and asked, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, please speak frankly."

"It really can't be hidden from Protector Lin. Actually—I have long wanted to go to the Tongtian Mist Sea to search for treasures, but I have never been able to do so. Protector Lin is very powerful. If we have Protector Lin's help, I believe that the harvest of this treasure search will definitely be great."

"So that's what it is," Lin He said casually. "Since the Miaoyin Sect is an outer sect of our Tianyi Pavilion, and Fellow Daoist Zhou has helped our sect a lot, I naturally won't refuse this request. However, once inside, Fellow Daoist Zhou must follow my orders, otherwise—"

"In the cultivation world, strength is paramount. Protector Lin's strength far surpasses mine, so it's only natural that he would obey your commands."

After settling the matter, Lin He took out another batch of level-five demon beast materials to pay the balance. Zhou Yuan was naturally happy. The two chatted for a while about recent events. Some small sects were wiped out, while others, like the Six-Linked Palace, were suddenly led by strangers. Lin He felt a sense of unease as he listened to these stories.

"It seems that the Reverse Star Alliance is mostly pulling the strings behind the scenes, gradually eroding the power of the Star Palace."

As for these matters, Lin He, being only at the Core Formation stage, was naturally not qualified to interfere. He simply let things take their course and focused on cultivating according to his own plan.

"The original goal of this trip was to find Mei Ning, but I didn't expect to run into the Tongtian Mist Sea first."

The original story didn't mention the location of the fight with Wen Tianren, so Lin He couldn't find it. However, it did mention a Foundation Establishment elder from the Taiyang Sect named Zhao Qiao. This fellow Daoist Zhao knew Mei Ning and her brother, and Lin He planned to use this as a breakthrough.

He subconsciously asked about the Taiyang Sect, but Zhou Yuan didn't know much. However, she had already agreed to send someone to gather intelligence, and perhaps by the time Lin He returned from the Tongtian Mist Sea, they would have already gathered enough information.

With this in mind, Lin He bid farewell to Zhou Yuan and went to the rented cave dwelling.