Cultivation: Beginning with the Heart Reflecting Heaven and Earth

The saying goes, "Practice makes perfect."

At first, Lu Qian was a little apprehensive about going out on the mission, but by the second time, he was much more relaxed. Upon seeing Mu Dong, he asked, "Are we going to the Burial Mountain Range again this time?"

The Burial Mountain Range is very close to the Black Abyss Forest. The corpses inside are mostly devoid of intelligence, so as long as you are careful, there shouldn't be much danger.

The downside is that each search for the Iron Corpse takes a lot of time, and you also have to clear out the Earth Corpses and Rotting Corpses along the way, making it a task with a lot of work but little reward.

Mu Dong, dressed in gray, wasn't particularly conspicuous in the wilderness. Upon seeing Lu Qian, he smiled and said, "I've looked at other places recently, and they're almost all dangerous. We need to make some preparations beforehand."

"I don't plan to go anywhere else for at least six months."

Mu Xue peeked out from the side, then stepped out from behind, arms crossed, her black hair flowing down her back. She looked much more capable than before. She said calmly, "I've heard that the scenery in Devouring Spirit Valley is beautiful, like a fairyland, and there are many spiritual herbs there! It's not far from Black Abyss Forest, why don't we go and take a look?"

If given a choice, Mu Xue would absolutely not want to go to the Burial Mountain Range, which reeks of corpses. Moreover, the Burial Mountain Range is extremely cold and gloomy, and staying there would be nothing short of torture.

After all, the Burial Mountain Range is not a suitable place for the living; it is more suitable for refining corpses.

Mu Dong frowned, his face cold, and said, "We're going there to complete a mission and accumulate merits, not to sightsee! Besides, while the Soul Devouring Valley looks beautiful, it's actually teeming with countless poisonous insects that will swarm any living creature they encounter. How long can you hold out?"

Those who are not specialists in Gu techniques, or who have made prior preparations, would likely find it difficult to cope with the overwhelming swarms of poisonous insects.

Mu Xue turned her head away guiltily, then leaned close to Lu Qian and whispered, "We both cultivate water and fire magic. If we see poisonous insects, we can kill a whole bunch with one spell. What's there to worry about?"

Lu Qian showed no intention of responding, pretending not to hear.

No matter how powerful their water and fire magic is, how many times can they unleash it?

The poisonous insects in the Soul Devouring Valley are endless; hoping to stop them with a few spells is wishful thinking.

Mu Dong continued, "If you absolutely have to deal with poisonous insects, you might as well go to the Poison Lake and collect more poisonous water; that can also be counted as battle merits!"

Mu Xue shook her head vigorously, immediately retorting, "No way! It stinks even worse than the Burial Grounds. If the poisonous water touches your skin, it will turn red and fester. Who would want to go to a place like that?"

Even Lu Qian laughed this time.

Most places where one can gain military merit have one problem or another; none of them are places where one can relax and enjoy oneself.

If it were that easy, it wouldn't be their turn.

Mu Dong tapped Mu Xue on the head and laughed, "If we go by your standards, the only place that meets your requirements is Thorn Cold Ridge. It's scenic and not too smelly."

Mu Xue asked curiously, "Then why don't you go?"

Lu Qian interjected at this point, "It's too far. It's practically the farthest place from us. We'd encounter countless dangers going there and back. It's better to go to the Burial Mountain Range!"

"Let's not aim too high for now, let's head to the Burial Grounds first!"

Mu Dong interrupted their conversation.

The three headed to the Chaotic Burial Mountains again, following the familiar route. This time, they didn't linger on the outskirts but went straight to a deeper area. After finding the Iron Corpse, they used the same old method: first, they used the Turbid Wave Bone-Corroding Curse to restrict its movement, and then they used the Crimson Flame Melting Technique to shatter it directly.

The problem remains finding Iron Corpses; there are fewer Iron Corpses near the outer perimeter, which limits the group's monster-killing efficiency.

After killing another Iron Corpse, Mu Xue wiped the sweat from her brow and let out a long sigh. "If you ask me, let's go a little further in! Staying on the outer perimeter is too inefficient for gaining battle merits!"

It often takes half a day to find an Iron Corpse, but killing an Iron Corpse takes no more than fifteen minutes.

It's fair to say that they wasted too much time searching, and didn't have much time actually spent killing the Iron Corpse.

Mu Dong pondered for a moment before speaking, "Don't forget, after killing the Iron Corpse, we need to rest and recuperate for a while to stay in peak condition!"

"If we go further in, there might be more iron corpses, but there will also be more danger. We might not have enough time to recover our true energy before encountering new dangers."

Seeing that she couldn't persuade Mu Dong, Mu Xue looked up at Lu Qian and asked, "Brother Lu, what do you think we should do? Anyway, you can find the Iron Corpse. As long as we investigate beforehand, there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

Lu Qian couldn't guarantee anything, so he could only smile and say, "Even if I can see that there is no danger nearby, the corpses can still walk. If they see any movement on our side, they might run this way."

The real danger lies in continuing deeper in, where they might encounter bronze corpses, which are even stronger than iron corpses. Bronze corpses possess combat power comparable to Foundation Establishment cultivators, and once they encounter them, the group will certainly be no match for them.

After hesitating for a moment, Mu Dong finally agreed, "Let's go a little deeper first. When we can't handle it anymore, we'll leave and retreat. In short, we still need to be careful!"

He wasn't persuaded by Mu Xue, but rather because this method of gaining battle merits was too inefficient.

He only comes out once every two weeks, and his battle merits have long been used to exchange for various resources, which are almost exhausted. It would be a long time before he could exchange them for Spirit Stones, or even impossible.

Continuing further in might be a bit more dangerous, but as long as you're careful enough, the danger isn't that great.

Moreover, since he had chosen to come to the Western Continent, he was aware that it was impossible to completely avoid danger.

After walking a few hundred meters further into the Burial Mountain Range, the grayish-white fog visibly thickened, and visibility decreased to less than a hundred meters.

The pervasive chill became even more pronounced, and the stench of death intensified.

"Stop here for a moment, don't go any further!"

Mu Dong indeed stopped the others.

Afterwards, Lu Qian began searching for the Iron Corpse. Because the fog was too thick, it also blocked his vision to some extent. Sometimes he had to take a few steps closer to see if there was an Iron Corpse underground.

Suddenly, a faint, almost imperceptible ringing sound came and then quickly disappeared. He immediately raised his head alertly.

Mu Dong noticed Lu Qian's unusual behavior and quickly asked, "What's wrong?"

This is the Chaotic Burial Mountain Range, full of reanimated corpses, and danger lurks everywhere. You can't afford to be careless.

Lu Qian made no attempt to hide anything and immediately said, "I think I heard a bell, but it disappeared very quickly."

"A bell? Could it be the corpse-controlling bell?"

Mu Dong frowned. "If they're from the Holy Land, that's fine, but if they're evil cultivators..."

People in the Holy Land also have the lineage of corpse refining, especially those from the True Spirit Palace. They have some knowledge of anything related to body refining. Corpse refining is, to some extent, also a form of body refining, except that it involves refining the bodies of the dead. It is not surprising that people from the True Spirit Palace possess the Corpse Control Bell.

However, although the Corpse Control Bell can be used to control the refining corpse, it is not something that just anyone can use. Otherwise, not only will it fail to control the refining corpse, but it will also anger the refining corpse and cause it to suffer a backlash.

Lu Qian nodded in agreement. "If it's a heretical cultivator entrenched deep within the Chaotic Burial Mountains, they'll definitely be very familiar with the terrain here. It is indeed a bit troublesome!"

The heretical cultivators have been here for who knows how long, and they are certainly more familiar with the situation than those who have just arrived. It would not be a wise move to confront them rashly.

Without further hesitation, Mu Dong immediately said, "Let's leave here first! We'll talk somewhere else!"

The Burial Mountain Range is vast, and the fog here is very thick. Sometimes, even when a fierce battle is raging, people several miles away cannot detect anything.

If there are indeed evil cultivators nearby, leaving the Chaotic Burial Mountains rashly without the cover of the fog would only make you more vulnerable to being discovered, which is not a good choice.

Mu Dong made his decision, and this time even Mu Xue didn't say anything more. She was deep in thought as she moved around the perimeter, and didn't continue to venture deeper into the Chaotic Burial Mountains.

The group circled the outer perimeter for more than ten miles before stopping, feeling that they were almost safe.

Even if there are evil cultivators nearby, as long as they haven't been following us, they should have already been shaken off, so this place is pretty safe.

Mu Xue then spoke up, asking, "Is it time to take action?"

Mu Dong nodded. "Let's begin! But you must keep your true energy abundant and not waste it, lest you be unable to cope if danger arises!"

Lu Qian quickly learned that there was an iron corpse. It was the same old procedure; the iron corpse soon collapsed.

The iron corpses on the outskirts of the Chaotic Burial Mountains are all of similar strength, none of them are particularly strong, and since they are not controlled by anyone, they naturally lack intelligence and are easy to kill.

Of course, this is with Mu Dong present. If it were only Mu Xue and Lu Qian, it would probably take a lot of effort to kill an Iron Corpse.

"I need to learn the Crimson Flame Melting Technique when I get back!"

Lu Qian and Mu Dong will eventually be separated, so they should make plans in advance. Now that they have learned how to deal with corpse refiners, they should use the correct methods.

While Mu Dong and Mu Xue were meditating and regulating their breathing, Lu Qian always had a feeling of being spied on. He looked around and all he could see were swaying earth-born corpses, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Maybe I'm just overthinking it?

Lu Qian shifted his gaze, a glint of light in his eyes. He had begun to actively use his eye-aperture ability, scanning over the refined corpses without finding anything amiss.

However, right in front of Mu Dong, near the edge of his line of sight, was a zombie with a thin gray line that seemed to extend into the distance from its chest. But Mu Dong remained unmoved, pretending not to have noticed anything.

When Mu Xue woke up, Lu Qian gave her a look, then suddenly rushed out, took out his thunder whip, and broke the lower half of the strange mutated corpse in one fell swoop.

Both Mu Xue and Mu Dong were startled by Lu Qian's sudden action, but they also became alert.

Because they all knew very well that Lu Qian was not the type to be easily startled; he must have discovered a problem for him to do this.

The corpse, now only its upper body remained, writhed a few times on the ground. Just as Mu Xue was about to unleash a spell, its chest cavity suddenly ruptured, and a cloud of black energy flew out and disappeared instantly.

When Lu Qian turned around, he saw Mu Dong's face turn extremely ugly, and he said in a deep voice, "He's not an evil cultivator!"

If he's not a heretical cultivator, then he must be from a sacred place?

Before Lu Qian could even ask, Mu Dong called out to the surroundings, "Shen Chi, come out! I'm pretty sure it's you!"

Mu Xue was slightly puzzled, and Lu Qian was equally puzzled, but neither of them said anything.

Mu Dong rarely criticizes others, so there must be a reason why he said that.

It's likely that Mu Dong discovered something that confirmed it was Shen Chi.

Lu Qian's impression of Shen Chi was that he looked more like a dead person than a living one; the rest was that he was a spirit-devouring ghost, ostracized by the Holy Land, and he had no other impressions.

After all, Lu Qian had never spoken to Shen Chi.