Ding Huan decided to head towards Hidden Sword Mountain along the West Wind River.
Hidden Sword Mountain wasn’t very far from West Wind City. It took Ding Huan only over half an hour of walking before his Divine Will detected Hidden Sword Mountain.
More accurately, his Divine Will had encountered a continuous fog, with a few vaguely visible mountains intermittently appearing and disappearing within the fog.
Consequently, Ding Huan felt a vague sting in his Sea of Consciousness and hurriedly withdrew his Divine Will.
Impressive, Ding Huan thought, shocked as he looked at Hidden Sword Mountain beneath the fog.
No wonder there were no Foundation Establishment cultivators here. The poison fog could even corrode Divine Will; any Foundation Establishment cultivator would be foolish to stay in West Wind City.
Without pausing for long, Ding Huan once again moved towards Hidden Sword Mountain.
It was the most convenient entrance for him, so he decided to test if the poison fog could be resisted. If not, he would consider other options.
Ding Huan moved slowly and only reached the foot of Hidden Sword Mountain after half a day.
At this moment, he was surrounded by the poison fog.
The poison fog at the foot of Hidden Sword Mountain was relatively weak, but ordinary people couldn’t possibly reach this place.
Ding Huan stopped and felt his body’s resistance to the poison fog.
It was then that he was grateful for his foresight; during the fusion with the Detoxification Gene, he had turned this detoxification ability into his own genetic ability.
When he had first arrived here, even though he had not extended his Divine Will, his body still felt a stinging sensation.
As he continued to adapt, this stinging sensation gradually disappeared.
He began to slowly extend his Divine Will, feeling some stings in his Sea of Consciousness.
Ding Huan could only resort to the method of tempering his Divine Will in the Cosmic Void to continue tempering his Divine Will in the poison fog, which was a painful and lengthy process.
This made Ding Huan decide that he must develop a Divine Will Tempering Technique no matter what.
Otherwise, like this, he was merely enduring and suffering unnecessarily; not only was the tempering efficiency low, but the effect was also not very good.
Outside West Wind City, a woman in blue garments appeared slightly distracted as she looked at the orderly West Wind City.
She was Liu Yinzhu, who had been searching for Ding Huan for several months and was merely passing through West Wind City this time.
What puzzled her was, was this really West Wind City?
She had visited this city more than a decade ago, and could only describe it with one word, chaotic.
Before entering the city, her Divine Will could clearly see the situation inside.
All the streets were orderly, and all interactions between merchants and customers were polite; there were no issues of coercion in transactions.
To say nothing of cities in the Taoist Realm, even in Daye City, she hadn’t seen such harmony.
Liu Yinzhu decided to enter the city to take a look. As she approached the city gate, a guard stopped her:
"Is this your first time visiting West Wind City?"
"Yes, it is," Liu Yinzhu replied.
The guard pointed to a building not far from the city gate and said,
"Please go there to register. All first-time visitors to West Wind City need to register. Don’t worry, registration is free."
Pretending to be surprised, Liu Yinzhu asked,
"I remember the last time I was here, it was quite chaotic. How come it’s so orderly now?"
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The guard proudly explained,
"That’s all thanks to our City Patrol Captain. Since our captain came to West Wind City, it has never been so wonderful.
Rest assured, as long as you are inside West Wind City, you are very safe. If you have any problems, just find us, the City Patrol Guards. Remember, committing any crimes in West Wind City is not allowed."
Captain? Hearing this, Liu Yinzhu felt somewhat disappointed; she believed Ding Huan would not be someone to serve as a mere captain.
"Who is this City Patrol Captain?" Liu Yinzhu casually asked.
"Of course, it’s Captain Ding," the guard said dismissively.
In his subconscious, whether Liu Yinzhu was visiting for the first time or not, not knowing Captain Ding signified a lack of knowledge.
"Is it Ding Huan?" Liu Yinzhu suppressed her excitement and asked.
The guard huffed, "Do I need to even answer that? Everyone knows the name of our City Patrol Captain."
She found him, finally, she had found him.
Liu Yinzhu took a deep breath, thanked the guard, and quickly went to handle her entry identity plate.
Unlike the people from Dual Soul Sect who were looking for Ding Huan in major Daoist cities,
Liu Yinzhu believed that Ding Huan would definitely not go to major Daoist cities, so she mostly searched in remote areas.
Finding Ding Huan’s whereabouts today confirmed her guess; until Ding Huan reached Foundation Establishment, he would not go to major Daoist cities.
Liu Yinzhu was certain that Ding Huan was residing here and had transformed this place into such a peaceful habitat, likely to create a suitable environment for Foundation Establishment.
However, no matter how good the environment, it could not compare to Purple Mist Valley.
She invited Ding Huan to Purple Mist Valley, believing there was a high probability he would accept.
Two hours later, Liu Yinzhu stood outside a small courtyard in Crystal District, where Ding Huan resided.
Her Divine Will swept over the courtyard, and she was immediately astonished.
Inside the courtyard, there was a First Level Killing Array and a First Level Defensive Array; if Ding Huan had set these up, then he was terrifying indeed.
Normally, only cultivators in the middle or later stages of Foundation Establishment could touch upon Array Dao and set up simple First Level Defensive Arrays.
Without Divine Will, it was utterly impossible to set up any Array.
Even she could only roughly set up crude Second Level Arrays at this point.
Her master said she had a strong talent for Array Dao, and this was as far as she had come.
Ding Huan hadn’t achieved Foundation Establishment, so how could he possibly set up a First Level Defensive Array and a Killing Array?
There was only one possibility: these Arrays had already been there when Ding Huan moved in.
Liu Yinzhu calmed herself and knocked on the rough prohibition outside.
It was this rough prohibition, but Ding Huan could arrange it, making him one of the outstanding Qi cultivators.
While Yan Mei was cultivating, he felt someone knocking at the courtyard door, and he hurriedly ran to open it.
"Elder Liu?" Yan Mei could hardly believe his eyes when he saw Liu Yinzhu standing at the door.
After all, Liu Yinzhu was an elder of the Purple Mist Valley, so how could she possibly come to this godforsaken place to find them?
"Long time no see, Yan Mei," Liu Yinzhu said with a smile.
"Ah..." Yan Mei came to his senses, hurriedly bowed in salute, "I’ve seen Elder Liu."
"Won’t you invite me in to sit?" Liu Yinzhu joked.
Yan Mei quickly stepped aside, "Please come in, Elder Liu, please come in..."
As Liu Yinzhu walked into the courtyard, she casually asked, "Is Mr. Ding not home?"
Yan Mei replied, "Brother Huan just left a few days ago, Elder Liu, you’ve come a bit late."
Liu Yinzhu stiffened, quickly asking,
"Are you saying Mr. Ding has left West Wind City?"
Yan Mei hurriedly said,
"No, no, Brother Huan had some urgent matters to attend to temporarily, but he will be back."
"How long will he be back?" Liu Yinzhu was somewhat anxious.
Yan Mei was stunned; he didn’t know why Liu Yinzhu was so eager to find Brother Huan.
Feeling Yan Mei’s confusion, Liu Yinzhu could only explain,
"It’s like this, our sect master heard that Mr. Ding’s cooking is very good, and he would like to invite him to Purple Mist Valley."
Yan Mei shook his head,
"Elder Liu, although I very much aspire to be in Purple Mist Valley, I don’t think Brother Huan is likely to go there to be a chef."
Although Ding Huan’s aspirations were not disclosed to Yan Mei, from Ding Huan’s lack of interest in controlling West Wind City, Yan Mei understood that Ding Huan definitely did not intend to just be a chef.
He was influenced by Ding Huan and also set aside matters of West Wind City to seclude himself for harsh cultivation.
To say nothing of going to Purple Mist Valley as a chef, even if it were for the number one sect of Triple Heaven Star Land, Brother Huan would not be interested.
Liu Yinzhu could only say,
"Then, can I wait here for Mr. Ding to return so I can talk to him face-to-face?"
"Of course, you can, but I don’t know which day Brother Huan will come back."
"It doesn’t matter, I am not busy, just provide me with a vacant room. By the way, who lives in this room?"
Liu Yinzhu pointed at Ding Huan’s room while speaking.
"That’s Brother Huan’s," Yan Mei didn’t mind.
Liu Yinzhu concluded that the room’s array might very likely be later arranged by Ding Huan himself.
Having confirmed this point, Liu Yinzhu was even more eager to meet Ding Huan.
West Wind City was too small; Purple Mist Valley was the place for Ding Huan to truly flourish.
...
A few days of cautious advancement, and now Ding Huan had reached the depths of Hidden Sword Mountain.
His body was covered with a thin layer of poisonous clothes, enveloping his entire being within a poison shell.
Due to long-term refining of Divine Will in the poison fog, his Divine Will now had poison resistance and could extend several miles.
Logically, this should be a matter of joy as it meant Ding Huan had a stronger resistance to poison.
But Ding Huan was not even slightly happy; instead, he was thinking about withdrawing immediately if he couldn’t find the opening to the Cosmic Vortex within a few days.
Detoxification Gene was his attribute ability, which was decent, and during his brief time in Hidden Sword Mountain, Ding Huan had deeply understood the shortcomings of his Detoxification Ability.
In such a toxic environment, no matter how he detoxified, his body was enveloped in deadly poison.
If this continued for too long, he would also perish here.
Ding Huan had a vague solution in mind, which had to be during his creation of his own Foundation Establishment Technique.
That was, when creating the technique, to add a Cycle to his Detoxification Ability.
Thus, in such a toxic environment, he could also use his cultivation technique to convert all poisons into a tangible form and expel it.
Now he couldn’t expel it, and he had to bear it himself.
In Ding Huan’s understanding, the broader universe, which he considered, its energy might not be conserved.
However, at the current stage of the universe where he resided, energy was temporarily conserved.
From a certain point of view, poison was also a form of energy.
Since energy in the current stage of the universe was conserved, then he could use the technique he created to convert the poison into two parts.
One part as Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, the other as substantial poison.
After forcing out the poison, the Primordial Qi could completely transform into his own strength.
This was his direction of effort.
Another day passed, and when Ding Huan was almost in despair, a fierce Sword Qi shot from the side.
Ding Huan knew that this Sword Qi was coming, but he couldn’t avoid it.
"Puff!" The Sword Qi pierced through Ding Huan’s body, bringing up a spray of blood mist.
Ding Huan was not startled but pleased, and without thinking, he rushed forward.
Since entering Hidden Sword Mountain, he had been calculating the location of the Cosmic Vortex.
Yet he simply couldn’t pinpoint it and, after calculating dozens of times, he finally gained a little insight.
That was, when he was injured, to follow the direction of the crisis, it was very likely the place he was looking for.
All these days, Ding Huan had been cautious; besides the poison fog, nothing could kill him.
Today, he was finally injured by a Sword Qi, indicating that the direction from which the Sword Qi came was likely the place he was searching for.
Having spent too much time in the poison fog, Ding Huan seized the only opportunity and no longer cared about anything else, directly deploying the Extreme Shadow Jutsu.