He was inside a sealed stone cavern, enclosed on all sides. The space wasn’t more than a few dozen feet across, the air so still and suffocating it felt like even a breath had to fight to exist.

Right in the center of the uneven stone floor, within a circle just a foot wide, countless tiny holes clustered like a honeycomb. From these holes, a fine mist drifted out in a steady, silent stream.

Beneath that haze, faint glimmers of bluish-green light flickered, surging up and down like something breathing. At its strongest, the glow barely rose half an inch above the ground. Countless of these beams gathered together, interconnected and fused, rising and falling intermittently. At a glance, it even looked like a mass of bluish-white flames, burning fiercely.

Li Xun stared, entranced. This was pure, naturally formed Yinfire, the most extreme convergence of yin qi, born from the transformation between water and fire!

There was no doubt in his mind now. Beneath those tiny vents must be a yin spring source, where the yin qi had gathered so densely that it had condensed into liquid.

Only through the mutual interaction of water and fire could such a strange phenomenon manifest.

A mere Hundred-Yin Convergence Site? This place could be a Thousand-Yin, even a Ten Thousand-Yin site, and he’d believe it!

How many millions of years had it taken for such an abundance of yin to gather and remain undisturbed, slowly forming such a treasure of a place?

Just look at this stone cavern. It had been carved out naturally, corroded over time by the rising yin steam. If things continued at this pace, in another few hundred or thousand more years, when the cave finally erodes through and outside primordial qi rushes in, when yang qi collides head-on with this unimaginably dense yin qi, the result might be a cataclysm. A world-shaking explosion wouldn’t be far-fetched at all.

“Extinguishing the sharp edge of this Yinfire… might just count as a good deed," he muttered with a wry smile.

You could see the self-mockery in that smile. A force of this magnitude wasn’t something he could afford to take lightly.

After studying the surroundings in detail, he began inscribing talismanic patterns onto the cavern walls.

His preliminary plan was to channel the pure yin qi as a power source, using the Heaven's Nether Yin Pearl as the core converter. Nether One

and Nether Two, his two Nethermyst Puppets, would serve as buffers. Only then would he channel this further-purified primordial qi into his body, forming a controlled, outward-to-inward flow.

But that wasn’t all. He would then refine this newborn primordial qi and feed it back into the two puppets. Through this refined primordial qi, he could achieve a broader resonance with the surrounding qi mechanisms. Finally, he would seal this qi into the Heaven's Nether Yin Pearl, to mend the damage it had sustained.

With the near-limitless supply of yin qi in this place, Li Xun had access to a massive source of power. With it, he could further strengthen the qi mechanism resonance with the two Nethermyst Puppets, all without having to recklessly absorb external qi and risk tainting the purity of his own true breath.

And as the Heaven's Nether Yin Pearl served as both the pivot and endpoint of the cycle, it too would be nourished and restored. In this way, Li Xun, the Nethermyst Puppets, and Heaven's Nether Yin Pearl would form a mutually beneficial, self-sustaining circuit.

Simple to describe. Not so simple to execute.

Li Xun had been refining this idea for nearly three months. But once he began putting it into action, he ran into complication after complication.

The sheer pressure of the yin here was beyond even his cautious estimates. The qi mechanism conversion design had flaws. The circulation of true breath within his body needed adjustment. On top of that, he had to revise and organize the talismanic patterns he had inscribed, along with countless other complex calculations and deductions...

There was no doubt that this was a massive undertaking.

And yet, despite the inevitable fatigue, he felt brimming with vitality and joy. Every obstacle he overcame brought a jolt of elation, pouring through his body like lightning. Each breakthrough filled him with excitement that drowned out his exhaustion.

There was no looming life-or-death threat, no consuming hatred or revenge driving him now. Eventually, even the question of why he was doing this faded into the background.

He was simply in it, pouring his heart and soul into every talisman pattern inscribed here. Each one pulsed with abundant primordial qi, and seamlessly intertwined to the qi mechanisms around him. By the end, even his breathing stirred resonance through the entire cave.

This place… had become his domain.

The initial setup took twenty full days.

At last, when Nether One and Nether Two

sat cross-legged across from each other, separated by the searing yin fire, and the Heaven's Nether Yin Pearl hovered above them with a low, humming vibration, Li Xun smiled faintly and put the final stroke on the talisman patterns filling the cave.

A deep, rumbling sound echoed from beneath the honeycomb vents. The dense, ancient yin qi, dormant for untold millennia, began to stir.

....

This was a silent, dusky valley where sunlight may not be seen more than a few times throughout the year.

For those who lived here, the most familiar sight was the pale gray fog that drifted through the valley, veiling its true shape. Even among long-time residents, half still had no idea just how vast the valley truly was.

You couldn’t really blame them. It wasn’t just the fog. Within it flowed obscure, ever-shifting qi mechanisms. One wrong step, and those qi mechanisms could twist into a deadly noose around your neck.

Bi Ruhui had always been wary of that fog; but right now, his attention was clearly... elsewhere.

He was walking behind Senior Sister Ying Cai’er, eyes glued to the seductive sway of her waist and hips, wondering whether his current strategy might be enough to conquer this favored disciple of Madam Yan.

If he could, maybe he’d win Madam Yan’s favor too, and with it, a fast track into the inner circle of core disciples.

And even if there was no real hope… well, just tasting that body would be a reward in itself.

Lost in thought, Bi Ruhui suddenly noticed that Ying Cai’er had suddenly stopped. He was surprised for a moment, but then a spark of joy lit up in his heart. Pretending not to notice, he let out an exaggerated “Ah!” and bumped right into her–

Boom!

Yin fire surged all around Ying Cai'er, suddenly erupting into threads of yin qi that twisted and shifted through the air. In an instant, the strands solidified into a tough qi wall. As luck would have it, Bi Ruhui slammed right into it. The yin fire recoiled on impact, sweeping him aside.

He was thrown head over heels, completely disoriented. Once again...he was caught off guard by the yin fire. Though not seriously hurt, the pain was enough to make him let out a miserable scream.

Furious, he was about to start cursing when he suddenly heard a soul-shaking, fear-instilling whisper from Ying Cai'er:

"Who’s there?"

She had used the Soul-Shattering Demon Sound!

To his credit, Bi Ruhui reacted quickly. He scrambled to his feet, gathering his qi in preparation, his eyes scanning alertly in all directions.

Sure enough, just ten paces away, behind a faint fog, a vague silhouette was approaching. Within moments, Bi Ruhui could make out the person’s face.

A man. He was wearing Daoist robes, young, handsome... and a complete stranger.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Bi Ruhui let out a sharp whistle that perfectly synchronized with Ying Caier’s own. In an instant, they triggered the nearest restrictive formation.

“Who’s the fool with a death wish that dares trespass into the secret domain of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect?”

Across from them, the man’s expression flickered with surprise. “This… is the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect?"

Bi Ruhui sneered. “Don’t play dumb! Pretending won’t save your life!”

Just as he had said that, a stream of gray mist slithered past him. His eyes lit up. His lips curled into a grin as the mist suddenly hissed and stirred, as if it had come alive. With a flick of its "tail," it lunged straight at the stranger’s face.

The man reacted instantly. Though clearly surprised, he raised a hand and flicked a finger—snap!—scattering the mist in a single blow.

Bi Ruhui’s smile spread even wider.

Reckless fool, he thought. The young man's strike, though powerful, had disrupted the seventeen hidden but stable qi mechanisms around him. With that, triggering the surrounding formation was now inevitable.

Ying Cai'er turned her head slightly to glance at him, a hint of approval flashing in her bright eyes.

He felt a surge of joy, only to have it doused a moment later.

It was like a bucket of cold water was dumped over his head

Nothing happened.

The latent force that had begun building from the disrupted qi mechanisms dissipated abruptly, just like that.

The reason? The stranger had simply swept his hand through the air, as if strumming an invisible pipa. In an instant, the seventeen qi mechanisms had returned to their original positions. Even the rest of the qi mechanisms, affected by the chain reaction, had settled back into place after a brief ripple.

Bi Ruhui was left staring in stunned disbelief.

W-Wait… wasn’t that the sect’s Three Meridian Calming Methods? A technique specifically designed to neutralize restrictive formations. Subtle, intricate technique that not only worked on their own sect’s formations but could even suppress those from other sects to some extent. That move was incredibly advanced… even he hadn’t learned it yet!

Ying Cai’er wasn’t faring much better. Her eyes widened in shock as she studied the young man.

“Whose elder’s disciple are you?" she finally spoke after a long pause. "Why haven’t I seen you before?”

The young man blinked, clearly surprised, but a smile soon spread across his face. It was an odd sort of smile. Up until now, he had carried himself with calm composure and a mature air. But the moment he smiled, a hint of youthful shyness crept in, revealing a trace of inexperience. It made one thing clear: he couldn’t be as old as he seemed.

“Ah, so you're esteemed disciples of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect. This poor Daoist meant no offense.” The young man's long sleeves fluttered as he offered a respectful bow; he appeared very sincere. “I truly just wandered in by mistake. There’s not a word of falsehood in what I say. In fact, there may be a small thread of karmic fate between us…”

Seeing the wary confusion in Ying Cai’er and her companion’s eyes, he smiled again. “This poor Daoist goes by the name Hundred Ghosts. I’m just a rogue cultivator.”

Just as he was introducing himself, over a dozen faint whooshes cut through the air from beyond the fog, one after another, quickly surrounding the area.

As the sounds faded, a calm and graceful woman’s voice rang out:

“Daoist Hundred Ghosts? Do you still remember me?”