Directly sending a message to inquire is one option. Nowadays, in various places on the Unparalleled Continent, some Heaven's Augury Pillars have been set up, serving as hubs through which cultivators can communicate with each other. This is also why Team D-9 can quickly regroup after battling individually. But Lu Ye doesn't plan to send a message. It's been so long since they last met, it's always good to have a surprise. It's not without clues either, because Yiyi had contacted her before, and knew the general location. Lu Ye decided to search on his own first, and if he couldn't find her, then it wouldn't be too late to send a message. Following the direction previously indicated by Yiyi, Lu Ye leapt up and skimmed across the low sky. Along the way, he occasionally encountered some Nine Provinces cultivators. Although there are quite a few Divine Sea Realm cultivators active on the Unparalleled Continent now, it's rare to see cultivators above Divine Sea Level 7. This is because those at this level have generally accumulated enough battle merits during the previous insect disaster and expeditions in the Blood Refinement World. Their main goal now is to constantly enhance their cultivation, striving to take that step early. Generally speaking, cultivators above this level are currently left to cultivate on the Nine Provinces mainland. Only cultivators with insufficient cultivation and battle merit accumulation would venture to the Unparalleled Continent for benefits. So when those Nine Provinces cultivators sensed the aura of Lu Ye's Divine Sea Level 9 from afar, instead of feeling cordial, they quickly distanced themselves, subconsciously thinking Lu Ye was here to steal their kills. Lu Ye didn't mind it at all. There is one hassle about low-altitude flying: it easily disturbs the dormant Corpse Race. However, Lu Ye generally just passes by without any intention of engaging. As Fourth Senior Brother Li Baxian said, these Corpse Race are all battle merits for Nine Provinces cultivators. Killing one more will mean one less for others, and battle merits meant little to him nowadays, so there's no need to compete with others. Flying all along the way, Lu Ye flew tens of thousands of miles. Initially, he still frequently encountered traces of cultivators, but the further he went, the harder it became to see any living soul. Lu Ye realized then that he might have ventured beyond the areas where Nine Provinces cultivators currently operated. Yet, he still didn't find that woman. The direction was correct, as Yiyi had specifically pointed to this spot earlier. If he hadn't found her yet, it either meant he missed her, or that woman was located further in! Lu Ye leaned towards the latter possibility. It wasn't that he thought Hua Ci's cultivation was particularly strong, but merely that her cultivation method was different from ordinary cultivators. Her desire for battle merits wasn't significant because Spirit Stones and elixir pills weren't her primary cultivation means, let alone the method of Invoking Heaven's Augury. She preferred to cultivate in places where toxic substances congregated, corpse poison included, making the overall environment of the Unparalleled Continent quite suitable for Hua Ci. Thus, she would certainly choose to be in sparsely populated areas, which was why she didn't come over during Team D-9's gathering. Killing Corpse Race gave her no actual benefit. To seek sparsely populated places, one would have to delve deeper! Despite appearing as a delicate woman, she was braver than anyone and could tolerate the loneliness of solitary cultivation extremely well. The Ten Thousand Poisons Forest in the Spirit Stream battlefield, the Five Poisons Pond in the Cloud River battlefield, all were forbidden lands that ordinary cultivators dared not tread, yet were her preferred places. Moving further forward, Lu Ye flew tens of thousands more miles without results, realizing that he might not find her with just his abilities. With a slight sigh, he had to resort to sending a message to inquire. Just as he prepared to do so, his gaze shifted to a different direction. There was something unusual about that position compared to other places; although other parts of the Unparalleled Continent were desolate and barren, with rampant Corpse Race, there was no sign of such dense corpse clouds gathering. Lu Ye's heart stirred, and he flew towards that direction. The closer he got, the more he could sense the thickening of the corpse clouds. It must be a large mountain valley, with emerald green corpse clouds swirling within, even gale-force winds wouldn't scatter them. There must be many Corpse Race gathered here! Otherwise, such a scale of corpse clouds couldn't form. Such a perilous land, even if Team D-9 came, they might shake their heads in regret, unable to venture deep within or harvest battle merits. Lu Ye initially intended to take a curious look, but when his Mental Consciousness penetrated through the corpse clouds, scanning the circumstance inside the valley, his eyes lit up suddenly, breaking into a smile. Indeed, a blessing in disguise, when you find no trace searching the iron-shod path, then success comes without effort! It seemed that this place had gathered such dense corpse clouds not naturally, but because of human intervention. Crossing nearly a million miles to find such a place in the end, without prior contact, Lu Ye wondered if this was some kind of telepathy. He headed straight to the mountain valley, plunging into the corpse clouds. In the next moment, Lu Ye sensed an abnormal movement in the Talent Tree, and focused intensely, seeing large clusters of gray mist burning on the Talent Tree. He immediately pushed his spirit force to isolate himself, finally calming the Talent Tree's reaction. Landed in the valley, Lu Ye looked down at his feet, where he saw underfoot all those brightly red mushrooms, dazzling in color, typical of highly toxic substances. Because of the view being obstructed by corpse clouds, he couldn't see far, yet Lu Ye felt that the entire valley might be covered with those poisonous mushrooms. This was undoubtedly the woman's unique method. But what puzzled Lu Ye slightly was that he couldn't sense the presence of her aura. Given his current cultivation at the Divine Sea Level 9, with an extremely powerful Mental Consciousness and incredibly keen perception. There was no hurry to search, since he had already arrived at the place; surely, he could find it. Driven by curiosity, he bent down and pinched a mushroom at his feet, giving it a slight tug. This was quite outrageous; mushrooms usually grow on the ground and generally don't have well-developed roots, so they can typically be picked without much effort. But Lu Ye felt that this mushroom seemed to be growing atop something, tightly integrated with it. Using a bit more force, he finally managed to move it. As the mushroom was pulled out, a stench wafted into his nostrils, followed by a head full of rotten flesh being lifted out from below, like a carrot. Half of the face was missing, exposing muddy flesh, with one eyeball completely intact and the other dangling half out of its socket. Lu Ye paused for a moment, a big-eyed stare-off ensued with the head as they both observed each other silently. Suddenly, the eyeball of the other party stiffly moved, its cloudy, dim gaze fixated unwaveringly on Lu Ye! Lu Ye pondered briefly, exerting some force with his hand to press it back into the ground before it could roar, stomping on the surrounding soil to firm it. A roar erupted as the tranquility of the valley was shattered, followed by corpse clouds swirling and mushrooms stirring at the scent of the wind. Amidst the commotion, figures of the Corpse Race leapt out from the ground, mostly rotting corpses, some missing arms or legs, some with open abdomens trailing intestines, and some missing half a head. Each was uniquely distinct; had a timid person witnessed this scene, they'd likely lose two of their three souls. Without exception, all these Corpse Race members had a bright mushroom atop their heads, precisely the ones Lu Ye had seen earlier. Only now did he realize that however many mushrooms he had seen, that was how many Corpse Race were hidden underground! It wasn't that he wasn't cautious, but these Corpse Race revealed no trace while dormant. If Lu Ye hadn't unwittingly pulled a Corpse Race out while picking a mushroom, he wouldn't have discovered these underground secrets. He simply thought someone was using the corpse cloud here to cultivate mushrooms. Now it seemed these mushrooms were probably a means to control the Corpse Race, otherwise, why would each Corpse Race have one planted on its head? The Corpse Race members clawed and snarled arrogantly as they slowly approached Lu Ye, creating real pressure. Lu Ye stood there nonchalantly, exaggeratedly shouting, "Help, someone is trying to murder their husband!" A light scoff came from the side, tinged with disdain, "What nonsense are you babbling about? Who's the husband?" Lu Ye looked toward the voice and saw a woman in a green dress standing there, smiling gently amidst the snarling Corpse Race—a truly distinctive scene. With eyes meeting, Hua Ci said, "Lucky there's no one else here, or you'd ruin my reputation!" Fresh chapters posted on 𝖓𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖑~𝖋𝖎𝖗𝖾~𝖓𝖊𝖙 "What do you want a reputation for?" Lu Ye asked in surprise. "I have to get married someday," Hua Ci blinked provocatively. Lu Ye gave a meaningful "Oh," nodding, "When you do get married, let me know; I'll make sure to prepare a grand gift!" Hua Ci smiled warmly, "Sure, you'll be the first to know then!" Though they hadn't seen each other for a long time, there was no sense of unfamiliarity; a few banters exchanged and Lu Ye laughed, "With all this corpse Qi, no man could probably handle it!" "That's none of your business!" Hua Ci pouted. Lu Ye laughed and approached, opening his arms for a hug. But Hua Ci gently raised a finger, placing it on his forehead to stop his movement, looking warily, "Just arrived and already trying to take advantage? Do you still think I'm as naive as before?" Lu Ye was helpless, having failed to take advantage, he lamented, "You've changed!" Hua Ci chuckled, "You'll see even more change the next time you meet me." Recalling that scene, Lu Ye was somewhat scratching his head, so he switched topics, "Have you been here all along?" "Yes, how did you find this place?" "Yiyi pointed me in a direction, so I just wandered until I ended up here. What are you doing here?" "Raising corpses," Hua Ci smiled slightly, "Look at these little things, aren't they lovable?" Lu Ye turned to the nearby Corpse Race, unable to see how they were lovable but understood that Hua Ci was likely borrowing the corpse poison of the Corpse Race for cultivation, a method uniquely hers, impossible for others to emulate.