Chapter 96

Hiss! Hiss!

In the pitch-black cliff bottom, where one could not see their hand in front of their face, a sudden scraping sound echoed, followed by a dull thud of a heavy object landing.

"Cough! Cough!"

Lichen, who had tumbled to the ground, clutched his head, stars dancing before his eyes as he staggered to his feet. Shaking his head vigorously, he finally felt better and looked around: "I'm actually still alive?"

Feeling pain meant he was still alive, but being trapped in this unknown depth of the cliff was no different from being dead.

Everything was gray and hazy, and he could only see a few meters ahead. Even with the rolling mist, his outstretched hand was barely visible.

Snap!

A soft sound, Lichen fumbled for a flint and lit it. Fortunately, he had something to light up the area; otherwise, he would have been completely in the dark.

But the gray mist was too thick, blocking the light from spreading. All he could see was the gray mist.

Cold!

Silent!

Not calm, but an indescribable cold and silence, even a deathly silence!

Lichen shivered, reacting to the cold. He used the last few wisps of his weak true qi to open his storage bag, taking out a few bottles of healing elixirs and qi-gathering pills, as well as a thick animal skin. He only had a few medium-grade spirit stones left, which he used up.

Plopping down on the ground, he took a qi-gathering pill, followed by a healing elixir, and began to meditate to recover.

But what Lichen found hard to believe was that the cold here was bone-chilling, even penetrating his body, making his meridians unable to function at full capacity, not even a fraction of their usual strength.

Although the qi-gathering pill contained a lot of essence energy, if it wasn't refined, it couldn't be absorbed, and would eventually dissipate through his body.

Refusing to believe it, Lichen swallowed another pill, but in the end, he only absorbed a tiny bit. Fortunately, it allowed him to have some true qi, connecting his dantian, and his body began to warm up a little.

Shivering, he tightened the animal skin and swallowed another healing pill, feeling a bit better.

"Trouble, no one would want to come to this cursed place. If that ghostly howl comes again tonight, I'm dead for sure!"

Lichen's face was grim as he moved his body, trying to find a way out.

But what chilled him to the bone was that no matter how far he walked or how many times he searched, he couldn't even find where he had fallen from, as if this place was a maze.

The sensation just now felt like a huge slope, which had cushioned his fall. Otherwise, with his exhausted and empty body, he might not have survived the impact.

"Hmm?"

After burning five flints, the gray mist ahead suddenly stirred, and an extremely sharp aura suddenly surged.

Lichen's heart raced. The pressure from this aura was no less than facing the two major figures of Nanyun Peak, and it even seemed to be slightly stronger.

Strangely, after this aura, there was another one that matched the gray mist's aura but was even more chilling and filled with killing intent.

After much hesitation, Lichen decided to follow this aura, hoping it might lead him to a way out.

One step, two steps, three steps. The closer he got to the source of the aura, the more pressure he felt. By the nineteenth step, he could only barely stand in place.

Lichen refused to give up. What could make him stop just by its aura? If he gave up now, how could he ever look down on the world?

The true qi in his dantian began to stir, slowly circulating under the pressure, continuously absorbing the faint essence energy around him. The spirit stone in his palm slowly fed energy into his body through his meridians.

To his surprise, under this pressure, his cultivation technique circulated much faster than before, reaching one-tenth of its usual speed.

Not only that, but it also squeezed out the impurities in his meridians, leaving the essence, and began to slowly repair the injured areas.

Thus, under this pressure, Lichen forgot about time, not even noticing that the ghostly howl, which should have appeared, did not.

One step!

Two steps!

After an unknown amount of time, Lichen had no idea how many times he had exhausted his true qi and qi, sitting in meditation, and had moved forward about ten more steps.

It wasn't that he didn't want to go further, but the aura ahead had intensified, and the temperature around him had dropped.

The flame of the flint in his hand grew smaller, unable to burn properly due to the extreme cold.

"Go all out, use this opportunity to cultivate the second level!"

Determined, Lichen sat down, taking out a jade box from his storage bag, which contained the Red Sun Pill.

This time, he didn't swallow it beforehand but reversed the *Pure Yang Technique* to channel all his pure yang true qi into his heart meridian.

As the fire-type true qi was gradually infused, the heat in Lichen's body increased, and the gray mist around him began to spread, strangely coalescing into a patch of green ice crystals.

Reversing his meridians to integrate the true qi into the fire meridian was excruciating, as evident from his contorted face and bulging veins.

But only through great hardship could one become a superior person!

After more than two hours, a crimson-golden light flashed on Lichen's chest, and he suddenly opened his eyes, swiftly swallowing a Red Sun Pill from the jade box.

Pop! Pop!

As time passed, Lichen's body suddenly emitted a dense sound like bursting bubbles, and his aura increased dramatically.

"Finally! A single true yang fire force is enough to kill a peak True Forging Realm martial artist!"

Lichen exhaled a turbid breath. The second level of the Pure Yang True Qi had finally condensed a true yang fire force, and the quality of his true qi had improved.

However, this fire force was not endless. Each use required replenishment within nine days, or it would trigger the automatic circulation of the pure yang true qi in his body.

The result would be a drop in cultivation to the first level.

Although he hadn't broken through in cultivation, Lichen felt that breaking through to the second level and entering the middle True Forging Realm was not far off.

The *Nine Levels of Pure Yang Technique* was known as a top-tier mystic technique, but in reality, it was just an excellent middle-tier mystic technique.

The reason for its high status was its difficulty in cultivation, the nine true yang fire forces that could contend with a Foundation Establishment Realm expert, and its ability to strengthen meridians and purify the body.

Combining all these advantages, it earned its top-tier status.

Slowly standing up, Lichen stretched his limbs. The sharpness in his eyes was unprecedented, and he gazed at the source of the aura with determination.

Putting away the jade box, he braced himself against the immense pressure and took a step forward.

One step!

Two steps!

Three steps!

This time, he took three steps in a row!

Except for when the two auras appeared, Lichen had never taken more than three steps, which was a significant improvement.

Buzz!

Before he could revel in his success, his eyes widened in shock, and he let out a muffled groan, retreating and spitting out a trickle of blood.

In the rolling gray mist, the two pressures suddenly intensified, causing the mist to spread, revealing the inner situation.