Chapter 00192: Finding the West Wind City
# Finding the West Wind City
Chapter 192
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 192: Finding the West Wind City
Ding Huan decided to follow the West Wind River to the Cangjian Mountain.
The distance from West Wind City to Cangjian Mountain was not far, and after walking for just over half an hour, he had already reached the vicinity of Cangjian Mountain.
To be precise, his spiritual sense swept over a shrouded mist, with several peaks of the mountain obscured within.
Soon after, Ding Huan felt a slight sting in his sea of consciousness and quickly withdrew his spiritual sense.
So powerful! Ding Huan gazed at the Cangjian Mountain hidden beneath the mist in shock.
No wonder no Foundation Establishment cultivators appeared here; this toxic mist could even corrode spiritual senses.
Any cultivator with common sense would avoid West Wind City.
After pausing for a moment, Ding Huan pressed onward toward Cangjian Mountain once more.
This was the most convenient entrance for him, and he intended to test whether this toxic mist could thwart his progress.
If it couldn't, he'd think of another solution.
He walked slowly, taking over half a day before he reached the foot of Cangjian Mountain.
At this moment, he was already surrounded by the toxic mist.
The mist at the base of Cangjian Mountain was relatively weak, but ordinary people wouldn’t even dare to come close.
Ding Huan stopped to gauge his body's resistance to the toxic mist.
He felt glad for his foresight; during the merging of the detoxification gene, he had turned this ability into a part of his own genetic powers.
When he first arrived here, even without extending his spiritual sense, he experienced a slight sting in his flesh.
As he continued to adapt, that sensation slowly faded away.
He began to stretch out his spiritual sense gradually, and some stinging sensations returned to his sea of consciousness.
Ding Huan had to refine his spiritual sense in this toxic mist using the methods he learned while practicing in the void of the universe.
It was a painful and lengthy process.
This made him resolve that he must create a technique for refining his spiritual sense.
Otherwise, merely enduring this suffering would not only make the refinement inefficient, but the results would also be subpar.
Outside of West Wind City, a woman in blue was staring blankly at the orderly city.
She was Liu Yingzhu, who had been searching for Ding Huan for several months, and she had only passed through West Wind City this time.
What puzzled her was whether this was truly West Wind City? She had visited this city over a decade ago, and the only word she could use to describe it was chaos.
Even before entering the city, she could already see the situation in the inner city with her spiritual sense.
The streets were all orderly, and the merchants and customers were polite to each other; there was no hint of coercion or robbery.
Not to mention in city after city of the Daoist cultivation world, even in the grand cities, she had never seen such harmony.
Liu Yingzhu decided to enter the city for a look.
As she arrived at the city gate, a guard stopped her: “Is this your first time in West Wind City?”
Liu Yingzhu replied, “Yes.”
The guard pointed to a building not far from the gate and said, “You need to register there. All first-time visitors to West Wind City must register. Don’t worry, it doesn’t cost any crystal stones.”
Feigning surprise, Liu Yingzhu asked, “I remember when I came here last time, it seemed very chaotic. How did it become so orderly this time?”
The guard puffed with pride, “That’s all thanks to our patrol captain. Ever since he arrived at West Wind City, it’s never been this beautiful. You can rest assured; as long as you’re within West Wind City, you will be very safe. If you have any issues, just contact our patrol. Remember, any misconduct is not allowed in West Wind City.”
Captain? Liu Yingzhu felt a little disappointed hearing that, as she didn’t believe Ding Huan would take up such a position. “Who is the patrol captain?” she casually asked.
“Of course, it’s Captain Ding,” the guard replied dismissively.
In his subconscious mind, whether Liu Yingzhu was a first-time visitor or not, not knowing Captain Ding meant she lacked experience.
“It’s Ding Huan?” Liu Yingzhu suppressed her excitement and asked.
The guard snorted, “Do I really need to say? Everyone knows the name of our patrol captain.”
Finally found! She had finally located him.
Liu Yingzhu took a deep breath, thanked the guard, and quickly went to handle her entry permit.
Unlike the Twin Soul Sect, which searched for Ding Huan in big Daoist cities, Liu Yingzhu believed that Ding Huan would never go to the major Daoist cities, so she primarily searched in remote areas.
Finding Ding Huan's whereabouts today confirmed her guess; before he established his foundation, he wouldn’t go to large Daoist cities.
Liu Yingzhu was sure that Ding Huan was living here and had created such a peaceful environment, likely for a better place to establish his foundation.
Yet, no matter how good the environment was, it couldn’t compare to Zixia Valley.
She had invited Ding Huan to Zixia Valley, believing there would be a great chance of success.
An hour later, Liu Yingzhu found herself standing outside the small courtyard where Ding Huan resided.
Her spiritual sense swept into the courtyard, and she was shocked.
There were actually a first-level killing formation and a first-level defensive formation! If this was set up by Ding Huan, then he was truly terrifying.
Typically, only late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators could touch formations and set up simple first-level defensive arrays.
Without spiritual sense, it was utterly impossible to arrange any formations.
Even she could only barely set up a rough second-level formation.
Her master had said she had great talent in array mastery, but this was her achievement.
Wasn’t Ding Huan without a foundation? How could he create a first-level defensive formation and killing array? There was only one possibility: the formations were already here when Ding Huan moved in.
Liu Yingzhu composed herself and knocked on the coarse restriction outside.
If Ding Huan could set up such a rough restriction, he was already remarkable among Qi Refining cultivators.
While meditating, Yan Mei sensed someone knocking on the door and hurriedly ran to open it. “Elder Liu?” Yan Mei stared in disbelief at the figure standing in front of her.
Liu Yingzhu was an elder of Zixia Valley! How could she come to such an out-of-the-way place to look for them?
“Long time no see, Yan Mei,” Liu Yingzhu smiled.
“Ah…” Yan Mei quickly came to her senses and bowed, “Greetings, Elder Liu.”
“Will you not invite me in for a while?” Liu Yingzhu joked.
Yan Mei hastened to step aside and say, “Elder Liu, please come in, please come in…”
Once inside the small courtyard, Liu Yingzhu casually asked, “Is Ding Daoist friend not home?”
Yan Mei replied, “Brother Huan just left a few days ago; Elder Liu came a bit late.”
Liu Yingzhu was taken aback and quickly asked, “You said Ding Daoist friend left West Wind City?”
Yan Mei quickly clarified, “No, no! Brother Huan had to leave temporarily due to some matters, but he will be back.”
“How long will he be gone?” Liu Yingzhu asked, a little anxious.
Yan Mei was stunned, unsure why Liu Yingzhu was in such a hurry to find Brother Huan.
Sensing Yan Mei's confusion, Liu Yingzhu could only explain, “The thing is, our sect master heard that Ding Daoist friend is an excellent cook and wanted to invite him to Zixia Valley.”
Yan Mei shook her head, “Elder Liu, while Zixia Valley is a place I admire greatly, Brother Huan isn’t likely to work as a chef.”
Although Ding Huan hadn’t shared his ambitions with Yan Mei, she could tell from his complete disinterest in controlling West Wind City that he was far from merely aiming to be a chef.
Inspired by Ding Huan, Yan Mei also set aside affairs in West Wind City and devoted herself to closed-door cultivation.
To say nothing of working as a chef for Zixia Valley; even if it were for the number one sect in the Three Heavens Star Land, Brother Huan wouldn't be interested.
Liu Yingzhu could only say, “Can I wait here for Ding Daoist to return, to speak with him face to face?”
“Of course, but I don’t know when Brother Huan will come back.”
“It’s alright; I have no particular matters to attend to. Just provide me with an empty room.” She then pointed at Ding Huan's room and asked, “By the way, whose room is that?”
“This is Brother Huan's,” Yan Mei responded without concern.
Liu Yingzhu was certain the formation in that room was likely set up by Ding Huan himself.
With that confirmation, she felt even more eager to meet Ding Huan.
West Wind City was too small; Zixia Valley was the place where Ding Huan could truly spread his wings.
A few careful days later, Ding Huan finally reached the depths of Cangjian Mountain.
He was cloaked in a thin layer of toxic mist; one could say he was completely wrapped in a toxic shell.
Having been honing his spiritual sense in the toxic mist for a long time, he now possessed a resistance to poison, enabling his spiritual sense to extend several miles.
By all rights, this should have been a joyful occasion, as it meant his ability to resist toxins had greatly improved.
However, Ding Huan felt no joy; instead, he pondered that if he couldn’t find the vortex leading to the void universe in a few more days, he would retreat immediately.
Although the detoxification gene was a commendable attribute, Ding Huan realized the shortcomings of this ability during his time at Cangjian Mountain.
In such a heavily toxic environment, no matter how he detoxified, his body remained wrapped in deadly poison.
Over time, he would still meet his demise here.
Ding Huan had an inkling of a solution, and it had to be realized when he created his own foundation establishment technique.
He envisioned adding a cycle to his detoxification ability while creating the technique.
Thus, even in such a toxic environment, he could forcefully transform all poisons into usable energy through his own methods.
For now, he could only endure the toxins without being able to convert them.
In Ding Huan’s understanding, at a more distant point in the universe, energy might not be conserved.
However, at the stage of his current universe, energy was temporarily conserved.
From a certain viewpoint, poison was just another form of energy.
Since energy conserved in the current stage of the universe, he could use the technique he created to convert the poison into two parts—one as natural energy, the other as tangible toxin.
After expelling the toxin, the resultant energy could surely be transformed into his own strength.
This was the direction he aimed for.
Another day passed, bringing Ding Huan to the brink of despair.
Just then, a sharp sword energy shot toward him from the side.
Ding Huan knew the sword energy was coming, but he could not evade it. “Puff!” The sword energy pierced through Ding Huan's body, raising a spray of blood mist.
Rather than being alarmed, Ding Huan was overjoyed; without a second thought, he charged forward.
Since entering Cangjian Mountain, he had been calculating the location of the cosmic vortex.
Yet, he could not pinpoint its location after dozens of calculations, but finally, he made some progress.
When he was injured, he realized he needed to follow the sense of danger, as it was very likely the place he sought.
After so many days of caution, aside from the toxic mist, there had been little that could harm him.
Today, he was finally wounded by sword energy, which likely indicated that the source of the sword energy was indeed where he was searching.
After staying in this toxic mist for too long, Ding Huan grasped the only opportunity and, without regard for anything else, directly activated the Extreme Shadow Escape technique.
(End of this chapter)