Cheng Zongyang shook his head slightly, then firmly thrust the Stone Stele into the pit in the ground. He packed the earth around it, leaving only two-thirds of its height exposed.

The moment the Stone Stele touched the ground, the gray mist that had been emanating from it spread out even more rapidly.

Soul Gathering Stele!

The Wordless Yin Stele from the Valley of the Dead in the Wilderness World automatically attracted and collected stray Souls or Soul fragments from the world. The Soul Gathering Stele would affect the environment within a radius of 500 meters, making the Yin Qi dense and chilling, causing those who entered to easily lose their sense of direction and be unable to leave.

He had spent the past few days studying the relationship between the Soul Crystal Stones and the Wordless Stele, which had led to today’s experiment.

’If the Souls collected by the Soul Gathering Stele can be used by the Soul Crystal Stones, then in the future, I won’t need to collect Souls or Soul fragments piece by piece.’

’I could simply place a Soul Crystal Stone on the Stele and let it absorb the Souls the Stele gathers.’

Just then, Cheng Zongyang noticed that text had appeared on the surface of what was originally a Wordless Stone Stele.

——

Soul Gathering Stele

Tier: Tier One

Yin Realm: 500 meters

Quantity: 25/1000

Effect: Ghost Wall Lv1

Other: Locked

Controller: Cheng Zongyang

——

Cheng Zongyang stared at the information that appeared, stunned.

’I thought it was just an item for attracting and collecting Souls, but I never expected it to have this kind of function!’

"Ghost Wall... so this must be why ordinary people get lost after entering."

Cheng Zongyang’s eyes suddenly lit up.

’This is only Level 1. If it levels up in the future, its strength will naturally increase as well!’

He seemed to have another thought, and an idea flashed through his mind.

The next second, the gray mist in the area centered around him dissipated, returning to its original appearance.

The gray mist emanating from the Soul Gathering Stele now filled the area beyond a ten-meter radius around him.

This meant the area he controlled was unaffected by the gray mist and the Ghost Wall!

He then tried stopping the release of the gray mist and shrinking its range, but found that neither action affected the Soul Gathering Stele’s ability to absorb Souls.

The Yin Realm was the area the gray mist could cover, and the mist’s only function was to create the Ghost Wall.

’I didn’t expect it to be so powerful. It’s practically a natural Illusion Array!’

’But I’m not sure if it would have the same effect in an ordinary place, or if it only works in yin-heavy locations. And finally, can the Soul Crystal Stones still absorb Souls from the Soul Gathering Stele?’

’Regardless, I’ll fill up the Soul Crystal Stones first and let the Soul Gathering Stele slowly absorb the rest.’

Having made his decision, Cheng Zongyang left the Soul Crystal Stones and the Soul Gathering Stele behind and headed for the Soul-Loss Pit.

Even though he now had the Soul-Soothing Slope, he also wanted to check on the situation at the Soul-Loss Pit.

Taking a roundabout path, he hurried to a spot at the foot of a short mountain on the outskirts of South City.

Without even having to search for it, Cheng Zongyang spotted the so-called pit.

Located in a clearing where almost nothing grew, the so-called pit was actually a long, narrow fissure.

The fissure resembled a crack in the earth from an earthquake, snaking from north to south. It was just over a hundred meters long.

"So this is the place."

As he got closer and saw the fissure, understanding dawned on Cheng Zongyang.

It went by different names. In the County Town, it was called the Soul-Loss Pit, but the people of Golden Bridge Village had called it the Ghost Abyss.

He remembered the villagers occasionally mentioning a haunted, barren piece of land near the County Town. This land had a fissure, and they said anything that went down it never came back out.

He had only listened passively at the time, never imagining that this was the Soul-Loss Pit.

The fissure was about four meters wide at its center, its widest point, and it gradually narrowed toward its north and south ends.

Standing beside it, Cheng Zongyang frowned as he looked at the Soul Crystal Stone in his hand. It wasn’t reacting at all.

’According to Zhang Chuchu, many bodies were dumped here, but not only is there no stench, there aren’t any Souls or even Soul fragments. Where did the bodies go?’

Cheng Zongyang was quite curious about this Ghost Abyss, but curiosity was one thing; going down was out of the question.

’There were many possibilities. Subterranean creatures might have eaten the bodies, an underground river might have washed them away, or there could be magma deep below that incinerated them.’

But whatever the case, if there were no Souls here, it had no value to him.

He didn’t linger any longer and turned back toward the Soul-Soothing Slope.

However, unbeknownst to Cheng Zongyang, deep within the Ghost Abyss, hundreds of meters down, something had happened as he approached. A turquoise eye the size of a man’s fist had suddenly opened in the darkness, emitting a faint green glow. The eye glanced upward slightly, as if waiting for something.

But after waiting a moment with no result, the eye slowly closed again, becoming silent once more.

Back at the Soul-Soothing Slope, Cheng Zongyang placed the third Soul Crystal Stone to one side.

The Soul Gathering Stele’s counter had already passed five hundred, while the second Soul Crystal Stone’s was over four hundred.

This showed that the collection speed of a Soul Crystal Stone was slower than that of the Soul Gathering Stele.

After a moment’s thought, Cheng Zongyang moved the second and third Crystal Stones farther apart to avoid them interfering with each other’s collection speed.

After all, the Soul-Soothing Slope was quite large, so placing them in separate spots wouldn’t slow down the overall collection.

Once the Crystal Stones were moved away, the Soul Gathering Stele’s collection speed did indeed increase slightly.

Cheng Zongyang then created a clear space for himself, sat down cross-legged, and began practicing his Breath-holding Technique.

Only after reaching the Beginner stage would the cultivation speed for the Breath-holding Technique begin to accelerate.

Time passed slowly. Before he knew it, a notification appeared in his mind: his Breath-holding Technique progress had increased by one. He finished his final exhale.

He opened his eyes and nodded slightly.

’Ten minutes of Breath-holding, two minutes to exhale... That’s significant progress. Not bad.’

Following the cultivation experience and techniques was like being guided by a Grandmaster; it greatly reduced his mistakes. As a result, he was able to hold his breath for much longer than before.

Although the progress was still just one point, this practice session only took half an hour—half an hour shorter than the last one, which proved he was improving.

He then got up and looked at the nearby Soul Gathering Stele.

——

Soul Gathering Stele

Tier: Tier Two

Yin Realm: 700 meters

Quantity: 25/3000

Effect: Ghost Wall Lv2

Other: Locked

Controller: Cheng Zongyang

——

Cheng Zongyang smiled as he looked at the Soul Gathering Stele, which had already advanced a Tier. Although only its range and the Ghost Wall’s level had increased, at least the results were visible.

Cheng Zongyang didn’t plan to take it with him. If he needed it in the future, he could recall it anytime, anywhere.

He walked over to the Soul Crystal Stone. Its count was already over 900.

’The one at the prison probably isn’t full yet,’ Cheng Zongyang thought, so he continued practicing his Breath-holding Technique.

He had to use every spare moment to accelerate his progress with the Breath-holding Technique.

Another two hours passed.

——

Cultivation Technique:

Turtle Breath-holding Skill (7/12000)

——

He summoned his interface to check. Seeing that his progress had increased to 7 points, he wasn’t discouraged. His improvement was tangible, and it would only get faster from here on out.

’The Beginner stage requires 100 points, so I still need 93 more.’

Muttering to himself, he closed the interface and looked over at the Soul Crystal Stone.

——

Middle Tier Soul Crystal Stone: 2000/2000

——

It was full!

A smile touched Cheng Zongyang’s lips as he looked at the red-glowing Soul Crystal Stone. He stored it in his Wilderness World and went to the location of the third one.

As expected, the Soul Crystal Stone that he had placed much later was also full.

"There really are a lot of Souls in this place."

Cheng Zongyang collected the third Crystal Stone and finally went back to the Soul Gathering Stele.

As it turned out, perhaps due to its large coverage area and the lack of competition from the Soul Crystal Stones, the Soul Gathering Stele had already reached the Third Grade. Its range had expanded to 900 meters, and the Ghost Wall was now Level Three.

However, the soul requirement to reach Tier Four had increased to 6,000.

Cheng Zongyang didn’t plan to take the Soul Gathering Stele back. He decided to leave it here to continue absorbing Souls and see what Tier it could ultimately reach.

Additionally, to avoid preventing people from the County Town from bringing bodies over, he shrank the Ghost Wall’s effective range to a three-meter radius around the Soul Gathering Stele, just enough to ensure it wouldn’t be taken.

Of course, it wouldn’t matter even if someone did take it, as he could recall it at any time.

The three-meter range was merely a precaution to avoid drawing attention.

After taking care of these matters, Cheng Zongyang checked the time. It was already past noon.

He hurried back into the city and went to the prison, where he found that the first Soul Crystal Stone was also full.

At this point, all three Soul Crystal Stones were ready for use. However, given the circumstances, he could only use two for now. The remaining one would have to be set aside until he found a suitable Martial Artist’s corpse.

When he returned to his residence, Housekeeper Zhang hurried over to him and reported immediately.

"Young Master, Lord Li came by, but since you were out, he left. He said that when you returned, you should go to the rear courtyard of the County Magistrate’s Office. He has something to discuss with you."

Hearing this, Cheng Zongyang nodded. "I understand. By the way, when you have time, go find Zhao the Seventh and have him bring over some good quality tea. The tea we have at home is terrible—it’s dry and astringent."

Housekeeper Zhang immediately replied, "Yes, I’ll see to it."

Cheng Zongyang wasn’t in a hurry to go to the County Magistrate’s Office. Instead, he went to his study.

He planned to write down the medicinal formulas.

This included not only the Medicinal Materials required for the Entry Grade Medicine Bath, but also for the Qi Essence Pill and the Body Tempering Powder.

Many of the Medicinal Materials were used in more than one formula, so by listing them all together, he wouldn’t have to worry about Li Lu figuring out the specific recipes.

A quarter of an hour later, Cheng Zongyang finished writing. He then took out the Design Map, brought both items with him, and left his residence, heading for the County Magistrate’s Office.