Aotian controlled his avatars to analyze the mountain before deciding where to go.

Sun Yiming, the outer elder of the Punishment Pavilion, crouched down and placed his hand on the ground, his face thoughtful.

With his Position Ability, “Hunter’s Heart,” he could see hidden details in the scenery, almost like a Sherlock, allowing him to track the trails of beings that had passed through, as well as general directions where enemies might be lying in ambush—or something attractive might be found.

The outer elder of the Formation Pavilion also perceived the Feng Shui of the environment, gaining some insights about places of balance and imbalance of energy, which indicated where certain treasures might be.

And of course, Gu Jian, from the Treasure Pavilion, possessed the same ability as the ancestor Bao Wuji: the treasure radar, which was quite helpful, although his was on a smaller scale, since he was only at the Golden Core realm.

Thus, with just them, Aotian already had the ability to discover where the greatest chances of finding valuable things were, which is why he hadn’t been in a hurry to send Bao Wuji — until problems arose.

Of course, he was still necessary, since with the current radar, Gu Jian could only sense Core-Tier treasures up to 100 miles (~160 km) around, and Nascent-Tier up to 10 miles (~16 km), decreasing by 10 times with each realm above.

Although it seemed like a lot, the Shadowfallen Burial Mountain was the largest mountain in the entire Beiyan continent, and the only perfect-grade seventh-level spiritual vein on the continent.

Its diameter easily surpassed 800,000 miles (~1.3 million km), practically equivalent to the diameter of the sun. In other words, the mountain wasn’t much smaller than the sun itself… well, the sun that Aotian knew, from Earth.

Its absurd size made it an astonishing mountain range, and the most incredible thing was the sheer number of opportunities it hid within its expanse.

Aotian didn’t know much about the mountain, for it was surrounded by secrets. He only knew that there were many inheritances and treasures hidden there.

Gu Jian then used her treasure radar, allowing Aotian to see a small piece of the mountain centered on the avatar, from the points that represented the various nearby treasures.

Together with the insights obtained by the other elders, he wasted no more time and controlled them to begin exploring up the mountain.

Looking at the radar, he decided to almost completely ignore the Core-Tier treasures, since there were many. He would only take them if they happened to be on the way.

Unfortunately, the radar could only be used four times a day, otherwise Aotian would certainly spam it nonstop during the hunt.

They hadn’t gone far when they came across a Core-Tier herb, emitting a pleasant aroma.

Yang Shi, from the Alchemy Pavilion, and the avatar from the Sword Pavilion calmly advanced toward the plant when, suddenly, a black creature leaped out from inside it toward them.

The avatar beside Yang Shi simply moved his fingers in the form of a sword, releasing a white ray that cut the creature in half midair.

Yang Shi, serene, walked over to the plant, carefully dug it out, and stored it in his ring.

Despite the calm, Aotian slightly furrowed Gu Jian’s brows, his heart uneasy.

‘Even though I detected the creature with Sun Yiming’s Hunter’s Heart, and also with my spiritual sense… why didn’t this beast show up on the treasure radar?’

He thought, feeling a little worried as he observed the completely black creature, similar to an armadillo. If there was something that nullified his systematic ability, that would be a very bad sign.

Crouching down and placing his hand on the flesh of the dead animal, he sent spiritual energy to investigate, and the discovery shocked him.

‘This beast… is completely polluted with impurities!’ he exclaimed internally, stunned. ‘Everything in it is useless, that’s why I couldn’t find it on the radar, since it’s not a treasure, but trash. But what’s most impressive is how such a creature can still be alive with such an amount of impurities in its body? And still with the power of a Third-Level beast…’

The thought intrigued him, since a cultivator with many impurities couldn’t even move their spiritual energy efficiently. But such a creature also brought to his memory something he had heard when asking about the Shadowfallen Burial Mountain, and a reflective look appeared in Gu Jian’s eyes.

‘Now that I remember, they said there was a unique race of beasts that only existed in this mountain, called Shadow Beasts. They say their flesh, blood, and core have no use whatsoever, but that the various powers of the continent buy their corpses for a good price. That’s why everyone tries to take as many as they can outside, to trade.’

He furrowed his brows at the dead beast on the ground.

‘I thought it was just what common cultivators believed, and that the great powers knew their real uses and kept it hidden from the public… but it seems that’s not the case, since even the treasure radar considers them trash. And well, if a systematic ability thinks it’s trash, then it shouldn’t be false. But if that’s the case, what do the great powers actually do with them?’

More doubts than answers arose in his heart. With no one to answer, he could only find out for himself.

Storing the corpse in Gu Jian’s ring for later study, they resumed their walk, searching for treasures and herbs.

As they climbed one of the mountains in the range, Aotian also checked the herbs and beasts found along the way.

The herbs, besides surprisingly having almost no impurities and being extremely healthy and strong, were practically indistinguishable from those that grew outside the mountain. That was strange, but compared to the beasts there — all corrupted and useless, like the first one — the herbs seemed normal.

In addition, Aotian noticed that the Shadow Beasts were stronger than expected for beasts of their levels, which was worrying, since even common beasts were already superior to cultivators of the same level.

Fortunately, Aotian was very strong, and consequently, so were his avatars, and he had no problem dealing with them.

At the mission pavilion, Aotian used his avatars to create missions nonstop, avoiding fatal risks, such as encountering extremely powerful Nascent Soul beasts, or even those of higher realms.

He had never heard of beasts above Nascent Soul in the Shadowfallen Burial Mountain, but he seriously doubted there weren’t at least one, or more. After all, it was a perfect-grade seventh-level vein.

At the very least, it was guaranteed that Nascent Soul creatures existed in great numbers.

And Aotian’s avatars were about to face one.

A few meters ahead, there was a huge lotus, emanating powerful fluctuations of a Nascent-Tier herb. Up until now, every herb Aotian had found was guarded by a beast of equivalent level.

Aotian looked at the mission:

[Mission: Kill the Beast and Collect the Herb

…

Danger Level: Slightly Dangerous]

With that level of danger, he felt safe. As long as he didn’t make mistakes, there wouldn’t be any mortal risk.

Taking a deep breath, Aotian activated Yiming’s daily ability, Phantom Trail.

[Name: Sun Yiming

Position: Outer Elder (Punishment Pavilion)

Cultivation: 1st level of the Golden Core (Host’s Realm)

Body Cultivation: 1st level of Foundation Establishment (Host’s Realm)

Position Ability: Hunter’s Heart

Affiliation Skill: Combat Affinity

Position Bonus: Phantom Trail (4 uses per day)]

In Yiming’s eyes, something only he could see was revealed.

A gigantic ghostly boar, resembling a blue hologram, was lying next to the lotus. Suddenly, it raised its head emotionlessly, staring toward the depths of the mountain, and remained like that for a few seconds.

Then, it stood up and began sinking into the ground as if it were quicksand.

But to Yiming, the ghost was still visible even underground.

The ghostly boar sank completely, until it stopped at a certain point. Gradually, its image faded from Yiming’s vision.

That was a vision of the past, and now he knew exactly where his target was, making a smile curl on Aotian’s lips.

Without hesitation, the elder from the Sword Pavilion raised his sword, focused a full attack brimming with sword intent, and launched it directly toward where the ghost beast’s head had been.

The blade flew like lightning, piercing the earth like butter, disappearing into the hole for a fraction of a second before a massive explosion shook the ground, sending dirt and debris flying.

ROOOOARRR!!

A deafening roar echoed across the mountain as a gigantic boar, seven stories tall, burst out from underground. Its presence was terrifying, its enormous ironclad hooves sinking the ground, seemingly able to crush an entire carriage with a single step.

Its right eye was destroyed, a sword embedded up to the hilt in its socket.

Aotian was surprised at his luck. He hadn’t expected to destroy an eye with the very first strike. Without wasting the opportunity, the avatars charged forward, surrounding the beast and beginning the assault.

A sea of flames collapsed onto the boar’s face, but it snorted violently through its snout, like a raging gale, piercing through the flames and weakening them.

But suddenly, the ground gave way at its side, unbalancing it, while a wooden spike surged forth and struck its thick hide.

The spike shattered against the beast’s natural defense, barely making it bleed.

Furious, the boar roared and tried to soar into the sky, fleeing its disadvantage on the ground. However, before it could rise far, a waterfall of water crashed down upon it like a massive hammer, slamming it brutally back to the earth.

BOOOMMM!!

ROOOOARRR!!

Its eyes glowed red with rage, indignant at being cornered in its daze.

It was then that the Sword Pavilion avatar appeared from behind, mercilessly thrusting the sword into its rear.

The beast’s eyes widened. In another avatar’s vision, Aotian saw the boar’s leg muscles contract. Without hesitation, he placed a shield on the Sword Pavilion avatar and shifted him to the side. Even so, the fourth-level boar’s kick was too fast, landing with force and hurling the avatar far away, smashing through trees and leaving a trail of destruction.

While the beast furiously struggled with the sword in its rear, another avatar leapt from underground and drove his sword into its healthy eye, completely blinding it.

HRRREEEEGH!

The colossal pig roared in despair and pain, swinging its massive tusks toward the avatar that had blinded it.

But the instant it lost its sight, the avatars activated their newly upgraded qi disguise technique, vanishing completely from its senses.

Unable to see or sense its enemies, the boar couldn’t hit anyone.

Furious, it began jumping, kicking, and wildly swinging its tusks in all directions, but struck nothing.

At that moment, the elder who had taken the earlier kick staggered up pale among the wreckage, coughing blood. Without hesitation, he pulled a healing pill from the storage ring, threw it into his mouth, and swallowed.

Within moments, he felt better, rapidly recovering.

Aotian looked in shock at the blood still staining the avatar’s hand.

‘I think this is the first time I’ve ever been injured in battle against an enemy. ‘

He blinked, recalling all his previous fights. In none of them had he bled, not even once.

Taking a deep breath and pushing those thoughts aside, he refocused on the boar. The ten avatars surrounded the beast and attacked it relentlessly without mercy.

Now blind, the creature couldn’t react to the strikes fast enough.

The shared vision among the avatars allowed them to dodge its movements swiftly, while their auras only appeared in the boar’s perception at the instant of attack, giving it no time to respond.

The gigantic animal became nothing more than a punching bag.

Deep wounds piled up on its body, yet its fury and endurance did not waver until the very last moment.

Gradually, its strength waned, black blood flowing endlessly.

Its massive body reached the limits of its vitality under the intense assault, its movements staggering and sluggish.

Its breathing slowed, and then the beast collapsed to the ground, raising a dense cloud of dust.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep