Cultivating Immortality in Two Realms: Sunflower Lord

The last oil lamp in the dormitory went out, and moonlight seeped in through the cracks in the torn window paper, casting dappled, cold light on the ground.

Ji Ruchang sat cross-legged on his bunk, took a deep breath, and completely immersed his mind in his sea of ​​consciousness.

The gray mist still lingered deep within my consciousness, the outline of the courtyard in the northwest corner appearing and disappearing in the mist.

The sunflowers at the bottom of the dry well emitted a faint golden glow, like a lighthouse in the mist.

"Go in."

A thought arose.

In an instant, Ji Ruchang felt her body being enveloped, pulled, and stretched by a gentle yet firm force—it didn't feel like she was penetrating any barrier, but rather like her whole being "dissolved" and then "reshaped".

Everything went dark for a moment, then suddenly bright again.

The dormitory has disappeared.

In its place was a dry well, three feet in diameter and about two zhang deep.

The opening is three feet wide at the top and widens as it goes down.

The well walls were made of dark blue-black bricks, with dark green moss growing in the cracks between the bricks. A damp, cold, earthy smell mixed with a certain rotten odor filled the nostrils.

Ji Ruchang stood at the bottom of the well, her feet on soft soil mixed with withered leaves.

Looking up, the well opening was shrouded in gray mist, obscuring the sky and revealing only a chaotic darkness. But the bottom of the well was not dark—the three-foot-tall golden sunflower was rooted beside him, its flower head facing upwards, like a flatbread, radiating a steady, pale golden light.

The light was not dazzling, but it had a strange penetrating power, illuminating the bottom of the well.

Ji Ruchang immediately gripped the fire copper sword in her hand.

The warm touch from the sword hilt calmed him down a little.

But the next moment, he froze—

On the sword, the originally dull dark red patterns now shimmered with a faint golden halo, as if they had been coated with a very thin layer of gold paint.

Not only the blade itself, but even the edges of the notches on the edge of the blade faintly shimmered with golden light.

He looked down at himself.

Hands, arms, robes—any part of the body enveloped by the light of the Golden Sunflower was covered with a faint golden halo that was almost invisible to the naked eye.

This halo was not just for decoration. He could clearly feel that the circulation speed of his true energy was at least 30% faster than it was in the outside world!

Not only that...

Ji Ruchang closed her eyes and looked inward.

Within his dantian, four strands of true energy, tinged with gold, slowly rotated.

Under the sunflower's light, with each rotation of the true essence, a tiny, almost imperceptible "impurity" is stripped away and purified, while the quality of the true essence itself slowly improves.

Even more astonishing is the speed at which true essence recovers!

In the outside world, a cultivator in the Qi Refining stage needs to complete a full cycle of external circulation during meditation to recover one or two tenths of their true essence.

At this moment, he could feel his true essence recovering on its own at a slow but steady rate simply by standing still—it would recover about 10% in about half an hour!

This is without using techniques like the external circulation of the Great Heavenly Cycle.

What kind of effects would it have if one cultivated here?

"This... the concentration of spiritual energy in the area shrouded by the sunflower's light is actually higher than the density of my fourth-level Qi Refining True Essence?" Ji Ruchang's heart pounded wildly.

What does this mean?

This means that cultivating under this light is at least several times more efficient than cultivating outside!

This means that he can quickly improve his cultivation level without relying on the scarce spirit stones!

Based on this effect alone, the value of the Golden Sunflower is immeasurable!

Before her excitement had subsided, Ji Ruchang suddenly felt a blur before her eyes.

The perspective has changed.

He was no longer "looking" at the sunflower, but... he became the sunflower.

The viewpoint is low, only three feet high.

The flower head slightly lifted, "looking" towards the wellhead—where it was no longer a well, but an endless, churning, gray-black ocean of mist.

The fog was thick and sticky, with distorted shadows vaguely visible within it.

lonely.

Icy.

fear.

This is the emotion conveyed by the golden sunflower.

It's like a child abandoned in a dark wasteland, surrounded by malicious, prying eyes.

Deep within the fog, Ji Ruchang (or rather, Sunflower) could "sense" something—

On the ground, about three zhang to the east, three blurry figures exuding a cold aura were slowly moving.

On the ground, about two zhang to the south, there were five similar entities, one of which had an particularly gloomy aura, like a cold stone.

Further away, deep within the fog, there seemed to be even more...

"call--"

With her vision returning to normal, Ji Ruchang returned to her own body.

The change in perspective lasted only a breath, yet it sent a cold sweat down his back.

That feeling of being surrounded by boundless malice was all too real.

He tried to concentrate and silently repeat, "Change perspective."

Another blur appeared before my eyes.

Once again, the sunflower's perspective shifted.

Say it again: "Restore."

He returned to human form.

"I see... As long as you concentrate, you can freely switch between the perspectives of humans and flowers." Ji Ruchang said thoughtfully, "It's like having an extra pair of eyes to observe danger."

The dry well is located in the northwest corner of the courtyard, extending outwards in only two directions: due east and due south.

The rest are blocked by the outer courtyard wall and the corners of the houses.

According to the perception transmitted by the Golden Sunflower, there was even less threat from the due east direction—only three clusters of cold, gloomy energy, and they were a little further away.

"Let's start from here."

Ji Ruchang gripped the Fire Copper Sword tightly, and the golden light on the sword seemed to sense his fighting spirit, shining slightly brighter.

He first adjusted his breathing, circulating his true energy to its optimal state, and then took a step forward—

With a whoosh, Ji Ruchang jumped out of the well.

Then, stepping out of the area enveloped by the sunflower's light, they entered the gray fog.

The moment Ji Ruchang stepped into the gray fog, his whole body stiffened.

That wasn't a change in temperature, but rather a change in... "texture".

The air became thick, as if it were immersed in cold oil.

Countless tiny, tingling, and chilling sensations surged in from all directions, trying to penetrate the body through the skin, pores, and even breath.

A fine, stinging sensation spread across my skin, like being gently pricked by countless ice needles.

Vision deteriorated rapidly—even with the eyesight of a fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator, one could still clearly see the outline of a figure ten feet away at night.

But here, the gray fog churned, and the light was completely absorbed. The range he could see was only... one zhang!

Beyond that, it was all a chaotic gray-black expanse, and nothing could be seen.

Hearing is also affected; distant sounds become blurry and distorted, as if through a thick layer of water.

"This mist... can suppress perception and erode the body." Ji Ruchang felt a chill run down her spine.

He had sensed it when he stood at the edge of the light, but only when he actually stepped into it did he realize how terrifying the suppression was.

If you stay in this kind of environment for a long time, it will be difficult to even stay awake, let alone fight.

Just as he was adapting to the changes in his environment—

"Shh...shh..."

A faint scraping sound came from deep within the fog ahead.

It looks like cloth shoes dragging on the ground, or like withered leaves being crushed.

There is more than one direction.

Similar sounds came from the left, right, and even behind me, gradually becoming clearer as they approached.

Ji Ruchang took a step back without hesitation.

His body was once again enveloped in the sunflower's light.

Instantly, the stinging sensation on my skin disappeared, my vision returned to clear, and the chilling feeling of being spied on was greatly reduced.

And footsteps in the gray fog...

Chaos.

The previously orderly and gradually approaching friction sounds suddenly became chaotic and rapid the moment Ji Ruchang retreated back into the range of light, as if it had lost its target and was spinning in place, or as if it had been stimulated by something and seemed somewhat anxious.

However, they did not approach the northwest corner of the courtyard, a place that shelters the corner of the wall and blocks the light from reaching the corner area of ​​the courtyard.

Ji Ruchang keenly noticed that the sounds remained within the gray mist, maintaining a distance of at least one zhang from the edge of the light.

"Are they...afraid of this light?"

An idea took shape in my mind.

Ji Ruchang needs to be verified.

He held the fire copper sword horizontally in front of him, took a deep breath, and then—

He extended his left foot forward, stepping out of the light and into the gray mist.

At the same time, he leaned his body slightly forward, exposing the left half of his body—arm, shoulder, and part of his chest—to the gray fog.

Just a breath.

"Whoosh!"

The disordered footsteps in the fog suddenly stopped.

next moment--

"Whoosh!"

A blurry black shadow suddenly darted out from the fog directly in front of them, moving with incredible speed, and lunged straight at Ji Ruchang's exposed left arm!

Ji Ruchang's pupils contracted, and his true energy erupted instantly!

But he didn't back down; instead—

With his right hand wielding the fire copper sword, which glowed with a pale golden light, he thrust it forward with incredible speed!