Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

"Your cave is here?" Zhuang Xing looked at the gentle hillside.

"This is it!" The panda tilted its head back. "I remember this place the clearest!"

"Yes, yes, our cave is so comfortable to sleep in."

"The fruit I picked is still in the hole!"

The pandas jumped around, as happy as children running into an amusement park, digging at rocks here and nibbling at grass there.

They were extremely excited, but when the white panda-shaped shadow turned around to look at them, they still gathered together.

The light and shadow brushed against the pandas' faces, and the pandas felt a warmth, but before they could savor it, the light and shadow flickered and disappeared, turning back into a faint glow.

The light flickered like a firefly, flying towards the hillside. The little pandas chased after it, but the light disappeared into the mud and rocks, and darkness returned to the surroundings.

The pandas foolishly bumped into the mud, touched their noses, and then stretched out their little paws to dig at the mud.

It seemed as if they thought their mother was playing hide-and-seek with them, and that if they dug away the mud, their mother would come out.

"Is this trying to tell me what's inside?"

Zhuang Xing looked at the place where the light and shadow disappeared. He walked forward, squatted down in front of the hillside, and stretched out his finger to pick up a small handful of soil.

It was originally mud and rocks that had collapsed under the weight of snow, so it was naturally loose and crumbling.

He looked up and hesitated to use his sword energy to slash, fearing that the hillside would collapse completely.

"Looks like we'll have to dig little by little. Let's camp here tonight."

Zhuang Xing made up his mind. He called the pandas over and asked them to gather some firewood.

There is a bamboo forest nearby, with many dry bamboos that can be burned.

Zhuang Xing lit a fire with a fire-lighting talisman, and Xiao An's skeleton and the bearded man sat together by the fire.

Although the skeleton sat motionless on the ground, Xiao An's spirit left its body and flew around.

No wonder she was so lively; only when her soul and spirit were united could she truly see the world clearly.

Her soul was split from her body since childhood. When she looked at the outside world, it was as if she were in a cloud of mist, and all five senses were impaired. Sometimes she couldn't even tell where she was.

At this moment, it was as if a deaf-mute person who had been nearsighted for many years had regained normalcy; the world had never been so clear, and her thoughts had never been so lucid.

Seeing Xiao An's soul floating before his eyes, Zhuang Xing had an idea.

Ghosts can pass through walls; they have no physical form, and in scientific terms, they are simply a mass of energy.

"Xiao An, there's probably something mysterious hidden in this hillside. Can you go inside and take a look?"

Zhuang Xing called Xiao An to his side.

Xiao An looked at Zhuang Xing with a puzzled expression and said, "But what kind of thing can be considered a mysterious object? I've never seen one before."

"That's the thing that turned that forest into a ghost town and trapped your soul. If you get close to it and see it, you should feel something," Zhuang Xing said. "Just go in and take a look. Don't get too close. If you feel anything is wrong, come back immediately."

"Okay, I got it!" Xiao An said enthusiastically. "Then I'll go in!"

"Go."

As soon as Zhuang Xing finished speaking, Xiao An arrived at the side of the hillside.

She tentatively reached out her hand, and seeing that her fingertips pierced through the mud and rocks, she put her arm in, slowly inserted half of her body, and then her whole body was submerged in the mud and rocks.

After a while, she returned, her eyes shining.

"What did you see?" Zhuang Xing asked curiously.

"There's a really beautiful rock!" Xiao An exclaimed excitedly, gesturing as she spoke. "It was so dark inside, I couldn't see anything, but after walking for a while, a bright light suddenly appeared in front of me. I ran over to look and saw a black and white rock!"

"A black and white stone?" Zhuang Xing pondered, then asked, "Could it be that the stone is exactly half black and half white?"

"How did you know?" Xiao An blinked at him.

"Does the Taoist priest know what kind of stone that is?" the bearded man asked.

"If Xiao An is right, then it should be a Yin-Yang Stone," Zhuang Xing exclaimed. "To think that a Yin-Yang Stone would be buried in a place like this..."

"What kind of stone is the Yin-Yang Stone?" Xiao An asked.

“A kind of strange stone,” Zhuang Xing said. “In some places it is also called Yin Yang Zi Que. As you can tell from the name, Yin Yang stone is divided into two parts, Yin and Yang. It is a kind of jade that grows in one piece.”

Zhuang Xingye had only read about the Yin-Yang Stone in the jade slip of the White Lotus Hermit. It was said that the Yin-Yang Stone was a rare treasure that took a thousand years to grow into the shape of jade.

A perfect Yin-Yang stone should be exactly half Yang and half Yin to achieve balance. Otherwise, if one of the Yang or Yin stones is in excess, the other will be quickly devoured, turning into a Yang or Yin stone mixed with impurities.

While Yang Stone and Yin Stone are also rare treasures, their value is much lower than that of Yin-Yang Stone.

As for the true value of the Yin-Yang Stone, it is difficult to measure it using worldly terms.

For cultivators, this thing can be used as a key element in an array or for forging weapons.

If it is a yin-yang stone that has grown chalcedony, it can also be used as medicine and taken directly. It has many benefits for the body and spiritual practice, and legend has it that it can give a person decades of spiritual cultivation out of thin air.

No wonder the pandas became spirits and the bamboo forest turned into a ghost town, with such strange rocks buried in these mountains.

The red panda absorbed the yang energy of the yin-yang stone and became a spirit. The bamboo forest, affected by the yin energy of the yin energy, turned into a ghostly place. In this way, everything makes sense.

"Xiao An, do you remember how many steps you took before you saw the Yin-Yang Stone?"

In front of the fire, Zhuang Xing took out some dry biscuits from his bundle, ate a few bites, and shared them with the pandas.

"We saw the rock very soon," Xiao An said. "It seemed like we only took five or six steps."

"Judging from this, the Yin-Yang Stone must be buried very shallowly." Zhuang Xing swallowed the cake in his hand whole. "With some effort tonight, we can dig it out."

"Once it is taken away, this Bamboo Forest Ghost Land will be like an array that has lost its core, dissipating without a fight. Evil spirits will no longer gather here, and monsters that have become spirits will not easily appear."

Zhuang Xing couldn't wait to dig out the Yin-Yang Stone. Even the layman had never seen the Yin-Yang Stone in person. Today, he had the opportunity to see the real thing, so he really couldn't contain himself.

Even before this stone appeared in the world, it could make pandas come to life and summon evil spirits in droves, which shows its extraordinary nature.

"I'll help too!" the bearded man volunteered.

So Zhuang Xing went to the bamboo forest, cut down some green bamboo and made six bamboo shovels. Fearing that the shovels wouldn't be durable, he made a few more.

After eating a few bites of dry rations and filling his stomach, he and the bearded man got busy on the hillside.

The little pandas also used their paws to dig in the mud, while Xiao An guided them to make sure they didn't dig into empty spaces.

Zhuang Xing dug out the soil shovel by shovel. The bearded man was sweating profusely. He waved his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead and then pushed down hard.

The mud on the side had been piled up to form a small mound.

By midnight, when the bright moon was high in the sky, the two had dug five or six meters deep.

"It's right down there!" Xiao An shouted.

Zhuang Xing suddenly shoveled down and felt something hard against him.

He dug away the gray mud and dust, and a corner of a warm, black jade was revealed. After digging a couple more times to the side, a piece of jade the size of a goose egg appeared before his eyes.

It truly is half black and half white, seemingly incompatible, but in reality, they blend together perfectly.

It is the Yin-Yang Stone, a rare and extraordinary stone that is listed on the list.

Chapter 168 Sword Spirit Xiao An

Zhuang Xing picked up the Yin-Yang Stone; it felt cold to the touch.

Big Beard, Xiao An, and Panda all came over to look, but when Xiao An got close to the Yin-Yang Stone, the Yin-Yang Stone suddenly emitted light.

The light, both yin and yang, enveloped Zhuang Xing and the ghost.

"What...what's going on?!"

Xiao An panicked; she felt a suction force coming from the stone.

Zhuang Xing also felt the stone in his hand getting hot, and felt his palm sticking tightly to the stone.

Then, not only with the stone, he also noticed a mysterious and inexplicable connection between himself and Xiao An.

Only he and Xiao An showed signs of abnormality, while Big Beard and Red Panda showed no abnormalities.

Xiao An had been in contact with the Yin-Yang Stone multiple times before, and nothing unusual had happened. But now, a completely unexpected scene had appeared.

Zhuang Xing's mind raced, and he suddenly realized that the Yin-Yang Stone represented one yin and one yang, just as he and Xiao An represented one yin and one yang.

Having practiced warming techniques since childhood, he possesses abundant qi and blood, and is full of yang energy. He himself can be considered a "yang thing," while Xiao An is a demon formed from white bones, with his yin soul separated from his body, making him extremely yin. The two are in opposition to the yin-yang stone, which may cause some unknown changes.

For him, the change seemed harmless, but Xiao An was in a bad situation; she was being sucked into the Yin Stone.

It seemed as if an invisible wind cave was binding Xiao An to the Yin Stone.

"Master, what's going on?!" The bearded man grabbed Zhuang Xing's arm.

He was terrified when he saw his daughter's soul about to be sucked into the stone.

But Zhuang Xing didn't know what had happened. He could only guess that his "yang" was stronger than Xiao An's "yin," which caused the imbalance and resulted in this scene.

If yin and yang are in harmony, perhaps the strange phenomenon can be stopped.

Or perhaps the Yin-Yang Stone should be destroyed... No... The Yin-Yang Stone is a symbol of balance. Destroying it without authorization and breaking the balance may trigger even greater anomalies.

But at this moment, he had no way to make Xiao An's Yin energy stronger; this was not something that could be accomplished overnight.

He tried to throw the Yin-Yang Stone into his hand, but nothing stopped.

So there's only one option left.

Without hesitation, he drew his sword and slashed a wound on his arm.

Warm blood dripped down his arm. He endured the pain, forcing his blood out and stubbornly preventing the wound from healing.

If we can't let Xiao An's yin energy become stronger, then we can only make our own yang energy weaker.

Sure enough, after he forced his qi and blood out of his body, the strange phenomenon on Xiao An's side weakened a bit, but the "yin" was still not as strong as his "yang".

Xiao An became a ghost, but only for a year. During this time, she did not cultivate, and her soul was just trapped in the white bones and the ghostly forest, confused and ignorant.

However, Zhuang Xing had possessed innate Qi since childhood and had been cultivating on and off the mountain for five years.

The natural order of things is that the living are stronger, and it's difficult for even the most venerable spirits to survive, let alone compare to a Taoist priest like him.

Zhuang Xing then took a deep breath, looked at his arm, gripped the sword tightly, and cut another wound.

Unexpectedly, the most serious injury I have ever suffered since I began my cultivation was from cutting myself.