"Young man, I have a request. Would you be willing to help me upgrade and modify the other formations here as well? You were right just now—the level of the formations I laid down is indeed too low, and they cannot fully repair this Nine-Headed Blood Earth."
The Taoist spoke to Ye Yunfei. His attitude toward Ye Yunfei had already become extremely respectful, his tone carrying a distinct note of entreaty. The astonishing skill in Formations displayed by Ye Yunfei made him understand that this young man before him must have a remarkable background.
"Rest assured, I will not let you work for free. I can give you a reward," the Taoist continued.
"I need a batch of treasures containing wood-attributed energy and laws, or a batch of relatively high-level Bloodline Essence, or perhaps Innate Treasures. Do you have any?" Ye Yunfei thought for a moment before speaking.
"In that case, I'll go back and ask my master. Young man, please wait here for a while," the Taoist said.
"Agreed," Ye Yunfei nodded.
"Serve the spiritual tea and fruits! Make sure our honored guest is well treated!" The Taoist turned and said to the few elders who had been present earlier. With that, his figure flickered and vanished.
An elder shrouded in a dense aura of death strode forward and waved his sleeve. A set of stone table and chairs flew out, constantly enlarging as they landed in front of Ye Yunfei. On the stone table were placed spiritual tea, spiritual wine, spiritual fruits, and some exquisite pastries, all emitting waves of enticing fragrance.
"Come over here as well," Ye Yunfei's gaze shifted into the distance where Hu Miao and the others had been standing and waiting, and he spoke aloud.
"Master is too amazing! He's already on good terms with them so quickly! Let's go over!" Hu Miao exclaimed excitedly, then took the lead and walked toward Ye Yunfei.
Huang Shang and the students also hurriedly followed.
"Esteemed guests, please enjoy the tea," the elder took out several more sets of stone tables and chairs, arranging spiritual tea, fruits, and other items on them.
"Everyone can rest assured. There's no danger here," Ye Yunfei said with a smile.
A short while later.
The Taoist abruptly appeared once more in front of Ye Yunfei.
"Young man, here is a batch of resources containing wood-attributed energy and laws, as well as some Innate Treasures. There's also a batch of Bloodline Essence that can be considered quite decent. I wonder if you are satisfied?" The Taoist flicked his sleeve, sending a spatial ring flying before Ye Yunfei.
This spatial ring was extremely high-grade; its internal space was far more expansive than the spatial rings found within the Profound Yellow Star Field!
Ye Yunfei swept it with his Soul Power.
"Not bad," Ye Yunfei's eyes lit up, a hint of excitement surfacing. He was highly satisfied with the treasures stored inside this spatial ring.
"Good. I'll help you modify and upgrade all the Formations in this area then. However, I don't have the necessary formation resources myself," Ye Yunfei said, carefully storing away the spatial ring.
"Young man, I thank you! All the formation resources needed will naturally be provided by me," the Taoist said excitedly.
"Then it's settled. Let's begin," Ye Yunfei stated.
Next, Ye Yunfei led the Taoist in a round of modifications and upgrades to all the Formations in this area.
Having thoroughly researched even defective divine-grade formations in his past life, it could be said that most of the Formations in the world presented little difficulty for Ye Yunfei.
Finally, after a few hours, the modification and upgrading of all the Formations were complete.
Boom…
It was as if this part of heaven and earth had undergone a certain change.
Within a radius of hundreds, even thousands of *li*, all kinds of Yin Qi, Sha Qi, miasma, and frigid energies… Various types of cold, Yin-attributed energies and laws transformed into black rivers that surged mightily, converging toward this Nine-Headed Blood Earth.
To the naked eye, the nine peaks, crimson as blood, began to change color, slowly turning a darker shade of red.
"Haha, good! Excellent! Young man, your level of skill with formations is simply breathtaking!" Witnessing this change, the Taoist couldn't help but laugh heartily, extremely moved.
"Alright. We should be going," Ye Yunfei said with a faint smile.
"Young man, due to his special status, my master cannot meet with you in person. I ask for your understanding. My master asked me to convey that if there is an opportunity to meet again in the future, he will personally host a banquet in your honor!" the Taoist told Ye Yunfei.
"I understand. If fate allows us to meet again, we'll discuss it then," Ye Yunfei nodded. With his thousand years of cultivation experience, he had seen many such situations; naturally, he wouldn't pry endlessly or try to investigate the other party's identity.
"Also, young man, here is a map concerning this Small World. Over the years, I've gained some understanding of this world through deductions and have drawn a map. On this map, I've marked some of the most dangerous locations. Young man, remember well: the places I've marked are perilous beyond measure—some even more dangerous than my Nine-Headed Blood Earth here. You must absolutely not enter them." The Taoist flicked a finger, sending a jade slip flying to land before Ye Yunfei.
"Good. Thank you," Ye Yunfei said, storing the jade slip.
Then, Ye Yunfei led Hu Miao and the others and left this Nine-Headed Blood Earth.
"This young man is too mysterious. He definitely has an astonishing background. When we meet again someday, I hope it will be as friends, not foes." The Taoist muttered to himself as he watched Ye Yunfei's group fade into the distance.
"Master, those Burial Race members look so strange, as if they aren't living people," Hu Miao suddenly asked Ye Yunfei.
"The Burial Race is a very peculiar existence. They are not considered living, nor are they considered dead. They are described as a race that is half-alive and half-dead. When some powerful living beings die, if their Soul Bodies are unwilling to leave their flesh or if only some Remnant Souls remain, they can employ special secret arts to refine their bodies, then seal the Soul Body back inside. In this way, they become part of the Burial Race, equivalent to living a second life.
"The bodies of the Burial Race are dead, yet the Soul Bodies are still alive, making them half-dead, half-alive.
"There is one prerequisite for becoming a member of the Burial Race: the individual must have possessed extremely formidable strength during their lifetime, particularly requiring their physical body to have reached a certain quality, to have any chance of sealing their Soul Body into the body after death and enduring long epochs without their souls scattering."
Ye Yunfei explained all this.
"So that's how it is," Hu Miao felt it was extremely novel.
"There are such things in the world," Huang Shang also sighed with wonder.
The students who heard Ye Yunfei's words clicked their tongues in amazement as well.
"Therefore, if you encounter members of the Burial Race again in the future, avoid provoking them unless you have to. Every Burial Race member is exceedingly fearsome in strength," Ye Yunfei said.
"Master, do we still go look for Demigod herbs?" Hu Miao suddenly asked.
"We won't look for Demigod herbs anymore. I estimate that even if we find them, it's unlikely we could take them. Instead, it might invite fatal danger," Ye Yunfei thought it over and said.
This mountain range region was too mysterious and perilous; even Ye Yunfei lacked the confidence to provoke the terrifying beings dwelling here. Actually, aside from Demigod herbs, Ye Yunfei also wanted to search for another item: the Heavenly Dao Tower!
"Let's do this: we'll wander around a bit more and see if we can gain something." Ye Yunfei took out the jade slip given by the Taoist and directly activated it.
Immediately, a map materialized from the jade slip. This map was precisely of the Divine Fall Land!
Of course, it was only a rough map, not necessarily accurate or detailed, because it had been deduced by that Taoist!