Looking at the two Storage Bags in her hand, Ouyang Ye was very curious about what treasures were inside. Although she wanted them too, she was never one to take advantage of others, so she handed the Storage Bags back to Gu Qingfeng.
"I don't want your things. You keep them yourself."
This Cave Dwelling was connected to many others, and there were certainly many spiritual treasures inside. Ouyang Ye didn't want to waste time here, so she said, "Also, I don't care if you're really a Rogue Cultivator or not, I advise you to leave quickly. You were lucky to run into me this time, otherwise you wouldn't even know how you died."
Gu Qingfeng took the Storage Bags, shrugged, and smiled. "My luck has always been good."
"Can't be bothered with you!"
Seeing Gu Qingfeng's utterly calm and leisurely demeanor, Ouyang Ye couldn't understand where this guy got his confidence from.
She originally wanted to scold this guy who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth, but after thinking about it, she decided to let it go. After all, they weren't familiar, and there was no need to rack her brains over a stranger.
"You'd better take care of yourself!"
With that, Ouyang Ye turned and left.
Watching her figure swiftly depart, Gu Qingfeng smiled and said, "That Little Girl really hasn't changed a bit. Sharp-tongued, but kind-hearted deep down."
After Ouyang Ye left, Gu Qingfeng didn't linger either, continuing to wander leisurely around.
There were quite a few skeletons in the Cave Dwelling, and all of them had had their Souls extracted. He roughly examined them; these skeletons showed no signs of struggle before death, and there were no traces of fighting in the Cave Dwelling. They died suddenly, without any warning.
Gu Qingfeng surmised that the murderer must have been someone with very high cultivation, and definitely an evil cultivator, who had used some great means to silently extract these people's Souls.
Such things weren't common, but Gu Qingfeng had seen quite a few over the years.
Not to mention just silently extracting these people's Souls, he had once personally witnessed an old demon perform a great suction that completely drained the Souls of millions of people inside a secret realm.
The Soul was the foundation of a person, their source, the fire of life.
However, the Soul was too mysterious and complex. Ordinary people simply couldn't and didn't dare to touch it. If one rashly interfered with it, losing consciousness was a light consequence, mental confusion was also light. Once the Soul dissipated, there wouldn't even be a chance for reincarnation.
However, the higher one's cultivation, the more one could appreciate the importance of the Soul.
Even if the physical body was destroyed, as long as the Soul remained, there was hope for rebirth.
For example, seizing a body for rebirth, or reincarnation. At the very least, one could live as a ghost spirit. As long as one lived, there was hope.
Once the Soul dissipated, that was the so-called absolute death.
Gu Qingfeng followed behind Ouyang Ye, watching as she cracked one Formation after another.
This Cave Dwelling was connected to dozens of others. Apart from a few whose structures were damaged due to some influence, the structures of the remaining Cave Dwellings were very intact, and they were densely packed with various Formations.
Almost every secret chamber, every stone door, was covered by a corresponding Formation.
Ouyang Ye's movements were very nimble. After passing through a stone door and opening a stone chamber, she would immediately loot the resources inside and head to the next chamber.
What surprised Gu Qingfeng was that the Little Girl seemed particularly proficient in Formations. Cracking various Formations was effortless for her.
In his memory, the Little Girl hadn't known much about Formations before. Could it be that in the three years since they last met, she had diligently studied and practiced Formations?
No!
That's not right!
Even if the Little Girl spent all three years comprehending Formations, her mastery couldn't possibly be this profound.
Gu Qingfeng had observed the Formations in these Cave Dwellings. Although the methods weren't particularly sophisticated, they were all laid by very experienced masters.
Ordinary people couldn't even crack them, let alone imitate the Formations stroke by stroke.
And the art of cracking was the most difficult part of Formations. Only those with extremely deep mastery of Formations had the ability to crack them.
Looking at Ouyang Ye, the Seals and Mudras she condensed and derived were truly smooth. Whether it was the technique of condensing the Seals and Mudras or their intensity, they were all practically perfect.
Seals and Mudras were profoundly mysterious and wondrous existences.
They were also the foundational building blocks of the Ten Arts of the Immortal Dao.
Whether it was martial arts, spells, Formations, etc., they were all derived from various Seals and Mudras, just implemented through different means.
Although Seals and Mudras were the foundation for cultivators, easy to start but extremely difficult to master, and this thing was too vast. Different Seals and Mudras could condense and derive endless Immortal arts. No one in heaven and earth dared to claim their mastery of Seals and Mudras was peerless.
There were no shortcuts with this thing either; it could only be accumulated bit by bit.
Gu Qingfeng had been observing Ouyang Ye and discovered that this Little Girl's mastery of Formations had definitely reached an extraordinary realm.
This absolutely couldn't have been achieved in three years. Not to mention three years, even thirty or three hundred years wouldn't be enough.
Could it be that the Little Girl had some fortuitous encounter in the past three years?
That wasn't right either.
Condensing and deriving Seals and Mudras—even the greatest fortuitous encounter couldn't produce that.
This simply wasn't a matter of fortuitous encounters or not, nor a matter of talent. It was a realm, an experience, something that could only be gradually achieved by condensing and deriving millions, even billions, of Seals and Mudras through bit-by-bit accumulation.
How did this Little Girl...
Puzzled, Gu Qingfeng suddenly thought of Yun Nishang.
Yun Nishang had buried her own Soul within Ouyang Ye's bloodline. This was an extremely heaven-defying method—burying the Soul and forgetting the self, also known as blood sacrifice inheritance.
Ouyang Ye must have inherited something from Yun Nishang.
Otherwise, the Little Girl's mastery of Formations couldn't have reached such a high level in just three short years.
The facts were exactly as Gu Qingfeng guessed. Ouyang Ye had indeed inherited an existence.
As for what kind of existence, she herself wasn't clear.
She only knew that after a mysterious totem inexplicably appeared on her chest three years ago, her life had undergone an earth-shattering change. Not only could her emotions cause changes in Great Nature, but her entire person seemed reborn, becoming exceptionally intelligent.
Whether it was martial arts, spells, or Formations, she mastered all Ten Arts of the Immortal Dao as soon as she learned them.
To be precise, it wasn't really learning, but a very miraculous feeling, as if she had known them since birth. There was no need to learn, no need to comprehend; she understood just by looking.
For example, many of the Formations in these Cave Dwellings she had never seen before, hadn't even heard of them. But with just a casual glance, she understood everything about the Formation.
When cracking them, she didn't need to think either; she naturally condensed and derived Seals and Mudras, with no discomfort in between, as if she had always known how.
At first, Ouyang Ye had been quite frightened by this strange thing happening to her. Three years had passed, and she had gradually grown accustomed to it...