Chapter 1557 - 1095: Fuyun Space (2)

Chapter 1557: Chapter 1095: Fuyun Space (2)

Fuyun Courtyard, the types of crops that can be planted are not many.

The lowest level, and can be planted all year round, is "Mulberry Grass", a purple plant that can be eaten raw by ghost species. The Netherworld’s universal currency, Cold Crystal Jade, can be directly exchanged in the system account, ten pieces of Cold Crystal Jade for a packet of seeds.

After planting, water the field every day, and they will mature in three days.

Of course, if you want to use items to expedite the maturation, you have to defeat monsters and exchange the spoils in the System Mall. Every month, you can exchange two hundred portions for Earth Core Dew used to expedite the maturation of regular crops.

"You guys clear out all the land that can be opened up first, I’ll go over there and fight a few small monsters." Jiang Yuan instructed, clicking to check the "Thousand-Layered Hide" needed for exchanging items.

He needed to leave the mountaintop courtyard and head to the mountainside beneath the sea of clouds to find a ghost creature known as the Insect Ghost.

The detailed illustrated handbook shows that this little creature belongs to the lowest-level ghost species, resembling an enlarged version of a pill bug. When he was a child in the village, without any decent toys, he often dug holes with a stick in the courtyard, and upon finding pill bugs, would roll them into balls and play with them.

At the sight of its "familiar" appearance, he actually felt a certain affection.

Encountering malevolent spirits is a probability when going out, but Jiang Yuan, being skillful and bold, and holding a Resurrection Talisman, wasn’t too afraid.

Moreover, after entering the Fuyun Courtyard, his Ghost Immortal Scripture skill lit up, possibly allowing him to directly consume the malevolent spirit with the same ghostly properties using his skill, thus making him even less afraid.

Following along the winding mountain path, he flew all the way down.

If it weren’t for the intermittent chilly winds and ghostly wails ruining the mood, the sea of clouds layered upon layers made the scenery truly worthwhile.

According to the system prompt, Jiang Yuan flew for a while and drilled into the dark forest.

The forest of the Old Underworld differs entirely from the Human World, Wilderness, or even Lotus Peak in the Netherworld. The various types of trees are not grotesque or terrifying, nor do they show any signs of life, resembling a death version of the jungle on Pandora Planet from movies.

Saying ’death’ might not be accurate, as he could feel these trees are still alive, growing slowly, with a state closer to being in slumber.

"Woo woo~"

The chilly wind blew through, making the quiet forest audible with his heartbeat.

The light circle in Jiang Yuan’s vision automatically focused, analyzed, and popped up detailed analyses of various plants for viewing upon clicking. As far as he could see, no ghost species were found, so he continued deeper.

"Rustle, rustle!"

A light sound came from the dense bushes not far away.

He hadn’t seen the true form yet but spotted the name [Insect Ghost] floating in mid-air, along with its short health bar.

"Finally found one!" Jiang Yuan was very excited, just about to rush forward and select to attack when a one-person-high gray big bug popped out from behind the bushes!

The familiar feeling from reviewing the illustrated handbook instantly vanished; this creature is large and even walks upright!

On both sides of its tall and wide body, it waved dozens of three to four-meter-long claws and rushed over upon sensing human presence!

He immediately selected and clicked the Ghost Immortal Scripture skill.

First-time use of the skill saw a vague white humanoid figure fly forward, turning into a white mist that enveloped the opponent.

-300!

The health bar instantly emptied, the Insect Ghost screamed, but it struggled barely before being devoured by the white mist.

[Thousand-Layered Hide +1]

The skill experience bar moved forward a tiny increment.

"As expected of a Celestial Level Technique, the initial attack power is decent, first fight monsters to level up slowly, once the level is up, I guess I can walk across the Old Underworld unrestricted." Jiang Yuan was just thinking about spending time leveling up his skills when he felt a chilly wind hit from behind and instinctively teleported to dodge, turning his head to see, he was slightly stunned.

Another Insect Ghost identical to the former one!

Is it a newly spawned monster, or a duplicate past version of the "monster" Tang Qin and others encountered?

He didn’t have time to think much, clicked select and launched another Ghost Immortal Scripture.

-300!

The health bar emptied again, no struggle, no scream, once more devoured by the white mist.

[Mysterious Soul Fragment +1]

"Indeed it’s mysterious!" Jiang Yuan only felt his scalp tingling, past speculations finally confirmed at this moment—the terrifying experiences of Tang Qin’s team, such as the self-destruct death, surrounded by duplicates, and even duplication reviving upon death, can all be explained.

Looks like until I’m certain Fuyun Courtyard is fully safeguarded, no one else should come here, not even the doppelgangers should be recalled promptly. The situation here is more complex than the Ghost Realm dungeon, once someone gets contaminated, even with Ice Flame and Resurrection Talisman, it might be challenging to save them.

With a sequence of remote operations, he sent the doppelgangers back to either clear dungeons or mine resources, keeping them far from the third courtyard. As for the opening up, he will take it slow himself.

[Thousand-Layered Hide +2]

[Mysterious Soul Fragment +1]

[Mysterious Soul Fragment +1]

......

"This ghostly place, wonder how the mysterious duplicates form, killing one can spawn several copies!" Jiang Yuan quickly got into the monster-grinding mode but became increasingly eager to complain as he proceeded.

Thankfully, the Elder Scholar isn’t of the paste-copy type of mysterious anomalies but what constitutes the mysterious army. Duplicate anomalies are fragile and can’t be sliced up but can be killed with skills.

It seems that Tang Qin’s past experience wasn’t about the same duplicate reviving over and over but rather the ghost cultivators killing one and creating a new duplicate. However, with identical appearance and behavior, leading them to mistakenly believe the opponent can’t be killed, thus generating a fear response.

While fighting monsters, he tried using Ice Flame purification.

Though the duplicates belong to the mysterious species, Ice Flame can easily purify them, but mysterious soul fragments cannot be obtained; the surrounding atmosphere is eerie yet devoid of enough Yin Energy for Ice Flame to function, does it mean the air isn’t truly contaminated?

Where in the realm lies the source of contamination?

Reaching a certain level of Fuyun Courtyard construction, could it pinpoint the contamination source and eliminate it completely? By then, whether it’s Netherworld Capital or Old Underworld, this realm much larger than the Netherworld might become usable again.

Over two hours, finally gathering three hundred pieces of Thousand-Layered Hide.

Consumed two hundred pieces to exchange for a hundred portions of Earth Core Dew, with the remainder stored as basic materials for future use.

Returning to the courtyard with unfinished opening tasks, he first clicked to use the maturation tools one by one, each stalk of the purple Mulberry Grass swaying in the wind, emitting faint purple light spots, matured.

[Main Quest: Construct Level One Fuyun Space. Reward: Courtyard Treasure — Stone of Three Lives]

[Quest 1: Cultivate fifty plots of farmland, and plant and harvest seasonal crops once, completed. Reward: Wuchang Robe +1 issued]

[Wuchang Robe: A black-and-white double-sided magical robe, equipping provides support from the power of Black and White Impermanence. Ghost species restraint +100; Block ghost energy erosion +100]

[Quest 2: Craft a Storage Box. Reward: 2000 Cold Crystal Jade]

"Dark Wood needs 20 pieces, Quicksand Slime 10 pieces, there are plenty of these basic supplies in the warehouse near Lotus Peak, no issues!" Jiang Yuan chuckled upon discovering it in the System Mall, buying a workbench for fifteen hundred Cold Crystal Jade, opening it to find himself pleased!

Near Lotus Peak they’ve been busy mining every day, per his requests, anything the system displays as material, whether wood or stone, gets stuffed into the warehouse.

Click to manufacture, the progress bar finished within ten seconds, and the wooden storage box entered the Storage Bag.

[Quest 2: Craft a Storage Box completed. Reward: 2000 Cold Crystal Jade issued]

[Quest 3: Complete courtyard opening. Reward: Water Well Blueprint +1]

The initial Fuyun Courtyard is indeed large, about three times bigger than the initial Level 0 Shuiyun Lake courtyard, though Jiang Yuan now is no newcomer to the "game".

He has both strength and means, along with top tools.

With the Purple Crystal Stone Axe, six or seven chops to fell a tree; using a Purple Crystal Stone Scythe, a single sweep cleared a large patch of wild grass. Jiang Yuan buried his head in hard work until half an hour later, the entire courtyard was tidy.

[Quest 3: Courtyard opening completed. Reward: Water Well Blueprint +1 issued]

[Quest 4: Repair Main House. Reward: Courtyard Wall Blueprint +1]

While opening the courtyard previously, he noticed many building ruins couldn’t be cleared, any old shovel capable of clearing other ruins when taken out showed four words hovering above the ruins: Unable to Clear.

It turns out these ruins were buildings to be repaired!

After the quest was released, Jiang Yuan walked over and clicked, the repair list popped up indeed, the level one buildings needed simple raw materials, all available in the warehouse at Lotus Peak. Click to repair, and wait.