Cultivation Retirement Plan (BL)

45. Targeted Traps

Shi Feng sensed the mist before he saw the dark teeming mass swirling in silent vigil over the so-called Stonecut Valley. His eyes swept over the surrounding mountains, picking out the shapes of the peaks and their relation to the stars in the cloudless skies above.

Indeed, this is Qingqiu. How many years has it been since the Fox King last held court?

It was at least long enough for the very scent of foxes to vanish from the air. True to his name, the Lord Amidst the Clouds began his descent by stepping on cumulus puffs that appeared beneath his feet like stairs. He stopped just short of the mysterious mist, clearly seeing the tormented faces still trapped within the mass.

Shroud of the Dead was an eerie obstruction, but also completely self contained. Though it held hungry souls of the dead, they were trapped within the barrier and wouldn't attack anyone who approached. Those who tried were inherently repelled by the strong aura of death the barrier possessed. It was no danger by itself, but one had to wonder at the intentions of the one who summoned it into being. Dispelling it was the obvious choice. Shi Feng reached out a hand to do just that, causing the souls before his palm to scatter in fear. They could sense enough of his power to know he was capable of vaporizing them with one touch.

A half-immortal was no joke even to Middle Realm cultivators, to say nothing of powerless souls without a physical shell.

Shi Feng's lips quirked up at the sight. "Do you think I would've lasted so long in these realms without any self-control?"

His fingers folded back until only a single index finger was pointed at the shroud. A slender stream of light streamed from its tip and quickly dissipated into the barrier, brushing harmlessly against the myriad souls crowded in its formation. There were multiple ways to dispel mist, after all. One could expose it to the sun until the light banished all the spirits within. One could overwhelm it with yang energy until the souls burned into nothingness. But his Dao was All-Encompassing, and its nature was to harmonize with all.

No gain, no loss. Equilibrium for all beings, living or dead.

Slowly would his qi work its way throughout the entire barrier, filling in the cracks and spaces between the captive souls. It would expand the shroud beyond its limits, thinning its walls like a bubble before the final, gentle pop. The swirling mass beneath him seemed to calm after sensing his intentions, though their faces were still contorted in distorted expressions. Fear, resentment, pain...such were the grievances they had carried on into the afterlife. Shi Feng soon noticed that many of them weren't even the souls of humans, but of Yao. Come to think of it, hadn't a war nearly wiped out their kind some centuries ago?

With his other hand, he found and plucked out two of the strongest spirits to cradle in a protective bubble above his palm. By the strength of their souls, they should have the strongest consciousness and memory of the past.

"Who are you both and what is your story?" Shi Feng asked.

Reduced to motes of light in his hand, the two souls hesitated but ultimately caved before his presence.

"I was a general to the Fox King in my last life."

"And I, the personal guard to the Wolf King."

Shi Feng creased his brows. He had lived long enough to see multiple Yao take the throne to guess their last rulers. It was also useless to ask after the Fox King because only the royal Fox Clan knew of their birth names, which were abandoned as soon as they took the crown. He thus set his sights on the Wolf King's guard.

"Which Wolf King? What was his name and generation?"

The second little mote bobbed up and down before he replied, "I served the 73rd ruler of the Northern Icelands, His Majesty Ling Rui!"