Chapter 82: Yin-Death Cold Rain

At the end of December, bitter winter was approaching.

The Yunze Wilds were shrouded in a gray, misty haze.

Snowflakes like goose feathers drifted down over Qingyang Market.

These days, Qin Ming, with nothing else to do, studied a pill formula: a mid-grade elixir called ‘Feed-Spirit Pill,’ specifically for feeding spirit insects.

Even without a blooming season, these Feed-Spirit Pills could still satisfy his spirit insects.

On this day.

Qin Ming returned to the back hill of the spirit fields, glanced left and right to confirm no one was around, then slipped alone into the forest.

He pulled out a purple demonic flower spirit seed and held it in his hand, waiting silently for his prey to appear.

Not long after.

A massive snow leopard appeared in Qin Ming’s line of sight.

He acted swiftly, flicking his fingers to launch the spirit seed toward the leopard.

In the blink of an eye.

By sheer mischance, the leopard darted away, as if preparing to seek food elsewhere.

The Thorn Spell struck the very spot where it had just leaped.

Whoosh!

A cluster of purple-black withered vines erupted wildly from the ground.

Just as Qin Ming thought his spell had failed.

Dense, hair-thin poison thorns sprouted along the purple vine.

Strangely, these thorns were ethereal—lacking physical form.

They emitted an extreme yin-cold aura of malevolent energy, seemingly designed to target the spiritual soul.

Had he not observed with his powerful spiritual sense, he would barely have noticed them.

Stimulated by the leopard’s leap, the poison thorns spontaneously detached and shot out with lightning speed.

They plunged deep into the leopard’s mind.

Thud! The leopard froze mid-air, then dropped stiffly to the ground.

Its pupils shrank, its eyes turned white, and it collapsed without warning.

As expected!

Yin-Death Poison! Capable of freezing the spiritual soul! “It can now launch yin-death thorns autonomously—far more agile than the previous Thorn Spell.”

This made Qin Ming even more excited. His earlier Thorn Spell, cast with black spirit seeds, had been powerful enough.

But it had a flaw: unless pre-planted along an enemy’s inevitable path, it was easily dodged or blocked upon casting.

Now, with this purple spirit seed, the thorns fired automatically—sudden, unexpected, utterly impossible to defend against.

Yet casting it directly was still too obvious; the opponent would have time to react.

If the opponent lacked a magic treasure specifically designed to defend against spiritual soul attacks,

combining it with his earlier spirit seeds could confuse them and land a devastating blow.

The purple withered vine instantly coiled around the leopard’s corpse, draining it into a dry husk that collapsed into a blood pearl on the ground.

Qin Ming raised his hand and summoned the blood pearl into his grasp—it was excellent nourishment for the withered blood poison vine.

Suddenly.

A flash of spiritual light passed through his eyes; a sudden idea struck him.

What if he combined the Thorn Spell with the Advanced Spirit Rain Art? After all, with his current cultivation base—equivalent to Qi Refining seventh layer—he could unleash the Spirit Rain Art to cover hundreds of zhang in all directions.

If he secretly hid the Thorn-imbued purple spirit seeds within the clouds, letting them fall with the spirit rain, it would be murder without a trace!

He acted at once, preparing to test the technique on a target.

Qin Ming summoned his swarm of four-winged Frost Bees.

He also wanted to see how combat-capable they had become since advancing to first-stage spirit insects.

Qin Ming pressed deeper into the forest, searching for a long while until he finally spotted a cave on a cliff face.

He directed the bee swarm to fly inside.

A few seconds later.

Roar! A thunderous, earth-shaking bellow erupted from within.

Qin Ming’s face darkened; his expression tensed.

“Could I really be this unlucky? I just wanted to test my spell’s power—surely I didn’t just stumble upon some powerful beast?”

He leapt up, landing on a nearby giant tree.

He squinted, eyes locked on the cave entrance.

Thump! Thump! Heavy footsteps shook the ground as a massive creature emerged.

Out burst a black-furred giant bear, over two zhang tall.

“It’s a first-stage mid-level beast,” Qin Ming muttered, a strange expression on his face.

He instantly exhaled in relief.

In the past, encountering such a ferocious beast would have meant becoming its meal—or fleeing for his life.

But now, he didn’t need to.

Behind the giant beast came Qin Ming’s swarm of four-winged Frost Bees.

A dense cloud of frost bees swarmed over the beast; though their transparent stingers pierced everywhere, leaving the beast battered and disheveled,

its thick hide was too tough—no matter how hard the bees attacked, they couldn’t break through its dense fur.

Seeing the moment was right, Qin Ming recalled the four-winged Frost Bees and stored them in his spirit beast pouch.

He formed a hand seal and pointed into the air—Boom!

Above, a vortex of black clouds began to form.

In the instant he cast the spell, he had scattered the Thorn-imbued purple withered vine spirit seeds into the cloud mass—utterly undetectable.

Whirrrr! Now, with the Advanced Spirit Rain Art, Qin Ming could cast it instantly—effortless, effortless, and within the blink of an eye, rain poured down over hundreds of zhang.

The giant beast below looked up at the sky, its eyes filled with terror.

It couldn’t fathom why, in the middle of snowfall, thunder and lightning had suddenly erupted—and rain began to fall. The bear turned to flee, racing back toward its cave.

Raindrops landed on its body. The bear’s eyes flickered with confusion; it paused its run, swatted at the rain, and shook its fur.

It seemed the rain posed no danger to it.

Cool and refreshing—it felt strangely pleasant.

But just then.

Several hair-thin transparent poison thorns fell amid the rain.

Like ice melting, they slipped effortlessly into the giant beast’s body.

As it savored the rain’s touch, sudden, searing pain exploded in its mind—its consciousness instantly blurred.

A few seconds later.

The giant beast’s body stiffened, motionless, frozen in its last posture. Externally, not a single wound marred its hide—but it was dead.

Several clusters of thorns fell from the clouds, wrapping around the beast’s body, then dissolved into blood pearls within moments.

“It really works in combination!”

“Hmm. From now on, this technique shall be called ‘Yin-Death Cold Rain.’”

“I never imagined—spirit-plant techniques could be fused into such a devastating ambush!”

Qin Ming dismissed the hand seal, dispersing the clouds, his face alight with excitement.

He leapt down, landing before the giant beast, collected the blood pearl, and took its fur as well—this mid-grade beast’s spirit materials could fetch some spirit stones.

Qin Ming’s face glowed with delight—he now had another unexpected trump card.

As he reveled in his joy,

a message arrived on his transmission talisman.

Qin Ming opened it—it was from Shopkeeper Liao.

“Brother Qin, what are you up to?”

“I went to Qingliang Cottage to find you, knocked for a long time—seems you’re not home?”

“It’s like this: our Sect Master broke through to Foundation Establishment two days ago. After stabilizing her cultivation, she just ended her seclusion today.”

“She wishes to invite you to a small celebration for her breakthrough in a few days, and specifically sent me to deliver this invitation.”

Qin Ming’s face showed shock and envy as he murmured:

“What?”

“Gu Qing has broken through to Foundation Establishment?!”

PS: Thank you, fellow cultivators, for your monthly votes and recommendations—deeply appreciated! (End of Chapter)