Chapter 188: Casting Stones to Ask the Way

In this situation, Jiang Yu decisively gave up on destroying the bird soul, halted her foot, sent countless spirit energies striking the ground, and at the same time flashed her body away from here.

The ground was then pried open by a slender earthworm, but its soul body had been split in two by Jiang Yu and was devouring each other.

But this gave the airborne bird soul a chance; it seized the moment to dodge the fireball, ceased attacking Jiang Yu, and instead grabbed the two earthworm halves on the ground and fled.

Jiang Yu hesitated slightly and did not rashly give chase.

"Damn, when they were beast spirits they must have opened up a lot of spirit intelligence; now as ghosts they use military tactics?" Jiang Tu stared dumbfounded.

"A soul beast with a brain? It seems Xuantang Xingjun once fought here.

Now, are there any ghost cultivators above the Nascent Soul stage?" Jiang Yu looked around, saw nothing else, and continued to follow her sense.

But after walking for over a minute, she found herself still circling the same spot, and despite her aura, no ghost beasts or ghost cultivators came.

She couldn't help but wonder, "Could it be that a Foundation Establishment cultivator who loses just one battle hides away?"

Not only her, but Xia Bing, Lin Yuan and six others, after landing at different spots, also faced soul-body attacks.

And after fighting one or two rounds and winning, those ghost beasts never reappeared.

To be honest, everyone carried the most fire‑type artifacts and spirit talismans; it's simply because fire is more lethal, and demonic cultivators often use it.

And the demons that practice with fragmented souls also fear fire attacks; the yin fire they can now spew is no match for cultivators.

"Jiang Yu, you must be careful; there may be someone at the Core Formation stage appearing.

Anyone who walks the ghost path and reaches Core Formation is three grades stronger than peers," Jiang Tu reminded promptly.

Jiang Yu nodded slightly; unable to find direction, she took out a low‑grade spirit stone, tossed it, and walked toward wherever it landed.

That's what they call casting stones to ask the way.

Whether it works or not, nobody knows; it's a very metaphysical thing.

At the same time, she also grasped a Nascent Soul sword talisman; a Core Formation ghost cultivator would be hit with a single strike.

It's not that she doesn't want to use the thunder‑bamboo fan; the fan's thunder power is insufficient. At this moment, she truly wishes she had a thunder spirit root to draw lightning herself.

The spirit stone hit the ground, indicating the direction at ten o'clock to her left.

Jiang Yu retrieved the spirit stone, instantly removed her defenses, activated an invisibility talisman, and vanished into the gray mist, silently channeling internal force to leap.

Indeed, she chose to use lightness skill; once hidden, she vanished completely.

After roughly half a cup of tea (about five minutes), a humanoid ghost cultivator appeared on her sprinting path.

And it swung its fist with pinpoint precision, sending surrounding yin wind to strike directly at her solar plexus.

"Core Formation! No, perhaps Nascent Soul!" Jiang Tu stood up again, clutching the dragon stele to observe.

At that moment, there was no time to dodge; the purple jade on Jiang Yu instantly emitted a flash of light, shielding her from the blow.

The massive light shield flickered a few times, then the radiance intensified, firmly protecting her—this was the second time it saved her.

But the invisibility talisman on Jiang Yu was blown away by the earlier yin wind, so she activated the flash‑evasion talisman in her hand.

Unfortunately, the opponent merely flashed once and blocked her again; the ghost cultivator smiled benignly: "Can you resist a Nascent Soul's full‑force supreme defensive treasure?"

"Which sect are you a direct disciple of?"

"Just so you know, the spirit talisman in your hand has its effect halved twice within a hundred zhang of me."

"I am a junior disciple of the Grand Void Sect," Jiang Yu replied, not revealing the immortal realm; she didn't fully trust him.

But Jiang Tu's transmitted voice whispered in her ear: "He must have been at the Nascent Soul stage before death; perhaps he cultivated a domain."

A cultivator's domain is a control field formed by the perfect fusion of spirit and magical power.

Within his domain, he becomes the Heavenly Dao, able to command everything; anyone who cultivates such a divine art is a prodigy of extraordinary talent.

Jiang Yu, determined to run again, decisively used her master Jie's life‑saving teleportation jade talisman.

With a 'ka' sound, her form darkened and she vanished before the ghost cultivator.

The ghost cultivator chuckled twice, his body turning into light smoke and disappearing; the mark he placed on the young cultivator allowed him to quickly pinpoint the location.

Jiang Yu hadn't realized she'd been marked; the teleportation talisman works in normal surroundings, capable of sending her three hundred li away, beyond the detection of a Nascent Soul cultivator's spiritual sense.

But she never expected that the moment she landed and sensed ghostly eyes watching, the ghost cultivator had already pursued.

Jiang Yu gritted her teeth, intending to unleash the Nascent Soul sword talisman before the opponent could deploy his domain technique, buying time to escape.

Her heart moved at will, the sword talisman flashed, and a booming sound rang through the surrounding heavens and earth.

The pursuing ghost cultivator dodged successfully, but the ghost beasts and low‑rank ghost cultivators hiding in the shadows to ambush were instantly erased in the sword light, not even a scream escaping.

Jiang Yu drew another sword talisman, just catching her breath to run again, when the ghost cultivator reappeared before her eyes; she painfully activated it again.

The ghost cultivator halted her: "Don't waste it. I have no intention of killing you; your sword talisman can't kill me either."

Jokingly, he said that when he was human he never lost a duel against sword cultivators for two or three months; now as a ghost, a mere sword‑energy talisman can't affect him at all.

Raising his hand slightly, he added: "You junior, I'm only inquiring about a few matters; why resort to repeated attacks?"

"You're testing my patience; believe it or not, a single finger can determine your life or death."

"I believe, which is why I must buy time to run," Jiang Yu ceased moving—not because she didn't want to, but because she realized a single hand movement of his had restrained her ability to act.

The ghost cultivator gave no answer; were it not for his good mood today, he wouldn't tolerate her recklessness. "I have never heard of the Grand Void Sect.

In the past thousand years upon awakening, I have seen people claiming to be from the Dongzhou Continent's Yunwu Sect, Tiandao Sect, Sword Sect, Mo Yue Sect, but they were all at the Nascent Soul stage.

"Great Luo Cave Heaven, when will one be able to enter the Foundation Establishment stage?"

Jiang Yu thought for a moment and informed him that a few centuries ago the cave heaven suddenly changed its restrictions, and this time it was opened early again.

"I, as a junior, only know this; may I take my leave?"

"What about the other few Foundation Establishment ones? Do you know?" The ghost cultivator had already seen Xia Bing and the others fall in, but encountered Jiang Yu first.

When Jiang Yu heard his question, her heart lurched; she thought, don't go looking for senior brothers and sisters, "They know even less; the Tai Ji Fish Cards have been appearing across Dongzhou Continent.

This is our Tianyuan Continent; it's the first time we've collectively obtained many fish cards."

"Surely you didn't get them?" the ghost cultivator said, counting on his fingers.

Jiang Yu nodded heavily, "Some were obtained during my junior travels across Dongzhou, others from a place in Tianyuan where…"

The ghost cultivator cut her off: "Great Zhou Tian Formation? Have you ever seen anyone who set it up?"

"Ask whether he is a spirit‑realm cultivator?" Jiang Tu transmitted his voice within the dragon pearl.

Jiang Yu could not afford to question them, so she weighed her words and said, "Over there, I met a Qian cultivator; he comes from the spirit realm and is currently borrowing my elder brother's mortal body."

Before her words finished, the ghost cultivator launched a spell projectile; her double sleeves instantly swept it away, and the Tai Ji Fish Card's seal shone brightly.

"Indeed, the reason we can smoothly enter his Zhou Tian Star Array is this seal."

You actually managed to obtain the activation token of Tai Ji Dian; is another person also here?" The ghost cultivator couldn't help but glance at her a few more times.

Jiang Yu flatly denied, "No, we still don't know Senior Brother Jiang's whereabouts."