Reality proved that Lu Qing could not float to wherever he pleased.
He would feel too tired if he floated outside for too long, and he had to return to his physical body's side to rest and recover. His physical body was in the chamber behind Yuyan Mountain and could not come out.
The floating speed of his consciousness was extremely fast, much faster than a Foundation Building cultivator. It only took half a day for him to reach his target destination.
Upon reaching the area, he felt the faint onset of fatigue.
However, since he was already there, he figured he might as well take a close look at the area as he intended to do in the first place.
He had made a rough estimation that he could float outside for a day. He should not have too much of a problem as long as he did not stay outside for too long and returned within a day.
The area was an irregular, oval-shaped lake with a radius of around 20 miles. Basically, the lake was not very large.
Lu Qing saw a village by the side of the lake, but the village had already been reduced to ruins. All of the buildings in the village were on the brink of completely collapsing. It must have been abandoned for a long time.
An average person might not have been able to detect anything, but Lu Qing was once a Golden Core cultivator, so he quickly realized what was going on after strolling around the ruins and the side of the lake.
This place must have once been a human village. The villagers reclaimed a piece of land for farming, and several people made a living off catching fish.
However, Water Ghosts suddenly appeared.
Water Ghosts were a type of undead monster.
The appearance of the Water Ghosts quickly annihilated the whole village, causing it to fall into ruin rapidly.
This event must not have happened too long ago, perhaps slightly over ten years ago at most. No wonder Lu Qing did not know about this area.
However, why would Water Ghosts appear here? Under normal circumstances, it was easy for Water Ghosts to appear after a vengeful person had drowned. However, one also had to consider the surroundings. The Spiritual Energy and environment around here were normal. It was not a particularly sinister place. These Water Ghosts should not have been able to breed so easily in this area.
After a moment's thought, Lu Qing observed the situation of his spirit form and was prepared to examine the area further.
He landed on the surface of the lake and then instantly dove in.
"Hm… The spirit form feels different under the water than in the air. The field of vision is a little different."
While internally deliberating, he floated in the lake for a short while and saw a Water Ghost.
The Water Ghost was extremely ugly. It looked like a bloated, decomposed corpse. Its harrowing eyes were permanently open as it floated freely in the water.
Even though the Water Ghost was an undead-type monster, it could not detect Lu Qing approaching it.
The lake was not large. Lu Qing quickly made his way around the entire thing.
He roughly estimated the total number of Water Ghosts on the lake. There were around 40 of them. Among the Water Ghosts, the one to note was a female Water Ghost. The power level of the female Water Ghost almost reached Level Two high-grade. It was equivalent to a cultivator at the peak of the Foundation Building stage.
This female Water Ghost might have been the cause of this lake's calamity.
Other than her, three other Water Ghosts had reached Level Two. The rest of the monsters were roughly at the mid to high tier of Level One.
What was more important was that Lu Qing had found the reason for the infestation of Water Ghosts in the area—the Yin-essence Water Jade!
The most powerful female Water Ghost stood guard by the side of the Yin-essence Water Jade.
The Yin-essence Water Jade was a rare natural treasure. In the hands of a great forger, the jade could be forged into a piece of Level Three high-grade water element equipment. The equipment would harbor intense yin-element powers.
However, only a rare few would choose that option. That was because the Yin-essence Water Jade had an even greater effect. It could help cultivators who cultivated mainly Water Elemental Techniques reach the Initial Enlightenment Stage!
It was not easy for a Yin-essence Water Jade to form. It must have been accumulating energy for at least 2,000 years and only taken shape in the past one or two years.
Lu Qing guessed that after the Yin-essence Water Jade was formed, the yin-element energy that it released caused a woman who drowned here to turn into a Water Ghost. An undead monster that harbored immense tenacity was naturally filled with hatred. It ultimately brought about calamity to the village and, at the same time, dragged many other people into the water and turned them into Water Ghosts.
At this moment, there was suddenly action in the system interface.
[Water Ghost Lake, Conquest Level: Level Two]
[Enemy Type: Undead type, Horde of Water Ghosts]
[Quantity: 43]
[Power Level: Average of Level One high-grade]
[Power Level of the Leader: Level Two high-grade]
[Conquest Reward: 425 Karma, One refresh of the Exchange tab; Level Three magic equipment: Soul-Harvesting Flute]
******
Lu Qing was sure that he had scouted the area well when he saw the information in the system.
He had to take down this area!
The system reward was generous. There was a large amount of Karma that Lu Qing could operate with as the reward. There was also a piece of Level Three magic equipment. Even though Lu Qing could not see the specific effects of the "Soul-Harvesting Flute," any Level Three magic equipment could fetch a price of 2,000 Spirit Stones.
However, the greatest allure was the Yin-essence Water Jade hidden within the lake!
One Foundation Building Elixir would sell for around 10,000 Spirit Stones on the market. Its effect was to assist a Foundation Building cultivator in finishing their foundation building process.
Without the Foundation Building Elixir, cultivators at the Foundation Building Stage could only try to break through the bottleneck forcefully. However, the success rate was less than 10 percent. Furthermore, not only was the efficiency of completing the foundation building process greatly reduced, but the outcome of a failed foundation building process was death.
With the protection of the Foundation Building Elixir, not only was the success rate greatly boosted, but the cultivator who consumed the elixir would also not die if they failed. They could even spend ten years recuperating and try again after that.
The Lu Clan had three Foundation Building cultivators out of a total of over 50 cultivators, but it was not because the Lu Clan was strong. The three remaining Foundation Building cultivators in the Lu Clan all had the generation name "Chao." While they were still training, Lu Qing, a Golden Core cultivator, was still lording over the Feiyun State. Not only did they have vast resources while they were training, but they also had access to exorbitantly expensive elixirs like the Foundation Building Elixir.
The Qingfeng Sect was one of the greatest cultivation factions in the Feiyun State. However, they only had 300 Foundation Building cultivators out of their total 20,000 cultivators.
In the Lu Clan, aside from the "Chao" generation, the "Ting" generation also received benefits from Lu Qing. Both Lu Tingfang and Lu Tingying, who had already passed on, had consumed the Foundation Building Elixir Lu Qing left behind for the family when they were in the Foundation Building Stage.
Unfortunately, that was the last of their strength.
When Lu Qing was severely injured, he had spent all of the family's resources on healing treasures. The clan was nearly annihilated in the battle at Yuyan Mountain. There was also the demon uprising… In the span of 50 years, the clan had suffered from multiple major tragedies. It caused the Lu Clan, which had not been set up for very long and still did not have deep reserves, to wipe out their assets.
The clan did not produce any other Foundation Building cultivators after the deaths of Lu Tingfang and Lu Tingying, as they could not afford the Foundation Building Elixir. From what Lu Chaoxi had said, there was a cultivator of the "Ting" generation who tried to advance to the Foundation Building Stage forcefully but died as a result.
That was his grandson. Lu Qing was heartbroken when he heard.
A Foundation Building Elixir was already extremely expensive. How valuable would the Yin-element Water Jade, which could help a Foundation Building cultivator reach the Initial Enlightenment Stage, be?
Of course, under normal circumstances, the risk of breaking through to the Initial Enlightenment Stage was not as great as the Foundation Building Stage. The cultivator would be severely injured and forever unable to have another chance of breaking through to the Initial Enlightenment Stage if they failed. While the success rate was extremely low if the cultivator did not use any treasures, failure did not result in death. Many Foundation Building cultivators dared to try advancing in level even if they did not have any treasures.
Moreover, the Yin-element Water Jade was a treasure that only a cultivator with a certain Spiritual Root that practiced a specific technique could use. That would cause its value to decrease further.
Even so, this treasure could be worth 30,000 to 50,000 Spirit Stones. The price of this treasure was determined by how badly the buyer needed it.
If he could obtain it, the crisis the clan faced would be greatly alleviated, even if he chose to sell the item.
If someone knew that there was a piece of Yin-element Water Jade hidden under the lake, the Water Ghosts would have long been killed. There might have even been bloodshed that involved the entire Anling Prefecture.
He had to conquer this Water Ghost Lake!