A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Chapter 75 The Spirit Clam

He rapidly made hand seals, attempting to use the spirit-attaching technique to establish a connection with the Azure Dragon, but repeatedly failed.

This spirit-attachment technique requires the active cooperation of the spirit beast to be effective. In the current situation, the only option is for Luo Ming to personally go into the water and investigate.

"We should bring the Xuan Turtle with us," Luo Ming thought.

Fortunately, judging from his senses, the Azure Dragon was unharmed, which made Luo Ming less worried. After all, this place was the Inner Star Sea, where high-level demonic beasts were rarely encountered. If any demonic beast above level five dared to cause trouble here, it would definitely be swarmed by Core Formation cultivators who learned of the news.

Luo Ming used the Water Nether Sword to dive into the sea. The faint light emitted from the sword dispelled the surrounding darkness, and it wasn't until hundreds of feet deep in the sea that the figure of the Azure Dragon could be seen.

The azure dragon appeared to be insane, its eyes bloodshot but lifeless. It swirled and thrashed about in a fixed body of water, sometimes lunging and biting at the empty seawater, and sometimes curling up as if hiding from something. Its tail fins slapped against the water, creating ripples. It was clearly trapped in an illusion and could not extricate itself. No matter how Luo Ming called out to it, it did not respond.

Luo Ming felt a chill run down his spine, a glint of fire flashed in his eyes, and he activated the Qianyang Fire Eye to investigate with all his might, but he only felt that the surrounding spiritual energy was as stagnant as a swamp, and when his divine sense penetrated, it was distorted by an invisible force. The seawater and reefs in front of him seemed to be covered with a layer of shimmering colorful mist, and he would feel dizzy if he concentrated for a moment.

"It's an illusion!"

He focused intently on his surroundings, but could not find any demonic beasts there. In desperation, Luo Ming had a sudden thought and abruptly activated the soul restriction within the Azure Dragon's sea of ​​consciousness.

"Aww—"

The Azure Dragon let out a painful howl, its scales standing on end. Although it was suffering greatly from the backlash of the restriction, it also managed to break free from the illusion.

Upon seeing Luo Ming beside it, it quickly calmed its agitation and swam obediently to his side, gently nuzzling Luo Ming's arm with its head as if it were complaining.

Luo Ming's attention, however, was drawn to a crack in the rocks not far away. When the restriction had just awakened the Azure Dragon, it had indirectly disturbed the balance of spiritual energy in the illusion, and that fleeting fluctuation had been captured by his keen divine sense.

"Hmph! Hiding its head and tail like this, let's see what kind of monster is causing trouble."

Luo Ming raised his hand and summoned the Water Nether Sword. With a change in sword technique, three deep sword beams split off from the sword and shot towards the crevice with sharp energy.

Although he did not cultivate the cultivation technique he obtained from the relics of the Giant Sword Sect cultivators, the method of controlling sword energy was quite exquisite. Now he can simultaneously generate three sword beams, each with a power of 80% of his original body, barely qualifying him as a sword cultivator.

"Bang bang bang!" Three sword beams crashed into the invisible barrier one after another, and were all deflected. Ripples spread in the void beside the crevice, bursting like bubbles, and a huge spirit clam slowly appeared. The clam shell shimmered with flowing multicolored light, and the misty spiritual energy surrounding it intertwined with the seawater, making it a truly beautiful sight.

"It's a thousand-year-old spirit clam!" Luo Ming was overjoyed.

Legend has it that this kind of spirit clam has already awakened its intelligence. Although its combat power is weak, it is good at using its own mirage energy to combine with seawater to create wonderful illusions for hunting. Its illusion array can perfectly simulate the scene that the target desires or fears the most, and can blend into the surrounding environment to deceive the mind.

If a patrolling monster is trapped by its illusion, it will slowly wear down the monster until its demonic power is exhausted and it is devoured.

Even if an ordinary cultivator were right next to it, they would only regard it as an ordinary reef. If he hadn't broken the opponent's illusion by activating the Azure Dragon's soul restriction outside today, thus revealing a slight flaw, it would have been a different story.

Although the Thousand-Year Spirit Clam has a strong ability to conceal itself, it has a fatal weakness—once attacked, it can no longer maintain its invisibility.

Luo Ming understood that as long as he continued to use his sword energy to restrain it, he could keep track of its whereabouts and never let it escape into the deep sea and be lost forever.

"Roar!" Upon seeing this, the Azure Dragon immediately charged forward in anger. It now knew that the Spirit Clam had bewitched it, causing it to lose its composure in front of its master. Its heart was filled with rage, and it wished it could swallow the clam whole to vent its anger.

Luo Ming quickly waved his hand to stop the other party. The thousand-year-old spirit clam is an extremely rare item and should not be wasted like this.

He summoned the Mystic Ice Rope, and with a flick of his finger, the icy rope coiled around the spirit clam like a serpent, binding it tightly. He then stored it in his specially made spirit beast pouch, intending to deal with it later. Whether he tamed the spirit clam as a spirit beast to aid him in battle with its illusionary arts, or extracted its spirit pearl to refine illusionary treasures, it would be of great use to him.

Luo Ming turned to look at the Azure Dragon. He saw that its aura was deep and solid, its dragon bloodline was becoming more and more condensed, and its aura was also more intense than usual. It was clear that it had been hunting for many monsters in this sea area recently.

"It seems it won't be long before you break through to level three." Luo Ming's eyes were full of anticipation.

The Chaotic Star Sea is truly a blessed land for aquatic creatures and spirit beasts. Not only are there a vast number of demonic beasts in the sea for the Azure Dragon and the Black Tortoise to devour and replenish, but also the essence of the Demon-Attracting Grass supplied by Luo Ming every month continuously stimulates the condensation of their bloodlines. Now, the Azure Dragon is no longer the "Azure Python in a Cover" it once was in Tiannan, and is steadily transforming into a true dragon.

"Not bad, not bad. This Azure Dragon always seems to encounter some good things. Could it have some special ability?" Luo Ming wondered.

Having acquired the thousand-year-old spirit clam, Luo Ming was in high spirits and prepared to nurture it properly. If this demon were used in conjunction with an illusion array, the effect would be astonishing.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and the outline of a large island came into view—it was Kui Xing Island. Even though he had been there once before, the island's prosperity still stirred his emotions.

Unlike the markets in Tiannan, the island's cities are exceptionally large because land is scarce and cultivators and mortals live together.

The docks stretch for miles along the shore, with all kinds of boats neatly lined up in the harbor. On the giant ships used by ordinary merchants to carry goods, the boatmen shout and move the cargo, sweating profusely.

The air was even more lively, with cultivators riding flying swords that cut through the sky, others descending slowly on jade shuttles, and still others riding colorful sea beasts whose roars shook the sea.

Cultivators came and went in an endless stream, some leaving in a hurry, others arriving on the island with treasures, their spiritual energy intertwined with the mundane atmosphere of everyday life.

Following the flow of people, Luo Ming stepped into the main street next to the dock, concealing his aura and walking slowly forward.

He knew that although the island appeared prosperous on the surface, there were undercurrents beneath the surface. The influence of the Reverse Star Alliance had been slowly infiltrating the island from the shadows, and it wouldn't be peaceful for many more years.

Upon reaching a plaza, six magnificent buildings came into view; these were the famous Six-Halled Palaces of Kui Xing Island.

Although it is not as financially powerful as the four major merchant alliances and does not have the support of Nascent Soul cultivators, it still has several Core Formation cultivators in charge, making it a well-known merchant alliance in the nearby sea area.

As soon as he entered, a kind-faced shopkeeper with a goatee rushed to greet him. His gaze swept over Luo Ming's refined aura, and he knew that Luo Ming was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. He quickly led him to a room on the second floor.

"Fellow Daoist, please come in. What would you like to purchase? My Six-Hall Shop has a full range of goods, and the quality is absolutely guaranteed."

Luo Ming got straight to the point, speaking calmly: "I need some demon souls, preferably fourth-tier ones; and the essence blood of second-tier or higher demon beasts, the more the better. Also, I'll pick some pills to aid in cultivation."

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper looked troubled: "Fellow Daoist, you may not know this, but a few days ago, a batch of demon beast materials from our Six Linked Palaces was robbed on its way to Kui Xing Island. Among those goods were quite a few level four demon souls. Now, we only have some level one demon souls of decent quality left in the warehouse. I'm really sorry, if you really need them, you'll have to wait until next month."

"Didn't you just say you had all the goods?" Luo Ming thought to himself, then said helplessly, "Then let's take some other things first."