A tribulation was a test from heaven. It was shapeless and shadowless, and it was impossible to evade or block—it could only be resolved through facing it.

This was precisely the case for Fang Xing right now. Although he’d checked to make sure the seal over the demon spirit was fine before he started forming the foundation, various coincidences had occurred for the seal to loosen at the precise moment the foundation was about to be finished, allowing the spirit to get loose and contaminate his foundation. Thanks to the demon spirit’s malicious energy, a perfectly fine purple foundation had been turned into a nearly-black existence.

Fang Xing became rather annoyed after realizing this. "Is there any way to resolve this?"

After careful speculation, the Peng King shook his head. "This isn’t a common occurrence. This demon spirit shares the same origin as you, after all; as your power increases, its power also increases. Although your sect master placed a seal on it earlier, it’s unable to keep it constrained much longer now. It’d be best if you think of a way to kill it off completely—it’s impossible to tell just what sort of other incidents it will cause…."

Fang Xing felt helpless at this and once again remembered Xiao Shanhe, causing him to grit his teeth in hatred. "Back then, the sect master said that in order to resolve this demon spirit, the only person who might have a method within all of Chufung is someone with the name of Hu-something-Qin. I thought I was going to have at least half a year, but because of this d.a.m.ned tribulation, the time has come earlier…."

Fang Xing creased his brows. It seemed as though his time had lessened, and although the demon spirit was still being suppressed by the seal, it would no longer last the full half-year Chen Xuanhua had spoken of. Furthermore, it might cause trouble at any moment now, so he had to resolve this demon spirit as soon as possible.

Fang Xing made up his mind and let out a long sigh. First he had to deal with that crazy woman and leave this G.o.dd.a.m.ned place.

Once Fang Xing returned his spirit sense to his body and opened his eyes, he could feel a huge difference in his body almost immediately. The Qi that had been flowing within his meridians had seemingly disappeared, becoming a sort of "energy" instead. It no longer needed to be consciously activated, and it felt as though a spell would require only a single thought for the Qi to be used, which was many times faster than what it was during Spirit Stage.

Additionally, Fang Xing could clearly feel that a formless power had emerged within him. It felt like some sort of power akin to giving him an extra pair of eyes, but not just eyes….

Spirit sense! He knew quite well that this was the kind of spirit sense that belonged only to Foundation Stage cultivators. Right now, with just a s.h.i.+ft of his thoughts, he was able to send out his spirit sense to cover a radius of over a hundred feet. Within that area, whether it was cracks between stones or dust under the shadows, it was all visible within his mind as clearly as if he’d seen them with his eyes and even touched him with his hands. With his spirit sense, even those tiny existences he hadn’t noticed before could be seen, clearly sensed without the need to use any spells. He could even see spirits and ghosts that normally weren’t visible.

The power of the spirit sense was felt all at once.

According to the Peng King, people who had just formed the foundation couldn’t send out their spirit sense too far; Fang Xing was able to accomplish this only because his purple foundation was much more powerful than an ordinary one. If it wasn’t for the contamination caused by the demon spirit, it would have been even more powerful.

The Peng King came out from Fang Xing’s Sea of Consciousness and cupped his hands towards him with a smile. "Regardless, congratulations on successfully forming the foundation, fellow Daoist!" He didn’t call him "kid" anymore; now that Fang Xing had successfully broken into the Foundation Stage, he was considered a genuine cultivator.

Fang Xing proudly returned the bow. "Haha, thank you, thank you…." Now that he’d formed the foundation, Fang Xing could also see the Peng King in a different manner. Prior to this, the Peng King wasn’t a "real" existence, but now—using spirit sense—Fang Xing was able to clearly make out his presence.

"Come come come, let’s discuss the matter of the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits. Since you’re now in Foundation Stage, if you were to craft this flag and use it, not only those in the early Foundation Stage, but even those in the mid stages of Foundation Stage might not be able to do much to you…." The Peng King was quite excited, although most of his focus was on the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits.

Fang Xing just smirked. "That’s not too urgent. First, let me find that harlot and get my revenge!" Filled with excitement as well, Fang Xing withdrew all of the various protective formation and talismans he’d placed around the cell entrance and left to search out Ye Gu’yin with both hands folded behind his back.

At this moment, Ye Gu’yin was in fact in a stone cell not too far away from Fang Xing. She sat in a corner of the cell with her zither placed horizontally in front of her, clad in only her red undergarments. Although only a few days had pa.s.sed, her gaze had already become extremely wan and sallow, and it even seemed as though she’d lost quite some weight while focusing on the talisman on the ground in front of her. The talisman itself had been drawn with blood, and it let off flickers of power.

"Brat, once I catch you, I will peel off your skin and draw out your tendons one at a time!" Squeezed between the gaps of her teeth, Ye Gu’yin’s voice was filled with a powerful murderous intent and an endless amount of hatred.

As Ye Gu’yin observed the b.l.o.o.d.y talisman, a sense of hope began to swell within her. She’d tried many different methods with no success thus far, and since this Yin Prison Abyss was simply too large with all manner of restrictions and traps, she hadn’t dared to get close to many places. After trying to lure Fang Xing with her zither for the past two days, she had no choice but to give up; not only did she not know where Fang Xing was, she didn’t even know whether he’d left this place by now.

Ye Gu’yin had only the zither to her side. The Message Talismans she would have been able to use to contact help had been lost, and there were no other methods of delivering information from within this dark and gloomy place. Without any other options, she could only activate a secret spell using the blood of her cultivation to draw out a talisman and release her aura to the outside world. This was already the result of her being completely at her wit’s end, and she hoped someone would be able to come and rescue her.

As someone with so much pride, this method was something she’d had a hard time convincing herself to do. It was the same as truly admitting her defeat to the brat, but she truly did feel a sense of helplessness. Especially as a woman of such a tender age being nearly naked inside such a ghost-filled place….

Ye Gu’yin wasn’t afraid of ghosts, of course, but to say she was completely without fear right now was also not true.

Just as Ye Gu’yin was quietly staring at the ground, a chilling voice suddenly rose up from the deathly silence. "Sob sob sob…. Oh, I’ve died such a terrible death…."

Stricken with panic, Ye Gu’yin s.h.i.+vered and grabbed ahold of her zither while looking towards where the voice had come from. "Who’s there?"

"I am a… persecuted ghost that has been stuck here for a thousand years. I haven’t seen a woman for so long… oh such injustice…." The voice was abnormal and coa.r.s.e, causing every strand of Ye Gu’yin’s hair to stand up on end.

A gust of wind blew past as a mysterious silhouette floated inside from the entrance of the stone cell—legitimately floating, not the leap that Spirit Stage cultivators would use. The silhouette was thin with scattered hair, with the body of a human but the face of a fox. Its expression was stiff and held a mysterious smile, but the glare in its eyes was sharp and stern.

"What manner of demon are you!" Ye Gu’yin exclaimed, her voice filled with obvious frailty. She reflexively plucked the strings on her zither, causing musical notes to sound out along with a powerful gust of wind.

Woosh….

Even when confronted with the murderous intent released by a high-quality Ancient weapon, that "strange ghost" didn’t move at all. It stood in its original location, and even once the invisible force arrived in front of it, it seemed as though a countless number of opposing forces countered it all. Ye Gu’yin’s attack was turned into a cool breeze that was only just enough to move the ghost’s hair. It moved, and suddenly it was in front of Ye Gu’yin, facing her from such a close distance that even their breathing could be heard by the other.

"Ahhhh!" When she suddenly realized the masked ghost had appeared right in front of her, no matter how courageous Ye Gu’yin was, she was still severely frightened. The natural instincts of a woman had been ignited, and her reaction was no different to any other female:

To scream!

Even then, she hadn’t expected that after screaming, the "demonic ghost" would be frightened away a few steps back. It was immediately around thirty feet away, scratching at its ears while cursing, "Dammit, that was scary…."

Ye Gu’yin instantly recognized who the voice belonged to and grew anxious and upset. "Brat, it’s you!" Although her tone was furious, there was also a hint of joy as well. It wasn’t so much joy at seeing this little brat, but more so finding out this "demonic ghost" was actually a human; a malevolent spirit might be frightening for her, but Fang Xing decidedly wasn’t.

"How… how dare you pretend to be a ghost to scare me! I’m going to kill you!" Ye Gu’yin yelled out. She strummed all ten of her fingers upon the zither’s strings, and an immaterial force came flying out towards Fang Xing.

"Haha, big long legs, do you think you can still defeat your little grandpa?" Looking rather relaxed, Fang Xing just loudly laughed at Ye Gu’yin as she released her notes. After forming his foundation, the power that was released by the Phoenix-Fear Zither was no longer without shape or form as it had been before. As long as he could perceive the power that came from the zither, he was able to immediately dodge or even counterattack. That’s why Fang Xing simply laughed when faced with the zither now, and his body flickered like a true ghost as he arrived in front of her once more.

Astonished and taken aback with surprise at how fast Fang Xing had moved, Ye Gu’yin instinctively moved to smack Fang Xing with her zither.