Somewhere in Forbidden by the Phoenix, Xu Qing stood in the middle of the triangle of logs, looking at the spot where the ghost ward had just disappeared. There was nothing left of the candles which had been burning on the logs, other than some candle wax which had seeped into the dry bark.

He sent some dharma force into his bag of holding, and sure enough, the items he had purchased were still there.

Items purchased from ghost wards can’t be brought out into the day. You can only use them at night. 𝘦𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨

That was something he had learned in his research of ghost wards. Thinking back to everything that happened in the ghost ward, he started to speculate about the giant monk’s head.

“It mentioned golden crows,” he murmured.

He could only guess that the monk’s head must be from some nonhuman species that the golden crow assimilated in the past. After thinking about it for a while, he stepped out of the triangle of logs and started moving through the jungle.

As for the details of the ghost ward and that giant head… he could always come back later to investigate further, when he was stronger. Putting the matter aside, he accelerated through the trees.

Finding a ghost ward was only one of the things he had come to Forbidden by the Phoenix to accomplish. He was also hoping to harvest some specific poisonous beasts, plants, and vegetation.

If everything goes smoothly, I might be able to get my beetles to break through their bottleneck in development. And if they experience some growth, it will help my plan of reconcocting that taboo poison pill.

As he sped through the jungle, he kept an eye out for the poisonous plants he needed.

Just like that, a day went by.

Forbidden by the Phoenix was a lot less dangerous during the day than the night. Xu Qing made sure to stay near the periphery. That, coupled with his battle prowess and cultivation base, ensured that though he did encounter some beasts, he was able to dispatch them easily.

He found some of the medicinal plants he was looking for. Despite him staying in relatively safe surroundings, some of the plants he encountered were dangerous. As evening fell, he spotted a meadow full of bright red grass that filled him with a sense of danger.

The red grass wiggled in gruish fashion, and as Xu Qing looked closer, he noticed that each stalk of grass had an eye on it, all staring at him maliciously.

Xu Qing shivered. It felt like his skin was crawling. Backing up quickly, he lit his life flames and used his life lamp to block the malicious intent.

After leaving that area, he looked down at himself and found that, unbeknownst to him, an eye had started growing on his forearm. Rather, it was half of an eye, as it hadn’t finished growing yet. And it wasn’t open. However, the eyelids were clearly visible, as were the eyelashes. And it looked exactly like the eyes on those red blades of grass.

Unfortunately, not even balefire seemed enough to wipe the grue-like eye out of existence. By using his shadow, Xu Qing could remove the eye. But once his shadow went back to its normal position, the eye would grow back.

It was still growing, and Xu Qing got the sense that it would only take a few more days before the eye could open. He had no idea what would happen when it did. After some consideration, he used Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits on the eye, and managed to assimilate it.

“Forbidden by the Phoenix really is a dangerous place,” he murmured. After finishing with his arm, he closely inspected the rest of himself and found a total of thirty eyes.

None of them were close to being completely grown. In fact, most were little more than seeds. But what chilled Xu Qing to the bone was that the eyes weren’t growing on his skin, but rather, in his internal organs. If he hadn’t taken the time to inspect himself and find them, and they finished growing and opening, the result would surely have been horrific. Thankfully, he was able to expunge them the same way as the first.

As evening fell and darkness spread, he grew more cautious. Eventually, he found a tree hollow that he could burrow into for safety.

I found most of the poisonous plants I wanted. Now I just need to find the poisonous beasts….

He had no intention of being out in the open at night. After all, the beasts he sought weren’t nocturnal.

While he waited for the midnight hour to come, he would feed some of the unhealthy yin poisons he had harvested to his beetles. At the same time, he set up some spell formations around the tree, and also scattered poison powder everywhere. Feeling secure, he closed his eyes to meditate. As the night grew dark, and he heard strange cries out in the jungle, he thought back to years ago when he had hid just like this in that ruined city.

I wonder when I’ll be strong enough… that I won’t need to fear forbidden regions and forbidden grounds.

Time passed and the midnight hour grew near. Frigid energy abounded in the area, and as Xu Qing exhaled, white steam emerged from his mouth. It had been a long time since he felt cold like this. Xu Qing had always hated the cold. Ever since reaching Foundation Establishment, his cultivation base and battle prowess were high enough that he rarely felt cold. But tonight… he experienced that feeling once again.

Something’s off here. Xu Qing’s eyes glittered as he realized that the temperatures in other parts of the forbidden ground weren’t as low as right here.

He ignited his life flames and entered the profound radiance state, then emerged from the hole in the tree to look around. Instantly, his face fell.

Off in the distance in the jungle was a huge mass of fog, slowly spreading out. The same ghost ward he had visited the previous night was appearing right in front of him! Except, Xu Qing hadn’t set up the logs or played the ghost flute. Without hesitation, he started moving in the opposite direction.

However, as the ghost ward took shape, the giant monk’s head appeared, bound by chains made of arms. Turning to look at him, it again spoke in a voice that boomed like thunder.

“A golden crow assimilated my species! All golden crows shall die!”

The head lunged upward, causing the arm chains to stretch longer and longer. Yet they couldn’t hold the head back.

The head strained forward, flying out of the city and smashing into the surrounding jungle, crushing trees as it started rolling toward Xu Qing like a gigantic ball. It spun in a blur, smashing trees left and right, and causing the arm chains to twist and distort. Behind it, the entire ghost ward trembled and shook.

The sight of it caused Xu Qing’s pupils to constrict, and filled his heart with a sense of impending crisis. With his life flames and life lamps burning brightly, and the golden crow pushing him from behind, he fled with lightning-like speed.

Behind him, the mountain-like head continued to roll in his direction.

Meanwhile, a piercing cry rang out from the depths of the ghost ward as countless ghost hands stretched out toward the head.

From a distance, it was possible to see Xu Qing fleeing, chased by the giant head, with the chains stretching out taut, and the ghost hands chasing the head.

“All golden crows….” the giant head howled furiously.

“Shall…”

“DIE!!!”

As it screamed the final words, it leaped into the air again, as if hoping to smash down onto Xu Qing and crush him. However, at this point, the chains couldn’t stretch any further, and finally, the head slowed to a halt.

Just as the ghost arms were about to arrive and grab the huge head, it let loose a monstrous cackle and then exploded. The blast caused the huge head to transform into countless smaller heads, which rained down onto the ground and started chasing Xu Qing. Because the smaller heads weren’t being restrained by the chains, they moved with incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, a few dozen of them were rolling toward Xu Qing with their mouths wide open.

Xu Qing spun in place, his eyes burning with killing intent. At the same time, the golden crow behind him shot forward, and his iron skewer sped toward the heads. The golden crow let out a piercing cry and then viciously absorbed the heads, while the iron skewer pierced through one after another, transforming them into ash.

However, nothing corporeal resulted. It was as if the heads were mere illusions, and didn’t really exist. In fact, moments after transforming into ash, the heads would form back together, unharmed. One of them even appeared right beneath Xu Qing, and before he could react, it bit deeply into his calf.

His life flame erupted, sending the head tumbling away from him, but it wasn’t hurt. As it chewed, it said, “Yummy, yummy, yummy! So weeaaaaaak!”

Xu Qing’s face was grim. He knew that the golden crow wasn’t weak. Rather, his cultivation base wasn’t strong enough to release the golden crow’s full potential.

Looking down at his calf, he saw the missing chunk of flesh the head had bitten off.

He was used to devouring others; this was his first time being in the reverse situation.

As for the head which had bitten him, it licked its lips and then gave a bizarre grin. Then, just as it was about to rush back toward him, one of the ghost arms grabbed it and dragged it back to the ghost ward. Other heads were also being grabbed by ghost arms, but some managed to lunge toward Xu Qing and snap at him.

Xu Qing’s expression was unsightly as he glared at the nearest head. Though his life flame power couldn’t harm it, his eyes still shone with cold light. The shadow seemed to realize what he was thinking, and stretched out to absorb the mutagen from the head. Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior, not wanting to be outdone, stabbed right toward it. The head was so vicious that, without hesitation, it started snapping at the shadow and the patriarch.

A moment later, the head collapsed, and beetles poured out of its eyes. They were Xu Qing’s beetles, which he had released in the chase earlier. However, they didn’t do any good.

When a head was destroyed, it would simply form back up again. And there were lots of heads in the area.

Realizing that fighting wasn’t doing anything, Xu Qing frowned in frustration and tapped into all the power of his cultivation base to simply flee.

And thus, the night passed.

The chase went on during that time. He never gave the pursuing heads a chance to surround him. And slowly but surely, the ghost arms did their work.

As the light of dawn appeared on the horizon, Xu Qing exploded one of the heads, and it turned out to be the last one. All the other heads had been captured by the ghost arms. Then the sun came up, and everything disappeared.

Xu Qing stood there in the jungle, his eyes gleaming with a vicious light as he looked back in the direction where the ghost ward had appeared. His clothes were in shreds, and though his flesh was mostly healed, bite marks were still visible everywhere.

What is that giant monk head? Smashing the smaller heads didn’t do any good. They just form back up again. Only the ghost arms can control it. It’s like the ghost arms are its jailers, and the monk head is a prisoner that broke out of jail to chase me.

Glancing down at the bite marks, the vicious look in his eye grew more intense. I have to think of a way to kill it.

Off to the side, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior snorted coldly. Biting me is one thing. But how dare that giant head bite the Fiendish Xu! It’s done for!