"From now on, I can only live by hiding..."
"Haa, at least I'm not short of money or anything..."
Walking alone on the road, Salas muttered to himself.
He was sure that by the end of the week, his wanted posters would be all over the continent.
"It's not like I have any other good options. The day I occupied Salas's body without possessing his Martial Soul, I was destined to not stay there..."
He knew that if he stayed a few more weeks or even a month, the day would come when he'd have to use his Martial Soul and get caught.
When that happens, his changes will inevitably arouse suspicion. Even if no one suspects soul possession, his differences alone are enough to land his body in a research facility.
Even if things don't go that far, and Spirit Hall mistakes him as some unique mutation, they'll still put him under surveillance.
Not to mention, people's imagination is endless. Even if no one thinks of soul possession now, someone eventually will...
All in all... All three of those outcomes were unacceptable to Salas.
So, he decided to run away before anyone noticed anything strange.
But either way, whether he ran without taking anything or after taking everything from Spirit Hall... they would definitely chase him across the continent.
"Only, since I'm running away with all the wealth, the search effort will go up two levels. That's it," Salas muttered, coolly looking at his hand.
In addition to his own storage ring, he now wore two more rings, one bracelet, and a thin necklace—all storage soul tools.
"Sigh... It would've been wonderful if I could've taken that soul tool that stores living beings..."
He still missed that soul tool deeply. It was rarer than any of these already rare storage tools. What's more, it was far superior to Dugu Bo's pouch, which had a pathetically small space.
That tool's space was large enough to contain a massive Mirror Image Soul Beast.
"Maybe in the future, I can borrow it from them..." With that thought in mind, a smile returned to Salas's aged face as he picked up speed. He would soon reach the Sunset Forest.
By nightfall, Salas had already entered the forest.
Using the market map in hand, he searched every poisonous mountain.
There were many toxic areas in the Sunset Forest, but poisonous mountains numbered no more than five.
By the time he reached the third one, he was sure he'd arrived... the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
The hot and cold sides of the mountain were easily noticeable.
Even though his sense of touch dulled slightly while in his mirrored stealth form, his body could still clearly feel the drastic difference in temperature.
"Although poison is technically a physical attack... this poisonous gas isn't poison in the usual sense. It's poison-attributed soul power. So it can only be reflected. And the real poisons mixed into it aren't strong enough to break my mirror form," Salas mused.
He could feel his soul power consumption rising when he entered the area... but it was pitifully small compared to the vast amount he had.
Even though it costs soul power to reflect energy attacks, this poison array was way too low-level. His natural soul power recovery speed is hundred times faster than this consumption speed. Salas even doubted if this poison could even harm a Soul King.
Maybe it could harm soul beasts. After all, most of them couldn't use soul power to protect their bodies like soul masters.
If he wanted to, Salas could've walked through the poison array without even activating his first soul skill. This low-level poison wasn't strong enough to corrode his soul power shield.
....
Without wasting time, he sped up, empowering his legs with soul power from inside his body. Empowering them outwardly would force him back to his original form.
"But empowering from inside has its limits..."
The next moment, Salas had already reached the top of the hundred-meter-tall mountain.
Unlike other mountains, this one had a deep depression, as if it had been struck by a meteorite that somehow didn't damage its outer shell.
Naturally, Salas knew the real reason this depression existed... though it wasn't a meteorite, but two God-King level dragons.
"It's time to make this body younger..." Salas muttered as he jumped down.
He landed safely at the bottom.
Looking around, Salas took everything in. His eyes gleamed with uncontrollable excitement.
The place was a blend of red and blue. Everywhere he looked, he saw crystals of these two colors.
And in the center was an oval pool, radiating blue and red gas. The pool was beautiful, the two colors clearly separated.
If Salas ignored the alternating waves of heat and cold that hit him with every step closer, this place could be called naturally beautiful. He would even consider building a house here just to enjoy the view.
"And these immortal grasses... they look even more beautiful than the place itself," Salas said, brimming with excitement as he walked around the pool, taking note of every plant. Each one had its own unique beauty.
But soon, he forced himself to calm down and let reason take over.
"Even though I couldn't remember most of the immortal grass consumption methods—even with my improved spiritual power—I still remember the ones I want to use," he mused.
Back when he read the novel, he had skimmed the parts about how people took the immortal grasses. It wasn't interesting. To him, those paragraphs were just filler to boost the word count...
But he did remember how Tang San consumed those three immortal herbs. After all, their methods were simple.
The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot just needed to be eaten raw together within a few breaths of each other comes into contact—and then jump into the pool.
Salas didn't know how to take them separately, but it didn't matter. His goal was to refine an Ice and Fire Alchemy Body. Why care about taking them one by one?
Next, the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew was even easier to consume—just drink the dew drops from the center of its leaves.
Even though Salas had forgotten what it looked like, he remembered it would have dew-like drops at the center of the leaves, making it easy to identify.
After studying every immortal herb carefully, he finally found the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew.
"See? Told you it'd be easy," Salas said, eyes gleaming joyfully as he stood in front of the herb.
It was a seemingly unremarkable plant. Its body was jade green, but at its center were three snow-white leaves, and in the middle of those leaves were tiny droplets—just like morning dew.
"There's also that poison-neutralizing herb... what was its name again? Huh, I don't remember. But what's the use of knowing the name? I just need to know what it does," Salas muttered as he walked over to another plant.
It was a large pale pink flower with no leaves. Its stem was three feet long, and the massive flower had full, crystal-like petals. The stamen was lavender, like purple diamonds.
It was the Aromatic Silk Beauty—an immortal herb that nullified all poison.
Salas could feel his soul power consumption stop the moment he neared the herb. There was even an invisible domain surrounding it. It didn't take much thought to figure out what this herb was.
"All in all, with the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum and those two beside the pool, I know a total of six immortal herbs..."
"Ah, no—it's seven. I can also identify the Yearning Heartbroken Red... after all, it's too conspicuous."