Reverend Insanitys Biography of Qitiab

In the valley, mist swirls around, like an immortal's realm.

The environment here is unpredictable, the scenes shifting between reality and illusion, making it hard to distinguish the truth. Sometimes the mountains are tall, surrounded by swirling mist. Other times, there are vast lakes and wide expanses of misty water. Sometimes rain and fog obscure everything. Other times, dense white fog blankets the land.

In a sea of pine trees, winds stir, and the mist rises like a tide.

A flock of cranes soars in the sky, and a crane king lets out a sharp, resonant call, its voice echoing through the sea of clouds, the sound lingering in the air.

Soon, the mist responds with a chorus, with crane calls rising and falling, a powerful and unbroken force.

Within the mist, beasts, insects, and wild spirits live, each with its own territory. If a curse master unknowingly enters their domain, they may find themselves surrounded and attacked.

After leaving the Night Soul Blessed Land, Qi Tian has entered the territory of the crane flock and is now being surrounded by the Iron Feather Flying Cranes.

These cranes are covered in white feathers, which gleam with a metallic luster under the sun, as though they were wearing finely crafted iron armor, giving them exceptional defense.

The Iron Feather Flying Cranes fold their wings and dive like arrows, shooting down with great speed and force.

Qi Tian continuously dodges the powerful attacks of the crane flock.

Each flap of the cranes' wings has the force of a wild boar's charge, and their claws are sharp enough to split stone. Ordinary flying cranes are already difficult to deal with. What's more, there is a Thousand Beast King among them, glaring at Qi Tian.

Although Qi Tian is currently a mid-level four-turn curse master, he hails from the Southern Frontier, where his powers are not suppressed by the Blessing Land. However, upon leaving, his cultivation is suppressed by the foreign realm, and even after some time of adaptation, he is still at the peak of the third turn.

Fortunately, Qi Tian possesses a set of top-quality Soul Path curse insects that are exceptional in offense, defense, and mobility.

He is able to handle the crane flock with ease, dodging and attacking when necessary.

The ghostly blue flames attack the cranes' souls, sending them plummeting to the ground.

Within the span of a few minutes, the crane flock has lost more than ten, and nearly half are heavily injured.

Finally, the Crane King, enraged by Qi Tian's actions, charges toward him.

Qi Tian laughs loudly, not surprised but pleased, and stretches out his hand, pointing.

"Crane Taming Curse, go!"

A second-turn Crane Taming Curse transforms into a white mist and surrounds the Crane King.

The Crane King struggles violently, its soul resisting fiercely.

But in the face of Qi Tian's powerful hundred-strong soul, it quickly succumbs.

With a final cry, the Crane King circles around Qi Tian, clearly trying to please him.

"Haha!" Qi Tian leaps onto the Crane King's back.

The previously engaged flock, now under the Crane King's command, circles in the air, becoming Qi Tian's loyal servants.

"This is the third beast flock I've encountered. The Iron Feather Flying Crane is not native to the Mist Valley. Even if they migrate, they would never come here. They were most likely brought by a Slave Path curse master."

"A Slave Path curse master encountered danger in the Mist Valley, and the crane flock was left scattered here. So far, we've only seen a few hundred-beast flocks in the outskirts, but there could be thousands deeper inside. There might even be more than one. This curse master is likely at least a four-turn master. Should I go investigate further?"

The previous two crane flocks were destroyed by Qi Tian, but he found a second-turn Crane Taming Curse on the second Thousand Beast King, which allowed him to tame this flock.

Although a hundred-beast flock doesn't help Qi Tian much, capturing a thousand-beast flock would be incredibly beneficial. If his guess is correct, obtaining this curse master's legacy would help with his future plans.

While deciding to venture deeper, Qi Tian does not immediately set off. He closes his left eye slightly and brings his left index and middle fingers together, pressing them against his left eye.

Soon, ghostly gas pours from the gap between his fingers, forming into several butterflies in the air.

"Go, my eyes!"

The butterflies fly into the misty pine forest, and images of the scene are transmitted back to Qi Tian clearly.

This is the power of the Ghost Eye Butterfly. Once activated, it becomes an extension of Qi Tian's left eye.

By expending more of his true essence, more butterflies can be produced, but it requires more mental focus to control them, which impacts the effectiveness of the reconnaissance. Ten butterflies is currently the optimal number for him.

"Hmm? There are traces of a battle here… within the past month?" Qi Tian quickly analyzes the images returned.

"Since this path is safe, let's head toward the battle site." He urges the Crane King, flying toward the site of the fight.

The Mist Valley is vast and can roughly be divided into the inner and outer regions.

The inner region is thick with mist and home to wild beasts. It is still largely unexplored.

The outer region, although devoid of wild beasts, has many beast flocks, including thousands of beasts and even beast kings. It is still dangerous for mortal curse masters. Even a five-turn curse master could perish here.

In the Mist Valley, there is one peculiarity: the mist suppresses the vision of curse masters, making reconnaissance extremely difficult.

But while the mist suppresses the wild beasts as well, their positions are fixed, making them less likely to migrate.

The Night Soul Blessed Land lies on the edge of the inner region, and Qi Tian reached it by following the safety route explored by the Night Immortal. Qi Tian is fortunate that the route he found is similar to the one recorded by the Night Immortal, and he hasn't encountered any thousand-beast flocks along the way.

This pine forest, however, lies deep in the outer region. Only highly skilled curse masters could reach this point. Qi Tian pays great attention to the traces of battle left by these masters.

The curse master who reached here either had excellent reconnaissance skills and combat strength or, like Qi Tian, had followed a route left by a predecessor. Of course, if they were a curse immortal, they could reach the inner region with effort.

Qi Tian's Ghost Eye Butterfly has a detection range of five miles. His multiple "eyes" can move and observe up to five miles away, each having the same reconnaissance ability as a third-turn Ghost Eye Curse.

In the Mist Valley, the detection power of each eye is suppressed, but the ability to move them over long distances is not as restricted. This method of reconnaissance provides an advantage in the outer region, allowing Qi Tian to avoid many dangers.

The curse master who reached this point most likely has similar excellent reconnaissance curses. Alternatively, besides the Night Immortal, other curse immortals may have explored the Mist Valley and left routes behind.

But according to Qi Tian's memories, the Mist Valley changed dramatically eighty years later, when many mortal curse masters began exploring it. Curse immortals didn't begin their exploration until a century later.

Lost in thought, Qi Tian reaches the battle site.

"So many dead and injured cranes… This number suggests it was a thousand-beast flock. This means the hundred-crane flocks I encountered were remnants of the ten thousand-crane flock that was wiped out here."

"However, this crane flock doesn't seem to be a native species of the Mist Valley. Were they brought here by a Slave Path curse master?"

"But who was this Slave Path curse master fighting? These injuries suggest a massive force behind them. Could it be a powerful strength curse master?"

Although Qi Tian can't be certain based on the wounds alone—it could also be from a powerful beast—the battle instincts tell him it was likely a curse master.

First, the wounds are fatal; a wild beast wouldn't have such precision. Second, there are no extra traces from the battle. A strength-based beast would have left more traces of destruction, but a curse master would clean up the battlefield.

"It seems this curse master was formidable, at least a peak four-turn master. It's also possible they were a five-turn master. They showed excellent combat awareness, but they don't seem to be very old—most likely a demon path curse master or a rogue cultivator."

If the curse master was an older demon path practitioner or rogue cultivator, they would have been very experienced in survival, even if their combat strength was average. The battlefield wouldn't have been left so "perfect."

If the curse master was from the righteous path, a peak four-turn would hold a significant position, and they would have received advice on handling the battlefield from their elders.

Qi Tian's guess is mostly correct. The Upstage siblings are indeed rogue cultivators. The older Upstage Shenhou is only around thirty-seven or thirty-eight. While he is highly skilled in combat, he lacks experience in handling battlefield details.

However, since Upstage Baihong had fewer direct engagements, Qi Tian hadn't guessed this. Despite Qi Tian's numerous advanced reconnaissance techniques, he hasn't had the time or need to craft more curse insects, so his information is limited.

"But where did the defeated Slave Path curse master go? Did they escape, or did they never appear?" Slowly, Qi Tian begins his investigation into the depths of the pine forest.