Chapter 97: Mutation In The Spider Cave
Yin Shisan said, “In the recent months, quite a few exotic medicines stained with immortal radiance have appeared near Zangxian Town. Some can help open Feng Fu, Zu Tian, or even the sea of qi, while others can help the pure immortal body undergo metamorphosis. Elder, this is a tremendous opportunity!”
“It’s precisely because of this opportunity that the Jiu Li Clan, Sui Sect, San Chen Palace, Tian Yi Sect, and Coffin Sea Pavilion have all produced multiple Nine Springs Supreme Persons recently. Some mortals and deformed humanoid race who broke five seas in the Nine Springs have seized this chance to metamorphose into pure immortal bodies, becoming leader-level figures of the younger generation.”
“The Sui Sect and San Chen Palace are brimming with ambition, and have even used dyeing cloud exotic medicine to cultivate successor seeds, each one aspiring to become one of the ten million sects.”
The gatekeeper old man had long known the news about the dyeing cloud exotic medicine. Just like that Xue Zheng, who had metamorphosed into a pure immortal body thanks to exotic medicine. If he broke through the Nine Springs Ancestral Field, wouldn’t he become a successor seed? Unfortunately, he was slain by Li Weiyi, which enraged the Xue Clan.
The soup elder said, “They’re just fake seeds! True successor seeds must have more than a hundred veins. That can’t be increased just by relying on exotic medicine.”
“But metamorphosing into a pure immortal body will bring an essential improvement in combat power and future potential at the same realm.” The gatekeeper old man’s expression was solemn as he seriously pondered this matter.
Yin Shisan said, “After the immortal radiance space inside Zangxian Town expanded, it’s said that dyeing cloud exotic medicine has been appearing frequently. That’s the reason I felt I absolutely had to return and meet the Hidden Lord in person. On a personal level, the hidden persons of the Hidden Sect are all Nine Springs Supreme Persons. If we gather exotic medicine and metamorphose a few pure immortal bodies, it would be nothing but beneficial with no drawbacks.”
“On a public level, Zangxian Town is located in Li Zhou. Shouldn’t the resources inside be up to the Jiu Li Clan to decide?”
“These resources are absolutely indispensable; they concern the rise and fall of a clan and will profoundly influence the landscape of Li Zhou for the next century.”
“I’ve heard that some areas in the immortal radiance space can only be entered by martial cultivators below the dao seed level, some only by Spring Gushing Realm, and others only by pure immortal bodies.”
“Nine days from now is the Mang Mountain Grand Sacrifice. The divine hall and Dao Academy have unanimously decided to change the previous competition format to entering the immortal radiance space in Zangxian Town to search for opportunities, thereby determining rankings.”
The gatekeeper old man saw Yin Shisan’s burning anxiety but remained calm and composed: “The higher the cultivation, the harder it is to metamorphose into a pure immortal body. A Spring Gushing Realm martial cultivator might metamorphose after consuming one exotic medicine. But for the first realm of Five Seas, it might take three or four. The second realm of Five Seas would be even harder… Shortcuts aren’t that easy to take.”
Yin Shisan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. So the Hidden Sect had been paying attention to the situation in Zangxian Town all along, without underestimating or ignoring it.
On the plaza, Li Weiyi had already sat in meditation to recover to peak state and stood up.
He placed his palm on the mind power stone wall, challenging the third person—Lingxiao Jia Shou.
“Whoosh!”
The spiritual light, magic energy, and scriptures flowing in the mind power stone wall were much brighter than the previous two times.
Lingxiao Jia Shou Zuo Qiu Ling’s mural figure was burly and tall, clad in tiger beast armor, about two meters high, but without any barbaric feel—rather a sharp dominance and aloofness.
The weapon in his hand was the Jiu You Tang that awed the Southern Territory, shaped like a rake with nine prongs, its handle nearly as long as his body.
It was said that the Jiu You Tang was forged from special immortal material and could continuously enhance its power and grade.
Zuo Qiu Ling on the mind power mural already seemed to have an astonishing physique, but in reality he was only thirteen years old, far from reaching his current “eight-chi heroic frame, sitting like a divine peak, lying like a nether dragon, moving chasing sun and moon” peak state.
Even someone as strong as Yao Qian could only be called Li Zhou Jia Shou in the Southern Territory because there was this insurmountable mountain above his head.
《Jia Zi List》 Number One Person, Jiu You Tang, Zuo Qiu Ling.
Everyone present held their breath due to Zuo Qiu Ling’s appearance, of course partly intimidated by his fame for being invincible in a hundred battles.
“Let’s begin!”
Li Weiyi could sense that Zuo Qiu Ling was much stronger than Yang Shenjing. Just standing there casually, no flaws could be found on him—like a divine mountain or great peak, which could only be shaken by absolute combat power, with no way to exploit tricks.
Thus, he showed no courtesy at all and directly mobilized all the magic energy in his Feng Fu.
“Whoosh!”
One sword opened the sea, dragging out a sword qi yellow glow over a zhang long.
Facing Li Weiyi’s full-force sword, even someone as strong as Zuo Qiu Ling didn’t dare meet it with ordinary combat power. He immediately activated Zu Tian magic energy to counter.
He swung out the Jiu You Tang, its nine prongs drawing nine bright light marks in the air.
“Boom!”
The clash sent both retreating simultaneously.
Just as everyone focused in anticipation of a dragon-tiger battle between the two, Li Weiyi directly conceded.
“As expected of Lingxiao Jia Shou. My full strike could only match you evenly. This sword can’t do anything to you, so there’s no need for the next one!”
“There are mountains beyond mountains, people beyond people. In the end, I underestimated the heroes under heaven!” Li Weiyi sighed like this, then turned and left.
Decision: Break through to Ninth Spring Ancestral Field as soon as possible.
To cross realms and defeat the number one existence under heaven was simply a pipe dream.
Yin Shisan’s brows furrowed like two upright blades, puzzled: “One clash, evenly matched—why directly concede? If he defeats Zuo Qiu Ling, he’d be a hidden person. Doesn’t he want to become a hidden person?”
The gatekeeper old man tried to digest the shock in his heart, too lazy to explain to Yin Shisan: “Let’s go, come with me to see the Hidden Lord. Since Zangxian Town has undergone another massive change, and even the Mang Mountain Grand Sacrifice is being held there, it seems the Hidden Sect needs to take some action.”
Yin Shisan was overjoyed and followed, saying, “How about sending that kid? He’s at Spring Gushing Realm—I think he could take on a group single-handedly.”
“What ‘that kid’? Didn’t you see he’s bound to become a hidden person in the future? Watch your words, kid.” The gatekeeper old man said.
…
Yao Yin hurried to catch up with Li Weiyi, who was heading back to his cave mansion for secluded cultivation. A fragrant breeze wafted from her body as she softly said, “These two months, I went to your cave mansion many times, but you were always in secluded cultivation. I have many things I want to tell you.”
Li Weiyi said, “Tell me now. I’m short on time.”
Yao Yin could feel Li Weiyi’s indifferent attitude. Though it hurt her heart a bit, she could understand—after all, it had always been her one-sided wishful thinking.
She spoke the words she had rehearsed countless times: “First, I want to say sorry to you. It really was a misunderstanding before! Yin Twenty-Four has explained everything to me. Thank you so much—I know I owe you a huge favor.”
Li Weiyi’s mind was preoccupied with contemplating the impact on the Ninth Spring, barely listening, and just responded, “No problem!”
Yao Yin had to trot to keep up with his steps: “And second, I… I actually want to ask, on the ship coming to the Hidden Sect, why did you keep holding my leg? And in the flying winged white spider cave, why did you save me?”
“Huh?”
Li Weiyi’s attention finally fell on her, and he gave an awkward smile: “The first time on the ship was an accident. The second time, just consider it an apology for that accident!”
“Then, you stopping Li Qing from killing me—wasn’t… wasn’t an accident, right?” Yao Yin said timidly, but stared straight at him.
Li Weiyi looked at her, staring for a good while until Yao Yin started feeling at a loss, then suddenly blurted out, “Baseball bat—do you know about it?”
“…”
Yao Yin had no idea what he was talking about.
Li Weiyi said, “It’s like the sword in a sword cultivator’s hand. Once used, there’s inevitably some sentiment attached.”
“Sentiment?”
Yao Yin’s eyes turned, growing brighter and brighter, but in an instant her snowy cheeks flushed scalding hot.
“Forget it, I can’t explain it clearly to you right now. Pretend I didn’t say anything just now—my thoughts aren’t here at the moment.”
Li Weiyi entered the cave mansion, closed the stone gate, and activated the formation.
Yin Twenty-Four had followed behind the two all the way to the cave mansion entrance. Seeing Yao Yin shut outside, a surge of inexplicable anger rose in her heart: “Has he gone qi deviation from cultivation?”
“Seems a little like it.”
Yao Yin smiled: “But in this state, he seems able to blurt out some true heartfelt words unintentionally.”
Li Weiyi entered the cave mansion, and the seven phoenix wing moth emperors immediately pounced on him.
Recently, Li Weiyi had only focused on secluded cultivation, neglecting them. The seven were starving and howling, unable to get full on medicinal cuisine—their bodies seemed to have issues.
Li Weiyi caught the seven phoenix wing moth emperors one by one and measured their body lengths.
Still a tiny bit short of two inches long.
Their bodies weren’t growing!
Entering the blood mud space, Li Weiyi consulted his spirit tablet master.
“The seven of them are already at the edge of a realm breakthrough and need a dose of precious medicine to metamorphose to a level comparable to Five Seas Realm martial cultivators,” the voice from the spirit tablet said.
…
Yao Yin and Yin Twenty-Four had just left, only walking a dozen steps, when the stone gate behind suddenly opened.
Li Weiyi came out from inside. Seeing the two women turn back, he mysteriously said, “Imminent, act immediately.”
Yin Twenty-Four instantly understood what he meant and nodded lightly: “I’ll arrange the flatboat, departing from Silver Beach River Valley. It’s hard to detect over there.”
“Where are you all going?”
Yao Yin’s face was full of curiosity, her eyes filled with expectation: “Can you bring me along?”
“No, this trip is dangerous.” Yin Twenty-Four refused outright.
“She’s right.”
Li Weiyi returned to the cave mansion, slung on the insect tube, and took the Yellow Dragon Sword.
Yao Yin entered Li Weiyi’s cave mansion for the first time, her eyes flashing with shrewd intelligence as she probed, “You’re going to that underground river cave where flying winged white spiders gather?”
“How did you guess?” Li Weiyi said.
She said, “Ever since you came to the Hidden Sect, you only participated in that one trial. Besides there, where else could you go? There wouldn’t still be precious medicine there, right?”
Li Weiyi fell briefly silent.
Yao Yin said, “Take me along, okay? I can help a little at least. I don’t want any precious medicine—just treat it as training to gain some experience in handling danger.”
Li Weiyi couldn’t find a reason to refuse.
Yin Twenty-Four sat on a flatboat by the Silver Beach River Valley, watching the distant man and woman approach. Her face darkened.
“She’ll just provide manpower, no precious medicine—we already agreed beforehand.”
Li Weiyi said this, then leaped up and lightly landed on the boat.
Seeing Yao Yin follow suit and board, Yin Twenty-Four knew it was pointless to say anything more now. She muttered something inaudible, then released magic energy to propel the flatboat toward the spider cave.
To hurry back quickly without being detected by the Hidden Sect, the three directly charged into the spider cave.
Yin Twenty-Four and Li Weiyi cleared the path from the bow.
Every swing of the Yellow Dragon Sword shattered everything, severing masses of spider silk. Yin Twenty-Four continuously struck out palm force like gale winds, sweeping batches of flying winged white spiders away.
Yao Yin stood in the middle of the boat, clearing out the ones that slipped through.
The seven phoenix wing moth emperors guarded the stern, battling the pursuing spider horde from behind. They clearly understood the purpose of this trip and exerted themselves fully, their insect eyes gleaming with excitement.
In just over one shichen, Li Weiyi once again saw the purple glow emanating from deep in the cave on the right side of the blood river passage and smelled the thick medicinal fragrance.
The purple cordyceps was about fifty or sixty zhang from the river channel. In its tiny central area, the medicinal qi was so dense it formed swirling purple mist.
The seven phoenix wing moth emperors smelled the medicinal fragrance and went wild with joy, vying to flap their wings and fly over first.
But the bizarre scene that followed chilled the three on the boat to the bone.
The seven phoenix wing moth emperors flew into the purple mist area but didn’t land on the purple cordyceps—instead, they vanished into thin air. From deep in the cave came eerie rustling sounds, and the purple mist area expanded several times over.
Li Weiyi’s face changed drastically. Ignoring Yao Yin’s obstruction, he immediately went ashore.
“Yao Yin, stay and watch the boat!”
“Yin Twenty-Four, follow behind me at ten zhang distance. Be careful of the spider kings with four blood wings.”
Li Weiyi tied a rope twisted from spider silk around himself and handed the other end to Yin Twenty-Four: “If anything unexpected happens, pull me back immediately.”
…
Monthly ticket!
