Chapter 77: Cabin in the Woods

After the cyan-black little ghost burrowed into the cultivator’s head, the swollen parts of his skull kept bulging and sinking, darting all over his cheeks and the back of his head.

The cultivator’s features twisted without end. His eyes gradually lost focus, and dark, foul liquid slowly seeped from his seven orifices.

More and more liquid flowed out, its color growing paler and paler. Later, the liquid that emerged changed from black-red to blue-green.

The blue-green liquid fell to the ground and turned into translucent insects, crawling back and forth across the floor.

In the end, they dissolved into wisps of white smoke in the air, hissing softly and giving off a nauseating stench.

Half a quarter-hour later, the movements in the cultivator’s head stopped, and everything returned to calm. The cyan-black little ghost, its small belly round and full, drilled out from the top of his head and returned to the crowd of little ghosts.

The other little ghosts stared at its bulging belly, so envious that green drool ran from their mouths and dripped onto the wooden boards.

Immediately after, they swarmed forward and bit viciously at the stuffed cyan-black little ghost’s belly.

Beside them, the Black Jade Tower cultivator collapsed limply. A white blur flashed by, and a middle-aged cultivator with no beard or hair and pale skin easily lifted him in one hand.

“Senior Brother Huang, how did your infant-ghost soul search turn out?”

The gaunt old man closed his eyes and sensed the information transmitted by the cyan-black little ghost.

“Compared to the intelligence he brought back from the secret realm twice, there is no difference. It seems it was simply faulty intelligence, and no other schemes were involved.”

“It’s just a pity. As for that secret realm, we only know some superficial information at present. They entered twice and not only failed to obtain any rare spiritual herbs, but even wasted a Foundation Establishment cultivator for nothing.”

There were fewer than ten Foundation Establishment cultivators stationed in Cangxing City in total. Losing one for no reason was no small loss for Black Jade Tower.

“According to the intelligence from this junior of yours, two other Foundation Establishment cultivators entered the secret realm with him this time.

“One is a guest elder of the Li family, the sword cultivator Bai Kun. The other is Wang Qingyuan, a steward of Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

“It seems we can only probe those two for the details of that stone cave.

“Go make arrangements. No matter how great the price, we must obtain detailed intelligence about the secret realm from them.”

“Yes.” The pale-faced middle-aged cultivator accepted the order.

“However, Senior Brother, before I go investigate, shouldn’t you give me an explanation?

“You suspected this junior of mine and wanted to use a soul-searching method on him. I had no way to oppose you.

“The result proved that he was completely innocent. But now he has ended up in such a state, his mind lost. Senior Brother, do you intend to wash your hands of it entirely?”

A trace of suppressed anger showed in the pale middle-aged cultivator’s eyes.

The Qi Refining cultivator he held in his hand was a collateral junior of his, and the two had a decent relationship.

When he learned that the cultivator surnamed Huang planned to search his soul, the middle-aged cultivator had done his utmost to oppose it. But the other man’s cultivation was much deeper than his, and he also held authority over punishments. His objections had been useless.

Now that his junior had been proven innocent, he had the confidence to demand an explanation.

The gaunt old man laughed hoarsely. He sliced open the belly of a cyan-black little ghost and took out a narrow white jade coffin about three inches long, along with a bulging cloth pouch.

“This Soul-Nurturing Jade Coffin can nourish the mind and soul. For someone like him, whose mind has been overturned and lost, it is perfectly suitable. Place him inside, and there is a seventy percent chance he can recover his senses.

“The pouch contains some spirit stones and materials. If he does not wake, consider it my apology to you. If he does wake, you may handle these things as you see fit.”

“It is only out of consideration for your face that I used a little ghost to search his soul. Otherwise, if it had been anyone else, I would have directly used a soul-searching spell. Why would I bother with all this trouble?”

The middle-aged cultivator accepted the little white jade coffin and the cloth pouch, then carried the unconscious Qi Refining cultivator away.

…

Inside the cave abode.

After a period of bootlicker-style begging, along with constantly digging through the spiritual herbs for fragments of ritual implements, Treasure-Seeking Tower had grown at an astonishing speed.

From its original three-foot wooden-man form, it had grown into a tower over one zhang tall. Once it stood up, it was even two or three zhang high.

Lu Yuan endured his psychological discomfort and went inside for a look.

Inside the wooden tower, many spiritual herbs, ritual implements, and materials were sorted by category and arranged until the interior was packed full.

He looked at Treasure-Seeking Tower, which had finished rummaging through the garbage and was now waiting foolishly at the entrance of the stone cave. A thought suddenly arose in his mind.

Perhaps he could use this bootlicker wooden tower to attract cultivators and demonic beasts with relatively lower cultivation?

From this recent incident of multiple people entering the cave, one trend was clear: more and more high-level cultivators were entering the cave abode.

This time, three Foundation Establishment cultivators had come. Barring any surprises, there would only be even more Foundation Establishment cultivators next time.

Once people learned that Sword-Nurturing Gourd and Earthfire Heart Lotus Seed might be obtained in the cave abode, and once news spread that the stone cave contained Red-Footed Golden Crow and Phoenix-Resting Wutong Wood, the cave abode’s appeal would rise dramatically.

With such a large gap in cultivation, it would be very difficult for Qi Refining cultivators to obtain the qualifications to enter the cave abode in the future.

Even if they relied on deep fortune and happened to enter by luck, they would very likely become cannon fodder in the hands of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Unless they were the sort of Son of Destiny who could escape by sheer luck. But how many people could really possess a protagonist template?

And whether one’s cultivation was deep or not was only one factor affecting the light orb rewards. It might not even be as important as factors like opportunity, talent, or entering the cave abode for the first time.

For example, the little boy to whom Lu Yuan had taught Paper-Crafting Art had only been at mid-stage Qi Refining. Yet on entering the cave abode for the first time, he had brought Lu Yuan a rare reward like White White-Bone Demon Skin.

After the cave abode advanced into a high-grade spirit realm, the previous restriction that required one to enter the core area to obtain a reward had been greatly loosened. Now, as long as someone entered the cave abode, it was enough.

Lu Yuan planned to keep the core area of the cave abode sealed from now on. Once the second-rank and third-rank spiritual herbs inside matured, he would open the secret realm and attract high-level cultivators, demonic beasts, and true children of fortune.

As for Treasure-Seeking Tower, it would remain on the outer perimeter of the cave abode, attracting lower-level cultivators and weird entities. After obtaining rewards, he would grant them different opportunities such as spiritual herbs or cultivation methods according to the size of the reward.

Treasure-Seeking Tower itself had a certain degree of mobility and possessed low-level intelligence. Even when Lu Yuan’s divine sense was absent, it could still distinguish and control the output of spiritual herbs, cultivation methods, and the like.

Once he had the idea, Lu Yuan acted on it. He moved the Mist-Concealing Confusion Array into the peach grove, then had the Silver-Thread Mantis clear out an open space. After that, he ordered Treasure-Seeking Tower to move onto the clearing.

Its arms wrapped around itself, its legs folded, and a tower over one zhang tall formed just like that.

Because the Primordial Taiyin Restriction was incomplete, if he wanted to control the cave abode across a radius of a thousand zhang, the restriction’s power would weaken considerably.

Therefore, the restriction would only be used to protect the core area. In the peach grove, what he arranged was the Mist-Concealing Confusion Array.

At this moment, tender peach blossoms damp with moisture slowly drifted down. Thick white mist gathered and scattered by turns, and a tower over one zhang tall appeared and disappeared within the fog.

In Peach Blossom Dock there stands Peach Blossom Temple;within Peach Blossom Temple dwells a Peach Blossom Immortal.

The Peach Blossom Immortal plants peach trees,and plucks peach blossoms to sell for wine money.

What a treasure tower of opportunity, wreathed in immortal mist!

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