Chapter 87: Little Red Lanterns Hanging High

After more cultivators came searching for strokes of fortune, all sorts of people naturally began to appear.

Most of them left fully satisfied after obtaining their opportunities, but a small number of cultivators would lie in ambush outside the peach blossom forest, letting other people’s strokes of fortune grow into their own.

There were also those who, because the opportunities were not enough, harbored ill intentions toward the Treasure-Seeking Tower, or those who were far too greedy and coveted the endlessly flowing river of treasures inside the wooden tower.

Lu Yuan ignored those who ambushed people outside, but toward cultivators who wanted to break open the wooden tower, Lu Yuan was not nearly as polite.

The Treasure-Seeking Tower itself had average defensive power and no especially strange abilities. At present, its greatest function was treasure sorting and treasure seeking.

When it saw that the situation was wrong, the wooden tower would swiftly transform and flee into the white-fog confusion array.

After this happened enough times, Lu Yuan arranged for the Silver-Thread Mantis, which had been painstakingly training its blade arts in the peach blossom forest, to lend a hand.

With the Illusory Yin Eye’s eyeball avatar assisting from the side, and Little Paper Man, the Red-Footed Golden Crow, and the Python-Sparrow Eel, the three major combat forces, taking turns overseeing things from behind, any occasional blind cultivators who appeared immediately became extra meals for the Blood-Devouring Vine and Ghost-Faced Spider funeral squad.

To better protect the Treasure-Seeking Tower, which had been working so hard to receive guests, Lu Yuan controlled the Illusory Yin Eye to split off even more eyeballs and arranged them in every corner around the cave abode’s outskirts, using his divine sense to monitor the cultivators and demonic beasts entering the cave abode from multiple angles at once.

At the same time, he hung the small, bright-red Wind Ghost Lantern above the paper slip for the Immortal Fate Tower.

A deathly white paper slip, a blood-red lantern, and countless tiny red tentacles stretching out from the lantern’s base, moving on their own without wind.

The two complemented each other perfectly. The atmosphere was abundant.

Yet human greed was endless. The wooden tower carried countless treasures, and with its harmless appearance, it finally drew in a large-scale hunt.

Outside the wooden tower.

A high-level Qi Refining cultivator stepped forward and said to the cultivators who had come searching for strokes of fortune, “Our Yinluo Sect is taking this so-called Immortal Fate Tower. Unrelated cultivators who don’t want to die had better leave at once.”

At the same time, more than ten Qi Refining cultivators who had entered the area around the wooden tower one after another and taken positions in different directions emerged from the crowd, throwing out small formation plates one after another.

The formation plates merged into the ground, raising walls as solid as bronze and iron. Layer upon layer of barriers sealed off the wooden tower, trapping it inside the walls.

Everything happened too suddenly. Before the Treasure-Seeking Tower and the other cultivators present could react, it was already done.

The many cultivators were in an uproar, unwillingness rising in their hearts. But after they saw the early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator walking out from behind the peach blossom forest, every thought of resistance immediately died down.

Although there were many Qi Refining cultivators, they still had some strength to fight for the sake of preserving their belongings.

But now that a Foundation Establishment cultivator had appeared, staying alive was all that mattered. They could only obediently remove the storage bags from their bodies and flee the peach blossom forest in a sorry state.

This Foundation Establishment cultivator was named Zheng Chao, an elder of the Yinluo Sect.

The Yinluo Sect was a medium-sized force in Cangxing City. The highest cultivation in the sect belonged to its sect master, who was at late-stage Foundation Establishment.

After hearing that such a wondrous wooden tower had appeared in the wilderness, the Yinluo Sect sent people to investigate it thoroughly. Once they had done so, they formed the idea of capturing the wooden tower and swallowing all the treasures inside.

From cultivators who had previously entered the wooden tower, they learned that the wooden tower itself possessed a certain ability to move, and that it would flee into the white-fog confusion array when the situation turned bad.

At the same time, there was also a first-rank demonic beast, the Silver-Thread Mantis, guarding the area near the wooden tower in the peach blossom forest.

Because the eyeball avatar was far too strange and unpredictable, it had not been discovered by the Qi Refining cultivators who entered the wooden tower.

As for the cultivators who knew about Little Paper Man, the Red-Footed Golden Crow, and the others, their bones had long since sunk to the bottom of the lake.

Perhaps under the nourishment of the Mirage Yin Pearl, resentful yin souls were already being born from them one after another.

After learning detailed intelligence about the wooden tower, the Yinluo Sect made a great deal of preparation.

First, they sent out more than ten Qi Refining cultivators, having them enter the area around the wooden tower separately, hold each position, and wait for the right chance to trap the wooden tower with an array.

At the same time, they also dispatched an elder from the sect to hold the line, guarding against other cultivators who might harbor ill intentions and dealing with the demonic beast Silver-Thread Mantis stationed outside the wooden tower.

“What Immortal Fate Tower? Relying entirely on other people’s handouts—how can that count as a stroke of fortune? A true stroke of fortune is something you fight for yourself.”

The Yinluo Sect Foundation Establishment cultivator looked at the dark-greenish wooden tower struggling within the copper-and-iron walls, and a trace of heat flashed through his eyes.

“The many spiritual herbs, cultivation methods, talismans, and ritual implements inside the tower will all belong to us. With them, the Yinluo Sect’s strength will increase greatly. At that time, we’ll also have a greater say in Cangxing City.”

More than ten mid- and high-level Qi Refining cultivators surrounded the Treasure-Seeking Tower, driving hand seals with their hands and controlling the small formation plates underground.

The copper-and-iron walls constantly rotated and contracted, soon reaching the edge of the wooden tower.

Just then, at the very top of the wooden tower, a small red lantern moved on its own without wind. Its black wick burned fiercely.

Upon the candle, resentful souls silently howled in pain one after another, and were soon burned into nothing. Without anyone noticing, the red glow on the lantern brightened by a few degrees.

The faint red light shone onto the ground, forming shadows of all different shapes beneath the feet of the many cultivators.

The shadows flickered in and out within the red light, some contracting, some expanding. In the end, it chose one high-level Qi Refining cultivator, and all the red light merged into his shadow.

Spiritual power flowed around this high-level Qi Refining cultivator as he formed hand seals. He looked at the Treasure-Seeking Tower, only one corner of which was exposed within the walls, his eyes filled with greed.

Before long, this wooden tower would be crushed and shattered by the array, and all the treasures inside would burst out.

He seemed to see the instant the wooden tower broke into countless blocks of wood: innumerable spirit grasses and spiritual herbs, all kinds of talismans and ritual implements, rare and precious cultivation-method jade slips...

As he stared, the wooden tower before his eyes suddenly twisted, and every treasure inside the wooden tower vanished before him one by one.

A small dark-red human figure appeared on the lantern shade. Its eyes were tightly shut, its features distinct. It had the exact figure and appearance of this high-level Qi Refining cultivator.

“No! My treasures! They’re all mine!”

This high-level Qi Refining cultivator could no longer restrain the intense, extreme possessiveness that surged up in his heart.

All the treasures inside the wooden tower were his! These people were all here to steal his treasures!

Every single one of them deserved to die!

At that thought, this high-level Qi Refining cultivator could no longer control himself. He stopped casting the hand seals used to control the array, and his flying sword shot out, striking down a completely unguarded Qi Refining cultivator beside him. At the same time, he flung dozens upon dozens of talismans toward the nearby cultivators from his own sect.

Everything happened far too quickly. Before the Foundation Establishment cultivator Zheng Chao could react, two Qi Refining cultivators had died instantly.

Another two or three people had their spells interrupted because of his sudden attack. The copper-and-iron walls that had been constantly contracting stopped advancing, and even collapsed into broken pieces.

Seeing an opening appear in the array, the Treasure-Seeking Tower seized this fleeting chance. Its long, slender wooden legs instantly unfolded, and in two or three steps, it hid itself inside the Mist-Concealing Confusion Array.

The small red lantern at the top of the wooden tower hung high, swaying violently with the tower’s movements. On the black candle wick, a freshly made resentful soul silently appeared.

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