17: A lot of harvest

Inside the cave dwelling, a bloody scent permeated the air. The bodies of Bai Zhan and Wan Feng lay on the ground, their forms charred black.

Bai Zhan's imposing bloody great saber, previously radiating murderous intent, now had its blood-red glow completely extinguished, looking like a piece of scrap metal.

As for the few Puppets, they had also turned into several pieces of debris, with heads and limbs scattered everywhere.

Xu Qi'an gasped for breath, the Talisman he had been charging in his hand finally stopping its accumulation of energy.

Without a doubt, with dozens of first-grade high-quality Talismans unleashed, Bai Zhan and Wan Feng had no chance of survival.

He lowered his head to look at the two bodies, a hint of coldness flashing in his eyes.

He slapped his storage bag, and a greenish-blue treasured sword flew out, striking a blow at the charred bodies of Bai Zhan and Wan Feng.

"Ah..."

Xu Qi'an vaguely heard a faint cry of agony.

"They're not completely dead yet!"

Xu Qi'an sneered, and then another streak of green light sliced through their bodies. Only when their bodies had been chopped into seven or eight pieces did he finally relax.

As expected, when dealing with enemies, you must finish them off!

Xu Qi'an knew this principle well. He then raised his hand and cast two fireballs, burning their bodies into ashes.

"Like this, these two should be deader than dead, right!" Xu Qi'an rubbed his chin, looking at the ashes before him as he spoke.

Next, Xu Qi'an looked at the two somewhat damaged storage bags on the ground.

With a flick of his sword light, Xu Qi'an picked up the storage bags and carefully examined them.

In Bai Zhan's storage bag, there were dozens of Low-Grade Spirit Stones, two Qi Refining Late Stage elixirs, ten Low Grade magic artifacts, four mid-grade magic artifacts, dozens of types of spirit herbs and Spirit Medicine, as well as a copy of "Elixir Refining Miscellaneous Records," "Artifact Refining Compendium," several scrolls of array Formation secrets, and a copy of "Puppet Cultivation Treasure Tome."

There were over a dozen Cultivation Techniques, including three High Grade ones. There happened to be one suitable for wood-attribute Spiritual Roots, the "Living Wood Spirit Art," which could be cultivated up to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Xu Qi'an flipped through them for a while, secretly rejoicing: This was another large batch of ling stones. Especially with these Qi Refining Late Stage elixirs, he no longer needed to worry about resources for the Qi Refining Late Stage, and there was even a Foundation Establishment Cultivation Technique!

Xu Qi'an didn't know the grade of this Cultivation Technique, but just by looking at it, he knew that cultivating it was extremely demanding. However, once cultivated successfully, one's strength would far surpass those of the same stage.

Xu Qi'an then began to look through the Puppet Cultivation Treasure Tome.

This Puppet Cultivation Treasure Tome recorded dozens of Puppet refining methods, and could even refine Foundation Establishment level Puppets!

However, most of the methods for refining Puppets were quite demanding; only one method called Blood Puppet refining was relatively simple.

This method leaned towards the Demonic Path. It involved combining a Cultivator's corpse with certain Materials to refine a Puppet. Operating this Puppet didn't require spiritual sense; it only needed specific incantations.

Although not as effortless as controlling with spiritual sense, its advantage lay in fewer Restrictions.

However, its drawbacks were also obvious: its durability was poor, and it would often fall apart after just a few battles.

Xu Qi'an now recalled the few Puppets Bai Zhan had controlled, as well as the fragments remaining on the ground.

"Perhaps those few Puppets were refined by Bai Zhan using this method!"

Xu Qi'an rubbed his chin and secretly sighed.

If he hadn't chopped the bodies of Bai Zhan and Wan Feng into pieces earlier, he could have given it a try.

As long as he could refine a Puppet of the Qi Refining Late Stage, perhaps with the Omnipotent Treasure Basin, he could gather treasures to produce Puppets comparable to the Qi Refining Peak, or even the Foundation Establishment Stage!

Thinking of this, Xu Qi'an couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. He then opened Wan Feng's storage bag.

Wan Feng's storage bag was even more abundant, containing over a hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, a bottle of mid-stage Qi Refining elixirs, three Low Grade magic artifacts, three mid-grade magic artifacts, and a copy of "Elementary Explanation of First-Grade Array Formations."

What interested Xu Qi'an the most were the two sets of array flags—a set of first-grade mid-quality "Earth Defense Array" and a set of first-grade high-quality "Illusionary Trace Array."

In addition, there was a white jade token with the three characters "Zhenyuan Sect" carved on it.

"Zhenyuan Sect?" Xu Qi'an frowned, having no impression of this name.

"Could this Wan Feng be a Disciple of this Zhenyuan Sect?"

Xu Qi'an thought that this Zhenyuan Sect might be a Sect from some country, but since he had never heard of it, it was probably just a minor Sect and completely insignificant.

He shook his head, put away the token, and secretly made a note of it, planning to inquire about it later if he had the chance.

After tidying up the storage bags, Xu Qi'an walked up to the bloody array Formation and examined it carefully.

The runes on the array Formation were complex and eerie, exuding a chilling aura.

He carefully probed with his eyes, but found that inside the array Formation, there seemed to be an invisible barrier, blocking his vision.

"This array Formation is indeed not simple." Xu Qi'an murmured to himself.

Although he wasn't an array master, he could tell that this array Formation was definitely not something a Qi Refining Cultivator could break.

Only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, or an array master with some skill, would potentially be able to shake it.

Thinking of this, Xu Qi'an finally understood the plan of Bai Zhan and Wan Feng.

These two probably used the cave dwelling relics as bait to attract rogue Cultivators of similar cultivation levels, and then killed them inside the cave dwelling.

Wan Feng evidently intended to use some method to pollute the array Formation with the vital blood of Cultivators, thereby dismantling the Formation and obtaining the treasures within the cave dwelling.

"Unfortunately, you ran into me."

Xu Qi'an sneered, secretly feeling fortunate.

If he hadn't cultivated both body and magic, and had a pile of first-grade high-level Talismans with him, perhaps it would have been him lying here today.

Xu Qi'an tidied up the items inside the cave dwelling and also made a hidden mark at the entrance, planning to return and explore later after his strength had increased.

Just as he was preparing to leave, he suddenly heard a faint voice coming from inside the bloody array Formation.

"Help... help me..."

The voice was pitiful, like a woman calling for help.

Xu Qi'an's heart skipped a beat, and he abruptly turned back to look at the bloody array Formation, but found that the Formation was as calm as before, as if the voice just now was merely an illusion.

"Inside this array Formation... is someone trapped?" Xu Qi'an felt doubtful, but quickly shook his head again.

How could a Cultivator trap themselves inside an array Formation!

This cave dwelling was strange and unpredictable, and the bloody array Formation at this moment was even more sinister. He didn't want to rashly take risks.

"This place is not suitable for staying long." Xu Qi'an murmured to himself, then left the cave dwelling without looking back.

Before leaving, he conveniently dismantled the defensive array Formation that Bai Zhan had set up around the cave dwelling, so as not to leave any traces.

Along the way, Xu Qi'an was cautious, avoiding possible scouts, and finally returned to his residence before dark.

However, as soon as he pushed open the door, he found a letter sealed with a Restriction stuck on it.

"Who sent this?" Xu Qi'an frowned, secretly becoming vigilant.

He carefully checked it, and only after confirming there were no traps did he take it down, return inside, and open it.

The letter was signed "Qingzhu Market Enforcement Team," and its content was brief yet startling:

"All Spiritual Farmers heed the order: Tomorrow at Chen Shi (7-9 AM), gather outside the Qingzhu Market to enter the Xiao Langlang Mountain Relics for exploration. Violators will be severely punished!"

After reading the letter, Xu Qi'an's face immediately fell. He had just narrowly escaped death from the cave dwelling, and unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, he was embroiled in an even bigger crisis.

"Xiao Langlang Mountain Relics... It seems this time, there's no avoiding it."

Xu Qi'an murmured softly, a hint of solemnity flashing in his eyes.