150: Act prudently! Profit secretly!

Chapter 150: Acting Steadily! Secretly Profiting!

Boulder Valley, a treacherous location in the central area of the Golden Drum Plain battlefield.

This place was filled with jagged rocks—the large ones like small mountains, the small ones like millstones—forming a natural maze and ambush point. It was a classic site for Foundation Establishment Cultivators from both sides to hunt and be hunted.

In the narrow shadow between two giant rocks, two Middle Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators dressed in Demonic Flame Sect robes were carefully suppressing their auras to the limit, their eyes vigilantly scanning the silent valley.

"Senior Brother Zhou, we've been lying in ambush for nearly two hours and haven't seen a single soul. It seems there won't be any 'fat sheep' coming to Boulder Valley today," one of the younger-looking Cultivators complained in a low voice, his tone tinged with impatience.

The middle-aged Cultivator addressed as Senior Brother Zhou frowned, his eyes flashing with caution. He shook his head slightly and lowered his voice further: "Junior Brother Li, be patient. The calmer it seems, the more likely a killing intent is hidden. Besides... things have been a bit off lately; we need to be extra careful."

"Off?" Junior Brother Li was startled.

Senior Brother Zhou looked around to ensure no one was there before whispering: "Haven't you heard? In the past few months, the personnel we've lost across various regions has increased by nearly thirty percent! Among them were many Late Foundation Establishment Stage experts, and even several squads led by Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators have vanished mysteriously, unable to even send out a distress signal!"

Hearing this, Junior Brother Li's face changed slightly: "How could that be? Did the Seven Sects of Yue Country secretly send reinforcements? Or... did they use power they shouldn't have?"

"Shh!" Senior Brother Zhou made a silencing gesture, his expression grave. "The higher-ups are strictly investigating this. Some Junior Martial Uncles suspect that the Yue Country side might have secretly dispatched Core Formation Cultivators disguised as Foundation Establishment Stage to blend into the ranks, specifically targeting our lone Cultivators or small elite squads! Otherwise, it's hard to explain why the losses are so strange, with almost no useful clues or witnesses left behind."

"Core Formation Cultivators personally taking the field? This... isn't this a blatant violation of the rules established by both sides?" Junior Brother Li gasped.

"Rules?" A cold sneer appeared on Senior Brother Zhou's lips. "In the face of life and death and massive interests, rules are sometimes meant to be broken. Of course, it's only a suspicion for now, with no solid evidence. That's why the higher-ups have strictly ordered that we must be doubly vigilant when going out on missions recently. It's better to return empty-handed than to take risks for merit. We are ambushing here today mainly for observation and warning; unless we are absolutely certain, we must not act lightly as a Foundation Establishment Cultivator."

Junior Brother Li realized and nodded repeatedly: "I see, thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother. Let's wait another half hour; if there's still nothing unusual, we'll withdraw according to plan..."

His words stopped abruptly.

Both felt the light around them distort slightly, and a faint, strange sweetness—a mix of various floral scents—seemed to waft through the air. Immediately after, the giant rocks, their companion, and even the entire valley scenery began to ripple, blur, and change like a reflection on water!

Senior Brother Zhou seemed to instantly return to the Inner Sect of the Demonic Flame Sect, receiving a Legacy from his Revered Master, his cultivation Bottleneck loosening, leaving him overjoyed; Junior Brother Li felt as if he had fallen into a land of tenderness, surrounded by countless beauties whispering sweet nothings... At the very moment their minds were completely lost and intoxicated by the sudden illusion that struck their deepest desires—

A strand of scarlet gold light, condensed to the extreme and only as thick as a hair, yet radiating an aura that could incinerate everything, shot out silently from behind the shadow of a giant rock like a venomous snake's tongue!

The sky burning gilded plumes!

The thin light was too fast, faster than the reaction limit of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator's Divine Sense!

It drew a nearly straight line of faint light in the air, precisely grazing the foreheads of Senior Brother Zhou and Junior Brother Li in succession!

"Chih!"

"Chih!"

Two barely audible soft sounds.

The wild joy on Senior Brother Zhou's face and the intoxication in Junior Brother Li's eyes froze and dissolved simultaneously.

Their protective spiritual light didn't even have time to fully activate before a pin-sized hole with charred edges appeared in each of their foreheads.

No screams, no struggle.

The two bodies slumped softly into the rock crevices, their life force extinguished.

Only then did a figure wearing a magical robe similar in color to the rocks, with an aura almost completely vanished, slowly emerge from behind that giant rock as if peeling away from the shadows.

It was Lu Qiu.

Wearing the invisibility gauze and pushing the Myriad Transformations Hidden Origin Art to its limit, he had been perfectly hidden there all along, like a part of the stone.

"It seems that although I've deliberately controlled the frequency of my actions recently, the cumulative number of Foundation Establishment Cultivators I've killed has still attracted the attention and suspicion of the Demonic Path's high-level members." Lu Qiu looked at the two corpses on the ground calmly, thinking to himself, "Core Formation Cultivators disguised and acting? This guess serves as a reminder. Although I'm not Core Formation, the 'harvesting' efficiency I've shown is indeed likely to make people wonder."

He didn't delay any longer and waved his hand to release dozens of restless "Blood Soul Gu."

These small scarlet-black insects cheered and pounced on the fresh blood food, their mouthparts opening and closing as they greedily devoured the remaining Essence Blood and weak Soul Power in the corpses.

Within a few breaths, the two corpses turned into two shriveled and gray skin shells.

Lu Qiu skillfully collected their Storage Pouches and flicked out Chixiao True Fire to incinerate the remains, erasing all traces.

"Next, it's time to keep a low profile for a while. It's also a good Opportunity to digest my recent gains." Lu Qiu made his decision, his body flickered, and he merged back into the environment, quietly leaving Boulder Valley.

After returning to the Yue Country camp, Lu Qiu went straight to the temporary office of the "Law Enforcement Hall" jointly established by the Seven Sects.

His face was slightly "pale" and his aura "weak" as he reported to the deacon Cultivator on duty: while performing his mission today, he was ambushed by Demonic Path Cultivators. Although he fought hard to repel the powerful enemies, he also suffered significant "injuries" and needed a period of quiet recovery, making him temporarily unable to perform frontline missions.

The deacon Cultivator checked Lu Qiu's identity token and mission records. Seeing that his aura was indeed unstable and considering the significant losses on the frontline recently, he didn't make things difficult for a Cultivator who proactively requested rest due to being "wounded." He quickly approved Lu Qiu's "injury leave" for a tentative period of two months.

Lu Qiu "gratefully" took his leave and returned to his stone house residence. He activated the protective Restriction outside and hung a sign saying "Closed-door cultivation for healing, please do not disturb"... Inside the stone house, Lu Qiu sat cross-legged, the "weakness" on his face long gone, replaced by calmness and reflection.

He tallied his gains from the past few months.

On the surface, he had performed several missions assigned by the Sect, with records of successfully thwarting Demonic Path squads and seizing supplies, as well as records of "encountering powerful enemies, mission failure, and retreating with injuries." He performed moderately, neither outstanding nor at the bottom, perfectly fitting the image of an ordinary Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator with decent strength and average luck.

But in reality, relying on the Golden Finger provided by his intelligence, his own powerful strength, and secret means like Illusion Spirit Butterflies, Spirit Shocking Thorn, and Golden-Backed Demonic Mantis, he had "conveniently" dealt with more than a dozen Demonic Path Foundation Establishment Cultivators in addition to his missions!

Most of these Cultivators were targets guided by intelligence or unlucky souls who happened to cross his path and were suitable as nourishment for the Blood Soul Gu.

The accumulated wealth of these dozen or so Foundation Establishment Cultivators was already a considerable fortune.

Spirit Stones, Medicinal Pills, Materials, Magical Artifacts... all sorts of things, enough to make any Cultivator of the same rank green with envy.

But what Lu Qiu valued more were the several "Opportunities" he successfully obtained through the intelligence Golden Finger over these three months.

A total of five silver Opportunities and one golden Opportunity!

With a thought, several items appeared before him.

A Magic Treasure called "Jade Wave Cover," entirely deep blue and as thin as a cicada's wing, with the faint sound of waves. It integrated offense and defense, especially excelling at resisting fire and poison attacks.

Three Spirit Medicines sealed in cold jade boxes: a "Seven-Leaf Purple Heart Grass" over six hundred years old, a main ingredient for refining various high-grade Medicinal Pills; an "Earth Fire Lotus" about five hundred and fifty years old, containing pure Fire and Metal Spiritual Qi; and a rare "Yin Soul Orchid" nearly six hundred years old, which had miraculous effects on cultivating Yin-attribute techniques or nourishing the Divine Soul.

A fist-sized Ore with a deep starry sky color and what looked like starlight flowing inside—a "Star Essence Crystal."

This was a top-tier spiritual material that, when added in small amounts during the refining of Flying Sword or flying needle Magic Treasures, could greatly enhance their sharpness, armor-piercing ability, and spiritual power conductivity. It was worth a fortune.

Finally, there was a dark yellow ancient scroll made from some kind of tanned animal skin.

When unrolled, a secret technique was recorded on it with blood-colored runes—the "Hundred Beasts Transformation"!

This secret technique originated from the Yu Ling Sect and was one of the peripheral branches of its core Legacy, yet it was also extremely profound.

Cultivators needed to use a unique method to refine the Essence Blood and a strand of the complete Primordial Spirit of a specific Yao Beast to condense a corresponding "Beast Spirit Seal" in their body.

Once successfully condensed, the Cultivator could use this seal during battle to Incarnate into that kind of Yao Beast for a short period (depending on cultivation and the strength of the Beast Spirit Seal, usually about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn)!

Not only could they gain that Yao Beast's powerful Physical Body strength and Divine Ability, but they could even simulate its combat instincts and habits to a certain extent!

Even more precious was that this technique had an extremely high ceiling.

Theoretically, as long as the Cultivator's Divine Sense and Physical Body were strong enough to withstand the impact and assimilation of higher-tier Yao Beast Essence Blood and Primordial Spirits, they could condense stronger Beast Spirit Seals and Incarnate into more powerful Yao Beasts!

"Incarnating into a Yao Beast for a short time and mastering all its abilities..." Lu Qiu carefully studied the cultivation method and precautions of the "Hundred Beasts Transformation," his eyes flashing with excitement.

Imagine at a critical moment Incarnating into a "Divine Wind Eagle" known for its speed to escape instantly; or Incarnating into a thick-skinned, immensely powerful "Mountain-Shaking Giant Rhino" to head-on clash with a powerful enemy; or even Incarnating into a "Nether Shadow Scorpion" skilled in stealth and deadly poison for a treacherous assassination... The tactical choices would become incredibly rich!

Although the Incarnation time was limited and there might be brief weakness or discomfort afterward, in a life-and-death struggle that changes in an instant, this short time difference and ability boost were enough to decide the outcome or even reverse life and death!

"This trip to the battlefield has been worth it." Lu Qiu solemnly put away the "Hundred Beasts Transformation" scroll.

Cultivating this technique required caution; he first needed to find suitable Yao Beast Essence Blood and Primordial Spirits, and the initial condensation of the Beast Spirit Seal was quite painful and dangerous, requiring thorough preparation.