309: Chapter 309 A Scheme of Extreme Yin!

After subduing Immortal Master Xuesha, Lu Qiu once again spread out his Divine Sense, which was powerful enough to cover dozens of miles around. Like the finest comb, he meticulously scanned every inch of the surrounding space. Only after confirming there were no other lurking threats or prying eyes did he slightly put his mind at ease.

He also did not forget that on today's intelligence panel, there was still a third piece of gold intelligence.

Fifty miles to the northeast, there was a five-thousand-year-old 'heavenly marrow lotus'.

A Spirit Medicine of this age was also a treasure that could only be encountered by luck, so he naturally would not let it go.

Moreover, a five-thousand-year-old heavenly marrow lotus also played an irreplaceable role in refining certain Medicinal Pills that enhanced one's Nascent Soul Stage cultivation.

The gray escape light flared up again, and Lu Qiu's figure, like a ghost, shuttled at high speed between the rolling mountains and sparse woods.

He did not choose to fly in a straight line, but deliberately bypassed some areas that might be dangerous or easily detected, maintaining a high level of vigilance. A distance of fifty miles was but a moment's work for a Cultivator of his level.

Soon, he arrived at the entrance of an even more remote and hidden valley.

The entrance of this valley was so narrow that only two people could walk abreast. On both sides were steep cliffs like they were carved by knives and axes. The valley was shrouded in mist, and the powerful Aura of a Yao Beast faintly emanated from within, accompanied by low roars that inspired dread.

According to the intelligence's instructions, that five-thousand-year-old heavenly marrow lotus should be deep within this valley.

Lu Qiu did not hesitate. With a sway of his body, he drifted into the valley as silently as green smoke.

The mist inside the valley was even denser, carrying a damp earthy smell and a faint stench, severely obstructing his vision. However, his Divine Sense had already locked onto the Seventh-level Demonic Beast guarding the Spirit Medicine inside the valley.

A 'Green-scaled Poison Flood Dragon' whose entire body was covered in dark green scales, with a single horn on its head, spitting poisonous mist.

This flood dragon's strength was not weak, equivalent to a Cultivator of the Late Core Formation Stage, and its poison was fierce. If an ordinary Core Formation Cultivator encountered it, they would probably have a massive headache, and might even perish here.

However, to Lu Qiu, this Seventh-level Demonic Beast was not enough to pose a threat.

He did not even use any Magic Treasure. With just a flick of his finger, an extremely condensed line of scarlet gold fire shot out like a laser, instantly piercing through the Green-scaled Poison Flood Dragon's head and incinerating its Sea of Consciousness along with its Primordial Spirit.

Before the poison flood dragon could even let out a scream, its massive body crashed to the ground. After twitching a few times, it completely lost its life. Not much blood even flowed from the wound, as the edges of the wound had been instantly charred and sealed by the terrifying high temperature.

Having easily resolved the guarding Yao Beast, Lu Qiu found the 'heavenly marrow lotus' deep inside the valley by a water pool filled with dense Spiritual Qi and water vapor. The lotus was translucent white like jade, shaped like a lotus flower with layered petals, emitting a faint clear glow and a delicate fragrance.

The five-thousand-year-old medicinal efficacy made its emitted Spiritual Qi fluctuations exceptionally rich. With a gentle sniff, one would feel refreshed, and the magic power in the body seemed to become a bit more active. He carefully harvested it and placed it into a specially made warm jade box to seal it, preventing the loss of medicinal efficacy.

Afterward, relying on his powerful Divine Sense, he searched carefully in this valley and its surrounding areas, finding more than ten other types of Spirit Medicines with ages of over a thousand years. Although they were not as precious as the nine-curved spirit ginseng and the heavenly marrow lotus, they were still rare good things in the outside world. Whether for his own use or for the people around him, they were excellent.

He harvested them one by one and stored them properly.

At this point, the three-day exploration of this Spirit Medicine Garden had been highly fruitful for Lu Qiu.

Not only had he obtained rare Spirit Medicines like the ten-thousand-year nine-curved spirit ginseng and the five-thousand-year heavenly marrow lotus, but he had also acquired the legacy treasures of Daoist Qingming, the Earth Magnetic Profound Iron, Immortal Master Xuesha and his ancient treasure, as well as a large number of thousand-year spirit herbs.

In this trip to the Void Heaven Palace, these gains alone had far exceeded expectations, enough to make any Nascent Soul Cultivator extremely envious.

However, Lu Qiu was not satisfied with just this.

His gaze turned toward the deeper depths, in the direction of the canyon where the entrance to the Ice-Fire Path was hidden.

He knew that the real main event was still to come.

And those few Nascent Soul Old Monsters, especially Old Ancestor Ji Yin, were also about to gather there to discuss the major matter concerning the greatest secret of the Void Heaven Palace.

Taking Immortal Master Xuesha with him, he found an extremely hidden mountain col. Surrounded by grotesque rocks and overgrown with vines, it naturally formed an isolated small space.

With a wave of his hand, he laid down several layers of simple Formations to isolate Divine Sense detection and prevent Aura leakage, completely cutting himself off from the outside world to ensure that the subsequent conversation would not be pried into by anyone.

Then, his gaze fell upon Immortal Master Xuesha.

At this moment, Immortal Master Xuesha's face was as pale as paper, his Aura weak. Although the wound on his chest had been briefly treated, it was still shocking to look at.

But when he looked at Lu Qiu, his eyes were still filled with awe and fear—a trembling that originated from the depths of his Soul.

He hurriedly bowed and saluted, his voice hoarse and respectful: 'What are your orders, Master!'

Lu Qiu looked at him with a calm gaze and did not speak, merely quietly scrutinizing this demonic Cultivator he had just subdued.

That gaze seemed capable of penetrating Immortal Master Xuesha's Soul, seeing through all the thoughts in his heart.

Under this gaze, Immortal Master Xuesha felt cold all over, as if all his secrets were completely exposed, and he couldn't help but bury his head even lower.

After a long while, Lu Qiu finally flipped his wrist. With a flash of spiritual light, two fist-sized spiders with a fierce Aura appeared in his palm. Their entire bodies had a bizarre blood-jade color, and they had natural web-like patterns on their backs.

These two spiders were precisely the 'Blood Jade Spiders' he had bred in his early years, which had now evolved to the level of Fifth Tier Peak Yao Beasts!

They crawled slowly in Lu Qiu's palm, their eight compound eyes flashing with a cold light. From time to time, they spat out silver spider silk as thin as hair, which refracted rainbow-colored luster under the light, clearly no ordinary item.

Although this spider's rank was not high, it excelled in having tenacious vitality and extremely strong reproductive ability. Furthermore, the spider silk it spat out contained a special cold power, which had unexpected restraining or auxiliary effects on certain Cultivators who Cultivated cold-attribute Cultivation Techniques, or on specific restrictive Formations.

More importantly, these two Blood Jade Spiders were an important part of his plan, the key for him to infiltrate Old Ancestor Ji Yin's inner circle.

'Xuesha,' Lu Qiu spoke calmly, his voice devoid of any emotional color.

'Your subordinate is here!' Immortal Master Xuesha hurriedly replied, his body tensing up as he awaited his master's orders.

'I am giving you a task. If you can do it well, there will be no lack of benefits for you in the future. It is not even impossible to help you restore your cultivation and go a step further. But if you dare to play any tricks, or ruin my major plans...' Lu Qiu's tone remained flat, but the coldness contained within it made Immortal Master Xuesha feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, as if an invisible hand were choking his throat.

He hurriedly swore an oath, his voice trembling slightly: 'Your subordinate dares not! I swear to the heavens that I would never dare to betray Master! If I have any double-mindedness, may heaven strike me with lightning and may I die a horrible death!'

'Very well.'

Lu Qiu nodded slightly, noncommittal about his statement, and handed the two Blood Jade Spiders to Immortal Master Xuesha. 'Take the Blood Jade Spiders immediately and find a way to approach someone—Old Ancestor Ji Yin.'

'Old Ancestor Ji Yin?!' Hearing this, Immortal Master Xuesha's face instantly changed, a trace of hard-to-conceal fear flashing in his eyes, and he even involuntarily took half a step back.

Old Ancestor Ji Yin was a Nascent Soul Old Monster who had been famous in the Chaotic Star Sea for many years, with a ferocious reputation, ruthless methods, and countless killings. Asking him to approach such a figure, wasn't that like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth?

With his meager cultivation, he probably wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between Old Ancestor Ji Yin's teeth!

'What? You dare not?' Lu Qiu's eyes narrowed slightly, as if ice were condensing within them.

'N-No... I dare not! Your subordinate obeys! I will definitely do my utmost to complete the task assigned by Master!' Immortal Master Xuesha grit his teeth and braced himself to take the Blood Jade Spiders.

He knew that he no longer had any way out.

He had already witnessed his master's methods just now. The consequence of disobeying orders would probably be a hundred times more miserable than dying at the hands of Old Ancestor Ji Yin.

He could only make a gamble—gamble that he could complete the task, and gamble that his master would fulfill his promise.

Only then did Lu Qiu show a satisfied expression, continuing to instruct: 'You do not need to do anything else. Just use this spider as a lead, find a way to gain Old Ancestor Ji Yin's trust, and stay by his side. Remember, do not deliberately pry into anything, and do not try to make any small moves. Just act like a normal allegiance. You only need to go with the flow and await my next instructions.'

'Yes! Your subordinate understands!'

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

Immortal Master Blood Fiend nodded hurriedly, firmly keeping every word of his master in his heart.

"Go. Remember, my mark is already in your Primordial Spirit; no matter where you are, I can sense you. If you encounter a life-or-death crisis, you may crush this Talisman. I will be able to sense it and decide whether to intervene and save your life depending on the situation." Lu Qiu handed him an inconspicuous gray Talisman. The Talisman was drawn with complex patterns, with spiritual light faintly circulating on it.

Immortal Master Blood Fiend took the Talisman, as if clutching a life-saving straw, and felt slightly more at ease.

He bowed respectfully to Lu Qiu once more, then stopped lingering, turned into a streak of blood-colored light, flew rapidly toward the direction of the canyon entrance, and disappeared into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

Lu Qiu stood in place, watching the back of the departing Immortal Master Blood Fiend. A profound light flashed in his eyes, as if he could pierce through time and space to see the scenes of the future.

Naturally, he would not completely trust Immortal Master Blood Fiend.

Planting a mark in his Primordial Spirit was only the first layer of insurance.

He had other backup plans to ensure that Immortal Master Blood Fiend would not dare to betray him, nor could he.

As long as Immortal Master Blood Fiend dared to make any unusual move, a single thought from him could cause his Primordial Spirit to collapse, leading to Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

The reason he wanted to plant this chess piece, Immortal Master Blood Fiend, beside Old Ancestor Extreme Yin, was naturally for that legendary void heaven cauldron!

According to the development of the "original work" and the information he had obtained from various channels, Old Ancestor Extreme Yin, Layman Qingyi, and Savage Beard, these three Nascent Soul Old Monsters, would soon meet in the canyon to discuss the matter of joining forces to seize the void heaven cauldron.

And the key to their plan was needing something capable of restraining the void heaven cauldron.

Coincidentally, the silk of the Blood Jade Spider was one of the key Materials to break that Restriction!

Originally, this role should have been played by Han Li, who happened to have Blood Jade Spiders on him.

But now, Lu Qiu had laid out his plans in advance, having Immortal Master Blood Fiend take the Blood Jade Spiders to approach Old Ancestor Extreme Yin, precisely to replace Han Li and become that important chess piece in Old Ancestor Extreme Yin's plan!

In this way, he could grasp the movements and plans of Old Ancestor Extreme Yin and the others in real-time through the Primordial Spirit mark on Immortal Master Blood Fiend, and even deliver a fatal blow at the most critical moment!

"Old Demon Extreme Yin, it is time for a reckoning." A cold killing intent flashed in Lu Qiu's eyes. That killing intent was like solid ice, causing the surrounding air to drop by several degrees.

He composed himself, withdrew the Formation, and headed toward the direction of the canyon unhurriedly, like an experienced cheetah, silently approaching his prey.

Half a day later, Lu Qiu's figure appeared in a patch of low shrubs not far from the entrance to the magnificent canyon.

The shrubs were dense with leaves and mottled with shadows, making it an excellent hiding place.

He once again restrained his entire Aura, reducing his heartbeat and breathing to the lowest frequency, as if merging with the surrounding rocks and vegetation, indistinguishable from them.

He did not rush to enter the canyon but lurked down, like a beast patiently waiting for its prey, quietly releasing his Divine Sense to investigate the movements near the canyon entrance.

Soon, his Divine Sense captured two familiar Auras.

One was cold, deep, and carried an extremely uncomfortable Evil Qi, like an undercurrent flowing beneath ten-thousand-year-old ice—it was none other than Old Ancestor Extreme Yin!

The other carried a rich scent of blood and Evil Qi, the Aura slightly floating, yet mixed with a faint, elusive cold force—it was Immortal Master Blood Fiend, whom he had sent out not long ago!

At this moment, Immortal Master Blood Fiend was standing respectfully not far behind Old Ancestor Extreme Yin, his head slightly lowered in the posture of a subordinate, appearing both submissive and awestruck.

Old Ancestor Extreme Yin stood with his hands behind his back, his posture upright, his sinister gaze sweeping over the canyon entrance ahead, as if waiting for something, or perhaps pondering something.

His brows were slightly furrowed; clearly, he was calculating something in his heart.

Clearly, Immortal Master Blood Fiend had successfully aroused Old Ancestor Extreme Yin's interest by relying on the Blood Jade Spider and had smoothly lurked by his side.

The rare characteristics of that Blood Jade Spider were undoubtedly a piece of fat delivered to the door for Old Ancestor Extreme Yin, who was plotting to obtain the void heaven cauldron.

"Very good, the first step of the plan has succeeded," Lu Qiu thought to himself, a barely perceptible arc curving at the corner of his mouth.

Everything was developing according to his expectations.

Just at this moment, Old Ancestor Extreme Yin, who had been standing with his hands behind his back, suddenly turned around abruptly. His gaze, like two cold arrows, shot into the Void Realm, his face so gloomy it seemed ready to drip water, and he shouted sharply:

"What rat! How dare you skulk here and eavesdrop on this old man's conversation? Get out here at once!"

His voice was sharp like a night owl's, carrying a powerful mental shock, like tangible sound waves, sweeping toward that area!

The surrounding leaves trembled from this sound wave, and some small animals were even directly stunned unconscious.

However, Lu Qiu's expression did not change; not even his breathing was disturbed, and his heartbeat remained as steady as usual. He sneered in his heart, "With your pitiful Divine Sense strength, you want to discover me? What a joke, it's just bluffing."

He remained motionless, as if he were truly just a lifeless rock, completely merging into the surrounding environment.

Sure enough, not long after Old Ancestor Extreme Yin's voice fell, another figure walked out chuckling from another patch of shadows not far away.

It was a Cultivator dressed in a green Confucian robe, with a gaunt face, holding a scroll of bamboo slips, looking like an old scholar well-versed in books—it was none other than Layman Qingyi!

His gait was composed, and a gentle smile hung on his face, as if he were truly just an old scholar passing by by chance.

"Hehehe, why is Brother Wu so angry? This old man just happened to pass by, heard movement here, and came over to take a look. I have absolutely no intention of eavesdropping, and certainly dare not spy on Brother Wu's secrets."

Layman Qingyi wore a harmless smile on his face and spoke in a relaxed tone, as if it were truly just a chance encounter. But his gaze, inadvertently, swept over Immortal Master Blood Fiend behind Old Ancestor Extreme Yin like a hawk. He paused for an extra moment, especially on the not-yet-fully-restrained Evil Qi on Immortal Master Blood Fiend's body, as well as the special Aura faintly emanating from the Spirit Beast bag at his waist. A trace of imperceptible profound meaning flashed in his eyes, as if he had already seen some clues.

When Old Ancestor Extreme Yin saw it was Layman Qingyi, his expression softened slightly, but he still carried a trace of vigilance and dissatisfaction: "So it is Fellow Daoist Qingyi. Hmph, Fellow Daoist has arrived quite 'coincidentally'! Not early, not late, but happened to 'pass by' at this very moment."

"Coincidence, purely a coincidence."

Layman Qingyi laughed it off, brushed it aside, and looked at Immortal Master Blood Fiend again with profound meaning, smiling, "This Fellow Daoist beside Brother Wu is very unfamiliar? I wonder whose high disciple this is? Looking at him, he seems a bit unfamiliar, not like someone from the schools of us old fellows."

Old Ancestor Extreme Yin frowned, seemingly not wanting to talk more on this topic, and only vaguely said: "Just a disciple I just took in, not worth mentioning. I happened to get an interesting little trinket, so I kept him by my side to run errands. Fellow Daoist Qingyi, since you are here, why not chat together? It just so happens that this old man also has some matters I would like to discuss with you."

A gleam of light flashed in Layman Qingyi's eyes, as if he had already guessed what Old Ancestor Extreme Yin was going to say, and he smiled: "That is exactly what I desire, I dare not ask for more; this old man also has the same intention."

Just as the two were engaging in empty pleasantries and testing each other, Lu Qiu sensed another Aura, even more violent, domineering, and full of brutal power, rapidly approaching from the distance with an unstoppable Aura!

Wherever that Aura passed, the air trembled, as if an ancient Vicious Beast was galloping toward them!

"Savage Beard is here too!" Lu Qiu's heart tightened, and his concentration instantly became highly focused.

It seems that these three Nascent Soul Old Monsters of the Demonic Path were indeed, just like the development of the "original work," about to meet at this canyon entrance to discuss joining forces.

And this meeting would directly influence the subsequent trend of the situation in the Void Heaven Palace.

And with the chess piece, Immortal Master Blood Fiend, whom he had secretly planted, and those two carefully prepared Blood Jade Spiders, the greatest trump card of Old Ancestor Extreme Yin and the others in plotting for the void heaven cauldron had already, unknowingly, fallen into his control!