32: A golden opportunity! A thousand-year-old elixir!

The moment his feet touched solid ground, the dizziness tearing at his Divine Soul came to a sudden halt.

Lu Qiu lowered his posture slightly, bending his knees to absorb the last bit of momentum from the teleportation.

He didn't stand up immediately, but remained in a semi-crouched position, his ears twitching slightly as he caught every sound in his surroundings.

Damp.

Cold.

The air was a mix of moisture and the faint scent of decaying vegetation.

He slowly stood up straight, magic power circulating within his eyes.

A grayish-white valley.

Within his field of vision, thick, inseparable white mist churned endlessly, compressing visibility to less than three or four zhang.

Anything hidden in the mist could launch a fatal sneak attack at any moment.

Lu Qiu took out a beast-hide map from his Storage Pouch.

This was a simplified map of the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land distributed by the Sect; though crude, it provided general directions.

Running his fingertips across the rough beast-hide, he compared it with the blurred mountain outlines around him and quickly identified his location.

The eastern part of the Forbidden Ground, Spirit Mist Valley.

The map noted that this place was rich in a Spirit Medicine called "Mist Heart Grass," an auxiliary ingredient for several types of healing Medicinal Pills and of considerable value.

At the same time, a type of Rank One Yao Beast called the "Mist Snake" also lurked here.

This beast excelled at concealment and had highly venomous fangs, making it extremely difficult to deal with.

Lu Qiu was in no hurry to move.

With a thought...

Buzz.

The golden origin bell silently emerged, hovering above his head and emitting a hazy golden light, ready to drop a protective shield at any moment.

Finally, a spiritual light flickered in his eyes as he activated the Heavenly Eye Technique.

The world before him suddenly opened up.

The mist that was originally thick enough to seem solid became thin in his vision, and every plant, tree, sand, and stone within a hundred zhang became crystal clear.

Lu Qiu stepped forward, his figure blending into the thick fog as he walked toward the depths of the valley.

His pace was not fast, each step falling silently, yet his muscles were in a state of readiness to explode at any moment.

He hadn't gone far when he came to a halt.

At the edge of his Heavenly Eye Technique's vision, beneath a cluster of low shrubs, several emerald-green Spiritual Plants grew quietly, with milky-white dewdrops condensed on their leaves, emitting a faint Spiritual Qi.

mist spirit grass.

They were at least fifty years old.

Lu Qiu was about to step forward.

A cold killing intent stabbed out from the thick mist to his left without warning.

Almost at the same moment the thought arose, he activated the golden origin bell above his head.

Buzz!

A massive golden light screen crashed down, protecting his entire body tightly; on the surface of the screen, countless fine golden runes flowed incessantly.

At the very moment the light screen formed...

A grayish-white shadow shot out from the thick mist at extreme speed, without making a sound, and bit down fiercely on the golden light screen.

Clang!

A crisp sound of metal clashing.

It was a venomous snake as thick as an arm, its entire body covered in grayish-white scales that blended with the mist, and its emerald-green vertical pupils were filled with cold killing intent.

Mist Snake.

After the failed strike, a hint of astonishment flashed in the Mist Snake's pupils.

It reacted quickly, twisting its body to retreat back into the mist and wait for the next sneak attack.

Lu Qiu would not give it that chance.

"Seeking death."

He spat out two cold words and flicked a finger on his right hand.

A streak of green light flew out from his sleeve.

The top-tier Magical Artifact, the qingming sword, turned into a stream of light, striking after the snake moved but arriving first. Its speed far exceeded the Mist Snake's retreat, and it slashed precisely at the snake's vital seven-inch mark.

Pfft!

Scalding snake blood sprayed out.

This fierce Rank One Yao Beast didn't even have time to let out a scream before its massive body was sliced into two by the sharp sword light, falling heavily to the ground.

The snake's body twitched violently a few times before falling silent.

Lu Qiu remained expressionless; with a wave of his hand, the qingming sword let out a soft hum and flew back into his sleeve.

With another motion, he pulled the Mist Snake's corpse into his Storage Pouch from a distance.

The Mist Snake's gall and venom sac were both good Alchemy Materials that could be exchanged for Spirit Stones.

Only then did he walk forward unhurriedly, taking out a jade shovel to dig out those mist spirit grass plants along with the soil at their roots, placing them into a specially made jade box.

For the next half hour, Lu Qiu repeated the process.

He slowly explored the Spirit Mist Valley.

Relying on the Heavenly Eye Technique to foresee everything, the indestructible defense of the golden origin bell, and the unstoppable attack of the qingming sword, he walked through this valley—perilous for other Cultivators—as if strolling in his own backyard.

During this time, he encountered seven or eight more sneak attacks from Mist Snakes.

Without exception, these venomous creatures hiding in the shadows were all cleanly decapitated by his qingming sword the moment they appeared.

His harvest was also quite bountiful.

Altogether, he had gathered over a dozen mist spirit grass plants of considerable age.

The sky grew late, and the afterglow of the setting sun was completely swallowed by the thick mist.

Lu Qiu was not greedy, nor was he in a hurry to follow the map to the central area where more Opportunities might exist.

Instead, he stopped beneath an unremarkable cliff wall in the Spirit Mist Valley.

The qingming sword flew out, its light flashing; the hard rock wall was sliced through like tofu, and rubble fell in showers.

A moment later, a simple cave large enough for one person to sit cross-legged was formed.

Then, he took out dozens of Formation Flags and several Formation Plates from his Storage Pouch.

These were all spoils of war from killing that Tianxing Sect Formation Master.

He performed hand seals, and streaks of spiritual light flicked from his fingertips, accurately hitting the ground around the cave.

The Formation Flags sank into the soil and disappeared.

The Formation Plates floated up and rotated slowly.

As he cast the final spell, both Formations were activated simultaneously.

Buzz!

The scene at the cave entrance distorted briefly and soon blended with the surrounding cliff wall, leaving no trace of excavation.

A golden light screen, nearly invisible to the naked eye, enveloped the entire cave.

Mist Obscuring Eyes Formation.

Lesser Golden Light Formation.

After finishing all this, Lu Qiu walked into the cave and sat down cross-legged.

Rather than groping around blindly like a headless fly in this peril-filled Forbidden Ground, it was better to wait for tomorrow for the information System to refresh.

Seizing Opportunities by following the guidance of the information was the most efficient and safest way.

He closed his eyes and began to meditate, recovering the magic power he had consumed today.

The night passed in silence.

When the first ray of light in the morning penetrated the gaps in the Formation and shone into the Immortal Cave, Lu Qiu opened his eyes right on time.

With a thought...

The familiar information panel slowly unfolded before him.

[white information: Five miles east of Spirit Mist Valley, in a stone crevice, lies a Storage Pouch left behind by an unknown Cultivator.]

[silver information: Three miles north of Spirit Mist Valley, inside the Mist Snake King's nest, there is a rare Mist Crystal containing the essence of the mist.]

[gold intelligence: In the depths of Spirit Mist Valley, at the bottom of a bottomless pond, grows a thousand-year-old Spirit Medicine!]

Lu Qiu's breath suddenly hitched the moment he saw the final line of gold text.

gold intelligence!

Thousand-year Spirit Medicine!

In the depths of his eyes, an uncontrollable, burning light instantly erupted, and his heartbeat suddenly quickened.

As expected!

This Ancient Forbidden Land is filled with treasures everywhere!

It's only the second day, and a gold Opportunity has already appeared!

A thousand-year-old Spirit Medicine is even more precious than a foundation establishment pill.

If sold, it would be enough to cause a frantic scramble among Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators and might even attract the greed of Core Formation old monsters.

He forcibly suppressed the surging ecstasy in his chest, his gaze falling back onto the panel.

Lu Qiu didn't care about the Storage Pouch from the white information.

The Mist Snake King's nest from the silver information was quite good.

The Mist Snake King must be at the peak of Rank One, with strength greater than an ordinary Qi Refinement Perfection Cultivator.

The Mist Crystal in the nest was also quite a rare material.

Of course, his main objective was crystal clear.

It was that thousand-year Spirit Medicine!