A Mortal’s Journey to Immortality: Wang Yu’s Rebirth as the Reincarnation Dao Ancestor - Chapter 107

Chapter 106 Looting, Green Treasure Chest

The four giant tiger puppets were the henchmen of the four late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The twenty or thirty giant wolf puppets were comparable to twenty or thirty early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.

And then there was the Ink Dragon, which had already reached level three, comparable to the combat power of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The key was that this guy was a guide.

This guy was very familiar with the environment of the forbidden area, knew which places were guarded by which demonic beasts, and knew which spiritual herb producing areas were easier to conquer.

“Roar…”

A large lake several miles long where underground currents converged.

Xiao Liu turned sorrow into power, slaughtering the Azure Water Crocodile horde until they were routed. Even with two level 2 Azure Water Crocodiles leading the way, and more than a dozen level 1 upper-tier top-tier crocodiles assisting, they could not stop Xiao Liu’s rampage.

Here, a total of sixty or seventy spiritual herbs were found.

Among them, there were more than a dozen mature spiritual herbs and three mature spiritual fruits, many of which were high-quality materials that could be used to refine Foundation Establishment pills.

There were even two rare treasures that were seven or eight hundred years old.

These dozen or so spiritual herbs and fruits alone were worth over 30,000 spirit stones.

“Roar…”

The black dragon unleashed its power, and the Azure Water Crocodile horde retreated in disarray.

Seeing that the horde was about to be wiped out by Xiao Liu, Han Li, having quickly finished harvesting the spiritual herbs, transmitted his voice:

“Just teach them a lesson; there’s no need for further bloodshed.”

If too many guardian spirit beasts were killed, and the subsequent groups of Yellow Maple Valley disciples discovered too many brutal battlefields, it would inevitably cause complications and raise suspicions about each location.

Therefore, he preferred to preserve as many of the demonic beasts in the central area as possible.

This would increase the difficulty for the exploration teams, slowing down their progress and giving him more time to safely scavenge. It would also enrich the experience for the younger members, making it difficult for them to venture too deep into the central area in a short time.

In short, leaving the vast majority of the demonic beasts alive was more beneficial than harmful.

He wasn’t going to give too many spiritual herbs to Yellow Maple Valley or Old Monster Linghu!

He just wanted to keep a larger share for himself!

He didn’t care about the interests of outsiders.

Only the interests of the Red Tassel Mountain lineage made him somewhat concerned.

“At worst, I’ll just bring Dong Xuan’er some spiritual herbs that are five or six hundred years old,” Han Li thought to himself.

Of course, he had to be wary of Ancestor Linghu.

He even had to be wary of any other Core Formation cultivator, and even keep it a secret from Master Hong Fu.

Better safe than sorry.

“Awooo…”

Little Six, very obediently, followed orders and stopped bullying the Azure Water Crocodiles in front of him, instead chasing after the figure ahead and leaving the underground lake.

Then, there was another underground stone cave.

This time, the situation became somewhat strange.

After seeing the Ink Dragon, the dozen or so earth dragons not only did not attack, but retreated back into their respective burrows. Little Six seemed unfazed by this, as if he were very familiar with these earth dragons?

“Have you been to this place before?”

Han Li asked curiously.

Little Six nodded upon hearing this.

“And you even subdued them?”

Little Six nodded again.

“I see.”

Han Li smiled.

No wonder the earth dragons here seemed to be welcoming their arrival. Even after he harvested thirteen mature spiritual herbs that were quite old, these earth dragons remained quiet and showed no sign of making a move.

Only after the two of them left did the earth dragons breathe a sigh of relief.

Han Li didn’t know that this place used to have far more than a dozen earth dragons, but nearly forty. Among them was even a level 3 exotic beast earth dragon, which had the potential to mutate further. After being ravaged three times by Xiao Liu, only the current sixteen remained.

Even the level 3 one had been killed in the last massacre.

This was the main reason why these earth dragons behaved so obediently.

They then visited more than twenty similar spiritual herb producing areas.

As long as Xiao Liu appeared and roared when he arrived, the guardian beasts would cower in a corner and tremble until Han Li dug up the mature spiritual herbs and fruits and left with the black dragon Xiao Liu, only then would the guardian beasts reappear.

Seeing this, Han Li had ample reason to suspect that Xiao Liu had probably thoroughly explored the area surrounding the core of the crater.

“You rascal, reaching level 3 so quickly, could it be because you plundered many spiritual herb producing areas, stealing many herbs that would greatly benefit you?”

“Roar…”

Xiao Liu, the black dragon, let out a low, muffled roar.

Then, it proudly raised its chin.

Han Li nodded slightly. Xiao

Liu began its ancestral reversion at level 1, and fully transformed into a dragon at level 2. A level 2 dragon bloodline is typically comparable to a level 3 demon beast, or a human cultivator in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. Now, having reached level 3, its overall strength is comparable to a level 4 Blood Jade Spider.

And there are no demon beasts within the forbidden area with individual strength exceeding level 4.

In other words, Xiao Liu is the ceiling for one-on-one combat.

Two ordinary level 3 demon beasts wouldn’t be enough to defeat this giant mudskipper.

Unable to win, it naturally couldn’t protect the spiritual herbs.

No wonder many of the twenty or thirty medicinal herb producing areas we visited had been gnawed on by something. It seems that the mature medicinal herbs beneficial to the dragon were all squandered by Xiao Liu.

What remained were things he couldn’t use.

“Keeping you here back then and giving you simple instructions on how to grow really did you a favor,”

Han Li praised.

Even so, on the first day, thanks to Xiao Liu as his guide, he still managed to harvest over four hundred century-old medicinal herbs, including many fine and rare specimens.

While he was busy plundering the medicinal herbs deep within the central area, the outer area was being swept up by hundreds of Yellow Maple Valley disciples.

On the first day, the disciples had only searched a small portion of the outer area; many places remained unexplored.

During this time, some disciples indeed reaped great rewards, while others gained nothing.

The first day passed quickly. Before the forbidden area completely darkened, the group of Yellow Maple Valley Qi Refining cultivators began to converge at the four gates of the city wall outside the ring mountain, gradually forming small groups ranging from a few to a dozen people.

Clearly, there are different factions among the three major families, and even within the families themselves.

The next day arrived.

Teams from Huangfeng Valley, using their special magical artifacts, the “Dispersing Cloud Banners,” dispelled the surrounding fog while attempting to venture deeper into the ring-shaped mountain range in the central area.

Without the Moon Sun Pearl to disperse the fog, their efficiency was low.

Fortunately, each person had one or two top-tier level 1 demonic beasts protecting them, significantly reducing the difficulty of the exploration.

For three consecutive days, hundreds of Purple Monkey Flowers, Jade Marrow Fungus, and other three essential ingredients for Foundation Establishment Pills were collected by Huangfeng Valley disciples, along with a large quantity of forbidden area herbs.

Of course, there were casualties.

The general situation was: teams that didn’t attempt the fifty-mile inner ring exploration of the central area suffered few losses. However, several teams of a dozen or so, relying on their superior numbers and confidence, encountered level 2 and even level 3 demonic beasts, resulting in heavy casualties.

Even if a Qi Refining cultivator’s talisman is powerful, the user’s low cultivation level, weak spiritual sense, and inferior magical power greatly limit its potential. For example, the original Qi Refining cultivator at level 11, when activating the Gray Sword magic weapon, could only achieve a level comparable to the top-tier Azure Dragon Banner. While the

elites at level 13 were significantly stronger than those at level 11, they still struggled to unleash even two or three percent of their talisman’s power. A talisman’s power is considered good if it reaches one

-tenth of a magic weapon’s.

Many talismans are less than half the power of a magic weapon.

In other words,

the Qi Refining elites of Yellow Maple Valley were using methods comparable to one or two-thousandths of a magic weapon’s power to deal with level two or three guardian beasts or even entire beast clans.

This direct data comparison clearly demonstrates

the immense risk of trying to snatch food from a tiger’s mouth.

Encountering even a troublesome level two beast would inevitably result in casualties. If one were to encounter a powerful level-three demonic beast, heavy casualties would be swift and   inevitable,

especially without the Moon Sun Pearl to dispel the mist. The central area, shrouded in mist, is ultimately the demonic beasts’ home turf, giving them a significant home-field advantage.   In contrast, the visiting human cultivators are essentially fighting on foreign soil.   Only Han Li’s side is progressing smoothly.   On the second day in the forbidden area   , guided by the Ink Dragon and aided by several level-four giant tiger puppets and twenty to thirty level-three giant wolf puppets as artillery, he swept through thirty to forty spiritual herb producing areas in the fifty-mile-long fan-shaped inner ring to the north, harvesting over five hundred spiritual herbs.   On the third day, at the peak exceeding three thousand feet in the northwest,   he confronted this great snow mountain.   The reason for his confrontation was simple: he hadn’t found any spiritual herbs there.   ”No spiritual herbs?”   How could this be?   Such a large snow mountain, and he hadn’t even seen a single spiritual herb?   Near an ice wall platform close to the summit, Han Li squinted in thought:   ”The map of the forbidden area clearly states that the summit of this highest peak is a small basin, with many cold-attribute spiritual herbs planted within it. How could it be gone?”

The forbidden area map had never been wrong before.

But now, there was no basin at the summit.

There was only accumulated ice and snow

, a layer of hard ice over two hundred feet thick.

Where was the spirit herb basin?

Not only were there no spirit herbs, but there was also no trace of demonic beasts.

“Could it be that the forbidden area map is wrong?”

If it were a spirit herb producing area, how could there be no guardian demonic beasts?

“No, that’s not right…”

“The spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the forbidden area is much more abundant than outside. Such a precious environment could not possibly not produce spirit herbs.”

He believed in the map information left by the Lord of the Forbidden Area, and even more so in his own judgment.

Undeterred, he searched the entire three thousand feet of the Great Snow Mountain again, sweeping every inch with his divine sense, leaving no corner untouched. In the end, he still found nothing.

“Where did it go?”

The promised summit basin had turned into an iceberg.

After struggling for more than half an hour, Han Li returned to the position he had initially been near the summit.

“Tch, all that work for nothing…”

He was ready to give up.

With a casual flick of his sword, he shattered the ice peak at the very top of the mountain.

Several meters of ice shards rained down.

He turned to leave. He

had gained quite a bit this time; even without the spiritual herbs recorded on the forbidden area map, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

But just then, a thought flashed through his mind, and he abruptly stopped in his tracks.

His eyes were fixed on the ice and snow beneath his feet, lost in thought.

Then, an interesting idea popped into his head:

“Could all the spiritual herbs in this place be buried underneath?”

Tens of thousands of years had passed, and time had changed everything. The basin at the top of the mountain had gradually evolved into an ice layer over two hundred meters high due to the continuous accumulation of snow… It was entirely possible.

“So, there might be a small, undiscovered spiritual herb garden buried underneath?”

If this speculation was accurate…

“We’ll find out by trying.”

Han Li stroked his chin, his eyes growing brighter as he pondered.

Then, he arrived at the point where the ice layer at the top of the mountain connected to the mountainside. With the Silver Glow Sword in hand, a dozen Iron-Armed Beasts appeared:

“Dig!”

They dug diagonally downwards.

Since the ice layer wasn’t too thick, they could probably dig twenty or thirty feet at most to reach a conclusion.

And so,

in less than

the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he and the dozen or so Iron-Armed Beasts had dug out a passage over thirty feet long.

The Silver Glow Sword and the Iron-Armed Beasts dug the tunnel, while a large storage bag at his waist carried away the rubble and debris. The front acted as miners, the back as porters.

“Clatter, clatter…”

Pieces of rubble fell to the ground. Suddenly, the sword, wielded with magical power, seemed to have struck a powerfully reinforced copper and iron wall, the blade sending back an unusually strong recoil.

“Huh?”

Sensing the change in feel, Han Li’s spirits lifted, and he became more cautious.

After he removed the nearby rubble, at the end of the passage, a stone wall still under the influence of its protective barrier appeared.

Even his top-grade magical sword, the Silver Glow Sword, couldn’t leave a single mark on this stone wall.

Furthermore, his divine sense couldn’t penetrate this barrier either. The moment he touched it, the restrictions on its surface tore open. One had to see the stone wall with their own eyes, or touch this wall covered in ancient restrictions, to confirm its existence.

Divine sense alone could not detect it.

“Could this be a restriction similar to the Ink Dragon Stone Palace?”

Far from being frustrated, he was overjoyed at this discovery.

He dug down the stone wall until he reached the ground, which was also covered in restrictions.

Then he dug horizontally around the stone wall, and after only half a circle, he found an opening, a square gap about ten feet wide.

To be precise, he found an open doorway.

“It really is a stone palace!”

And a stone palace with well-preserved and powerful restrictions.

Just then, the Spirit-Sniffing Rat poked its little head out of his pocket, excitedly sniffing the gap in the stone wall.

Seeing this, Han Li narrowed his eyes and released his divine sense.

His divine sense spread inward along the gap and immediately discovered a downward-sloping stone staircase.

However, due to the interference of the restrictions on the stone walls, his divine sense could not extend too deeply, and his perception quickly became blurred. This prevented him from determining where the stone steps led or what lay at their ends. But this exploration further confirmed that this place was a massive stone palace.

So, should he go in and explore?

He hesitated for only half a second before making his decision and taking action.

Several level 2 lizard puppet beasts ran ahead to scout and test the waters, while the Ink Dragon was temporarily stored in his spirit beast pouch, ready to be summoned at any time. His large-capacity storage bag also contained numerous level 3 and 4 puppets, ready to be released for battle.

Before long, he entered an underground cave filled with crystals.

Calling it a cave was a stretch of ice; it was more like an abyss.

The underground space wasn’t wide, but its depth was astonishing; even with his divine sense fully extended downwards, he couldn’t reach the bottom.

“Such dense Yin energy!”

The concentration of spiritual energy was also quite high.

What was going on here?

How could there be such dense Yin energy?

“Little Six.”

With a pat on his spirit beast pouch, the Ink Dragon appeared.

Han Li leaped up, carefully stepping onto Xiao Liu’s back:

“Go down.”

Soon, the two, man and dragon, flew downwards.

They flew for nearly ten thousand feet.

Only then did his divine sense reach the bottom. What he sensed made his breathing become heavy:

“A green treasure chest?”

Could this be another of the four great inheritances?

The information inside the golden treasure chest only mentioned the existence of three great inheritances, mentioning that there were inheritances in the outer area and also in the central area.

But it didn’t specify their locations.

“The green treasure chest should contain the Buddhist inheritance…”

Why did he incite Master Hongfu and other high-level cultivators of Huangfeng Valley to secretly open the Crimson Forbidden Land? Why did he risk his life by dispersing his cultivation to enter the forbidden land when his cultivation resources were still relatively abundant?

One word: greed.

Greed for the rare spiritual herbs within the Crimson Forbidden Land, such as exquisite rare herbs, even thousand-year-old top-grade herbs, and even ten-thousand-year-old herbs that could be considered supreme.

Thousand-year-old herbs are also very helpful for improving cultivation in the Core Formation stage. He had already obtained

the formula for the Enhancing Yuan Pill. Ten-thousand-year-old herbs can be used to improve cultivation in the late Core Formation stage and even the Nascent Soul stage.

Each one is worth millions of spirit stones.

At the bottom of the abyss right now, there are many spiritual herbs emitting a rich medicinal fragrance.

In addition, he coveted the inheritance left by the other three ancient heroes.

If he could obtain the inheritance left by the four ancient Nascent Soul stage cultivators, he would certainly have no shortage of secret techniques.

Finally, it was also to take away the Black Dragon Little Six.

This was the last chance in a hundred years.

After this, the Yue Kingdom will change hands, and the right to use the Crimson Forbidden Land will also change hands, making it difficult to sneak in then. He’ll have to wait until he forms his Core, condenses his Nascent Soul, and reaches the late Nascent Soul stage before he can enter again.

“For the Spirit-Sniffing Rats to be so agitated from afar, the spiritual herbs down there must be…”

Just as he was about to leap down to pick the herbs, Little Six suddenly looked in a direction below the abyss.

It then unleashed a series of defiant roars, the echoes reverberating like muffled thunder.

Han Li’s mind immediately tensed.

These past few days have been really busy; I ran out of drafts, and this chapter was rushed out.

Brothers, please give me some recommendation tickets and monthly tickets.

Thank you everyone.

(End of Chapter)