novelE2F Chapter 175: Thorn in the Eye
Chapter 175: Thorn in the Eye
Chapter 175: Thorn in the Eye
Daguan Cliff is located in the northernmost area of Jiuhua County and can be said to be the most remote Spirit Vein under the jurisdiction of Guangji Sect.
Looking at this place from a distance,
the first thing that comes into view is a dreamlike white mist.
This mist, like a light veil, drifts and flows lightly between the cliffs,
sometimes condensing, sometimes dispersing.
Most Spirit Veins in other places are buried deep in the mountains or underground,
but this Daguan Cliff is completely different.
The spirit stone mine here is located within the steep, towering, and cloud-piercing cliff face.
Guangji Sect's Outer Sect is built along the cliff here,
with scattered cave dwellings resembling mushrooms growing on the cliff face.
Perhaps it is because of this extremely special geographical environment and its particularly remote location,
that the Spirit Veins in other places have changed hands repeatedly over the years,
while this Daguan Cliff has rarely been targeted and seized by other families.
One reason Li Lan chose to mine spirit stones here was also because of this.
After three months of non-stop travel,
he finally arrived here.
Following the ancient wooden plank road, Li Lan slowly entered Daguan Cliff.
After revealing his identity,
the Outer Sect Disciple responsible for keeping watch did not dare to neglect him and quickly invited him inside.
While leading the way nervously,
this Outer Sect Disciple with Refining Qi Level 3 cultivation would occasionally peek at Li Lan.
His eyes were full of reverence and envy.
Leaving aside the cultivation realm,
the words Inner Sect Disciple alone were the lifelong pursuit of these minor cultivators who had not seen much of the world.
Looking at the other party's young face,
Li Lan couldn't help but recall his experiences at Guangji Temple in the Taoyuan Mountains back then.
At that time, he only knew how to focus on bitter cultivation,
and never thought that he would have a day when he would be admired and envied by others.
With myriad thoughts in his heart,
the two quickly arrived at a suspended pavilion.
Within this pavilion,
two cultivators had already been waiting for a long time.
Looking around, it could be seen that these two were also at the Qi Refining Great Perfection realm.
"Senior Brother Jiang Chuan's great name, I, Qin, have long heard of it like thunder. Seeing you today, you are indeed extraordinary!"
As soon as they met, one of the middle-aged strong men rose with a smile and offered flattery.
"Yanshan greets Senior Brother Jiang Chuan."
The other sallow-faced youth seemed not good at speaking and just offered a simple greeting.
"I wouldn't dare. I, Li, am new here and should address you two as Senior Brother.
If I do anything improper in the future, I hope the two Senior Brothers will give me more guidance and correction."
Li Lan lowered his stance and spoke very humbly.
Immediately,
he then presented the token for this sect mission.
"Haha, we are all family, so there's no need to say such polite words."
Qin Tao seemed like a straightforward person. After checking the token and confirming it was correct,
he smiled and started chatting with Li Lan.
Li Lan responded calmly,
and in a few words, he also understood the general situation here.
What surprised Li Lan was that,
as a complete Spirit Vein like Daguan Cliff,
there wasn't even a single Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator stationed here.
One must know that,
back at Guangji Temple in the Taoyuan Mountains,
not to mention the Grand Elder in the Foundation Establishment (Middle Stage) who was the strongest,
there were also as many as nine Outer Sect Elders in the Foundation Establishment (Early Stage).
After some conversation,
Li Lan quickly understood what was going on.
Speaking of which, it was caused by the repeated turmoil in Jiuhua County over the years.
With the secret support of the Human Emperor Hall,
various sects and families emerged like mushrooms after rain.
Years of Spirit Vein争夺 struggles for Spirit Veins led to all Three Great Sects being severely weakened, and the number of Foundation Establishment (Early Stage) cultivators sharply decreased.
Cultivating a Foundation Establishment cultivator, even for the Three Great Sects,
was quite difficult.
Therefore,
without timely replenishment of fresh blood,
the remaining Foundation Establishment (Early Stage) disciples were not even enough to assign one to each Spirit Vein.
Currently,
the strongest individuals in Daguan Cliff are six Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivators.
Besides Qin Tao and Yanshan,
there are four young official disciples.
These cultivators with boundless futures naturally looked down on registered disciples like them who came from unconventional backgrounds,
and were even too lazy to come out and greet Li Lan, the newcomer.
Qin Tao mocked them sarcastically,
and then said to Li Lan with deep meaning:
"It's hard for us rogue cultivators. If we want to get ahead, we can only rely on ourselves.
Brother Jiang Chuan, in the future, we registered disciples should stick together, warm each other, and help each other."
Li Lan understood the other party's hidden meaning,
but he had no interest in open strife and seizing actual control of a Spirit Vein.
Therefore, he only agreed verbally on the surface, not taking the matter to heart at all.
After dismissing the two,
Li Lan plunged into the spirit stone mine.
Now that he knew there were no Foundation Establishment cultivators here, he felt much more at ease.
He once again used the method he had employed at the Hengshan Spiritual Vein.
In the first few days, Li Lan was not in a hurry to act,
but wandered around, getting familiar with most of the cultivators within the spirit stone mine.
After remembering everyone's aura,
the general terrain of the entire Daguan Cliff spirit stone mine immediately appeared in his mind.
Immediately after,
Li Lan found a remote corner that few cultivators visited,
set up a few simple restrictions,
and the Mo Family mining puppets he had previously obtained came into use at this moment.
Li Lan raised his hand and summoned the Spirit Bean Soldier at Refining Qi Level 8,
and secretly issued an order.
This bean soldier, which looked almost identical to a normal human,
began to mobilize the magic power within its body and control the puppet to mine.
At first, it was a bit clumsy, and the spirit stones it mined were either too large or too small, very irregular.
But later, practice made perfect,
as time passed,
this Spirit Bean Soldier improved rapidly and gradually mastered the knack of controlling the puppet.
The spirit stones mined in seven days were already sufficient for Li Lan to complete his task,
as for the extra spirit stones, they all went into his pocket.
Even better was that,
with the help of the Spirit Bean Soldier and the Mo Family puppet, Li Lan could save a lot of time for cultivation.
If it weren't for the chaos throughout Jiuhua County in recent years,
he could maintain this state of cultivation until the end of time without any problems.
Of course,
Li Lan did not forget the most important matter of this trip.
On the first day he arrived here,
he buried the Spirit Bean Soldier with many flies sealed in its mouth deep in a hard-to-find corner,
and also placed a Qinghao Fenxiao Talisman beneath it.
Now that the bait had been cast,
whether the extremely cunning Elder Di would take the bait was up to fate.
Three months passed quickly.
Li Lan, who had completed the mining task,
did not linger, tempted by the efficiency of the Mo Family puppet mining spirit stones,
and also declined Qin Tao's enthusiastic attempts to make him stay.
Leaving the bait Spirit Bean Soldier in place,
he himself rushed towards the Chongshan Region at the fastest speed.
Now Li Lan's Thousand Mile Breath Lock Technique had reached a state of mastery,
and the range the spell could cover had reached a thousand miles.
If that Elder Di really made any moves, as long as he was within a thousand miles,
Li Lan would know immediately.
He found a hidden place to stay on the necessary path between the Chongshan Region and Daguan Cliff,
quietly waiting for the fish to bite the hook.
One day, two days—one month—
Time flew by,
just as Li Lan was disappointed, thinking that the cunning Elder Di might have seen through his trick,
and had not taken the bait at all.
A faint spiritual line extended from the direction of the Chongshan Region and was accurately captured by him.
This was precisely the spiritual line condensed from residual aura and scent using a secret method.
This person was none other than Elder Di, whom Li Lan had been thinking about day and night.
Five years! This coward finally dared to leave Guangji Sect.
Did this demon finally couldn't resist?
It wasn't in vain that he had spent most of the past year setting up this trap.
The other party's appearance made Li Lan's spirit tremble.
Now that he finally had the opportunity to remove this thorn in his eye and flesh, joy was naturally unavoidable in his heart.
Through that aura spiritual line, he could clearly feel that,
the other party's destination for this trip was precisely the direction of Daguan Cliff.
Li Lan waited patiently for Elder Di to move away from the Chongshan Region.
With his Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivation realm,
dealing with a guy in the Lingqi Middle Stage was naturally a piece of cake.
Even if the other party was a Nascent Soul mighty figure in his previous life, this could not change.
However,
just as Elder Di was getting further and further away from the Chongshan Region,
and Li Lan was about to make his move,
the other party's aura spiritual line suddenly flickered twice, and then quickly extinguished and disappeared.
A strange look suddenly flashed in Li Lan's eyes,
this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.
According to common sense,
once an aura spiritual line is condensed,
unless the other party is already dead, it should be difficult to erase.
Li Lan naturally did not believe that,
the cunning Elder Di had died so easily.
He pondered for a while,
and soon thought of another possibility.
This Thousand Mile Breath Lock Technique was obtained from a Laborer Cultivator on Feixue River.
And that Laborer Cultivator was working for Elder Di at that time.
This indicates that the latter should also be aware of such techniques,
at least he understood the flaws of this technique and knew how to erase his own residual aura traces.
Li Lan thought for a moment and immediately understood.
He had forgotten about this earlier.
He was unwilling to miss this great opportunity for nothing,
and quickly used the Liuhuo Feixing Escape Technique, heading towards the direction where Elder Di had disappeared.
The other party's mere Lingqi Middle Stage cultivation meant his escape speed should be far inferior to his.
Rushing over now, it might still be in time.
Under the full exertion of the escape technique,
Li Lan arrived at his destination in just the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn.
But to his disappointment,
there was no sign of anyone within a hundred miles, nor were there any traces left behind.
Unconvinced, Li Lan expanded the search area,
spending a month searching all the necessary paths leading to Daguan Cliff,
but the result was still nothing.
This cunning fellow had lived two lives and didn't know how many years he had lived,
his cautiousness was no less than his.
Now without the help of the Thousand Mile Breath Lock Technique, trying to find him in Jiuhua County was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
Just as Li Lan was about to give up,
his heart moved slightly, and a strange look flashed in his eyes.
In Li Lan's perception,
the aura of the Spirit Bean Soldier bait buried at Daguan Cliff suddenly disappeared.
This indicated that someone had found the bean soldier and triggered the Qinghao Fenxiao Talisman mechanism he had left behind.
Li Lan's eyes flickered.
Was it Elder Di or an Outer Sect Disciple mining who coincidentally dug out that Spirit Bean Soldier?
He immediately took out a sound transmission talisman and began to contact Qin Tao at Daguan Cliff,
inquiring about the situation indirectly.