Chapter 375: Cauldron-Shaped Magic Treasure

As soon as the twenty-four little ones entered, they habitually scrambled to occupy advantageous positions, just as Lin Zhangqing stepped into the Cave Abode.

He saw three Foundation Establishment Cultivators fiercely attacking a door, upon which lay a layer of tough yet soft light membrane.

Although the light membrane undulated under their strikes, it simply refused to break; judging by this, the protective formation guarding it must be of no low grade.

Glancing around, he also spotted five other doors on the surrounding walls, all of which had already been forced open.

He knew that if there had been anything inside those rooms, it would already be in their possession, so he paid no further attention to those five chambers.

Watching their busy figures, Lin Zhangqing couldn't help but sigh in his heart; truly, once in the Jianghu, one is helpless to control one's own fate! Moreover, although Lin Zhangqing did not know them personally, hatred had been forged from the very beginning; having killed so many of their people, there was no way to end matters peacefully.

Therefore, he might as well put an end to them all at once!

With a mere thought, twenty-four purple light rays suddenly shot forth; on one of the Foundation Establishment Cultivators inside, three protective shields suddenly materialized.

But that was all; the three men fell stiffly to the ground, three honeycombs appeared on the floor, and red and white matter sprayed everywhere.

Several Foundation Establishment Cultivators were thus silently eliminated; Lin Zhangqing, daring not to waste time, endured his discomfort and began cleaning up the battlefield.

He set aside the belongings found on these three individuals separately, not mixing them with the pile of spoils collected earlier.

Then, immediately communicating with Lin Zhangliu in his mind, several root hairs instantly appeared in the Void, stabbing directly into that layer of light membrane.

Only a sound resembling a bubble bursting was heard, and immediately after, that layer of light membrane vanished without a trace.

Lin Zhangqing immediately pushed open the door and looked inside, revealing an extremely large room, even slightly bigger than the outer hall.

In the center stood a massive formation, above which a fist-sized, cauldron-shaped Magic Treasure hovered right at the formation's core.

Furthermore, a meditation cushion rested atop the formation, proving that someone had frequently sat there to cultivate in the past.

The moment Lin Zhangqing stood at the room's entrance, he immediately sensed a difference; the concentration of Spiritual Energy inside the room was more than ten times denser than in the outer hall.

He felt it was nearly comparable to that atop Nine Peaks Mountain, yet still impossible to compare with the Seclusion Room on the Main Peak.

Thus, Lin Zhangqing immediately deduced that a Second-Grade Middle Grade, or perhaps even a Second-Grade Upper Grade Spirit Vein lay here; this was his first time discovering an unowned Spirit Vein.

Unfortunately, he could not stay to use it himself; otherwise, the inevitable result would be endless strife, so he could only painfully give it up.

That massive formation in the center, if his guess was correct, should be a formation similar to a Spirit Gathering Array.

It seemed designed to concentrate the Spiritual Energy of the entire Second-Grade Spirit Vein to supply this cauldron-shaped Magic Treasure, and the former owner of the Cave Abode must have frequently cultivated here as well.

However, Lin Zhangqing could not worry about such things now; he stepped directly inside, grabbed the cauldron-shaped Magic Treasure, and without a second thought, tried to stuff it into his Spirit Beast Bracelet.

Unfortunately, after two consecutive attempts, he could not fit it in; he immediately realized this item was also a Spatial Treasure, so he first tucked it into his robes.

He then collected the meditation cushion from atop the formation; since it had not rotted after such a long time, it must count as a Spiritual Object, so he naturally did not let it go, storing it away directly.

However, regarding this massive formation, he was utterly helpless, having no idea how to store it; thus, with no other choice, he could only abandon it directly. After sweeping the area roughly twice with his Divine Sense to confirm there were no hidden compartments or the like, he exited the room.

Seeing that no one else had entered from outside yet, he walked through the other five rooms as well.

As expected, nothing remained, only some trash and ashes; confirming that apart from that formation, the Cave Abode held nothing overlooked.

Lin Zhangqing recalled his twenty-four Purple Crystal Scorpions, draped himself in the Light Gauze Magical Treasure, and departed the Cave Abode.

Meanwhile, the four Qi Refining Cultivators at the cave entrance remained unaware that everyone inside had already perished and fallen, continuing to guard the place.

Hesitating for a moment, Lin Zhangqing still did not strike to kill them; he was not one to indiscriminately slaughter the innocent, and since they posed no threat and had never seen him, there was no need to act.

With a mere thought, taking the twelve Purple Crystal Scorpions he had left outside earlier, he swiftly departed this Valley.

Once outside, he continued moving rapidly in the direction Jin Yi had previously advanced, having not forgotten the purpose of his journey here.

Along the way, unless the Demon Beasts and Spirit Medicine he encountered were too precious, he did not linger, hastening toward his destination; in about one hour, he traveled roughly over a hundred li.

Only then did he release Jin Yi, asking it to confirm whether Lin Zhangqing had gone in the wrong direction.

After communicating with Jin Yi, Lin Zhangqing corrected his course and continued forward, intending to put as much distance as possible between himself and that Valley.

Since he did not wish to kill them, he had to hurry away from that Valley; this was not because Lin Zhangqing feared them, but simply because he did not wish to create more killing karma.

Cloaked in the Light Gauze Magical Treasure, traveling with stops and starts for a full day, he completed about eighty percent of the journey.

After communicating with Jin Yi, he learned that by tomorrow morning, he should be able to reach that new Vein.

That night, Lin Zhangqing found a relatively concealed spot and released all thirty-six Purple Crystal Scorpions, instructing them to form a two-layered early warning and defense perimeter.

Now estimated to be over a thousand li away from that Valley, it was unlikely anyone would pursue him, so Lin Zhangqing finally set his mind at ease.

He then began organizing the spoils, first refining the Storage Bags of those twenty Qi Refining Stage Cultivators one by one.

Next, he poured out all their contents together; the items from the twenty Storage Bags piled up into a huge heap.

Lin Zhangqing began sorting through them; first regarding Spirit Stones, there were approximately thirty thousand pieces.

As for Dharma Artifacts, there were far more; combining Middle and Upper Grade Dharma Treasures with some Top Grade Magical Artifacts amounted to over a hundred pieces, but the bad news was that apart from a small portion of the Top Grade Magical Artifacts.

The vast majority of the rest bore a deformed seal character of 'Jin'; this must be the special mark of their clan.

But now Lin Zhangqing no longer valued these items, so he gathered them all into a Storage Bag to be thrown to Lin Zhangliu later for absorption and digestion.

Next came the Pills; there were also over a hundred bottles, all common varieties, yet even the lowest among them were Upper Grade Pills, far superior in quality to those Lin Zhangqing refined himself.

He packed these into another Storage Bag to decide how to handle later; in any case, he did not need them himself, so perhaps he could give them to his sister! (End of Chapter)