Chapter 348

Unlike Ning Zhuo looked up at Mount Wuyin towering between heaven and earth, then looked at Sun Lingtong, seeing the latter's indifferent attitude, and nodded to the mountain village patrol: "Then I will trouble you."

Although he had Golden Core level combat power, the Lava Xian Gong matter had not passed for too long, and the various lessons it gave him could be described as vivid in his mind.

Unlike Ning Zhuo was cautious by nature.

Since others said it was dangerous in the mountain at night, what harm was there in following the advice and spending a night in the mountain village?

"Two distinguished guests, please this way." The patrolling man showed a smile and proactively led the way.

Unlike Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong followed him into the village.

Not long after, they met the village elder.

The village elder arranged two guest rooms in the center of the mountain village for the two; Unlike Ning Zhuo took twenty spirit stones as room rent and invited the village elder to drink tea at night to talk about Mount Wuyin.

The village elder accepted it naturally.

This was as it should be.

The patrolling man earlier saw Unlike Ning Zhuo proactively give him a spirit stone as a reward for asking the way, which was why he changed his mind and invited the two, Sun and Ning, to stay in the village.

"Two distinguished guests, this is the Fog Hidden Tea unique to Mount Wuyin; although it cannot compare to famous teas, it has its own characteristics." The village elder proactively entertained them.

Unlike Ning Zhuo picked up the teacup and saw the tea leaves were dark green, but there was a layer of gray-white tea fuzz on the surface.

A wisp of mist floated up from the surface of the tea water, curling and graceful.

At the first sip, the tea soup was bitter and astringent, like thick fog in the mountain wrapping around the tip of the tongue, but this bitterness passed in a flash, leaving a long-lasting aftertaste, as if the tranquility and freshness of the mountains after the fog dissipated.

"Self-contained, not bad." Unlike Ning Zhuo praised faintly.

On the other side, Sun Lingtong did not move his mouth.

On one hand, he had never had any elegant interest in drinking tea; for him, drinking tea only served to quench thirst.

On the other hand, Unlike Ning Zhuo drank, so he didn't. After all, they were walking outside. This was one of the little tacit understandings between him and Unlike Ning Zhuo.

The three drank tea while communicating.

Sun and Ning gradually had a rough understanding of the Mount Wuyin village.

This mountain village had about three hundred households, about fifteen hundred people. The highest cultivation in the village was Foundation Establishment, which was the current village head, with late Foundation Establishment cultivation. There were six village elders, all of whom had Foundation Establishment cultivation at their peak. Some individuals had suffered heavy injuries, and in their old age, their cultivation fell to the Qi Condensation stage. But relying on their seniority and achievements, the villagers respected them.

Talking about the village head, Sun Lingtong asked where he was.

According to reason, the two, Sun and Ning, were Foundation Establishment cultivators, and such cultivation was enough for the village head to welcome them personally.

But until now, the village head had not appeared.

The village elder told the two: The village head organized a batch of people to deliver grain.

It turned out that eight hundred miles away from Mount Wuyin, there was a Jade Steel Mountain.

This mountain was rich in Jade-Moistened Mysterious Steel, and the Nandou Kingdom set up a mine here, guarded by heavy troops. As time passed, a mountain town developed.

Over the years, there were more and more people in the mountain town, but Jade Steel Mountain itself was barren of vitality and could not be self-sufficient.

The Nandou Kingdom official issued an order, letting the surrounding mountain villages contribute people and goods, allocating excess supplies, and continuously sending them to the town of Jade Steel Mountain.

The mountain villages were all willing to do so.

This was because supplies sent to Jade Steel Town could be exchanged for a large amount of money and commercial goods there. It couldn't be called making a big profit, but besides making a small profit, it could also satisfy the mountain village's own development, which was a win-win situation.

The night grew deeper, and Unlike Ning Zhuo proactively stopped this tea talk.

After the village elder took his leave, he and Sun Lingtong hid their tracks, jumped over the wall, and explored the mountain village at night.

Near where they lived, there were also patrolling personnel.

But mountain villagers, how could they discover the two, Sun and Ning? Sun Lingtong came from the Unoccupied Gate and was best at stealing. Unlike Ning Zhuo possessed the Cloud-Hiding Bud, this kind of strange flower and grass that could even deceive Golden Core levels; deceiving these patrolling villagers was naturally not a problem.

Sun Lingtong and Unlike Ning Zhuo stood shoulder to shoulder, jumping lightly on the roofs of the village houses.

The cool night wind blew, and Sun Lingtong transmitted: "Hehehe, refreshing! Little Zhuo, this is the taste of freedom!"

He had long been tired of staying in the Lava Xian Gong; if it weren't for worrying about his master in the early stages and then worrying about Unlike Ning Zhuo, according to his personality, he would have long since left and wandered the rivers and lakes.

Unlike Ning Zhuo also smiled.

He had been in Fire Persimmon Immortal City since birth, and for fourteen years, he had been racking his brains, plotting to seize the Lava Xian Gong.

At this moment, the Xian Gong matter was temporarily put to rest, and he also temporarily put down the huge stone in his heart and the heavy burden on his shoulders, shuttling freely in the night breeze, feeling quite happy.

The two found a high position and stopped in their tracks instantly.

Sun Lingtong transmitted: "Little Zhuo, let's have a competition, how about spiritual sense exploration? I won't take advantage of you, and I will suppress my cultivation to the early Foundation Establishment stage."

Unlike Ning Zhuo: "Boss, since you have such refined interests, this little brother naturally won't spoil the fun."

"Hehehe." Sun Lingtong laughed a few times and immediately scattered his spiritual sense.

Ten zhang, thirty zhang, sixty zhang...

His spiritual sense expanded to two hundred and sixty zhang before stopping.

His spiritual sense covered more than half of the village, and after quietly investigating for a moment, he immediately withdrew his spiritual sense.

The speed of withdrawing the spiritual sense was astonishing, taking only three breaths to withdraw it all.

More importantly, the entire process of scattering and recovering the spiritual sense was without any momentum leakage, hidden extremely well. Even if Unlike Ning Zhuo was by Sun Lingtong's side, he couldn't feel any fluctuations at all.

It was Unlike Ning Zhuo's turn.

He slowly scattered his spiritual sense.

Ten zhang, twenty zhang, forty zhang...

The spiritual sense expanded to one hundred and eighty zhang and could do no more, having to stop.

The spiritual sense covered a little more than half of the mountain village.

Many villagers were not on guard and were completely unaware, allowing Unlike Ning Zhuo to see the various furnishings in the rooms and the villagers' night activities.

He discovered that many villagers worshipped the Mountain God in their homes. The Mountain God's tablets, portraits, or small shrines, eighty percent were Fox Gods. Only twenty percent had Tiger Gods. And among this twenty percent, most had Fox Gods. That is to say, the Tiger God as the main god was actually an attachment.

Unlike Ning Zhuo was careful and put away his spiritual sense.

He released his spiritual sense several times slower than Sun Lingtong, and when he put it away, the speed was even slower, dozens of times slower than Sun Lingtong.

Sun Lingtong had been watching Unlike Ning Zhuo's performance, frowning slightly at this moment.

"Little Zhuo, although you and I have different cultivation levels, the Three Sects' Supreme Method practiced the Spirit Sea Upper Dantian, how can the spiritual sense range only be one hundred and eighty zhang?"

"Are you hiding your strength in front of me?"

Unlike Ning Zhuo immediately shook his head: "Boss, this is my full strength."

Sun Lingtong was suspicious: "That shouldn't be. One hundred and fifty zhang is the average level for Foundation Establishment cultivators, the Mirror Platform Spirit-Connecting Art is only one hundred and eighty zhang? This doesn't make sense."

Unlike Ning Zhuo smiled slightly and proactively explained: "Boss, you don't know this. The advantage of the Mirror Platform Spirit-Connecting Art needs to be paired with external objects to manifest."

"According to the content of the Bell Sound Dharma Transmission, I need to refine sub-mirrors. Each sub-mirror can project my spiritual sense further. Different materials and grades of sub-mirrors have different projection effects."

"If I really have enough sub-mirrors, I can cover the entire Mount Wuyin. However, the spiritual sense after multiple projections is very weak, and it will become very blurry when sensed."

Sun Lingtong smoothed his brows: "So that's how it is."

Only then did he feel relieved.

The competition just now was also just an excuse for him to help Unlike Ning Zhuo better master his spiritual sense. After all, Unlike Ning Zhuo had only promoted to the Foundation Establishment stage not long ago, while he, Sun Lingtong, had long been at the late Foundation Establishment cultivation level.

Qi Condensation cultivators master spiritual thoughts, but relying on themselves alone, they cannot let spiritual thoughts leave the body for investigation. Even reading jade slips requires the jade slip to be pressed against the brow.

And by the Foundation Establishment stage, spiritual thoughts can condense and sublimate, forming spiritual sense. Spiritual sense leaving the body for investigation, in the early Foundation Establishment stage, is generally within a range of one hundred and fifty zhang.

Cultivators who specialize in the Spirit Sea Upper Dantian, by the Foundation Establishment stage, have spiritual sense distances exceeding one hundred and fifty zhang. The better the cultivation technique, the more it exceeds this distance.

Sun Lingtong suppressed his cultivation to the early Foundation Establishment stage, and his spiritual sense distance reached two hundred and sixty zhang. The Mirror Platform Spirit-Connecting Art came from the Three Sects' Supreme, yet it was only one hundred and eighty zhang, a number far smaller than Sun Lingtong's expectation.

After Unlike Ning Zhuo's explanation, he felt relieved.

The Mirror Platform Spirit-Connecting Art was different from other cultivation techniques, needing to be paired with external objects to truly exert the advantages of the cultivation technique.

The cultivation world has developed to this day, producing countless wonderful cultivation techniques. Some cultivation techniques can make spiritual sense ethereal, some can make spiritual sense extremely sharp, and some even develop spiritual sense to act as offensive means.

The Mirror Platform Spirit-Connecting Art's spiritual sense must be paired with external objects; although it was a bit strange, it also corresponded to the Three Sects' Supreme's tenet—after all, it was a mechanism inheritance. Relying on external objects was the characteristic of the Three Sects' Supreme Method.

After the investigation, the two returned to the guest room quietly.

No villagers noticed.

Unlike Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong lay on their beds, using spiritual thoughts to penetrate the walls, transmitting sounds to each other, secretly communicating their findings.

The two talked about the number of Tiger God and Fox God tablets, and Sun Lingtong guessed: "Tiger God and Fox God have already been canonized as main gods by the Nandou Kingdom, enjoying the incense of worship, which can greatly increase their own strength."

"It's just that the Tiger God is too weak. Letting the Fox God wantonly scrape up incense while he remains indifferent is not reasonable."

"Could it be that he was hollowed out by the Fox God?"

The current cultivation world is co-governed by humans and gods.

Humans are the main body, and gods are scattered all over the world.

After a cultivation kingdom is established, it often cuts down mountains and breaks temples within the national borders, suppressing various gods. Some gods are unyielding and are often killed and disintegrated, while some gods submit and are canonized as main gods, receiving the salary and driving of the cultivation court.

A cultivation kingdom itself needs these gods very much to improve the kingdom's ruling power.

Compared to humans, various gods often have simple minds, can endure extreme environments, and can borrow divine power to bring clouds and rain, lead water, and open mountains.

And after gods join a cultivation kingdom, they can widely absorb incense, communicate with the outside world, and borrow the kingdom's luck to practice.

This is a mutually needed, win-win relationship.