Chapter 277: Source of Danger

Before entering the Cave Heaven to explore, Wei Yuan set up a few extra traps before confidently leading the crowd through the entrance and into the Cave Heaven fragments.

In a secret place a thousand miles away, the old man covered in wounds flashed in the air, and after landing, he was unsteady, almost falling. Several people came out of the house in the secret place, hurriedly coming up to support him, saying, "Seventh Elder, why are you so severely injured?"

The old man snorted, pushed away the person supporting him, and said, "It's just a little flesh wound, no matter! This time, this old man didn't expect them to come out in full force, even bringing the only Dharma Form True Person. They were numerous and powerful, and this old man inevitably suffered a small loss. However, after such a battle, they will inevitably think there is a great treasure in the Cave Heaven fragments, and they will all fall for this old man's scheme, obediently entering the Cave Heaven. Hmph, then it will be 'no return'!"

A junior next to him whispered, "Elder, your wound is still bleeding."

"It's just a small wound; prepare hot water, this old man wants to bathe and change clothes." The old man turned a blind eye to the wound that was still bleeding and walked into the room with his head held high.

Everyone knew that the Seventh Elder had always been concerned about his face; this was to show that the injury was not serious. But there was a bloody footprint every step on the ground, and the blood color was cyan, which didn't look like it wasn't serious at all.

After entering the room and closing the door, the Seventh Elder quickly took off his clothes to check the wound. Only then did he realize with shock that many wounds had turned cyan-black and had lost all sensation; no wonder he didn't feel much pain just now!

While cursing Wei Yuan for being vicious, he searched for detoxifying elixirs. But just at this moment, his spiritual sense felt a sharp pain again, and he instantly felt dizzy and fell headfirst!

At the critical moment of life and death, the Seventh Elder burst out with astonishing willpower, crawled to the door, pushed it open, stretched out a hand, and then fainted.

Outside the Cave Heaven, Sun Yu suddenly felt an abnormality in the merit book. Using his spiritual sense to look, he was suddenly a bit surprised: where did the Heavenly Merit come from? He didn't have time to think, following the crowd into the Cave Heaven.

At this time, Wei Yuan passed through the dark ripples floating in the air, and the scene before his eyes changed; he was already in another world.

In front was a tall gate arch, made entirely of white jade, ten zhang high, with the four large characters 'Huan Kong Cave Heaven' written on it. Wei Yuan looked behind him, seeing only a layer of faint mist, meaning that was the boundary of the Cave Heaven.

At this moment, the mist was surging, occasionally thinning to reveal the black void behind it. The void here was different from the void in the outer domain; it was the crevice between the Cave Heaven world and the original world. Once sucked in, I'm afraid one would never be able to come out again.

At this time, the figures of the old Daoist Chuhe, Sun Yu, and others were outlined in the air, from nothing to something, from something to reality, allowing Wei Yuan to see the whole process of entering the Cave Heaven.

Ji Liuli looked around and said, "We are lucky; this should be the side gate of the Cave Heaven. Be careful; there should be some traps nearby, I don't know if they are still effective."

Wei Yuan also divined in his heart, and the result was that there was no danger.

However, he had no confidence in his own divination path, so he quietly put on a bracelet. This bracelet was actually a Feng Shui formation, and Wei Yuan added the aura of the Red Lotus Bodhi inside to raise his own Qi Luck, so that he could turn bad luck into good when encountering danger.

Behind the white jade gate arch, a main road slowly sloped upwards, leading to a small town not far away. Looking at the number of houses in the town, at least several thousand people lived here. The town had wine shops, restaurants, and all kinds of shops, and the roads were all paved with bluestone, wide enough for two carriages to pass side by side, which showed the prosperity of the time.

This should be the residence of ordinary disciples and mortal servants. Following the main road all the way up, there were large areas of palaces and pavilions at the top of the mountain; that was the core of the entire Cave Heaven.

The terrain in this Cave Heaven was hills, with gentle slopes, and the highest point was no more than two or three hundred zhang. Between the small town at the foot of the mountain and the palaces at the top, there were still dozens of miles of gentle slopes. The steep parts were obviously rich in spiritual energy and had been turned into terraced fields for planting spiritual herbs and plants. The rest of the gentle slopes had been opened up for some fields, planting some spiritual rice. It seemed that because of the lack of spiritual energy, not many fields had been opened.

The sky of the Cave Heaven was still very bright, roughly morning time, but there was an obvious dividing line on the distant horizon, outside of which was the gloomy void. That large area of light and dark uncertainty was like a huge wound on the Cave Heaven, and it was still slowly expanding.

After a while, this Cave Heaven fragment would be completely swallowed and disappear from the world.

Wei Yuan entered the small town, casually picked a magic tool shop, smashed the wooden board sealing the door, and walked in. This magic tool shop was quite large, with exquisitely crafted counters and shelves. But now the shelves were empty, without a single item. Behind the counter was also clean, all having been packed away.

There were still traces of dismantling in some places in the shop; the lamps originally embedded in the walls had all disappeared and should have been dismantled. The whole shop was left with only an empty shell, and everything slightly valuable had been dismantled. The shop owner seemed to still have the intention of returning to do business, keeping the counters and shelves, and carefully sealing the door.

After walking through one shop, Wei Yuan knew that other shops were roughly the same. Perhaps there were still some hidden places with unknown wealth left, but the possibility was not high.

It would take a lot of time to thoroughly search the small town, but the benefit of Wei Yuan bringing so many people was shown at this time; he waved his hand, and more than a hundred Dao Foundation cultivators dispersed to search the entire town.

Wei Yuan and the old Daoist Chuhe went to the spiritual field to check.

The spiritual rice fields planted in the mountains were now desolate, full of weeds. The old Daoist Chuhe bent down, grabbed a handful of soil and looked at it, then said, "There is no spiritual energy in the ground. It seems that the spiritual gathering formation lost its effect after the Cave Heaven shattered. It could also be that the formation was destroyed when they evacuated."

This field was now a weed patch, nothing to see, so Wei Yuan and the old Daoist Chuhe walked towards the herb field. The little cat of the old Daoist Chuhe followed behind the two, walking comfortably. It suddenly turned its head, its back hair standing up, but it found nothing.

The old Daoist Chuhe communicated with the cat for a while, then said, "The shattered Cave Heaven is full of dangers everywhere, but the most dangerous is actually the void. It might have sensed some place that is about to shatter and expose the void."

"Daoist, where is the peerless treasure you sensed?"

The old Daoist Chuhe smiled bitterly, "The Cave Heaven forms a world of its own; once inside, the old Daoist's Dharma Form divine ability doesn't work well. If it weren't for this, the old Daoist would have come to explore it himself..."

So he wanted to eat alone... Wei Yuan thought inwardly. However, there was no profit without diligence, and it was normal for the old Daoist to have some of his own ideas. Given the abundant spiritual energy contributed by those few pieces of Nether Soil, Wei Yuan could fully tolerate it.

Arriving at the edge of the herb garden, Wei Yuan didn't know why he always felt a bit uncomfortable, as if he hadn't bathed for several days, his body sticky and damp.

This feeling was a bit like being cursed, and a bit like something bad was about to happen.

So Wei Yuan didn't rush into the herb garden, divining on the spot, but gained nothing. Just as the old Daoist Chuhe said, the Cave Heaven formed a world of its own, and many magic techniques and formations could not be used inside the Cave Heaven. This was also an important means for many Cave Heavens to defend against foreign enemies. Seeing that he couldn't divine the danger, Wei Yuan put a drop of white-gold tree sap into the bracelet, borrowing the power of the Laurel Immortal Tree to improve his luck, so as to resist unknown risks.

His movements were hidden, and the old Daoist Chuhe's attention was entirely on the herb garden, so he didn't notice what Wei Yuan did. Entering the herb garden, the old Daoist was very excited and said, "This herb field is indeed of high enough standard; the Xu family spent a lot of money. Hehe, although they took all the spiritual herbs when they left, some spiritual herbs only need to leave a little root to grow again! Let the old Daoist see if there are any missed..."

While speaking, the old Daoist suddenly stepped into the air and fell into the terraced field below.

The little cat hurriedly went to save him, but its hind paws suddenly slipped when it jumped up, and it also fell down together.

True Person Chuhe could not care about his disheveled state; he scrambled to his feet and continued his search. After a careful sweep, he actually found a few stalks of Rebirth Spirit Roots. These stalks were themselves top-rank spirit herbs and were useful even to True Lords; they were of the same grade as the Red Jade Lantern and the Filthy Earth Dragon-Kui.

Besides that, there was an unexpected harvest. A small patch of field in the corner was actually planted with dozens of 'Earth Luo Red Flowers'. This was a mid-grade spiritual plant and also the main material for Qi-replenishing elixirs in the Dao Foundation stage. This patch of Earth Luo Red Flowers should have just been planted, so no one paid attention to them when they left. As several years passed, they actually sprouted.

The old Daoist Chuhe carefully dug out this patch of tender sprouts, wrapped them up, and threw them to Wei Yuan. This level of spiritual plant was not in the old Daoist's eyes; it was not that they were worthless, but that the old Daoist only valued spiritual plants rare in the world, so that he could have help in his enlightenment.

"These spiritual herbs, exchange for a leaf of the Laurel Immortal Tree; for the insufficient part, the old Daoist will make up for it with things grown on the six pieces of Nether Soil."

"No problem." Wei Yuan agreed immediately. He didn't know what was grown on the old Daoist's six pieces of Nether Soil, but it was definitely better than ordinary upper-grade spiritual plants, perhaps not supreme-grade, but not far off.

The old Daoist jumped up lightly, preparing to go up another step, but his foot was tripped by the edge of the terraced field, and he fell to the ground again.

!.

"Strange, strange, what's wrong with the old Daoist today?" The old Daoist Chuhe felt as if he were drunk, but he was clearly sober. At this time, he heard a 'meow' from behind; the cat jumped up and slipped again, resulting in insufficient height, hitting its head on the edge of the terraced field, and falling down again.

Wei Yuan pointed to the palace above and said, "It's flat there."

The old Daoist Chuhe felt it made sense, so he didn't delve into it, followed Wei Yuan away from the herb garden, and went to the palace to explore. But just after leaving the herb garden, Wei Yuan was quick-eyed and pulled the old Daoist to the side, dodging a floating shadow that suddenly appeared.

The old Daoist Chuhe was instantly in a cold sweat; this shadow was the manifestation of the void. Once touched by it, it might mean a piece of skin and flesh was gone. If it happened to appear inside the body, it would be death or severe injury.

The old Daoist wiped his cold sweat, still having lingering fears, and said, "Many thanks, Martial Nephew!"

"Let's reunite with the others first." Wei Yuan said.

Wei Yuan had already discovered that the Immortal Tree sap was too powerful. After adding it to the Feng Shui formation, the old Daoist was no longer at the bottom of the Qi Luck valley, but directly fell into the abyss of Qi Luck, the kind that had no bottom. Staying with him for a while longer, it was possible the old Daoist would die without illness.

The old Daoist couldn't explain what was wrong with him, in short, he was terrified. So he painfully gave up the idea of eating alone and followed Wei Yuan towards the palace.

Outside the palace on the mountain top, the cultivators of the Tai Chu Palace had already arrived and were waiting for Wei Yuan and the Daoist.

Ji Liuli suddenly said 'eh', frowned and said, "This place is strange, why is my Qi Luck constantly falling?"

Other cultivators also noticed it, so they each showed their means.

Ji Liuli activated the formation disk to re-bless the Feng Shui.

Zhang Sheng's four immortal swords appeared, stabilizing the Qi Luck and Earth-Fire-Water-Wind around him;

Yu Zhizhuo took out a strange stone from outside the sky, using this stone to replace himself in the tribulation. If someone slashed with a knife, it would likely hit this strange stone. And in the world, there were really not many things harder than this strange stone.

Sun Yu simply stayed away from the crowd and lit a 'Melting Demon Destroying God Incense'.

Feng Tingyu was the simplest, revealing an innocent and pure smile.

The so-called innocent youth has much joy; the disciples of the Ming Wang Palace have pure minds, and most of their heads are muscles, so they have natural good luck.

Everyone showed their means, finally stopping the constantly sliding Qi Luck. At this time, Wei Yuan and the old Daoist Chuhe walked over, seeing everyone's strange postures, Wei Yuan was a bit confused and asked, "What are you doing..."

Before the words were finished, the old Daoist Chuhe suddenly said 'ouch' and slipped on the flat ground.

A vague shadow appeared in the air, grabbing at Wei Yuan with a claw. As a result, Wei Yuan stopped and turned his head at this time, looking at the old Daoist Chuhe, and the shadow's claw missed, heading towards the old Daoist on the ground.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 278 =====