Chapter 652

This middle-aged man, although seemingly speaking on behalf of the cultivators present, still carried a hint of sarcasm in his tone regarding everyone's overestimation of their own abilities, fully displaying the air of someone in a high position.

"Hmph! My words may be a bit harsh, but Fellow Daoist Liu, you don't need to put on such an act in front of me. Since we have both come for this corpse puppet, let us just rely on our own abilities!"

"Very well, my Lulin Sect bids sixty-two thousand spirit stones." The middle-aged man bowed slightly and immediately announced his price to the room.

"Sixty-three thousand spirit stones!"

"..."

As these two began to bid, two others nearby joined in, starting to compete for the item.

However, whether it was the gray-robed old man, the middle-aged cultivator, or the other cultivators who continued to compete for the late-stage Core Formation "corpse puppet" on the stage, every one of them, without exception, represented a Nascent Soul sect behind them.

The other cultivators who had just participated in the bidding watched these people compete for the spiritual item; although they were still eager to try, none dared to easily bid again, and like Song Qingming, they were reduced to mere spectators.

Regarding this situation, the "Heavenly Puppet Sect," as the organizer of the auction, besides symbolically urging everyone to bid, did not want to say much more and let these Nascent Soul sect cultivators control the final bidding for this auction item.

It seemed that once this grand finale late-stage Core Formation "corpse puppet" was brought out, it had nothing to do with ordinary Core Formation cultivators like Song Qingming who had come to participate in the assembly.

Seeing the somewhat strange atmosphere at the scene, Song Qingming felt no great waves in his heart.

Although he was also very interested in the late-stage Core Formation "corpse puppet" on the stage, Song Qingming knew very well that even without the competition from these Nascent Soul sect people, it would not be an easy task to win this item with only the spirit stones he had left.

After all, among the hundreds of Core Formation cultivators present, there was no lack of powerhouses above the late-stage Core Formation; there were five or six cultivators whose cultivation had already reached the ninth layer of Core Formation alone, and Song Qingming's hope of winning against them was equally slim.

Seeing that the remaining matters no longer concerned him, Song Qingming did not want to stay at the auction site any longer, so he gave a word to Qing Ling beside him, stood up, and walked out of the private room on the second floor of the auction house.

However, just as Song Qingming reached the stairs, a "Heavenly Puppet Sect" maid dressed similarly to Qing Ling suddenly came from behind and called out to stop him.

"This senior, please wait a moment!"

Upon hearing this, Song Qingming turned around and glanced at the other party. After confirming that she was indeed calling him, he asked somewhat strangely: "Isn't it possible to leave early? Do you have other business?"

"Senior, you have misunderstood. Our auction can be left at any time. I came to find you because another senior just now entrusted me to bring you a letter."

This somewhat cute-looking "Heavenly Puppet Sect" maid finished speaking, took out a letter that still carried a trace of a restriction, and handed it to Song Qingming.

Seeing this, Song Qingming nodded slightly, took the letter, directly wiped away the restriction on it, opened it and glanced at the contents, then stood in place and pondered for a moment before calmly putting it away.

"Did the fellow daoist who asked you to deliver the letter say anything else? Have they already left here?"

"That senior also just left the second floor. They didn't say anything else, just asked me to help deliver this letter to you." The "Heavenly Puppet Sect" maid quickly replied.

Hearing the other party's answer, Song Qingming smiled and waved his hand at her: "Hmm! Sorry to trouble you."

After leaving the "Heavenly Puppet Sect" auction venue, Song Qingming first returned to the inn where he was staying to rest for a while.

Afterwards, having packed his things, he went out and did not leave the market directly, but came to a restaurant not far from the inn.

Led by a waiter in the restaurant, Song Qingming soon arrived outside a private room upstairs.

Just as he pushed open the door, Song Qingming saw a black-robed cultivator standing not far away, who smiled and bowed to him: "Fellow Daoist, you really didn't make me wait in vain! I am Li Xuan, please come in and talk, Fellow Daoist!"

Seeing this, Song Qingming also bowed slightly in return. After walking into the private room, Song Qingming asked: "I am Song San. Fellow Daoist Li invited me here, saying there is something to discuss. I wonder what exactly it is? Please speak directly."

This black-robed cultivator was the very person who had competed with Song Qingming for the "Golden Puppet Pill" earlier.

Just when Song Qingming left the "Heavenly Puppet Sect" auction venue early, this person suddenly had a maid deliver a letter to him, wanting to meet Song Qingming to discuss something.

Although he felt a bit strange, this was after all still within the market, and Song Qingming did not have to worry about any unfavorable events from attending the appointment, so after thinking about it, he still came to see the other party.

The black-robed cultivator standing to the side saw that Song Qingming seemed a bit anxious, so he didn't exchange any more pleasantries and said directly: "Fellow Daoist Song, you purchased the Golden Puppet Pill at the auction today; it should be for your own use in cultivating a corpse puppet, right? I wonder what the current cultivation level of your corpse puppet is? Could you tell me a little about it?"

"I haven't had this corpse puppet for long; it is currently at the peak of the first layer of Core Formation. Coming here today to purchase the elixir is also to help it break through its cultivation."

Seeing the other party asking about his "Jin Feng," Song Qingming didn't think too much and answered truthfully.

Although Li Xuan had not yet stated his purpose, it was not hard for Song Qingming to guess that he had invited him over today surely because of the "corpse puppet" matter. On this point, Song Qingming saw no need to deliberately hide it from the other party.

After hearing Song Qingming's answer, Li Xuan's face brightened slightly, and he continued: "I see that Fellow Daoist Song seems very interested in cultivating corpse puppets.

I have a secret technique here that can help you quickly improve the cultivation of the corpse puppet you have. I wonder if you are interested in hearing about it?"

"Oh! What secret technique? Please enlighten me, Fellow Daoist Li."

Hearing the other party say there was a way to speed up the cultivation of "Jin Feng," Song Qingming was slightly startled, instantly became interested, and asked the other party to continue.

Ever since he refined and obtained the Core Formation corpse puppet "Jin Feng," when he was still in the early stage of Core Formation, "Jin Feng" had indeed helped Song Qingming in many battles against others.

However, with the rapid improvement of Song Qingming's own cultivation, "Jin Feng," whose cultivation had remained stagnant, was slowly unable to keep up with Song Qingming's strength. This point had always made Song Qingming feel quite helpless.

After all, in the cultivation world, some secret techniques for cultivating high-tier "corpse puppets" are generally only available in large sects like the "Heavenly Puppet Sect" and are hard to find elsewhere.

If there were a way to help him quickly improve the cultivation of "Jin Feng," that would certainly be a very welcome thing for Song Qingming.

After all, "Jin Feng" had followed him for so many years and had experienced many battles with him. Song Qingming also had some feelings for him, and of course, he didn't want to discard him casually like a magic treasure or a talisman in the future.

Seeing that Song Qingming had become interested, Li Xuan nodded slightly and hurriedly continued: "Fellow Daoist Song also knows that corpse puppets cannot rely on their own cultivation to improve their practice speed. To help them improve their cultivation, they must refine enough elixirs and spiritual items.

But even if you are willing to invest so many elixirs in him, under normal circumstances, the speed at which he refines these spiritual items will not be very fast.

For a corpse puppet in the early stage of Core Formation, under normal circumstances, it takes at least thirty years to improve one layer of cultivation.

However, I know a secret technique that can use a type of spiritual water to cleanse the body of the corpse puppet, enabling it to speed up its ability to absorb and refine spiritual items. In this way, it can shorten their cultivation improvement speed by almost half."

"What kind of spiritual water are you talking about, Fellow Daoist, that it has such an effect? Is it something we can find?"

Li Xuan paused for a moment and then continued: "This item is called Flame Spirit Water. There happens to be a place not far from here in the Demon-Sealing Valley where it can be found.

However, this Demon-Sealing Valley is not an ordinary place. Even for Core Formation cultivators like us, entering it rashly carries no small danger. To increase the probability of success for this trip, I have already invited several fellow daoists to go together. I wonder if Fellow Daoist Song is interested in going with us?

Rest assured, Fellow Daoist, we are all doing this to cleanse our own corpse puppets; there is no other purpose for entering the valley. If you have any concerns, we can also establish a soul contract before acting."

"Demon-Sealing Valley, how could it be in such a place?"

Earlier, when he heard Li Xuan mention that the effect of "Flame Spirit Water" could greatly improve the cultivation speed of corpse puppets, Song Qingming's face was full of anticipation.

However, when the three words "Demon-Sealing Valley" came out of his mouth, Song Qingming, who had been very calm, suddenly changed his expression and frowned.

Song Qingming had heard Bai Yuxian mention this place to him long ago when he was still in the State of Wei and had not yet set off. She had warned Song Qingming that this place was somewhat dangerous and told him to try his best not to approach it.

When Bai Yuxian traveled to the "Donghuang State" cultivation world back then, although she hadn't reached the vicinity of the "Demon-Sealing Valley," she had long heard of its fame as one of the ten forbidden lands of the "Donghuang State," which was why she specifically reminded Song Qingming.

After traveling to the "Donghuang State" cultivation world, Song Qingming had also heard of the fame of the "Demon-Sealing Valley" from many people over the years, and naturally, he had a fresh memory of this place name. In ancient times, because the interface power was relatively weak when this world first opened, many demons from the upper realm took the opportunity to enter this world. At that time, in the five continents and four seas of the Huayang World, there were powerful demon cultivators and high-tier demonic beasts from the upper realm everywhere.

One hundred thousand years ago, a group of ancient sages came to the Donghuang Immortal Continent and spent ten thousand years slaying demons and clearing a pure land, which then created the human holy land of the "Donghuang State" cultivation world.

At that time, among those demon cultivators who came from the lower realm, some were relatively difficult to deal with and still carried a lot of True Demonic Qi from the upper realm. Even if they were killed, it was impossible to completely expel the demonic energy from their bodies.

In order to seal and suppress this True Demonic Qi and prevent it from spreading and being used by other demon cultivators to continue harming the cultivation world, many senior cultivators of the "Donghuang State" cultivation world at that time gathered the corpses of these ancient demons from the upper realm in one place and then set up an ancient formation to suppress the True Demonic Qi in their bodies.

This is the origin of the famous "Demon-Sealing Valley."

Ever since the "Demon-Sealing Valley" was established, the area within a radius of tens of thousands of miles has become desolate and no longer suitable for ordinary mortals to live in due to the influence of the True Demonic Qi. Therefore, it was also designated as a forbidden land by the "Donghuang State" cultivation world, prohibiting cultivators and mortals from approaching it.

However, with the passage of time, most of the True Demonic Qi in the "Demon-Sealing Valley" has been refined by the ancient formation, and the valley has slowly begun to become vibrant, giving birth to many precious spiritual items that are hard to find outside, as well as many powerful high-tier demonic beasts.

Therefore, many high-tier cultivators have begun to embolden themselves to enter the valley to search for treasures and spiritual items.

But after these people entered, some found precious spiritual items and returned fully loaded, while many others disappeared and fell somewhere unknown. There were even unlucky people who accidentally triggered the seals of ancient cultivators inside and were contaminated by the leaking demonic energy, thus falling into the demonic path.

Not only righteous cultivators, but also those demon cultivators hiding everywhere in the cultivation world heard the news and entered the "Demon-Sealing Valley," hoping to find the True Demonic Qi of the upper realm to improve their own strength.

Therefore, the current "Demon-Sealing Valley" has long become a famous dangerous place in the "Donghuang State" cultivation world. Although it does indeed hide many precious spiritual items, very few cultivators dare to approach or step into it under normal circumstances.

Seeing that Song Qingming's expression had already changed upon hearing "Demon-Sealing Valley," Li Xuan had expected this and hurriedly explained:

"Since Fellow Daoist Song also knows about the Demon-Sealing Valley, I don't need to explain too much. After all, it is not a peaceful place. If I were to say there is no danger at all, even if I dared to say it, you certainly wouldn't believe it.

However, please rest assured, Fellow Daoist Song. This time we are only going to the outer area of the Demon-Sealing Valley and will not go deep into the core area of the valley. Moreover, with you and us, there are a total of four Core Formation cultivators going together. The probability of success for this trip is still very high.

Since you are a Core Formation cultivator with successful cultivation, you should also know that our practice is not easy. If you want to find opportunities in the cultivation world, it is impossible if you cannot bear any risk. Please consider this carefully, Fellow Daoist."

Hearing Li Xuan's words, Song Qingming was silent for a moment and then asked: "May I ask, Fellow Daoist, besides the two of us, what is the cultivation of the other fellow daoists going with us?"

"There is another Fellow Daoist Cui whose cultivation is the same as yours, and another Fellow Daoist Liang who is a third-layer Core Formation cultivator. These two fellow daoists, like you and me, both have a corpse puppet with Core Formation strength. Compared to ordinary cultivators of the same tier, their strength is three points stronger."

"Fellow Daoist Li, this matter is a bit rushed. Please allow me to consider it and give you an answer in a few days, how about that?"

Li Xuan nodded slightly, waved his hand and smiled: "That is natural. I have already agreed with the other fellow daoists to set off in a month. If Fellow Daoist Song has considered it, you can come to the inn to find me at any time.

If you don't want to go, please help keep this matter secret and don't mention it to others. I thank you in advance." After speaking, Li Xuan bowed to Song Qingming again.

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, I am definitely not a loose-lipped person; I naturally understand this point!" — One month later, on a small mountain dozens of miles outside the Heavenly Puppet Market.

Song Qingming and Li Xuan were each sitting on a rock, closing their eyes and meditating patiently, when two rays of spiritual light suddenly flew from the horizon and landed directly beside Song Qingming and the other, transforming into a middle-aged man and an old man in white robes.

Seeing the figures of the two, Li Xuan, who was sitting to the side, immediately smiled and stepped forward to greet them, and introduced them to Song Qingming who had walked over: "Fellow Daoist Song, these two are the fellow daoists Cui Ping and Liang Daosheng who are going with us!"

"I am Song San, greetings to the two fellow daoists!" Seeing this, Song Qingming also immediately bowed to the two and announced his name.

A month ago, after Song Qingming was invited by Li Xuan to go to the "Demon-Sealing Valley," he went back and pondered for a while, and finally decided to agree to the other party and take the risk with them to find the "Flame Spirit Water" that could cleanse corpse puppets.

Song Qingming was not short of the spirit stone resources to cultivate "Jin Feng," but he was troubled by the fact that its speed of refining spiritual items was too slow, which was why Song Qingming had been unable to quickly improve its cultivation all these years.

When he learned from Li Xuan that there was a method to change the physique of "Jin Feng," he was also very moved, but the "Demon-Sealing Valley" mentioned by the other party was indeed not a good place, which made Song Qingming hesitate for a long time.

But Li Xuan was right; the path of cultivation is inherently a coexistence of opportunity and risk. If you want to get what you want, sometimes you have to take some risks.

Song Qingming had been practicing for so many years, and although he rarely took the initiative to put himself in danger, if he encountered an opportunity worth taking a risk for, he would not easily shrink back.

The other two invited by Li Xuan were also cultivators of loose cultivation origin. Among them, the middle-aged man named Liang Daosheng, who was at the third layer of Core Formation, had been seen by Song Qingming once before.

Liang Daosheng was the very cultivator who had bid for the first Core Formation corpse puppet brought out by the "Heavenly Puppet Sect" with more than forty thousand spirit stones at the "Heavenly Puppet Sect" auction not long ago.

Not only that, before Liang Daosheng bid for the Core Formation "corpse puppet," he had already frequently made moves to win several high-tier spiritual items of great value. His lavishness completely exceeded that of ordinary loose cultivators, which also left a deep impression on Song Qingming.

The other long-bearded old man named Cui Ping was a well-known veteran Core Formation loose cultivator in the vicinity, and his cultivation was the same as Song Qingming's, also at the fifth layer of Core Formation.

However, although this old man's cultivation was average, he looked like a very shrewd person. Song Qingming had been practicing for so many years and had always dared not underestimate these veteran cultivators with rich combat experience.

Compared to these two, Li Xuan, the fourth-layer Core Formation cultivator who took the initiative to invite him to participate in the action, felt a bit more mysterious to Song Qingming. Without guessing, Song Qingming knew that the other party's name should be a pseudonym, just like his own.

Even the face on his face, Song Qingming had felt something was wrong since he first saw him, and it was estimated that he had used some special disguise method to change it.

However, there are many cultivators in the cultivation world who deliberately hide their original identities for convenience when walking outside, so this is not a strange thing.

Including Song Qingming dealing with them this time, he also did not use his real name. This kind of thing is something everyone is used to. If it is not necessary, they will not deliberately expose the other party.

The three people present, including Song Qingming, were actually invited by Li Xuan separately, and although they had met each other, they were not familiar with each other.

After the four of them recognized each other and exchanged a few pleasantries on the spot, under Li Xuan's arrangement, the group boarded the flying boat he took out and left the spot, heading straight north.

"Demon-Sealing Valley" is located in a large canyon in the north of Qingzhou.

The entire canyon area has a radius of twenty or thirty thousand miles, which is twice as large as the entire State of Wei, and it is a place without any human habitation, which is absolutely worthy of its fame as one of the ten forbidden lands of the "Donghuang State" cultivation world.

Following a golden light that flew and stopped in mid-air, revealing several figures, Song Qingming and the other three, who had been flying north for about half a month, finally arrived at the edge of the "Demon-Sealing Valley."

"Fellow daoists, to prevent any danger, we cannot continue to use the flying boat to travel from now on."

After Li Xuan finished speaking, he directly put away the flying boat under his feet, then took out a spiritual talisman and pasted it on himself, and then his whole figure disappeared directly into mid-air.

After hiding his figure, Li Xuan greeted everyone and took the lead in walking through the air, heading directly into the valley.

Seeing this, Liang Daosheng to the side also immediately took out a red cloak and draped it over himself. Following a quick spellcasting, his figure immediately turned into an invisible clear breeze and followed closely behind.

Song Qingming and Cui Ping also took out a magic treasure for hiding their figures, covered their bodies, and followed closely behind.

Unlike the surrounding areas where the group had traveled all the way, the "Demon-Sealing Valley" was full of high mountains, clear water, birds singing, and flowers fragrant, completely lacking the dangerous appearance in its name.

Although they saw the scenery below was vibrant, like a rare paradise on earth, everyone knew very well that this seemingly calm surrounding could hide dangers beyond their imagination.

Unable to use the flying boat, plus the need to deliberately hide their figures, the flying speed of the group had dropped by more than half compared to before.

However, for people like Song Qingming who came to search for treasures, as long as they could safely achieve their goal, it didn't matter if they were slower.

Except for Li Xuan, the other three were entering the "Demon-Sealing Valley" for the first time, so everyone followed closely behind him all the way, and no one raised any objections.

After flying in the "Demon-Sealing Valley" for another three days like this, Li Xuan finally brought everyone to the foot of a high mountain with a waterfall hanging hundreds of meters high.

"Fellow Daoist Li, is the place you mentioned right here?"

Seeing Li Xuan, who was leading the way in front, suddenly stop, Liang Daosheng, who was following behind him, hurriedly asked repeatedly. (End of chapter)