Chapter 776

Looking at the cultivators beside him rushing toward the distant palace, Song Qingming, who was standing in the distance wearing a bamboo hat, was unmoved and not anxious at this time, just raising his head and looking at everyone quietly.

The woman in black clothes who had dealt with Song Qingming, after flying into mid-air with her two companions, turned around and happened to see Song Qingming who was still standing on the spot, and a hint of mockery couldn't help but appear on her face.

In her view, Song Qingming was mostly intimidated by the divine might displayed by Xiao Haoran just now; being alone, he simply didn't have the courage to continue moving forward and enter the "Wind and Thunder Palace" to compete for spiritual objects.

It wasn't just Song Qingming; among the hundred Jin Dan cultivators present, besides him, there were seven or eight others who also began to have thoughts of retreating at this moment, among whom included the late-stage Jin Dan man who was blasted back by Xiao Haoran with one punch.

At this moment, although the injuries on his body were not too serious, his heart had long been intimidated by Xiao Haoran's powerful strength.

One must know that he himself was also a late-stage Jin Dan cultivator; although his strength wasn't considered very formidable, having cultivated all the way to the late Jin Dan stage as a rogue cultivator, he also had experienced life and death many times, and his experience in fighting with others would not be less than these cultivators from big sects.

Since entering the late Jin Dan stage, with his combat experience, there were very few cultivators of the same tier who could bring him substantial threats.

But in the exchange with Xiao Haoran just now, the opponent broke his protective aura with just one punch and blasted him flying hundreds of zhang away; this was something that had never happened before.

And through the strike just now, he had also clearly felt that his life had been threatened by a powerful force; if it wasn't for Xiao Haoran being in a hurry to go to the "Wind and Thunder Palace" but instead choosing to continue taking action against him, he would definitely have been unable to leave here alive today.

Feeling the huge gap between himself and a cultivator of the same tier for the first time, he was also filled with a hint of despondency at this moment, not wanting to continue moving forward and enter the palace to take risks.

Having cultivated for hundreds of years and finally having today's cultivation, no one wanted to lose their life here easily; compared to the many high-tier spiritual objects that might appear in the "Wind and Thunder Palace," his own life was definitely more important.

Thinking of this, after sighing lightly in his mouth, he still didn't pay attention to his companion's persuasion, directly turning around and leaving this place, wanting to go to other places in the inner palace to try his luck.

Although most places in the inner palace had already been explored by many cultivators, at the moment, the Jin Dan cultivators who entered the inner palace were basically concentrated here.

If there were still remaining opportunities in other places, it was also an extremely rare opportunity for them; there was no need to stay here and compete for spiritual objects with those experts of the six major sects.

Seeing this person leave, the two people who came with him looked at each other; even if they didn't want to give up easily in their hearts, they didn't have the courage to continue staying here at the moment, and after hesitating for a while, they still chose to transform into streaks of light with their companion and stay away from here.

Some people were excited to go to the "Wind and Thunder Palace" to search for treasures, while others chose to leave with disappointment; these didn't affect Song Qingming, who had been standing on the spot.

Waiting until the surrounding cultivators had basically all left, he, who was left alone on the spot, only then cast a spell to take out the "Phantom Boat" and jumped on it, and then flew toward the location of the "Wind and Thunder Palace" with a firm gaze.

The entire "Wind and Thunder Palace" is a huge palace ruin left over from ancient times.

After so many years of wind and frost, although this palace still maintained its main shape, its detailed appearance had long since ceased to be what it was back then; inside the palace, there were broken bricks and tiles everywhere, and basically, one could no longer see buildings that could maintain their integrity.

Just arriving at the entrance of the palace, Song Qingming saw a giant stone over ten zhang tall standing in front, with the three clear large characters "Wind and Thunder Palace" carved on it in ancient script.

The whole stone was naturally formed, and from time to time, bursts of white electric light flashed over the few large characters, as if shrouded by thunder and lightning.

"This stone, could it be a thunder-absorbing stone? Actually having such a large thunder-absorbing stone!"

Seeing the giant stone before his eyes, Song Qingming couldn't help but sigh in his mouth, and finally slowly withdrew his gaze.

This stone, if placed outside, could also be worth many spirit stones, but it's a pity that this whole giant stone was truly too big, and ordinary storage magic treasures simply couldn't hold it; Song Qingming, who was passing by here, could only look at it with his eyes.

After entering the palace, seeing that many cultivators in front chose to act separately and began to search for spiritual objects around the palace.

Song Qingming didn't pay attention to this, directly choosing the direction where there were many people in the middle, flying forward all the way for another half an hour, and finally arrived outside a desolate "Spiritual Medicine Garden."

This "Spiritual Medicine Garden," located in the depths of the palace, although it looked like it had long been abandoned and unattended all around, didn't have anything special.

But Song Qingming, who had already learned the detailed situation of the entire "Wind and Thunder Palace" from Feng He, knew that this place was the most important place in the entire palace.

Because in this seemingly ordinary "Spiritual Medicine Garden," there was also hidden a spiritual tree that had survived for nearly ten thousand years, on which one could find fourth-grade Jin Dan spiritual objects that all Jin Dan cultivators dreamed of.

This was also the biggest goal of the six major sects, and even all the cultivators who came to the "Wind and Thunder Palace."

Just arriving outside the "Spiritual Medicine Garden," Song Qingming heard several earth-shattering loud noises coming from the front; after he approached, he discovered that it was Xiao Haoran and the six major sects' people who had already arrived here, who were fighting with five or six black giant bears guarding the entrance.

These few black bears had thick skin and flesh all over, and a pair of sharp claws were something even Jin Dan cultivators had to retreat three points from; their cultivation strength was not below that of late-stage Jin Dan cultivators.

However, facing the full-force siege of the many Jin Dan cultivators of the six major sects led by the "Qingyang Sect," these black bears, although strong, still soon fell into a disadvantageous position and were beaten back step by step.

Besides the cultivators of the six major sects, there were also many rogue cultivators with not-weak strength who stepped forward to participate in the siege of these black bears, among whom included the woman in black clothes and the hunchbacked old man that Song Qingming knew.

These two were also late-stage Jin Dan cultivators, especially that hunchbacked old man, whose strength displayed was even above that of ordinary late-stage Jin Dan cultivators.

Even Xiao Haoran, who usually rarely looked directly at the surrounding cultivators, noticed the hunchbacked old man at this moment, and his gaze lingered on the other party for a long while inadvertently.

As for the woman in white clothes who traveled with them, her strength was much weaker, only having sixth-layer Jin Dan cultivation.

At this moment, she was standing not far behind the battlefield together with dozens of Jin Dan cultivators with slightly weaker strength, carefully watching the fighting in front, and didn't step forward to participate in the battle directly.

After rushing here, Song Qingming carefully swept a glance at the battlefield in front, then decisively chose to join the crowd watching the battle, similarly not stepping forward to join the battlefield rashly.

The few mid-stage Jin Dan cultivators standing around him happened to be the three who wanted to invite Song Qingming to join them before; seeing Song Qingming come alone at this moment, all of them revealed a hint of surprise on their faces.

However, when seeing that Song Qingming was also just like them, choosing to stand on the side to watch the battle and not stepping forward to enter the battlefield, after the three looked at him a few times, they immediately turned their gazes away.

Originally thought that Song Qingming dared to come here alone, he would be some hidden expert; it turned out that he was also just like them, not daring to step forward to compete with those Jin Dan experts on the battlefield.

The experts at the late Jin Dan stage and above present were basically all fighting with the black bears in front; as long as they could resolve the opponent, they could take the lead and enter the "Spiritual Medicine Garden" to compete for spiritual objects.

As for those who chose to stand on the side to watch the battle, they were basically cultivators with slightly weaker cultivation strength; seeing an eighth-layer Jin Dan cultivator like Song Qingming choose to stand with them, many people around also cast somewhat strange gazes toward him.

But Song Qingming didn't pay the slightest attention to this, just standing in the distance carefully watching the battlefield in front, his gaze tightly locked on those cultivators who were fighting with the black bears.

After about a quarter of an hour passed, those few black bears blocking the entrance of the "Spiritual Medicine Garden" finally couldn't hold on; one of them was directly knocked unconscious by Xiao Haoran with one punch and fell directly from mid-air.

Before that black bear could fall to the ground, only a "pfft" sound was heard, and the black bear's corpse directly transformed into a burst of white mist in mid-air and disappeared without a trace.

The crowd watching the battle only then discovered that these lifelike black bears were not living things, but were transformed by the mechanism restrictions at the entrance of the "Spiritual Medicine Garden."

In the whole great battle, Xiao Haoran almost didn't use any magic treasure, but he was the most prominent person among the crowd; after taking the lead in resolving the opponent in front of him, he led several "Qingyang Sect" cultivators beside him and entered the "Spiritual Medicine Garden" one step ahead.

The rest of the crowd who were still fighting, seeing this, were also afraid that the spiritual objects inside would all be snatched away by the "Qingyang Sect" people, and hurriedly cast spells to intensify the attack, wanting to resolve the battle quickly.

Soon, those remaining black bears also fell from mid-air one after another, and then turned into bursts of white mist and disappeared between heaven and earth.

What made Song Qingming and the others somewhat unexpected was that the second person to defeat the opponent and enter the "Spiritual Medicine Garden" was actually not a cultivator of the six major sects, but that hunchbacked old man who had dealt with Song Qingming.

This point not only made the crowd watching the battle look surprised, but even Song Qingming felt somewhat lingering fear at this moment; didn't expect that this hunchbacked old man was actually so formidable.

Fortunately, just now outside the "Wind and Thunder Palace," the other party's three didn't choose to find trouble for him; otherwise, if Song Qingming faced them alone, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to get any advantage either.

After the hunchbacked old man and the woman in black clothes entered the "Spiritual Medicine Garden," the remaining six major sects and other cultivators also resolved their opponents one after another and rushed into the "Spiritual Medicine Garden" rapidly.

The cultivators who were watching the battle together with Song Qingming outside, seeing this, also transformed into streaks of light one after another and followed closely behind, rushing into the "Spiritual Medicine Garden" one after another.

Song Qingming, on the other hand, followed at the end of the team unhurriedly, appearing extremely low-key and not attracting the attention of anyone around.

After entering the "Spiritual Medicine Garden," everyone discovered that it was lush and green inside, with very abundant spiritual energy, completely different from the desolate and dilapidated scene outside.

"It's third-grade Moon-Gazing Grass; ha ha, there are indeed good things inside."

"Hmph! We discovered this spiritual medicine first; get out of the way quickly!"

"The spiritual objects in the secret realm are not owned by whoever sees them first; if you want spiritual medicine, it depends on your own ability." Just after entering, everyone's gaze was attracted by several third-grade spiritual medicines around; at least seven or eight cultivators immediately rushed toward the location where the spiritual medicine was.

So many cultivators came in, but there were only three spiritual medicines in front of them; all wanting to dominate the spiritual objects, they naturally soon fought and entangled with each other.

Regarding this, Song Qingming just shook his head lightly, then took out the "Phantom Boat" to hide his figure first, and only then slowly leaned toward the depths of the "Spiritual Medicine Garden."

And at this time, beside a huge spiritual tree dozens of zhang tall in the depths of the "Spiritual Medicine Garden," Xiao Haoran and more than twenty other late-stage Jin Dan cultivators who had entered one step ahead were desperately casting spells around this huge black spiritual tree.

The aura exuded from this huge black spiritual tree had already far exceeded the category of third-grade spiritual plants; it was clearly a fourth-grade spiritual tree that had already lived for thousands of years.

The black spiritual tree was wrapped in a mass of black thunder and lightning, flowing rapidly above the spiritual tree like flowing water, from time to time also emitting bursts of sizzling thunder and lightning sounds.

And Xiao Haoran and the others surrounding this fourth-grade spiritual tree, as long as they approached the spiritual tree, would soon be hit by the electric current above, and were desperately casting spells to resist the thunder and lightning while slowly approaching the middle of the spiritual tree.

There, five cyan spiritual fruits the size of babies were distributed around the trunk, from time to time exuding bursts of cyan spiritual light; they were none other than the "Thunder Infant Fruit" that Feng He had mentioned to Song Qingming back then.

This "Thunder Infant Fruit" is a rare spiritual object among fourth-grade spiritual objects that can have an auxiliary effect on cultivators forming a Nascent Soul; any one of them is a precious spiritual object that can cause a sensation in the outside world.

Compared to this high-tier spiritual object "Thunder Infant Fruit," which is worth a fortune, the other third-grade spiritual medicines around the "Spiritual Medicine Garden" were obviously not enough to look at.

Therefore, even if they saw other spiritual objects nearby, the crowd present had no intention of going to compete for them at all, putting all their minds on the "Thunder Infant Fruit Tree" side.

With the help of two "Qingyang Sect" fellow disciples, Xiao Haoran still approached the bottom of the "Thunder Infant Fruit" first as expected, waving a sword light in his hand, and cut off the connection between a "Thunder Infant Fruit" and the spiritual tree, making it fall from the tree.

Just when he was preparing to reach out to catch this "Thunder Infant Fruit," a black lightning suddenly flashed out from the spiritual fruit, heading straight for the location where Xiao Haoran was.

Seeing this, he, who had long had a hint of preparation, crossed his hands into fists and placed them in front of his chest, immediately releasing a golden protective shield in front, forcibly blocking this somewhat fierce black lightning.

After the black lightning completely disappeared, Xiao Haoran, who had already retreated several steps, suddenly lit up with a burst of spiritual light, immediately after which he took a step forward and directly took the "Thunder Infant Fruit" that was still hovering in mid-air into his hand.

However, although this spiritual fruit fell into Xiao Haoran's hand, the thunder and lightning above still kept flashing out, wanting to break free from his restraint.

"Sure enough, it is the same as the rumors outside; this thing is really not honest!"

Seeing this situation, Xiao Haoran was also well-prepared, waving lightly at his waist, and a golden round ball appeared in his hand.

Immediately after, more than ten golden light rays shot out from the round ball, firmly wrapping the "Thunder Infant Fruit" that wanted to break free from control, soon stabilizing it, which was very restless.

Seeing that the "Thunder Infant Fruit" in his hand had already been subdued by himself, Xiao Haoran tied it to his waist, then continued to move forward, wanting to pick the second spiritual fruit on the tree.

However, this time, before he could approach the location of the spiritual fruit, a white sword light flew into the air one step ahead, directly picking off the "Thunder Infant Fruit" above.

The person who took action this time was none other than the number one expert of the "Jade Sword Sect," Han Feng.

After using the flying sword in his hand to slash down a "Thunder Infant Fruit," Han Feng immediately waved his hand and took out a black cloth bag that had long been prepared, directly covering the whole spiritual fruit, then turned around and smiled at Xiao Haoran on the side: "Heh heh! Brother Xiao, you have already obtained a spiritual fruit, so don't continue to compete with us anymore!

Otherwise, if you provoke public anger, there are still so many experts here; it is bound not to let you off easily. Even if you, brother, can get all the spiritual fruits, it is not so easy to escape."

"Hmph! I don't care what you guys will think; there are thousands of rules in this cultivation world, but there is only one rule that everyone must abide by."

"That is, no matter what spiritual object it is, it is obtained by those who are capable; if you want to take away this spiritual fruit, you must prove that you have this ability."

After Xiao Haoran spat out a sentence with a smile in his mouth, he gathered a mass of aura in his right hand and smashed it rapidly toward the location where Han Feng was.

"Long admired the great name of Brother Xiao as the number one Jin Dan cultivator; it's just a pity that I have never had the opportunity to fight with you. Today, I just happen to have the opportunity to ask for advice!"

Seeing that Xiao Haoran took action directly without agreeing, there was not the slightest fear on Han Feng's face either; between his words, the flying sword in his hand had already broken through the air, and soon he fought with Xiao Haoran.

It's just that because they were too close to the spiritual tree, the two still had to separate a part of the magic power in their bodies to resist the thunder light that was constantly invading from all around.

But even so, the fighting between Xiao Haoran and Han Feng still shocked the crowd around; even the few late-stage Jin Dan companions who were originally beside them, at this moment, in order to avoid being affected, had to take the initiative to stay away from the spiritual tree.

When Xiao Haoran and Han Feng were fighting, cultivators from other sects also approached the locations of the remaining few "Thunder Infant Fruits" one after another, beginning to unfold the competition for spiritual fruits.

In one of the places, Qiu Wuxin, who arrived under the tree one step ahead, excitedly cast a spell to slash down the spiritual fruit above.

Just when he resisted the lightning attack of the spiritual fruit and wanted to step forward to take the spiritual fruit into his pocket, he didn't want a cyan giant net to suddenly fly out from his side, directly trapping the spiritual fruit in mid-air into it.

"Who?"

Seeing this scene, Qiu Wuxin's heart was suddenly somewhat frustrated; after turning around to look, he discovered that the cultivator who snatched his spiritual fruit was that hunchbacked old man who had performed very outstandingly outside the "Spiritual Medicine Garden" before.

"Fellow Daoist, this spiritual object is obtained by those who are capable; I thank you here!"

The hunchbacked old man bowed to Qiu Wuxin with a smile, and was just about to take away the "Thunder Infant Fruit" in the magic treasure, but didn't want to, because the thunder and lightning on the spiritual fruit kept flashing, it simply couldn't be directly taken into the storage magic treasure, which made his expression suddenly change.

"Hmph! This spiritual fruit was just picked not long ago and cannot be taken into the storage bag now; it is not so simple for you to want to take this object from my hand."

Qiu Wuxin said while waving his hand to take out a golden copper tower magic treasure, and after casting a spell to enlarge it dozens of times, he pressed it toward the location where the hunchbacked old man was.

Seeing this, the hunchbacked old man tied the spiritual fruit in his hand to his waist, hurriedly took out a five-colored flag magic treasure, and danced a five-colored golden dragon to step forward and hold up the copper tower that Qiu Wuxin dropped.

Not long after the two took action, Luo Liangshan and another "Falling Maple Valley" late-stage Jin Dan elder, as well as the woman in black clothes who came with the hunchbacked old man, also arrived in the vicinity one after another and joined the battlefield.

While these five late-stage Jin Dan experts were entangled, the "Heavenly Void Sect," "Divine Fire Sect," "Golden Cloud Palace," and another five or six late-stage Jin Dan rogue cultivators were also competing for the remaining two "Thunder Infant Fruits."

All around the "Thunder Infant Fruit Tree," there were divine abilities and magic treasures of Jin Dan cultivators everywhere; not long after, it became a very chaotic battlefield.

Other cultivators who arrived here a step late, seeing such a chaotic and very dangerous scene in front of them, immediately stopped their footsteps and didn't dare to approach the "Thunder Infant Fruit Tree" anymore.

These people basically had cultivation at the mid-stage of Jin Dan; whether it was cultivation or personal combat strength, they were much weaker than those late-stage Jin Dan cultivators who were competing for spiritual objects under the "Thunder Infant Fruit Tree."

However, although they knew that the front was dangerous, because they were worried about the safety of their companions inside, there were still several mid-stage Jin Dan cultivators who disregarded the danger and forcibly flew toward the "Thunder Infant Fruit Tree" location.

But when these people approached, they discovered that just resisting the electric light near the "Thunder Infant Fruit Tree" was somewhat difficult, and it was simply difficult to intervene in the battle between these experts; they could only somewhat helplessly retreat from inside again.

Seeing that there was no way to enter the "Thunder Infant Fruit Tree" battlefield to compete for spiritual objects, these people soon transferred their gazes to other places around the "Spiritual Medicine Garden," beginning to step forward to compete for other third-grade spiritual objects nearby.

For them, they had already arrived here; no matter what, they couldn't come for nothing.

It wasn't just rogue cultivators; even the cultivators of the six major sects who couldn't join the battlefield to help also began to scatter and rush toward the locations of other third-grade spiritual objects in the "Spiritual Medicine Garden."

"Junior Sister Chen, let's go and join the fun too; your cultivation is still low, so it's better to stay here and wait for Senior Brother Qiu and the others to come out. If we can snatch one or two spiritual objects, we will definitely not treat you badly."

Hearing the suggestion from the two fellow Senior Brothers beside her, Chen Shutian hesitated with a calm expression, then nodded slightly and replied: "Then I thank you, Senior Brother!"

And at this time, in a corner of the "Spiritual Medicine Garden" that was unknown to anyone.

Song Qingming had just finished picking a third-grade spiritual medicine and was just about to go to the location of the next target when he suddenly saw several Jin Dan cultivators approaching from the front.

Seeing this, Song Qingming hurriedly stopped his footsteps, using the secret technique of the "Phantom Boat" to hide his figure in time.

Waiting until those few people competed in front of him and left the scene with spiritual objects, Song Qingming only then slowly revealed his figure.

"Huh! Didn't these people all go to snatch the Thunder Infant Fruit just now? Why did they run back so quickly!"

Just when Song Qingming was somewhat puzzled, he suddenly felt an abnormality appear on his body, and his expression suddenly changed as he looked at his waist. (End of chapter)