Xuantian Immortal Cultivation Record

After the thirty-eight Qi Refining disciples from the two sects entered the Ancient Sect Ruins, Zhou Yuming and the other Profound Heaven Sect disciples did not team up. Each was confident in their own abilities, intending to seek opportunities independently.

The Ancient Sect Ruins were a space sealed off by a large formation. At its core were several buildings left behind by the ancient sect, as well as several mountain peaks where spiritual veins converged. It was a secret realm used by the Thick Earth Sect to cultivate spiritual objects.

Since it also served as a trial ground for Qi Refining disciples, it only contained Savage Blood stage demonic beasts. However, over tens of thousands of years, some perilous areas had formed, and some strange things had been born, making it extremely dangerous.

Over a dozen days passed, and Zhou Yuming found several Rank Three spiritual herbs, which were barely satisfactory. For a cultivator at the thirteenth level of Qi Refining like him, only Foundation Establishment Pills or natural treasures that could be used to exchange for Foundation Establishment Pills could pique his interest.

The Profound Heaven Sect's alchemy chamber could produce thirty Foundation Establishment Pills every ten years. Ten of these were awarded to the top ten in the grand competition, while the other twenty required contribution points or natural spiritual materials to exchange for them. Of course, any disciple could gather the materials for Foundation Establishment Pills themselves and ask the alchemy chamber's alchemists to refine them.

After wandering for several more days, Zhou Yuming stood by a stream in a valley. Not far ahead was Copper Iron Gorge, one of the three most dangerous areas.

His face was gloomy as he looked at the gorge between the mountains and dense forests from a distance, faintly hearing the roars of demonic beasts.

As he hesitated, he suddenly saw a flash of blue, disappearing into the deep forest, heading towards the gorge. Although it was only a fleeting glimpse, judging from the clothing, it didn't seem like a Profound Heaven Sect disciple.

"Hmph!" Zhou Yuming snorted heavily, summoning a flying iron sword and speeding towards the entrance of the gorge.

The entrance of the valley was about twenty meters wide, surrounded by towering trees. Dense branches and leaves blocked the sunlight, and even when the sun was at its peak, the forest was dark.

From a distance, he seemed to hear the movements of demonic beasts, but upon arriving at the entrance, it was eerily silent.

Zhou Yuming landed on the ground, put away the iron sword, put on the profound copper armor he had purchased at great expense, held a defensive pseudo-spiritual talisman "Golden Shield Talisman" in his left hand, and an offensive pseudo-spiritual talisman "Spirit Severing Blade" in his right hand. He used a strange movement technique and quietly slipped into the valley.

Pseudo-spiritual talismans were spiritual talismans specially made for Qi Refining disciples. They were semi-finished or defective low-level spiritual talismans, and their power was usually only about one-tenth of that of low-level spiritual talismans.

The terrain in the valley was not complex. The entrance was narrow, but it widened further in. Apart from some short, unnamed plants, there was nothing special about it.

After traveling about fifteen kilometers, the cliffs on both sides became steeper and steeper, and the width of the gorge remained at about half a kilometer. He gradually heard the sound of rushing water.

Turning past a cliff, a small lake with a circumference of about two kilometers suddenly appeared, lying quietly in the center of the gorge.

A river, like a white ribbon, floated on the cliff on one side. At a gap, the river found an exit and plunged straight down, creating a large pool at the bottom of the cliff. The water in the pool, with the impact of the waterfall, constantly overflowed and slowly flowed into the lake.

Zhou Yuming was only slightly distracted, and then quickly regained his vigilance. He carefully scanned the waterfall, pond, and lake, and found nothing unusual. This was the end of the gorge, and if there was any danger, it would probably be here.

Finally, Zhou Yuming's gaze fell on the lake in the center, guessing that the cultivator from before had probably entered the lake. Unfortunately, he didn't bring any water-avoiding items or magical artifacts and pseudo-spiritual talismans suitable for underwater combat.

As he pondered, the originally still lake surface suddenly vibrated up and down, as if a huge creature was making waves.

As he wondered, the lake surface exploded, and a huge black beast soared into the sky, its roar tearing through the air. Following closely behind was a figure in green, the cultivator who had entered the valley earlier.

Zhou Yuming was shocked and quickly lay on the ground, concealing his aura and remaining motionless. It was actually a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator!

How could a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator enter this place? Since the Thick Earth Sect had opened the secret realm, they must have made thorough preparations. Why would they send a Foundation Establishment cultivator in to fight this strange demonic beast!

His hiding place was only about two kilometers away from the lake, and the sensing range of a Foundation Establishment cultivator was generally about two and a half kilometers. He was not sure if he had been exposed, so he did not dare to act rashly.

The green-clad cultivator summoned a silver sword, aiming straight for the black beast's head.

The black beast was shaped like a large dog with wings on its back, and was at the Spirit Awakening stage. It seemed very wary of the silver sword, not daring to take it head-on. It shook its wings and dodged swiftly.

The green-clad cultivator controlled the silver sword, chasing back and forth. The black beast dodged and weaved, falling into a disadvantageous position, but it was not in any danger.

Just as Zhou Yuming was hesitating whether to take the opportunity to retreat, the green-clad cultivator suddenly waved his left hand, and a red chain flew out, heading straight for the black beast.

This was a very rare type of entanglement-type spiritual artifact. The black beast was caught off guard and was locked in place. Before it could struggle, the silver sword arrived, deeply piercing its head. The black beast let out a short, mournful cry and died instantly.

The green-clad cultivator laughed heartily and said to himself, "This is a good thing, it really works!"

He reached out and summoned the red chain, which dragged the black beast's corpse to him. He grabbed one end of the chain, lifted the black beast's corpse, and flew to the shore of the lake on Zhou Yuming's side.

Then, he took out a two-inch-tall jade bottle in his left hand, pulled out the silver sword from the black beast's head in his right hand, and cut open the black beast's thick, short neck with a sword. Then, he threw the jade bottle up, and with a magic seal from his left hand, the jade bottle generated suction, sucking all the hot blood gushing from the black beast's neck into it.

After a few breaths, no more blood flowed out. The green-clad cultivator put away the jade bottle, turned around, and shouted towards Zhou Yuming's location, "Come out!"

Zhou Yuming's mouth twitched, knowing that things were not looking good. It would probably be difficult to resolve this peacefully.

However, in this environment, it was impossible to escape from a Foundation Establishment cultivator. The difference between Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment was the difference between mortal and immortal. No matter how strong a Qi Refining cultivator was, they were just ants in front of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Fortunately, this cultivator should be from the Thick Earth Sect, so the possibility of being killed was not high.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuming stood up and slowly walked towards the other party. He had clearly seen the face of the green-clad cultivator, an ordinary-looking face, slightly pale. It was one of the thirty Qi Refining disciples from the Thick Earth Sect.

"You have some guts, daring to venture deep into this valley alone. A Profound Heaven disciple? Hmph!" The green-clad cultivator glanced at him with some contempt. "Wanting to strike it rich? Or wanting to pick up scraps? And you didn't run away immediately!"

Zhou Yuming's heart skipped a beat, secretly thinking that this person could see through even the hidden thoughts in his heart, and must be a shrewd and capable person, making it extremely difficult to fool him.

He cautiously replied, "Replying to Senior, this junior was just afraid for a moment and dared not run away."

The green-clad cultivator remained noncommittal and said, "Since you have entered, then do something for me. As for how to deal with you, it will depend on the result of your work."

Zhou Yuming's heart sank, and he quickly replied, "Please instruct me, Senior!"

"Then follow me."

The green-clad cultivator turned around and walked towards the waterfall. When he reached it, he didn't stop, but instead used his magic power to protect his whole body, took a step forward, and disappeared.

Zhou Yuming knew that there must be another world behind the waterfall, so he followed suit and rushed over.

Sure enough, behind the waterfall, a cave appeared that was more than three meters high and one and a half meters wide, extending downwards with the terrain, winding and turning. The green-clad cultivator went straight into the cave without looking back. Zhou Yuming obediently followed behind him.

The two walked for about two kilometers, entering a stone chamber of several tens of meters in size, like a cultivator's cave dwelling, but it was empty, with nothing in it. Even the walls of the stone chamber seemed to have been scraped, bare and without any arrangements like wall cabinets.

"The black beast I killed just now is called the Flying Spirit Dog. This beast is rarely seen in this era, but it was common in the ancient times. This ruin is the location of the Thick Earth Sect's mountain gate in the ancient times, so the Flying Spirit Dog has reproduced here. This beast is unremarkable, but one thing is that its blood can reveal some special materials, so it was often used by ancient cultivators to break formations. However, not many cultivators know this now. Hehe! If it weren't for this, the secret of this stone chamber would have been discovered long ago."

The green-clad cultivator threw the jade bottle containing the beast's blood to Zhou Yuming and said, "You have to do one thing, which is to use this blood to coat every inch of the walls of this stone chamber, including the ceiling and the ground."

Zhou Yuming took the jade bottle, and without asking any further questions, carefully controlled the jade bottle, using magic to slowly draw out the blood, and then sprinkled it on the left wall of the chamber.

This blood was extremely heavy, and transporting it consumed a lot of spiritual energy. No wonder the green-clad cultivator grabbed him as a coolie.

While he was smearing the wall, he stole a glance at the green-clad cultivator, only to see that the man was reading an ordinary paper book, shaking his head and wagging it, and occasionally sniffing forcefully, looking like a lovesick scholar among mortals.

Zhou Yuming didn't dare to look any further, and buried himself in smearing the wall, neither too fast nor too slow. After an hour, he finished smearing one wall, without any abnormalities.

The green-clad cultivator was still reading the book, without saying a word.

Zhou Yuming began to smear the wall in front of him. As his spiritual energy was consumed, he smeared slower and slower, and finally it took him fourteen hours to smear the four walls, the ceiling, and the ground. However, from beginning to end, all the walls did not undergo any changes.

Just as Zhou Yuming was stunned, the green-clad cultivator suddenly said, "You should retreat outside the chamber."

Zhou Yuming quickly went outside the chamber. At this time, the green-clad cultivator took out a small white packet from his storage bag, and with a shake of his hand, a cloud of white powder exploded in the air. Then, he waved his hands up and down, using magic to blow the powder onto the four walls and the ceiling.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the stone chamber was completely changed, as if it had been plastered with white ash.

After doing all this, the green-clad cultivator stood still, closing his eyes to rest.

Zhou Yuming didn't dare to say anything, and sat down outside, trying his best to recover his magic power. He originally thought that other cultivators would find this place, but more than a day passed, and he couldn't hear any movement outside.

An hour passed. Suddenly, the green-clad cultivator moved. He walked quickly to the southwest corner of the stone chamber and looked up at the ceiling. He saw a three-inch square black stain in the corner of the ceiling, which was constantly expanding. At the same time, black stone powder was falling down.

After another hour, the black stain had expanded to four feet square, and the ground below was covered with a thick layer of black stone powder.

Half an hour later, the black stain stopped expanding. The green-clad cultivator called Zhou Yuming in and ordered him to dig out the area with the black stain.

Zhou Yuming didn't dare to be negligent. He flew into the air with his flying iron sword, and then took out a Seven Profound hoe for digging spiritual stone mines, and quickly dug out all the stone wall that had been corroded by the black stain. A mysterious yellow iron door was revealed above.

The green-clad cultivator's face showed joy and said, "Push the iron door open."

Although Zhou Yuming was afraid that there would be some traps, he didn't dare to hesitate. He reached out and supported the iron door, pushing it with force.

With two creaking sounds, the iron door was pushed open a few inches. It was pitch black inside the iron door, and nothing came out. Zhou Yuming breathed a sigh of relief and continued to exert force, lifting the entire iron door, and he also rose up with it.

The green-clad cultivator waited for a few breaths before flying up.

This was also a stone chamber, much smaller than the one below, only about fifteen to twenty meters across. In the center of the chamber was a meditation cushion, and to the right of the cushion was a stone platform about half a meter high. On the stone platform was a book made of some unknown material.

Just as the green-clad cultivator was about to step forward to take the book, he suddenly remembered something and said to Zhou Yuming, "Go and pick up the book and flip through it page by page."

Zhou Yuming gritted his teeth and said, "Senior, can you allow this junior to take something to use as protection?"

The green-clad cultivator was expressionless, and the look of mockery in his eyes disappeared in a flash. He casually said, "You may do as you please!"

Zhou Yuming took out a pair of purple-black gloves from his storage bag, which were common alchemy gloves in the cultivation world, heat-resistant and anti-toxic, and could be used to take the book.

He walked slowly to the stone platform, bent down, touched the surface of the platform lightly with both hands, stopped for three breaths, and then gently touched the book, which felt like some kind of special leather.

He stopped for another three breaths before slowly picking up the leather book. The moment the leather book completely left the stone platform, he quickly took three steps back. Then, he held the book in one hand and slowly turned the pages with the other.

This book had a total of fifteen pages, and Zhou Yuming finished flipping through it in twenty breaths. He naturally saw the contents inside roughly. Although he was distracted by worry and fear, he was still shocked by the contents, and an expression of surprise involuntarily appeared on his face.

The green-clad cultivator looked at Zhou Yuming with a playful look. After he finished flipping through the book, he said, "It seems that I haven't been busy for nothing for decades. Bring it over!"

Zhou Yuming quickly walked over, offered the leather book with both hands, and then retreated three or four steps towards the exit.

The green-clad cultivator was eager to read the leather book and did not notice Zhou Yuming's small actions.

He opened the leather book and read ten lines at a glance. He browsed through the entire book in just a few breaths, and couldn't help but laugh loudly: "Good, good, good, such a great achievement, Foundation Establishment is just around the corner. Thirty years of lurking, not in vain."

He was not satisfied and opened the book again, reading it carefully, word by word. When he saw something exciting, he kept sniffing. After reading it once, he read it again, and then stopped.

While the green-clad cultivator was immersed in that shocking secret, Zhou Yuming quietly retreated a few more steps, all the way to the edge of the exit.

The green-clad cultivator turned around, looked at Zhou Yuming, and was about to speak, but Zhou Yuming stepped back and fell from the entrance, dropping into the stone chamber below. Then, he quickly unfolded his movement technique and fled out of the stone cave.

The green-clad cultivator smiled grimly, stepped out and chased after him, leisurely following behind Zhou Yuming, not in a hurry to attack.

Zhou Yuming ran very fast. Before long, he left the stone cave and fled to the lake in the valley. However, the green-clad cultivator was faster and had already blocked the road to the exit of the valley.

"Senior is probably not a member of the Thick Earth Sect!" Zhou Yuming smiled bitterly.

"The Thick Earth Sect? A bunch of farmers who just plant the land." The green-clad cultivator sneered, "I have been lurking here for thirty years, changing my identity twice to enter the top thirty Qi Refining disciples, but I have never been discovered. Although my aura concealment and disguise techniques are not bad, it shouldn't be without any flaws. It's just that these farmers are too rough. Planting the land is okay, but everything else is too far off."

"Can Senior tell me your identity, so that I can be a ghost with understanding." Zhou Yuming said again.

The blue-robed cultivator shook his head and sighed, "What a pity. Your wit and adaptability are truly top-notch. If I hadn't learned that secret, I might have spared your life."

He raised his hand, ready to strike and silence him, but suddenly felt a pain in his chest, and his dantian's spiritual power refused to rise.

The blue-robed cultivator immediately sensed something was wrong. He tried to circulate his spiritual power again, but his dantian remained unresponsive, and the pain in his chest intensified.

Alarmed, he closed his eyes and looked inward, discovering a strange impurity within his dantian, disrupting his spiritual power and causing it to stagnate.

"This is... this is Heart-Piercing Qi-Severing Powder!" The blue-robed cultivator's eyes widened as he stared at Zhou Yuming in disbelief. He couldn't understand how he had been poisoned, how he had fallen into the hands of an ant!

Heart-Piercing Qi-Severing Powder was a colorless, odorless powder poison. Once inhaled, it would enter the bloodstream through the mucous membranes and take effect upon reaching the heart. It would first block the flow of spiritual energy, then destroy the heart. It was a common poison used by low-level Qi Refining cultivators to ambush higher-level Qi Refining cultivators.

Although this poison was powerful, it was easy to defend against simply by holding one's breath. Furthermore, during combat, stronger cultivators circulated their aura, preventing any poison from approaching unnoticed. Therefore, Heart-Piercing Qi-Severing Powder was almost useless against cultivators above the tenth level of Qi Refining.

Zhou Yuming calmly looked at the blue-robed cultivator, raised his hands, still wearing the alchemy gloves, and waved them, saying, "Senior, these aren't ordinary alchemy gloves!"

Zhou Yuming had put a lot of thought into making these gloves. They contained several tiny poison sacs filled with Heart-Piercing Qi-Severing Powder, which could be activated with a small amount of magical power, causing it to seep out from the surface of the gloves.

Originally, it was his unique killing move for ambushing people when he was at a low level of Qi Refining. After entering the tenth level of Qi Refining, he had rarely used it. When he saw the book in the stone chamber, recalling the blue-robed cultivator's habitual gesture while reading, he had sought life in death by using it to set up a deadly trap, never expecting it to actually work.

The blue-robed cultivator clutched his heart with his right hand, his left hand trembling a few times before he fell to the ground, defeated.

Zhou Yuming didn't immediately approach. Instead, he picked up a large rock and smashed the blue-robed cultivator's head into a pulp from a distance before slowly approaching to take the cultivator's storage bag.

Opening it, he found the leather book from earlier, along with the silver flying sword and red chain the blue-robed cultivator had used to kill the Flying Spirit Hound. There was also a disc-shaped magical artifact, a dozen low-level talismans, seven or eight bottles of pills, over four hundred low-grade spirit stones, and some spiritual materials.

In addition, there was a black iron牌 (pái, plaque), with the words "天魔 (Tiān mó, Demonic Sky)" written on the front and "Twenty-seven" on the back.

Zhou Yuming was shocked: He was a cultivator from the Demonic Sky Abyss! He had been lurking here for twenty years, just to find that secret? The significance of this matter far exceeded his expectations. But he wasn't afraid; instead, he was filled with excitement.

He quickly disposed of the blue-robed cultivator's body and went to the lake to erase the traces of the Flying Spirit Hound's corpse and bloodstains.

Afterward, he returned to the stone chamber and filled the southwest corner of the ceiling with large stones, covering it with mud. Then, he reapplied a layer of stone powder to the four walls, ceiling, and floor of the chamber. Although there would be obvious signs of human intervention, the secret chamber above would not be easily discovered.