txolops Chapter 133: Taking inventory of valuable treasures and intercepting them in the wilderness
Chapter 133: Taking inventory of valuable treasures and intercepting them in the wilderness
The night is vast and dark, and the ancient road is swept by the west wind.
After leaving the territory of the Liuyun Sect, the mountain gradually became flat.
As spring departs, the grass and trees along the official road turn withered and yellow. The cold wind whips up the sand and fallen leaves on the ground, making them swirl in the air before helplessly falling into the darkness.
Gu Yanxing has acted in this way.
He was wearing a large gray hooded cloak that completely covered his inner sect Daoist robe from the Flowing Cloud Sect.
The hood on his head was pulled down low, revealing only half of his sharply defined chin.
After traveling a hundred miles, a dilapidated mountain god temple came into view.
Most of the roof tiles had collapsed, and half of the wooden door creaked in the wind.
Gu Yan stopped and his divine sense spread outwards like ripples on water, carefully searching the inside and outside of the mountain god temple three times.
After confirming that there were no other living creatures inside besides a few panicked rats and dust all over the floor, he slipped inside.
Gu Yan slammed the broken door shut with his backhand. Without pausing, his hands flew swiftly within the wide sleeves of his robe.
A dozen or so grayish-brown paper figures, each about the size of a copper coin, silently scattered. Upon landing, they quickly changed color, blending into the surrounding soil, withered grass, and pebbles, lurking in every nook and cranny around the temple.
At the slightest disturbance, these paper figures would turn to ashes immediately, serving as a warning to him.
After doing all this, Gu Yan walked to a sheltered corner behind the altar and sat down cross-legged.
He exhaled a long breath, finally finding brief respite from the tension that had gripped him all day.
"In this damned world of cultivation, acting in a play is more tiring than fighting a real person."
Gu Yan rubbed his stiff cheeks, his lips curving into an uncontrollable, wild smile.
The greater the risk, the greater the reward.
This statement is practically an irrefutable truth in the world of cultivation.
Now, it's his moment of revelry all to himself.
Gu Yan rubbed his hands together, like a nouveau riche about to tally his year's harvest, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
He untied several storage bags from his waist and placed them in a row on the haystack in front of him.
First, there's the storage bag of those few cultivators at Sunset Valley Pass.
Gu Yan casually wiped away the restriction on it and poured out everything inside.
"Splash!"
A crisp clanging sound rang out, and the dim mountain god temple was illuminated by colorful spiritual light.
"Wow, these bastards are rolling in money."
Gu Yan's eyes lit up.
The scarred-face man and the sinister young man from the Seven Star Pavilion were indeed wealthy. They had more than 800 mid-grade spirit stones, and their low-grade spirit stones were piled up into a small mountain, totaling more than 10,000.
In addition, there were several bottles of regular healing and energy-restoring pills, as well as three defensive magical artifacts of fairly good quality.
Without any hesitation, Gu Yan categorized these items and packed them into his spare storage bag.
Spirit stones are hard currency. Keep the magical artifacts and sell them on the black market later; you can definitely get a large amount of resources for them.
Then, he took out the exquisite storage bag that Ye Gucheng had given him as a gift.
One thousand neatly cut, mid-grade spirit stones brimming with spiritual energy, and a white jade medicine bottle containing a third-grade spirit-restoring pill.
Gu Yan looked at the spirit stones and sighed inwardly.
The head of a prestigious sect is incredibly generous; the pocket money he casually gives is equivalent to decades of funding from the Demon Suppression Division of Changning County.
After carefully storing away these ordinary assets, Gu Yan's expression turned serious.
He took a deep breath and pulled out the jade box, which exuded an ancient aura, from the closest place in his bosom.
The surface of the jade box was covered with fine cracks, the result of being forcibly broken through by internal forces.
Gu Yan dared not open it easily, but instead observed it through the special perception of the paper world.
Inside the jade box, the withered, black severed finger lay quietly.
The space around the severed finger exhibited a strange sense of distortion, with wisps of faint, almost imperceptible power of the Nascent Soul realm rules attempting to penetrate the jade box's seal.
This was his greatest gain in Sunset Valley, and also his most fatal blow.
Gu Yan bit his fingertip, using his blood as ink, and quickly drew more than a dozen sealing runes in the void, imbued with the deceptive and heaven-defying characteristics of the paper-making technique.
He patted the runes onto the jade box layer by layer until the cracks on the surface of the jade box were completely covered and the heart-wrenching sense of distortion gradually disappeared. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
This thing cannot be touched for the time being; it can only be kept hidden as a last resort, a desperate measure to avoid mutual destruction.
Just then, the soil beneath Gu Yan's feet suddenly loosened with an extremely subtle movement.
His expression remained unchanged. He didn't reach for the weapon beside him, but simply watched the changes on the ground.
With a soft "poof" sound.
A paper figure, no bigger than a mouse, made entirely of folded dark red talisman paper, emerged from the ground.
The paper mouse shook off the dirt, skillfully climbed into Gu Yan's palm, opened its mouth, and spat out a storage ring with an antique design and inlaid with rubies.
After performing this action, the paper mouse spontaneously combusted with a "boom," turning into a wisp of smoke and dissipating into the air without leaving any trace of cause or effect.
Gu Yan picked up the storage ring, unable to hide the smile on his lips.
This is his clone, the spoils of war passed down by the Blood Swordsman.
The wealth accumulated by Zhao Lingfeng, the son of the Grand Elder of the Liuyun Sect.
"The Grand Elder's darling, let me see just how fat you really are."
Gu Yan's divine sense forcefully invaded the ring, easily crushing the faint remaining marks on it.
Upon seeing the internal space of the ring, Gu Yan couldn't help but gasp.
The space was extremely large, measuring several tens of feet square.
Inside were boxes of mid-grade spirit stones, roughly estimated to be no less than three thousand.
There were even dozens of high-grade spirit stones that radiated a dazzling light.
The cultivation manuals, various rare minerals, and top-grade talismans were neatly arranged on the jade shelves.
This is just the storage bag Zhao Lingfeng carries with him. If we could get our hands on the one from his cave, who knows how many we could have!
After a moment of excitement, Gu Yan put these things away, suppressed his rapid breathing, and opened his other storage bag.
In the corner of this storage bag, a transparent glass dome floats silently.
Inside the glass dome, a fist-sized, crimson fruit radiating astonishing heat and a unique fragrance was slowly beating like a heart.
This is the third-tier top-grade spiritual medicine, the Crimson Flame Fruit.
The treasure that Zhao Lingfeng risked his life to seize, even at the cost of killing his fellow disciples, is now lying quietly in Gu Yan's palm.
"This is good stuff."
Gu Yan felt the surging medicinal power emanating from the Vermilion Fruit, and he felt that even his stagnant cultivation was beginning to loosen.
With this Crimson Flame Fruit and the vast resources he has accumulated, as long as he returns to Changning County and secludes himself for a period of time, breaking through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage is practically a certainty, and even reaching the late-Foundation Establishment stage will be a natural progression.
He said that he was now truly wealthy and powerful.
"Elder Zhao, you are such a kind person. You not only gave me spirit stones, but also divine medicine. Don't worry, my clone has already taken care of your son's funeral in a grand and glorious manner."
Gu Yan silently gave Zhao Wuji a "good guy" card in his mind, then quickly repacked all his things and hid them close to his body.
The principle of not flaunting wealth applies everywhere.
Judging by the time, it's almost dawn. If we travel for another two days, we'll be back in Changning County.
Just as Gu Yan was about to get up and continue his journey.
A warning paper figure on the left side of the altar suddenly turned into ashes without warning.
There was no fluctuation of spiritual energy, no sound, as if it had been naturally weathered away.
But Gu Yan's gaze, in that instant, became unfathomable.
Someone is coming.
Moreover, he is a ruthless character who is proficient in concealment and whose strength far surpasses that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Gu Yan did not get up, nor did he change the frequency of his breathing. He simply slipped the two paper talismans into his sleeve in a very discreet manner.
"Shh shh shh".
A very faint sound of footsteps echoed outside the dilapidated temple.
Immediately afterwards, the already rickety half of the wooden door was pushed open by an invisible force and fell to the ground.
A cold wind, carrying the chill of the early morning, swept into the temple.
Standing at the entrance was a middle-aged man dressed in gray, with an ordinary face that would be impossible to spot in a crowd.
He held no weapon, his hands were behind his back, and his emotionless, dead fish eyes were fixed on Gu Yan, who was huddled in the corner.
"The peak of the late foundation building stage."
When Gu Yan saw the other party's cultivation level, he already knew the answer in his heart.
This is definitely not some random bandit leader passing by.
A robbery for wealth would never involve such well-trained, deadly assassins heading straight for their target.
Based on what happened in the Flowing Cloud Hall during the day, this person's identity is obvious.
That old dog Zhao Wuji couldn't swallow his anger after all, so he sent someone to silence him.
"This senior..."
Gu Yan immediately put on a terrified expression, his body trembling violently. He scrambled behind the altar, his voice trembling with sobs.
"Senior, spare my life! I'm just a poor soul who just escaped, and I don't have a single spirit stone on me! Please, senior, spare my life!"
Gu Yan gave a very dedicated performance, perfectly capturing the cowardice and humility of someone struggling on the edge of death.
The middle-aged man in gray looked at Gu Yan in this state, a deep contempt and mockery flashing in his eyes.
The Grand Elder actually ordered him to personally intercept and kill this kind of scum?
That's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
"If you have to blame someone, blame your bad luck for surviving Sunset Valley."
The man in gray, his voice hoarse, stopped talking.
He raised his right hand, his fingers forming a knife-like shape, and an extremely sharp metal-type spiritual power condensed at his fingertips, transforming into a golden ray that was half a zhang long.
Without any probing, the attack was a decisive blow.
The gray-clad man moved with the speed of a ghost, covering several meters in a flash, his golden light aimed straight for Gu Yan's throat.
Gu Yan seemed to be terrified, sitting there blankly, unable to even dodge, and could only watch helplessly as the golden light sliced open his neck.
"Pfft!"
A soft sound.
The golden light swept across Gu Yan's body without any obstruction.
There was no gushing blood, no screams.
The gray-clad man's previously indifferent gaze suddenly changed as he sensed something amiss with the sensation emanating from his fingertips.
It didn't feel like cutting through flesh and blood at all; it felt like cutting through a thick stack of waste paper!
The terrified "Gu Yan" in front of them turned into countless pieces of paper the moment he was cut open, scattering all over the ground with a clatter.
That's a paper puppet!
"not good!"
The man in gray, a seasoned assassin, reacted extremely quickly.
Without pausing for a moment, he forcefully twisted his waist, his protective aura erupting instantly, and he was about to retreat violently outwards.
However, it was too late.
"Senior, in your next life, remember to check behind you before you kill someone."
A warm, yet chilling voice suddenly rang in the gray-clad man's ears.
Before anyone knew it, Gu Yan had become like a weightless shadow, clinging to the back of the man in gray.
In an instant, his narrowed eyes revealed only an extremely cold-blooded killing intent.
His left index finger swiftly traced lines in the air, and a transparent killing talisman silently burned.
At the same time, the broken sword he had pulled from the underground palace silently appeared in his right hand.
This broken sword is tainted with the evil aura of a Nascent Soul cultivator, making it incomparably sharp and specifically designed to break through protective qi.
The golden aura protecting the gray-clad man was like fragile tofu, easily broken through in front of the broken sword.
"Sizzle!"
The sword pierced through the back of the neck and emerged from the throat.
The gray-clad man's eyes bulged out suddenly, staring intently ahead, his hands frantically clawing at the air, a gurgling sound emanating from his throat.
He couldn't understand how someone with only the early Foundation Establishment stage, who had survived by sheer luck and possessed only five spiritual roots, could have such bizarre movement techniques and such ruthless killing skills.
Gu Yan gripped the sword hilt and twisted his wrist slightly.
The violent baleful aura instantly destroyed the gray-clad man's life force.
He drew his broken sword and let the gray-clad man's corpse fall limply onto the stone slabs of the dilapidated temple.
The entire battle lasted less than three breaths.
There were no earth-shattering magical clashes, no dazzling sword strikes.
Only extreme scheming and ruthless, deadly attacks.
"Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit; if you don't even understand this principle, you deserve to die."
Gu Yan snorted coldly, took out a rag, wiped the bloodstains off the broken sword, and put it away again.
He crouched down and skillfully pulled off the storage bag from the gray-clad man's waist.
A quick scan with his divine sense revealed only a few hundred spirit stones inside, not even a decent magic weapon; it was truly pitifully poor.
In the gray-clad man's inner garment, Gu Yan found a black token that was neither gold nor jade.
The token has a large character "Zhao" engraved on the front.
"As expected, it's that vicious dog raised by that old dog Zhao."
Gu Yan crushed the token into powder, having no intention of leaving behind a corpse.
Gu Yan took out a black porcelain bottle from his storage bag, uncorked it, and dripped a few drops of the pungent, foul-smelling corpse-dissolving liquid onto the gray-clad man's body.
With a hissing sound of corrosion, the gray-clad man's corpse and the bloodstains on the ground gradually turned into a pool of foul-smelling yellow water in just a dozen breaths, eventually seeping into the soil without leaving any trace.
When it comes to destroying evidence, Gu Yan is always a professional.
He stood up, walked to the entrance of the dilapidated temple, and stretched lazily in the rising sun.
The distant mountains revealed their blurry outlines in the morning light; further ahead lay the territory of Changning County.
Having narrowly escaped death in Sunset Valley and then easily dealt with Zhao Wuji's tail, Gu Yan felt that the air was exceptionally fresh.
"Elder Zhao, I'll accept the person on your behalf as a token of my gratitude for your son's gift of that Vermilion Fruit."
Gu Yan pulled up his hood, hiding his harmless face in the shadows.
He stepped out of the dilapidated temple, his figure seemingly disappearing into the morning mist, and strode along the official road toward Changning County.