Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

Chapter 168 - 174: Speculation

The murderous aura of these devil beasts made Li Zhirui instantly change his original plan to tell the truth. After all, he was not a cultivator from the Great Void Province, so the situation here had nothing to do with him.

Li Zhirui forced himself to remain calm and, with a stroke of luck, approached the cultivatorsʼ side to undergo the Profound Ice Sectʼs inspection and a simple interrogation.

”Bring out your storage bag and also talk about what you encountered in the secret realm,” a Golden Core cultivator, holding a Treasure Mirror, asked with an indifferent expression.

Li Zhirui complied and took off the two storage bags from his waist; most of his gains were in his space anyway. He had even put some of his originally good items into it. Now, the spiritual objects in his storage bag were just some common second-tier spiritual objects.

The Golden Core cultivator shone the Treasure Mirror on the storage bag, and slowly, the mirrorʼs chaotic surface cleared up, revealing the contents inside.

Li Zhirui felt a slight shock in his heart, never having seen such a magical treasure capable of seeing through a storage bag. He was somewhat worried whether his internal space would be exposed by the mirror.

”Iʼm asking you a question!” Seeing that Li Zhirui had not spoken for some time, the Golden Core cultivator impatiently snapped at him with a cold shout.

Li Zhirui shivered and hastily gave a detailed reply, ”After entering the secret realm, I found myself in a mountain forest. Since it was a third-tier devil beastʼs territory, I didnʼt encounter any danger. But I knew it wasnʼt safe to stay long...”

”Cut the crap, get straight to the point!” the Golden Core snapped impatiently.

Li Zhiruiʼs voice came to an abrupt stop as he bowed his head, pretending to be deep in thought. In reality, he didnʼt want anyone to see the expressions on his face, lest he give away any clue.

As the Golden Core cultivator was becoming impatient, Li Zhirui finally said, ”I once saw a Golden Core cultivator fighting a third-tier devil beast, apparently over a spiritual object called the Tri-Light Pure Spirit Flower, but since it was too dangerous, I didnʼt dare to get close and immediately turned to flee.”

The Tri-Light Pure Spirit Flower Li Zhirui mentioned was an extremely precious fourth-tier Spiritual Medicine, which he had seen mentioned in the Medicine Kingʼs Pill Scripture. It was said to be able to ʼwashʼ away a Spiritual Root, although it had not been seen in the world for thousands of years.

With his current status as a loose cultivator, it was unlikely that he would have known beforehand about the Tri-Light Pure Spirit Flower, a spiritual medicine that had long ceased to be known to the world.

”Are you sure you didnʼt mishear?!” the Golden Core cultivator asked somewhat excitedly.

No wonder, for such a precious spiritual object, not just Golden Core cultivators but even Nascent Soul cultivators would be tempted.

”I definitely didnʼt mishear!” Li Zhirui confirmed, nodding, and explained, ”The voice of that senior was very loud, as if he wanted to attract nearby cultivators to help.”

Old Man Bai, who had been silent so far, said, ”Just leave here the location you were at, and you can go.”

He had found it strange before, why a devil beast would come out shortly after the opening of the secret realm, and a few hours later, they had sent quite a few more third-tier devil beasts in.

At that time, because his side was weaker and considering the devil race originally had fewer numbers, and a few more would not matter, Old Man Bai didnʼt say much.

But now it seemed likely that the cause was the appearance of the Tri-Light Pure Spirit Flower, a precious spiritual object that could be called a treasure of heaven and earth, inside the secret realm.

Regret surfaced in his heart for a moment; however, by now, the ownership of that spiritual object had probably been settled, and sending more Golden Core cultivators would be of no use.

The reason for asking Li Zhirui for the location was just a slim hope that what the devil beasts were after wasnʼt the Tri-Light Pure Spirit Flower.

”Yes!” Li Zhirui respectfully answered.

Half a quarter of an hour later, Li Zhirui sketched out the location of the Golden Ganoderma he had found and handed over the Jade Slip to the Golden Core cultivator in front of him before flying towards the Taixu Market.

As for the previous agreement to hand over seventy percent of the harvest to the Profound Ice Sect, it was waived thanks to the good news he brought.

The loose cultivators who had not entered the Secret Realm were waiting for just such a moment; quite a few quietly left the crowd and chased after Li Zhirui.

Although they could not hear the conversation between Li Zhirui and the Golden Core cultivator, they could see that Li Zhirui had only handed over a single Jade Slip and no other spiritual objects, which attracted quite a number of loose cultivators.

On the side of the Devil Race, at the indication of Zi Jing, they dispatched a third-order Devil Beast.

Judging by Old Man Bai and his companionsʼ excited and joyful, rather than angry, reactions, Zi Jing felt somewhat relieved. Their plot likely hadnʼt been leaked, but he didnʼt rule out the possibility of their adept acting.

Therefore, to truly be at ease, he needed to capture Li Zhirui and, whether through soul searching or severe torture, find out the content of their conversation.

Old Man Bai and the others turned a blind eye to this. Being just a loose cultivator, whether he lived or died had no relation to them.

And this was one of the reasons Li Zhirui was reluctant to reveal the truth—he was quite familiar with the methods of the Sect.

As he hurried away from the Secret Realm, Li Zhirui was well aware of how many pursuers were behind him. He initially wanted to summon Xiaoqing; with its help, he could easily shake off these cultivators.

But a rapidly encroaching pressure made him activate the Earth Escape Talisman without hesitation, and after the Spirit Talisman lost its effect, he immediately hid in the spatial realm.

The Devil Beastʼs expression changed slightly; it hadnʼt expected this human to possess an Earth Escape Talisman! It turned around and hurried back to report.

The reason Earth Escape Talismans were known as life-saving talismans was that they left no trace upon use. Unless one employed secret tracking techniques, even Golden Core cultivators would find it very difficult to locate the user.

The loose cultivators who had been tracking Li Zhirui, upon seeing the third-order Devil Beast leave without hesitation, finally let down their guard and returned to the vicinity of the Secret Realm, each feeling relieved.

”Forget it, if he canʼt be found, so be it,” Zi Jing frowned upon receiving the news but eventually shook his head and gave up searching for Li Zhirui.

After all, underground, divine sense was greatly hindered, and the range was far less extensive than on the surface; searching was too exhausting.

Meanwhile, Li Zhirui was leisurely waiting in the spatial realm, planning to wait a while before digging his way out from underground.

It was also at this time that he finally had the opportunity to seriously ponder why the Devil Race wanted to slaughter the cultivators in the Secret Realm.

”For various spiritual objects in the Secret Realm?” Li Zhirui felt this was the guess closest to the answer.

After all, riches and treasures can move hearts, and perhaps there really was an extremely precious spiritual object like the Tri-Light Pure Spirit Flower he had mentioned in the Secret Realm.

Li Zhirui spent quite a while playing with Da Qing and Xiaoqing in the spatial realm, then checked on the various Spiritual Medicines there, and finally sat down cross-legged to breathe in spiritual energy and recover his mana, preparing to leave the space.

Meanwhile, near the exit of the Secret Realm, Lu Heming and others found themselves embroiled in a fierce battle!

The Devil Beasts that had been lurking suddenly revealed themselves after seeing Li Zhirui escape. Worried that he might leak information, they dared not show any mercy and decided to resolve the situation with the cultivators quickly, instantly showing their true forms.