bookbashuk Chapter 80 Ancient Cultivator's Cave
Chapter 80 Ancient Cultivator's Cave
When Liu Yu and her group of four gracefully landed on the dock, the gang members who were unloading the fish goods knelt down like wheat fields flattened by a strong wind.
"I am the steward of this town, and I respectfully welcome all the immortal masters!" Jackal greeted him with a fawning smile, trotting forward and bowing obsequiously.
The man surnamed He glanced at the dilapidated dock and secretly transmitted his voice to his junior brothers and sisters, saying, "It seems that the Demon Flame Sect is completely incompetent in governing this place. Rogue cultivators run rampant, causing this mortal world to become so desolate. It's a real waste that the Yuanwu Kingdom has fallen into their hands."
Liu Yu's lips curled into a barely perceptible smile as she replied telepathically, "The chaos in Yuanwu Kingdom is actually convenient for me."
She replied simply and then fixed her cold gaze on Jackal: "Bring the person in your town who is most familiar with the 'Dragon Spitting Pearl' phenomenon."
The voice was clear and crisp, but to Lord Jackal's ears it sounded like thunder. Lord Jackal immediately bowed and replied, "Please wait a moment, fellow immortals, I will go and fetch it right away!"
Jackal and his men rushed towards the low-rise houses in the west of the town. Lin Jingchu sensed them the moment they stepped into the alley.
Without hesitation, Lin Jingchu stopped the true fire. The medicinal liquid that was condensing was abruptly ruined due to the uncontrolled heat. He quietly spread his divine sense, which, like invisible ripples, quickly covered the entire town.
The next moment, he detected the auras of four cultivators from the direction of the dock.
"Liu Yu? Why are they here?" Sensing that one of the people in the group was at the late Foundation Establishment stage, Lin Jingchu immediately suppressed his spiritual fluctuations.
Fortunately, the late Foundation Establishment cultivator did not practice a divine sense-based technique, so his perception was not very sharp and he did not immediately notice the spying.
"Old Lin! Get out here now!" Jackal shouted from a great distance.
In the courtyard, the cousin put down the salted fish in his hand and was about to open the door when Lin Jingchu, who had appeared behind him at some point, pressed down on his shoulder.
"Brother, you and Jiang Yazi go back to the house first."
Although his cousin didn't understand, he immediately turned around and quickly followed Jiang Yazi back into the house.
Lin Jingchu's figure flickered, creating a clone that resembled Lin Jingfu. The clone changed into a tattered short brown robe, opened the door, and followed Jackal away.
"Old Lin, quickly pay your respects to the Immortal Master!" Jackal urged, while smiling obsequiously at Liu Yu and the others. "This old man has been making a living on the river since he was a child. He has been catching snow-scaled perch for more than ten years and is the most knowledgeable about 'Dragon Spitting Pearls' in town."
Liu Yu glanced at "Lin Jingfu" and then conjured up a beautifully patterned blue carpet-shaped magic artifact, which hovered in mid-air.
She said calmly to the mortal fisherman in front of her, whose expression was "terrified," "Do you know the exact location of the source of the 'Dragon Spitting Pearl'? Lead us to it, and there will be a reward."
[Task Discovered]
【Mission Name: Searching the Riverbed】
[Posted by: Liu Yu (Favorability: Indifferent)]
【任务描述：带领柳玉探索蟠龙江「龙吐珠」异象源头，寻找到古修洞府{地图：目标点1、目标点2、目标点3、目标点4、目标点5}】
[Quest Reward: Spirit Control Sect Secret Technique "Insect Control Technique"]
Lin Jingfu trembled and nodded repeatedly.
Upon seeing this, Liu Yu immediately grabbed his arm and carried him onto the flying carpet. The other three also summoned their flying swords, jade shuttles, and other magical artifacts.
The group transformed into streaks of light and left the dock, flying towards the center of the river.
About half a cup of tea's time after they left, a blue flying boat quietly rose from behind the dilapidated houses in the west of the town and sped towards the mountains.
The boat traveled more than ten miles before landing on a mountain path in a hilly area.
Besides Lin Jingchu, who was piloting the boat, there were also his cousin and his son on board.
"Things are probably going to get a bit turbulent here for a while. You should leave now and lay low for a bit," Lin Jingchu instructed his cousin, then turned to the boy.
"Keep your storage bag safe. Inside are not only magical artifacts and pills, but also some introductory texts on various cultivation techniques. Remember, the cultivation world is not a benevolent place. From now on, you must be careful in everything you do."
The dark-skinned boy nodded emphatically.
Lin Jingchu did not reveal his origins. The journey to Luoyun Sect was too far for his nephew, who had just embarked on the path of immortality, and revealing it would only cause him unnecessary trouble.
He only said one last thing: "Until we meet again."
Having said that, the green boat soared into the air, transforming into a streak of green light and disappearing into the horizon.
……
The river stretches for hundreds of miles, its surface shrouded in mist and waves, seemingly endless.
"This... is the source of the third anomaly." Lin Jingchu shrank back and pointed to the murky river water below, which looked no different from anywhere else.
The man surnamed He said, "Junior Sister Liu, you should stay upstairs with this mortal and wait. Junior Brother Xu, Junior Sister Zhang, come down with me."
Liu Yu nodded. The man surnamed He and the young couple exchanged a glance, and at the same time, protective spiritual light shone on all three of them. Then, with several "plop" sounds, they disappeared into the surging river like fish entering water.
On the river, only Liu Yu and Lin Jingchu remained standing on the flying carpet. One looked calm, gazing at the river; the other was filled with fear, huddled in a corner of the flying carpet.
A gentle river breeze swept by, ruffling her willow-like skirt and a few strands of hair by her cheek. Her delicate face was solemn as she probed the surging river below with her divine sense, closely monitoring her senior brothers' actions.
After diving to the bottom of the river, the three men did not delay and quickly formed the Three Talents Formation. The man surnamed He flipped his hand and produced a crystal pearl the size of a human head, which was suspended in the center of the formation.
As the three performed hand seals and incantations, the precious pearl shone brightly with blue light, and a visible shockwave swept out rapidly in all directions from its center!
It was as if a huge rock had been thrown into the water, causing fish and shrimp within a radius of a hundred feet to flee in panic, and stirring up the silt and gravel at the bottom of the river.
The tremors came one after another, growing ever more intense, causing the river water to surge violently, with waves reaching two or three zhang high, producing a muffled rumbling sound.
Seeing this earth-shattering momentum, Liu Yu's expression turned solemn, and her aura unconsciously tightened.
Lin Jingchu, standing behind her, looked terrified, slumped on the flying carpet, her face deathly pale and her teeth chattering.
Just as the underwater oscillations reached a certain critical point—
Boom!
Suddenly, a complex and profound array of light patterns lit up the rock strata at the bottom of the river beneath the pearl! At the same time, an extremely cold aura surged out from the center of the array, and the surrounding river water began to freeze rapidly!
"Found it!" Liu Yu's beautiful eyes suddenly lit up with surprise. She patted her storage bag, and a small sampan flew out and landed on the turbulent river.
She turned around, grabbed the terrified fisherman behind her, lifted him up without a word, and threw him onto the small sampan: "Paddle back yourself. When we return, there will be a generous reward."
After saying that, Liu Yu hurriedly put away the flying carpet, her figure transforming into a white streak, and plunged into the surging, icy river.
The river grew increasingly turbulent, and whirlpools began to appear. Lin Jingchu frantically rowed the small sampan, propelled downstream by the swift current.
Sensing the small sampan had gone far away from the bottom of the river, Liu Yu withdrew her divine sense.
"Junior Sister Liu, I say, if you're worried, just finish off that mortal directly. Why go through all this trouble?" The woman surnamed Zhang, with a face like a peach blossom, spoke mockingly.
The man surnamed He's expression turned serious: "Alright, quickly go in and shut down the restrictions to eliminate this vortex phenomenon. Otherwise, it will attract passing rogue cultivators, causing more trouble. We finally found this ancient cultivator's cave; we can't afford to lose it all."
The rock layer where the magic array was located had now cracked open with a narrow, long fissure, the fissure deep and dark as if leading to a bottomless abyss.
With a wave of his hand, the man surnamed He sent the four of them, braving the biting cold, into the crevice one after another.
They were completely unaware that a faint, almost imperceptible ripple of water followed closely behind, silently slipping in.
It was Lin Jingchu who used the "Hidden Concealment Technique" to hide his form.
He felt the crevice in the rock behind him slowly closing, thinking to himself: Luckily, we have enough tricks up our sleeves, otherwise it would have been really difficult to sneak in. He never expected that this Panlong River, besides the secret realm searched by the Demon Flame Sect, would also hide another ancient cultivation treasure.
As the gap completely closed, the whirlpool that had suddenly appeared on the river surface gradually subsided and disappeared.
call out!call out!
With a whooshing sound, several crimson figures, riding magical artifacts, flew over the river surface that had just returned to calm.
The leader, an ugly-looking man, casually pointed out five fellow disciples.
"Those people from the Spirit Control Sect must have pulled something. You five, come with me to find out!"
He then looked at the last disciple, "You stay here and keep watch over the young master at any time."
Having said that, he didn't hesitate any longer and plunged into the river below, followed closely by the five disciples of the Demon Flame Sect.