Mortal Mage

Hao Fenting stood up, shook her head to straighten her messy hair. She was wearing a transparent gauze petticoat with some wrinkles.

"Knock, knock, knock" the stone door suddenly made a sound.

"Who?"

Zhang Mingxuan asked loudly, grabbed the green robe beside him, put it on hurriedly, shrugged his shoulders and shook his body to make the hem of the robe straight, pulled up his pants, tightened his belt, and walked towards the cave entrance.

Haofen followed Zhang Mingxuan with light steps. Her gauze petticoat floated down her body like snowflakes, like a bathing fairy taking off her dress.

Shiny, clean, crystal body, glowing.

She leaned back and raised her beautiful chest. Then a white mist appeared from her body and she turned into a white fox and jumped onto Zhang Mingxuan's shoulder.

"Junior Brother Zhang, it's me, Yu Shitao."

A rumbling sound was heard, and the stone door at the cave entrance opened.

"Brother Yu."

Zhang Mingxuan raised his hand and saluted.

According to the rules of Xuantian Sword Sect, patrollers must patrol the mountains at least twice a year.

There are many types of mountain patrol jobs, and Zhang Mingxuan belongs to the job of patrolling against monsters.

It would take at least several decades for an ordinary wild beast to absorb spiritual energy and evolve into a demon beast, so patrolling the mountains twice a year was considered frequent.

"Junior Brother Zhang, I thought you were going to stay in seclusion for ten or eight years and not patrol the mountains."

"I forgot about time during my practice. I hope Senior Brother Yu will forgive me."

"It's okay, it's okay. It's my habit to patrol the mountains alone every year. I called you to fulfill my sect's obligation. If we encounter a rat demon and obtain the demon pill, it will be a considerable income for the sect. If I make you miss the opportunity, I'm afraid you will blame me for taking the demon pill all for myself." Yu Shitao said angrily and then laughed apologetically.

"Oh? In that case, Senior Brother Yu can patrol the mountain on his own. To be honest, I am not interested in demon pills."

After Zhang Mingxuan finished speaking, he wanted to close the cave door.

There is only one thing on his mind now, the immortal-grade foundation-building pill.

"Junior brother, junior brother." Yu Shitao blocked the cave door with his foot and said with a smile, "To be honest, junior brother, I was patrolling the back mountain last year and found a second-level rat demon. I might get hurt if I deal with it alone. Junior brother, please help me. You don't need to fight in front of me, just harass from a distance. If you succeed, I will sell the demon pills and I will take 70% and you will take 30%. Is that okay?"

"Don't go."

Zhang Mingxuan shook his head and curled his lips.

He is in the Qi Refining Stage, fighting a monster, and a second-level monster at that?

I'm afraid that Yu Shitao is already in the late stage of foundation building. I'm at least three major realms behind him.

Three great realms.

It’s a second-level monster, and he would just be asking for death if he goes there.

If he was with Haofen and he was a cheerleader for Haofen, that would be fine.

But Haofen’s cultivation must not be exposed. Once coveted by senior cultivators, he will be in trouble.

"I'll take 6 and you take 4! But you have to help me out a little more to prevent me from getting hurt."

"Don't go..."

Zhang Mingxuan used all his strength to try to close the stone door.

"It's fifty-fifty between you and me! Junior brother, I'll still fight in the front, is that okay?"

Yu Shitao blocked the cave entrance tightly. He felt that Zhang Mingxuan did not seem to use all his strength to close the stone door, so there should be some talk.

"I really don't want to go, Senior Brother."

"Junior brother!"

Yu Shitao opened the stone door with a loud bang and said happily, "Junior brother, I will be four and you will be five. I will fight in the front, so there can't be any fewer."

"..."

Zhang Mingxuan's heart was filled with the turmoil of a thousand horses.

"Master, rest assured. If it is a second-level monster, I can kill it with one move."

The white fox licked Zhang Mingxuan's ear and transmitted the message.

"Then... let's do it."

Zhang Mingxuan agreed reluctantly.

If I delay any further, I'm afraid Yu Shitao will use his spiritual sense to investigate my cultivation level.

Just in case, he secretly took out the Lingxi Gourd and hid it in front of his chest.

Shi Manman's storage bag was on his chest, containing Shi Manman's magic weapons.

On his finger was the storage ring of Xiyun, which contained 91,000 medium-grade spirit stones, Canglang's jade slips of martial arts techniques, and magic weapons.

Yu Shitao flew into the air on his sword, and Zhang Mingxuan followed closely behind on a flying beast.

"Junior Brother Zhang likes riding birds?"

"Yeah, I'm used to riding it."

Without the help of Qingling Yuanying, Zhang Mingxuan could no longer fly on his sword. He did not want to start a conversation about mounts because it would involve Cuiyun, so he changed the subject and asked, "Brother, how many spiritual veins does our sect have?"

"Our sect owns the only top-grade spiritual vein in the Xuantian Mountains."

"Only one high-quality spiritual vein? Why not buy more?"

"Buy spiritual veins? Junior brother, you are kidding. Spiritual veins are formed naturally in the depths of mountains, beside lakes, or in ancient forests when the interface was first opened. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth permeated. They cannot be shaken at all. How can you talk about buying them?"

When Zhang Mingxuan heard this, many thoughts flashed through his mind.

He had seen the spirit vein, which was a worm-like thing.

He had been to Chenfeng Sword Sect, which also possessed two top-grade spiritual veins. However, compared with Xuantian Sword Sect, which had only one top-grade spiritual vein, the spiritual energy of Chenfeng Sword Sect was like a thin morning mist, while the spiritual energy of Xuantian Sword Sect was like a thick fog that enveloped the entire sect.

"I'm afraid what you're talking about is the spirit vein worm, right?"

Yu Shitao frowned in thought and murmured, "Some insects with special talents are nourished by spiritual veins and gradually develop the habit of eating spiritual stones. Over time, their bodies are full of spiritual energy. If you put this insect in an ordinary mountain, it will eat ordinary stones, and the stones it pulls out are spiritual stones. This insect can pull out as many spiritual stones as it eats, but it is not a spiritual vein. It is called a "spiritual vein worm."

"This kind of spirit vein worm is generally used by some large sects to maintain the large formations in special places. Some sects' secret realm formations require hundreds of millions of spirit stones to maintain. If all spirit stones are used, no matter how many storage magic treasures are used, they will not be able to hold them. So some people thought of using spirit vein worms to replace spirit stones. Of course, this spirit vein worm has other uses. I heard that if you put spirit vein worms in some storage magic treasures with larger spaces, and then lay out mountains and lakes in the magic treasures, the magic treasures will naturally form a controllable self-circulating space. If you put monsters in it, then after thousands of years, there will be an inexhaustible supply of monster pills in it."

As Yu Shitao spoke, he thought of his own situation.

He was just a menial disciple, and in order to exchange a demon pill for a few spirit stones, every step he took was a matter of life and death, so he had to be extremely cautious at all times.

Some people always use space magic weapons and spirit vein worms.

Complex emotions surged in his heart: anger, jealousy, and helplessness.

There is also a deep sense of powerlessness.

This time, he had to fight in the front to kill the second-level rat demon. He also thought that the second-level demon pills would be deducted by the outer sect disciples, and he would only get a meager hundred or so spirit stones in the end. This gap made him look confused. "I heard that the worst low-grade spirit vein worms cost millions of high-grade spirit stones." Yu Shitao said helplessly. "Junior brother, let's think about how to get rid of the rat demon."

Zhang Mingxuan had doubts when he heard this.

If the spiritual veins of Canglang and Cuiyun can only be regarded as spiritual vein worms, then who planted the spiritual vein worms? And why?

Thinking of this, his mind gradually became clearer.

An existence beyond his cognition was "planting" something in Cuiyun.

It is not only for obtaining demon pills from demon beasts, but also for "breeding" humans and selecting high-quality spiritual roots for the sect.

As he reasoned to this point, he felt a chill down his spine.

Canglang has all kinds of spiritual roots.

If Canglang no longer produces high-purity spiritual roots, the Canglang Realm will be abandoned.

But obviously this is not the case in Canglang Realm.

Because there are too many jade slips of martial arts techniques, immortal swords and magic weapons among the people of Canglang.

It is almost something that only a super sect that transcends all existence can possess.

At least for now, as far as he knew.

A low-grade martial arts book can be used to establish a gang.

A top-grade martial arts method can be used to establish a new school.

If a sect has 100,000 copies of immortal skills, what can it do?

He thought of the person in his jade slip of "Thirteen Guns of the Torrent" who claimed to be a disciple of Yuqing Sect, "Shisanxiang".

This Yuqing Gate has a direct relationship with Canglang.

"Brother, have you ever heard of a sect called Yuqing Sect?"

"Yuqing Sect? I don't know." Yu Shitao shook his head. "There are only five major sects in Luyang Continent, the Spirit Beast Sect, the Tianyan Sect, the Qingfeng Sect, the Xianxia Sect and our Xuantian Sword Sect. I have never heard of the Yuqing Sect among the top sects in the entire Daochu Realm."

Zhang Mingxuan remained calm.

He had made up his mind.

He was going to go to the Disciple Market outside to buy blank jade slips and decipher all the 100,000 jade slips in his hands.

Of course, right now we have to help Senior Brother Yu subdue the rat demon first.

At their feet, in the middle of two mountain ranges, there was an ancient city covered with overgrown weeds.

The city wall collapsed to varying degrees intermittently.

The city seemed to have experienced a catastrophe thousands of years ago. The roofs of the houses were broken and collapsed, and the vaguely recognizable roads were covered with half-human-high weeds.

The two landed on a landslide on the edge of the city wall. Yu Shitao pointed at the ground and said, "Junior Brother Zhang, there are countless deserted cities like this in our sect. I heard that it was very lively here before." He sighed and said, "The world is unpredictable. We don't have many disciples in the Sword Sect, and we can't protect so many mortals. So we asked them to move away, and then use a large formation to trap the spiritual energy near the sect." He raised his hand to fly the sword, and the flying sword flew out of his hand with a "buzz" sound, and whizzed through the main street of the city, cutting a clear path in the blink of an eye; "Abundant spiritual energy nourishes monsters, and monsters harm mortals. There is nothing we can do."

As soon as he finished speaking, he jumped down and landed on the road. He turned around and waved to Zhang Mingxuan, motioning him to follow him, while explaining; "The last time I inspected this place was only half a year ago, and the weeds are growing really fast." As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and sucked the flying sword that was flying back.

Zhang Mingxuan told them that the flying beast was circling nearby and they should not go far away. Then he jumped up, landed behind Yu Shitao and followed him.

"Junior brother, the second-level rat demon was found in that area last time."

Yu Shitao raised his hand and pointed to a collapsed palace complex in front of him. Not only were there weeds growing above the complex, but there were even many trees growing there.

The white fox lay on Zhang Mingxuan's shoulder, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "Master, the aura of rat demons is unusually strong in this place, be careful."

Zhang Mingxuan looked solemn. He quickened his pace and followed Yu Shitao closely towards the collapsed palace building complex.

Yu Shitao showed an anxious expression and switched to voice transmission to communicate. "Low-level rat demons are extremely alert. Most of them are afraid of humans, but a small number will still take the initiative to attack. Junior brother, you should be careful."

"Squeak, squeak, squeak" the sounds of frightened rats came from the bushes on both sides of the two people, followed by "rustle" a large group of fist-sized rats crawling past their feet.

Zhang Mingxuan's body trembled, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly jumped away from the rats.

"Don't be alarmed, Junior Brother. These are just ordinary wild mice."

"Ah."

Zhang Mingxuan nodded in response after hearing this, and gradually calmed down.

This was his first time participating in hunting monsters, so he couldn't help but feel nervous.

He threw the Silver Moon Spear out of the ring and held it in his hand.

A series of "kicks and taps" sounds were heard in the grass.

"Master, a first-level rat demon is spying on us from behind the stone wall in the grass on the right."

"Let him handle it."

Zhang Mingxuan responded to Hao Fen through voice transmission, and his steps gradually shifted to the left side of Yu Shitao.

Yu Shitao had already noticed something was wrong, and he turned to the right with his sword in hand, saying in a voice transmission, "Junior brother, this is a first-level rat demon. Don't panic, you have learned it well." As he spoke, Yu Shitao threw out a low-grade spirit stone from the storage bag on his waist, and with a "ding-dong" sound, it hit the wall in the bushes, and he explained in a voice transmission, "Feel the spiritual power of the spirit stone."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Mingxuan secretly practiced Donghuazi's secret of longevity and used his skills to try to sense the spiritual power of the spirit stone in the grass.

Sure enough, the spiritual power of the spirit stone began to pulsate, as if it was absorbed by the rat demon.

At this moment, Yu Shitao jumped up with a flying sword in his hand and shouted with a smile, "Ha! ... Die!"

There was a "pop" sound of the skin being pierced, and then a stream of bright red blood spurted out in the grass.

Yu Shitao stood up from the bushes, his clothes and face were splattered with blood spots, he didn't care at all, and smiled proudly at Zhang Mingxuan; "How is it, junior brother? Easy, right?" He stepped on the grass and flew back to Zhang Mingxuan in three or five steps, holding a black demon pill and two little finger-sized rat teeth in his hands, showing off; "First-level rat demon pill, earth-type, one used to be worth more than 200 spirit stones, but now there are too many, so I can only sell it for a dozen spirit stones." He shook the demon pill in his hand and threw it to Zhang Mingxuan, then rubbed the two rat teeth in his hand, and then threw them to Zhang Mingxuan; "This was a good thing before. When setting up an array, using this to alienate the spiritual energy veins can increase the strength of the array, but the low-level rat teeth are probably only worth three or five spirit stones now."

Zhang Mingxuan held the Silver Moon Spear in his right hand and the Demon Pill Rat Fang in his left hand, and used his spiritual power to feel it.

There is very pure earth-attributed spiritual power in the demon pill.

He injected a trace of his own earth-attributed spiritual power into the rat's fang and found that his rough earth-attributed spiritual power became more refined after passing through the rat's fang.

In short, it can improve the accuracy of earth attribute spiritual power when setting up the formation.

However, perhaps because the rat teeth are of too low a grade, if used continuously they will wear out and reduce their accuracy, so they can only be used in emergencies.

It is similar to a 'pen' used to set up an array, and is a consumable item.

Zhang Mingxuan became interested.

The rat demon has the earth attribute, which is of great help to him in setting up the formation.

"Master, I feel movement under my feet. The aura of the rat demon is very strong. I may not be able to defeat Yu Shitao."

The white fox whispered.

Zhang Mingxuan became more cautious, but he also became interested in the second-level demon pill, so he reminded Yu Shitao, "Brother Yu, be careful, there may be something under your feet."

"Don't worry, Junior Brother. I come here twice a year and I'm very familiar with it. Just follow me closely."

Yu Shitao spoke calmly and confidently, not paying any attention to Zhang Mingxuan's reminder.

The two men restrained their breath and gradually approached a low wall outside the abandoned palace.

"There's a canal underneath, which is used for water flow in the city. I always gain a lot every time I go down there." Yu Shitao pointed to a square pit under his feet. Under the pit, one could see a long and narrow passage in the north and south directions. The water in the passage had dried up, but some puddles still remained.

"Master, the aura of the rat demon below is very unstable, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes visible and sometimes invisible." The white fox whispered to Zhang Mingxuan.

Zhang Mingxuan frowned and thought for a while, then asked the white fox through voice transmission: "Is it dangerous?"

"For slaves, the danger is manageable, but masters still need to be careful."

"Well, remind me anytime there's danger."

Zhang Mingxuan transmitted the message and opened his shirt. Haofen understood what was happening and climbed from his shoulder into his shirt, with only half of the white fox's head sticking out of his clothes.

In Yu Shitao's eyes, his fox demon was of 'first order' and of little use.

Zhang Mingxuan also couldn't let the fox demon's performance be too outrageous, it had to look like a first-level fox demon.

The two men jumped into the city's underground canal, concealed their breath, and moved forward carefully in the canal.

The light behind me was getting dimmer and dimmer, it was pitch black in front of me, and the shallow water under my feet was gradually getting deeper.