Chapter 134
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Chapter 134: Discovery While Mapping
During the time Li Hui was away from the Blood Phantasm Maze, more and more external teleportation points were discovered by everyone. The Bosa stage and Condense Essence Stage practitioners had already departed, and only a few Concentrating Spirit stage cultivators remained.
Qian Qiu Yue found this puzzling, saying, “The maze’s difficulty seems to have decreased. When I entered the maze a few years ago, it was very hard for Concentrating Spirit stage cultivators to survive.”
Implying that if Concentrating Spirit stage cultivators struggled to survive, then Spirit Motion stage practitioners would definitely be doomed.
Li Hui paid no mind to this and kept feeding the Yin-Yang Nine Heads spirit talismans. He used Blood Ignition Talismans, Exotic Blood Talismans, Spirit Sense Talismans, Brocade Talismans, Spirit Insight Talismans, and even the low-success-rate Sky Peeping Talismans, investing quite a bit, but the results were immediate.
The magical dragon eyes overlapped, and a map slowly unfolded in his mind, revealing countless tunnels crisscrossing like a complex network of veins.
Following this, Li Hui led the Yin-Yang Nine Heads to map out the tunnels. With the Control Poison Decree and treasure talismans for protection, they could traverse the Blood Phantasm Maze freely. Chef Zhao and Huo Qiniang’s main task was to follow the Young Master and sell the Cleansing Blood Talismans—at the very least ensuring a month of safety from the blood energy, even if they couldn’t completely eliminate it.
To obtain Cleansing Blood Talismans, they could exchange low-level artifacts or fragments of treasures, large quantities of low-level alchemy supplies, or even indistinguishable foreign items. If they had nothing to offer, they could just tag along!
Huo Qiniang had become the efficient steward, managing all affairs in an orderly manner.
In just five or six days, the team grew larger, and even capable cultivators who could trade for Cleansing Blood Talismans stopped exchanging. Chef Zhao slapped his thigh in frustration, exclaiming that business was impossible.
Everyone felt stronger together, without the worry of being eroded by blood energy, a significant improvement compared to the previous months.
Li Hui didn’t keep idle people around; he split the team into four groups.
The first group of practitioners went to excavate Corpse Mountain to find flammable items to burn the corpses, collecting anything that blood energy couldn’t erode. The second group consisted of the highest-ranked cultivators, tasked with guarding three supply drop points. Even if the amount of food dropped decreased each time, it was still better than nothing.
The third group, primarily made up of female cultivators, was responsible for sewing talisman flags, crafting tools, preparing food, and handling all the chores.
The fourth group followed Li Hui, and whenever they cleared an area, be it a tunnel or cave, they had to carve thumb-width grooves into the ground or walls and place talisman flags at certain spots.
Qian Qiu Yue followed closely behind, whether to observe Li Hui’s actions or to study him personally, appearing quite low-key.
After tirelessly working for more than half a month, they conquered twenty-eight supply drop points, with the number of subordinate practitioners reaching twenty thousand. Apart from the blood energy exclusion zones and monster-infested caves, they had explored as much as was discoverable.
Additionally, they found eight external teleportation arrays similar to the Chaos Caves; these were not yet activated. Li Hui led a group over to secure the maze rewards and quickly retreated. It was fine to teleport to the Blood Sea, but the Blood Phantasm Maze was fundamental; the spoils of the past few days had been quite satisfying.
When the practitioners learned they could teleport to the Blood Sea, which connected to small towns and markets on the Three Islands (of Heaven, Earth, and Man), three opinions arose. Some chose to wait, some immediately decided to form teams and venture forth, while others flatly refused to go to the Blood Sea.
Everyone had their own aspirations, and they couldn’t be forced into it! Those wanting to go to the Three Islands were mostly no weaklings; many were Concentrating Spirit stage and Spirit Motion mastery practitioners.
Before leaving, they proposed to Li Hui to exchange for blood talismans. Chef Zhao’s business immediately exploded; if it weren’t for the steadily increasing success rate and speed of talisman-making, he truly wouldn’t have been able to satisfy the demand.
Thus, within five or six days, a large number of practitioners departed, leaving behind the production army.
During this time, Li Hui discovered that using both the Exotic Blood Talismans and the Failing Blood Talismans simultaneously could throw a small number of monsters into chaos, even causing them to go mad and kill each other, while using Cleansing Blood Talismans would weaken them. At that point, placing a few Flowing Blood Talismans would make it seem easy to clear out the monsters guarding the teleportation arrays and specific caves.
In the following days, the blood energy in the Blood Phantasm Maze drastically decreased, the blood energy in the exclusion zones gradually vanished, and the corpse energy thinned under the guidance of the large talisman array, returning to the natural order of dust to dust.
Odd creatures like corpse moths began to shrink their activity range, revealing many areas that had been quiet for years. Huo Qiniang led cultivators to extract a large amount of Blood Jade and Blood Stones.
Li Hui scratched his head; he wasn’t a Demon Cultivator—what was he going to do with all these Blood Jades and Blood Stones?
Blood Jade was a construction material that only Demon Cultivators liked to use. Blood Stones were even lesser; they couldn’t even be used as building materials. However, they had a certain chance of yielding Blood Jade Miao Jade, which was worth a significant difference.
Should he throw them away? Huo Qiniang and her team had worked hard to extract them. Li Hui didn’t want to discourage everyone’s enthusiasm, as it was an act of gratitude, so he stored them in the Bamboo Box behind him.
All those Blood Jades and Blood Stones nearly burst the Bamboo Box.
At that moment, Chef Zhao suddenly ran over to report that a significant discovery had been made in Corpse Moth Valley, prompting Li Hui to rush over to investigate. Although the piecemeal efforts they made over several days had resulted in satisfactory returns, it was nowhere near the excitement of discovering the Clear Void Cup and the Cow Shock Stone.
It seemed that finding hidden treasures wasn’t easy; really good things were still in the hands of high-level practitioners.
When Li Hui arrived, a large circle of practitioners had gathered, all discussing fervently but not daring to step forward.
The order wasn’t bad, largely because just a few days prior, when they discovered the teleportation array and received maze rewards, a Concentrating Spirit stage practitioner had run off with a black iron box, opening it while fleeing. The result was predictable.
That practitioner had foolishly lost his life; murky qi swept through the air, while the demonic energy uncontained lingered for ages. When Li Hui saw the rewards of ten top-quality Blood Stones, ten medium-grade Miao Jade, ten top-tier artifacts, and ten bottles of six-pattern spirit pills, he felt no surprise.
This was his dear Oath-Bound Brother, the straightforward Qian Duohai, who had secretly withheld a significant portion of the rewards.
But it didn’t matter; the more he owed, the higher the interest. He only needed to find an opportunity to use the silver snake bracelet to create judgement system talismans, such as the Oath-Bound Recovery Talismans and the principal-plus-interest talismans. If he accidentally created a judgement talisman at the Treasure Level, then Qian Duohai would be the one to suffer!
Putting that matter aside, Li Hui entered the circle and saw two men buried halfway in the ground, their upper bodies positioned as if they were striking each other, about to shatter each other’s heart meridians. He had no idea what means they had employed to perish together so instantaneously, seemingly without having time to do anything.
This area had previously been a blood energy zone; both men not only had avoided blood energy corrosion but appeared incredibly vivid. There was not a hint of post-mortem rigidity; their skin was even elastic, which was quite impressive.
Given such a scene, it was no wonder everyone dared not approach. Li Hui was momentarily stunned, while Qian Qiu Yue walked slowly toward the two corpses, seemingly having been nearby the whole time, manifesting a ghostly presence that sent shivers down one’s spine.
Qian Qiu Yue circled around the bodies and turned back, saying, “Tell your people to leave quickly. If I’m not mistaken, they are true disciples of the Hongmo Sect, who had reached the Bosa realm in life. I don’t know what deep hatred they harbored between them, but they have perished here together. The Hongmo Sect has a habit of utilizing the corpses of their disciples. If they learn that these corpses are here, they will definitely come to investigate. I will do everything I can to conceal this and prevent the demonic sect from noticing.”
