Chapter 1394: Fugui is Truly Rich

(TN: This chapter is a sudden and unexplained shift in narrative, featuring different characters, a lower cultivation setting, and a plotline completely disconnected from the events on the flying skiff. It appears to be a flashback or a chapter from a much earlier part of the story.)

Daoist Gong was stunned at first upon hearing Li Yan’s words, then his heart filled with joy. This matter was of the utmost urgency. He hurriedly said, “I implore Senior to act. This humble temple will be eternally grateful.” As he spoke, a look of entreaty appeared on his face.

“You need not call me Senior. Just call me Fellow Daoist Li. Although I have some deductions and speculations about what happened in the temple, there are still some things I am not clear about. You will tell me about the death of that Fellow Daoist Luo in the hall just now and the relationships of the main personnel in the Daoist temple.” Li Yan slowly walked to the table and sat down directly in a chair.

Daoist Gong was startled at first, then a look of surprise appeared in his eyes. Although he had been unable to guess Li Yan’s cultivation level, now, although Li Yan had not said it directly, he had denied the identity of a senior. Just now, he had really thought he had misjudged the other party’s age, thinking that Li Yan must have cultivated a top-tier youth-retaining art. But with Li Yan’s denial, Daoist Gong was even more surprised. At such an age, to be even closer to congealing a Golden Core than himself, how could he not be shocked?

But he did not dare to ask and just ignored the matter in his heart.

About half an hour later, Li Yan was looking down, as if lost in thought. Daoist Gong, who was sitting opposite him, had a solemn expression and made no sound, afraid of disturbing Li Yan’s thoughts.

In Daoist Gong’s narrative just now, Li Yan would ask a few questions from time to time, especially about the interpersonal relationships, living habits, and so on of the three who had died in the Daoist temple, as well as the information on outside cultivators who had entered the mountain gate like him, and finally, he asked in detail about the clues Daoist Gong had found.

After about another half an incense stick’s time, Li Yan went over his own speculations and what he had just heard in his mind again. Only then did he look up at Daoist Gong. Seeing Li Yan look up at him, Daoist Gong couldn’t help but feel his spirits lift.

“Fellow Daoist Gong, your introduction just now has already resolved several of the doubts I had before. But there are still two main points of doubt that I need to be confirmed. But before that, I would like to ask you, do you already have a suspect? Can you tell me?”

Hearing Li Yan say that most of the doubts were already resolved, Daoist Gong couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy. But then, hearing Li Yan’s follow-up question, he couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment, but it was only for an instant. He immediately said, “I do have some, there should be two people…” At this point, Daoist Gong actually started using voice transmission. It was clear that he took this matter very seriously.

After hearing this, Li Yan couldn’t help but nod. He hadn’t expected Daoist Gong to not be as clueless as he had appeared on the outside. Many points coincided with his own. It seemed that some of his outward behavior was deliberately meant to confuse outsiders. He thought to himself, ‘As expected of someone who has cultivated for hundreds of years. When a person grows old, they become shrewd. Without any evidence, he has already narrowed the scope to a very small one. I, on the other hand, had the advantage of knowing some things to have made the subsequent judgment.’ He then said, “Then let’s go and resolve the last two points of doubt.” With that, he stood up.

In the early morning, the Xuanqing Temple began to operate. Everyone knew that the ancestor would return this evening, and their hearts had calmed down a lot. Daoist Gong, with a gloomy face, made arrangements. Apart from him and Hall Master Ji leading fifty people to guard the main hall, the rest, led by Kong Nantai and several other junior brothers and sisters, each led fifty people to patrol the entire sect in a crisscross pattern. This way, on the one hand, it strengthened the security of every corner of the sect, and at the same time, it also informed the cultivators who came to the mountain gate to teleport today that they could only teleport tomorrow. On the other hand, he and Hall Master Ji were guarding the main hall. Although the two black-robed men and the hunchbacked old man were all experts, under the heavy formations, Daoist Gong believed that they would definitely not move around randomly, and would just wait for the Xuanqing Temple’s ancestor to return in the evening.

As the sun slowly rose, the vast Xuanqing Temple, apart from an occasional patrol team of dozens of people flying by, was quiet everywhere. The bustling scene of the past was gone, leaving only a murderous aura.

At this time, among the palaces and pavilions in the back mountain of the Xuanqing Temple, there was a quaint four-story pavilion. With its flying eaves and hanging bells, a plaque hung on the second floor in the front, with three vigorous characters written on it: “Dao Scripture Hall.” At this time, it was quiet everywhere, with not a single person.

In the past, although disciples were not allowed to enter and leave at will here, people would still come occasionally. But today, it was dead silent. Even under the morning sun, it seemed quiet and empty.

Just then, a figure suddenly appeared at the bottom of the steps in front of the Dao Scripture Hall like a ghost. It came silently and without a sound. The person stopped ten zhang away from the steps of the Dao Scripture Hall. He first looked around, then closed his eyes, released his Divine Sense, and after confirming once more that there was no one around, he suddenly opened his eyes.

He looked at the pavilion in front of him and sneered in his heart. He knew that at a distance of forty-five feet from the steps in front, there was a set of protective formations. If someone unknowingly stepped into it, the formation would be activated instantly, and all sorts of scalp-numbing attacks would come at once. At the same time, the wind chimes on the eaves of the pavilion would ring loudly, and in a short while, everyone in the Daoist temple would come.

This place was where the Xuanqing Temple stored its treasures, so the power of the protective formation here was not much inferior to the sect-protecting grand formation. Even if a Golden Core cultivator came here, without a way to break the restriction, they would be helpless and would not dare to advance rashly.

This person stood motionless, his expression calm, as if he were patrolling the area. After checking again to make sure there was no one around, he walked forward, but every step was taken with extreme caution. Even so, he soon arrived at a place forty-five feet away from the steps. Looking at the flat bluestone ground in front of him, he looked up at the wind chimes on the eaves. He knew that these so-called wind chimes would not ring even in a strong wind on a normal day.

This person stood where he was, releasing his Divine Sense to be on guard against the surroundings. At the same time, he slapped his waist, and two dazzling golden objects flew out of his storage pouch. He caught them in his hand. Spreading his palm, in his palm were two halves of a wind chime, as if they had been split in two by a sharp blade. This wind chime was very similar to the wind chimes on the eaves, except that the wind chimes on the eaves were silver, while the two halves of the wind chime in his hand were golden. Looking at the golden wind chime in his hand, he thought to himself, ‘After this mission is completed, I can leave this place. At that time, I will be rewarded with a large amount of cultivation resources, and my cultivation will advance by leaps and bounds.’ At this thought, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

This all seemed to take a long time, but it happened in an instant. After this person took out the two halves of the wind chime, he threw them towards the empty space in front of him. The two halves of the wind chime turned into two streaks of golden light and shot towards the front. In the blink of an eye, they had reached the empty space above the front of the steps. He saw that the empty space rippled and twisted, as if the ground had become illusory and unreal. Then, a low buzzing sound was heard. Hearing this sound, the person couldn’t help but look nervous and became more guarded. He knew that this was a precursor to the opening of the formation passage, and it was also the most dangerous moment. Although this sound was low, if there was anyone nearby, they could still detect it.

He only felt his mouth go dry and his heart beat fast. Fortunately, this sound was extremely short, lasting only one or two breaths before disappearing without a trace. The distorted empty space and space also returned to normal, and the two halves of the golden wind chime flew back to him silently and quickly. At the same time, with a light “pa” sound, a crack had appeared in the vermilion gate in the middle of the first floor on the steps.

After this person put the wind chime into his storage pouch, he knew that he could not delay for a moment, lest there be trouble. With a flicker of his body, he had already flashed up the steps. A distance of a few zhang was just a thought for him. Looking at the gradually enlarging vermilion gate in front of him, his heart beat rapidly. But just as he stepped on the ground in front of the door and was about to push the door open and flash in, his expression suddenly changed drastically. He only felt his foot go soft, and then a sharp pain rose from the bottom of his foot.

In his haste, his entire body flashed with a brilliant spiritual light, and he quickly flew up a foot. As he flew up, he looked down and saw a huge sand pit slowly flowing under his feet. And his boots were emitting wisps of black smoke. The bottom of his foot was already exposed. Although he had reacted quickly, the bottom of his foot was already a bloody mess. What made his liver and gallbladder split was that he could clearly feel that even though he had already protected his entire body with spiritual energy, there seemed to be something unknown on the bottom of his foot that was planning to spread up along his meridians.

In his great alarm, he couldn’t help but exclaim, “Quicksand Art…” But he had no time to think too much at this moment. Just as he was protecting his body with spiritual energy and was about to fly away, a great suction force came from the sand pit. This was the attack of the Quicksand Art. If it were a normal situation, even if he were sucked in, he would still have many divine abilities to use, such as “Earth Evasion Art,” “Wall-Passing Art,” and so on. But this Quicksand Art was clearly different from all the Quicksand Arts he had ever seen. The suction force was extremely fierce. With his tenth-level Qi Condensation cultivation, in just a short moment, he had already consumed thirty to forty percent of his spiritual energy. And the most terrifying thing was that he had never seen or heard of the potent poison hidden in this sand pit. His reaction just now had been less than half a breath, and his boots, which could be considered spirit artifact-grade, had not even resisted or delayed for a moment before turning into ashes. This made him even more afraid.

He was even more astonished and puzzled in his heart. He had investigated all the formations and mechanisms here through various means. How could there be a sudden change? For a moment, he couldn’t help but be shocked and angry. ‘So this is not a single formation, but a linked formation. After such a long time of investigation, I didn’t get any news. The Xuanqing Temple is hidden so deeply. It seems this mission has failed. I have to leave the Daoist temple as soon as possible.’

This sudden change made him extremely fearful. There was already movement here, and someone might come looking for the sound at any moment.

He couldn’t help but frantically circulate his spiritual energy, but to his despair, the suction force under his feet was getting stronger and stronger, and his body was still sinking bit by bit. He looked around. At this moment, the surroundings were still quiet, which made him feel a little better. Looking around, he suddenly raised a hand, and a streak of spiritual energy shot out from his hand, like a rope, and wrapped around the railing on the steps. As long as this spiritual energy rope was entangled with the railing, then he would have a point of leverage and could quickly escape.

But just as his spiritual energy rope was less than a foot away from his body, it was as if it had hit a wall and directly burst into a ball of dazzling light. The next moment, it turned into specks of crystal light and scattered in the air. This made him couldn’t help but be shocked, and for a moment, he was even more flustered.

In a flurry, he quickly slapped his waist, and a flying sword landed under his feet. Under the control of his Divine Sense, the flying sword actually carried him up a few inches. Just as he was overjoyed, the suction force of the sand pit under his feet increased again, and the flying sword was instantly pulled into the pit. His body also sank down again. This made him shocked and angry. He quickly slapped his storage pouch again, and a white jade ruler appeared under his feet again. Under his frantic control of his spiritual energy, the white jade ruler carried him up a few more inches. But just as he had risen a few inches, the white jade ruler was also sucked into the sand pit. Just like that, amidst his heartache and fury, one spirit artifact and spirit treasure after another were summoned out by him, and then they were all sucked into and swallowed by the sand pit. Although his heart ached, fortunately, after all this tossing and turning, he had gradually moved away from the sand pit.

He silently calculated the time in his heart. It had been six breaths since the beginning. He had to escape from this place within ten breaths.

Looking at the pitch-black inkstone under his feet being sucked into the sand pit again, his heart was bleeding. This was a magical treasure, and its power was equivalent to a single blow from an Initial-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. There were formation shields all around him, trapping him firmly above the sand pit. He could only fly upwards and could not borrow any force from the surroundings. Not only had he failed the mission this time, but he had also lost five or six spirit treasures and magical treasures. Of course, most of them were spirit treasures before. The only magical treasure was that pitch-black inkstone. He had just discovered that the magical treasure could make him fly a much greater distance, while the spirit treasure’s distance was much shorter, only able to rise two to three inches. Just now, this pitch-black inkstone magical treasure had actually made him rise nearly a foot. As his body rose, the suction force under his feet was gradually weakening. This was a good sign.

At this moment, there were less than two breaths left before ten breaths.