hhnovel Chapter 174 The Snake Cave
Chapter 174 The Snake Cave
Chapter 174: Luring the Snake Out of Its Hole
The spiritual energy fluctuation came quickly and disappeared just as fast, vanishing without a trace not long after.
Li Lan released his divine sense, and although some of these simple small basic restrictions were damaged,
fortunately, it did not cause the spiritual energy fluctuation to spill out of the cave dwelling.
After observing carefully for a long time,
seeing that the commotion here had not been noticed by other cultivators,
Li Lan slightly breathed a sigh of relief.
With this experience and lesson,
when refining other aged spiritual plants or high-grade pills in the future,
he would naturally be more vigilant and cautious.
He collected his thoughts, raised his hand, and threw out the Purple Sandalwood Spiritual Bean that was seventy to eighty years old.
This object instantly took root and sprouted, and countless purplish-black vines intertwined and wrapped around each other, forming a humanoid body.
Immediately after,
a wave of magical power covered the entire body,
fingers, facial features, hair, etc., all human characteristics were quickly outlined.
In the blink of an eye,
a brand new Spirit Bean Soldier stood before him.
Seeing this, Li Lan raised his eyebrows slightly.
Calling this object a Spirit Bean Soldier again seemed a bit inaccurate.
Because its face was so lifelike, it was exactly the same as a real human.
The skin was no longer the deep purple of the forty to fifty-year-old ones, but closer to the brownish-yellow of humans.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes,
even Li Lan, at first glance, would probably have mistaken the other party for a human.
This Scattering Beans to Form Soldiers odd gate spell is truly wonderful beyond words.
Of course,
what Li Lan cared about the most was the strength of this Spirit Bean Soldier.
After all,
this was related to whether he could successfully Foundation Establishment.
The higher the cultivation realm of the Spirit Bean Soldier, indirectly, the greater his probability of Foundation Establishment.
Fortunately, Li Lan was not disappointed,
the puppet summoned by this seventy to eighty-year-old Purple Sandalwood Spiritual Bean,
had a cultivation of Qi Refining level ten, which had already reached the level of Cultivation Base of Qi Refining Late Stage.
A Spirit Bean Soldier at this realm is not only exceptionally flexible when manipulating magical artifacts,
the abundant magical power within its body can even be used to store energy for Talisman Treasure.
This means that,
when fighting others in the future,
he had one more method to defeat the enemy.
After examining it a few times,
Li Lan put it away with satisfaction.
Currently,
the harvest from these three months of closed-door cultivation has been fruitful.
He was not in a hurry to continue refining the remaining four Purple Sandalwood Spiritual Beans.
Currently, Li Lan,
after a long period of closed-door cultivation, his divine sense, state of mind, etc., were no longer in peak condition,
rushing for success at this time would not yield any benefits.
Li Lan waved his hand to remove the restrictions,
preparing to go take a look at the Tian Shu Pavilion.
Previously, in order to break through to the Qi Refining Great Perfection realm,
he had leased cultivation cave dwellings with low-grade Spirit Veins everywhere, causing his recently accumulated spirit stone reserves to hit rock bottom again.
Now, if he wanted to continue his daily cultivation, he would have to take on some more sect missions,
to replenish some spirit stones.
Registered disciples are similar to rogue cultivators,
without a family background to rely on,
all cultivation resources must be fought for by themselves.
Unlike the Su siblings,
who only needed to focus on improving their cultivation,
they didn't need to be distracted by performing sect missions at all,
and even if they lacked any cultivation resources, they could ask the sect to help them acquire them.
It was truly enviable.
However,
this thought was merely a fleeting one for Li Lan,
if such an opportunity were truly presented to him, he likely wouldn't take it.
After all,
to become a core disciple fully nurtured by the sect,
in addition to demonstrating talent above true spiritual roots,
one also needs to change to cultivate the sect's exclusive cultivation methods.
The subsequent cultivation methods of these cultivation methods are the locks that Guangji Sect uses to tie down its disciples.
In this profit-driven Cultivation World,
only cultivators whose weaknesses are held can truly be loyal and single-minded.
Thoughts swirling in his mind,
Li Lan quickly arrived at Tianshu Peak.
This place was the same as usual, with no significant changes.
If there was any change,
it was that in the past, Li Lan could occasionally recognize a few familiar faces from the crowd.
Now, after scanning for a long time, he couldn't find a single one.
He didn't know if those registered disciples he had met a few times had gone to perform sect missions,
or had already died and faded away.
Li Lan had experienced many dangerous situations and had already become indifferent to these matters,
so he naturally wouldn't feel sentimental at this time.
He bypassed the crowd,
and went straight into the Tian Shu Pavilion.
The person responsible for distributing sect missions was still the Senior Brother Fan from before, who was now the Junior Brother Fan.
After not seeing him for several years,
this old man had become much more aged.
Unfortunately, Li Lan couldn't check others' lifespan, so he naturally didn't know how much longer this fellow could live.
"Junior Brother Fan, are there any missions in the sect suitable for me now?"
Li Lan had no intention of exchanging pleasantries with the old man,
and directly asked.
At the same time,
he had already unceremoniously picked up a few mission jade slips and immersed his divine sense into them to examine them carefully.
"Oh? Senior Brother Li? What a rare guest.
After not seeing you for several years, where have you been, Senior Brother?
If it weren't for Senior Brother completing many missions assisting in pill refining in the past few years,
I, your junior brother, would have probably long since removed you from the list of registered disciples—"
This Junior Brother Fan was also a complete snob,
since he broke through to the Cultivation Base of Qi Refining Late Stage last time, his attitude towards Li Lan had undergone a subtle change.
His words were no longer harsh and sarcastic, and showing concern became the norm.
This time, just as he was halfway through his sentence,
Junior Brother Fan stopped.
His pair of blurred old eyes widened like ox eggs,
his face flushed red, looking at Li Lan with disbelief, confirming several times,
finally trembling and saying:
"Senior—Senior Brother Li, after not seeing you for several years, your... your cultivation realm has increased again?"
Li Lan didn't even raise his head, while quickly browsing the sect missions,
he nodded faintly.
"That's right."
Junior Brother Fan was inwardly horrified, his face full of shock.
He felt as if the divine sense he sent out was like a mud ox entering the sea, disappearing without a trace. The feeling Li Lan gave him now was as deep and cold as an ancient pool or deep ravine, impossible to probe.
With his dignified strength of Qi Refining level nine, he couldn't clearly see the other party's specific cultivation,
didn't that mean,
this guy he once looked down upon,
had already reached Qi Refining Great Perfection?
Just in case, Junior Brother Fan still quietly asked.
There was no need to conceal this matter, of course,
moreover, the cultivation realm of registered disciples is linked to the sect missions they can undertake.
Li Lan readily admitted it.
Upon receiving confirmation, Junior Brother Fan's heart immediately churned with stormy waves.
Recalling when the other party first arrived,
he was barely at the Lingqi Middle Stage realm, already over thirty years old,
no matter how one looked at it, he didn't seem to have talent in cultivation.
But how many years had passed now?
The other party's cultivation had miraculously soared, breaking through two major barriers consecutively,
reaching the level of Qi Refining Great Perfection,
and even having the qualification to attempt Foundation Establishment.
How could this not shock Junior Brother Fan?
He dared not neglect,
he quickly squeezed out a fawning smile and repeatedly offered compliments.
In a few words,
he praised Li Lan as a genius who had been tempered into steel and achieved greatness late in life, a role model for all registered disciples.
Li Lan was too lazy to waste more words with this unprincipled fellow,
and said directly:
"Are there still missions related to Medium-Grade Spirit Vein cultivation cave dwellings?
Bring them all out for me to see."
Junior Brother Fan dared not hesitate and quickly did as he was told.
Li Lan examined these missions one by one, and was quite interested in one of them.
Junior Brother Fan was constantly observing his micro-expressions,
seeing Li Lan's gaze linger on the pale yellow jade slip for a long time,
he quickly explained in a timely manner:
"Senior Brother Li has a good eye, this sect mission is the safest, you don't have to take any risks,
and you can obtain a qualification to cultivate for twelve hours in a Medium-Grade Spirit Vein Class D cave dwelling.
In my opinion, this mission is very suitable for a Senior Brother like you who enjoys hard cultivation."
Li Lan didn't speak, weighing the pros and cons in his heart.
This mission was very simple,
it was to go to a low-grade Spirit Vein and become the nominal Outer Sect First Disciple there,
assisting the various Outer Sect Elders in protecting the safety of that Spirit Vein.
If this Spirit Vein was not lost within five years, one could obtain an opportunity to enter a Medium-Grade Spirit Vein for cultivation.
This sect mission was much safer compared to participating in the抢夺 of Spirit Veins and then guarding them alone for three years.
The only drawback was that the period was a bit long.
But it wasn't without other benefits,
within this five-year period,
the cultivator who becomes the Outer Sect First Disciple will not be assigned other missions, their monthly salary will be paid as usual,
and when there is nothing to do, they can even have priority in using the cultivation cave dwelling quota of that Spirit Vein.
Li Lan only glanced at it and understood.
Perhaps the mission that Senior Brother Dou performed back then was this very sect mission.
Li Lan pondered for a moment,
then made a decision.
"I'll take this sect mission."
Before Junior Brother Fan could bury his head in recording,
Li Lan casually picked out several more jade slips and threw them all to the other party.
"And this, I'll take all these sect missions, please mark them down, Senior Brother Fan."
Junior Brother Fan was immediately dumbfounded.
"Mining spirit stones, exterminating Demonic Path remnants, assassinating targets of hostile families... are you sure you want to take all these sect missions?
Can you handle it all?"
Li Lan smiled faintly.
"You don't need to worry about that, I have my own plans on how to do things."
Of course, Li Lan didn't intend to do all the missions,
the reason he took on so many sect missions was merely to confuse Su Pengfei.
The feeling of being targeted from behind was unpleasant,
at this moment, Li Lan only wanted to quickly remove this poisonous thorn in his throat.
The day after taking the sect missions,
Li Lan went to bid farewell to the Su siblings.
Su Pengfei showed no unusual expression on the surface,
but that night he managed to find out all the sect missions Li Lan had taken.
"Heh heh, a smokescreen?
Slippery brat, if it were someone else, they might really be fooled by you.
But you, who have been infected with the Silver Winged Witch Gu, don't even think about deceiving this Venerable One."
Su Pengfei sneered repeatedly, formed a hand seal, and easily sensed Li Lan's movements.
Compared to those sect missions,
he easily judged Li Lan's true purpose.
But after discerning the other party's target,
Su Pengfei couldn't help but be slightly taken aback.
"Daguan Cliff in the northern county? This place is extremely far from Guangji Sect, what is this child going there for?"
He pondered for a moment, and a thought popped into his mind.
"This kid, could it be that he's trying to escape?
This Daguan Cliff is quite close to Jinyang Pass, and after entering the pass, it only takes three days to reach the neighboring county—
That's right, even if this child is not trying to escape, he is definitely preparing a retreat for himself.
Crafty brat.—
Did he detect something unusual about me?
Or did something else make this kid feel danger?"
Su Pengfei thought for a while but did not reach a conclusion,
but the secret on this child is not to be lost, it is especially important to him.
He had already quickly made a decision in his heart.
"I can't let this kid cause any more trouble, it's better to capture him as soon as possible.
This Venerable One is only at the Lingqi Middle Stage realm now, even with the help of Talisman Treasure, I'm probably not his opponent.
It seems I can only reveal a few of the backup plans I prepared in my previous life in advance."