The Space Within the Hall

The white liquid was called Empty Marsh Liquid. Like the Yang Household's Array-Eroding Talismans, it was a Spirit Liquid exclusive to the Zhao Household, with a remarkable effect on breaking formations and restrictions.

Several Zhao Household Formation Masters wrapped the Empty Marsh Liquid in Spiritual Power and carefully seeped it into the formation's nodes.

"I brought a few Array-Eroding Talismans. Let me lend a hand too!"

As he spoke, Yang Dangmo stepped forward and slapped out three Array-Eroding Talismans in succession.

Sizzle!

Wisps of Black Smoke drifted away, and the Array Marks on the Scarlet Gold gate visibly dimmed.

"It's working! A few more!"

Zhao Zongkun urged.

Hearing this, Yang Dangmo said nothing. He took out two more Array-Eroding Talismans and activated them with Spiritual Power.

"All five Array-Eroding Talismans are used up. The rest depends on your Zhao Household's Empty Marsh Liquid."

"All right!"

Glancing at him, Zhao Zongkun nodded. Five Array-Eroding Talismans were enough; the Yang Household probably wouldn't be willing to bring out any more.

"Quick, put some more effort into it! Grind away this damned restriction!"

Zhao Tingshen urged.

Time passed bit by bit. Before they knew it, another day and night had come and gone.

Through the Zhao Household cultivators' efforts, the formation that had been running for over two hundred years was finally opened.

Rumble!

The formation broke, and the Scarlet Gold gate swung open. Everyone filed inside, afraid of falling behind.

The Dragon Valley Inner Hall was utterly different from the outer hall. It was like a hidden paradise, lush with spirit medicines and Spirit Grass, including many fine spirit medicines that had grown for hundreds of years.

Besides that, all sorts of buildings stood within this space of several hundred mu: towering pagodas more than ten stories high, elegant and exquisite wooden cottages, and metal pavilions whose contents were unknown.

"This is a Spatial Formation! As expected of a treasured legacy of an established Golden Core sect. There's even an independent space carved out within this Dragon Valley Hall."

Yang Dangmo spoke with emotion. When would the Yang Household have the wealth and ability to forge a great hall like this?

"Brother Yang, how about each household takes half the spirit medicines here?"

Zhao Zongkun was the first to make a proposal. It was quite fair, with no petty tricks involved.

In fact, at their level, there was no real need for petty tricks. When their strength was evenly matched, an equal split was clearly the best arrangement.

"All right, we'll split the spirit medicines equally. As for the buildings afterward, apart from the Scripture Repository, each household will choose one side. What we get will depend on our respective fates."

"Agreed. Let's get to it, then!"

Both men were decisive. Once they reached an agreement, each led his Lineage's disciples off to pick spirit medicines.

On the Yang Household's side, Yang Tianyou let Fengling out and had him come over to help.

Fengling handled the ones that were easy to pick, while Yang Tianyou took charge of the spirit medicines that required special methods to preserve.

On the other side, the Zhao Household cultivators also set to work, every face wreathed in an irrepressible smile.

At that moment, however, one of the Zhao Household Disciples walked toward Yang Tianyou. It was none other than Zhao Yunxiao.

"You're the one who secretly slipped into the Two-Yi True Water Formation before, aren't you?"

Zhao Yunxiao looked at Yang Tianyou, his eyes narrowing slightly, not bothering to conceal the strands of killing intent.

Unexpectedly, Yang Tianyou didn't even look up. He simply kept picking spirit medicines at full tilt and answered casually, "It wasn't me. You've got the wrong person!"

"Oh? Then I suppose I got the wrong person!"

Zhao Yunxiao tilted his head, suddenly gave a laugh, and turned to leave.

As he turned away, the killing intent in his eyes vanished completely, and he returned to the group of Zhao Household cultivators.

Was he letting Yang Tianyou off? Of course not. This was truly resolute killing intent. Most of the time, a dog that bites doesn't bark.

He wants to kill me? I'll find a chance to kill him!

Yang Tianyou thought as he picked the medicines, paying no heed to the two-level gap in their cultivation.

"Awroo..."

Fengling let out a low howl.

Yang Tianyou shook his head. "No, that won't do. Better wait a while, find a chance to lie in wait for him, and kill him outright!"

"Awroo..."

Fengling nodded in agreement.

Then man and wolf went back to picking spirit medicines with their heads down. From beginning to end, neither showed the slightest trace of killing intent on his face.

There were more than two hundred mu of spirit medicines. Split between the two households, that came to roughly a hundred mu each.

Yang Dangmo and the old wolf were responsible for seventy mu, leaving the rest for Yang Tianyou to pick.

Even so, it took Yang Tianyou a full two hours to finish.

He patted the bulging Storage Bag at his waist and grinned. There was still a little dirt on his smiling face, and quite a few emerald-green leaves clung to his hair.

Fengling was another story altogether. His paws were caked in dirt, and his once smooth, soft fur was standing on end all over, making him look a size larger.

Seeing this, Yang Tianyou gave a wicked chuckle, then cast two Dust-Cleansing Techniques. He and Fengling were spotless once more.

"Let's go. Time to see what good things are in those buildings!"

Yang Tianyou patted Fengling on the head and strode off, with Fengling following behind.

Yang Dangmo had left six buildings for Yang Tianyou: one wooden cottage and five great halls made of metal.

Arriving at the wooden cottage first, Yang Tianyou gripped the Sky-Piercing Blade and struck. Sharp blade Qi sliced into the cottage's Defensive Formation, quickly cutting an entrance.

The defenses on these buildings weren't very strong. That made sense: who would set up a powerful formation in their own home? To actually do that, one would have to be sick in the head, with so many Spirit Stones there was nowhere to spend them.

Walking into the cottage, he saw a small courtyard planted with many strangely shaped vines.

The vines were blackish and covered in countless sharp wooden thorns. When they saw Yang Tianyou enter, all the vines in the courtyard began to writhe, reaching out to entwine him.

"What are these things?!"

Yang Tianyou was startled, but then he noticed that, perhaps from a lack of nourishment or some other reason, the vines only looked frightening. In fact, they were very slow, and he could dodge them with ease.

Swish!

The Twin Blades swept out, blade Qi crisscrossing the air and swiftly severing the vines.

To Yang Tianyou's surprise, the liquid that flowed from the severed vines was blood-red, just like human blood.

Though its color was disturbing, the blood-red liquid gave off a refreshing fragrance. Stranger still, when Yang Tianyou smelled it, his body suddenly stirred, and a feeling of longing welled up in his heart.

His eyes flickered. Yang Tianyou guessed that the liquid should have some effect on Fleshly Body cultivation, so he took out a jade bottle and collected all the blood-red liquid spilled on the ground.

"I'll call you Blood-Origin Liquid!"

With a smile, Yang Tianyou gave the unknown liquid a name. "And these vines will be called Blood-Origin Vines!"

Having named them, Yang Tianyou uprooted all the Blood-Origin Vines in the courtyard and put them in his Storage Bag. He would see whether he could transplant them back to the Lineage. Perhaps the Lineage could gain another resource to produce in the future.