If there hadn't been a scene that often popped up in his mind in the past few years, if there hadn't been that crisp "click" in his ears, Liu Xiaolou wouldn't have paid too much attention to the key to the formation disk after it was delivered. Instead, he would have regarded the refining of the key to the formation disk as a problem-solving in his practice.
The problem was solved, the formation made progress along the way, that's all.
But now I will definitely not let it go. For practitioners, this means an opportunity in their practice career. Although I don't know what the opportunity is, it must be an opportunity.
"Brother Daoran, can you tell me who commissioned you to refine the key to this array? I know the rules, so I shouldn't ask, but this may be an opportunity for me."
"Now that Xiaolou has said so, I won't hide it. He is a guest from the southwest Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, but he didn't tell me his name. He came here because of his reputation. In fact, you and I both know that he should have found some ancient monk cave abode in the mountains of the southwest. If we venture to inquire, we may cause trouble."
"I know, I won't pry rashly, Brother Daoran, don't worry."
"Tomorrow I will hand over the formation key. It's Snake Ridge in the north. Younger brother Xiaolou, don't come here to disturb me. I'll give it to you if you get Spirit Stone."
"I got it, haha, thank you Brother Daoran."
Suddenly, Liu Xiaolou came out of the side door of Zhuangzi and rushed towards Snake Ridge. After waiting at the foot of the post for a long time, he saw Liu Daoran swinging Youyou up the hill, so he followed behind, but he didn't follow too closely. He was hanging dozens of feet away behind.
I saw Liu Daoran go up to a cliff, and a man came out from behind the cliff, with bare arms, bare legs and feet, a bow on his shoulder, and an arrow pot on his back. The arrow pot was full of arrow clusters. He looked like a typical Miaoshan Orion dress.
Liu Daoran handed the array key to this person. The person took it and sat down. Liu Daoran also sat down. The two of them were immediately blocked by the bushes and could not see clearly.
Liu Xiaolou was very anxious. He wanted to stand up and take a closer look, but he could never find a suitable angle, so he climbed sideways to the right. As soon as he found a suitable gap, the other side had already finished. He saw that the other party had put away the array key and said goodbye to Liu Daoran.
After they separated, Liu Daoran went down the mountain, while Liu Xiaolou stayed behind that person. Because he could not know the other person's cultivation level for sure, he stayed farther away. It was not until an hour later that he found out the cave where the other person lived temporarily, and then returned to the Liu Family Manor.
I met Liu Daoran and asked about the details of handing over the array key. Liu Daoran replied, "I have to go there tomorrow. The other party will tell me whether it is completed. If the array key is available, the other party will deliver Spirit Stone. At the same time, we will completely open the array key's mouth for its long-term use."
That night, Liu Xiaolou told Fang Buai: "I may need Chuyi to travel far away. You can practice well here and don't leave seclusion until Qi Refining Level 5."
Fang Buai was practicing at a critical moment. He hesitated for a moment, but then he didn't want to follow Liu Xiaolou as before, and nodded in agreement.
After the explanation was completed, Liu Xiaolou rushed to Snake Ridge overnight. He chose a location with an excellent view in advance, and was optimistic about the route to follow, and waited until dawn.
This time, looking at the handover between Liu Daoran and the other party, it was clear. In fact, there was nothing to see. The other party had obviously done a test after returning to prove that the array key was usable, so he handed Spirit Stone to Liu Daoran. Liu Daoran took a moment to completely open the opening of the array key. The two parties settled and said goodbye to each other.
Liu Xiaolou turned around and followed the other party. The tracking route he had selected in advance was very good. It was easy to find the other party, but it was not easy for the other party to find him. While following, he carefully observed this person's cultivation, but this person's walking on the mountain road was ordinary, nothing surprising, and he did not show any cultivation, which made Liu Xiaolou unable to make up his mind to take action.
He originally planned to follow the other party to the cave where he lived temporarily, but unexpectedly he bypassed the cave and didn't go back at all, so he could only continue to follow patiently.
This time, I followed him out on the mountain road for more than 20 miles until dark, and then followed him to another cave. At this time, I finally realized that this person was probably not very high in cultivation, so I made up my mind to take action.
He quickly approached him, and when the man entered the cave, Liu Xiaolou tiptoed outside the cave entrance. He was about to look for an opportunity to lean in and burn incense when he suddenly heard a scream from the cave. Liu Xiaolou was startled and quickly retreated.
When I was young, I saw another person coming out of the cave, but it was not the hunter I had been following just now, but a middle-aged monk. His dress was no different from Rogue Cultivator in the Central Plains.
After the man came out, he jumped up, turned over and climbed to the top of the cave, heading straight to the southwest.
Liu Xiaolou He glanced at the entrance of the cave in a hurry and saw the hunter lying dead in the cave with a pool of blood around his mouth.
He felt awe-inspiring in his heart and reminded himself to be careful. He quickly jumped up and followed the man.
After following for a long time, I judged from the movement skills that the middle-aged monk in front should be around Qi Refining tenth layer, with a higher level of cultivation than myself. However, because I didn't go all out, I could barely keep up, so I was extremely careful and followed him all the way.
I followed them for more than ten days, always moving forward in the barren mountains and ridges, and the direction of progress was always southwest. This person traveled about two to three hundred miles every day, not too fast, not too slow, and without delaying his rest at night. He calculated that he would follow for more than two thousand or three thousand miles, but still did not reach the end.
After tracking for so many days, I feel like I have entered a vast primeval forest. The mountains are tall and the canyons are deep and dangerous. They are hundreds of feet high and hundreds of feet deep. The mountains are continuous, layer after layer. From a distance, they look like layers of blue smoke, stacked up to the end of the sky. There are tens of thousands of them.
The dangers in the mountains and forests are also increasing. Those vines, mosquitoes, poisonous snakes, and ferocious beasts appear at any time. The domineering roars of the spirit beasts, coupled with the miasma that often spreads silently and the swamp that does not look strange at all, bring great troubles to the journey.
The bigger trouble lies in the confusion of direction, the misordering of time, and even the aliasing of space. The dangerous places often make people sweat.
Liu Xiaolou wanted to give up a long time ago. At this time, Liu Xiaolou actually no longer dared to retreat. Once he retreated, he would most likely be trapped in this situation and quietly turn into dirt from then on. Fortunately, the figure in front was obviously familiar with the road, avoided various major dangers, and kept moving forward safely with Liu Xiaolou.
His tracking has become passive. If he doesn't follow, he doesn't know how to find a way out.
Finally one night, Liu Xiaolou was staring blankly at the faint bonfire in the distance when he suddenly heard a wild roar that shook the forest. He subconsciously hid and took a few breaths - in just a few breaths, the bonfire was extinguished, and the figure could no longer be found.
Liu Xiaolou suddenly felt very lonely, as if he was the only one left in the world.