At this moment, Yao Le and a young Squinty-Eyed Woman stood near the Worship Terrace with eight bodyguard-like figures.
"Miss Ke, this is the place where the Ancient Cultivator's Cave is located, according to the map." Yao Le spoke to the Squinty-Eyed Woman with a fawning expression.
"Mr. Yao, you should understand the price of deceiving us." The Squinty-Eyed Woman narrowed her eyes even further, issuing a threat the moment she opened her mouth.
"Miss Ke, rest assured. Once we find the Longevity Fruit, I'll offer it to you with both hands immediately. I would never forget how Boss Ke has looked after me in the past," Yao Le said.
"Then I'll believe you this once. As for how we should search from here, my people will follow your instructions." Miss Ke clearly did not trust Yao Le very much.
Yao Le then turned to the eight bodyguards behind them and said, "Everyone, split into two groups. Use our newly purchased Geomagnetic Anomaly Detectors to carefully search every inch around the Worship Terrace for geomagnetic anomalies."
The eight bodyguards, dressed in outdoor gear, immediately took the Handheld Geomagnetic Detectors that Yao Le had specially commissioned overseas from their backpacks.
For ordinary people, finding an Ancient Cultivator's Cave was no easy task.
Previously, the Yao Family had already mobilized considerable manpower and resources to search for the Ancient Cultivator's Cave here.
But they had found nothing.
The cave seemed to be hidden within an Array Barrier.
It was not something ordinary mortals could discover with their fleshly bodies.
This time, Yao Le had obtained a folk remedy from an expert overseas. It claimed that wherever an Array Barrier existed, the earth's magnetic field would become irregularly disturbed.
Thus, Yao Le planned to start there and search for the cave left behind by the ancient cultivator.
A day later, they finally made a discovery.
In front of a cliff face, they found an area with disturbed geomagnetism.
"Mr. Yao, don't tell me the Ancient Cultivator's Cave is inside this cliff?" Squinty-Eyed Miss Ke stared at Yao Le with an unfriendly expression.
Yao Le hurriedly explained, "The abilities of ancient cultivators aren't something mortals like us can understand. Perhaps the cave really is behind this rock wall."
Miss Ke said, "Mr. Yao, this rock wall is obviously natural. There isn't the slightest trace of artificial excavation. How can you expect me to believe the cave is inside it?"
Opening a mountain and breaking through rock was no easy feat.
Even with heavy machinery, they could not complete it in a short time.
Moreover, their identities were rather sensitive. It was impossible for them to carry out large-scale construction deep in the Qinling Mountains.
Yao Le said, "Miss Ke, you seem to have misunderstood me. I mean that the entrance to the cave is somewhere on this rock wall, not that the entire cave is hidden inside the cliff."
Miss Ke said, "Since we've already helped Mr. Yao locate the entrance, shouldn't you now fulfill the agreement you reached with my father?"
Yao Le shook his head. "The agreement I reached with your honored father was that I would give you the original Cultivation Method after you helped me find the cave. But we've only determined the location of the entrance. We're still far from meeting the conditions of our agreement."
Miss Ke furrowed her brows. After staring at Yao Le for a moment, she turned to the bodyguards and said, "Blow this rock wall open."
"Mr. Yao, won't using explosives attract trouble?" The bodyguards did not act immediately. Instead, they asked Yao Le.
"As long as you don't blow up an entire mountain in one go with a massive amount of explosives, this place is deep in the mountains and forests. No outsiders will notice," Yao Le said confidently.
The villagers who had previously lived nearby had long since been relocated by the Yao Family through various means.
The area within dozens of miles around the Worship Terrace had directly become an Uninhabited Region.
Soon, dense rumbling sounds rang out around the Worship Terrace.
Li Zhi, dozens of miles away, heard them as well.
He initially thought an extreme thunderstorm had broken out in the mountains, which made him hesitate over whether he should continue deeper inside.
Thunderstorms and heavy rain were inevitably followed by flash floods and mudslides.
If he were caught in a mudslide, he definitely would not survive with his current strength.
He climbed the surrounding mountains and looked toward the direction of the thunder. There seemed to be no trace of dark clouds in the sky.
After recalling the weather forecast he had checked before entering the mountains, he remembered that there should be no rain over the next few days.
After waiting for a while and still seeing no rise in the mountain streams, Li Zhi felt that the thunder seemed unusual.
He then quickened his pace.
Four hours later, he finally arrived near the Worship Terrace.
From a distance, he saw several people hanging from ropes against a cliff face, drilling holes and installing explosives.
The thunder seemed to be caused by them.
Li Zhi silently crept to within less than a hundred meters of them, then hid in a large tree and watched as they continued blasting the mountain.
At the same time, he secretly observed the feng shui around the Worship Terrace.
In the end, his gaze also settled on that cliff face.
It actually had the Confined Dragon Wall Formation.
No wonder those people were using explosives to open the mountain. They were searching for the entrance.
However, looking at their crude methods, Li Zhi felt that they were simply wasting their effort.
With that aimless method of blasting, they could keep at it for a month without finding anything.
Sure enough, just as he had expected, after night fell, Squinty-Eyed Miss Ke and Yao Le fell into another disagreement.
They had used up all the explosives they had brought.
It was impossible to obtain more explosives again in such a short time.
Seeing that the men she had brought were so exhausted they could barely stand, Miss Ke angrily said, "Mr. Yao, you owe me an explanation."
A strange glint flashed through Yao Le's eyes. He said, "Miss Ke, I have no choice but to tell you a cruel truth."
Miss Ke asked, "What truth?"
Yao Le said, "To open the Barrier of the Ancient Cultivator's Cave, I'm afraid we can only use the Blood Sacrifice Method now."
Miss Ke's face turned cold. "You're playing me."
Yao Le said, "I have no intention of deceiving you, Miss Ke. The explosives are useless, so we can only use the Blood Sacrifice Method. This was approved by your honored father."
Miss Ke calmly asked, "Why do you have to use my people?"
Yao Le said, "Because they have no identities. Even if they die or disappear, it won't arouse anyone's suspicion."
Miss Ke said, "Aren't you afraid they'll kill you once they learn the truth?"
Yao Le smiled. "With Miss Ke's cooperation, how could they possibly learn the truth? If you think they should know the truth, then go ahead. Perhaps before they die, they'd be more willing to send you to meet King Yan first."
Miss Ke ground her teeth as she glared at Yao Le. "You planned this."
Yao Le smiled. "Miss Ke, you grew up overseas from a young age. How can your thinking still be so naive? In your eyes, are only those who control capital considered human? Aren't everyone else just beasts wearing Human Skin? Your country even abolished the death penalty. Wasn't that precisely to make it convenient for people like you to carry out private executions?"
Miss Ke was rendered speechless by Yao Le's words and ultimately agreed to his plan.
Yao Le said, "Tomorrow morning, we'll..."
The two had secretly discussed everything, and Li Zhi heard every word without missing a thing.
Li Zhi could not help sighing inwardly. Even ordinary mortals in this world were so Shrouding the Heavens.
"Shrouding the Heavens" was a term Li Zhi had coined to describe a state of treating human lives as worthless as grass.
The Forbidden Zone Supreme Beings devoured the life essence of billions upon billions of living beings whenever they emerged, treating the living beings of the universe like chives, cutting one crop after another.
If even the Supreme Beings were like this, it was only natural that others would follow their example and disregard human life.
Moreover, the birth of every Great Emperor was often accompanied by a trail of corpses.
The Killing Intent they possessed was so immense that they stood out among the All Heavens and Myriad Worlds.
A single drop of a Saint's blood possessed boundless killing intent. This was unimaginable in other cultivation worlds.
Li Zhi did not feel much pity.
That was simply the environment of this world. Since he could not change it, he had to learn to adapt.
The next morning, Li Zhi watched with his own eyes as the eight bodyguards drank poisoned oatmeal.
Then, while drilling holes into the mountain, they suddenly suffered massive internal bleeding and began vomiting blood in great mouthfuls.
A large section of the cliff face was dyed red.
Seeing this, Li Zhi did not dare let his attention wander in the slightest. He focused intently on the changes in the rock wall.
Finally, in an area six meters above the ground, all the blood seeped inside.
Yao Le became agitated and said, "The entrance is right there."
"Mr. Yao, now that you've found the entrance, you can go die." Miss Ke suddenly pulled out a handgun and pointed it at Yao Le's head.
Yao Le was startled and hurriedly said, "Miss Ke, what are you doing? Are you planning to violate the agreement I reached with your honored father? Don't you want the Jade Scroll containing the recorded Cultivation Method?"
Miss Ke said, "Now that we've found the cave, the Jade Scroll in your hands has no value anymore. Mr. Yao, you were right. In our eyes, they're beasts. But you seem to have forgotten that you're also one of those penniless beasts."
Seeing this, Yao Le immediately dodged. Unfortunately, Miss Ke was no pushover. She fired directly, hitting him in the chest.
Yao Le gradually lost his breath under a look of disbelief.
After confirming that Yao Le was dead, Miss Ke took out a satellite phone.
She seemed to be preparing to call someone over.
Unfortunately, before she could even press a button, a Luoyang Shovel flew in from behind and punched a gaping hole through her back.
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