Without Earth's extreme suppression from the Dharma-Ending Aura, the Hundred Herbs Diagram, a Quasi-Emperor Divine Weapon, had finally recovered some of its power.
Of course, expecting it to revive on its own and unleash the might of a Quasi-Emperor was still unrealistic.
But breaking a mere seal imposed by a cultivator of the Dragon Transformation Realm was a piece of cake.
At that moment, Nangong Wentian and the Jiang siblings were still battling fiercely in the sky.
Not only had Jiang Caihong crushed her life-saving Divine Talisman and summoned the descending divine-sense avatar of a Great Power, but Jiang Shuwen had also crushed his life-saving Divine Talisman, summoning another divine-sense avatar of a Jiang Clan Great Power.
The three fought until heaven and earth darkened and the sun and moon lost their light. Large swathes of mountain forest were destroyed.
This attracted sidelong glances from many passing cultivators.
Dark clouds shrouded the stars and moon, while the breeze left behind afterimages.
He kept running across the land without pause, from when the sun hung overhead until night fell. No one knew how much time had passed; he had run several thousand li.
Feeling a trace of fatigue, Li Zhi finally stopped.
The special energy given to him by the Hundred Herbs Diagram had been completely exhausted two hours earlier.
To prevent Nangong Wentian from catching up, Li Zhi had run at full speed for another two hours before he finally felt at ease.
He had no idea whether Jiang Shuwen and Jiang Caihong could withstand Nangong Wentian.
However, Li Zhi believed that as disciples of an Ancient Family, they surely had plenty of life-saving items on them. They should not be killed so easily.
He had originally intended to spend the night in the wilderness, but after standing atop a towering ancient tree and spotting a brightly lit Small Town in the distance,
Li Zhi abandoned the idea of spending the night outdoors.
Now, he needed to return to human society as soon as possible and quickly learn the local culture.
Only then could he communicate normally with the locals and avoid making them think he was an outsider.
Walking toward the Small Town, he looked at the familiar yet strange forest in the distance and suddenly realized that he had returned to the edge of the Barren Ancient Forest.
Moreover, that Small Town was not an ordinary mortal town.
The moment he entered the town, he sensed the auras of quite a few cultivators.
Some people even scanned him with their Divine Sense.
However, to ensure that nothing went wrong, Li Zhi had secretly circulated the Longevity Locking Body Art, concealing his Bitter Sea.
Although this could not fool a true expert,
concealing it from the Divine Sense probing of those in the Small Town was effortless.
After all, earlier, even Jiang Shuwen, who possessed peak Dao Palace Realm cultivation, had failed to discover that his Bitter Sea had been opened while it was concealed by the Secret Art.
Li Zhi believed that once he cultivated the Longevity Locking Body Art to the second level, even if a Dragon Transformation Realm expert personally used their magical power to examine his body, they would not discover anything unusual about his Bitter Sea.
After entering the Small Town, he found that there were not many mortals on the brightly lit streets.
Nor were any mortals setting up stalls or doing business there.
It seemed that this Small Town existed specifically to serve the cultivators entering and leaving the Barren Ancient Forest.
The inns in the Small Town occupied vast areas, but there were only a handful of them.
When Li Zhi arrived in front of an inn called Lingxu, he suddenly understood.
This Small Town had probably been built here by the six Cavern Heavens of Yan State. It was not territory controlled by the secular imperial family of Yan State.
After entering Lingxu Inn, a robust waiter immediately came forward enthusiastically to greet him.
"Young master, are you here to eat or stay the night?" Although the waiter had not opened his Bitter Sea, his footsteps were steady and his movements light. He had probably practiced secular martial arts, and his level was not low.
"Give me a superior room." Li Zhi imitated the waiter's tone.
"Certainly. Young master, this way, please." The waiter led Li Zhi toward the depths of the inn.
As they passed through the main hall, Li Zhi saw quite a few cultivators sitting around idly, seemingly waiting for someone. Each person wore a trace of anxiety on their face.
Soon, the waiter brought Li Zhi to a superior room.
After sending the waiter away, Li Zhi pricked up his ears and listened to the movements outside.
Within a hundred meters, unless someone deliberately used Telepathic Transmission, no sound could escape his ears.
Sure enough, he heard voices coming from the inn's main hall.
"Which family does that child belong to? He looks extraordinary despite being so young."
"A child? Hahaha. Daoist Wu, your eyesight needs improvement."
"What? Daoist Zhang, could it be that you know his origins?"
"Although that person looks like a child on the outside, I did not see the vigorous vitality a child should have in him. Moreover, he seemed to be shrouded in a layer of mist. I used Spiritual Eyes to observe him just now, yet I could not even tell whether he had any fluctuations of Divine Power. However, his blood and qi were like a blazing sun. Although I could not determine his exact cultivation, it was certainly not weak. He might even be an old senior who had cultivated a special Cultivation Method."
"Really? Why does he look like a child to me?"
"Even if he is a child, he is not an ordinary child. What seven- or eight-year-old child would come here alone?"
"Forget that child. Recently, more and more strange people have been appearing in our Yan State. I wonder if they have also come for the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone. Fellow Daoist Bai and the others followed those two people into the Barren Ancient Forest. It has been nearly a day. They should have sent back some news by now. I'm worried that something may have happened to them."
"They should be fine, right? Senior Bai is an expert of the Dao Palace Realm. Those two young people look to be only in their early twenties, so their cultivation cannot possibly be higher than Senior Bai's."
"I heard that disciples of the Ancient Families have recently begun traveling outside to gain experience. They are all incredibly young, yet possess extremely high cultivation."
"I heard that too. Supposedly, it is the young master of the Desolate Ancient Ji Family. He has been challenging the young Heavenly Pride of the various sects in the Southern Domain. Recently, he even went to provoke the demon clan's Princess, but for some reason, the demon clan's Princess has kept avoiding battle."
"I heard about that as well. Young disciples from the Desolate Ancient Jiang Family, Jade Pool Holy Land, and Shaking Light Holy Land have all arrived in our Yan State. I think this is a sign that some major figure is about to descend. Something big may be about to happen in our Yan State."
"Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered something. Half a month ago, when I was handling business in Wei State, I saw nine Kirin Beasts pulling an ancient War Chariot from far away. Guarded by a group of riders, it was heading toward our Yan State."
"I heard about that too, but it wasn't a War Chariot pulled by Kirin Beasts. It was a Hundred Flowers Fragrant Chariot."
"Tell me, with so many major figures descending upon our Yan State, could it be that someone has dug up a treasure in the Primordial Ruins again?"
"I think you're overthinking it. The Primordial Ruins have already been scoured countless times. What treasures could possibly remain? I think they most likely came for the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone."
"More than a dozen mortals suddenly came out alive from the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone. That hasn't happened in who knows how many years. Someone even ate the legendary Saint Medicine. I estimate that those major figures descended upon our Yan State because of this."
Just then, a voice came from outside the main hall: "Fellow Daoists, Fellow Daoist Feng has returned from the Barren Ancient Forest."
Everyone in the main hall rose and headed outside the inn.
The cultivator surnamed Feng had barely landed when he said mournfully, "Fellow Daoists, Senior Bai and the others are gone."
"Gone? How are they gone? Fellow Daoist Feng, explain quickly. How did Senior Bai and the others die? Did they rashly enter the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone?"
"When I arrived, Senior Bai and the others had already been reduced to a mass of Snow Mud. They were killed by the Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird in the Barren Ancient Forest."
"How could this happen? The cultivators of Yan State and the Fierce Beasts in the Barren Ancient Forest have always kept to their own sides. Why did that Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird kill them?"
After everyone fell silent for a moment, someone suddenly sighed. "Perhaps this is simply fate. The Forbidden Zone of Life truly isn't something people like us can covet. Fellow Daoists, I still have important matters at home, so I won't wait here with you any longer."
"Let's disperse. All of us, disperse. They died before even entering the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone. If they had entered it, who knows how many people would have died? A beautiful dream is still only a dream. Now that we've woken up, let's all return home." Another cultivator spoke up.
Like rabbits mourning the death of a fellow creature and foxes grieving over the death of their kind, the cultivators who had still held onto a sliver of hope finally chose to face reality after hearing that all their leaders had died.
Inside the room, after listening to those people's conversation, Li Zhi also fell into deep thought.
The Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone truly could not be entered recklessly. He had originally been considering whether to risk entering it to gather some Spiritual Herbs.
After living on its outskirts for nearly a year, he had already discovered the exact locations of several Spiritual Herbs.
Especially a snow lotus growing halfway up the mountain—it had probably reached the level of a Little Medicine King.
It seemed now that his caution at the time had been the right choice.
The Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone truly could not be entered recklessly.
Moreover, judging from their conversation, it seemed that the Green Emperor's Tomb in the Primordial Ruins had not yet been opened.
Perhaps he could go there and try his luck.
He did not know whether the Cosmic Luck borrowed on Mars had been exhausted.
He had just been brought out of the Barren Ancient Forest by a Jiang Clan disciple when he encountered an expert at the peak of the Dragon Transformation Realm.
That expert had also been filled with greed toward his physical body.
What kind of physique was the Longevity Immortal Body?
Li Zhi also wanted to know what was so special about it.
He also did not know whether the so-called Longevity Immortal Body was a physique born naturally, or one shaped after birth through the combined effects of eating half an Immortality Elixir and the special Power of Law from the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone, much like the acquired physiques of those in the Eternal Star Domain.
Sitting in the room, Li Zhi did not begin cultivating after he finished listening.
Instead, he took out the scroll of cultivation knowledge given to him by Jiang Shuwen and began reading it carefully.
The cultivation knowledge compiled by a Jiang Family Great Power, along with the cultivation precautions for the Wheel Sea and Dao Palace, might not be a priceless treasure, but for a rogue cultivator like Li Zhi, who had only just entered the cultivation world, it was undoubtedly the most suitable introductory knowledge.
With it, Li Zhi did not even need to join one of Yan State's minor sects to study.
Li Zhi had already secretly decided that once he cultivated the Longevity Locking Body Art another level higher, he would go to Tai Xuan Sect.
He would see whether he could join Tai Xuan Sect and cultivate on Zhuo Peak.
It would be a lie to say that he had no thoughts about the Nine Secrets.
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