A Narrow Escape

Given Jade Toad Granny's formidable agility, Li Fan gave up on attempting to escape. He simply continued along the tunnel of the crystal mine, figuring things would work themselves out. He wanted to see what this toad was really up to.

Xuanming Zhenqi is white, Return-to-Dust Zhenqi is blue, and Li Fan couldn't distinguish whether the crystals in the vein were quartz or other gemstones, but they were probably tainted by the earth vein's true qi, emitting blue and white light that complemented each other beautifully.

The vein that Li Fan followed Jade Toad Granny along looked more like a path forcibly blasted out of a single block of crystal. The broken crystal sections around the vein clearly showed smooth surfaces artificially cut with sharp blades. It was probably the work of the ancient immortal abode's master.

Li Fan tried to cut a piece of crystal with his Sword Qi and found it very difficult. The vein continued underground with almost no end in sight, so the ancient immortals who mined the vein must have been at least at the Transformation Stage.

"Well, do you recognize this crystal?" Jade Toad Granny turned around and looked at Li Fan with a smile.

Li Fan pretended to examine the fingernail-sized chip he had cut off, then shrugged and said, "Don't recognize it."

He wasn't lying, though. He also said he didn't recognize the Profound Heaven Sword Intent. Of course, his original words were quite long. He first made a guess, then denied it himself, repeating this seventeen or eighteen times, rambling on and on. Li Fan will simplify it for everyone.

Jade Toad Granny was not surprised. She pointed out, "This crystal only happens to be blue and white because it is located in the Lei Marsh. In fact, it can not only contain Dark Underworld Return to Dust, but also the Taiji Nine Qi. Moreover, it is extremely pure inside, without any impurities. Such a high-purity crystal mine cannot be found even if you search all over the Ten-thousand-mountains."

I tried to refine some of them into magical artifacts, but surprisingly, the runes engraved in these stones couldn't be activated, and even after crafting them, I couldn't control them. I studied them carefully and discovered the secret. You see..."

She casually sliced off a piece of crystal from a distance, held it in her palm, and electric snakes crackled and lightning flashed between her fingers. Within the crystal held in her hand, golden veins resembling leaves were clearly visible, like a regular spider web, and when lit up, they were as bright as day.

Jade Toad Granny placed the crystal in Li Fan's hand without any suspense, "This stone has already been engraved and refined once. Don't you understand? You come from Taiping Temple, you should know about forging magical treasures. Take sword forging as an example, first you have to boil the sword soup to purify the impurities, and then you engrave sword talismans and magic symbols on the sword material."

This crystal is a semi-finished product, or rather, a fragment of some kind of flying sword-like artifact. The talismans inside could be activated with lightning magic, but they are damaged and can only be lit; their true efficacy remains unknown.

Li Fan stared at her, "... You can even forge swords!?"

Jade Toad Granny Chan smiled, "Do you really think I'm a toad spirit? Hehe... Come on, I already told you, this is a tremendous opportunity for you..."

Li Fan looked at the crystal in his hand, which was still shining like a light bulb. He could still feel the lightning snakes that Jade Toad Granny had injected into it, running rampant within the stone, its power undiminished.

Holy crap... this thing is actually this powerful... wait! This monster can even use lightning magic!?

' The Profound Heaven Sword Intent Dao, the Sunflower Water Yin Thunder, dual escape techniques on land and water, skilled in sword forging, and also called Jade Toad Granny... There can't be so many coincidences... I know! I know whose ancient immortal inheritance this is... Follow me, this is a great opportunity!'

It's not easy to believe what monsters say, but since the Profound Heaven Sword Intent had said so, Li Fan had no choice but to believe it.

So he quickened his pace, keeping up with Jade Toad Granny's movements, holding the glittering crystal lamp, and walked through the mine, going down into the ground for about ten miles. Finally, the view opened up, and he arrived at a flat stone platform.

Li Fan emerged from the mine, looked up and scanned the area with his Divine Sense. He discovered that before him lay a vast, empty, and desolate underground cavern, devoid of the Fourth Department shadows. The platform they stood on, about four zhang in length and width, jutted out from the cliff face of the mine, seemingly wedged in mid-air. At the edge of the platform, a stone statue of an immortal stood with its back to the mine entrance, seemingly gazing down into the unfathomable abyss below.

Li Fan frowned, squatted down to wipe away the ashes on the platform, and used the crystal to shine a light on it before he could see that it was not a stone platform protruding from the cliff, but a whole piece of jade magic Magic Treasure, similar to a jade tablet or plate, with talismans and incantations clearly visible on its surface. It should be an enlarged man-carrying magic weapon that had been stuck into the cliff.

He stood up again and walked over to the stone statue of the immortal. The statue had stood there for who knows how many years; its features were blurred and indistinct. It gazed down into the dark, empty depths of the cave, seemingly looking at nothing in particular.

Jade Toad Granny smiled as she watched Li Fan exploring and touching things, and said, "Look back, and you will see the destiny."

Hearing her call, Li Fan turned his head to look beside the immortal statue and immediately saw it.

The cliff face was covered with densely packed Daoist scriptures, symbols, and incantations. It was clear that ancient immortals had directly carved their entire legacy onto the stone wall!

Wow, this doesn't leave any room for trial; its sword intent is far more powerful than yours.

"Profound Heaven Sword Intent Dao, humph, as expected, it is the inheritance of the Yuqing Palace of Qingcheng Mountain. It is likely that this cultivator encountered danger here, suffered great damage to his primordial spirit, and knew that his days were numbered, so he hastily passed down all his secret techniques."

However, that Jade Toad Granny was also quite clever. She knew her aptitude was low, and since she couldn't even master Lou Guan's internal alchemy, she naturally couldn't comprehend the superior methods of my Xuanmen. Direct cultivation would inevitably lead her to be stuck at a bottleneck, so she simply used your Tai Chi transformations to change her toad form and take advantage of the situation...

Look, it really does record the wonderful method of raising the Jade Toad in Qingcheng Mountain. This is a secret technique for refining immortal beasts. The Jade Toad raised is like a portable alchemy furnace, and the Immortal Toad Pill refined from its belly is a specialty of Qingcheng Mountain. Moreover, the quality of the pills refined will also improve as the Immortal Toad's realm increases.

She used the alchemy beast's Cultivation Method to practice on her own, and then, as her demonic body's cultivation level increased, she used that to improve the aptitude of her physical form—a rather unconventional approach indeed.

Jade Toad Granny also laughed and said, "The Stone Immortal beside you is a master from the orthodox Xuanmen sect, a highly accomplished person from the Yuqing Palace of Qingcheng Mountain. He has already reached the realm of enlightenment. Of the many escape techniques and divine skills he passed down, I can only comprehend a fraction of them, but I have already benefited greatly from them."

Since you can cultivate the Wuji Golden Core with Emei, your aptitude is far superior to mine. As long as you do this for me, I'm willing to cultivate the opportunities and inheritance on this stone wall with you. How about it? This far surpasses the opportunities in those Li Country immortal Immortal Palace at Taiping Temple, right?"

Li Fan had to nod in agreement, "Indeed, this is an incredible opportunity..."

"Profound Heaven Sword Intent said, 'Hmph, there's no such thing as a free lunch. That crystal was clearly not produced by Qingcheng Mountain. Rather, he discovered this place during his travels in Lei Marsh and then built his mansion to explore its mysteries.'"

But after so many years, a Xuanmen True Cultivator at the Enlightenment Stage has not made any progress. Instead, his primordial spirit was inexplicably injured, forcing him to pass on his power and perish. And this Jade Toad Granny is also Divine Transformation Great Demon, yet she stays here and refuses to leave. It is likely that she is also in extreme danger, which is why she has not made any progress.

The thing she's asking you to help her with is practically a death sentence!

Li Fan understood this as well. Jade Toad Granny might not have fallen into demonic possession due to a failed love tribulation or a loss of control over her Dao heart. Her actions, rather than being those of a demon, were more akin to those stemming from a purer, more genuine human heart.

It's greed.

Some people say that everyone has a price, and maintaining loyalty simply means that the price offered by others is not high enough.

But this time, the opportunities presented to Jade Toad Granny were far too numerous. No wonder that a rogue cultivator like her not only wanted to monopolize the inheritance of the immortals of Qingcheng Mountain, but also wanted to obtain the supreme treasure that even immortals could not obtain. She was even willing to betray her sect of Ink Bamboo Mountain for this. In the end, she has fallen deeply into the demonic path.

Her actions were all driven by selfish desires. And the immortal of Qingcheng Mountain, who explored the Lei Marsh Swamp alone, guarding an immense opportunity, never sought help from his fellow disciples—wasn't that also driven by selfish motives?

I suspect that, aside from true saints, most people, faced with such an incredible opportunity, would choose to have it all.

At this point, Li Fan understood that the other party was definitely lying and had no intention of giving him a way out.

What talk of joint cultivation? He'd already seen the foundation of Jade Toad Granny's Daoist magic. If he were to help her obtain an opportunity that even immortals couldn't obtain, how could she possibly let him go? Jade Toad Granny was willing to betray her sect and turn against her fellow disciples for these things; how could she possibly share them with an outsider like him? What talk of keeping promises? At worst, she'd just not fight in human form and would switch to demon form to do the dirty work. Anyone can pull that kind of trick...

Li Fan understood perfectly well, but his face betrayed his true nature, feigning a greedy expression as he scrutinized the Cultivation Method inscribed on the mountain wall. "... Such an opportunity, I truly don't want to miss. However... but you said that all the enlightened Real Immortal of Qingcheng Mountain have passed away, and even you, senior, couldn't obtain this opportunity. I'm afraid my abilities are limited, and I might jeopardize your plans..."

"Perhaps you should give me some more time to improve my cultivation. That way, my chances of success will be greater, and I won't ruin your plans..."

Jade Toad Granny Chan chuckled, "Just agree, it's a simple matter, no need for so much preparation. Come with me."

Before Li Fan could react, his vision blurred, his wrist was pulled, and he was dragged by Jade Toad Granny from the platform into the pit!

Li Fan was startled and suppressed the urge to attack immediately, letting his opponent carry him away in a stealth flight, rapidly traversing the abyss cavern below.

Jade Toad Granny raised her eyebrows and glanced at Li Fan, then smiled and said, "After so many years of research, and with the clues left by that senior from Qingcheng Mountain, I have actually figured it out."

Look, this cave was originally an underground river channel. Around ancient times, Lei Marsh was directly connected to the South China Sea. It was only later that the water receded, creating the mountainous and land boundaries we see today. That era is too far back; it must have been before the rise of the Gonggong clan. At that time, the Human Race should still be in the wilderness.

But this cliffside crystal mine, buried deep beneath the Lei Marsh Swamp, and marked by the erosion of underground water, clearly dates back to before the Primordial Era. How strange that man-made fragments of crystal Magic Treasure existed in the very beginning of the Primordial Era!

Holy crap? This cultivation Immortal Realm actually has a prehistoric civilization...

"That's not all! There are actually many human creations down there... Here we are, look, there it is!"

In the blink of an eye, only light and shadow brushed past his ears. He didn't know how far he had been carried down the mountain, but Li Fan was actually landing on his feet.

He looked up in the direction the Jade Toad Granny had pointed, and saw, amidst layers of magic arrays, beneath rolling crystal rocks...

It looks like a spaceship...

Li Fan blinked, rubbed his eyes, and then opened them again.

Yes, it looks just like a spaceship.

Well... the art style is all messed up now... Oh well, I'm used to it...

Li Fan observed it carefully. It was a dark oval object, about ten zhang long and four zhang wide, with a perfectly round shape and an exceptionally smooth surface. Upon closer inspection, it was even floating half a foot in the air, without any contact with the surrounding mountain walls.

There were some obviously mechanical wreckages around the object, but most of them were buried under the nearby mountain wall. The base of the mountain rock was covered with a large amount of colorless and transparent crystals, which seemed to have exploded outwards. It seems that something inside the cliff was generating these crystals, but because of some accident below, they leaked out and continued to grow in all directions.

However, this oval-shaped, spaceship-like object seemed to possess some kind of inherent protective barrier, preventing it from being affected by the environment, and was even gradually pushed out of the cliff by the crystal. When Li Fan tried to probe with his Divine Sense, he clearly sensed that some kind of spherical protective shield still existed around this spaceship-like man-made object.

Judging from the magic array set up on the ground, the marked command flags, and the numbers written on the counting rods, this is what Qingcheng Mountain or Jade Toad Granny was trying to study.

"This is a flying boat made by the ancient people."

Li Fan turned and glared at Jade Toad Granny, "How did you know this was a... 'boat'?"

Jade Toad Granny laughed, "There's also one in the Ink Mountain Cave Heaven. I've sneaked in and seen it several times. But the one they found is much larger, and if I'm not mistaken, many of their Daoist techniques, as well as the mechanisms and intricacies of the Heavenly Crafts lineage, were inspired by that ancient flying boat."

Li Fan was in a state of utter bewilderment, his mind completely blank, thinking, "Holy crap?? So Ink Bamboo Mountain has technology from the Zentradi??"

Jade Toad Granny walked to the object, reached out her right hand, and slowly placed it on the metal. Then, as if a whirlpool had suddenly appeared on the surface of an inky lake, the black metal curled and contracted inward, revealing an opening the size of a human figure.

"What you need to do is very simple: go in and take everything you can get your hands on and bring it to me."

Li Fan cautiously approached the entrance of the flying boat, looking at the smiling Jade Toad Granny with a puzzled expression, "That's it?"

Jade Toad Granny Chan nodded. "That's settled."

Li Fan still hesitated, "This is a mission with a near-certain death rate? If there's anything else I need to remind you of, senior, why don't you say it before I die..."

Jade Toad Granny Chan understood his hesitation. She pointed to the array behind Li Fan marked with command flags and banners, which resembled three concentric circles centered on the object in the center. She said, "That is not actually a sealing array, but a distance marker. Moreover, it is not a circle marking the plane; the actual range is roughly a sphere."

Non-human monsters will be reduced to ashes the moment they enter the third sphere. Ordinary mortals will bleed from their seven orifices and die suddenly when they enter the second sphere. Those who enter the innermost sphere, unless they are True Cultivator with profound Daoist skills and deep foundations, will directly suffer the collapse of their Daoist body, go into qi deviation, and become inhuman.

In short, once you lose the hearts and minds of the people, the outcome is the same: a sudden, sharp crack!

Jade Toad Granny snapped her fingers and pointed to the dark oval surface, "Turn into ashes, then be absorbed onto the surface of this flying boat, leaving not a trace."

Li Fan was stunned, and subconsciously touched his body.

Jade Toad Granny laughed, "I just flew you in directly. You're neither crazy nor dead, and you're standing here safely, not turned to ashes and stuck to this flying boat. It seems you've passed the critical moment of almost dying. So just go in, hehehe..."

Holy crap? If he hadn't been lucky, he would have been reduced to ashes the moment he entered the magic circle?! And you even knew the distance so clearly?! Just how many people did you bring here and get turned to ashes?!

"You can come in too? Why don't you go in yourself!"

Jade Toad Granny shrugged and removed her right hand from the spaceship. The vortex-like hatch instantly closed, leaving not a single crack...

Li Fan, "..."

Jade Toad Granny pressed her hand against the cabin door again and opened it. "There's no other way. No amount of magic can break through this flying boat. Even a primordial spirit can't escape inside. I've tried it, and that senior from Qingcheng Mountain must have tried even more. This trick is a clumsy method that I risked my life to steal from Ink Bamboo Mountain. At least it can Door Opening. Then we can find a helper to go in and retrieve the items."

However, finding such helpers is difficult. Monsters are useless, humans are too cunning, those with too high a cultivation level are hard to control, and those with too low a cultivation level are unbearable. Ideally, they should be between the Golden Core and Nascent Soul Stage —someone who knows how to be accommodating yet can't escape my grasp. Isn't that perfect? Hehehe~~~"

Li Fan hesitated, looking at the pitch-black interior of the flying boat. "Why don't you go in, and I'll keep watch outside?"

Jade Toad Granny Chan rolled her eyes at him.

Okay, negotiations failed, so we'll just have to bite the bullet and go for it. What do you think of sword intent...?

Li Fan suddenly realized something was wrong, turned his head to look back, and saw only a silver bamboo leaf, seemingly blocked in mid-air by an invisible wall of energy, drifting around but unable to fall. Moreover...

The system communication appears to have been interrupted.

Forget about any mood-related prompts; even the function to display the current mood limit doesn't work.

Oh ho, this time it's probably for real, a near-death experience...

Jade Toad Granny still smiled radiantly, revealing two sweet dimples. "Don't blame me for not warning you, my cultivation level only allows me to stand here for half an incense stick's time. The longer I stay, the more I want to eat people, so..."

What are you dawdling about?! Hurry up! Do you really want me to throw you in there?!

Li Fan watched as the girl finally couldn't contain herself any longer, opening her jaws wide like a slit-mouthed woman to reveal a mouthful of fangs, and sighed.

What kind of toad is this...?

So he took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and plunged into the airship.