One Step Ahead

Seven days later, a vast Black Dense Forest appeared, with a black miasma floating above it.

Shen Long and Hundred-Eyed Golden Cicada were enveloped by a Purple Light Screen, while Iron Tail Scorpion was locked in combat with a Black Giant Scorpion.

The Iron Tail Scorpion is currently at the late stage of Third Rank, and the Black Giant Scorpion is also at the late stage of Third Rank. It is no match for the Iron Tail Scorpion.

The Iron Tail Scorpion let out a sharp, piercing screech. Before the Black Giant Scorpion could react, the Iron Tail Scorpion's stinger struck the Black Giant Scorpion's head.

The Black Giant Scorpion immediately lay down on the ground, motionless.

The Iron Tail Scorpion let out a joyful hiss and spewed out a beam of yellow light that enveloped the corpse of the Black Giant Scorpion. The corpse of the Black Giant Scorpion shrank rapidly and was sucked into the mouth of the Iron Tail Scorpion by the yellow light.

Iron Tail Scorpion continued forward, with Shen Long and Hundred-Eyed Golden Cicada following behind.

The restrictions on Divine Sense are very severe here. Shen Long's Divine Sense can only extend ten miles outwards. As he goes deeper into the Ten Thousand Poison Valley, the restrictions on his Divine Sense become even greater, and this range will shrink further.

Shen Long's Divine Sense was approaching that of a Great Perfection Core Formation cultivator, and he was already so severely affected. A true Great Perfection Core Formation cultivator wouldn't be much better off. Fortunately, the Hundred-Eyed Golden Cicada could still see the situation within a hundred miles.

Half an hour later, Shen Long emerged from the dense forest, only to find his path blocked by a narrow valley.

He took out a piece of Cyan Beast Hide, which had mountains and rivers on it, as well as text markings. The three large characters "Ten Thousand Poison Valley" could be seen on it. This was Treasure Map that he had found in Lu Xin's Storage Bag. It had markings of various colors, but only one red one.

According to Lu Xin's account, the Nascent Soul Cultivator's Ascension Cave Abode is located at the red marker.

"Well, you're actually playing dirty tricks on me. If it weren't for the Hundred-Eyed Golden Cicada, I probably would be dead."

Shen Long said with a gloomy face.

Lu Xin instructed him to pass through here, directly to the cave dwelling of the Nascent Soul Cultivator.

In the eyes of the Hundred-Eyed Golden Cicada, there were some Gray Silk Threads in the valley, but Shen Long couldn't detect anything unusual when he used his Divine Sense to investigate.

He took out the Soul Refining Bowl, cast a spell, and a Green Light Orb could be seen inside the Soul Refining Bowl.

"Fellow Daoist Shen, I've told you everything truthfully, what more do you want?"

The Green Light Orb seemed somewhat dissatisfied.

"Tell the truth? Hmph, you're sending me to my death! If I hadn't been cautious, I would have almost fallen for your trap. You're asking for it."

Shen Long said coldly, urging the Soul Refining Bowl to torment Lu Xin's soul.

"Haha, you've already killed me, why would I be afraid of your torture? Hehe, by the time you reach your destination, Fellow Daoist Xu and the others will have already obtained the Nascent Soul Cultivator's relics."

Lu Xin laughed wildly.

Shen Long released the Ghost Dove, letting it devour Lu Xin's soul, and then retrieved it into his Spirit Beast Bag.

Shen Long stared at the map, a thoughtful expression on his face.

According to the map, he needed to take a long detour to reach his destination, and he didn't know Xu Tong and the others' route.

After pondering for a moment, Shen Long retreated into the dense forest, intending to go around it.

After all, it was the Ascension Cave Abode of Nascent Soul Cultivator, and he didn't want to miss it, hoping to get there before Xu Tong.

Outside the Ten Thousand Poison Valley, a purple Escape Light flew in from afar, then stopped in a flash. The Escape Light dissipated, revealing a flying boat shimmering with purple light.

Four men and one woman stood on top, and Xu Tong was also inside.

They originally intended to ambush and kill Shen Long, and take his head to claim the reward from Wu Xian Shen Long, but unexpectedly, Lu Xin was swiftly killed by Shen Long.

Since the Ten Thousand Poison Valley was located on Human Race territory, Wu Mo and his companions could not travel openly and had to avoid other Human Race cultivators as much as possible, which caused them considerable delay.

"We've finally arrived at the Ten Thousand Poison Valley."

Xu Tong's expression was solemn.

"Let's hope the intelligence is correct!"

Wu Mo said.

"He won't get ahead of us, will he? Fellow Daoist Lu has a map on him."

Xu Tong said with some concern.

"He's not Nascent Soul Cultivator, so he can't search souls. At most, he could only kill Fellow Daoist Lu. The map doesn't say it's Nascent Soul Cultivator's cave. How could he possibly find it based on a map?"

Wu Mo said nonchalantly.

"In any case, it's better to be careful."

A woman with a graceful figure, dressed in a blue dress, spoke solemnly.

Wu Qing, Core Formation Late Stage.

"Enough with the nonsense, let's go inside!"

Wu Mo urged.

Xu Tong put away the Purple Flying Boat, and the five of them entered the Ten Thousand Poison Valley.

······

Deep within the Ten Thousand Poison Valley lies a vast wasteland, under a hazy gray sky.

Shen Long and Hundred-Eyed Golden Cicada were enveloped by a Purple Light Screen and moved forward quickly. High above, lightning flashed and thunder roared, and thick silver lightning bolts struck down.

The Thunder-Absorbing Bead floated above Shen Long's head, and streaks of silver lightning entered the Thunder-Absorbing Bead.

A quarter of an hour later, Shen Long and Hundred-Eyed Golden Cicada left the wasteland, and a Cyan Bamboo Forest came into view.

Shen Long made a hand seal, and the spiritual light of the Thunder-Absorbing Bead dimmed, settling into his hand.

With the Thunder-Absorbing Bead in hand, ordinary lightning power could not harm him.

Shen Long released the Iron Tail Scorpion to lead the way, while he and the Hundred-Eyed Golden Cicada followed behind.

Passing through the bamboo forest, a narrow valley came into view, barren of all vegetation.

"Looks like they haven't arrived yet!"

Shen Long's face lit up with joy.

The Hundred-Eyed Golden Cicada did indeed discover a restriction within the valley, but it's unclear whether it's the Ascension Cave Abode of Nascent Soul Cultivator.

Shen Long released the Giant Ape Puppet Beast, made a hand seal, and it strode forward into the valley.

The Giant Ape Puppet Beast walked around the valley without any abnormalities. It entered the valley and wandered around without triggering any restrictions. Only then did Shen Long feel relieved and strode in.

Inside the valley was a cave about ten feet in size. Shen Long summoned a Puppy Puppet Beast. Lu Xin had quite a few low-level Puppet Beast in his Storage Bag, probably prepared for treasure hunting, which benefited Shen Long.

The Puppy Puppet Beast rushed into the cave, arriving at a cavern about an acre in size. It ran around inside without showing any unusual behavior.

Shen Long was relieved. He released the Tree Man and had it hide in the bamboo forest to act as a watchdog. If anyone approached the valley, it would immediately warn Shen Long.

He entered the cave and soon arrived at the cavern.

The Hundred-Eyed Golden Cicada flew to a rough stone wall and began to chirp merrily.

Shen Long released hundreds of thousands of Golden-Winged Fire Ant, which quickly coalesced into a Golden Spear and struck the stone wall.

With a muffled thud, the stone wall remained unharmed.

A burst of Golden Flame erupted from the surface of the Golden Spear, engulfing a large section of the stone wall.

Shen Long walked over, put on the Ice Flood Dragon Gauntlets, and slammed his fist into the stone wall.

After a series of loud explosions, a yellow light shone from the stone wall, and a thick Yellow Light Screen appeared, with a Yellow Light Screen tortoise pattern on its surface.

"The Mystic Turtle Array!"

Shen Long recognized it as Fourth-Rank Array.

High-level cultivators consult Formation manuals to understand the characteristics and functions of various Formation, making it easier to deal with them.

"As expected, this is the cave dwelling of Nascent Soul Cultivator. I hope there are some good items inside."

Shen Long said excitedly.

He opened his mouth and spat out a ball of Three-Colored Flame, which landed on the Yellow Light Screen. The Yellow Light Screen immediately emitted a puff of green smoke. He then moved his fists and continuously pounded on the Yellow Light Screen.

After a series of muffled thuds, the cave began to shake violently, and the light from the Yellow Light Screen dimmed.

Shen Long's fists emitted a blinding white light as they slammed into the Yellow Light Screen. The Yellow Light Screen could no longer withstand the force and shattered, revealing a cave several tens of feet in size.

Inside the cave was a humanoid skeleton, entirely black, with its left skeletal hand missing, its skull bearing numerous cracks, and a yellow Storage Bag tied around its waist.

Judging from the appearance, the cave's owner was seriously injured and poisoned before his death.

In front of the humanoid skeleton was a circular yellow Formation Disk with thirty-six uniformly sized grooves on Formation Disk surface, each containing a grayish-white stone.

Shen Long released the Ghost Dove, Ghost Dove two heads each emitted a beam of blue light that enveloped the corpse without causing any abnormalities.

Shen Long breathed a sigh of relief, walked to the skeleton, took off the yellow Storage Bag, shook the bag downwards, and after a flash of yellow light, a large pile of things appeared on the ground.

Three Law Treasure, over 300,000 Spirit Stone, and some Monster Beast Material.

A golden jade box and a cyan Jade Box caught Shen Long's attention. He opened the golden jade box, inside which was half a golden incense stick, which emitted a peculiar fragrance.

Upon smelling the fragrance, Shen Long felt an indescribable sense of pleasure deep within his soul.

"Soul-Calming Incense!"

Shen Long was overjoyed.

The Soul-Calming Incense can weaken the power of Inner Demon. Core Formation Cultivator need to overcome the inner demon Nascent Soul when breaking through to the Inner Demon Tribulation, and with the Soul-Calming Incense, the Inner Demon Tribulation is easier to overcome.

He opened the blue Jade Box and saw a golden lotus flower.

"Millennial Nine-Leaf Golden Lotus!"

Shen Long recognized the origin of the golden lotus.

The Nine- Golden Lotus blooms only once every thousand years. It is the main ingredient in the Fourth-Order Pill, the Nine-Leaf Golden Lotus Pill, and has excellent detoxifying effects.

Shen Long picked up a Golden Jade Slip and immersed his Divine Sense into it.

In less than a quarter of an hour, he finished reading all the contents of the Jade Slip.

"Seven-Core Begonia! Nine-Leaf Golden Lotus Pill!"

Shen Long's face showed a look of sudden realization.

The Seven-Core Begonia is a rare poison capable of killing Nascent Soul Cultivator. A Jade Slip contains the recipe for the Nine-Leaf Golden Lotus Pill Formula.

Shen Long carefully examined the items on the ground and found that he had gathered all the materials needed to refine the Nine-Leaf Golden Lotus Pill. It seemed that this person had entered the Ten Thousand Poison Valley in search of the Nine- Golden Lotus, but unfortunately, he died and his cultivation vanished.

A deafening explosion rang out. Shen Long frowned, picked up the things on the ground, and put the Ghost Dove back into his Spirit Beast Bag.

The eyes of the Hundred-Eyed Golden Cicada emitted a dazzling golden light, Shen Long frowned deeply.

"Xu Tong! You got here so quickly."

Shen Long asked in surprise.

Outside the valley, rows of green bamboo surrounded Xu Tong and his group of five. Thick Cyan Vine broke through the soil, like long green whips, and lashed out at Xu Tong and his group.

Wu Qing unleashed two Cyan Flying Knife, shattering the attacking Cyan Vine into pieces.

"Someone beat me to it; it really is Shen Long."

Wu Mo's face was filled with murderous intent.

This should have been their fortuitous opportunity, but Shen Long stole it from them.

A deafening thunderclap echoed from high above, and a Silver Thunder Pillar, about ten feet in diameter, descended from the sky, striking Xu Tong and his group of five.

Before Xu Tong and his group of five could dodge, a sharp, piercing screech rang out. Wu Qing and her group reacted too slowly as Silver Thunder Pillar struck them, engulfing their figures in the lightning and sending shockwaves surging through the air.