Dao Sect

Just as Chen Changqing was lost in thought.

The disciples of Medicine God Valley had already finished counting the spirit stones Qingyang had handed over. With expressionless faces, they took out two talismans.

"These are the two talismans for entering Hundred Herbs Valley."

"Activate the talisman once when entering, and once when leaving."

"Remember this."

"You only have three days. After three days, whether you have found spirit herbs in Hundred Herbs Valley or not, you must come out."

"If you do not come out, the Mountain Protection Array will automatically launch an attack."

"At that time, whether you live or die will have nothing whatsoever to do with our Medicine God Valley."

Qingyang nodded, accepted the talismans from the Medicine God Valley disciple, and handed one to Chen Changqing.

The talisman felt slightly cool in his hand. Complex array patterns were carved across it, with spiritual power faintly flowing through them.

It seemed to be used to identify their identities, so they would not be mistakenly injured by the Mountain Protection Array.

"Junior Brother, let's make haste!"

Qingyang smiled at Chen Changqing.

Chen Changqing gave a soft grunt of assent.

Without further delay, he activated the talisman together with Qingyang and entered Hundred Herbs Valley.

After passing through the Mountain Protection Array, the scene before them suddenly changed.

Within Hundred Herbs Valley, ancient trees towered into the sky, spiritual mist curled through the air, and mountain ranges rose and fell in the distance.

"What dense heaven-and-earth spiritual energy."

Chen Changqing could not help exclaiming.

With just one deep breath, he felt his limbs and bones ease considerably.

The spiritual energy in Hundred Herbs Valley was no less abundant than that of Mount Shu Sect's Inner Sect.

"Junior Brother Chen, there is something I truly must apologize for."

Suddenly, Qingyang looked at Chen Changqing with an embarrassed expression.

"Hm?"

Chen Changqing was slightly startled. Not understanding, he looked back at Qingyang. "What is it?"

Qingyang sighed and said,

"This time, I invited Junior Brother Chen to come with me to Hundred Herbs Valley, but I only offered a hundred spirit stones as payment."

"I will not hide it from you, Senior Brother truly is... short of funds."

Hearing this, Chen Changqing waved his hand without caring in the slightest.

"Senior Brother, you are too serious."

"Even if Senior Brother gave me no reward, we both came from the Outer Sect Seven Courtyards. I would still help you."

"Only..."

At this point, Chen Changqing frowned and continued,

"Since Medicine God Valley dared to open Hundred Herbs Valley to outsiders, I imagine most of the good things within have already been taken by Medicine God Valley."

"Will what Senior Brother seeks be difficult to find?"

After Chen Changqing put it that way, Qingyang merely smiled calmly.

The next moment, he swept a hand over his storage space, and an aged yellow map appeared in his hand.

"Junior Brother, I have a detailed map!"

"It records the location of the Three-Colored Flower I need."

"And that place is extremely well hidden. Even if the people of Medicine God Valley searched Hundred Herbs Valley beforehand, they might not necessarily have found it."

"I paid quite a price for this map. I obtained it from an elder of Mount Shu's Inner Sect."

Chen Changqing nodded, thinking that Qingyang had indeed made ample preparations for this trip to Hundred Herbs Valley.

"Junior Brother, follow me!"

"Let's head straight for the Three-Colored Flower."

After a moment of silence, Qingyang said this.

Then, without further delay, the two followed the map's directions and flew away on their swords.

Before they knew it, two days had passed.

"Senior Brother Qingyang, are you sure the map is correct?"

Chen Changqing raised a brow and looked at Qingyang in confusion.

Earlier, the two had arrived at the target area according to the map.

Yet after searching for a long while, they had not seen the item Qingyang needed at all.

"This..."

Qingyang froze, his face filled with bitter helplessness. For a moment, he did not know what to say.

Could the elder who gave me the map have been fooling me?

But after giving it some thought, he felt that possibility was unlikely.

"Could someone have gotten there first?"

Very quickly, such a thought arose in Qingyang's mind.

After all, many people from other sects entered Hundred Herbs Valley every day in search of spirit herbs.

It could not be ruled out that the item he needed had already been obtained by someone else.

Thinking of this, Qingyang took a deep breath and said somewhat dejectedly,

"Junior Brother Chen, I will have to trouble you to search a little longer with me."

"After all, we are already here."

"Once the time is up, whether we have found it or not, we will leave Hundred Herbs Valley immediately."

Chen Changqing nodded lightly. It was not as though he was urging Qingyang.

He simply felt that if they kept searching like this, the chances of finding it were not great.

Then, the two prepared to continue investigating the surroundings, but just then, an unexpected change erupted.

"Boom!"

Violent spiritual power fluctuations came from not far ahead.

This commotion clearly meant that someone was fighting.

Hearing this, Chen Changqing and Qingyang exchanged a glance, swiftly concealed their auras, and hurried toward where the battle had broken out.

Before long, the two arrived in a valley.

Looking over, they saw two young cultivators locked in a fierce battle.

One wore a blue Daoist robe, his hands forming seals as lightning flickered around him. His bearing was extraordinary.

The other wore a black robe, with demonic qi surging all over his body.

Especially his pair of eyes, which were scarlet and terrifying. He was actually a member of the Demon Sect.

Moreover, neither of the two young men was weak. Both were Core Formation cultivators.

Furthermore, they were Core Formation cultivators who had condensed over ten thousand strands of true qi.

After entering the Core Formation realm, cultivators would continue condensing true qi. Ordinary late-stage Core Formation cultivators only had around thirty thousand strands of true qi. Only geniuses could continue gathering it, with the highest limit being ninety thousand strands.

After seeing the scene before him, Qingyang said in shock,

"These two are both very strong!"

"They are both mid-stage Core Formation cultivators with over ten thousand strands of true qi condensed within them."

"Even in Mount Shu's Inner Sect, they would be at the level of the top few dozen on the Top 100 Ranking."

Chen Changqing showed little reaction to Qingyang's words.

When I form my core in the future, how many strands of true qi will I be able to condense at most?

As Chen Changqing pondered this, the two young men in the valley fought with increasing ferocity.

"Boom!"

"Heaven and Earth Thunder Technique—Break!"

The young man in Daoist robes shouted furiously.

Immediately afterward, lightning burst from his palm, transforming into a dazzling Thunder Dragon that charged straight at the Demon Sect cultivator.

"Heh!"

The demonic cultivator sneered coldly, and the demonic qi around him suddenly surged.

When they looked again, the terrifying demonic qi had transformed into a savage demonic phantom, meeting the Thunder Dragon head-on.

"Rumble!"

"Bang!"

Deafening explosions resounded as shockwaves rolled outward, shattering every tree within a hundred zhang.

Next, the Demon Sect youth attacked even more viciously.

Very quickly, he firmly suppressed the young man in Daoist robes.

"Take a demonic palm strike from me!"

"Boom!"

Seizing an opening in the Daoist-robed youth's defense, the Demon Sect youth fiercely blasted out a palm strike.

"Pfft!"

Caught off guard, the Dao Sect disciple was sent flying by the palm strike and spat out a great mouthful of blood.