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"Don't worry, Senior Brother Lin."

Elder Chu gave a slight nod, then moved, transforming into a streak of flowing light that shot into the sky and swept straight toward the edge of the mountain range, guarding against anyone secretly fleeing.

Elder Lin also rushed into the air, his gaze sharp as a hawk's, coldly sweeping over the four directions.

Lu Lin was moving swiftly through the mountain forest.

"It seems the battle with the Underworld Blood Beast King has already ended."

He pondered inwardly.

There had long since been no sign of fighting arts clashing high in the sky. Along the way, he had also seen quite a few Underworld Blood Beast corpses, so he casually dug out the milky-white chunks of flesh inside their bodies, accumulating a good amount of cultivation time again.

"Someone's coming."

Lu Lin suddenly stopped and looked up, only to see a streak of flowing light racing over from the distant sky.

A cultivator!

He instantly grew vigilant. The blood qi inside his body circulated in secret, power gathering, ready to erupt.

A young man in a dark-green robe stood on a leaf-shaped magical artifact, hovering above him, his gaze cold as he looked down at him.

"To think you didn't die in the mouths of the Underworld Blood Beasts. Your luck isn't bad."

The dark-green-robed young man muttered to himself, then pointed toward the depths of the mountain range, his tone indifferent. "Go gather over there. The elders have given the order. Do not make any mistakes."

With that, he turned into a streak of flowing light and vanished into the horizon.

"It seems these two Foundation Establishment great cultivators are going to thoroughly investigate the disappearance of the Skull Underworld Flower..."

Lu Lin's heart sank.

He was not worried about the Skull Underworld Flower itself. It had long since turned to flying ash. Even if a Foundation Establishment cultivator's methods were stronger, they still would not be able to trace it back to him.

What he truly worried about was his own cultivation.

Before entering the mountain, he had only been at the sixth level of Body Tempering, yet now he was already at the ninth level of Body Tempering.

Foundation Establishment great cultivators had keen spiritual senses. If they had remembered his previous cultivation, then if he was exposed now, disaster would come crashing down on his head.

He had to find a way to hide it.

"The Breath Concealment Art at the perfect level might still be able to fool Qi Refining cultivators, but before a Foundation Establishment great cultivator, I'm afraid it won't be enough... What should I do?"

Thoughts flashed rapidly through Lu Lin's mind. At this point, searching for a stronger concealment method was no longer realistic.

Then there was only one method left.

"Infuse!"

He gritted his teeth and poured the cultivation time he had just accumulated toward the already perfect Breath Concealment Art.

He had long wanted to try and see whether a cultivation method practiced to its limit could be further deduced. It was just that his cultivation time had always been tight before, which was why he had delayed until now.

Now, he had no other choice.

The Breath Concealment Art has already reached perfection. There is no further progress to be made, yet you are unwilling to accept this. You seek out an uninhabited place and enter seclusion for bitter cultivation, comprehending this method year after year. In the first year, you gain nothing; in the second year, it remains the same; in the third year, there is still not the slightest progress...

In the mountains, the passing of years is unknown. In the blink of an eye, fifteen years pass. This year, you suddenly sense something, catching a thread of spiritual light amid hundreds of circulations. Your heart fills with wild joy, and you grip it tightly, refusing to let go.

In the sixteenth year, that thread of spiritual light grows increasingly clear.

In the twentieth year, the concept in your mind gradually takes shape.

In the thirtieth year, Heaven does not fail those who strive. You finally evolve that thread of spiritual light into a method. The Breath Concealment Art climbs a hundred-foot pole and advances another step, creating the "Spirit Concealment Art."

Spirit Concealment Art: Conceal the spirit within, like a deep abyss still and a towering mountain unmoving; guard the one within the heart, like an ancient well without ripples. External things do not disturb the mind, and the myriad phenomena struggle to move the spirit.

It was done!

Lu Lin was overjoyed.

He circulated it slightly, and the blood qi around his body immediately withdrew and lay dormant, making him seem like a mortal. With a slight movement of his thoughts, his aura could also shift at will, from the first level of Body Tempering to the ninth, freely released or restrained.

Not only his blood qi, even his "essence, qi, and spirit" could all be completely withdrawn. When he circulated it with full force, he was like withered wood. It could absolutely fool the probing of a Foundation Establishment great cultivator.

"Good, good, good!"

Lu Lin praised it repeatedly in his heart.

These thirty years of cultivation had been more than worth it.

Not only that, he had also verified a guess: even without a follow-up cultivation method, as long as he was willing to spend the time, a method he had already mastered could still continue to be deduced.

"Should I also deduce the Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art?"

His heart stirred, but he immediately suppressed the thought.

The Breath Concealment Art was only a common good, low in price and widely circulated, yet deducing it had still taken thirty years. The Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art, however, was an Innate Blood Aura-level martial cultivation method. The time required to deduce it would definitely be astonishing.

Right now, cultivation time was precious. He still could not squander it like this.

This matter could only be left for later.

He kept his aura at the sixth layer of Body Tempering and hurried swiftly toward the depths of the mountain range.

When he drew near the Underworld Blood Beast King's lair again, he saw that forty or fifty people had already gathered there, most of them martial men.

It seemed he was not the only martial man who had survived.

High in the air, that male Foundation Establishment great cultivator swept his cold gaze over the crowd, aloof and majestic.

Like the others, Lu Lin put on an anxious, uneasy expression.

As time passed, more and more people gathered, until there were over seventy in the end.

At that moment, streaks of flowing light flew in from all directions, landing and revealing figures—all immortal-cultivating disciples at the Qi Refining stage.

Only at the very end did Elder Chu fly back from the distance.

"Is everyone here?"

Elder Lin's voice came from afar, majestic and icy.

"Master!"

A female cultivator in her twenties, stunningly beautiful, drove her magic artifact forward and replied respectfully, "The entire mountain range has been searched. All survivors are here."

"What about Yu An and Yao Yuan?" Elder Lin asked coldly.

"Replying to Master, we did not see any sign of them. This disciple guesses... perhaps they have already perished in the mouths of the underworld blood beasts."

"Whether they are alive or dead, it must be investigated clearly." Elder Lin's tone turned even colder.

"Yes, yes..." the female disciple answered repeatedly.

Elder Lin turned his gaze toward the crowd, and his powerful spiritual sense surged out like a tide, sweeping over the entire area.

Lu Lin only felt an invisible force envelop his whole body, lofty and superior, as if it could pierce through everything.

So this is the spiritual sense of a Foundation Establishment great cultivator...

He thought to himself, not daring to be the slightest bit careless, pushing the Spirit Concealment Art to its limit while keeping the fluctuations of his qi and blood steadily maintained at the sixth layer of Body Tempering.

Fortunately, that spiritual sense did not linger on him for too long. After two breaths, it moved away.

A moment later, Elder Lin spoke again.

"All immortal-cultivating disciples, take out your storage pouches and submit to inspection."

His gaze fell on those Qi Refining cultivators.

As for the martial men, they had no storage pouches, and beneath his spiritual sense, they had nowhere to hide. It was impossible for them to have a Skull Underworld Flower hidden on their bodies.

Only storage pouches could block the probing of spiritual sense.

Some immortal-cultivating disciples' eyes flickered, their expressions hesitant.

Who did not have a few secrets? And secrets were often hidden in storage pouches.

Handing over a storage pouch was no different from standing naked for others to scrutinize.

But under the gaze of a Demonic Sect Foundation Establishment cultivator, no one dared refuse.

To refuse was to die.

In the end, all the disciples handed over their storage pouches.

Elder Lin inspected them one by one, his expression growing darker and darker.

Nothing!

"Senior Brother Lin, this matter comes down to no more than two possibilities."

Elder Chu quietly transmitted her voice.

"Speak."

"First, an outsider infiltrated the mountain and took the Skull Underworld Flower amid the chaos."

"Second, someone among these disciples secretly succeeded and hid the flower somewhere, intending to find a chance to retrieve it in the future."

Elder Chu analyzed calmly.

Elder Lin nodded slightly. He had also thought of these two possibilities.

If it was the second, it would still be manageable. He only needed to send people to keep close watch on these disciples, then have others secretly guard the area near Four Underworld Mountain, waiting by the stump for the rabbit.

What he truly worried about was the first situation.

If an outsider had really succeeded, then he would have been sewing a wedding dress for another, all his work for nothing.

As for a martial man hiding the flower... he had never considered it at all.

Within the Demonic Sect's territory, martial men were not allowed to leave designated areas without permission. Once they returned this time, they would very likely have no chance to leave for years. Even if they obtained the Skull Underworld Flower, they would have no opportunity to come back and take it away.