Five stone statues, each possessing the cultivation level of late Foundation Establishment.
Mo Tiange swept her gaze over them, quickly analyzing the situation in her heart. Since the door had already closed, this was a sealed chamber. Apart from defeating these stone statues, there was no other way out.
They already knew the statues' weakness, but how to break through their sword energy was a difficult problem. These five statues were each immensely powerful, their sword swings unleashing intimidating sword energy that interwove into a net of blades. Even though they were slow, her Flying Sky Shuttle couldn't penetrate it. Moreover, these statues had no consciousness, so even illusionary items like the Soul-Bewitching Lamp wouldn't work.
Defeat them one by one? The thought flashed through her mind. Mo Tiange looked at Daoist Fangzheng. "Fellow Daoist, I'll entangle four of them. You deal with one."
Daoist Fangzheng immediately nodded. "Good!" If it was one-on-one, even if his cultivation was slightly weaker, eliminating one wouldn't be too difficult knowing its weakness.
After agreeing with Daoist Fangzheng, Mo Tiange leaped into the air, hovering mid-air as she retrieved a talisman from her Qiankun Bag. She sighed.
As the personal disciple of a Nascent Soul cultivator, how could she not have some treasures? Over the years, although Dao Lord Jinghe hadn't instructed her on cultivation matters, he had been anything but stingy with other things. When she left the mountain this time, he had even given her several life-preserving items. It was just that she believed it was best to handle what she could herself. Relying too much on external objects wouldn't be good for her growth and experience.
However, right now, even preserving her life was difficult. Naturally, she would use whatever means available. Otherwise, if she lost her life, the loss would be too great.
Holding the talisman, Mo Tiange closed her eyes and began reciting an oral formula.
As she chanted, white spiritual light emanated from her entire body, rising like mist. This spiritual light was a symbol of gathered Spiritual Qi. The Spiritual Qi grew denser, the light brighter. When she finished the oral formula, her eyes snapped open. "Go!"
The talisman ignited, transforming into four streaks of fiery light that instantly shot toward the four stone statues.
A statue swung its sword, seemingly wanting to sever them as before. But this time it was useless. The four streaks of light were completely unaffected, directly piercing through the sword energy and enveloping the statues in an instant.
The four statues froze, maintaining their sword-raising postures.
Mo Tiange shouted, "Daoist Fangzheng, quickly! I can only maintain this for the time it takes an incense stick to burn!"
As she unleashed this move, the entire stone chamber was enveloped in Spiritual Qi. Daoist Fangzheng was dumbstruck. Hearing her shout, he snapped out of his daze and immediately pounced on the remaining statue.
Daoist Fangzheng flicked his wrist, sending a talisman flying out. It was an earth-attribute spell, "Thick Earth Bears All." The ground beneath the statue instantly turned into loess, surging upward and trapping it.
The statue swung its sword blankly, but how could it cut through this mud? Seizing this opportunity, Daoist Fangzheng raised his horsetail whisk. Thousands of dust threads showered down upon the statue's head.
This time, the statue swung its sword to block, finally managing to parry.
Daoist Fangzheng immediately retracted the dust threads and threw out several more talismans.
Foundation Establishment stage talismans were not comparable to Qi Refining stage ones. Even with money, they were hard to buy. Daoist Fangzheng was really going all out this time.
Under the assault of several high-grade talismans, the statue gradually couldn't swing its sword anymore. Thousands of dust threads sprayed out once more. Two of them drilled into the statue's ears with a "sizzle" sound. Finally, the statue stopped moving.
Mo Tiange let out a slight sigh of relief and took out another talisman. Chanting the oral formula, she once again immobilized the four statues. Without needing to be told, Daoist Fangzheng flicked his whisk, driving threads into the statues' ears.
As the four statues were toppled one by one, Mo Tiange let out a long breath. Unable to hold on any longer, she landed on the ground, her legs giving way as she sat down.
These two talismans were not ordinary ones used by Foundation Establishment cultivators. They were top-grade talismans. So-called top-grade talismans were actually like Magical Treasures—they didn't belong to any specific stage. Only Core Formation or higher cultivators could create such talismans. They contained a portion of a Magical Treasure's power, making them extraordinarily potent, just like a real Magical Treasure.
It was well known that Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators could also use Magical Treasures. However, in their hands, a Magical Treasure could only unleash one percent or even one-thousandth of its power. It was simply incomparable to a Magical Treasure in the hands of a Core Formation or Nascent Soul cultivator. But these Magical Treasure talismans were different. They contained the true power of a Magical Treasure. Although not comparable to a Nascent Soul cultivator, they were not inferior to a Core Formation cultivator's attack! The only catch was that such Magical Treasure talismans could only be used once.
Even so, the amount of Spiritual Qi consumed to activate these two Magical Treasure talismans was truly immense. Mo Tiange felt utterly exhausted for a moment.
But with someone else present, she didn't dare rest for long. Swallowing several Spirit-Restoring Pills, she regulated her breathing briefly before standing up.
"Daoist Fangzheng, how is it?"
Daoist Fangzheng had also rested briefly before getting up to inspect the surroundings. He was now carefully examining the area behind the stone statues.
Hearing her question, Daoist Fangzheng didn't stop his inspection, merely turning slightly. "Fellow Daoist Ye, come look quickly!"
His tone suggested he had discovered something. Mo Tiange got up and walked over.
Daoist Fangzheng pointed at the stone wall. "Fellow Daoist Ye, look closely."
Mo Tiange leaned forward and was taken aback. On the stone wall were finely, densely carved murals. The carvings were exquisite, but the content was chaotic, as if someone had carved whatever came to mind. Some depicted people, some plants and exotic beasts, some chapters on techniques and spells. Mo Tiange looked over them bit by bit, feeling immense surprise.
The master of this place was truly a rare talent, recording some secret arts she had never even heard of!
For example, there was a teleportation technique called Wind-Thunder Flash that could instantly retreat several dozen zhang. If cultivated further, several hundred zhang wouldn't be a problem. One must know that so-called teleportation techniques passed down to this day were mostly unworthy of the name, merely relying on extreme speed to appear like teleportation. True teleportation techniques were rarely circulated, generally being secret transmissions within major sects. The Xuanqing Sect had one too, but that teleportation technique could only be practiced at the Core Formation stage.
There were also some hastily scribbled techniques, but they were incomplete, which disappointed Mo Tiange somewhat. She had hoped to find some records about mechanisms here, but there were none.
Finally, in a corner, Mo Tiange discovered a passage of text.
"My name is Xu Zhiwei, a disciple under the Ancient Sword Sect's Xuan Su Sword Venerable. I formed my Core at one hundred, achieved Nascent Soul at three hundred, and betrayed the Ancient Sword Sect at four hundred. I hid in the secular world's Jin Country, Nine Spirit Mountain, Wind Rest Valley, calling myself Ziwei Sanren."
"I have lived in seclusion here for a thousand years, never setting foot in Kunwu. Whenever I think of the first half of my life, I am filled with regret and pain. Before my death, I could not see Zilan one last time. This is my regret of a thousand years..."
The carvings after this were chaotic. Mo Tiange carefully discerned them and found they were the two characters "Zilan" repeated over and over.
Zilan—this was clearly a name, and it sounded like a woman's name. This Ziwei Sanren had never mentioned this name in the other murals, but in this soliloquy, he repeatedly brought it up. From his tone, he seemed to miss this person deeply but didn't dare mention her. Only before his death did he finally write it down.
After reading this, Mo Tiange couldn't help but feel puzzled.
This Ziwei Sanren, since he was a disciple of the Ancient Sword Sect and achieved Nascent Soul at a young age, why did he betray his sect? One must know that for a major sect like the Ancient Sword Sect, betraying the sect was an extremely serious matter. Even if there were conflicts, since he had reached Nascent Soul, he could have just left the mountain and become a nominal elder. There was no need to formally betray the sect.
Furthermore, after betraying the sect, he went into seclusion in the secular world, seemingly without any desires. Looking at it this way, it didn't seem like a conflict of interest either. But without a conflict of interest, why betray the sect?
Then he said that whenever he thought of the first half of his life, he was filled with regret and pain. For a righteous path cultivator from a famous major sect who achieved Nascent Soul at a young age, what pain could there be in the first half of his life? And what could make him regretful to death? If these things were connected—betraying his master due to regret, secluding himself in the secular world due to regret... how serious must it have been?
Finally, there was that Zilan. For a Nascent Soul cultivator, if he wanted to see someone, who could he not see? Unless this person had disappeared, or he didn't dare to see her. But then the question arose again: if she had disappeared, that was one thing, but what could be so serious that he didn't dare to see her? Could it also be related to the matter he regretted?
Mo Tiange felt this matter before her was bewildering and completely inexplicable.
Daoist Fangzheng also came over to read this passage and said in surprise, "The Ancient Sword Sect? The master of this place was actually a senior from the Ancient Sword Sect? But why is he so proficient in illusion arrays and mechanisms? This doesn't seem like the work of a Sword Cultivator at all!"
Mo Tiange was startled. Right, this should be the biggest point of doubt. The Ancient Sword Sect was a sect of Sword Cultivators. This Ziwei Sanren should also be a Sword Cultivator, yet nothing here seemed like a Sword Cultivator's style. When they first descended into the valley, the Gale Poison Miasma they encountered was caused by a formation. Then they entered an illusion array. Such formations, unless created by a master-level expert, who else could set them up? And the flying Five Elements platforms within—one would almost think this was some senior from the Tianliang Sect. Finally, this stone chamber, the Foundation Establishment peak puppets, mechanism arts!
The most traditional and numerous type of cultivator in the cultivation world were Dharma Cultivators. Their cultivation path followed set steps, mainly relying on spells, Magical Treasures, and pills. Other paths like Sword Cultivators, Talisman Cultivators, Medical Cultivators, and Martial Cultivators were all side paths. Among them, Sword Cultivators, because of their exceptional combat power, were a more numerous faction, but their total numbers compared to Dharma Cultivators were only about one in a hundred.
The reason Dharma Cultivators were the most numerous wasn't for anything else, but because their learning was orthodox, and they could dabble in any side path, with a higher chance of advancement. Sword Cultivators had strong combat abilities, but they spent their entire lives nourishing their swords with their bodies, with a slightly lower chance of advancement. So generally, Sword Cultivators only focused on cultivating the sword and rarely learned anything else. But everything arranged here overturned this convention.
A Sword Cultivator proficient in formations, mechanism arts, and possessing extremely extensive knowledge... that was simply terrifying!
Mo Tiange was now one hundred percent certain that the master of this place was absolutely a rare genius.
"Fellow Daoist Ye, let's not talk about other things for now. Let's take down the Sunlight Stones first." After looking at the murals, what Daoist Fangzheng was concerned about was this item. Indeed, this item was the most valuable.
Mo Tiange didn't object. "Alright. I promised you earlier. Right now, you can choose first. You can take the larger share."
Daoist Fangzheng was overjoyed. He immediately flew up, about to take down the Sunlight Stones hanging from the ceiling.
But then came a "boom" sound. A surge of Spiritual Qi erupted from somewhere, striking Daoist Fangzheng and knocking him down.