Mortal: Refining Weapons for Immortality

Chapter 30 Sprint

Different choices lead to different results. Li Zhiping, who had the highest cultivation level, was at the twelfth level of Qi Refining and was almost at the perfection of Qi Refining. During the flight to the island, he was the one who was most seriously injured.

Huang Sheng, who was slightly weaker than Li Zhiping, was able to rush into the center of the lake and activate the array restrictions on the island because he was on guard and was not the target of the green dragon in the lake, thus barely protecting the three of them.

Li Zhijing, being the least skilled in cultivation, was not targeted by the Azure Thread Flood Dragon and safely arrived on the island.

Li Zhiping was able to escape in a frantic escape thanks to Huang Sheng's magical support within the formation, but he lost an arm and was poisoned by the Green Thread Flood Dragon.

A day has passed, and all three of them have taken out their antidotes, but none of them have been able to cure the dragon's poison. They can only slow down the spread of the poison, preventing them from dying instantly.

......

Huang Sheng glanced at Li Zhiping, who had fallen into a coma, and the anxious Li Zhijing, his face calm but his eyes resolute. He said, "Fellow Daoist Zhijing, if no one comes looking for us after another day, I have decided to break through directly! We cannot sit and wait for death."

"Our spirit stones can't support this magic array for long. If we run out of spirit stones, we're doomed."

Li Zhijing's anxious expression instantly collapsed, her mind racing with thoughts.

Abandoning his own cousin? The two of them breaking out together? Could he be used as bait? Does he even have a choice?

However, Huang Sheng is right. At least when he brought it up, he was discussing it with me, and it didn't come to the point of forcing me.

If I were truly forced to, I would have already killed both of them, seized their storage bags, and escaped with one of them. I wouldn't have gone to support my elder brother Li Zhiping and wasted spirit stones here with him.

The fact that Huang Sheng is still discussing things with me shows that he is not a bad person and still cares about the bond between fellow disciples, so he did not kill to steal the treasure.

He still had some trump cards up his sleeve, so he might not necessarily die here. Huang Sheng's suggestion was the best option.

Li Zhijing composed herself, her expression turning calm, and said, "Alright, prepare to break through in one day."

The two didn't mention Li Zhiping at all, nor did they take his storage bag. Instead, they tacitly and carefully explored the island to see if they could find any treasures to enhance themselves.

The island was small, and the two quickly and quietly searched it. They found that apart from the wreckage and some remaining cultivation techniques and miscellaneous books, the remaining magical artifacts and elixirs had lost a lot of their spiritual energy and were almost completely useless.

The best harvest was the few hundred-year-old spiritual herbs growing on the small island. If they could get out alive, the trip would be worthwhile for these Qi Refining stage cultivators.

Both of them had seen what they had gained, so they didn't mention splitting it equally. Instead, they took what they were entitled to according to the distribution rules. As for Li Zhiping's share, they tacitly agreed to split it equally.

After searching through all of this, their eyes were empty, and they waited agonizingly for time to pass.

Outside the formation, a gigantic tree, resembling one covered in dense, green scales, stood guard and continuously directed the small green snakes in the lake to touch the formation, thus depleting its power.

This is a blue-lined serpent with four legs and three toes. However, one of the toes has not yet grown and is still very small compared to the other two.

Its body is covered with blue scales, but there are tiny, sharp spikes protruding on its back, unlike the smooth, spineless large snake.

What is most terrifying is that the face of the Green Threaded Serpent is extremely ugly. It has no horns, its face is black, its eyes are cold, and two long, thin green lines grow from its nostrils, resembling the whiskers of a serpent.

The two people, being stared at by such a strange monster, felt inexplicably agitated and their desires surged. In the end, they could only close their eyes tightly, suppress their inner fire, and sit cross-legged to protect their minds.

......

Looking back at the four people heading deep into Yanshi Mountain, following the guidance of the soul lamp, they quickly walked into the depths of a dense forest.

In this place, although the soul fire is weak, the direction of the soul lamp is becoming stronger, so Li Zhiping and the others must be inside.

Song Meng put away the soul lamp and reminded everyone, "Everyone, please prepare to enter the dense forest. We don't know what might happen, so please be vigilant."

As he spoke, the middle-aged man pointed two fingers at the storage bag, took out a black iron hammer, and gripped it tightly.

"Is this a superior ritual implement?"

Lin Changqing thought to himself, and then he also affixed a low-level, high-grade Golden Light Talisman to his body for defense.

As for his clothes, they were covered with two defensive talismans, and his body was also covered with a high-grade magic artifact, blue crystal inner armor. If he could still be penetrated by all of this, Lin Changqing would accept it.

Even the young lady with the lowest cultivation level knew the seriousness of the situation. She gently tapped her storage bag, took out a deep blue bead, and placed it in front of her. The crystal-clear light flowing inside the bead automatically formed a screen to protect her.

"I didn't expect even Miss Cui could afford a high-grade magic weapon. As expected of a cultivator from Yellow Maple Valley, ordinary rogue cultivators really don't have high-grade magic weapons to use."

Seeing that everyone was ready, Song Meng summoned a giant sword, gripped it in his hand, and reminded them, "Let's go!"

The four of them nervously made their way through the dense forest, only to find the surroundings completely silent, with no ambush as they had imagined.

An hour later, they reached the cave and found some traces.

The middle-aged man observed the traces and residual magical energy at the scene and finally drew a conclusion.

"There are only three people here, and there are no signs of a fight."

"Moreover, the aura of magic belongs to Zhi Ping. I am very familiar with him. They should be in the cave."

"This means that Zhiping encountered danger in a cave, which may contain monsters or other restrictions."

Upon hearing the middle-aged man's analysis, Song Meng nodded in agreement and offered a suggestion: "It might be a ruin inside, where demonic beasts roam. They are likely Foundation Establishment stage demonic beasts, otherwise how could they have injured Junior Nephew Zhiping?"

"Of course, there's another possibility: it might be a person inside. Since Junior Nephew Huang's soul fire is so bright, perhaps..."

Upon hearing Song Meng's analysis, Miss Cui also argued her point.

"Uncle-Master Song, Senior Brother Huang isn't that kind of person. Senior Brother Huang wouldn't do that."

Song Meng naturally knew Huang Sheng; he had met him and was familiar with Huang Sheng's character. However, he couldn't guarantee that Huang Sheng wouldn't change, so anything was possible until things were confirmed.

"Junior Nephew Cui, this is just one scenario. We are all fellow disciples and none of us want to see such a scene. However, such things do happen in the cultivation world."

"So let's put these discussions on hold for now. You all stay behind me and get ready."

......

The two people on the island in the lake had been sitting cross-legged for eleven hours. Because the array spirit stones were plentiful, the Azure Thread Flood Dragon did not break through the array. Instead, it became more impatient and even anxious, wanting to personally break the array and devour the three of them.

Li Zhiping is still in a coma...

The remaining two, Li Zhijing and Huang Sheng, had already finished their meditation and were full of magical power.

Li Zhijing took a deep look at her unconscious cousin and Huang Sheng, who still had his eyes closed, and sighed.

"It's the last hour! Help!"

Just then, Huang Sheng suddenly opened his eyes and shouted, "Uncle-Master Song!!!"

Not long after the four entered the cave, Song Meng noticed something and quickly flew towards the lake.

Song Meng, whose foundation-building stage divine sense had already observed the situation in the lake, quickly gave instructions to the three people behind him.

"There are demonic beasts in the lake, one of which is a Foundation Establishment stage dragon snake. I may not be able to deal with it, but I will try my best to hold it off. The three of you go to the small island to meet them."

As soon as he finished speaking, he ignored the three of them, picked up his giant sword, and rushed towards the Azure Threaded Flood Dragon.

Now that the three had arrived at their destination, they naturally wouldn't back down and each rushed towards the magic circle in the center of the lake.

......

When Huang Sheng saw Song Meng coming to the rescue, he was also moved to tears. He said to Li Zhijing, "Brother Zhijing, this is a good opportunity. Let's break out!"

Li Zhijing pointed to her cousin Li Zhiping and said helplessly, "What about him?"

Huang Sheng glanced at Li Zhiping, waved his hands haphazardly in front of his chest, and hurriedly explained, "We're going to kill the demon snake and also to meet up with our uncle who's coming..."

Li Zhijing also knew this was a good opportunity. He decided to go out first, as he wasn't sure if he could defeat the reinforcements. If they couldn't, they could escape together.

Finally, Li Zhijing said with a hint of shame, "Brother Zhiping, I'm sorry. It's your fault for not accepting my kindness, which led to you being poisoned and unconscious. If you have the ability, I'll call for reinforcements to bring you home."

......

Lin Changqing summoned the Horned Serpent from his spirit beast pouch and instructed it, "Stay by my side and dig out the demon cores of these demonic beasts."

This lake is home to many snake demons, ranging from a low-level level one demon beast to a top-level level one demon beast.

Needless to say, the top-tier level one demonic snake was definitely given to Lin Changqing. The middle-aged man had already gone straight for several high-level level one demonic snakes, leaving this tough nut to crack for Lin Changqing, who had reached the Qi Refining Perfection stage.

As for Fellow Daoist Cui, he stayed by the middle-aged man's side, fighting together against a group of low-level demonic beasts.

Lin Changqing did not intend to use his full strength to show that he was a body refinement cultivator. After all, body refinement cultivators were too rare, and in the battles of the cultivation world, this was also a trump card that could be used unexpectedly. There was no need to show it to everyone.

Therefore, Lin Changqing summoned the Ironwood Flying Sword, held it in his hand, and at the same time shot three Frost Talismans at the top-tier first-order demon snake in the lake.

"Sizzle!!!"

The inky lake water was frozen into a patch of blue ice by the ice talisman, freezing the nearby low-level demonic beasts as well.

Finally, under the onslaught of the Frost Talisman, only one large, dark blue snake remained to move, its four small legs slowly crawling onto the ice.

The azure serpent stood upright, its body several meters long, resembling a small pavilion. It emanated a chilling aura, clearly indicating that its movements were being hampered by the ice talisman, which was having a significant impact on it.

Lin Changqing seized the opportunity and infused the ironwood sword with powerful magic, causing the weapon to begin to condense a blue light, making it look even sharper.

In an instant, Lin Changqing charged toward the giant snake's body with his ironwood sword.

"Zzz!"

The giant snake had just swallowed three Frost Talismans and had no time to react before Lin Changqing pierced a hole in it, from which foul-smelling blood flowed out.

"hiss!!"

A sharp tearing sound came from the snake's tongue, and the pain made the already terrifying triangular head even more ferocious.

Then it frantically swung its body, sweeping towards Lin Changqing, its tail bringing a strong gust of wind as it slammed down.

"Bang!"

A thick snake whip flew over, and Lin Changqing, who had originally intended to confront it head-on, abandoned his plan, summoned the Green Wood Shield, pretended to barely block the attack, and took a few steps back.

But after taking only a few steps back, a foul-smelling, bluish-black fog followed.

The bluish-black fog was clearly a poisonous cloud and should not be touched lightly.

However, Lin Changqing, whose face showed unbearable disgust, did not dodge. Instead, he released a beam of green light from his palm, which collided with the cloud of poisonous mist. The two became entangled and, under the illumination of the green light, continuously dissolved until they disappeared.

The Azure Serpent's pupils constricted sharply, and it spewed out an even larger cloud of dark blue-black poisonous mist, attempting to completely poison the human before it.

Knowing that the giant snake was just an ordinary demonic beast with no other tricks up its sleeve, Lin Changqing used the same trick again, unleashing a blue light that dissolved the poisonous mist, while a black net followed closely behind.

"Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!"

The dark green snake was immediately trapped in the black net. The black net kept shrinking, forcing it to curl up into a circle and coil its head. It tried to struggle, but it could not break through this top-level magic artifact, the black net.