Chapter 69: Tombstone! Foundation Establishment Pill!

Inside the Wood Armor Spirit-Binding Formation.

“Second-rank spirit beasts really are troublesome!”

More than half of the formation stones had been consumed, and dozens of Fireball Talismans had been used up. Only then did the Ironback Demonic Mantis collapse into a pool of green blood, barely clinging to life.

Seeing this made Lin Chang’an’s heart race with fear. It might have looked like he hadn’t been in much danger, but this had been a battle of attrition from beginning to end.

In just two hours, he had spent over a thousand low-grade spirit stones.

Each Premium-grade First-rank Talisman cost seventy to eighty spirit stones, and he had thrown twenty-seven of them. Not to mention the cost of the formation.

“Thud!”

As the Ironback Demonic Mantis collapsed feebly, vines kept tightening around it. Its body was squeezed until green liquid oozed out, seemingly losing all response.

Lin Chang’an took a deep breath and calmly surveyed the surroundings. Not spotting any signs of other cultivators, he still felt uneasy.

[Wood Spirit Thorn]

Four green lights flashed, piercing into the Ironback Demonic Mantis's body. Lin Chang’an continued to control the Green Bamboo Sword, darting quickly across its form.

“Splurt!”

Green liquid splashed everywhere as the monstrous, terrifying head of the Ironback Demonic Mantis fell off. Only then did Lin Chang’an secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

“Now it should finally be dead.”

Beside him, the Azure-Horned Bull let out a joyful moo, as if celebrating that it no longer needed to act as bait for such a terrifying spirit beast.

Just as Lin Chang’an smiled and raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead, ready to step forward, his expression froze as a thought suddenly struck him.

“Back when I was in the Beast-Hunting Squad, old He once said that demonic bugs and snakes have extremely tenacious vitality...”

At this moment, Lin Chang’an’s expression turned grave. Instead of approaching himself, he turned his head and met the large eyes of the Azure-Horned Bull.

In that instant, the Azure-Horned Bull widened its eyes, shaking its head repeatedly and mooing non-stop in obvious refusal.

“You blockhead.”

Lin Chang’an cursed with a smile, stepping past the Azure-Horned Bull. He picked up the cold, half-body corpse of a low-level spirit beast from the ground, slapped a high-grade Golden Light Talisman onto it, and tossed it over.

The moment that beast corpse was flung over, Lin Chang’an’s pupils reflected a flash of cold light — the Ironback Demonic Mantis’s forelimb twitched!

“Splurt!”

Golden light shattered and blood splattered. The Azure-Horned Bull was so startled it mooed in panic, yet it still stepped in front of Lin Chang’an, hooves digging into the ground, ready to charge at any moment.

“Even a centipede doesn’t stiffen until it’s dead!”

Lin Chang’an gasped, his face full of lingering fear and relief.

Luckily, he had remembered old He’s warning.

For demonic insects, even if their heads were chopped off and their bodies cut into pieces, though clearly dead, their bodies could still instinctively counterattack.

“Old He, you’ve saved my life again.”

Thinking of the deceased old He, Lin Chang’an was filled with emotion. At the same time, he silently warned himself not to grow complacent just because life had been peaceful these past few years.

Fortunately, back in the Beast-Hunting Squad, he had ingrained caution deep into his bones. Remembering it suddenly today had saved him from turning joy into sorrow.

He raised his hand to command the Green Bamboo Sword and stepped forward to dismember the forelimbs and hind legs of the Ironback Demonic Mantis. Even its terrifying head was incinerated completely with Fireball Technique after retrieving the demon core. Only then did he begin to clean the battlefield.

Night gradually fell.

Only then did the formation in the valley slowly disperse. Lin Chang’an’s solemn figure flickered and vanished, leaving behind only traces of the earlier battle.

To avoid being robbed, Lin Chang’an had tidied up the formation, restored his spiritual power, and tested by pretending to shut down the formation several times.

After waiting a long while and confirming that no cultivators were lurking in the dark, he finally let out a quiet sigh of relief. He did not want the demon core he had risked so much to obtain to become someone else’s spoils.

Putting away the formation, his figure quickly disappeared into the forest.

This time, he had waited in the Cloudmist Mountain Range for two full months, but the harvest had been worth it.

...

Bamboo Mountain Marketplace.

Less than two years had passed, but this once-bustling market was now quiet and desolate.

Most of the cultivators here were in early-stage Qi Refinement. Those in mid or late-stage Qi Refinement were rarely seen.

After all, this place was close to Tianxuan City. Naturally, most cultivators with any strength would head there.

After leaving the Cloudmist Mountain Range and passing by Bamboo Mountain Marketplace, Lin Chang’an now stood in the back mountain, gazing at this place that had borne the start of his dream of the immortal path. Scenes of his life here flashed through his mind.

From its founding to its peak, then to its current decline.

“Things remain, but people change. Only the mountains and rivers still carry the same wind and moon.”

At last, Lin Chang’an let out a wistful sigh and turned to look at the densely packed tombstones on the back mountain, shaking his head.

“Fewer companions walk the immortal path now. The glory of Bamboo Mountain Marketplace is gone. I wonder how long this peace can last.”

After a moment of reflection, Lin Chang’an arrived before old He’s tombstone, holding a jug of spirit wine.

“Old He, I owe you. Back in the Beast-Hunting Squad, you taught me how to survive. I also owe your grandson He Yan for gifting me the inherited First-rank Fireball Talisman.”

As he poured the wine, he looked at the grave he had built for He Yan and sighed. Over the years, the two major sects in this region had relentlessly purged the Divine Sword Sect and the demonic cultivators.

Judging from the state of this tombstone, no one had visited since that time. It seemed He Yan had most likely met with misfortune.

Thinking of this, Lin Chang’an couldn’t help but feel sorrowful in front of the tombstone.

Back when the marketplace was in chaos, and to avoid being associated with He Yan, he hadn’t returned. He hadn’t expected that so many years would already have passed.

Time flew by.

Under the setting sun, Lin Chang’an stood in a daze, lost in thought.

“Old He, I’m leaving. Next time I return, I’ll likely be a Foundation Establishment cultivator, high above the rest.”

Lin Chang’an was rarely this relaxed.

Just as he lowered his head to place the wine cup down, a point of light was suddenly reflected in his pupils. His expression turned stunned.

“What is this!?”

Ever since he obtained the demon core, he had kept his Spirit Eye activated out of caution. At this last moment, as he bent down to place the wine cup, due to the angle and proximity—

The Spirit Eye’s initial mist-penetrating, stone-revealing ability allowed him to see a corner beneath the tombstone.

As if he had seen a hint of jade light in the darkness.

[Spirit Eye (Proficient 386/500)]

He slowly stepped back a few paces. Just as Lin Chang’an used Object Manipulation Technique to move old He’s tombstone, revealing the object suppressed beneath it, his pupils instantly contracted.

“This is! A pill!”

“The pattern on the jade bottle is from Pavilion of Mystic Sound!”

The clear markings on the jade bottle made Lin Chang’an’s eyes widen with a loud bang.

“Could it be!”

As the jade bottle was opened slightly, a flash of violet light and its accompanying aura escaped. With a crisp ‘snap’, Lin Chang’an immediately closed it with a tense expression.

Without any hesitation, he swiftly stored it into his storage pouch while simultaneously gripping a Wood Spirit Thorn, remaining highly alert of his surroundings.

“Gulp!”

He was so nervous that he couldn’t help but swallow.

Inside that jade bottle was a Foundation Establishment Pill!

And thinking about the timing when He Yan last appeared made Lin Chang’an’s face change drastically.

“It was right around the time when a pair of cultivators from the Zhou Clan and Pavilion of Mystic Sound, who had just formed a marriage alliance, were killed. The marketplace was thrown into chaos, and two Foundation Establishment Pills were stolen.”

Over the years, that incident remained the most sensational event in Bamboo Mountain Marketplace.

At the time, everyone believed the two Foundation Establishment Pills had been stolen by remnants of the demonic sects. Now, with the Pavilion of Mystic Sound’s pattern on the jade bottle, there was a high chance—eighty to ninety percent—that one of those pills was this very one.

“That brat He Yan, could he have joined the demonic sect back then?!”

Thinking of this made Lin Chang’an’s scalp tingle. He even felt a lingering fear. Thankfully, he hadn’t been too entangled with He Yan.

Looking back now, when He Yan had gifted him the inherited high-grade talisman, Lin Chang’an finally understood.

That wasn’t an act of gratitude at all. It was clearly a diversion—“openly repairing the plank road while secretly crossing the Wei”—meant to cover up the fact he had hidden a Foundation Establishment Pill.

He Yan must have known that Lin Chang’an had appeared suddenly, and given the situation at the time, a cautious rogue cultivator like him would definitely avoid involvement with cultivators of uncertain background.

Naturally, he would never visit old He’s grave either.

By posing it as an act of gratitude, He Yan perfectly concealed his true motive.

Though hidden beneath a tombstone and unlikely to be disturbed, this also revealed just how cautious He Yan truly was.

“That brat!”

The corner of Lin Chang’an’s eye twitched. That brat really had changed a lot.

And Lin Chang’an, tempted by the immense benefit of the talisman inheritance, naturally hadn’t questioned anything.

Now everything made sense. If not for his Spirit Eye, even if he returned later, he would never have discovered it. He Yan truly was cautious.

But He Yan had not expected that Lin Chang’an would be able to see beneath the tombstone.

Carrying a precious item, Lin Chang’an forcibly suppressed his complicated emotions, cleaned all traces in front of the grave, and hurriedly left Bamboo Mountain Marketplace.

At this moment, he was desperate to return to Tianxuan City!

He now had a Foundation Establishment Pill in his storage pouch—and a premium one at that.

Adding to it, he had already gathered all the rarest materials needed for the pill. If he refined one batch, with some luck, he might obtain three pills. Even if unlucky, he could still get two. At worst, there would still be at least one.

And his luck didn’t seem too bad.

Along the way, he couldn’t help but marvel. That He Yan had indeed been a man of great fortune, but sadly, he hadn’t lived long enough to enjoy it.

“As expected, fortune and fate confirm that saying: wealth and honor lie in danger, and so do their losses.”

“He Yan, and before him Wang Lin, are both vivid examples—gaining opportunities doesn’t mean they’re truly yours. Sometimes, you only pave the way for others.”

Opportunities only become your own when turned into strength!

With a treasure in his possession, Lin Chang’an remained on high alert the whole way, fearing the opportunity he gained would become someone else’s reward.

But strangely, all his fortune seemed to be linked to tombs. The first time he returned from a grave, he obtained the Fireball Talisman inheritance.

Last time, he got the Wang Clan’s ancient cultivation method. And this time, he even secured a Foundation Establishment Pill.

He couldn’t help but wonder—was the tomb truly his place of fortune?

At the same time, he was inwardly startled. He Yan’s luck had been extraordinary. In the chaos back then, he had managed to get his hands on a Foundation Establishment Pill.

If he had lived to enter Foundation Establishment, he would surely have become another legendary rogue cultivator.

...

At that moment, in the territory of Divine Sword Sect in Yue Country, tens of thousands of miles away.

“Kekeke, that old ghost Huang really thought no one would find out about him plotting for late-stage Golden Core using that furnace cauldron. Still trying to hide it? Let’s see how Divine Sword Sect reacts when they find out...”

Protector Xiang’s hoarse and cold voice echoed. Inside the mysterious room, there were no fewer than eighteen Foundation Establishment subordinates.

“These years, we’ve passed on our Mystic Yin Sect’s core-stealing technique, recruited rogue cultivators and even traitors from sects. Whether they kill disciples of the three major sects or commit betrayal, the sect will remember your merits.”

Beneath Protector Xiang’s sinister smile, he had laid a grand plan. Once activated, these hidden agents would plunge Yue Country into chaos.

Among the crowd stood He Yan, already a Foundation Establishment cultivator. His hair was now silvery white, and his expression cold. Yet for some reason, his heart suddenly skipped a beat as he thought of home.

Recalling the Foundation Establishment Pill he had hidden back then, he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Truly, plans could never keep up with change.

He had originally intended to use the pill in secret once he reached the right cultivation level. But unexpectedly, he was spotted by this Protector Xiang and brought directly into Divine Sword Sect territory.

Tens of thousands of miles away, years had passed. By the time his cultivation level was sufficient, Protector Xiang had already rewarded him with the core-stealing secret method to enter Foundation Establishment. At that time, there was no room to refuse, and no opportunity to return. That Foundation Establishment Pill was naturally left unused.

“If I ever get a chance to return, I’ll trade that Foundation Establishment Pill for a defensive magical artifact.”

He Yan mused silently. The Mystic Yin Sect—there was no way he could ever leave it in this lifetime.

But no one would ever have guessed that, amidst the chaos back then, he had seen the storage pouches of the Pavilion of Mystic Sound and Zhou Clan cultivators. Making a swift decision, he threw out both storage pouches.

He had even tossed out the other Foundation Establishment Pill and the jade bottle separately, creating confusion and causing others to fight to the death. In the chaos, he had secretly pocketed the second Foundation Establishment Pill and escaped.

At that time, his cultivation level was still insufficient. Fearing discovery, he hid it beneath the back mountain’s tombstone.

He never expected... that he wouldn’t get to use it after all.

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