At the beginning, I cleaned the Sutra Library and completed the incomplete skills.

Chapter 220: Foundation Establishment Late Stage

When high-level Cultivators set up Immortal Caves for concealment, in addition to Formations and Restrictions,

they often use highly aggressive Yao Beasts, spiritual plants, and other items for guardianship.

This was almost a default common knowledge in the Cultivation World,

so the Yellow-Robed Female Cultivator and her two companions were not surprised that there were other living beings in this Immortal Cave.

What truly astonished them was that

there were as many as seven Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Qi auras behind the stone door.

Not only did they outnumber them,

but judging from their auras, their strength was far beyond that of ordinary Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Cultivators.

Even if they were to contend with some Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivators without Eagle Treasures, they could probably hold out for a long time.

“What a grand gesture from the original owner of this Immortal Cave!”

The bearded Cultivator rubbed his chest, suppressing the metallic taste in his throat, feeling quite shocked, and

a subtle desire to retreat arose in his heart.

The other two had almost the same thoughts as him.

Just at this moment,

although Tan Sheng was trailing at the very end,

his gaze was particularly sharp.

He let out a low shout, saying:

“Fellow Daoists, do not panic. These do not seem to be true living beings. They are far from being able to display the full strength of a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage. If we work together, we should be able to take them down easily!”

At his reminder,

the Yellow-Robed Female Cultivator and her two companions looked carefully again.

They saw that after the smoke dissipated behind the stone door,

seven figures were fully exposed.

Although they were humanoid, their movements appeared quite stiff, as if they had extreme difficulty moving.

“It is true! These seem to be mere Refined Corpses, only able to act on instinct. Their intelligence is even inferior to that of Yao Beasts!” The bearded Cultivator observed for a moment and exclaimed in surprise.

Upon hearing this, the other two

felt much more settled, and their intention to retreat immediately vanished.

“Mere dead objects, daring to block this Seat from taking treasure? Ridiculous!”

The bearded Cultivator, now much calmer,

was the first to once again drive his treasure and charge forward.

The Yellow-Robed Female Cultivator did not understand why he was so eager,

but Tan Sheng, at this moment, also timely offered an explanation.

“The original owner of that Immortal Cave has not returned. These Refined Corpses are now ownerless. Subduing and refining them will surely become a great aid comparable to an Eagle Treasure.

Fellow Daoists, do not snatch them all; please leave one for this old man!”

The remaining Yellow-Robed Female Cultivator and her companion then suddenly understood,

and without regard for anything else, they too rushed forward in a hurry.

How precious treasures were,

these Cultivators who had been in the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage for a long time understood best.

Now that seven treasure-grade items were laid before them,

how could they not be excited?

Tan Sheng and his son also seemed very pleased, rushing into the passage one after another,

but halfway through, they realized Li Lan was not following them.

Looking back,

the latter was leisurely standing at the entrance of the passage, observing, seemingly with no intention of entering.

This immediately angered Tan Sheng greatly,

and he cursed inwardly,

“Is this fellow a rat Yao Beast in human form or something?

How can he be so timid?”

“Fellow Daoist Lin, are you not in need of a suitable Magical Artifact?

These Refined Corpses are all unassigned treasures; those who Cultivate Five Elements basic attribute Cultivation Techniques can refine them for their own use.

If Fellow Daoist does not take them now, when will you?”

After the bearded Cultivator engaged with the Refined Corpses,

and discovered that besides being thick-skinned and tough, they indeed seemed to lack intelligence as Tan Sheng had said, only able to display less than a tenth of their strength,

Li Lan then unhurriedly followed.

As he slowly entered the passage, he secretly tightened his grip on the Restriction token in his hand.

With this item in hand,

he was not afraid of the other party suddenly turning hostile.

Although dealing with five Cultivators of the same Realm simultaneously would be difficult, if he merely wanted to retreat safely, even a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator would find it impossible to keep him.

Li Lan spoke in his usual, rather helpless tone:

“I do not have a suitable Magical Artifact, so subduing these Refined Corpses might take quite some time and effort. I hope Fellow Daoists will bear with me and just leave one Refined Corpse for me.”

The bearded Cultivator and his two companions were busy using their Divine Abilities to suppress the Refined Corpses,

with no time to respond at all.

However,

they scoffed at Li Lan's words in their hearts.

Cultivators without strength were practically no different from sheep in the Cultivation World.

It would be good enough if they did not get completely devoured; it was laughable that he even dared to snatch food from a tiger’s mouth?

What gave him the right?

Although the bearded Cultivator and his companions did not speak,

they tacitly marked the other party as prey in their hearts.

They were currently eager to seize treasures and could not spare a hand,

but they had already made up their minds:

once this matter was settled, they would definitely have to teach this naive boy a good lesson.

Although these Refined Corpses were far stronger than everyone else,

due to their lack of intelligence,

they were relatively easy to deal with.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn,

all seven Refined Corpses had been subdued.

Among them, Tan Sheng and his son obtained three, while the bearded Cultivator and his companions divided the remaining four.

Li Lan, who only had a High Grade Fourth Tier Magical Artifact, did not even get a single strand of corpse hair.

The bearded Cultivator and his two companions had no intention of bothering with him,

and while recovering their spiritual power, they entered the stone door.

Only Tan Sheng still spoke with a benevolent expression:

“Fellow Daoist Lin, do not worry. I have obtained three Refined Corpses, and refining them all at once would be too taxing on my mind.

I can take one out and trade it with Fellow Daoist.

I just do not know if Fellow Daoist wants the凝元丹 (Condensing Essence Pill) or this Refined Corpse.”

Li Lan casually responded to him,

but in his heart, he felt a little confused.

If this old fox truly wanted to kill and seize treasure, why did he not make a move when these Refined Corpses were causing them trouble?

After all,

this was the best opportunity so far.

Once everyone had suppressed and recovered the Refined Corpses,

the difficulty for this fellow to turn hostile would undoubtedly increase several times.

What exactly was this old fox Tan Sheng planning?

This made Li Lan, for a moment, unable to fathom the other party’s intentions.

Could it be that he was overthinking things?

Were the Restrictions and Formations here not deliberately set up by the other party?

While he was pondering,

sounds of ecstatic joy suddenly came from behind the stone door.

“What is this? Treasures?! So many treasures!”

“What treasures? These treasures have extraordinary auras; they are clearly pseudo-treasures! We are rich now!”

“So many Medicinal Pills! This Seat has been stuck at this Realm for a hundred years! With the help of these Medicinal Pills this time, I should finally have hope of advancing to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage?!”

Li Lan and Tan Sheng’s son then also entered the stone chamber.

The space here was not large, but it was quite spacious,

with only some Cultivation resources neatly arranged in categories in the very center.

The contents of those bottles and jars should be Medicinal Pills;

rows of emerald green Jade Slips should record Cultivation Techniques and Spells.

As for those swords, spears, and axes, they were treasures and pseudo-treasures.

At this moment, the bearded Cultivator and his two companions, having gone through some hardships, finally had some gains.

They all lowered their guard and were impatiently reaching out to grab those Cultivation resources,

preparing to examine their specific effects.

Tan Sheng and his son, however, uncharacteristically did not rush forward to contend with them,

but instead turned to show concern for Li Lan.

“Fellow Daoist Lin, are you not going to take a look at what rare treasures of the Cultivation World these are?”

“No, I will not. I cannot obtain them anyway, and looking would only add to my troubles.”

Tan Sheng stroked his chin with a chuckle,

and said calmly:

“How would it add to your troubles?

At least by looking at these treasures, you will not die as a muddled ghost.”

As soon as he finished speaking,

the bearded Cultivator and his two companions had already touched the Cultivation resources.

But whether it was the Medicinal Pills, the Spell Jade Slips, or the pseudo-treasure Magical Artifacts,

they all turned into sand between their fingers and disappeared upon contact.

Seeing this, the three Cultivators’ faces,

their joy instantly vanished, and they turned pale with horror.

“These are all fake?!”

Before they could figure out exactly what was going on,

the ground beneath their feet suddenly lit up with dazzling rays of light.

Mysterious runes suddenly appeared, complementing each other and converging into a Formation that trapped them.

“Not good! There is a trap!”

It was at this moment that the bearded Cultivator and his two companions realized something was wrong, but it was already too late.

This pre-arranged grand Formation firmly suppressed them in place, making them completely unable to move.

“What exactly is going on? A High Grade Fifth Tier Grand Formation! Is this also a hidden hand left by the original owner of the Immortal Cave?”

“We clearly broke the Formation and Restrictions, so why are there no Cultivation resources in this stone chamber? Fellow Daoist Tan?!”

As the three Cultivators were in shock,

they suddenly noticed that the Refined Corpses, which had already been subdued, began to move again.

The four closest Refined Corpses swiftly cut off their arms, but did not harm their lives.

The remaining three, under Tan Sheng’s Spell, pounced on Li Lan together.

However, the latter seemed to have anticipated this. He unhurriedly patted his Storage Pouch and threw out a large red kasaya.

As this treasure expanded and contracted,

it completely enveloped the four Refined Corpses.

Li Lan flicked his finger,

and a silver needle shot out with lightning speed,

transforming into a scorching line of fire that pierced through Tan Shunan’s left chest, who was closest.

After doing all this,

Li Lan seemed quite surprised and said aggrievedly:

“Fellow Daoist Tan?! What is the meaning of this? Why did you suddenly drive the Refined Corpses to inflict such a vicious blow?”

At this moment, Tan Sheng’s plump face no longer held that benevolent expression;

all that remained was endless coldness and malice.

“At this point, is there still a need for Fellow Daoist Lin to continue pretending?

I truly did not expect that you would be the one most deeply hidden among these people.

Not only do you possess two treasures, but they are also of different attributes.

And the Cultivation Technique you Cultivate has more than one attribute?!”

Tan Sheng was also an old schemer,

although his tone was conversational, his actions were swift and decisive.

With a single raise of his hand, he conjured a pair of walnut-shaped Magical Artifacts.

Judging from their aura,

the spiritual power fluctuations emitted by this item were particularly astonishing; it was actually a pseudo-treasure.

But what surprised Li Lan even more was not just this: Tan Shunan, who had clearly been pierced through the heart meridian by the Silver Light Needle Eagle Treasure,

with an empty circular hole exposed in his left chest,

should have been completely dead, without a shred of life left.

Yet, at this moment, he was fearlessly pouncing towards him, a truly horrifying sight.

It was only then that

Li Lan realized that

this so-called son was fake,

just like the seven behind the stone door, he was also a Refined Corpse!

It was just that this one was more lifelike than the others.

Equally false as this Refined Corpse’s identity was Tan Sheng’s Realm.

This old fox had torn off all his disguises,

and the spiritual power fluctuations he revealed were clearly that of a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator, without a doubt.

From this, it was clear that

what this old man had concealed was no less than what he himself had hidden.

“Good, good, good! So Fellow Daoist Tan is actually a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Senior; this truly surprises me, Lin.

I still have one thing I do not understand, can Fellow Daoist enlighten me?

Since Senior is a Foundation Establishment Late Stage mighty figure, why did you not directly deal with us juniors, but instead painstakingly deceive us into coming here?”

Although he was humbly asking questions verbally,

Li Lan’s figure flickered, leaving an empty shell of skin in place, while his true body instantly appeared a zhang away.