A mortal cultivating immortality can nurture spirit beasts.

Chapter 147 Treasure Hunt (Part 2)

The Tongtian Mist Sea is located within the Chaotic Star Sea. However, due to the obstruction of the mist and the suppression of divine sense, very few people dare to venture into it to search for treasures. But this time, rumors of the appearance of extraordinary treasures have spread, and a large number of poison-repelling beads have inexplicably appeared, causing a surge in the number of cultivators entering the Tongtian Mist Sea. Even the price of these poison-repelling beads has skyrocketed, leading to a frenzy among cultivators and further fueling their enthusiasm for treasure hunting.

When Lin He and Zhou Yuan arrived at the edge of the dense fog, at a small island called Spirit Ape Island, thousands of cultivators had already arrived, and many more were arriving from various places.

"So many cultivators have come here to search for treasure?"

Lin He frowned upon seeing this, and Zhou Yuan was also greatly surprised. She then said, "This matter seems very strange. There must be someone behind this stirring things up, otherwise the rumors could not have spread so quickly and so widely. I just don't know what the person behind this is trying to do."

Lin He didn't care about this, as long as the person behind it didn't target him. He simply said calmly, "Whatever this person behind it does is none of our business. I'm just here to find the Star Marrow Essence."

Lin He glanced around and, with just a quick probe of his divine sense, he understood the situation perfectly. The vast majority of the cultivators who came here were Foundation Establishment cultivators, since Qi Refining cultivators would be throwing their lives away if they came to such a place.

The number of Core Formation stage cultivators is much smaller than that of Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, but a rough count still shows several dozen, which is quite an unprecedented number.

As for Nascent Soul stage cultivators, he didn't see a single one, or even if they did come, Lin He wouldn't have been able to spot them.

Chao Ran of Miaoyin Sect had a wide circle of friends, and in just a short while, more than a dozen cultivators came forward to greet him. These people naturally noticed Lin He, and upon hearing that Lin He was the legendary guest elder, they all came forward to greet him. Lin He was not impolite and returned their greetings one by one.

Besides those who came here to search for treasure, Lin He also discovered that many cultivators were actually here to do business. Some had even set up stalls, and others had changed careers to become scalpers, reselling the Poison-Repelling Pearl magic artifact in preparation for making a fortune. Lin He really admired the quick thinking of these cultivators.

Several cultivators even tried to sell a blue bead to Lin He in a mysterious manner, hoping to make a profit several times over, but Lin He refused them all.

As time went by, more and more cultivators arrived from all directions, and many of them could no longer contain themselves and began to enter the thick fog by riding their magical artifacts or treasures.

Seeing this, Zhou Yuan became a little anxious and quickly looked at Lin He, as if she was afraid that the treasure would be snatched away by someone else. Lin He found it amusing, but still nodded.

Immediately afterwards, Lin He activated a fiery red flying sword magic weapon, while Zhou Yuan took out a magic weapon shaped like a brocade handkerchief. The handkerchief immediately enlarged and carried Zhou Yuan inside.

As soon as the two flew into the thick fog, it was as if they had entered another world, and the clamor of the thousands of cultivators who had gathered there earlier quickly disappeared.

Surrounded by thick fog, visibility was extremely low, and they couldn't even see the sea below. The two immediately activated the Poison-Repelling Pearl, and a blue light protected them, thus preventing them from being corroded by the poisonous fog.

Meanwhile, as they flew through the sky, they became excellent targets, and soon streams of water arrows shot towards them from the obscured sea below.

"Oh no! Those sea monsters are attacking us!"

Zhou Yuan quickly tapped the silk handkerchief beneath her feet, instantly creating a blue protective shield that enveloped the two of them.

The dozen or so water arrows looked quite powerful, but these sea fish were only equivalent to Foundation Establishment stage cultivators. Their attacks were easily blocked by the blue shield. Just as Zhou Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, dozens more thick water arrows shot out from below. The continuous attacks made Zhou Yuan frown.

It wasn't that she was afraid of these low-level sea monsters, but rather that she didn't want to waste her magic power getting entangled with them.

Seeing this, Lin He waved his hand, unleashing seven or eight wind blade spells that temporarily dispersed some of the thick fog below, allowing him to barely see what was below.

In the sea below, to the southeast, there is a small island. Lin He then said, "Let's go and take a look at that island. It's too much of a waste of our magic power to keep flying in the sky and fighting with these sea fish."

Zhou Yuan naturally had no objections. The two continued flying, relying on the blue protective shield, and then landed on the small island.

The island was covered in lush green grass, seemingly untouched by human activity. Lin He nodded in approval. Very few people came to Tongtian Wuhai, so there must still be many natural treasures here that had not been harvested.

The two quickly used their divine senses to search. Although their divine senses were greatly restricted, they still managed to find several rare spiritual herbs. Zhou Yuan happily picked them, gave half to Lin He, and put the other half into her storage bag.

Lin He was somewhat disappointed when he did not find any trace of Star Marrow Ganoderma. Just then, the sounds of fighting and wolf howls suddenly came from nearby.

The two exchanged a glance and quickly followed the sound. Before long, they arrived at a fruit tree and looked surprised.

"Could this be... the Jade Spirit Fruit?!"

The fruit tree bore more than twenty emerald green fruits, which were full of vitality and were clearly not ordinary.

Zhou Yuan looked at the fruit tree with surprise, then subconsciously glanced at Lin He.

It is said that the Jade Spirit Fruit can temper the body and cleanse the marrow after consumption. Of course, the effect would be even better if it were refined into Jade Spirit Pill, which is most suitable for body cultivators like Lin He.

Lin He glanced at the green fruit with a delighted expression, then looked at the fire wolf demon beast below the fruit tree.

This fire wolf demon beast was over three zhang tall, with a huge body and a powerful aura of a level five demon beast. It was actually the same Azure Fire Wolf that Lin He had seen in Golden Drum Plain.

At that time, the spirit beast of Jian Li, a cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain, was a blue fire wolf, which was almost exactly the same as the one in front of him.

At this moment, an old man in the early stage of Core Formation and more than a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators joined forces to attack the Azure Fire Wolf. Although they clearly had the upper hand, it would obviously take a lot of time to kill the Azure Fire Wolf.

"I never expected that there would be such a powerful monster in this inland sea."

Lin He sighed, but Zhou Yuan was not surprised. She explained, "Although this Tongtian Mist Sea is an inland sea, it is surrounded by thick fog. Very few people come here to search for treasures, which gives the monsters here time to grow. It is not surprising that a few high-level monsters appear."

Lin He thought about it and realized it made sense. When the old man in the early stage of Core Formation saw Lin He and his companion arrive, he quickly said, "Fellow Daoists, why don't we join forces to kill this Azure Fire Wolf and then share the more than twenty Jade Spirit Fruits on this tree?"

"Join forces? Share the spoils?"

Lin He seemed to have heard a joke and completely ignored the other party, while Zhou Yuan looked at the blue fire wolf with burning eyes.

Lin He lent her the giant tortoise puppet and the Frost Dragon Token, which she had to return after this treasure hunt. After all, it had been twenty years since they had borrowed them. Now that the couple's injuries had healed, it would be unreasonable not to return them. However, Zhou Yuan was still quite upset about losing two early-stage Core Formation cultivators, so she was particularly envious of the Azure Fire Wolf.

Seemingly seeing through her thoughts, Lin He smiled and said, "It seems Fellow Daoist Zhou is quite interested in this Azure Fire Wolf. Alright, then I'll lend you a hand!"

As he spoke, Lin He grabbed at the Azure Fire Wolf in mid-air, and then a golden handprint flew out at great speed. The Azure Fire Wolf was busy dealing with the attacks of the others and had no time to dodge. It was quickly knocked away by the golden handprint.

Under the impact of an enormous force, the Azure Fire Wolf was sent flying dozens of meters away. However, as expected of a level five demon beast, its physical strength far surpassed that of a cultivator, and it was able to barely stand up. But before it could move, a blue figure appeared in front of it like a ghost, followed by a punch. The huge Azure Fire Wolf was sent flying again, and then lay on the ground struggling several times, but could not get up. Lin He only needed two moves to completely incapacitate this level five Azure Fire Wolf.

This scene left the early-stage Core Formation elder and more than a dozen other Foundation Establishment cultivators stunned.

Although Lin He was a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator, it was unbelievable that he could severely injure a level 5 Azure Fire Wolf, which was equivalent to an early-stage Core Formation cultivator, with just two strikes.

Not only were the crowd surprised, but even Zhou Yuan was taken aback. Although she knew that Lin He was very strong, he still needed to use that special talisman during the last battle with the Six-Linked Palace to make the Great Handprint so powerful. But now Lin He didn't need to use the talisman and was able to knock the Azure Fire Wolf away with one move.

As Lin He's cultivation level improved and his physical strength increased, the power of the Golden Spirit Great Handprint also rose accordingly.

"Fellow Daoist Lin's strength is truly growing stronger and stronger."

"9

Zhou Yuan praised it, then quickly walked up to the Azure Fire Wolf, took out a spirit beast pouch and put it away.

During this process, no one else dared to make a move. Even the old man in the early stage of Core Formation smiled bitterly, shook his head, said goodbye to Lin He and the other person, and then chose to leave.

The other dozen or so Foundation Establishment cultivators also quickly greeted each other and then left in other directions.

Just kidding, if you're traveling with a tough guy like Lin He, you can forget about finding treasure; you can only follow behind him and shout "666!"

Zhou Yuan was very happy to have acquired the level 5 Azure Fire Wolf. She then picked more than 20 Jade Spirit Fruits from the tree and handed them all to Lin He. "Fellow Daoist Lin is a body cultivator. If these Jade Spirit Fruits are refined into Jade Spirit Pills, the effects will be excellent. After we return, I will send someone to help you search for the pill formula."

Zhou Yuan, as expected of a businesswoman, is very shrewd and knows how to get things done.

Lin He helped her obtain a level 5 demon beast, so if she were to share the Jade Spirit Fruit with Lin He, that would be too greedy.

Zhou Yuan was tempted by the level-five Azure Fire Wolf, but Lin He didn't care for it at all. However, the Jade Spirit Fruit was indeed very useful to him, so he accepted it all without hesitation.

They had already made a considerable fortune upon arriving here, and everyone was overjoyed. Their enthusiasm for treasure hunting increased greatly, and they continued to venture deeper into the island.

However, perhaps his luck had run out, the treasure hunt that followed was not smooth. It wasn't that he encountered any obstacles, but rather that he didn't come across any rare and precious materials that interested him.

But for Zhou Yuan, it was quite different. Although she was the deputy sect leader of Miaoyin Sect, she had a large family business and had to be very careful in her business dealings. She encountered many rare materials here, which made her feel that she had gained a lot.

Seeing Lin He's less-than-happy expression, Zhou Yuan couldn't help but think to herself, "This Protector Lin has incredibly high standards. If these rare and precious materials were left outside, they would definitely cause a huge frenzy, but he doesn't seem quite satisfied."

After walking for a while, with little to show for it, Lin He shook his head and said, "This place has probably already been searched by many cultivators, and the treasures have been taken. Let's go check out the next island."

Zhou Yuan naturally had no objections. The two once again rode their magical artifacts into the sky. As soon as they left the island, they were attacked by groups of sea fish in the waters below.

Zhou Yuan was also helpless about this, so she had to activate the brocade handkerchief again to activate a layer of blue protective shield.

The two flew for most of the day, stopping at several small islands in search of treasure. Although they made a considerable haul, they were still unable to find the Star Marrow Ganoderma, a rare medicinal herb.

Lin He sighed and said, "Is there really no Star Marrow Ganoderma here?"

Fearing he would leave and hastily end the treasure hunt, Zhou Yuan quickly said, "There are still many small islands in this Tongtian Mist Sea that we haven't explored yet. Maybe they're among them. We can't give up halfway."

Lin He could only think this way. Just then, a powerful spiritual energy fluctuation erupted from a small island in front of them. The commotion was quite significant, and the entire island trembled. Clearly, there were cultivators fighting, and their strength was quite remarkable. Judging from the commotion, it was most likely that Core Formation stage cultivators were fighting here.

Lin He and his companion had already flown to the vicinity of the small island. Lin He released several wind blades to dispel the thick fog, and then probed with his divine sense, his brows furrowing in surprise.

If he were outside, with his current divine sense, he could clearly sense everything on the island. However, his divine sense was greatly limited here, so he couldn't explore very far, let alone sense who was fighting.

Zhou Yuan frowned upon seeing this. She didn't want to join in the fun at all, but it had been agreed beforehand that she would follow Lin He's instructions on this trip, so she looked at Lin He.

Lin He glanced at her and knew what she was thinking. He understood that she didn't want to cause trouble. There were many Core Formation cultivators who came here to search for treasures, and there might be some ruthless characters among them. Lin He didn't want to make any more enemies. He already had quite a few enemies, whether it was Jiyin Island or Qingyang Sect, neither of them were easy to mess with.

"Finding the Star Marrow Fungus is the priority, let's—"

Before Lin He could finish speaking, he suddenly froze, because at that moment a black cloud with a diameter of fifty or sixty feet had appeared in the sky above the island. From time to time, booming sounds and sparks of lightning flew out from the cloud, which seemed very strange.

Upon seeing the dark cloud, Zhou Yuan seemed to recognize something, and her expression changed drastically. Lin He, on the other hand, examined the cloud closely, his eyes narrowing and a fierce glint flashing within them.

P.S.: I actually fell asleep while writing last night, so this is yesterday's post, I'm adding it here.