The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

At noon, at the entrance to Yellow Maple Valley.

Yang Qingyuan had already taken off the yellow silk robe of Huangfeng Valley and put on a white long robe to avoid being noticed by anyone with ulterior motives after leaving the mountain gate.

Wu Feng also changed into a black long robe and stood in front of the mountain gate, waiting quietly.

After an incense stick's time, a blue flying boat sped towards Xuankun Mountain.

The flying boat wasn't very big, only about ten feet long, and looked like a fishing boat, but in terms of speed, it far surpassed the low-grade flying magic artifacts of Yellow Maple Valley.

"It's the Chen family's mid-grade flying boat, the Lingxu Boat," Wu Feng said, crossing his arms. "It's Junior Brother Lu Yunfeng and Junior Sister Chen Qiaoqian who have arrived."

As soon as he finished speaking, the flying boat slowly came to a stop not far from Yang Qingyuan.

Upon closer inspection, one could see a handsome man and a beautiful woman standing side by side at the bow of the boat.

The man was about twenty years old, wearing a blue robe, with a handsome and upright appearance. He exuded a strong wind-attribute spiritual power and his cultivation level was at the twelfth level of Qi Refining.

The woman was about twenty years old, dressed in a light blue palace dress, and was as beautiful as a flower. She and the man from before were clearly a couple deeply in love, and her cultivation level was also at the twelfth level of Qi Refining.

"Senior Brother Wu Feng." The woman looked Yang Qingyuan up and down with curiosity. Seeing that Yang Qingyuan's appearance was unfamiliar, she asked Wu Feng, "Senior Brother Wu, who is this fellow disciple at the twelfth level of Qi Refining beside you? I've never seen him before."

Wu Feng greeted them with a smile and explained, "Let me introduce you all. This is Junior Brother Yang Qingyuan."

"This is Junior Brother Lu Yunfeng, who possesses the Wind Spirit Root, and this is Junior Sister Chen Qiaoqian, the eldest daughter of the Chen family."

Upon hearing Yang Qingyuan's name, the young man and woman exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.

"So you're the same Thunder Spirit Root cultivator who's on par with my Lu Lang?" Chen Qiaoqian asked softly, her tone tinged with hostility.

Yang Qingyuan bowed and said, "Indeed, I joined the sect relatively late and rarely go out, so I have no chance to get to know my fellow disciples."

Lu Yunfeng stroked his chin and pondered to Wu Feng, "Senior Brother Wu, you didn't invite this person with the lightning spiritual root just to deal with me, did you?"

"Ah~ Junior Brother Lu, you are mistaken." Wu Feng waved his hand and replied, "Junior Brother Yang and I became old acquaintances during the Ascension Ceremony. Naturally, I need to find some familiar friends to help me on this treasure hunt."

Lu Yunfeng snorted coldly and said, "Enough with the nonsense, let's talk about how to divide the items."

Wu Feng then explained, "After all, I discovered this ancestral cave. I will keep 40% of what's inside, and the remaining 60% will be divided equally among the three of you."

"Of course, those magical artifacts and supernatural powers that are associated with wind and lightning are just a waste of my talents, and I will give them to you first."

What do you all think?

"Okay." Yang Qingyuan, Chen Qiaoqian, and Lu Yunfeng all had no objections.

Chen Qiaoqian then parted her lips slightly and said, "The sect's Azure Leaf magic artifacts are too slow. You should all take my Lingxu Flying Boat instead."

Wu Feng didn't refuse. He used a lightness technique and leaped up onto the flying boat.

Yang Qingyuan lightly tapped his foot and used the "Ghostly Shadow Step" to leap onto the flying boat.

"Huh?" Chen Qiaoqian was surprised to see that Yang Qingyuan hadn't made any hand seals and there was no fluctuation of magical power on his body, yet he was able to leap onto the flying boat. "Junior Brother Yang, what kind of technique did you use?"

Yang Qingyuan stood at the stern of the boat and chuckled, "These are just ordinary martial arts techniques, nothing to worry about."

Upon hearing that it was merely mortal martial arts, Lu Yunfeng scoffed and said, "Why give up perfectly good magic to learn worldly martial arts? They really don't know what's good for them."

Yang Qingyuan frowned slightly when he saw that Lu Yunfeng always seemed hostile towards him.

This situation is quite normal, after all, Yang Qingyuan's lightning spiritual root aptitude has stolen a lot of the limelight from Lu Yunfeng.

Chen Qiaoqian then looked at Wu Feng and asked, "Senior Brother Wu, where is this tomb located?"

"Head southeast," Wu Feng explained. "I'll let you know when we get there."

Upon hearing this, Chen Qiaoqian did not ask any further questions and urged the flying boat to fly southeast.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye. At noon, the blazing sun hung high in the sky over the Eagle's Sorrow Gorge in Jianzhou.

Because of the treacherous terrain of Eagle's Sorrow Gorge, it is rarely visited by people.

The cliffs on both sides of the mountain stream are sheer, and dark green vines grow in the crevices of the rocks.

The stream below rushes swiftly like thunder, its clear water crashing against the jagged rocks, splashing up thousands of feet of silver spray and producing a thunderous roar.

The Lingxu Boat appeared out of thin air, hovering above the rushing stream.

Wu Feng stood at the bow of the boat, pointed to a cave on the cliff, and introduced, "This place is called Eagle's Sorrow Gorge. The tomb is located between these two mountains."

"Junior brothers and sisters, come with me."

After saying that, he took the lead in releasing the Green Leaf magic weapon and flew towards the cave on the cliff.

Yang Qingyuan, Lu Yunfeng, and Chen Qiaoqian all changed into their green leaf magical artifacts and followed Wu Feng into the cave.

The cave was dark and damp, with a chilling aura emanating from its depths.

Wu Feng put the green leaf magic artifact into his storage bag, then took out a glowing bead to illuminate the surroundings before heading straight into the depths of the cave.

After walking about a hundred steps, the surrounding rock walls suddenly turned into man-made stone bricks, indicating that they had entered the area of ​​the mausoleum.

Soon, a stone gate blocked their way.

Wu Feng had been here once before, so he was very familiar with the mechanisms here. He felt around on the stone wall for a while, then stretched out his right index and middle fingers and suddenly inserted them into the crack in the stone, pulling hard.

With a series of clicks, the stone door slowly rose.

"These mundane mechanical arts are quite interesting." A hint of curiosity flashed in Yang Qingyuan's eyes as he asked, "I didn't expect Senior Brother Wu to know so much."

Wu Feng explained, "You flatter me. I have no knowledge of mechanisms."

"Before my ancestor executed the craftsman, he had already learned all the mechanisms and solutions from the craftsman and recorded them in his notes, which is why they have been passed down."

"Let's go. The wind-attribute barrier is in the main tomb chamber, which is still some distance away."

After saying that, he held the luminous pearl in his hand, stepped over the stone gate, and entered a narrow passageway.

The passageway was littered with over a hundred skeletons, clearly the remains of the craftsmen from back then.

Upon seeing so many corpses, Chen Qiaoqian frowned slightly and said, "Senior Brother Wu, your ancestors were quite ruthless."

Wu Feng forced a smile and said, "In the mortal world, it's perfectly normal to have living people buried with you. Junior Sister, please don't mind. Let's hurry up and break the seal."

Upon hearing this, Chen Qiaoqian said nothing more.

The group continued deeper into the passageway until a blue light curtain appeared at the end.

"This is the wind-attribute restriction."

Wu Feng stopped in front of the light screen with a solemn expression. He casually took out an iron ingot from his storage bag and threw it towards the cyan light screen.

The next moment, ripples appeared on the light screen, and three or four wind blades were projected, cutting the iron ingot into several pieces as easily as cutting tofu.

"A beginner-level advanced spell, Wind Blade Technique." Upon seeing this, Lu Yunfeng's pupils contracted sharply, and his expression turned solemn.

Chen Qiaoqian frowned and asked, "Is this a replica of the Bloodstained Forbidden Land's restriction?"

"That's right." Wu Feng nodded slightly and explained, "I have already consulted the sect's records, and there's no mistake. This wind-attribute restriction is indeed a replica of the ancient restriction from the Crimson Forbidden Land, only its power is reduced to a hundred percent."

Yang Qingyuan muttered to himself, wondering where Wu Sangchong had obtained the forbidden technique.

Just then, Wu Feng looked at Lu Yunfeng and asked, "Junior Brother Lu, have you learned the secret technique retrieved from Yuelu Hall?"

"Don't worry, I've already memorized it perfectly." Upon hearing this, Lu Yunfeng stepped forward, made hand seals, and chanted incantations before unleashing several spells at the wind wall.

This technique was developed by the array masters of Yellow Maple Valley in order to break the ancient restrictions outside the Crimson Forbidden Land. It is extremely effective against this inferior imitation.

After about a dozen breaths, the wind wall actually slowly dissipated.

This replica formation had been sustained for hundreds of years and was already at its limit, finally dissipating at this moment.

"It's done!" Wu Feng exclaimed with delight upon seeing the barrier broken, "That went incredibly smoothly!"

The group then filed in and examined the main burial chamber.

The main burial chamber was very spacious, about ten feet square, with a coffin placed in the center.

At each of the four corners of the coffin is a half-human-sized stone animal sculpture, which is the tomb guardian beast.

All eyes were fixed on the coffin, their gazes burning with fervor.

However, Yang Qingyuan sensed the continuous flow of righteous energy within his dantian.

According to the "Method of Nourishing Life with Righteous Qi", the Righteous Qi will only cause such unusual activity when evil spirits appear nearby.

This left Yang Qingyuan feeling bewildered and uncertain, thinking to himself, "Could there be some kind of evil creature like a zombie in this coffin?"

"Open the coffin!" Wu Feng, who was standing to the side, could no longer contain himself. Without any hesitation, he flicked his sleeve and took out a magic weapon that looked like a long staff.

Lu Yunfeng also patted his storage bag and took out a pair of silver hooks.

This silver hook radiates spiritual light; it is indeed a rare, high-grade wind-attribute magic weapon.

Upon seeing this, Yang Qingyuan patted his storage bag, took out the sword box, and stood aside.

With a Thunder Sword possessing lightning attributes, there's no fear of anything dirty jumping out of the coffin.

Chen Qiaoqian also flicked her sleeves and summoned a high-grade flying sword.

Without saying a word, Lu Yunfeng threw out the silver hook.

Chen Qiaoqian and Wu Feng also threw out their long sticks and flying swords in succession.

The three magical artifacts struck the coffin lid simultaneously, sending it flying.

Everyone hurriedly leaned over to examine the situation inside the coffin.

Inside the coffin were a blue flag, a blue flying sword, a golden alchemy furnace, a gray axe, a blue jade slip, and a pink medicine bottle.

There was nothing else besides that—no fan-shaped magical artifacts, and certainly no corpses…