Immortality Cultivation: Fellow Daoists, please live for two more episodes!

Three days later, Shen Ye arrived at the Mission Hall as promised.

These past few days, he's been running around the outer gate with his points, trying to find something to rely on, but no matter how he looks, he can't find anything suitable.

Either they're too expensive, or the cheap ones are obviously suspicious; he's learned his lesson from what happened last time.

In the end, I could only spend 400 points to buy a bunch of talismans activated by mortals' essence and blood: Golden Light Talisman for protection, Five Thunder Talisman for attack, and Sword Qi Talisman for breaking through defenses.

Each activation burns one sheet, burning essence and blood, not spiritual power. As for its power...

It's better than nothing, but these are all that ordinary people can use.

Of the remaining 1,600, he spent 1,200 to rent a cave dwelling for three months, leaving him with 400, which he gave to Liu Yinyin for protection.

The girl refused to accept it, clutching his sleeve tightly, but he still stuffed the bamboo token into her arms, turned and left without looking back.

As for cultivation techniques, there aren't many to choose from.

Even the most advanced demonic technique in Shuiyue's cultivation method, which is easy to learn, could not help him break through the Xuan Gate within three days, unless he was willing to use Liu Yinyin's essence, but how could that be possible?

Therefore, he chose the lowest level and most treasured martial arts manual for ordinary people in the Water Moon Techniques area.

The Indestructible Vajra Divine Skill.

The name sounds fancy, but to put it bluntly, it's just a martial arts manual.

However, the reason why ordinary martial arts can be included in the Water Moon Kung Fu Pavilion is also due to its wonders. One can enter the basics in one day and achieve minor success in two days.

After mastering the skill in three days, one can easily rival dozens of ordinary people. It is said that if one continues to cultivate, one can even enter the Dao through martial arts, break through the Xuan Gate, and embark on the path of physical cultivation.

But this is still just a mundane thing. If he had a choice, Shen Ye would never want to do something like draining the pond to catch all the fish, but he had no choice.

That day, that person spoke nicely, saying it was a matter of nine deaths and one life, but in his view, for a mortal to act as bait for a group of high and mighty cultivators, what was nine deaths and one life? It was a matter of ten deaths and no chance of survival.

This trip was nothing more than exchanging his life for Liu Yinyin's.

……

On the day of departure, Lü Ci kept his promise and, in front of Shen Ye, sent someone to deliver a brocade box containing snow lotus to his and Liu Yinyin's cave.

They then led him through the back door of the mission hall down a deserted mountain path.

There were only four people on this exploration of the secret realm. The one leading the way was said to be named Qiu Wu, and he was carrying a bulging storage bag.

He would stop every few steps to check something against the roster in his hand, muttering to himself. He was in charge of everything from points settlement to inventory and cleanup of supplies.

Following behind was a female cultivator in plain clothes, a jade gourd at her waist swaying gently with her steps. Lü Ci called her Song Zhi; she was at the fifth level of Qi Refining and had been hired with points.

After walking for half a day without saying a word, when Shen Ye looked back at her, she was walking with her eyes closed, but her steps were precisely in the middle of the mountain path.

Finally, there's Shen Ye himself.

There's not much to say. According to Manager Lü, it's just a mere bait, not worth mentioning.

The group was only this big: a manager of the Enforcement Hall, a logistics officer, a hired rogue cultivator, and a mortal.

It was indeed one of the biggest opportunities for the outer sect, according to Manager Lü.

……

On the way, Lü Ci explained the mission to him.

Deep within the back mountain of the Shuiyue Outer Sect lies an unnamed cave dwelling, discovered twenty years ago by a group of outer sect disciples who had just broken through the Xuan Guan (a level of spiritual cultivation).

A row of stone figures guarded the entrance to the cave. The group of seven disciples rushed in, unaware of the danger. The stone figures moved and immediately attacked at the level of breaking through the Xuan Gate.

Of the seven, six died. The remaining one, with a broken arm, crawled back to report the news, but he couldn't be saved. However, the news did get out.

After the news spread, several outer sect cultivators who had been to the Yellow Court level couldn't sit still. They felt that the cave dwelling guarded by the stone golem that broke through the Xuan Pass must contain at least Yellow Court level treasures.

Five people formed a team to explore. When they arrived at the entrance, they saw that the stone figures were still the same ones, and their appearance had not changed. However, once they started fighting, the strength of the stone figures inexplicably increased to the level of "Kou Huangting".

Four of the five died, and the one who came back alive went mad, shouting to everyone he met, "The stone will rise in value."

Later, even important figures who had passed through the Heavenly Palace came.

Unfortunately, the stone figures at the entrance also rose to the level of the Heavenly Palace.

A dozen or so bodies that crossed the Heavenly Palace ganged up on one!

Fortunately, that person was a highly accomplished disciple of the Foundation Establishment stage, protected by a Foundation Establishment treasure.

Even so, that person still had to risk the self-destruction of three magical artifacts to barely manage to blast open a gap and escape with their life.

After returning, he wrote a note recording the patterns of change in the stone figure. This note later circulated, and people gradually figured out the secrets behind it.

The pattern is that the stone man's strength changes randomly.

Moreover, the stone statue has a sensing range of about three zhang in radius. Within this range, it will attack anyone with spiritual power.

Shen Ye thought for a moment: "Didn't you try having lower-level cultivators go in first to lock down the stone golem's strength, and then having higher-level cultivators follow?"

"I thought about it, but it was no use. The stone golem doesn't recognize who went in first; it recognizes the one with the highest cultivation level within its range. As soon as a high-level cultivator gets close, the stone golem immediately shrinks back."

"But there's a little cheating trick that I figured out myself."

Lu Ci looked at Shen Ye: "Nobody else knows about this thing, it's just a mortal. Mortals have no cultivation fluctuations, so within the stone man's sensing range, they're not human. Just let them pass."

"However, the stone man only lets you pass through the array. After passing through, there is a hundred-zhang-long tunnel between the light curtain deep in the cave, which is pitch black."

"For the past twenty years, I have sent countless servants along that road, but none of them have ever returned. Nobody knows what's inside."

"So this is the bait plan you were talking about? You need a capable mortal to help you figure out what's inside the secret realm."

Shen Ye summarized.

"That's right."

Lu Ci smiled and said, "A mortal who has practiced martial arts for three days, carries a bunch of talismans, and is bold and fearless."

Shen Ye: "And then what? What if I, like the other servants, don't come back?"

Lü Ci: "No, I have faith in you, you will come back."

……

The cave is located at the bottom of a cliff. The entrance is very small, with a crack between two huge rocks that is almost invisible if you don't look carefully.

Sure enough, a row of stone figures stood in front of the crack, gray and with indistinct faces.

As you get closer, the air seems to sink. The stone figure has no eyeballs in its eye sockets, but there is a faint glow, as if it is breathing.

Lu Ci told Song Zhi and Qiu Wu to retreat three zhang away, outside the stone man's sensing range, leaving only Shen Ye to enter the range.

Shen Ye gripped the talisman in his arms tightly and strode toward the stone figure.

As he passed the first stone figure, he inexplicably felt a faint light sweep over him, then passed by without lingering.

One step, two steps, three steps.

They passed through the row of stone figures without incident, just as Lü Ci had said; none of these big guys moved.

After passing through, he stood at the entrance of the passageway and looked inside. It was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything.

Before I even had a chance to take a step.

An unexpected change occurred.