The Heavenly Court is gone, I don't want to be a True Lord.

When He Xiao reported the situation to Tang Yu yesterday, he wrote down the incredibly detailed map of Fushan from the Six Doors. Combined with the location of the Mysterious Lotus in Zuo Qi's mind, finding the Mysterious Lotus was only a matter of time.

The reason the three of them went together was twofold. First, the lotus seeds, the most important part of the Tongluo Xuanlian, cannot be preserved for long and their medicinal effects wear off quickly. It would be better for all three of them to go and share the food on the spot. Second, the places where treasures grow in the wild are usually the territory of strange creatures and monsters. Ni Heng has the power of destiny, so if the strange creatures and monsters cannot be dealt with, the three of them can also escape with ease.

The three of them headed into the mountains.

The mountains were cold and damp, and it had already snowed more than once. As far as the eye could see, everything was covered in white snow.

Birds and beasts have vanished, with only occasional wild animal footprints left on the snow.

Fortunately, the three of them had prepared dried snake meat and Qi-condensing pills when they arrived, so they didn't have to worry about going hungry in the mountains.

The location of the Tongluo Xuanlian was farther than expected. It took two full days to find the valley where the Tongluo Xuanlian grew, thanks to He Xiao's photographic memory.

Is this the place?

He Xiao's face was full of joy. His photographic memory, not only in terms of words, did not disappoint Qi Ge.

Zuo Qi nodded with a smile, also looking happy.

The value of a treasure capable of altering one's martial arts aptitude is self-evident.

Lin Yujun once told him about this kind of precious lotus. In the prefectural city, a rather large sect was wiped out because of the Tongluo Xuanlian. The imperial court even sent people to investigate.

Such powerful treasures that can change a martial artist's aptitude are almost never seen on the market.

As they were about to enter the secluded valley, Zuo Qi and his two companions became serious.

His bright red nose twitched, and a look of terror suddenly appeared in his eyes.

Ni Heng, understanding its intent, immediately frowned. "Brother Qi, Da Hong said there's a very strong alien species in the valley, much stronger than the old tortoise and the giant snake."

Upon hearing this, Zuo Qi pondered to himself.

Da Hong has been eating well lately, and its physical attributes have improved somewhat. What could make it so fearful is probably not a monster with twenty years of cultivation equivalent to a third-level martial artist.

Could there be a powerful demon with thirty years of cultivation in the valley?

"You wait here, I'll go check."

Zuo Qi climbed down the slippery rock wall to the bottom of the valley. As soon as he put his foot down, he felt a chilling cold, like the air of a corpse, that went straight to his bone marrow from the sole of his shoe.

The entire valley is a gap that was forcibly cleaved in the mountains, with straight cliffs on both sides as if cut by a knife, barren of any vegetation, only exposing huge gray-black rocks as black as iron.

There was no moss, no cracks, and no trace of any living creature crawling on the stone. It looked as if it had been forged by a raging fire and frozen stiff by the cold for thousands of years, so deathly still that it was suffocating.

Looking up, the sunlight was squeezed into a thin slit; it was clearly daytime, but the valley floor was as dark as dusk.

The wind rushed into the valley, but it didn't circulate; it just bounced back and forth between the stone walls, making a muffled whistling sound, like countless dead souls groaning as they were pressed into the stone.

The deeper you go, the heavier the sense of oppression becomes.

The massive rocks on both sides tilted inwards, as if they might close at any moment and crush a person into mincemeat.

The sharp, jagged rocks on the slope were cold and stiff to the touch, devoid of any earthy scent, only possessing a deathly hardness.

Finally, he saw the pool.

The water in the pool was neither clear nor emerald green, but rather a deep, inky black.

The water was eerily calm, without ripples, bubbles, or fallen leaves; not even light could penetrate it, like a piece of solidified black jade.

No grass or moss grows by the pool; there is only a ring of pale white stone edging, as if it has been soaked and licked by something for years.

The water was so still that you could hear your own heartbeat, but you couldn't hear any other sound.

It was as if this was not a pool of water, but the closed eye of a giant beast.

Zuo Qi stood about ten meters from the edge of the pool, and inexplicably felt a tightness in his heart. It wasn't that he was timid, but rather it was a martial artist's sixth sense that there was something nearby that could threaten his life.

The Mysterious Lotus grows on the surface of a deep pool. It is entirely bluish-black in color with bluish-black patterns on it, resembling the veins of the Mysterious Lotus.

Just then, he kicked something.

The thing was half-buried in the pale crevice of the rock, its entire body a dark blue-green color, gleaming with a deathly cold luster.

Zuo Qi reached out to touch it, but was instantly jolted back by the biting cold.

[An unknown spirit has shed its scales; affected by the icy pool, the cold air within its scales remains incessant.]

Zuo Qi frowned slightly; sure enough, there was a strange beast guarding the Tongluo Xuanlian!

He stopped and looked inside, following the direction of the molted scales.

Suddenly, a strange roar came from the valley, like the scolding of a young girl or the whimpering of an infant.

The sound frequency is very low, making it difficult for the human ear to detect. It is a type of infrasound that comes from all directions of the valley, making it impossible for people to pinpoint the direction from which the sound is coming.

Zuo Qi lowered his body, pushed the Thousand Mountains Breathing Technique to its limit, gathered his internal energy, and scanned his surroundings.

Finally, beyond the deep pool, a place shrouded in mist appeared, with a black silhouette looming in and out of sight. Its aura was like an abyss, and behind the monster was... a mountain of white bones!

There were human bones and animal bones, piled up like mountains, indicating the deaths of at least tens of thousands of lives.

And because so much time has passed, many of the bones have begun to decompose.

Zuo Qi activated the power of his Heavenly Eye and continued to stare at the black outline.

Finally, I could see clearly: a human face, a jackal's body, bird wings...

The ferocious beast transformed into a snake!

……

Yuncheng.

Shang Yingying boarded a merchant ship belonging to the Wang family of Fushan City and sailed downstream, arriving in Yuncheng in three days.

She did not go home, but went to her master's sect first.

Compared to her father who disappointed her, she still preferred the master her mother had found for her before she passed away.

To avoid conflict with the imperial court, martial arts sects generally do not build their headquarters in cities, and the Flying Sword Sect is no exception.

It is located in a valley southeast of Yuncheng.

Although it is called a valley, Yuncheng is mostly plains, and the highest peaks are only small hills of three or four hundred meters.

Shang Yingying strode into the sect, encountering several fellow disciples who were all surprised along the way.

Why is she back? I heard she went home to visit her family last year and hasn't returned since. Even her master thinks she has reconciled with her father and plans to settle down on the ranch.

I never expected him to come back.

Whatever they were thinking, they always wore a smile on their face.

"Junior Sister Shang".

"Junior Sister Shang is back."

Shang Yingying's expression was cold; she nodded occasionally, but most people ignored her.

The Flying Sword Sect is quite powerful. Its leader, Yao Ningnan, is a master of the Fifth Refinement Divine Forging Technique and is rumored to be about to break through the Sixth Refinement barrier and condense his Yuan Embryo. He is renowned throughout the martial arts world of Yuncheng.

Shang Yingying's master, Yao Zhiyue, is Yao Ningnan's younger sister, which shows the status of Shang Yingying and her master in the Flying Sword Sect.

Yao Zhiyue is around forty years old this year, but as a fourth-level master, she has a strong vitality and takes good care of herself, looking like a young girl in her early twenties.

Standing next to Shang Yingying, they look like sisters.

"Yingying? You're back?"

Yao Zhiyue looked surprised when she saw Shang Yingying.

She only had two or three direct disciples, and her favorite was Shang Yingying.

Last year, Shang Yingying went home but did not return. In March, she even sent her disciples to the Shang family to inquire, and the news they received was that Shang Yingying had gone back.

She knew about the conflict between Shang Yingying and her father, and assumed that the two had reconciled, so she let it go.

"Disciple greets Master."

Shang Yingying was also extremely excited when she saw Yao Zhiyue.

That year, she nearly died in the demon's lair. Only those who have truly experienced life and death know how desperate that was.

So she was very grateful to Zuo Qi.

Therefore, the first thing she did upon returning was to approach Yao Zhiyue and ask her senior master to contact the Six Doors and expedite the process of securing the merits for the destruction of the demon's lair.

As Yao Zhiyue listened to Shang Yingying's words, she became more and more shocked, and a look of shock unconsciously appeared on her usually cold face.

"You mean... you were trapped in a demon's lair a while ago, almost died, but eventually saw through the rules of the demon's lair and successfully destroyed it?"

After she finished speaking, her eyes unconsciously turned strange.

She knew what her apprentice's abilities were.

Let alone destroying a demon's lair, being able to hunt down even a few demons born from that lair is already considered a display of exceptional wisdom.

Could it be that this girl has been hiding her true abilities all these years?