Mortal: Starting by joining the Falling Cloud Sect

The disciples of Baiqiaoyuan had secretly produced a golden talisman at some unknown time, and it seemed that they had already activated it in secret.

"What are you doing?" The disciples of the Ancient Sword Sect were shocked when they saw this. They shouted and tried to rush forward to stop the disciples of the Hundred Crafts Academy from activating the talisman, but it was too late.

Upon hearing this, the disciples of Baiqiaoyuan shouted, "Suppress!"

The talisman instantly transformed into a golden pagoda, hovering above everyone's heads. In an instant, all the disciples of the Ancient Sword Sect below the jade platform were overwhelmed by an invisible pressure, their limbs completely immobilized, leaving them only able to prostrate themselves on the ground.

Upon seeing this scene, Sun Ke on the jade platform flew into a rage and roared, "How dare you! You actually use talismanic treasures!" He then flew down to the platform and was about to cripple those disciples from the Hundred Crafts Academy.

The talisman is extremely powerful, and disciples in the Qi Refining stage have difficulty controlling it at will; if they are not careful, it can kill someone.

Therefore, it has always been an unspoken rule that disciples in secret realms do not use talismans when fighting each other.

Now that Baiqiaoyuan has rashly used talisman treasures, it has already broken the taboo of fighting in the secret realm, so it's no wonder that Sun Ke is so furious.

Taking advantage of the moment when the pagoda was suppressing the crowd and Sun Ke was enraged, Fu Xiuqi swiftly made his move, sweeping away the ancient cultivator's remains and the fake jade slip on the jade platform and storing them in his storage bag. He then leaped off the jade platform and joined the group of disciples from the Hundred Crafts Academy.

"Let's go, we've got the stuff. Leave one person behind to cover our retreat, and we'll leave this place quickly." He then took out the magic artifact that resembled a compass, and led two disciples from the Hundred Crafts Academy out of the main hall's main gate, and left in a hurry.

Although all of this happened right under Zhou Qing's nose, he pretended not to see it, because this situation suited him perfectly.

He didn't even need to draw the "trouble" away; Baiqiaoyuan took it all away on its own!

Enraged, Sun Ke charged toward the three disciples of Baiqiao Academy, but before his Azure Spirit Sword could reach them, it was suppressed by the pagoda formed from the talisman, freezing him in mid-air, unable to move.

Like the other disciples of the Ancient Sword Sect, he was also controlled by the oppressive aura and had no ability to fight back.

The disciple from Baiqiao Academy who was covering the rear saw that his fellow disciples had all left, and without even taking back the talisman, he rushed out of the hall without looking back.

"They really went all out, just giving up a talisman treasure like that." Zhou Qing was overjoyed when he saw it and immediately flew to the tower to take the talisman treasure.

Because the disciples of Baiqiao Academy had already severed their connection with the talisman, Zhou Qing controlled it with ease. He simply pointed at the illusory tower, and the illusory tower instantly vanished, turning back into a talisman depicting a golden pagoda, which landed in his hand.

As the Void Tower disappeared, the pressure on the members of the Ancient Sword Sect vanished, and they all stood up.

Staring at the empty jade platform, their eyes practically blazed with fury!

To Zhou Qing's surprise, Sun Ke, despite his burning anger, remained completely composed.

He quickly took out a scroll from his pocket and slowly unrolled it. There was one white dot and four red dots on the scroll.

The white dot remained completely still, while the red dot moved rapidly, getting further and further away from the white dot.

"They can't escape, chase them! They've even used the 'Talisman Treasure' Qiankun Tower, so don't blame us for being ruthless!" Sun Ke commanded coldly and calmly.

He then took the lead and rushed out of the main hall.

The other disciples of the Ancient Sword Sect were also seething with anger, their hearts burning with hatred for the people of the Hundred Crafts Academy. After cursing a few times, they followed Sun Ke and left the main hall.

As everyone left, Zhou Qing was left alone in the main hall once again.

"Since you're all so cunning, then go ahead and fight," Zhou Qing said calmly, before flashing a bright smile.

Zhou Qing remembered seeing two more passages deep inside the palace when he walked out of the jade gate, which he assumed led to the side halls on either side.

Now that I have the time and no one is "disturbing" me, it's the perfect opportunity to explore.

However, before that, Zhou Qing wanted to see what was recorded on the jade slip.

Zhou Qing took out the jade slip and gently placed it on his forehead, his mind slowly sinking into the jade slip.

After reading it all, Zhou Qing was slightly disappointed. The jade slip contained neither ancient elixir manuals nor cultivation techniques or supernatural abilities, but rather information about a spirit beast called the Azure Phoenix and its breeding methods.

From hatching the eggs to feeding them, the program covers almost every aspect, helping them progress quickly.

After reading all this, Zhou Qing felt that he could raise a blue phoenix himself, and he was sure he could raise it very well, since he had the Lotus Lantern as a backup and could have an unlimited supply of elixirs.

It's a pity he didn't have a blue phoenix egg.

After putting away the jade slip again, Zhou Qing took out the storage bag he had just obtained from the ancient cultivator's corpse and gently shook it with the opening facing down.

After the light faded, a large pile of things fell out.

Aside from some ordinary-looking odds and ends, there were a few items that caught the eye.

Zhou Qing picked up a jade slip of emerald green, wanting to examine it, but his divine sense couldn't penetrate it, as if it were sealed by some kind of restriction.

An antique mirror and a purple seal—these two items are clearly extraordinary ancient treasures.

These things would be incredible treasures in the cultivation world. Zhou Qing really wanted to keep them all for himself, but that was not realistic. Apart from the jade slips, which he could keep on his person, he could only admire the others from afar.

Simply placing the two jade pieces in his sleeve and stuffing the two ancient treasures into his storage bag, Zhou Qing strode towards the depths of the main hall.

He couldn't see it from a distance, but the depths of the hall seemed dark and gloomy. Only when he got closer did Zhou Qing discover that there was a huge black stone gate at the deepest part of the hall.

This stone gate was much larger than any stone gate Zhou Qing had encountered before. Standing in front of it, Zhou Qing appeared extremely small.

The stone gate is carved with countless grotesque and bizarre patterns. Under the gaze, the patterns twist and deform, as if they have become evil spirits, ferocious beasts, malevolent demons, and all sorts of terrifying things.

Zhou Qing felt a chill run down his spine after just one glance, his hair stood on end, and he felt uneasy, so he dared not approach any further.

Turning into the passageway on the right, Zhou Qing entered the side hall on the right, where there was a desk and several bookshelves.

On the desk, there were talisman brushes, spirit ink, and talisman paper, all complete. Unfortunately, the brush had lost its spirit, the spirit ink had dried up, and the talisman paper had weathered into dust.

"It seems this was where that ancient monk once drew talismans."

Seeing that there was nothing to take, Zhou Qing was slightly disappointed and quickly left the side hall, heading to another side hall.

The passage leading to another side hall was exceptionally long. Zhou Qing walked for quite a while before reaching the end of the passage, where there was another stone door.

Zhou Qing pushed open the stone door and went inside. The moment he entered, he felt that the spiritual energy around him was exceptionally abundant. With each breath, he felt refreshed and extremely comfortable.

About ten feet ahead, a cloud of white mist, hazy and indistinct, enveloped the interior of the side hall.

As Zhou Qing approached, he suddenly smelled a faint fragrance.

Through the white mist, he saw that inside the side hall there was a milky white pool more than ten feet in size.

A thought suddenly popped into Zhou Qing's mind, and she quickly walked to the edge of the pool, gently scooping up some milky white liquid with her hands.

A miraculous thing happened: the small puddle of milky white liquid, as soon as it left the pool, became lighter and clearer at a speed visible to the naked eye, and soon turned into ordinary water.

"It really is the Spirit Eye Spring! The ancient cultivators in this cave are truly powerful, managing to move such a large Spirit Eye Spring here."

Zhou Qing felt a mix of emotions, but also a sense of regret.

With his current cultivation level, even if he encountered such a treasure as the Spirit Eye Spring, he would not be able to move it away and could only let it be wasted here.

Finding a treasure but being unable to take it away—that feeling is truly unpleasant.

Zhou Qing was somewhat unwilling to give up, so he circled around the Spirit Eye Spring, wanting to walk to the deepest part of the stone hall to take a look.

This discovery was indeed very fruitful. At the edge of the spiritual spring, he found many spiritual herbs, some hundreds of years old and some thousands of years old. He was overjoyed and quickly collected them all.

Having gained so much, Zhou Qing felt much better and was happy to leave the place.

Just as he turned to leave, he was surprised to find that ripples were appearing on the once calm, mirror-like surface of the spring.

"There's something under this spring!"

Zhou Qing realized what was happening and jumped into the spring. The water wasn't deep, and he quickly reached the bottom.

At the bottom of the spring, Zhou Qing discovered a magic circle, and in the center of the magic circle was a strange egg.

This egg is slightly larger than a goose egg, with a bright green shell, resembling a smooth and round piece of icy jade.

On the eggshell, there are flowing cloud patterns that appear and disappear. When they appear, the whole egg emits a faint blue light.

Before entering the secret realm, Zhou Qing would have known absolutely nothing about this, but now, things are completely different. After reading through the jade slip, Zhou Qing is certain that it is an egg of a blue phoenix.

It's true that when fortune smiles upon you, there's no stopping it. First, they discovered the jade slip, and now they've found the blue phoenix's egg beneath this spiritual spring.

Zhou Qing was excited and slowly approached the magic array, intending to break it and take the egg away.

The patterns on the magic array were not complicated. Although Zhou Qing couldn't understand them, he was certain that it was not an attack or defense magic array, but at most an auxiliary magic array.

Based on what Zhou Qing saw, the specific functions were: firstly, to isolate the spring water and prevent it from coming into direct contact with the eggs.

Secondly, the spiritual energy from the spiritual spring is gathered to nourish the Azure Phoenix Egg. Zhou Qing noticed that every once in a while, several visible strands of spiritual energy were infused into the Azure Phoenix Egg by the magic array.

However, breaking the formation without damaging the Azure Phoenix Egg inside will take quite some time.

It wasn't until the fifth day that Zhou Qing successfully retrieved the Azure Phoenix Egg and put it into his treasure pouch. He had no intention of handing this over to the sect.

Having obtained the item, Zhou Qing quickly left the side hall.

After walking out of the corridor, a faint voice suddenly appeared in Zhou Qing's mind, enticing him to look at the strange stone door.

The voice was exactly the same as Zhou Qing's, as if it were his own thoughts, and Zhou Qing couldn't resist it for a moment.

Fortunately, Zhou Qing remained resolute and had a sliver of clarity left in his mind. He quickly seized a ball of green light from the Lotus Lantern and injected it into his mind.

As the azure light entered, no distracting thoughts or inner demons arose, and Zhou Qing immediately felt relaxed, the voices in his mind vanishing instantly.

After the harrowing experience, he quickly moved away from the eerie stone gate, still feeling a lingering fear in his heart!

When Zhou Qing returned to the center of the main hall and was about to leave through the main gate, an unexpected person appeared in front of him.

Someone he absolutely did not want to meet.

Xiang Zhili, enter the hall!