117: Chapter 117 The Restriction on the Stone Wall

Qi Yang squatted down and pushed aside the rotting leaves with his hands.

The next second, his breathing suddenly stopped.

Beneath the rotting leaves, it was densely packed with rotting heart fruit seeds!

These seeds were dark purple, each about the size of a fingernail, radiating a faint vitality.

Roughly estimated, there were at least over a hundred of them!

"I've struck it rich, I've really struck it rich!"

Qi Yang forcefully suppressed the wild joy in his heart.

rotting heart fruit itself was extremely rare, and its seeds were even more priceless and unavailable on the market.

Because the growth conditions for the rotting heart fruit were incomparably harsh, requiring a specific toxic miasma environment and at least three hundred years of time to mature.

But he had the black gourd!

As long as there were seeds, he could infinitely ripen them!

Qi Yang immediately took out a large jade box from his Storage Pouch, carefully collecting all the seeds without leaving a single one behind.

After collecting the seeds, Qi Yang glanced again at the three unconscious Rotting Wood Centipedes, a trace of killing intent flashing in his eyes.

To cut weeds, one must eradicate the roots.

If these three centipedes woke up, they might track his aura.

Although the possibility was small, Qi Yang never left any hidden dangers for himself.

He flicked his fingers repeatedly, and three subtle wisps of Poison Wood Spiritual Power shot out, precisely sinking into the heads of the three centipedes.

Chi, chi, chi.

Without even struggling, the three centipedes were directly corroded into a puddle of black water by the Poison Wood Spiritual Power.

Qi Yang then took out the corpse-dissolving water, completely decomposing the black water, and then cast a small Spirit Rain Technique to wash away all traces.

After finishing all this, Qi Yang pondered for a moment and intended to continue deeper.

The Wood Poison Passage continued to extend deeper, the space becoming increasingly cramped, with the stone walls on both sides almost touching Qi Yang's shoulders.

The concentration of the toxic miasma was as thick as thin porridge, the dark green mist almost condensing into substance; an ordinary person stepping in would turn into white bones in a single step.

Qi Yang's footsteps did not stop, the Five Elements Grindstone spinning crazily in his Dantian, completely crushing and transforming the wood-type toxic miasma surging into his body.

The liquid Poison Wood Spiritual Power inside his body climbed slowly and steadily like rising tide seawater.

Walking about five miles, the stone walls on both sides of the passage began to change.

The bare black stone surface gained densely packed carvings, their handwriting either neat or sloppy, clearly left by different people in different periods.

Qi Yang slowed his pace, his spiritual awareness sweeping through these texts line by line like a comb.

"The medicine garden area is in the east, the poison refining area is in the middle, the Scripture Repository is in the northwest direction..."

"The Inheritance Hall is located in the deepest part of the ruins; none other than personal disciples of the Sect Master may enter, and one must pass through the land where the Five Poisons converge..."

"The Myriad Poisons True Scripture is our Sect's treasure, Earth Rank Medium Grade, cultivation to Major Achievement can resist all poisons..."

Earth Rank Medium Grade!

Qi Yang's breathing suddenly stalled.

The Five Poisons Nourishing Spirit Art he currently practiced was merely a Yellow Rank Top Grade Incomplete Manual, whose limit could only support up to the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment before lacking follow-up strength.

And an Earth Rank Medium Grade Cultivation Technique was enough to support a Cultivator in charging towards the Nascent Soul mighty figure, or even further.

This was the core goal of his trip to these ruins.

Qi Yang firmly remembered all the information on the stone walls in his mind and continued forward.

Walking another dozen miles or so, the passage suddenly opened up a bit, but a pitch-black stone wall appeared ahead.

The surface of the stone wall was covered with spiderweb-like purple patterns, with faint light flowing within the patterns, exuding an ancient and dangerous aura.

Restriction.

Qi Yang released his spiritual awareness to pierce through the stone wall and probe forward.

The wall was about three zhang thick, behind which was a vast space. His spiritual awareness could faintly sense rich Spiritual Qi fluctuations, but the details deeper inside were obscured by some kind of power.

He raised his hand and pressed it against the stone wall, injecting the Five Elements spiritual power simultaneously.

The purple patterns flickered once, but then went silent.

The level of spiritual power of him alone was not enough, or rather, it required applying the power of action from five directions simultaneously to form resonance.

"Five poison paths, the power of the Five Elements, activated simultaneously..."

Qi Yang narrowed his eyes, his mind operating at high speed.

The Five Elements spiritual power of him alone could indeed meet the attribute requirement, but the problem lay in the total amount of power.

The spiritual power reserve of the Early Foundation Establishment was not enough to activate such a large-scale Restriction Formation from five directions simultaneously.

Unless... there was external force to assist.

For example, letting the Foundation Establishment Elders of the Five Great Sects open the door for him.

But this difficulty was not small; after pondering for a good while in his mind, Qi Yang turned around and returned along the original path.

He was not in a hurry; what he lacked the least was patience. Those greedy Sect Elders would sooner or later discover this secret, and by then he would only need to follow behind and pick up ready-made gains.

When coming out from the Wood Poison Passage, the sky was already slightly bright.

Qi Yang intentionally smeared a layer of diluted venom on his face, creating a few purplish-black toxic sores, and tore his clothes into several rips, making his whole person look utterly miserable.

He stumbled back to the handyman camp, just in time to bump into Fang Chu counting the headcount.

"Old man Qi! Where the hell did you go?"

Fang Chu frowned, the aura of the Qi Condensation 11th Layer pressing over.

This fellow possessed Three Spiritual Roots—Gold, Water, and Wood—and was considered to have decent Aptitude even within the Xuantian Sect's inner Sect, but his personality was harsh and sinister, showing no pity for handymen.

Qi Yang hunched his back, coughed violently a few times, and tremblingly took out a mutant poisonous herb of ordinary appearance from his bosom.

"Fang... Senior Brother Fang, this old man lost his way last night, wandered in the passage for the entire night before finding a way out, and almost lost this old life... This is what this old man risked his life to pick..."

Fang Chu snatched the poisonous herb and took a glance; its appearance was average but it could still be considered rare, worth twenty or thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

He snorted and casually tossed it into his Storage Pouch.

"Trash is trash, unable to even recognize a path. Next time you run around blindly and die outside, don't blame me for not reminding you."

Qi Yang nodded repeatedly, shrinking his neck and sneaking back to the corner-most position of the camp.

Lying on the tattered felt mat, he took out a healing pill and swallowed it, then wiped away the fake toxic sores on his face with his sleeve.

The black gourd in his bosom transmitted a faint and continuous warm tremor, as if telling him that there was something it wanted inside here.

Qi Yang closed his eyes, a trace of a smile known only to himself hanging at the corners of his mouth.

That afternoon, an ice-blue sword light cut through the toxic miasma above the camp, steadily landing at the edge of the handyman area.

Su Qinghan's long dress was stained with blood, and there was a shallow split at the web of her right hand, obviously having just experienced a fierce battle.

She walked to the corner where Qi Yang was lying, lowering her eyes to glance at this old man curled up in the tattered felt mat.

"Where did you go last night?"

Qi Yang hurriedly sat up, wearing a look of panic.

"Fairy! This old man... this old man took the wrong path, got lost in a remote small passage and was almost suffocated to death by the toxic miasma, and barely managed to crawl back..."

Su Qinghan glanced at the residual "poison injury" marks on his body, her brows slightly furrowed without asking further.

She sat down on a stone nearby, fumbled out a small porcelain bottle from her Storage Pouch, and tossed it to Qi Yang.

"Apply this. Low-grade toxic sores like this will ulcerate if not treated."

Qi Yang expressed boundless gratitude as he received it, then handed over a cup of coarse tea, taking the opportunity to ask, "Did Fairy enter that golden passage today? What good things are inside?"

Su Qinghan took the coarse tea he handed over and took a sip.

"The end of the passage is an armory. Most Magical Artifacts are corroded beyond recognition by the toxic gas, but there are also a few well-preserved ones. Elder You Ke took a Tier 2 Upper Grade Toxic Gold Halberd."

Her gaze darkened slightly, and then she continued, "Behind the armory, there is still a restricted stone door with the three characters 'Poison Refining Area' carved on it. Elder You Ke tried for half a day and couldn't open it."

Qi Yang quickly compared the Wandu Sect's layout on the stone wall in his heart.

The five passages led to different outer areas respectively.

The armory, the medicine garden, the poison refining area, and so on.

However, the ends of all passages were sealed by a linked Restriction; only by simultaneously activating the Five Elements power could the path leading to the core be opened.

"Fairy got into a fight with someone?"

Qi Yang looked at the wound on the web of her hand.

Su Qinghan let out a cold snort.

"There are guardian Puppets in the passage—two Tier 2 Early Stage iron-armored Puppets. Elder You Ke and I joined forces to take them down."

She raised her eyes to look in the direction of the Blood Shadow Sect's camp in the distance.

"However, the truly troublesome things are not the Puppets, but people. The people from the Blood Shadow Sect and Ziyang Valley almost started fighting inside."

"Ziyang Valley?"

Qi Yang raised an eyebrow.

"Their people also entered the Gold Poison Passage later, led by Ye Hongyu."

When Su Qinghan mentioned this name, her tone carried a trace of solemnity.

"That woman is very strong, Early Foundation Establishment, but the feeling she gives people... is not as simple as Early Foundation Establishment."

Qi Yang's heart stirred.

Ye Hongyu, the Prodigy of Ziyang Valley, Dual Spiritual Roots, Fire and Wood dual attributes.

Previously in the Yunxing Abyss ruins, he had already crossed hands with this woman. Her strength at that time was Qi Condensation Great Completion; he didn't expect that she had now broken through to the Foundation Establishment Stage as well, truly extraordinary.

Moreover, there was an indescribable temperament about her, not like a Cultivator that a remote second-rate Sect could cultivate.