57: Chapter 57 Undercurrents, Smuggling Routes

Inside the channel, several luminous pearls emitted a dim glow.

More than a dozen huge black iron chests were neatly stacked to the side, bearing the seal of the Materials Hall of Xuantian Sect!

Standing in front of the chests was a slightly plump middle-aged man with fair skin.

"Deacon Pan Ping!"

Qi Yang let out a cold snort in his heart, instantly recognizing this person's identity.

Deacon Pan Ping, a deacon of the Inner Sect Materials Hall, an expert of the Qi Condensation 11th Layer, possessed earth, fire, and wood three-element Spiritual Roots!

This grandson usually always wore a smiling, peacemaker expression in the inner Sect, yet unexpectedly he was an ungrateful, massive embezzler!

"Hurry up with your movements! Tonight, this batch of goods must be completely transported out of the Sect!"

Deacon Pan Ping lowered his voice and rebuked his masked trusted subordinates.

"Lord Deacon, this batch of goods consists of second-grade Spirit Medicine and profound iron essence, and the higher-ups are investigating strictly. At a time like this, smuggling them to demonic Cultivators in the outer markets of our jurisdiction, isn't it too risky?"

A subordinate asked worriedly.

"What the hell do you know!"

Deacon Pan Ping slapped that subordinate on the head, a trace of greed and ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.

"Riches and honor are sought through danger! I have been stuck at the Qi Condensation 11th Layer for five years already. Without massive resources to buy barrier-breaking pills, don't even think about touching the threshold of the Qi Condensation 12th Layer Great Perfection in this lifetime! Let alone Foundation Establishment!"

Deacon Pan Ping gritted his teeth: "Those Dual Spiritual Roots geniuses don't have to do anything, and the Sect crams resources right into their mouths. As for me with Three Spiritual Roots, if I don't scavenge for myself, what can I use to compete? Quickly transport the goods into the tunnel! The contacts over there are already getting impatient!"

Lying within the rock layer, Qi Yang heard it crystal clear.

It turned out that Deacon Pan Ping utilized the geographical advantage of the desolate Nether Grass Field to forcefully dig out a smuggling tunnel leading to the marketplace outside the Sect!

He resold the Sect's contraband materials to demonic Cultivators in exchange for resources for his own Breakthrough.

"People die for wealth; this grandson's guts are truly big enough."

Qi Yang calculated inwardly.

Deacon Pan Ping was at the Qi Condensation 11th Layer. Even though he himself was now at the Qi Condensation 9th Layer, coupled with Poison Wood Spiritual Power, a direct head-on clash would definitely have no chance of winning.

The Realm gap in the Cultivation World was like a natural chasm. Being apart by two minor Realms, the thickness of spiritual power was completely not on the same magnitude.

Just as Qi Yang was preparing to quietly retreat, suddenly, a sentence from Deacon Pan Ping made all the hair on his body stand on end.

"Wait."

Deacon Pan Ping called out to his subordinates, his brows slightly furrowed, and his gaze looked coldly toward the direction of the Nether Grass Field.

"This smuggling tunnel must absolutely not be exposed. Has that old man planting nether grass outside shown any abnormalities recently?"

"Reporting to Deacon, that's just a one-hundred-year-old Qi Condensation Third Layer old piece of trash, with Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Rootss, and half his body already in the soil. Every day apart from farming he just coughs, and he hasn't even approached the edge of this mine cave."

The subordinate replied disdainfully.

"No, I always feel uneasy in my heart."

Deacon Pan Ping was naturally suspicious, and killing intent was fully revealed in his eyes.

"Regardless of whether he saw it or not, only dead people can be absolutely safe. Find an opportunity, manufacture an accident, and get rid of him. Disguise it as a sudden death from cold poison invading the body. When an old trash like this dies, the Spirit Plant House won't even ask a single extra question!"

"Yes! This subordinate understands!"

Above the rock layer, Qi Yang's gaze suddenly turned icy cold.

Wanting to kill me?

He, Qi Yang, never stirred up trouble, but he was also definitely not afraid of trouble!

Whoever dared to harbor killing intent toward him, he must cut weeds and eliminate the roots!

The next morning, Deacon Pan Ping unexpectedly came to the Nether Grass Field for the first time in history.

He wore the Materials Hall deacon uniform, with his hands behind his back, smilingly patrolling the field ridge, looking just like a good leader who cared for his subordinates.

Qi Yang was watering, and upon seeing Deacon Pan Ping, he immediately put down the water scoop, hunched his back, and walked up with staggered steps.

"Deacon Pan's grand presence graces us, this old man failed to welcome you from afar!"

Qi Yang smiled until his face was full of wrinkles, coughing violently twice.

Deacon Pan Ping up and down evaluated Qi Yang. Looking at his weak appearance that seemed ready to collapse at a gust of wind, a trace of imperceptible contempt and murderous intent flashed across the depths of his eyes.

"Old man Qi, this nether grass is growing quite well, but the cold Qi in this place is too heavy. Your old bones must pay more attention to health, lest one day you fall asleep and never wake up again."

Deacon Pan Ping said with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

Qi Yang's turbid old eyes directly stared at Deacon Pan Ping, without the slightest bit of dodging or fear.

He hunched his back, his voice hoarse yet unusually calm: "Many thanks for Deacon Pan's concern. Although this old man's life is cheap, my bones are extremely hard. If the King of Hell wants to collect me, I'm afraid it will still take some effort."

Deacon Pan Ping was slightly stunned. He always felt that the old man's gaze at that fraction of a second was so cold it made one's heart hair stand on end.

But he quickly attributed this to an illusion. What kind of waves could a Qi Condensation Third Layer piece of trash stir up?

"Hehe, as long as the bones are hard, work hard."

Deacon Pan Ping let out a cold snort and turned to leave.

Watching Deacon Pan Ping's back, the smile on Qi Yang's face slowly disappeared.

It seemed that Deacon Pan Ping could no longer hold back; the assassins would come tonight.

"Wanting me to die in an accident? Good, then let's see tonight who turns into an accident first!"

Qi Yang hoisted his hoe, turned around and walked back to the thatched cottage, starting to set up his killing formation.

The night was dark and the wind was high, with cold fog permeating.

The Nether Grass Field was dead silent, with only the rustling sound of wind blowing across the grass leaves occasionally.

Two figures wearing night-walking clothes crossed the dilapidated fence like ghosts, sneaking into the grass field.

Both of these people were Deacon Pan Ping's trusted subordinates, and their cultivation levels were both Qi Condensation 9th Layer.

In their view, coming to assassinate a one-hundred-year-old Qi Condensation Third Layer old trash was simply using a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken.

"Big brother, this damn place is really cold. Hurry up and finish off that old thing so we can go back and report for duty."

The thin man on the left rubbed his arms and complained in a lowered voice.

"Shut up, keep your hands and feet clean! The deacon instructed to fake a sudden death from cold poison, don't leave external injuries."

A trace of cruelty flashed through Scarface's eyes on the right, and he groped an ice needle emitting a chilly aura from his bosom.

The two of them, one in front and one behind, groped toward Qi Yang's dilapidated thatched cottage.

However, they did not notice that as they penetrated deeper into the grass field, the surrounding grayish-white cold fog became increasingly dense.

In the air, there faintly drifted a wisp of an intangible, peculiar sweet fragrance.

Qi Yang at this moment was sitting cross-legged on the roof of the thatched cottage, with a high-grade qi-suppressing talisman stuck on his body, his entire person merging as one with the dark night.

He coldly looked down at those two fools who threw themselves into the net below.

"Truly thinking that my territory is a place you can come and go as you please?"

Qi Yang smiled coldly.

He had long perfectly fused the original chilly Qi of the grass field with the second-grade medium-level extremely toxic Lost-God Flower pollen he ripened using the black gourd, forming a colorless and odorless composite poison array covering the entire grass field!

The Lost-God Flower specifically attacked a Cultivator's nerves, capable of causing people to produce terrifying hallucinations, while also greatly stagnating the operation of spiritual power within the body.

"Big brother... don't you feel that this fog seems a bit abnormal?"

The thin man suddenly stopped his footsteps and shook his head hard.

He felt the scenery before his eyes begin to distort, and the thatched cottage seemed to transform into a Vicious Beast with its bloody mouth wide open.

"Abnormal? What's abnormal..."

Scarface just wanted to mock him, but abruptly discovered that the operation of spiritual power within his body had become incomparably sluggish, just as if it had been frozen!

"Not good! There's poison!"

Scarface's expression changed wildly, and his Qi Condensation 9th Layer cultivation erupted forcefully, wanting to forcibly break through the suppression of the poison.

But it was too late!

Qi Yang's figure slid silently off the roof.

He didn't have any nonsense, didn't have any redundant movements, and each of his hands grasped a top-grade wooden spike quenched with Frost Absolute Shadow's extreme poison.

Pu! Pu!

Two muffled sounds rang out almost simultaneously.

Qi Yang's speed reached the absolute extreme. At the split second when their spiritual power was stagnant and they were deeply trapped in hallucinations, he appeared behind them like a ghost.

Two pitch-black wooden spikes accurately and flawlessly stabbed in from the back of their heads, directly piercing through the skull and emerging from the center of their brows!

"Ugh..."

Scarface and the thin man had their eyes wide open, the depths of their eyes filled with incredulous fear.

They didn't even have time to let out a scream before Frost Absolute Shadow's terrifying cold poison froze their brains and whole-body Meridians.

Two corpses fell stiffly into the muddy ground, emitting a dull sound.

So what about Qi Condensation 9th Layer?

In front of the survivalist-style absolute killing poison array, as long as there was no defense, it was still a fatal blow!

The Cultivation World was cruel to begin with. Qi Yang never believed in any upright duels; if he could scheme you to death, he would never waste a shred of extra effort!