83: Chapter 83 Ancient Medicine Garden, Star Magnet Puppet

Half an hour later.

Inside the labyrinth passageways on the outer periphery of Yunge Pavilion, the raging, whistling sound of the magnetic star storm gradually faded away.

Qi Yang followed that hidden fork in the road, silently shuttling back and forth among the dim bronze walls.

Relying on the keen perception of the flow of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi provided by the Five Poisons Nourishing Spirit Art, Qi Yang's journey along this path had been without any real danger.

Those hidden lethal Formations, which were enough to make a Cultivator at the Qi Condensation Great Completion regret it with their lives, were as conspicuous as torches in the dark night in his eyes.

He could always accurately find the location of the Gate of Life the breath before the Formation was triggered, calmly avoiding it.

"The design of this labyrinth is not only to guard against external enemies, but more like a screening process; only those with extremely strong perception or proficiency in Formations can walk to the end alive."

Qi Yang calculated in his heart while slowing down his pace.

The bronze passageway ahead began to widen, and the originally violent magnetic star force in the air miraculously leveled off, instead filling the air with a rich vegetation fragrance that almost materialized.

This fragrance was intermingled with a sense of vicissitudes precipitated by the years; just by taking a single breath, Qi Yang felt the Poison Wood Spiritual Power in his body, which had just broken through to the Qi Condensation 11th Layer, emit a joyful throbbing.

"Such rich vitality! There is definitely something good ahead!"

A bright light flashed in Qi Yang's murky old eyes.

He did not rush out rashly, but instead operated his Qi-concealing technique to the absolute limit.

His entire person seemed to have turned into a lifeless stone, pressing against the cold bronze wall and inching little by little to the end of the passageway.

Protruding half his head, the scene ahead made Qi Yang's pupils abruptly contract.

Appearing before his eyes turned out to be a vast underground Ancient Medicine Garden!

The dome of the medicine garden was inlaid with countless moonstones radiating a soft glow, illuminating the place as bright as day.

The ground was covered with fertile dark red spirit soil, and a dried-up spirit spring ditch surrounded the entire medicine garden.

However, this medicine garden had been abandoned for too long.

The years had ruthlessly erased most of the vitality; everywhere in the medicine fields were the remains of Spirit Medicine withered into ashes.

Qi Yang even saw a few peerless Spiritual Plants from legends capable of refining Medicinal Pills for the Core Formation stage, but unfortunately, they had all lost their spirituality entirely, turning into a pile of worthless withered grass.

However, Qi Yang's gaze did not linger on these withered grasses, but instead nailed itself dead on a white jade high platform at the very center of the medicine garden.

On that white jade high platform, a small tree grew impressively, its entire body carved like white jade and radiating brilliant starlight.

This tree was only about human height, and its branches and leaves were not lush, but hanging lonely on the topmost branches were three fist-sized fruits with silver star patterns flowing across their surfaces!

"star fruit!"

Qi Yang's heart twitched fiercely in his chest, and his breathing became heavy.

This was a rare heavenly treasure that only grew in places where the magnetic star force was incomparably rich!

According to the records he saw in the ancient books of the Scripture Pavilion, the greatest efficacy of the star fruit was not to elevate cultivation, but to cleanse the marrow and purify Spiritual Power!

For Qi Yang, who had a Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Roots, this was simply an invaluable treasure.

Although the Poison Wood Spiritual Power in his body was overbearing, because of his Spiritual Root, the Spiritual Power was heterogeneous and impure; during the Qi Refining Stage, this could still be forcibly suppressed by relying on the toughness of the Meridians.

Yet once he wanted to impact the Qi Condensation 12th Layer Great Perfection, or even attempt Foundation Establishment in the future, this heterogeneous Spiritual Power would become a fatal hidden danger.

As long as he swallowed these three star fruits, the liquid Poison Wood Spiritual Power in his body could be thoroughly purified, becoming like hundred-refined refined steel.

At that time, impacting the Qi Condensation 12th Layer Great Perfection would no longer have any obstacles!

"This item, I am determined to get it."

A trace of greed flashed across Qi Yang's eyes, but his body still clung tightly to the wall without moving half a step.

Having survived in the Cultivation World for so many years, Qi Yang understood a principle better than anyone else: the more precious the treasure, the more it concealed a fatal murderous intent.

Sure enough, Qi Yang's gaze followed the white jade high platform downward, and he immediately discovered a behemoth sitting cross-legged in the shadow of the star fruit tree.

That was a humanoid magnetic star stone puppet crafted entirely from top-grade magnetic star Ore.

It was about a zhang tall, and its whole body was covered with dense, ancient Formation patterns.

Although it lurked quietly there without emitting any Spiritual Qi fluctuations, just that heavy, mountain-like oppressive feeling made Qi Yang feel a burst of scalp numbness.

"A half-step Tier 2 magnetic star stone puppet!"

Qi Yang drew a sharp breath and cursed inwardly.

This gadget had no sense of pain whatsoever, knew no fatigue, and was forged entirely from magnetic star Ore, making its defense abnormal to the extreme.

Not to mention the Qi Condensation 11th Layer, even an ordinary Cultivator at the Qi Condensation Great Completion, wielding a top-tier First-Grade Magical Artifact to hack at it with all their might, might not necessarily be able to leave a white mark on its body.

If he chose to fight head-on, even if Qi Yang exhausted all his trump cards and completely drained the liquid Poison Wood Spiritual Power in his body, he might not be able to break through the defense of this stone Puppet.

Instead, because of the huge commotion, it would draw all the experts from the other Sects in the labyrinth over.

"Seizing it by force is definitely courting death; I can only play dirty."

Qi Yang took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

His powerful perception, like countless invisible tentacles, silently spread toward the direction of the white jade high platform.

He was carefully observing the Formation pattern structure of this magnetic star stone puppet. Any Puppet required a Formation core to drive it, and as long as it was a Formation, there would definitely be flaws in the flow of energy.

After observing for a full half-stick of incense time, Qi Yang finally made a discovery.

Although this stone Puppet had astonishing defense, due to the extremely distant era, a Formation pattern that absorbed magnetic star force—connecting its soles to the white jade high platform—had developed an extremely minute trace of wear and tear.

Although this trace of wear did not affect the stone Puppet's combat power, for Qi Yang, who was proficient in the Dao of poison, this was a fatal Breakthrough point!

Without the slightest hesitation, Qi Yang quickly formed seals with both hands, and the earth-type Spiritual Power within his body quietly operated.

"Earth Escape!"

His entire person transformed into a yellowish-brown stream of light, silently melting into the soil at the edge of the medicine garden.

Traveling through the soil of this underground Ancient Medicine Garden, Qi Yang appeared extremely careful. He did not dare to release too much Spiritual Power, fearing that it would alert the stone Puppet on the high platform.

Along the underground rock strata, he inched little by little toward the direct underside of the white jade high platform.

It took a full stick of incense of time, but Qi Yang finally arrived underground, less than three zhang deep from the soles of the stone Puppet's feet.

Right here, he could even clearly feel the heavy oppressive feeling emanating from the stone Puppet's massive body.

"The hunting time has arrived."

Qi Yang opened his eyes in the dark underground rock strata, a cold murderous intent flickering in the depths of his eyes.

With a flip of his wrist, he took out several fatal trump cards from his Storage Pouch, preparing to teach this arrogant stone Puppet a good lesson.

Qi Yang moved with extreme lightness to fish out a specially made dark green jade bottle from the Storage Pouch.

Contained inside was a high-concentration, top-grade bone-corroding poison liquid brewed from more than a dozen top-grade bone-corroding poisonous plants ripened with the black gourd, which had then been refined through seventy-seven-forty-nine times.

This gadget could melt even a first-grade upper-tier Magical Artifact into molten iron within a few breaths.

Following closely, he took out that fragmented five elements ring he had picked up from the Ghost Market.

"Whether this succeeds depends entirely on this single moment."

Qi Yang took a deep breath, slowly injecting the pure liquid Poison Wood Spiritual Power in his body into the five elements ring.

Hum!

The five elements ring emitted a faint, soft hum, and colorful poisonous light flowed across its surface.

Under Qi Yang's fine control, this stream of poisonous light wrapped around the bone-corroding poison liquid inside the jade bottle, turning it into a poisonous needle as thin as a gossamer thread, almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

"Go!"

Qi Yang formed seals with both hands, and that poisonous needle silently burrowed upward along the hard rock strata above his head.

A distance of three zhang was normally nothing more than the blink of an eye, but at this moment it appeared incomparably long.

Fine beads of sweat seeped out of Qi Yang's forehead; he had to accurately deliver the poisonous needle into the worn-out Formation pattern at the soles of the stone Puppet's feet, and even an inch of deviation would ruin all previous efforts.

Finally, the poisonous needle pierced through the stone slab of the white jade high platform and touched the cold soles of the stone Puppet's feet.