85: The Vanished Foundation Building Pill

Thousand Star Sea Region, Red Coral Reef.

This was a magnificent yet dangerous underwater jungle. Countless massive, blood-red corals towered like trees, forming a natural labyrinth.

At this moment, deep within the labyrinth, an unequal pursuit was unfolding.

"Fatty Zhao! Hand over the goods! Or I'll let you taste the 'Foundation Dissolving Powder'!"

A cold, sinister voice echoed through the water.

Zhao the Abacus was covered in blood, his signature coin-patterned robe already tattered beyond repair. His face had turned a strange shade of greenish-purple. Although the spiritual power fluctuations within him were immense (Foundation Establishment Stage), they seemed to be tightly ensnared by some viscous toxin. His energy circulation was extremely sluggish; he couldn't even manage to fly and could only flee along the seabed using a shuttle-shaped Magical Artifact through the coral thickets.

"Dammit! Despicable!"

Zhao the Abacus cursed in his heart as he fled.

He had calculated everything, but he never expected the supply pickup point to be pre-arranged with a "Dragon-Trapping Spirit-Locking Formation" specifically targeting Foundation Establishment Cultivators. The air was also thick with "Foundation Dissolving Toxic Mist," designed to corrode Foundation Establishment true essence.

If not for that, he could have slapped to death a whole swarm of those Qi Refining Stage small fry behind him!

"A tiger down on the plains is bullied by dogs!"

Zhao the Abacus tightly clutched the jade box in his arms, which was covered in sealing Talismans, his eyes full of resentment.

Behind him, over a dozen streaks of red light pursued relentlessly.

Leading them was a vice commander of the Blood Shark Group, with a cultivation at the Peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining. He rode a fierce Sawshark, holding a water splitting thorn in his hand, a cruel, cat-and-mouse smirk on his face.

"Deacon Zhao, stop struggling! You're poisoned and suppressed by the Formation; you can't even exert thirty percent of your power! Hand over the foundation establishment pill obediently, and I'll give you a quick death!"

"In your dreams!"

Zhao the Abacus gritted his teeth, desperately channeling the sliver of true essence remaining in his body.

"Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!"

A murderous glint flashed in the vice commander's eyes as he violently threw the water splitting thorn.

Swish!

The water splitting thorn turned into a streak of red light, accurately piercing through Zhao the Abacus's defensive barrier (weakened by the poison) and pinning him directly to a massive red coral by his left shoulder.

"Pfft!"

Zhao the Abacus spat out a mouthful of black blood, and the jade box flew out of his hand.

"It's mine!"

Overjoyed, the vice commander urged his shark forward toward the jade box.

However...

At the very moment his fingertips were about to touch the jade box...

Hum.

The surrounding seawater suddenly froze.

It wasn't ice, but a more terrifying sense of stagnation, as if the entire space had been taken over by some powerful will.

The vice commander remained in his reaching posture, frozen in mid-air. His eyes darted frantically, but he couldn't even move a finger.

"Who's there?!"

He was terrified to the core.

This pressure... Clack.

A jade-like palm appeared out of thin air, gently catching the jade box before the vice commander could reach it.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Brother Zhao, you've ended up in quite a miserable state."

A playful voice rang out.

In the dark seawater, a figure dressed in simple green robes and wearing a ghost-face mask slowly emerged. A golden mouse sat on his shoulder, nibbling on a spirit fruit, looking completely out of place.

"Lei... Lei Gong?!"

Zhao the Abacus, pinned to the coral, jerked his head up, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He naturally recognized this legendary figure from the black market. But he never expected that this "Lei Gong," rumored to be only at the Qi Refining Stage, would currently be radiating a genuine Foundation Establishment pressure!

Moreover, how could he ignore the surrounding "Dragon-Trapping Spirit-Locking Formation" and "Foundation Dissolving Toxic Mist"?

"Se... Senior..."

Zhao the Abacus spoke with difficulty, "Be careful... there's poison... and a Formation..."

"Poison? A Formation?"

Zhou Wannian chuckled.

He extended a finger and tapped lightly in the void.

"Disperse."

As he uttered that single word, a strange ripple spread out with him at the center.

The green toxic mist that had been permeating the seawater seemed to have met its nemesis, instantly decomposing and being purified. The Formation nodes hidden in the shadows shattered directly with crisp crackling sounds.

To him, who possessed the Cloud Seal Heavenly Scripture and the water repelling token, these low-level Formations and toxins reliant on seawater were like showing off slight skills before a master.

"This... how is this possible?!"

The vice commander was completely dumbfounded.

The death trap they had meticulously prepared specifically to kill Foundation Establishment Cultivators had been broken by this person with a mere flick of a finger?

"Nothing is impossible."

Zhou Wannian turned his head toward the group of immobilized Robber Cultivators, his tone indifferent. "Remember for your next life: before setting a trap, check the almanac first."

He flicked his fingers.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Over a dozen tiny bolts of purple lightning shot from his fingertips, accurately drilling into the foreheads of each Robber Cultivator.

There were no screams, only instantaneous annihilation.

After clearing out the small fry, Zhou Wannian did not kill Zhao the Abacus.

He walked over to Zhao the Abacus, pulled out the water splitting thorn, and casually slapped a specially made Detoxifying Cleaning Talisman on him.

Sizzle—

The Talisman lit up, and the black blood flowing from Zhao the Abacus's wound quickly turned red as the toxin suppressing his cultivation was forcibly drawn out.

"Phew... thank you for saving my life, Senior!"

Zhao the Abacus felt the true essence within him begin to circulate again, and he was so moved that his eyes filled with tears.

But as he looked at the jade box in Zhou Wannian's hand, his gaze became timid and pained.

Those were foundation establishment pills... "What? You want them?"

Zhou Wannian toyed with the jade box, looking at him with a half-smile.

"I... I wouldn't dare..." Zhao the Abacus lowered his head. "Senior saved my life. This treasure... should naturally belong to Senior."

"At least you're sensible."

Zhou Wannian opened the jade box.

Three round, plump foundation establishment pills, radiating an enticing medicinal fragrance, lay quietly inside. Beside them were a bottle of Soul Nourishing Liquid and a Second-Tier High Grade Magical Artifact, the Water Repelling Bead.

"Good stuff."

Zhou Wannian nodded. Right in front of Zhao the Abacus, he took out the bottle of Soul Nourishing Liquid and the Water Repelling Bead, putting them into his Storage Pouch.

"I'll take these two."

Then, he performed an action that nearly made Zhao the Abacus's eyes pop out of his head.

Snap.

He closed the jade box and casually tossed the container, which still held the three foundation establishment pills, back to Zhao the Abacus.

"These three crappy pills, you can have them back."

"Wha... What?!"

Zhao the Abacus scrambled to catch the jade box, completely dazed.

Crappy pills?

These were foundation establishment pills! Pills that could create a Foundation Establishment Cultivator with just one! This Senior actually didn't want them?

"What? You don't want them? Should I throw them away then?" Zhou Wannian made a move to take them back.

"I want them! I want them! Thank you, Senior! Thank you, Senior!"

Zhao the Abacus hugged the jade box tightly, kowtowing repeatedly with loud thuds.

Although he didn't know why this Senior looked down on foundation establishment pills, this was an enormous surprise for him!

"However, there is one condition."

Zhou Wannian's tone shifted.

"Please give your orders, Senior!"

"I need you to do something for me."

Zhou Wannian pulled a black Formation Plate from his Storage Pouch (it was the sub-plate of the 'Monitoring Formation Plate' he had pilfered from the Water Mansion) and threw it to Zhao the Abacus.

"I want you to take this back to the Qingyun Sect's group. Then, find an opportunity to 'accidentally' leave it near the Elder who is currently attacking the main gate of the Water Mansion."

"Is it that simple?" Zhao the Abacus was stunned.

"It's that simple."

Zhou Wannian didn't explain. Within that Formation Plate, he had recorded a specific "image"—a scene of the medicinal garden in the back mountain of the Water Mansion being ransacked by a "mysterious person" (of course, the person in the image had been blurred to look like a member of the Blood Shark Group).

This move was called—Shifting the Misfortune onto Others.

"Do you understand?"

"I understand! I understand!"

Zhao the Abacus nodded repeatedly.

"Very good."

Zhou Wannian glanced at the jade box in Zhao the Abacus's arms, an imperceptible mischievous smirk playing on his lips.

He of course wouldn't be so kind as to return the foundation establishment pills.

At the moment he opened the jade box, he had used a lightning-fast technique to swap the three real foundation establishment pills for three "sugar beans" rolled from flour and spiritual liquid.

"Remember, you didn't see me today."

"Also, this batch of supplies... was snatched back from the Blood Shark Group by you at the risk of your life."

Having said that, Zhou Wannian's figure flickered and vanished into the vast deep sea.

Leaving only Zhao the Abacus clutching the recovered "False Core," moved to tears.

"Senior Lei Gong... what an expert! He truly views money as dirt!"

...Back at Luan Ya Reef.

Zhou Wannian took out the three genuine foundation establishment pills and the bottle of Soul Nourishing Liquid.

"Although I no longer need foundation establishment pills, they are a hard currency. They'll be very useful in the future, whether for trading for resources or training subordinates."

"As for Zhao the Abacus..."

Zhou Wannian chuckled.

"When you present those False Core to the Sect Elder, the scene... will surely be spectacular."

"But by then, I'll be long gone."

He took out a sea chart and cast his gaze toward the far east.

Tianxing City.

That is my next stop.