17: Traces appear, crisis looms!

Time flew by, and two years passed in the blink of an eye.

"As expected, the concentration of Spiritual Qi outside the Sect is still a bit too low."

Inside the cliff cave, Su Ling opened his eyes and sighed softly as he looked at the Spirit Stone in his hand that had turned into powder.

Over the past two years, he had spent most of his time in the cave condensing his spiritual power or studying the four arts of cultivation.

Nearly five hundred Spirit Stones had been completely consumed.

Coupled with the assistance of a large number of qi refining pills, he had barely managed to raise his strength to the Middle Stage of the tenth level of Qi Refining.

His Talisman-making skills were considered to have entered the introductory stage, and he was able to create first-grade basic Talismans such as the Vajra Talisman, explosive flame talisman, and giant wood Talismans.

Due to the lack of earthly fire, he could only fully supplement his theoretical knowledge of Alchemy and Artifact Refining.

As for the abstruse and difficult knowledge of Formation, it was simply too mentally exhausting.

After reading through "Detailed Explanation of Basic Formations" several times, Su Ling could only put it aside for the time being.

However, he had gained a further understanding of the Phantom Illusion Formation and the Solid Wall Formation within the two Formation Plates.

At the very least, he had committed the Formation patterns required to maintain their operation to memory.

"There are still some Medicinal Pills left, but the efficiency is just too slow."

Su Ling clapped his hands and stood up, looking around as he thought to himself, "There is only one year left until the Cuiye Secret Realm opens. If I want to achieve a Foundation Establishment Breakthrough, I must return to the Sect."

After packing up his various items, Su Ling went to the grave of Yu Ruoli and bowed respectfully.

With the strength of the Core Formation stage, she had risked her life for those plundered Spirit Seeds.

Yu Ruoli's style of conduct was quite in line with the image of a Disciple of a Righteous Path Sect.

For Su Ling, even if he did not approve, he still maintained his respect.

Arriving at the cave entrance, he carefully investigated for a quarter of an hour. Determining there were no threats nearby, Su Ling took out the Phantom Concealment Formation Plate and used the vines he had deliberately transplanted over the past two years to cover the entire entrance.

He then leapt down, his body transforming into a phantom as he plunged straight into the mountain forest below.

When he left the Sect two years ago, Su Ling had accepted several tasks in one go.

Now that he was preparing to return to the Sect, he had to complete these tasks.

...

In a canyon thousands of miles away from the Sect.

A middle-aged man in a gray robe pinched a sword incantation. A stream of light tore through the Void Realm, carrying surging magic power as it swept straight across the head of a second-grade Yao Beast.

The scarred body of the second-grade Yao Beast crashed to the ground.

The stream of light returned, transforming into a Flying Sword about two feet long, floating beside him.

The middle-aged man in the gray robe stepped forward, put the Yao Beast's corpse into his Storage Pouch, and casually took out a compass to examine it carefully.

"Damn it, could that Su Ling have perished and dissipated into the Dao..."

The middle-aged man in the gray robe looked displeased and muttered indignantly, "Forget it, the mission is already complete, I cannot waste any more time."

This person was none other than the Foundation Establishment Cultivator surnamed Li who had received Su Ling when he was purchasing defensive Magical Artifacts two years ago; his name was Li Huan.

Two years ago, after he found out Su Ling's identity, he had secretly gone to the outer Sect courtyard to spy on him.

Unfortunately, he had come up empty-handed.

Later, he learned that Su Ling had left the Sect to carry out missions.

He did not expect that after leaving, Su Ling would not return for half a year.

Having no other choice, Li Huan had to temporarily leave the Artifact Refining Hall and accept missions to go out and search.

He used the compass to track him all the way, but the trail ended less than two hundred miles from the Sect.

After investigating and staking out the area for a few days, he still found no trace of Su Ling.

Li Huan had no choice but to go deep into the Underground World to complete missions while using the compass to search.

Over the past two years, he had gone out three or four times and found nothing.

He himself had almost been targeted by other Foundation Establishment Disciples.

This time was the last outing in Li Huan's plan. After returning to the Sect, he planned to go into seclusion to achieve a Breakthrough to the Middle Foundation Establishment Stage in preparation for the Cuiye Secret Realm.

Composing himself, Li Huan's figure flashed as he escaped into the mountain forest, flying rapidly toward the direction of the Sect.

During the return journey, a wisp of his Divine Sense remained on the compass.

Until he stepped into a certain area, the compass needle suddenly began to rotate.

Li Huan's figure stopped abruptly, his eyes fixed firmly on the compass.

When the needle stabilized in one direction, he revealed a grim smile, "After two years of hard work, you have finally appeared!"

Without further delay, he threw out a boat-shaped Magical Artifact, stimulated his magic power, and flew away rapidly.

...

More than two hundred miles away from the cliff cave, there was a valley.

Su Ling was maneuvering the dark bone thorn with ease, entangled in a fight with a Xuan Ice Spider comparable to the tenth level of Qi Refining.

For the past two years, he had barely stepped out of the cliff cave. When not cultivating, he would either refine the mysterious armor shield and dark bone thorn or study the art of making Talismans.

In the few days he had been out, he had basically been familiarizing himself with how to use his several Magical Artifacts.

A quarter of an hour later, the dark bone thorn emitted a sharp whistle, tracing an arc in mid-air and shooting into the Xuan Ice Spider's body at an extremely tricky angle.

The massive Xuan Ice Spider immediately had its guts spilled, a bloody hole exploded in its head, and it crashed to the ground.

"mid-grade magical artifacts are truly good; they have a complete advantage in battles between those of the same level."

Su Ling had tried it; if he used the white bone bow, the spiritual power arrows he shot would have limited damage against the Xuan Ice Spider.

To kill the opponent, he could only accumulate damage little by little to drag it to death.

But the dark bone thorn was different; both its flight speed and its penetrating power crushed the arrows shot by the white bone bow.

If it hadn't been for the scale accessory of the Low Grade Magic Treasure, the jade bone armor, blocking his heart at that time, Su Ling would never have dared to engage in a shooting duel with Qian Zheng.

Putting away the dark bone thorn, Su Ling was just about to step forward to collect the Xuan Ice Spider's corpse.

His heart suddenly tightened, and without a second thought, he activated the Phantom Shadow Technique, fleeing rapidly toward the rear.

"Su Ling!"

In mid-air above the basin, Li Huan shouted angrily, and his Flying Sword emerged in response.

A stream of light tore through the air, shooting unceremoniously toward Su Ling.

Su Ling was terrified. For a moment, although he did not know which Foundation Establishment Cultivator was calling him.

But having walked between life and death in his past life, and possessing Divine Sense and spiritual perception far exceeding those of the same level in this life, the danger attacking from behind made his hair stand on end.

In a flash of lightning, Su Ling crazily activated the Phantom Shadow Technique.

Five figures scattered in all directions.

"Clang!"

In an instant, Su Ling's true body was knocked flying, breaking several trees as thick as a bowl in succession.

"Hmph, you want to deceive my Divine Sense with a mere Phantom Shadow Technique?"

The Flying Boat descended slowly. Li Huan stepped off the Flying Boat with a look of disdain, looking down at Su Ling who was struggling to climb up.

"So it is Martial Uncle Li. I do not know how this Disciple has offended Martial Uncle Li to warrant such a lethal attack?"

Su Ling coughed a few times, slowly wiping away a wisp of blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth.

Had he not released the mysterious armor shield in time, that blow just now would have left him dead or crippled.

Even so, the attack power of the Foundation Establishment Stage Flying Sword had left the mysterious armor shield dim and lusterless.

"The dark bone thorn; it seems Qian Zheng and Lu Can were indeed killed by you."

Li Huan glanced at the dark bone thorn beside Su Ling and said coldly, "Speak, how exactly did Chen Ping die? You do not even have his scent on you."

"Chen Ping?!"

Su Ling's eyes flickered slightly; it seemed that this Deacon Li had a deep connection with Chen Ping.

Listening to his words, he had actually come for Chen Ping.