Huo Ziqi was delighted when he received this task.
Now that the Immortal Alliance was at war with the demonic cultivators and the demonic cultivators, he would inevitably be involved if he stayed in Kunwu. There were only three Nascent Soul cultivators in the Spirit Beast Sect, and he was the one with the lowest cultivation level.
Now, not only could he legitimately leave Kunwu Mountain and stay away from danger, but he might also get a fated chance and advance in one fell swoop.
Coincidentally, Zong Si, who carried out this task with him, had known him for several years and had a good relationship with him.
On the surface, he and Zong Si didn't seem to have anything in common. One was a Nascent Soul ancestor of a large sect with tens of thousands of years of history, the other was an elder of a small sect who barely advanced to the Nascent Soul realm and struggled to maintain his orthodoxy. One was young and had a bright future, while the other was about to die.
But in fact, Huo Ziqi felt that their situations weren't too different.
He was more than 700 years old, which was half of the lifespan of a Nascent Soul cultivator, but he was still stuck in the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm. He couldn't even cultivate to the peak of the early stage, let alone advance.
It wasn't easy for cultivators of the Spirit Beast Sect to help their natal spiritual beasts advance. Many seniors with outstanding aptitudes stopped at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm. His aptitude was only above average, so his advancement to the Nascent Soul realm surprised many of his fellow disciples.
His aptitude was ordinary, and his cultivation level was stagnant in the past 200 years. Although he was the respected grand elder of the Spirit Beast Sect, in the eyes of the head ancestor, he was no different from the head of the sect who took care of chores. The only difference was that his cultivation level was higher and he was more presentable.
If there were no accidents, he would be stuck in the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm until he died, just like most Nascent Soul cultivators.
But how could he be willing to give up?
As long as there was a chance, he wanted to advance to the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm even at the risk of dying.
Zong Si, who only had 200 to 300 years of lifespan left, was the same as him, or even more eager.
Therefore, as soon as they accepted this task, they thought of the same thing.
The secret storehouse of an ancient sect was a rare opportunity. In the past, they had to pay a great price to get such information, but now, they got a clue for no reason.
In the eyes of others, the map was too vague and it was difficult to find the place where the treasure was hidden. The westernmost area was desolate and didn't even have a spirit vein, so it wasn't a good task.
But he and Zong Si had other plans.
The Far West was vast. If they really couldn't find any conclusive clues, then the two of them would just take it as avoiding disaster and wouldn't suffer any losses. If they found something, then it would be a great opportunity for them.
With this in mind, they came to the Far West.
Unexpectedly, this time, the heavens really cared for them.
Midway, they stopped at an oasis and accidentally found the place where the ancient cultivator had died. They found a complete map on the ancient cultivator's body.
Comparing this map with the incomplete one in their hands, they found that the secret storehouse was in Sandstorm City.
Before leaving, the two of them took away all the things in the temporary cave residence. They didn't expect that the ancient senior cultivator's spirit beast bag would preserve a strange insect that had survived until now.
Hundreds of flying insects swarmed out and chased after the two of them.
After fleeing to the vicinity of Sandstorm City, they finally got rid of the Exotic Insects.
They just stopped at a small town nearby to recover their spiritual aura. When they were about to explore according to the map, they happened to run into Qin Shoujing and Mo Qingwei from Xuanqing School.
He was jealous of these two people. Or to be precise, there weren't many cultivators in the Celestial Pole who didn't envy them.
Their cultivation path was so smooth that people couldn't help but envy them. They were young, but they already advanced to the Nascent Soul realm.
Qin Shoujing, in particular, had double spiritual roots like him, but he actually succeeded in forming his Nascent Soul at the age of two hundred. Moreover, he also advanced to the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm early. With a lifespan of one thousand years left, he might have a chance to advance to the Deification realm.
If possible, he really didn't want to disclose this matter to them. However, when he remembered that Lord Daoist Xuanyin from Xuanqing School was one of the people who took the map from the beast cultivator, he and Huo Zong finally decided to pull them into their group.
On the other hand, Qin Shoujing's divine power was outstanding. If he joined them, they would have a higher chance of success.
After entering Sandstorm City, they found that the great formation inside was only difficult to crack but didn't have any real danger, so they immediately suggested splitting up.
If they could deal with it, they didn't need to share the treasure with these two people. If it was beyond their ability, it wouldn't be too late to send them a message.
Even if they were discovered midway, they could use the excuse that they just found the entrance.
However, he never expected that just as he and Zong Si were about to break the formation, the devil cultivator that Qin Shoujing and the others found would actually appear.
That blue-skinned male cultivator seemed to look down on them and only ordered his maid to attack.
Huo Ziqi was furious, not only because this person killed his spiritual beast, the Spirit-Seeking Butterfly, but also because they looked down on him.
* * *
The Golden-Winged Great Roc let out a cry. That female devil cultivator named Hong Xiao snorted contemptuously. The strange windmill-like weapon in her hand spun and pounced on the Golden-Winged Great Roc.
Huo Ziqi sneered and lashed out with the whip in his hand. The whip kept lengthening and coiling towards Hong Xiao.
Hong Xiao didn't even look at it. Her figure changed hundreds of times and she passed through the whip. The double-edged dagger in her hand ruthlessly stabbed at the Golden-Winged Great Roc.
The Golden-Winged Great Roc opened its mouth and a bolt of lightning struck at Hong Xiao.
Lightning spells were the most powerful among all spells, especially since this Golden-Winged Great Roc was already in the eighth rank.
Unable to dodge, Hong Xiao held the double-edged dagger in the middle and pulled it back into two daggers. Then, she crossed her hands and the crossed daggers easily blocked the lightning.
Huo Ziqi's expression darkened.
He originally thought that since he and Zong Si were both in the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm and these two devil cultivators were also in the early stage, they might not necessarily be weaker than them. It wasn't until now that he realized he underestimated devil cultivators.
There were almost no real devil cultivators in Kunwu. Even that abnormal Master Song Feng wasn't a simple devil cultivator.
For tens of thousands of years, devil cultivators had been refused entry to the north of Demonic Mountain, which made them all underestimate their strength.
In fact, in terms of one-on-one combat, devil cultivators were stronger than them. It was just that there weren't many devil cultivators, so they were always suppressed.
"Brother Zong!"
Huo Ziqi was about to call Zong Si to help, but when he looked around, he found that Zong Si was fighting with the devil aura around him. The Five Elements Flags and the devil aura were entangled, and Zong Si couldn't break free. As for the male devil cultivator, he was still standing on the side, coldly watching him fight with Hong Xiao.
Huo Ziqi's heart sank. Only now did he understand what Qin Shoujing meant by his mysterious divine ability.
This male cultivator seemed to be only in the early stage, but his strength was far above his and Zong Si's.
He couldn't help but regret. Why did he want to take the treasure for himself and send Qin Shoujing and Mo Qingwei away?
If the four of them joined forces, they could definitely defeat these two people.
But it was too late to regret. He could only hope that Qin Shoujing and Mo Qingwei could detect the spiritual aura fluctuation and arrive in time.
Just as he was thinking about this, he suddenly felt pain in his chest and his spiritual breath became chaotic. His natal spiritual beast, the Golden-Winged Great Roc, was stabbed by Hong Xiao.
The Golden-Winged Great Roc rolled down from the sky after its wing was stabbed by a dagger. It managed to stabilize itself and cried at Huo Ziqi.
An eighth rank spiritual beast already had spiritual intelligence. The Golden-Winged Great Roc was asking him for help.
Seeing that his spiritual beast was injured and couldn't resist, Huo Ziqi lashed out with his whip towards Hong Xiao.
Under his interference, Hong Xiao had no choice but to retreat.
At this moment, the male cultivator who had been standing in the air all along suddenly looked towards the north. "We can't delay any longer." With that said, the silver fake hand suddenly expanded and reached towards Zong Si.
"Ah —" Hearing the scream, Huo Ziqi turned his head and his expression changed dramatically.
That male cultivator's fake hand crushed Zong Si's head just like that. Even his Nascent Soul couldn't escape!
Fear welled up in his heart. Without much time to think, he teleported to the Golden-Winged Great Roc's side and put it into the spiritual beast bag. Then, he turned into a ray of light and fled into the distance.
"Want to escape?" The male cultivator snorted coldly. A giant hand suddenly appeared in the air and ruthlessly squeezed towards Huo Ziqi.
"Ah —" This time, it was Huo Ziqi who screamed. His body was squeezed into a pile of flesh. Even his Nascent Soul, which had just escaped, couldn't escape in time and was squeezed into a mist of blood.
The mist of blood dispersed. The male cultivator wiped the blood on the fake hand he took back.
"Young Master." The maid Hong Xiao picked up the two people's things and offered the sheepskin scroll.
The male cultivator took the sheepskin scroll and said, "Let's go!"
Not long after they left, two rays of light appeared in the sky and quickly landed.
Seeing the ground full of flesh and blood and Zong Si's headless corpse, Qin Xi frowned. "We're late."
Sensing the spiritual aura fluctuation, the two of them immediately rushed over.
However, Fengsha City wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. Even if the two of them flew at their fastest speed, it still took them less than an hour to reach the spiritual aura fluctuation. Huo Ziqi and Zong Si were already dead.
Looking at the pieces of flesh scattered on the ground, Mo Tiange endured her disgust and said, "These two people are really ruthless."
She'd seen many corpses, but she'd never seen such a disgusting one. The people she was joking with a few days ago turned into a pile of flesh just like that.
Qin Xi glanced around, bent down, and picked up a palm-sized piece of metal from the sand.
He weighed it and said, "This is black gold."
"Black gold?" Mo Tiange was surprised.
Black gold was a precious material for refining tools, especially suitable for forging swords. It was relatively common in ancient times, but it was rare nowadays. For sword cultivators, one or two pieces were hard to find.
They once saw it in a secret place in Ruins of End Sea, where cultivators from ancient sects used it to make mechanisms.
How could he just pick up such a precious thing so casually?
"It seems to belong to those two," Qin Xi said.
This piece of black gold was shiny and didn't look like it was left behind from ancient times.
Mo Tiange took the piece of black gold from his hand and looked at it carefully. She said, "This piece of black gold is cut very neatly and has almost no impurities. It doesn't seem to be a simple material."
"En, if it's a material, it might be something from ancient cultivators."
Qin Xi suddenly noticed that Mo Tiange's expression became very strange, so he asked, "What's wrong?"
Mo Tiange gave him the piece of black gold. "Touch it."
As soon as Qin Xi touched it, he discovered that there were very fine engravings on the surface of the black gold piece.
The two of them looked at each other. Mo Tiange took out an ink box from her Qiankun Bag, dipped the piece of black gold in ink, and pressed it on the back of her hand.
She took the piece of black gold away. The lines on the back of her hand were messy, forming a messy pattern.
When the two of them saw this pattern, they looked up at each other and blurted out, "A map!"