Chapter 3102: The Conflict Between the Snipe and the Clam

Seven days later, a dense black forest came into view. Numerous black trees grew there, their leaves sparse and their surfaces naturally marked with cracks.

Qingchi and the two others moved forward slowly, their faces betraying extreme caution. Along the way, they had encountered numerous restrictions, avoiding them whenever possible.

A tall, thin man in a blue robe stopped, his face full of confusion, and looked behind him.

“What’s wrong, Fellow Daoist Lan?” Qingchi asked casually.

“I don’t know why, but I always feel like someone is secretly watching us,” the blue-robed man transmitted his voice, his gaze grim.

Qingchi’s expression darkened. He unleashed his divine sense, scanning hundreds of miles around, but found nothing.

“To be safe, let’s set up a formation!” a pot-bellied man in a blue robe suggested. He took out formation flags and a formation plate, and began to set up the formation.

Three hundred miles away, a thousand zhang beneath the surface, a giant yellow python lay motionless. Inside the python, Wang Qingshan and six others stood in a secret chamber over a hundred zhang wide.

Wang Tun’s eyes glowed with a dazzling yellow light, his expression solemn.

“Someone else is following Qingchi and his companions,” Wang Tun said.

“Who? How many people?” Duan Tongtian pressed.

Wang Tun shook his head. “I don’t know, I can’t see clearly,” he said. “They’ve used treasures to conceal themselves. I only saw a blurry shadow.”

They controlled the giant python puppet, constantly following Qingchi and his companions. Qingchi and his companions were either clearing paths or breaking restrictions ahead, completely unaware that they were being followed.

Not long ago, Wang Qingshan had warned Wang Tun about powerful beings nearby and asked him to investigate. Wang Tun pushed his eyes to their limit but only saw a blurry shadow. Had it not been for Wang Qingshan’s warning, Wang Tun would not have discovered them.

“So, it means Qingchi was targeted long ago, and they know Qingchi’s destination,” Duan Tongtian analyzed.

Before this, they had not detected anyone following them. Perhaps the opponents’ treasures were very powerful, providing excellent concealment, which is why they weren't detected. Alternatively, the opponents might have already been waiting here, preparing to ambush them. If it was the former, it would be acceptable; if it was the latter, it would be troublesome to handle.

“Let’s wait and see,” Wang Qingshan said solemnly. “If it truly is the deceased Master Wanbao’s cultivation cave, then we can contend for it.”

Over two hundred miles away, in a hidden underground cave, a small, blue-glowing umbrella floated in mid-air, casting a wide swath of blue light that covered two men and one woman. All three were Integration Stage cultivators. The leader was a burly man in a red shirt with sharp, piercing eyes.

This was Long Tianyan, Long Tianyu’s clan brother and an early Integration Stage cultivator. Long Tianyan, Long Xiao’s clan uncle, had no interest in power struggles; he focused on his own cultivation and formed his own faction.

They had entered the Myriad Spirit Ruins to search for treasures and had suffered some losses. By chance, they discovered a heavily injured Witches cultivator. After killing him and searching his soul, they learned that the Witches cultivator had been competing with the Han family for a seventh-tier Nine-Colored Worm. Shang Li had seized the Nine-Colored Worm, and Han Yiqing led people to pursue her, though their exact location remained unknown.

Long Tianyan didn’t know Shang Li’s exact location. He could intercept her at the exit, provided he reached the exit faster and Shang Li definitely left the Myriad Spirit Ruins. If Han Yiqing killed Shang Li, or if the Witches sent experts to assist her, or if Long Tianyan failed to reach the exit before Shang Li, his plan would fall through. There were too many variables.

The Witches cultivators had entered the Myriad Spirit Ruins for the inheritance of True Monarch Hundred Puppets. This information had been sent back by a Witches spy among the Green Carp clan.

Long Tianyan pondered carefully. He decided to follow the Green Carp clan to see if he could gain any advantage. Long Tianyan held a red-glowing orb in his hand. Its astonishing spiritual energy revealed it to be a mid-grade Spirit Treasure.

“They actually set up an alarm formation,” Long Tianyan frowned. “Quite cautious.”

“I possess the Heavenly Phoenix bloodline and have inherited spatial divine abilities,” a pot-bellied old man in golden robes said dismissively. “An alarm formation won’t stop us.” This was Wu Xin, an early Integration Stage cultivator.

When Long Xiao ascended to the position of Palace Master, he began to exclude dissidents, particularly elders who could contend for the position. Long Tianyan and Wu Xin were quite close, and Long Xiao, wary of them, excluded them from the core circle. They, in turn, were happy to be left in peace.

After Qingchi and his companions set up the formation, the blue-robed man opened his mouth and spewed a stream of blue mist, covering the dense forest. They strode into the dense forest and disappeared from sight.

Less than half a day later, they passed through the dense forest. A small valley, surrounded by mountains on three sides, appeared before them, filled with a large amount of black miasma.

“There are demon beasts occupying this place!” Qingchi frowned.

“As long as it’s not a seventh-tier high-grade demon beast, it’s not a problem,” the blue-robed man said dismissively.

Hundreds of miles away, beneath the ground, Wang Tun’s eyes glowed with dazzling yellow light as he observed the enemy’s every move.

“Huh? They suddenly disappeared. An evasion technique?” Wang Tun said, frowning, his face full of confusion.

“A spatial divine ability! Someone among them possesses spatial divine abilities,” Wang Tun continued. “They directly bypassed the formation. Qingchi hasn’t discovered them.”

“A spatial divine ability! Are you sure it’s not an evasion technique?” Duan Tongtian asked, puzzled.

“I wouldn’t be mistaken,” Wang Tun said earnestly. “It’s definitely a spatial divine ability.” Their spatial divine ability was even more powerful than Wang Huanyu’s, clearly belonging to an Integration Stage cultivator.

“Since Qingchi hasn’t discovered them yet,” Wang Xiangrong said with a chuckle, “let’s give them a hand and also get through ourselves.”

Wang Qingfeng made a hand seal, and the giant python puppet’s body emitted a brilliant yellow light, accelerating its evasion speed. They intended to control the giant python puppet to break through the alarm formation, ensuring Qingchi would be alerted.

From within the three-sided valley, a series of deafening roars echoed, shaking the ground and mountains.

After a while, the black miasma in the valley dispersed, revealing the figures of Qingchi and his companions. A giant, entirely black python lay on the ground, utterly devoid of life, with a terrifying bloody hole in its head.

“I hope this isn’t a wasted trip,” the blue-robed man said, his gaze fixed on a nearby cave, his eyes burning with fervor.

Just then, a piercing shriek came from his robes. He quickly took out a light blue formation plate, which was gently swaying.

“Something triggered the alarm formation,” the blue-robed man frowned, his gaze grim. “A demon beast? Or a cultivator?”

Qingchi’s expression darkened. He looked towards the outside of the valley, fully unleashing his divine sense, but found nothing. He let out a cold snort and made a hand seal. The void vibrated and distorted as a large amount of blue seawater surged forth, submerging a hundred-mile radius. The sea churned violently, and enormous waves soared into the sky.

A massive blue cloud appeared high in the sky. After violently churning, it began to rain heavily, the raindrops blurring and transforming into blue water arrows that shot down from high above.

After a series of thunderous roars, the hundred-mile radius was riddled like a sieve by the blue water arrows. Numerous trees were destroyed, and dozens of mountain peaks shattered. Yet, no cultivators appeared.

Qingchi frowned. Both he and his companions fully unleashed their divine sense but still found nothing unusual.

The void above them rippled, giving way to a black hole over ten zhang wide. A crimson dragon claw materialized out of thin air and struck towards Qingchi and his companions.

“No good! Watch out above!” Qingchi’s expression changed drastically. Spiritual light burst from his body, transforming into specks of water vapor that vanished.

The crimson dragon claw struck the blue-robed man’s body. He let out a miserable shriek, spat out a large mouthful of blood, and his face turned pale.

A hundred miles away, beneath the ground, Wang Tun’s eyes glowed with dazzling yellow light, filled with excitement.

“They’re fighting!” he exclaimed. “An Integration Stage cultivator from the Green Carp clan has been heavily injured!”