Chapter 4298: Trapping the Remaining Murong Clan

The streets of Seven Star Market in the Seven Star Sea teemed with people and the noise of carriages and horses.

In a secluded courtyard with blue tiles, there stood a three-story blue pavilion and a blue stone pavilion.

A tall, thin man in a blue robe and a pot-bellied man in a red robe sat in the stone pavilion, engaged in conversation.

"Should we inform Patriarch Tianyan?" the man in the blue robe asked with concern. "With just the two of us, we might not be able to get our hands on that treasure."

The man in the blue robe was Murong Changxing, an early-stage Golden Immortal using the alias Chen Xing.

"If we inform Patriarch Tianyan, even if we succeed, the treasure won't end up in our hands," the man in the red robe analyzed. "Besides, Patriarch Tianyan cannot leave the market right now, so informing her is useless. If we do it ourselves, the treasure will be ours after we succeed."

The man in the red robe was Murong Changchen, an early-stage Golden Immortal using the alias Liu Chen.

"That's true," Murong Changxing said, looking troubled. "But Patriarch Xu is a late-stage Golden Immortal with extraordinary strength, and he possesses that treasure. We can't defeat him, can we?"

"Don't forget what the Netherworld Palace does," Murong Changchen said, frowning. "We can place an order for them to send a Golden Immortal master of curses to assassinate Patriarch Xu. The problem is, we don't have enough money to place the order."

By chance, they had discovered that a family named Xu possessed a rare treasure. Patriarch Xu Tianlei of the Xu family was a late-stage Golden Immortal with extraordinary strength.

"Just kill a few more Golden Immortal cultivators, and we'll have everything," Murong Changxing suggested. As elites of the Murong family, they possessed powerful supernatural abilities and had no trouble dealing with ordinary Golden Immortal cultivators.

"If you keep walking by the river, you're bound to get your shoes wet," Murong Changchen said with concern. "The last time we eliminated Golden Immortal cultivators, it was out of necessity. Do it a few more times, and we're likely to hit a snag."

"If we don't do this, how can we acquire a large sum of wealth in a short time?" Murong Changxing said with some displeasure, implying that if there were other ways, he wouldn't resort to killing for treasure.

Murong Changchen took out a golden, shimmering disk and inserted a spell into it. A man's voice, a mix of surprise and excitement, then rang out: "Master, I've discovered an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling, but the restrictions are too strong. Junior Sister Xu and the others were killed by the restrictions."

To conceal their identities, they had established a small sect and recruited disciples to gather information.

"An ancient cultivator's cave dwelling?" Murong Changchen ordered. "Come to my residence and report immediately."

"Yes, Master," the man replied.

Murong Changchen put away the golden disk, his face lit up with joy. "It seems our luck has turned," he said. "It looks like our opportunity has arrived."

"It can't be such a coincidence!" Murong Changxing said, suspicious. "We just needed funds, and a disciple discovered an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling?"

"We'll know when Li Hao gets here," Murong Changchen dismissed. "We haven't told anyone else that we lack funds, so how would anyone else know?"

Not long after, a burly young man in a blue robe walked in, bowed respectfully, and said, "Disciple Li Hao greets Master and Senior Uncle Chen."

"What exactly happened with this ancient cultivator's cave dwelling? Explain in detail," Murong Changchen ordered.

Li Hao dared not delay and recounted the entire incident from beginning to end.

While out on an errand, he had encountered a strong enemy. After a fierce battle, he narrowly escaped, unexpectedly discovering an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling. The restrictions there were too strong for him to break.

Li Hao had spent a hundred years attempting to break the formation but failed. He then returned to find fellow disciples to break it together. After they broke the outer restrictions, two of his fellow disciples were killed by the core restrictions. Given their fate, he decided to report it.

Murong Changchen suddenly realized that his disciple had discovered the ancient cultivator's cave dwelling long ago but had wanted to keep the treasures for himself, which was why he hadn't reported it.

"I originally intended to retrieve the treasures and then present them to you, Master, but I didn't expect to implicate Junior Sister Xu and Junior Brother Liu," Li Hao said cautiously, though he had indeed wanted to keep everything for himself.

Liu Chen was nominally Li Hao's master, but he rarely guided Li Hao's cultivation and provided few cultivation resources. Naturally, Li Hao had little respect for this master. If he hadn't been truly unable to break the restrictions, he wouldn't have reported it.

"It's rare that you show such filial piety. Lead the way!" Murong Changchen ordered. "Once we retrieve the treasures, we won't mistreat you."

"Yes, Master," Li Hao readily agreed, overjoyed.

Leaving the market, Murong Changchen summoned a golden, shimmering flying boat, a low-grade flying immortal artifact. He stepped onto it, and Murong Changxing and Li Hao followed.

Murong Changchen cast a spell, and the golden flying boat glowed with a golden light, flying off into the distance.

Green Pear Pavilion, a secret room.

Li Canghai sat cross-legged on a green meditation cushion, holding a golden, shimmering immortal transmission mirror in his hand. Wang Chuanming's face could be seen on the mirror's surface.

"The targets have departed," Li Canghai said. "Liu Chen and Chen Xing are both present, as is Li Hao."

The so-called ancient cultivator's cave dwelling was a trap they had set. They had initially thought Li Hao wouldn't be able to break the restrictions and would report it immediately. However, the young man spent a hundred years trying to break the restrictions but still couldn't. He then brought two True Immortal cultivators, so Wang Chuanming simply activated the restrictions, killing the two True Immortals and letting Li Hao escape.

"Understood," Wang Chuanming instructed. "Pay close attention to cultivators who are close to them, hoping to discover other remnants of the Murong family." So far, they had only discovered two remnants of the Murong family.

"Understood," Li Canghai warned. "Be careful; they are, after all, elites of the Murong family, and even if their cultivation is lower, they might have hidden trump cards."

"Don't worry!" Wang Chuanming said confidently. "The formation I've set up is a simplified version that Patriarch Yuqi developed based on an ancient grand formation. Its power is less than one-tenth of the original, but eliminating Golden Immortal cultivators is a piece of cake." He explained that with his mastery of the Three Fingers of Qiankun, along with his immortal puppets, bean soldiers, formations, and soul-based supernatural abilities, eliminating two Golden Immortal cultivators would be no problem.

"That's good. That's all for now!" Li Canghai was relieved and put away the immortal transmission mirror.

An endless expanse of azure sea stretched under a clear sky, with sea breezes blowing in gusts.

A golden light appeared on the distant horizon. With a flash, it stopped above a thousand-li wide desolate island, revealing a golden, shimmering flying boat.

Murong Changchen and Murong Changxing stood on the golden flying boat. Li Hao, however, had already been killed by Murong Changchen.

They suspected Li Hao had colluded with outsiders to set a trap for them. They immediately killed Li Hao and performed soul-searching. After confirming that Li Hao's account was accurate, they proceeded to the location of the ancient cultivator's cave dwelling.

"The spiritual energy here is thin, no wonder no one discovered it," Murong Changxing said with a smile.

Murong Changchen nodded, cast a spell, and the golden flying boat slowly descended, landing in a small valley surrounded by mountains on three sides.

He flicked his sleeve, and a yellow-glowing command flag flew out, embedding itself into a rough stone wall. The stone wall lit up with a yellow glow, revealing a cave entrance about a *zhang* wide. Their divine senses swept wide, finding no issues, and even using treasures to probe yielded no problems. Only then did they walk inside.

Not long after, a loud bang echoed from inside the cave, and a large expanse of yellow mist surged from the ground, covering a significant portion of the desolate island.