Chapter 810: Huge Gains

The island's east side features a stretch of verdant mountains, its west side is a wasteland, and a large lake sits in the center.

Wang Tianqi took out a cyan conch, injected spiritual power into it, causing it to glow brightly. The conch then spoke, "Come out!"

Soon, a streak of cyan light flew out from the verdant mountains, landing before Wang Tianqi and the others. It was a man in his early thirties, dressed in a green robe.

"How is it? Nothing unusual, right?" Wang Tianqi asked casually.

"Reporting to the Hall Master, everything is normal," the man replied.

Ye Haitang nodded and instructed, "Let's go! Lead us to the destination."

The man in the green robe repeatedly agreed and led the way.

Not long after, they appeared outside a valley. The valley was shrouded in a large expanse of white mist, making the situation inside unclear.

Outside the valley was a large green bamboo forest, spanning several acres.

"This is the place," Wang Tianqi said. "Two clansmen are still trapped inside. It's been so long, I wonder how they are doing."

Wang Tianqi's face was filled with worry. The South Sea was simply too vast; a round trip from the Blood Coral Sea to the Red Moon Sea would take a considerable amount of time. Qi Refinement cultivators could not sustain themselves without food, and with two years having passed, their fasting pills must have long been consumed.

"Let's break the formation as quickly as possible!" Ye Haitang instructed. "See if we can contact them."

Ye Haitang commanded her clansmen to operate their magical artifacts and attack the valley.

Colorful magical artifacts struck within the valley, but not a single sound was emitted. Even when they switched to magical spells, the outcome was the same; the mist within the valley did not diminish in the slightest.

Ye Haitang conjured a small, red-glowing mirror and cast a spell into it.

The small mirror rapidly expanded in size, radiating astonishing high temperatures, and streaks of crimson flames appeared on its surface.

She cast another spell into the mirror; a red light flashed, and a large volley of crimson fireballs flew out, rushing into the valley.

These attacks vanished without a trace, not a single sound was heard.

Ye Haitang carefully observed the terrain for a while, then instructed, "Cut down all the bamboo outside and pull them up by the roots. This person's mastery of formations is quite high; they actually set up a deceptive illusion. Fortunately, my father told me about this kind of situation, otherwise I truly wouldn't have discovered it."

Wang Tianqi and the other clansmen quickly cut down the bamboo. At the base of dozens of bamboo stalks, they found some fist-sized blue orbs, their surfaces covered with formation patterns.

"These are formation pearls," Ye Haitang said. "I wasn't wrong after all."

Formation pearls are a type of formation plate. Due to their small size, they are easy to hide and are often used to set up illusions.

Ye Haitang destroyed these blue orbs, and the mist within the valley immediately dispersed and vanished.

At the same time, Ye Haitang and the others felt their vision blur and suddenly found themselves in a valley of ice and snow. A cold wind howled, large snowflakes drifted down from high above, and the temperature plummeted.

"A formation within a formation," Ye Haitang murmured, a look of interest on her face. "Quite interesting."

She took out hundreds of formation flags, inserted them into the nearby ground, and distributed six red-glowing formation plates to Wang Tianqi and the other six Foundation Establishment cultivators, instructing them to operate the formation.

The seven Foundation Establishment cultivators simultaneously cast spells into their formation plates. With a whooshing sound, a large expanse of crimson flames appeared around them, and the chill immediately disappeared.

The crimson flames rapidly spread, and as soon as snowflakes approached them, they instantly vanished.

After approximately fifteen minutes, Ye Haitang changed her spell. The formation plates glowed with dazzling red light, and the other six Foundation Establishment cultivators also cast spells into their formation plates.

Boom!

A thick flame, three zhang in diameter, shot out from the ground, directly into the sky.

A deafening roar sounded, shaking the earth and mountains.

They felt their vision blur again and reappeared outside the valley. The mist inside the valley had also vanished. On the ground lay two corpses, each with a flying sword plunged into their body, the hilt of each sword in the other's hand, suggesting they had killed each other.

"They must have fallen under some kind of illusion, which led them to kill each other," Wang Tianqi said. "Collect their bodies. Let's proceed with caution!"

Wang Tianqi collected the bodies of the two clansmen, and they each cast a defensive barrier upon themselves before walking into the valley.

The valley was not large. After walking about a hundred paces, they reached its end, where a steep rock wall blocked their path.

Ye Haitang observed carefully, then conjured her small red mirror and released a large volley of crimson fireballs to attack the steep rock wall.

Boom!

A huge roaring sound echoed, and flames enveloped a small portion of the rock wall.

Not long after, the flames dispersed, revealing the rock wall to be completely unharmed.

"There's indeed a problem," Ye Haitang muttered to herself. She then instructed the others to attack the rock wall.

Various colored magical lights flared, and a continuous roar resounded.

Fifteen minutes later, the rock wall was shattered to pieces, and a cave several zhang in size appeared before them.

Wang Tianqi sent two puppet beasts inside and found no abnormalities. Several Qi Refinement cultivators entered first, followed by Ye Haitang and the others, their faces filled with caution.

The cave was somewhat winding. After walking a hundred paces, they arrived in a cavern over a hundred zhang in size.

A white skeleton lay in the center of the cavern. A cyan storage bag hung from its waist, but apart from that, there was nothing else.

Wang Tianqi controlled a puppet beast to retrieve the cyan storage bag and then burned the skeleton.

The storage bag contained many items: over 300,000 spirit stones, five magical treasures, a batch of refining materials, three third-tier demon cores, dozens of colorful shells, and a black jade box containing three egg-sized black insect eggs.

Ye Haitang and the others divided the treasures. Ye Haitang received a pair of black hand bells, which were a set of magical treasures. Wang Tianqi received a white short ruler magical treasure. The other two magical treasures were shared among the remaining five Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the Qi Refinement cultivators also received a good amount of wealth.

They began examining the contents of the shells, and in a red shell, they found the identity of the cave owner.

It was Heartless Venerable, a Core Formation Stage Level Nine cultivator during his lifetime. He was attacked by powerful enemies while attempting to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage and died from severe injuries.

"The Grand Supreme Emotion-Forgetting Art: extinguishes love and desire, severs emotional ties," Ye Haitang murmured, holding a black shell and wearing a pensive expression.

The black shell recorded an Earth-grade cultivation method called the "Grand Supreme Emotion-Forgetting Art." Not only was its power immense, but its cultivation speed was also relatively fast. After cultivating this method, one's seven emotions and six desires would become faint, greatly affecting one's temperament. Upon reaching grand completion, one would abandon all familial ties, becoming heartless and desireless.

She remembered Ye Lin saying that the "Nine Nether Heaven Illusion Treasure Scroll," when cultivated to its peak, could manipulate a cultivator's seven emotions and six desires, unless someone was emotionless and desireless. Cultivating the "Grand Supreme Emotion-Forgetting Art" could achieve such a state, thus perfectly countering the "Nine Nether Heaven Illusion Treasure Scroll."

The "Grand Supreme Emotion-Forgetting Art" could be cultivated from the Qi Refinement Stage to the Spirit Transformation Stage. However, if this cultivation method was mastered, one's temperament would drastically change, leading them to abandon all familial ties.

Ye Haitang did not want to become such a person, as that would be no different from a rigid puppet.

"Alright, we have the items," Ye Haitang announced. "Let's go back!"

Ye Haitang carefully examined the cavern. After confirming there was nothing left, she led her clansmen away.