Seeing Qian Duoduo's somewhat urgent question, Liu Boli thought carefully, "After Refining Spirit Sect massacred the Helou Family, many people searched the mountains for you. Your Zhangzuo Dajiu came personally and searched many times. I saw your injuries hadn't healed, so I didn't let you wake up. As for that girl Yu Yixiang, I didn't see her. And that boy Wang Longyu? I didn't see him either."
Qian Duoduo's heart immediately sank, and the smile on his face disappeared. "Did they not manage to escape?"
"However," Liu Boli said slowly, "I think they are alive."
Qian Duoduo's heart suddenly soared again, and he stared blankly at him, waiting for him to continue.
"Think about it, why did the Sect send people to massacre the Helou Family? Someone must have reported it. Who could have reported it? Who else but the two of them?"
"Hehe, that makes sense, that makes sense." Qian Duoduo was so happy he almost sang.
Qian Duoduo was too close to the situation to see clearly. The Sect's people easily wiped out the Helou Family, which meant they definitely knew they had betrayed them. And the only ones who knew about their betrayal were Qian Duoduo and his two companions.
Yu Yixiang and Wang Longyu must be alive.
His mission this time, fighting tooth and nail, was worth it.
Wang Longyu is Wang Meiruo's brother, so saving him was only right. Yu Yixiang is fair, righteous, and loyal, and she's also a bit pretty, so saving her was also necessary.
However, this time was truly dangerous; he almost died several times.
If he hadn't cultivated the Everlasting Wealth and Nobility Art, which super-compresses Qi; if he hadn't known Artifact Refining, having many Magic Treasures that could self-detonate; if he hadn't had the Golden Claw Armor, which could resist damage; if he hadn't had the Golden Rooster Sword, which repels evil and has sonic attacks; if he hadn't dared to trade his life for another's...
As he thought about it, Qian Duoduo couldn't help but shiver.
It turned out that the distance between him and Jin Buhuan had never been very far.
"Master, what's our next step?" Qian Duoduo felt a bit like returning to the Sect to see Yu Yixiang and Wang Longyu with his own eyes, and to ask them how they escaped and how they contacted the Sect.
"No rush. Since we're out, let's take a good look around. The Chifeng Mountain Range is larger than the Phoenix Mountains, and we might find some good materials."
"Coincidentally, there's still no one in the entire mountain range." Liu Boli's suggestion reminded Qian Duoduo of his gains in the Phoenix Mountains. He made a huge profit that time, and this time he could make a big profit too.
Master is already in the Heavenly Human Realm, so why shouldn't we walk around here as we please?
…
With Liu Boli's spiritual power, Qian Duoduo stood in the air, looking down at the He Family castle.
The castle was empty, with ruins everywhere. Upon closer inspection, one could see that the entire castle was a Formation.
The entrance to the castle was actually a death gate, a death gate that only allowed entry but no exit.
Once the city gate closed, even Cultivators below the Golden Core Realm would find it difficult to escape. In the center of the castle was the core of the Formation. Who knows how many people's flesh and blood had melted there; even the soil exposed above the snow was reddish-brown.
Around the castle, there were also hidden Formations. Using streams, valleys, and paths as lines, and hills as points, they extended all the way to that distant deep gully. No wonder he felt a palpitation as soon as he crossed the deep gully.
The project was massive. The Helou Family's plan for betrayal had been secretly ongoing for who knows how many years.
"Old Liu, why do you think the Helou Family wanted to betray?" Qian Duoduo asked, looking at the red and white, empty castle.
"Betrayal stems either from hatred or from profit."
Qian Duoduo nodded. He understood both hatred and profit. His struggle with Jin Buque was hatred. His competition with Lang Caihua and Cai Fuxue was profit.
"I knew it. The Helou Family risked their entire Family's destruction to cause trouble; there must be something big going on." Liu Boli seemed to have discovered something and brought Qian Duoduo down from the sky.
Southwest of the castle, there was a small mountain. On the small mountain, a large tree stood alone. That large tree was a Spirit Pine, with a huge canopy, like a large umbrella.
This mountain was a node in the Helou Family's Formation, and having such a tree standing there immediately indicated a problem.
But where was the problem? Qian Duoduo circled the mountain and the tree several times, pondering carefully but still not understanding.
"This something...?"
"Looking at this mountain and tree alone, you'll only feel there's a problem, but you won't find where the problem is. That's the effect the Helou Family wanted." Liu Boli pointed around, "Look closer."
Squinting his eyes, Qian Duoduo looked for a long time, then suddenly realized that on the four surrounding mountains, there was an identical tree on each.
These four trees and the Spirit Pine on the mountaintop were not only identical in appearance but also exactly five hundred zhang apart. Such a great distance meant that if Liu Boli hadn't reminded him, he wouldn't have noticed at all.
"A Formation within a Formation?" Qian Duoduo pointed out the anomaly.
Liu Boli nodded slightly, and with a wave of his hand, the four trees on the surrounding mountains simultaneously fell.
Qian Duoduo felt a tremor under his feet, as if a certain door had opened.
Liu Boli lifted the Spirit Pine with a gentle push, and the Spirit Pine, along with three zhang of surrounding soil, rose into the air.
Lifting the tree and soil together would require the spiritual power of a Golden Core cultivator, or the cooperation of a group of Foundation Establishment Cultivators.
And discovering this cave would require a higher cultivation level of Spiritual Awareness.
Beneath the soil, a cave entrance was revealed, with a downward staircase visible inside.
"Let's go in." After they entered the cave and stepped onto the stairs, Liu Boli slowly returned the Spirit Pine to its original position.
After a few steps, a fluorescent light lit up in the cave. Turning a corner and walking down several tens of zhang, the fluorescent light gradually brightened, and the cave also became wider. Every so often, there was a shielding Formation, concealing the space and aura within.
Such dense shielding Formations already exceeded the secrecy level of a Gold Vault.
Qian Duoduo grew more and more curious. What would be at the end of this cave?
"Do you feel anything?" After walking for a quarter of an hour, at the end of the cave, Liu Boli stopped.
"—Spiritual Qi! And it's getting denser and denser." At this point, the Spiritual Qi in the cave was no less than that in the Inner Sect's Qinglong District. Cultivating here would lead to astonishing speed of improvement.
"Feel it again." Liu Boli gently stroked the stone wall with his hand.
Where was the source of such dense Spiritual Qi? A thought flashed through Qian Duoduo's mind.
"Spirit Ore! There's Spirit Ore here—" Qian Duoduo pressed his face against the stone, trying hard to sense with his Spiritual Awareness.
Of course, Qian Duoduo's Qi Condensation Stage Level Seven Spiritual Awareness couldn't sense anything.
"Here, there's another Formation." Liu Boli moved his finger, and the stone wall at the end of the cave split open to both sides.
Before Qian Duoduo, a natural Immortal Cave appeared. Inside the Immortal Cave, there were only five-pointed star-shaped Ores. Drops of Spirit Liquid flowed on the yellowish-black Ores, and thread-like Spiritual Qi floated on the ground.
The Immortal Cave was like an underground fairyland.
"Spirit Tin Ore! Large-scale, high-quality..." Qian Duoduo covered his mouth.
After Qian Duoduo and Liu Boli entered the Immortal Cave, Liu Boli closed the Formation again.
This natural Immortal Cave was several hundred zhang deep. Except for the Ores at the entrance which showed signs of being collected, the rest were in their original state. If fully mined, this Ore vein could be worth at least several billion gold coins.
"The Helou Family discovered this mine but didn't report it." As the Spiritual Qi entered his body, Qian Duoduo felt a sense of intoxication, similar to sitting on a Spiritual Platform with the Spiritual Qi flowing too strongly.
"Huge profits gave them other ideas." Liu Boli looked around, as if searching for something.
Suddenly, he grabbed with his hand, and in his hand was a palm-sized scorpion.
The scorpion's head was actually glowing purple.