The tally of completed updates suggests about four chapters' worth.

I will continue the frenzy tomorrow; Baili's typing speed isn't fast, but to repay all the readers, I'm bleeding out content during the National Day holiday, writing for over eighteen hours a day to bring you the best and fastest updates.

The Purple Mansion's ranking on the New Book Monthly Ticket Chart isn't ideal, but the book is definitely high quality.

Desperately seeking monthly ticket support! The pitch-black night.

The Lingwu Grand Canyon, utterly still.

Occasionally, a strangely shrill cry from a demonic beast would echo from within the canyon depths, sending chills down the spine.

At a depression near the edge of the great canyon.

Hundreds of campfires were scattered across several li, their flames flickering, dry branches snapping crisply.

The thousand-plus Qi Refining Stage cultivators, who had spent the entire day bickering and glaring at each other, were now too exhausted for further arguments.

Huddled around the fires, clutching their weapons, some lay prone on the ground, others leaned against rocks, eyes closed in meditative rest, enduring the long, drawn-out night.

Under the dim firelight, Ye Qin pulled out his Azure Pill Sect mission document.

This document was essentially half a foot of yellow paper detailing the sect's selection task for the year: locate thirty specified rare, wild spiritual herbs.

Attached were illustrations of these thirty herbs, descriptions of their growth environments, and brief notes on their medicinal properties.

He committed the introductions of these herbs firmly to memory.

He had asked Zhang Zhe, Old Black Xia, and the others; the requirements listed on the mission documents for the major sects were almost all different.

The nine members of their small team belonged to different sects, so they each had distinct targets.

What Ye Qin needed to find were rare spiritual medicinal herbs; others were either searching for spirit stones or hunting the demonic beasts within the Grand Canyon.

Ye Qin suddenly felt as if a thousand eyes were fixed on his back, staring intently, like vipers.

Without needing to guess, he knew who it was—no one else would harbor such inexplicable, deep-seated hostility toward him except that old wretch, Elder Bi.

Ye Qin turned his head without expression, his cold gaze sharply locking onto Bi Laoguo, who was not far behind him.

Bi Laoguo, whose eyebrows were knitted in an inverted 'eight' pattern, was scrutinizing Ye Qin.

He hadn't expected Ye Qin to suddenly turn and glare at him.

He instinctively flinched away from Ye Qin's piercing gaze, but quickly decided he had no reason to fear Ye Qin.

Bi Laoguo couldn't help but feel ashamed and annoyed by his momentary panic, so he turned back and glared furiously at Ye Qin.

Ye Qin gathered his aura, staring fiercely at the old man, thinking inwardly: I am a cultivator at the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Stage.

How can I be afraid of you, a half-rotted old man who only reached the fourth layer after cultivating for half his life? If you want to glare, I will glare right back.

After a brief moment, Bi Laoguo’s bravado wavered, his imposing aura collapsing.

With a slight huff, he turned away.

Ye Qin let out a disdainful, cold laugh.

This old man is truly psychologically warped.

He cultivates slowly and blames it on others.

He tucked the Azure Pill Sect mission document into his robe.

What was meant to come would come; thinking no further, he closed his eyes and entered meditation.

The campfires slowly died down, smoke rising faintly.

It was unclear how much time passed, but just as dawn was about to break.

Ye Qin, who had been sitting cross-legged, suddenly opened his bright eyes.

A sliver of light was already visible in the grayish sky.

He heard a low whistle emanating from deep within the canyon.

The wind was rising! Their small team was very close to the ancient path leading into the Grand Canyon, making them the first to hear the wind stirring within.

The team leader, Xu Qing, also stirred.

He leaped up, lowered his voice, and began kicking his team members—Bi Laoguo, Zhang Zhe, and the others—awake one by one.

He was just about to call Ye Qin when he saw Ye Qin already awake with his eyes open.

Xu Qing paused, startled, and made a silencing gesture toward Ye Qin.

Ye Qin nodded.

Then he continued waking the next member.

Old Black Xia rolled over, blinking groggily.

Seeing Ye Qin already rising beside him, he opened his mouth to speak.

Ye Qin's movement was swift; he slapped a hand over Old Black Xia's mouth and gestured toward the Grand Canyon, signaling to descend quietly without alerting the other teams.

Old Black Xia instantly sobered up and quickly blinked to show he understood.

Only then did Ye Qin relax his grip on Old Black Xia.

The cultivators here all possessed sharp hearing and sight; the slightest disturbance would alert them.

Whoever found the spiritual grasses and objects in the valley first would claim them.

This was no time for polite deference.

Gaining an early advantage by descending into the valley before others was obvious.

Xu Qing knew this, Ye Qin knew this, and even the usually careless brute Old Black Xia grasped the concept in an instant.

All nine members of the team were awake, their eyes blazing with excitement.

They moved swiftly, checking their carried weapons to ensure nothing was missing or misplaced.

After this, they departed from the depression and descended into the valley by leaping onto the ancient cobblestone path carved out by predecessors.

The ancient path was artificially chiseled into the cliff face, winding in a 'Z' pattern.

It was extremely steep and narrow; the slightest lapse in attention could lead to a fall off the precipice.

Qi Refining Stage cultivators could, at best, lighten their bodies; they could not fly.

If one fell from this thousand-foot cliff, they would surely smash into a pulp.

Fortunately, the mist had dispersed, and the sky was gradually brightening, making the path visible.

As long as they were not careless, the danger of slipping and falling into the valley was minimal.

Feng Man practiced wind-elemental techniques and was an old hand at descending into the valley, having done so several times.

She took out a Vajra Talisman, cast it onto herself, and as it shone with golden light, she cautiously proceeded to the front to scout the way.

The other members of the team affixed various defensive talismans to themselves as well, following at intervals of three to five zhang, one behind the other.

Ye Qin placed a Vajra Talisman on himself, palmed three high-speed attacking 'Wind Blade Talismans' in his right hand, and concealed his close-combat spirit tool, the 'Palm Sword,' in his left.

He positioned himself slightly toward the front-middle of the group, descending carefully into the valley.

After a short while.

Feng Man flew to the 'Z'-shaped bend and was about to turn in another direction when— An abrupt change occurred.

A crisp 'snap' sound came from under her feet, as if she had tripped over something.

Feng Man was about to look down when— Pfft—! From somewhere on the cliff face, a plume of foul-smelling, green corrosive liquid shot toward her.

Feng Man’s expression shifted; her body swayed like a light willow leaf on the wind, drifting a zhang to the right.

She had barely landed when Pfft, pfft, pfft! Three more plumes of green corrosive liquid attacked her simultaneously from three entirely different directions.

This time, she had no idea which way to dodge and was struck by all three plumes of green liquid, splattering her entirely.

The foul-smelling green liquid adhered to her Golden Barrier, emitting a sizzling sound as it rapidly corroded the barrier, draining her spiritual power.

Feng Man realized how potent this green liquid was and turned pale with shock.

If it wasn't cleaned immediately, her spiritual power would likely be completely corroded within half an hour.

She quickly retreated several zhang backward and shrieked sharply: "Who is it? Get out here! What kind of skill is it to hide in the shadows and use tricks!" The team members behind her were startled, stopping in their tracks, unsure what had happened.

Ye Qin was slightly surprised.

They had barely entered the valley, and already they had encountered trouble? As he was thinking, Xu Qing had already flown past Wu Qin Yi, Old Black Xia, and the others in front, arriving beside Feng Man.

Ye Qin immediately followed to the front to assess the situation.

Xu Qing looked at the green fluid coating her body, noticing the foul odor, and waved his hand, frowning: "What happened?" Feng Man looked slightly alarmed and pointed toward the 'Z'-shaped fork a few zhang ahead. "I don't know.

It seems someone is hiding ahead and ambushing us! But I couldn't see where they were hiding." "Fall back!" Xu Qing immediately drew the Golden Light Sword from his waist, his expression grave.

He surveyed the ancient path; it was too shallow and narrow to conceal a living person.

He walked toward the 'Z'-shaped intersection ahead.

Still nothing was found.

Xu Qing's gaze turned suspicious as he looked at the crevices and cracks in the rock face.

A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes.

Hmph! The Golden Light Sword stabbed violently into the cliff, piercing the hard rock as easily as tofu. "Screee~!" When he pulled the sword out, impaled on the tip was a plump, green insect, about the size of a palm.

It had a pair of green, chitinous wings, dozens of writhing legs, a grotesque appearance, emerald eyes, and an open, closing maw, twisting its body randomly while emitting a high-pitched, strange squeak. "It's a Small Green Flying Rotting Bug." Xu Qing flicked the half-dead bug off his sword tip into the valley and gave a cold smile. "Nothing major.

These things are common in the Lingwu Grand Canyon.

They usually parasitize the rock walls.

They are only first-tier minor demonic insects and pose no fatal threat—only the corrosive fluid they spit is nauseating.

They have nothing valuable on them.

There is likely a nest of Small Green Flying Rotting Bugs in the rock crevices here, and anyone who passes through, who invades their 'territory,' is easily attacked." He turned back to Feng Man: "Although this little thing's corrosive fluid can't kill people directly, it contains Miasma Qi which rapidly erodes spiritual power.

If it touches the skin, it can also cause a Miasma Sickness infection.

Truly insidious.

Clean off all that corrosive fluid quickly; don't let it break your Golden Barrier." Feng Man had already been trying to figure out how to remove the green fluid.

However, the liquid was sticky and clung to the Golden Barrier, making it impossible to remove.

Her sister, Wu Qin Yi, was also helpless.

Feng Man grew anxious and looked pleadingly toward Zhang Qiao. "Sister Qiao, quickly use your Water Arrow technique on me!" "W-what? Why would you want me to hit you?" Zhang Qiao was momentarily stunned, utterly confused, but she quickly understood that Feng Man needed her help to clean off the corrosive fluid.

She immediately formed hand seals and cast a water-elemental "Water Arrow Technique." A beam of blue water arrows shot out, striking Feng Man's Golden Barrier and causing it to vibrate slightly.

The attack power of a Water Arrow is the weakest among all offensive spells; it couldn't break the Golden Barrier, but using it to wash off the green corrosive fluid on the barrier was more than sufficient.

Quickly, all the green corrosive fluid on Feng Man was washed away by the water arrows.

However, Feng Man's spiritual power, having suffered the dual assault of the corrosive fluid and the water arrows, was largely depleted, leaving her face slightly pale.

While Feng Man was dealing with the corrosive fluid on her body.

Ye Qin arrived at the 'Z'-shaped intersection, surveying the ancient path.

On both sides of the rock crevices, there were remnants of thin ropes.

He squatted down and picked up a small section.

If nothing unexpected happened, the crisp 'snap' sound Feng Man first heard was caused by this rope.

It was precisely this slight sound that had alerted the Small Green Flying Rotting Bugs residing there.

Xu Qing frowned: "It seems the cultivators from the few teams ahead who descended into the Grand Canyon discovered a nest of these small bugs here and deliberately set up a small trap to make things difficult for us! Hmph, only capable of petty tricks!" He extended his hand and released a small fireball, controlling it to explode automatically, scattering over the ancient path, burning all the green corrosive fluid on the ground to ashes, leaving no trace.

He didn't want the teams descending after them to know that an attack had taken place here.

Having been ambushed right after descending into the canyon caused some suppressed anger in Captain Xu Qing. "Let's go!" Xu Qing held his sword and took the lead, following the ancient path down into the Grand Canyon.

Ye Qin showed no expression, but his heart was stirred by immense ripples.

Ahead of their team, at least three or four other small teams, all relatively strong, had already descended into the valley, some even containing people Xu Qing knew.

It seemed this journey would likely be fraught with such "heart-stopping" traps.

He followed Xu Qing unhurriedly.

With an expert like Xu Qing blocking the way in front, he had little to worry about.

The others exchanged glances and followed Ye Qin down into the valley.

Feng Man walked in the middle of the team, paused for a moment, and took out a low-grade spirit stone from her robe, clutching it in her hand to quickly restore her spiritual power.