Qin swiftly flew deeper into the Poison Corpse Cave after leaving its entrance, putting significant distance between himself and the site of the recent bloody conflict before finally halting in an uninhabited tunnel.
The second level of the Wanku Ridge Cave was vast, and the labyrinthine tunnels were incredibly complex.
The number of cultivators from the various sects who had entered the second level should not yet exceed one hundred. Thus, a large influx of cultivators wouldn't occur in the short term. If Ye Qin burrowed deep into the second level, it would be difficult for others to locate him.
However, in another ten days or half a month, once thousands of disciples from each sect gradually flooded the depths of the cave, it was likely that not a single ore vein tunnel on the second level would remain safe. The ensuing slaughter between the sect cultivators vying for every spirit stone vein tunnel would undoubtedly be mercilessly bloody.
Ye Qin calmly processed these thoughts, pondering his countermeasures.
These were issues for ten days hence; he needed to handle the immediate situation first. He located a clean patch of rock, sat down cross-legged, and took a deep swig of Flame Fruit Wine to restore his spiritual power. Before long, his mana surged, fully replenished.
Next, four rays of light, blue, red, cyan, and gold, each several inches in size, shot out from Ye Qin's sleeve, rapidly circling within a ten-foot radius around him. These were the Dark Yin Sword, the Red Gourd, the Soul-Snatching Bell, and the Profound Gold Sword—four low-grade magic artifacts.
If other cultivators witnessed this scene, they would likely have their eyeballs pop out.
It was common knowledge that among the Qi Refining stage disciples of the cultivation sects in the Lingwu Mountain Range, the vast majority of ordinary service disciples possessed only spiritual artifacts and could never dream of owning a magic artifact. Even core disciples from cultivation families usually lacked magic artifacts. Only those core disciples from the high echelons of the sects might, due to connections with elders, acquire one or two. Such elite disciples numbered only a few dozen per sect at most.
A Qi Refining disciple possessing four magic artifacts would be exceedingly rare—perhaps only a handful in an entire sect.
Ye Qin was oblivious to these nuances. He had acquired these four artifacts only after consecutively slaying three disciples from high-ranking backgrounds: Zhao Qiankun of the Green Pill Sect, Wei Ming of the Great Luo Sect, and the man surnamed Yu from the Ancient Artifact Sect. Obtaining them had not been easy.
He focused his gaze on the four artifacts and rapidly shifted his hand seals, sending a thin stream of spiritual power toward the cyan Soul-Snatching Bell.
The Soul-Snatching Bell vibrated slightly, seeming to resist the influx of Ye Qin’s power.
Yet, this resistance proved ineffective. Half an hour later, the residual power within the Bell was exhausted, and its resistance faded as Ye Qin forcibly infused it with his own spiritual energy.
He intended to completely master the newly acquired Soul-Snatching Bell and the Profound Gold Sword while the second level was still relatively empty of other cultivators.
These two artifacts were unusable in combat right after being taken; the sooner he controlled them, the safer he would be. With these four artifacts in hand, he felt confident he could navigate the second level unimpeded. Even if a massive wave of disciples poured in, they wouldn't be able to touch him.
A day later, Ye Qin had refined the two artifacts dozens of times, gaining rudimentary control over the Soul-Snatching Bell and the little golden sword, allowing them to fly at his command. Although the residual aura within the artifacts had not been entirely purged, it was sufficient for intimidation.
Ye Qin finally breathed a slight sigh of relief, allowing his mind to turn to his other spoils of war.
He had acquired quite a bit: a jade slip and various items taken from the golden-clothed man’s storage pouch.
The storage pouch held ample spirit stones and talismans. There were as many as seven map scrolls alone. Adding the one scroll Ye Qin had seized himself, they totaled eight—a quarter of the entire thirty-two scrolls.
Ye Qin mused inwardly that the scroll held by the yellow-robed cultivator from the Earth Locus Sect probably contained a similar amount; together, they likely accounted for half. The remaining half must have been divided among the five ordinary cultivators who survived inside the Poison Corpse Cave. He wondered if those five were still alive.
He shook his head, dismissing those thoughts to focus on the map scrolls.
He opened one map scroll, drawn by a minor cultivation sect. The scroll was palm-sized and incredibly convenient to carry, its craftsmanship exquisite. Upon opening it and infusing it with spiritual power, a phantom projection spanning about one foot in radius materialized.
Within the projection, white lines snaked like earthworms.
Ye Qin understood these represented the spirit stone ore tunnels.
These ore tunnels interconnected—some dead ends, others thoroughfares—all clearly visible in the projection. Furthermore, various colored dots—gold, cyan, blue, red, yellow—were marked along the white lines. If his guess was correct, these denoted spirit stone deposits, each indicating a different type of spirit stone. The scroll even indicated the approximate reserve of each deposit and how long one could mine there.
Ye Qin felt a mixture of astonishment and delight.
This made seeking out specific types of spirit stones much easier.
On the map, only a small central area depicted tunnels; the periphery was solid black, completely devoid of any markings.
Ye Qin considered this and deduced, The areas with tunnels are where this small sect controlled territory. The black areas must be places this small sect hasn't explored, so they couldn't map anything there.
He promptly opened the remaining seven map scrolls and pieced them together, eager to see the effect of the complete map.
To Ye Qin’s great joy, the ore tunnels depicted in the seven scrolls successfully connected. He could clearly trace the layout of nearly a quarter of the entire underground network. In these charted areas, he could go wherever he wished, entirely free from the feeling of navigating blind.
It was a stark contrast to when he first entered the cave, having no idea where he was or whether the path ahead led to a dead end or a clear passage. He had only been able to charge forward blindly. If he entered a dead end and found his retreat blocked by disciples from other sects, it would have meant fighting to the death.
Ye Qin gave a wry smile, surprised he had survived thus far.
Examining the map more closely, Ye Qin suddenly noticed a bright, dazzling point of light in one corner of a particular scroll. This pinpoint didn't resemble a mining deposit; it was motionless.
He immediately felt puzzled.
What were these bright points of light?
Ye Qin carefully identified the tunnel where the bright spot was located and then looked up at the topography of the tunnel surrounding his own position.
He suddenly understood: that bright spot wasn't an objective marker—it was his current location!
To verify this idea, Ye Qin moved rapidly through the tunnel, and the dazzling point immediately followed his movement. When he stopped, the spot paused instantly. All this proved that the bright point indicated his position.
This was incredible!
How could this scroll "see" where he was?
Ye Qin pondered in astonishment for a long time, refusing to believe the scroll possessed such divine power as to track his precise location. Then, a realization dawned on him as he glanced back at the scroll in his hand. The point didn't mark him; it marked the scroll’s location. Wherever the map scroll was, that’s where the light appeared.
To test this hypothesis, Ye Qin separated the eight scrolls and placed them in different locations within the tunnel. Sure enough, eight distinct bright points appeared on the map—one for each scroll.
When the scrolls were brought back together, the eight points merged into one.
Ye Qin couldn't help but marvel at the ingenuity of the scroll's crafting. As long as he held one map scroll, he would never get lost in the maze-like underground tunnels.
Suddenly, a slow-moving bright spot appeared in the corner of the map within his vision.
Who was that?
Ye Qin froze, a terrible possibility striking him, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. If the map could display the eight scrolls he held, it must also be capable of showing the locations of scrolls held by other cultivators.
This meant that other cultivators, using their own scrolls, could see his exact location.
"All thirty-two scrolls can see each other's positions?! This is going to kill people!"
Ye Qin’s face changed drastically, and he almost cursed aloud, yet he was helpless. He didn't understand the art of map scroll fabrication, nor why these thirty-two map scrolls from different sects were linked to display one another's locations.
He remembered an item: the jade slip left by the Poison Corpse and quickly took it out, probing it with his divine sense. The information within the slip instantly flooded his mind, perfectly clear.
This jade slip belonged to a disciple of the Yin Xuan Sect.
It contained three passages of text.
The first passage was an anecdote recorded by a foreman miner surnamed Wang:
Thousands of years ago, a tide of monstrous beasts erupted in Wanku Ridge, annihilating nearly all the miners in the cave. A foreman miner surnamed Wang from the Yin Xuan Sect died, but utilized his sect's secret technique, the "Yin Xuan Ghost Cultivation Method," to step onto the path of Ghost Cultivation, refining his physical body into a poisonous corpse, wherein he temporarily resided, "living" within the cave.
It took him several years to traverse almost the entire underground mine network. He collected all thirty-two map scrolls belonging to the foreman miners of every cultivation sect within Wanku Ridge and merged them into one massive, complete map of the underground tunnels, using a special scroll refinement technique to link them together.
The only area in this cave the ghost cultivator never visited was the deepest part of the second level. There was an aura there that felt terribly fierce and hot, something he dared not approach. Upon getting near, even his nascent soul felt a burning agony.
After collecting the map scrolls, the Ghost Cultivator Wang tried to leave Wanku Ridge. However, for some unknown reason, Wanku Ridge seemed sealed by something; he couldn't escape and was forced to remain underground, constantly cultivating. The path of Ghost Cultivation proved too arduous, and before he could achieve any significant results, the lifespan of his nascent soul expired, and he died.
The record within the jade slip ended with the death of the ghost cultivator.
Ye Qin had already guessed what happened next. That poisonous corpse wandered the cave for thousands of years, guarding these map scrolls until cultivators from sects like theirs broke into the Wanku Ridge underground caves again, triggering this chaotic battle. (To be continued. For further developments, please visit www**com, where more chapters are available to support the author and genuine reading!) First published.
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