Chapter 44: Secret Treasures Concealed in the Predecessor's Abandoned Mansion

Bai Ying returned to the territory of the Green Fox clan to invite her parents, while Qing Man volunteered to stay behind to show sincerity.

However, Qing Man did not expect that Jiang Sheng had no interest in her whatsoever.

On the other hand, Tian Ming'an, who had been startled awake, found such a huge fox quite fascinating and kept glancing at it from time to time.

After standing idly for a full three hours, at the break of dawn, Bai Ying finally arrived with two foxes in tow—one green and one white.

The green fox was Qing Man's elder sister, Qing Yun.
The white fox was Qing Man's brother-in-law, Bai Shang.

"Bai Shang and Qing Yun pay our respects to the Daoist Priest."

Both the white and green foxes, standing as tall as a person, appeared somewhat cautious.
Evidently, they were well aware that the Daoist Priest before them, who looked so refined and gentle like polished jade, possessed fiercely formidable methods.

"Greetings, fellow Daoists. I presume the little one has already filled you in."
"I will not conceal it from you two; the Jade-Green Lotus is indeed useful to me, and I am determined to acquire it."

Seeing Jiang Sheng being so straightforward, Bai Shang and Qing Yun exchanged glances. Bai Shang stepped forward and said, "That Black-Fire Serpent usurped our couple's dwelling, a grievance we must undoubtedly avenge."
"If the Daoist Priest is willing to help us reclaim our dwelling, Bai Shang is more than willing to gift the Jade-Green Lotus to you."
"We only hope the Daoist Priest can leave us two lotus seeds."

The lotus pedestal and lotus seeds of the Jade-Green Lotus each possessed wondrous uses.
The lotus pedestal contained a vast amount of pure heaven-and-earth spiritual energy, which could help living beings elevate their cultivation base and extinguish karmic tribulation fires.
As for the lotus seeds, they could be used to refine Tier 2 rare Green Lotus Pills. A single Green Lotus Pill was sufficient to grant a living being in the initial Foundation Establishment stage an additional layer of cultivation or more.
Three Green Lotus Pills would be enough to propel a living being from the initial Foundation Establishment stage straight to the middle Foundation Establishment stage.
Two lotus seeds were truly more than enough to refine five or six Green Lotus Pills.

Jiang Sheng eyed Bai Shang and asked, "Fellow Daoist Bai is an alchemist?"

Bai Shang did not hide the truth: "I studied some alchemy techniques within the legacy dwelling of that senior predecessor, and I am fully capable of refining some Tier 2 elixirs."

Jiang Sheng slowly nodded: "I am also crudely versed in the art of alchemy. If the lotus seeds are sufficient, I can refine them together with you, and we shall simply split the resulting Green Lotus Pills evenly."

A look of utter surprise filled Bai Shang's eyes: "The Daoist Priest is willing to split them evenly with us?"

It was only natural for Bai Shang to be surprised, for in the world of cultivation, the strong always took everything.
Jiang Sheng possessed the highest strength, capable of slaying Purple Palace cultivators with a sword. Such a ruthless expert was actually willing to divide the elixirs equally with a few fox demons—this felt practically like a dream!

"This opportunity arose because of Fellow Daoist. Why shouldn't I split the elixirs evenly with you?"

Overjoyed, Bai Shang hurriedly expressed his gratitude to Jiang Sheng.

Shortly after, from Bai Shang and Qing Yun, Jiang Sheng learned that the Black-Fire Serpent had not yet managed to enter the legacy dwelling, though there was no telling if the serpent might seek out helpers.
After all, the Jade-Green Lotus matured once every five hundred years, and there was now less than half a year left until its full maturity.
Bai Shang also expressed his suspicion that the Black-Fire Serpent was likely afraid that the couple would find reinforcements, and thus might have been desperately racking its brains day and night to break open the legacy dwelling.
If the Black-Fire Serpent truly managed to find helpers, or if news of the lotus leaked to others, complications were bound to arise.

Hearing this, Jiang Sheng pondered for a moment and said, "Matters of this nature brook no delay, especially now that I am aware of the situation."
"Naturally, I cannot allow any accidents to happen."
"Three fellow Daoists, are you willing to accompany me there right now?"

Bai Shang and Qing Yun naturally had no objections, but they were clearly worried about their daughter.

Bai Ying could temporarily reside in the Daoist temple with his disciple, Jiang Sheng stated. Protected by the Tier 3 grand array, it would be more than enough to ensure Bai Ying's safety.
Bai Shang did not refuse, which clearly showed his sincere trust in Jiang Sheng.

Thus, Bai Ying finally stepped into the Qingxuan Temple, a place she had always been curious about.

As the flowing light water barrier closed, Jiang Sheng and the three person-tall foxes soared directly into the air, flying toward the eastern side of Mount Qingping.

Mount Qingping stretched across twelve hundred miles, spanning East County, Sea County, and Long County.
According to Qing Man's account, their Green Fox clan inhabited the northern side of Mount Qingping, while her elder sister Qing Yun, after successfully achieving Foundation Establishment, had settled down on the eastern side with her husband Bai Shang.

Listening to Qing Man's narrative, Jiang Sheng realized that the living beings within Mount Qingping were truly numerous.
Earlier, when Jiang Sheng chanted scriptures during his daily morning devotions, many living beings had gained spiritual intelligence simply from listening to him recite the Daoist scriptures.
Later on, countless other creatures had also wished to come and listen to his chanting, but unfortunately, Jiang Sheng had already entered closed-door seclusion.

A smile hung on Jiang Sheng's face, yet his eyes remained as calm and waveless as ever.
In truth, right up to this moment, he had not lowered his guard.
Until he laid eyes on the Black-Fire Serpent, saw the Jade-Green Lotus, secured it into his own hands, and swallowed it down, he would never let down his guard.

Meanwhile, deep within the eastern mountain range of Mount Qingping, a massive black-fire serpent over twenty zhang in length was coiled before a cave dwelling.

The entire body of the Black-Fire Serpent was covered in hard, black-and-red scales, and wisps of fiery saliva constantly overflowed from its jaws.
Whenever the fiery saliva dripped onto the slippery stone surface, it caused a burst of rising heat, clearly indicating an extremely high temperature.

The Black-Fire Serpent was named Hei Huan. It had cultivated on the eastern side of Mount Qingping for over a hundred years, accidentally consuming a red fruit that allowed it to successfully advance to the Foundation Establishment stage.
Later on, Hei Huan tracked down the small tree bearing those red fruits and made that location its lair.
Whenever Hei Huan hit a bottleneck, it would eat a red fruit. By the time the red fruits were completely consumed by Hei Huan, it had unconsciously reached the late Foundation Establishment stage, vaguely touching the barrier of the Purple Palace realm.

Yet, it was precisely this barrier that Hei Huan dared not touch lightly.
The memories in its bloodline told Hei Huan that a Black-Fire Serpent in the Purple Palace stage would experience a transformation of its bloodline, at which point black karmic tribulation fires would envelop its body. If it failed to control that black fire, it would be burned alive during the opening of the Purple Palace.
Conversely, as long as Hei Huan could control the black fire, it would undoubtedly advance to the Purple Palace realm, and subsequently transform its physical body into human form.

The memories in its bloodline informed Hei Huan that if it wished to advance to the Purple Palace and control the black fire, it either had to brute-force its way through or seek out heaven-and-earth spiritual treasures.
The red fruit that Hei Huan had previously consumed was one such heaven-and-earth spiritual treasure, known as the Fire Spirit Fruit.
Fire-attribute living beings swallowing Fire Spirit Fruits over a long period could drastically stimulate their bloodlines and enhance their cultivation.
However, by the same token, the Fire Spirit Fruit greatly stimulated the bloodline, causing the black fire to surge with exceptional violence when Hei Huan opened its Purple Palace!
This could only be described as fortune and misfortune being intertwined.
Once Hei Huan mastered that even more formidable black fire, it would have the hope of stepping into the Golden Core stage, growing a single horn upon its head, and leaping from a mere Black-Fire Serpent into a Black-Fire Flood Dragon!

Originally, Hei Huan had often worried about how to break through to the Purple Palace and master the black fire. But by chance, it discovered that the pair of foxes also living in this mountain range actually knew about such a supreme treasure of heaven and earth as the Jade-Green Lotus!

The memories in Hei Huan's bloodline told it that if it could acquire the Jade-Green Lotus, it would definitely be able to open its Purple Palace, and even the Golden Core realm would be within reach!

With an opportunity bestowed by the heavens laid out right before it, how could Hei Huan possibly let it slip away?
It directly tracked down the lair of that pair of foxes and drove them out with its formidable cultivation.
However, what Hei Huan did not expect was that while the Jade-Green Lotus was said to be in the foxes' lair, it was not actually out in the open.
For hidden within the foxes' lair was yet another cave dwelling!
And the Jade-Green Lotus was inside *that* place!

Throughout these past few days, Hei Huan had been racking its brains trying to breach the formation of the cave dwelling and force its way in.
Yet, as day after day passed in vain, Hei Huan's mood grew increasingly irritable.
It had a vague premonition that if it failed to shatter the cave dwelling and obtain the Jade-Green Lotus within half a year, it might no longer be able to suppress its imminent breakthrough!

The bloodthirsty cruelty in its bloodline and the impending crisis drove Hei Huan into a frenzy. It continuously tried various methods to shatter the array, even going so far as to kidnap human cultivators who ventured into the mountains to help open the dwelling for it.

Right now, inside this cave dwelling, seven or eight Qi Refining cultivators were staring bitterly at the magic array with expressions of utter despair.
They wanted to run, but right behind them was the terrifying late Foundation Establishment Black-Fire Serpent, leaving them completely without a way out.
And looking at the tattered garments scattered inside the cave dwelling, they knew all too well that they were not the first batch of unlucky souls captured by the Black-Fire Serpent.

"You lot, hurry it up!"
"If you can't open this dwelling, I'll eat the lot of you!"

Hei Huan's raspy voice carried an overwhelming sense of oppression within the cavern, and coupled with its colossal body, it made these Qi Refining cultivators unable to muster the slightest thought of resistance.

These Qi Refining cultivators had pondered over the array for half a day and tried various methods, finally arriving at a single conclusion: this was by no means any ordinary Tier 2 array, but a far more formidable Tier 3 array.

A Qi Refining cultivator boldly stepped forward and said, "Great King, this formation is a Tier 3 array. We Qi Refining cultivators simply cannot break it."

Upon hearing this, Hei Huan instantly flared up in anger. The Qi Refining cultivator hurriedly added, "Great King, please spare your wrath! Though we cannot break it, we have other methods!"

"What methods?" Hei Huan demanded.

The Qi Refining cultivator tentatively asked, "Does the Great King know of the Zhao family of Sea County?"
Seeing that Hei Huan did not fly into a rage, the Qi Refining cultivator laid out his plan: "The Zhao family is a Purple Palace clan with numerous array masters among them. We subordinates can go and trick a few members of the Zhao family into coming here; they will surely have a way to open this dwelling."

"How do I know you aren't going to team up with those Zhao family people to kill me?" Hei Huan retorted.

The Qi Refining cultivator was left speechless, for that was indeed his exact plan.

Hei Huan's vertical pupils were filled with unadulterated cruelty as it abruptly opened its maw and swallowed the Qi Refining cultivator whole.
Amidst the crunching sounds of Hei Huan's chewing, large chunks of severed limbs and flesh dropped to the ground, scaring the remaining Qi Refining cultivators so badly that their legs turned to jelly and they collapsed onto the floor in a heap.

With the flesh and blood swallowed into its belly, blood and fiery saliva still dripped from the corners of Hei Huan's mouth.
Its cold and cruel vertical pupils stared fixedly at the remaining Qi Refining cultivators: "If you lot cannot break this array, you die!"

The few cultivators looked at one another in terror, hurriedly scrambling to their feet to continue searching for flaws in the formation.

At last, a cultivator with sharp eyes spotted something amiss and shouted in pleasant surprise, "Great King! Great King! There's a flaw! There's a flaw!"

Hei Huan's massive, heavy serpent body slithered over: "What flaw?"

The cultivator pointed at a spot where the flow of spiritual energy in the array appeared somewhat sluggish, and said, "Great King, this formation has no telling how long it has been maintained, and its spiritual energy must be running out by now."
"The spiritual energy at this spot has already turned sluggish. If the Great King unleashes a fierce assault right here, it will surely shatter the array!"

Hei Huan inspected the spot pointed out by the cultivator and tentatively spat out a stream of flame.
The area of the array touched by the flame indeed exhibited a certain sluggishness in transmitting spiritual energy.

Hei Huan grew excited. It seemed its relentless attacks over the past few months had not been in vain; the array was finally on the verge of collapsing!

Scorching flames continuously spewed from Hei Huan's mouth, scorching that section of the array until it grew even more fragile.
At last, the array shattered into countless flowing light fragments and dissipated into nothingness.

The cave dwelling stood completely unshielded, exposed right before Hei Huan.

Hei Huan's eyes burned with intense heat: "Jade-Green Lotus, your grandfather Hei Huan has arrived!"