Purple Qilin Armor

After everyone finished introducing themselves, Xuan Ye spoke.

"This journey to the Ancient Battlefield is fraught with danger. Before we set out, I hope everyone can be open about what they are seeking. If our goals do not conflict, all the better. If any of our objectives clash, then I am afraid we will have to reorganize our party."

Xuan Ye's meaning was clear: if the five of them had no conflict of interest, they could naturally travel together. However, if they sought the same treasure and its quantity was limited, strife would inevitably break out.

He clearly possessed ample experience in forming exploration parties. Acting with great caution, he wanted to avoid internal conflict as much as possible.

"To show my sincerity," Xuan Ye continued, "I will go first. My purpose in entering the subterranean caves of the Ancient Battlefield is to find Snake Scale Fruit."

The Snake Scale Fruit was a spirit fruit with an outer skin resembling serpent scales. When consumed for the first time, it could help a Qi Condensation cultivator break through a bottleneck, but any subsequent consumption yielded no effect.

For Xuan Ye to risk entering the depths of the Ancient Battlefield for this fruit, it was obvious his cultivation had hit a bottleneck, and he had likely been stuck for a considerable time.

"There are quite a few Snake Scale Fruits within those subterranean caves," Xuan Ye added. "If any fellow Daoist needs them, you can cooperate with me to harvest the fruit, and we can split them equally when the time comes."

The underground caves of the Ancient Battlefield extended in all directions, riddled with countless branching paths.

Their current group was only a temporary alliance, and no one was obligated to risk their life for another's goal. Once they reached the subterranean caves, if their objectives diverged, they could part ways at any moment.

This was precisely why Song Wen needed to find companions to travel with. The subterranean caves had too many forks and were completely devoid of light or reference points. Without someone familiar with the terrain to guide the way, relying solely on a crude map obtained from the black market would make it incredibly easy to get lost in the labyrinthine depths.

Furthermore, the places where Snake Scale Fruits grew were bound to be guarded by a large number of serpent-type Demon Beasts, making them far from easy to harvest.

Therefore, Xuan Ye hoped that after reaching the subterranean caves, someone would accompany him to gather the fruit and share the risk.

Niu Ding said in a muffled, booming voice, "I am only going this time to retrieve my elder brother's corpse. According to a survivor who traveled with him, my brother died not far from the snake caves. Xuan Ye, the two of us can travel together then."

Hearing this, Xuan Ye's eyes lit up. "Good."

Song Wen, however, cast a somewhat peculiar look at Niu Ding. If what the man said was true, he might actually be someone worth befriending.

Someone willing to brave such danger just to retrieve his brother's corpse was unlikely to be a thoroughly wicked person.

Yet, it was hard to tell how much of his words were true and how much were false. Was he truly doing it to retrieve his brother's corpse, or was he after some treasure remaining on the body?

"My purpose for this trip is Empty Cicada Wood."

Song Wen stated his objective without the slightest concealment. There was simply no need to hide it; the news that Empty Cicada Wood could be found in the subterranean caves of the Ancient Battlefield was common knowledge to many.

Taking up the conversation, Xuan Ye remarked, "Empty Cicada Wood is located deep within the caves, where the danger is quite high. I fear it won't be easy to obtain."

Song Wen nodded. "Thank you for the reminder, fellow Daoist."

At this point, Lao Chun spoke up.

"My senior sister and I are going to harvest a stalk of Forsythia Yellow. Our Master-who is also my senior sister's father-has been afflicted by the corpse poison of a Bronze Corpse, and urgently needs Forsythia Yellow to dispel it."

A Bronze Corpse was a zombie comparable in strength to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Hearing this, Xuan Ye showed a trace of hesitation. "The place where Forsythia Yellow grows is even deeper than where the Empty Cicada Wood is. The danger there is too great. Even if the five of us go together, I am afraid it will be difficult to return safely."

The intent to decline in Xuan Ye's words was obvious. He meant that the location of the Forsythia Yellow was far too perilous, so the senior sister and junior brother should go there on their own when the time came, rather than expecting the others to help.

Zi Yi, who had not spoken a single word until now, said in a clear, cold voice, "If any fellow Daoist is willing to lend their assistance, regardless of whether we succeed in the end, I am willing to pay each person five hundred Spirit Stones as compensation. If we succeed, I will add another five hundred."

As soon as these words were spoken, they drew the sideways glances of the others.

Excluding Lao Chun, there were three people here. If all were willing to go, Zi Yi would have to pay out one thousand five hundred Spirit Stones upfront. If they successfully obtained the Forsythia Yellow, the total would reach three thousand Spirit Stones.

Three thousand Spirit Stones were enough to buy a stalk of Forsythia Yellow outright.

Perhaps seeing through their doubts, Zi Yi explained, "My father is deeply poisoned and urgently needs to consume the Forsythia Yellow. However, there is temporarily none for sale in the market town, which is why my junior brother and I have no choice but to take this risk."

The three of them nodded in agreement after listening.

Song Wen, in particular, was in a similar situation.

He did not lack the Spirit Stones to purchase Empty Cicada Wood. Given enough time, he could completely post a request in the black market and offer a high price to buy it.

Under a heavy reward, there would surely be brave men.

Unfortunately, time waited for no one, forcing him to choose to risk the journey himself.

However, by revealing that she carried a large amount of Spirit Stones, wasn't Zi Yi afraid that someone might harbor malicious intents and murder her for her wealth along the way? Or did she have some reliance that made her unafraid of the other three? Alternatively, perhaps she didn't have enough Spirit Stones on her person at all, and was merely enticing the three of them to risk their lives for her.

"Since everyone's goals are different and do not conflict, let us not waste time and set off immediately."

Zi Yi's beautiful eyes fixed upon Song Wen, urging them to get on the road.

Among the few of them, only Song Wen possessed a flying boat. Naturally, to set off, they needed his agreement.

Song Wen's cultivation base was the lowest among them. The only reason they had agreed to let him join their party was because they fancied his flying boat.

With a flying boat, they could greatly shorten their travel time and reduce the risks of crossing the Ancient Battlefield.

Song Wen, who had already been preparing for many days for this excursion, nodded.

"I can leave at any time."

Song Wen knew that going to the Ancient Battlefield this time carried extreme risks. Not only was the Ancient Battlefield itself fraught with dangers, but there were also many rogue cultivators within who killed to seize treasures. Even the people in his own party could turn on him at any moment.

For this reason, he had spent Spirit Stones like water to purchase various life-saving items.

After all, the greatest tragedy for a person was to die with their Spirit Stones left unspent.

He wore a soft armor of the High Grade Magical Artifact tier close to his skin. To obtain this rare, form-fitting defensive artifact, Song Wen had spent a full one thousand eight hundred Spirit Stones-a price almost enough to buy two or three offensive artifacts of the same grade.

Song Wen's current Magic Power was still weak, not yet enough to drive this soft armor for a long period, but in the face of a crisis, he could barely manage to activate it for a brief moment.

Moreover, unlike the Ghost Head Shield, which only provided defense when driven by spiritual energy, this soft armor named the Purple Qilin Armor possessed a certain degree of inherent defensive power even without Magic Power activation.

In addition, he had purchased five Vajra Talismans, which were Tier One High Grade defensive talismans.

Combined with his Myriad Poisons Chaos Body, which he had cultivated to the Proficient stage, and his powerful physique tempered by the Corpse King Blood Refining Art, he was confident that he could safely withstand a full-force strike even from a cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation.

For offense, he had purchased a Middle Grade Magical Artifact, the Soul Piercing Awl.

His Mother-Child Poison Needles had also been thoroughly coated with the deadly poison, Fire Burning Heavens.

Under his full cultivation over the past two months, the Black-bellied Beetle Gu colony had expanded to over sixty beetles. To feed such a massive number of Black-bellied Beetle Gu, it consumed nearly a hundred Spirit Stones of his every day.

What disappointed him slightly was that over the past year or so, no new mutated individuals had been born among the Beetle Gu, failing to evolve a stronger variant.

However, after more than a year of nurturing, nine of the Beetle Gu had slowly grown to possess strength equivalent to the Fifth Layer of Qi Condensation.

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