Chapter 265 - 255: Clearing Out the Strongholds

Chapter 265: Chapter 255: Clearing Out the Strongholds

After Chen Yi decided to launch a proactive clearing operation, the Primordial Yang Sect moved quickly.

Early the next morning, the first batch of personnel and the jade slips detailing the routes were delivered to the Mist Forest Marketplace.

On the second floor of the administration office, three maps were spread out on a table.

One was a topographical map of the outer region of the Ghost Mist Forest, one showed the routes taken by visiting Cultivators to and from the marketplace over the past month, and the last was a map Li Yuan himself had marked with suspected strongholds and transit points.

Chen Yi reached out and tapped a few spots.

"Take out these first."

Li Yuan glanced at the order and knew Chen Yi was prioritizing them by difficulty.

First, they would hit the easiest targets on the outskirts to catch them off guard. Then, before word could fully spread, they would press inward and strike the second layer.

"I’ll lead the way?" Li Yuan asked.

"You take the first team," Chen Yi said. "The next two teams will follow the map you provided. If there are any deviations, use the Protector Token to make contact."

Li Yuan nodded and then set off with his people.

The team of five left the marketplace and headed directly for an old mine tunnel on the southwestern outskirts.

Li Yuan had been there once before. It was on the far outskirts of the Spirit Vein. It seemed someone had excavated there in the early years, but it was later abandoned, leaving only a half-collapsed entrance and a pile of rubble. When Loose Cultivators passed by, they would only think it was a useless old pit.

It was still early when the group arrived.

"The entrance is below," Li Yuan said.

A Primordial Yang Sect Cultivator beside him immediately stepped forward. With a swirl of Earth Element Spiritual Power in his palm, he gently pushed aside several large rocks. Behind them, a narrow, downward-sloping crack was revealed, its opening covered by an extremely faint, concealing Spirit Pattern.

It wasn’t a proper mountain-protecting Array, just a simple concealment for the entrance.

It was enough to fool Loose Cultivators, but useless against their team.

Spirit Pattern Analysis activated. The concealing Spirit Pattern at the entrance was dismantled almost instantly, revealing the true hidden passage behind it.

Li Yuan raised a hand, and the five of them entered in single file.

The hidden passage wasn’t long; after no more than twenty-odd zhang, a stone chamber appeared below. The two people in the room hadn’t even reacted before the doorway was sealed by a flash of Spiritual Light. A Qi Refining Cultivator had just started to reach for his storage bag when Li Yuan cast his Fireball Technique, sending a fireball smashing down by the man’s feet. A wave of heat washed over him, and he froze, not daring to move again.

The other person tried to escape through a side wall but was forced back by Li Yuan using only his Spiritual Power.

"Leave them alive," Li Yuan said coolly.

The search didn’t yield much, but the items were quite varied.

A Sealing Spirit Box, an old jade slip, a few pieces of Array Materials engraved with numbers, a folded route map, and a bag of gray powder used to mask Spirit Pattern fluctuations.

Li Yuan didn’t linger. He quickly scanned the four walls of the stone chamber and, sure enough, found a hidden compartment in a corner. Inside were two Demon Cultivator jade slips and a worn, incomplete map.

The first stronghold was taken down far too easily, with almost no trouble at all.

The second location was the real problem.

It was behind a low stone slope, the entrance hidden under tree roots and tangled vines. The outside was also protected by a three-layered set of trap-like Restrictions that served as an early-warning system.

This interlocking set of Restrictions outside the stone slope had three layers in total, and all three had reached the Tier One Top Grade level.

If Li Yuan hadn’t possessed the movement-tracking map reverse-engineered from activity in the marketplace, supplemented by the route map found at the previous location, no normal person would have ever suspected a hidden chamber existed beneath such a place.

This time, Li Yuan’s true value was made apparent.

He dismantled three Arrays in a row, and the entire network of trap-like Spirit Patterns went dark at the same time.

A panel quietly popped up.

[Spirit Pattern Analysis (Green) Permanence Progress Increased]

[Current Progress: 4/5]

Li Yuan glanced at it, his expression unchanged.

The hidden chamber under the stone slope was much larger than the first and was divided into inner and outer sections.

The outer section was piled with ordinary supplies: Healing Pills, Replenishing Essence Pills, a few spare Magical Artifacts, and a batch of dry rations and fresh water. The inner section was hidden more deeply and contained three locked chests. When the chests were opened, they revealed a thick stack of atlases and jade slips wrapped in oilcloth.

Just as they finished moving the items out, they heard a commotion outside.

An Early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, leading two Late-stage Qi Refining Cultivators, had apparently just returned to pick up the goods. When the Foundation Establishment Cultivator saw that the entrance was breached, his expression changed drastically, and he turned to flee.

Li Yuan had anticipated this move.

The Fire Python Skill shot from his palm. A crimson, fiery shadow skimmed along the tree roots and stone slope, directly cutting off their escape route. The other Primordial Yang Sect Cultivators didn’t back down either. They simultaneously activated their Magical Artifacts, and several beams of light pressed down, forcing the two Qi Refining Cultivators to the ground.

The Foundation Establishment Cultivator was not weak, however. He raised his hand and shot out a dark gray beam of magical light, trying to force his way through.

Li Yuan didn’t bother getting entangled with him; his Divine Sense pressed forward first.

The opponent’s movements faltered for an instant. In that moment, Li Yuan was upon him, striking his chest with a palm and shattering his protective Spiritual Power on the spot. In less than three moves, the man was pinned against the stone wall.

Li Yuan noticed that this Foundation Establishment Cultivator didn’t seem to have the Demonic Qi self-destruct mechanism.

Li Yuan contacted Chen Yi, and after handing over the Foundation Establishment Cultivator, he continued to eliminate the strongholds.

The third stronghold was taken that night.

This one put up no real resistance. It seemed they had already gotten wind of something; most of the people inside had fled, leaving behind only two chests they didn’t have time to move and an ancient, fragmented book.

However, the third stronghold also had a Tier One Top Grade Array.

The panel vibrated slightly.

[Spirit Pattern Analysis (Green) Permanence Conditions Met]

[Make Permanent?]

Without hesitation, Li Yuan confirmed it.

[Spirit Pattern Analysis (Green) has become a Permanent Entry]

An extremely light, cool sensation flashed across the point between his eyebrows, as if an ability that was once attached to a Magical Artifact had sunk directly into the depths of his perception.

After clearing out the strongholds, the team worked through the night to bring all the confiscated goods back to the Mist Forest Marketplace.

The lights in the administration office’s stone building burned brightly, staying lit late into the night. Chests were opened one by one, and the contents were inventoried piece by piece. Demon Cultivator jade slips, a tracking disk, a half-key seal, the Incomplete Earth Vein Map, and the Ancient Earth Vein Fragment Book were all laid out on the table.

Li Yuan was also present.

These items were a step beyond the scattered intelligence from last time; they could now start piecing things together.

The Dark Abyss Association wasn’t after ordinary treasures.

They wanted the method to open the deeper region, plus something even bigger.

Chen Yi unrolled the Ancient Earth Vein Fragment Book to the middle and pointed to a passage for everyone to see.

"It’s mentioned here that some ancient Sects would build their Pill Formation Environment directly near the core of a large Spirit Vein."

The expressions of everyone in the room shifted.

Spirit Vein Core, Pill Formation Environment, the deeper region... when connected with the mention of a large Spirit Vein Core in the secret message from before, many previously scattered pieces suddenly fell into place.

If the depths of the ruins were truly connected to the core of a large Spirit Vein, then what the Dark Abyss Association was fighting for wasn’t just whatever treasures remained, but the most valuable Spirit Vein in the entire region.

But a Spirit Vein itself couldn’t run away. Even if the Dark Abyss Association seized control, the Primordial Yang Sect would ultimately be the one to benefit.

The Cultivators discussed this amongst themselves but came to no conclusion.

Li Yuan’s gaze, however, fell on the tracking disk. He could sense that this was an item with a green entry.

He had only mentioned it in passing, and now the thing was in his hands.

For clearing the strongholds, venturing into the ruins, and killing a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, Li Yuan had earned nearly ten thousand Contribution Points. Chen Yi was naturally happy to grant this small request.

The object wasn’t large. It resembled an old bronze disk with a dark pointer embedded in the center, surrounded by intricate carved patterns. An ordinary Cultivator holding it would only think it was a Magical Artifact for tracking auras and finding traces.

[Equippable Item Detected: Tracking Disk (Intact)]

[Equipment Entry Preview: Pursuit (Green)]

[Effect: Increases sensitivity to auras. Possesses a greater detection range for familiar auras.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Cumulatively come into contact with twenty different Foundation Establishment auras (0/20)]

[Current Equipment Bar is full (5/5). Replace current equipment?]

’A green entry.’

’Its function is very practical. It will be invaluable now that we’re tracing clues and hunting down strongholds.’

After that night, the forward outpost quickly received a notice for additional supplies, and the shipment volume from the Mist Forest Marketplace surged. Healing Pills, Replenishing Essence Pills, Talismans, spare Magical Artifacts, and detection tools—almost everything was moving faster than before. Either Loose Cultivators were consuming them, or the Sect teams were stocking up for the next round of operations.

For the first time, the marketplace truly resembled a frontline supply hub.

This place was no longer just a marketplace.