Chapter 189: Chapter 143: Serving as an Honored Guest Elder

"Yeah, yeah! Stop beating around the bush. Just tell us what happened. All this rambling... are you trying to get us to buy you another pot of Spirit Tea?"

"Haha, you saw right through me!" The man in the conical hat chuckled awkwardly—it was hard to tell if he was faking it—and continued, "After one of their Foundation Establishment Cultivators died, the Wan Family got furious. That’s why, as I said before, a lot of people died on both sides. In the end, the mysterious cultivator’s side was forced to retreat."

He paused and took a sip of his Spirit Tea.

"I’ll give you all another piece of news, so you can’t say I’m stingy. Right now, even though the mysterious cultivator’s side retreated, they’ve been cornered by the Wan Family around Yehua Mountain. If anyone here feels daring, you could head over in the next couple of days to try your luck. Who knows? That Qingyang Mirror, worth tens of thousands of Spirit Stones, might just end up in your hands."

"You must be joking. We’re just Qi Refining Junior Cultivators. How could we possibly get involved in something so big?" someone said, treating it as just a story with no intention of participating.

Others with quicker minds, however, were already calculating whether they could sell this information for a Spirit Stone or two. When they saw someone else get up and leave, they immediately shot up and rushed out too, afraid that if they sold the news too late, it would only be worth a few sheets of Talisman Paper.

At that moment, Lü Zhong also stood up.

Unlike the others, he headed straight out of the Workshop Market toward Yehua Mountain. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

...

Yehua Mountain was named for its shape, which closely resembled the Jingyang Yehua flower.

The mountain’s terrain was treacherous, with sheer cliffs rising everywhere. It was perpetually shrouded in mist, making the difficulty of finding someone in such an environment self-evident.

Lü Zhong used Scene Replay to track the mysterious cultivator.

Along the way, he ran into patrolling Wan Family cultivators more than once.

He didn’t know what kind of deal the Wan Family had made with the other powers in the Jingyang Region, but for now, they were the only ones in the vast, hundred-li expanse of Yehua Mountain.

As he walked, he came across another Foundation Establishment Cultivator who was also using Concealed Breath.

This person was clearly also searching for the Qingyang Mirror. Upon seeing Lü Zhong, who also had Foundation Establishment Cultivation, he immediately chose a different path, obviously wanting to avoid a conflict.

Lü Zhong didn’t want any trouble either, so he continued toward the place where the Wan Family and the mysterious cultivator had fought.

Soon, he arrived at a mountain valley.

Many traces of the battle remained. There was corrosion left by Magic Skills and gashes carved by Magical Artifacts. The flowers and grass in the valley had suffered, making the landscape look as ugly as a mangy scalp.

Finding a safe spot, Lü Zhong began the Scene Replay.

After entering the Foundation Establishment Stage, his movable range within a Scene Replay had grown significantly. It increased from the original ten zhang to a hundred zhang, a hundredfold increase in his area of movement.

He reversed time and quickly replayed the great battle from that day.

The mysterious cultivator had activated a Talisman Treasure, materializing a small green sword. The image of it instantly tearing through the air to kill the Wan Family’s True Cultivator was deeply etched into Lü Zhong’s mind, leaving him utterly shaken.

’So this is the might of a Talisman Treasure?’ Lü Zhong’s mind churned, and the thought of seizing it for himself arose.

According to the ancient records, Talisman Treasures were rarely single-use items. They could usually be used more than twice, and some could even be used five or six times. The exact number of uses depended on how much of a Magical Treasure’s power a Golden Core Cultivator was willing to seal inside when refining it.

He recalled watching the mysterious cultivator activate the Talisman Treasure from up close in his replay. There seemed to be sword-shaped marks on the Talisman Paper, which likely represented the remaining uses. If that was the case, then in theory, after the mysterious cultivator used it to assassinate the Wan Family’s Foundation Establishment Cultivator, it should still have three uses left.

At this thought, Lü Zhong followed the trail from his Scene Replay in pursuit.

The chase lasted for an entire day.

The sky had turned completely dark and mountain mist enveloped the surroundings when Lü Zhong’s pursuit led him to the bank of a small, rushing river. According to his Scene Replay, the mysterious cultivator was hiding at the bottom.

He used Concealing Breath and Traces to avoid alerting the person hiding ten zhang beneath the riverbed.

It was now midnight. Although it was the night of a full moon, the thick mountain mist obstructed his view, making it difficult for Lü Zhong to keep watch on his surroundings.

After some thought, he decided it was best to investigate first. He needed to gauge the man’s current state.

He used Scene Replay, and his perspective soon shifted beneath the riverbed.

In a one-zhang stone cave dug out by a Magical Artifact, a pale-faced, middle-aged man was currently sitting cross-legged. Many small bottles and jars were scattered in front of him. Judging from the labels on them, they were mostly for healing.

Judging from the aura he emitted, this person had a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivation.

He ended the replay, his expression shifting uncertainly. He had planned to be the oriole stalking the cicada, but who would have thought this "cicada" was too big for him to swallow? The opponent had a sword-shaped Talisman Treasure, a Spiritual Artifact like the Qingyang Mirror, and his cultivation was a Small Realm higher than Lü Zhong’s. It was safe to say that even injured, he was not someone Lü Zhong could handle.

’Forget it. I’ll just treat this as watching a show.’

Lü Zhong remembered that he had run into a team of Wan Family cultivators on his way here. They seemed to have some kind of tracking Magical Artifact and had obtained a piece of the mysterious cultivator’s clothing, which they were using to track him to this location.

’Wait a minute, maybe there’s an opportunity to fish in troubled waters.’

He was still a bit unwilling to give up, so he prepared to move a safe distance away and observe.

The Qingyang Mirror, worth nearly one hundred thousand Spirit Stones, was worth taking a small risk for. If he could obtain this treasure, he would have another protective artifact for his Foundation Establishment cultivation journey.

Using Concealing Breath and Traces, he hid himself far away.

Just as Lü Zhong expected, the Wan Family cultivators soon tracked their target to this spot.