Wait a minute, where is my master?

"Our academy's Qingmu Secret Realm opens once every two hundred years, and each opening attracts cultivators from all directions."

Over time, the Cultivation World naturally established a rule: one month before the Secret Realm opens, everyone gathers in the city in advance to exchange cultivation resources or discuss cultivation issues, quietly waiting for the Secret Realm to open.

This is actually a good thing. Everyone cultivates far and wide, and now that they have gathered together, isn't it wonderful to exchange ideas?"

However, after the last opening of the Secret Realm, a senior from our academy suddenly reported to the dean. He said that after secretly investigating for a long time, he found that whenever the Qingmu Secret Realm opened, not only the hidden demon cultivators in our Qing State but also those from the neighboring two states would come out to commit evil acts.

Dean Qingyun was initially very surprised, but after a little investigation, he indeed found that many villages and towns had been slaughtered. After further investigation, the dean discovered that this happened because most of the cultivators from the Righteous Path were gathered in Qingmu City for the opening of the Secret Realm!

As a result, with fewer Righteous Path cultivators outside, those nefarious creatures hidden in the dark seized the opportunity to either recklessly devour blood or slaughter the common people to cultivate their demon skills.

Therefore, this year, just before the opening of the Qingmu Secret Realm, the academy has arranged for multiple groups of cultivators to patrol."

Senior Brother Feng completed his somewhat show-off explanation and looked up to gauge the expressions of his two junior brothers.

Holding a scroll, Liu Dongqing, after hearing his senior brother's words, silently nodded, his face expressing a realization. Meanwhile, Liu Ziliang was half out of his inkstone, peering down at the ground.

"Ziliang, your senior brother is speaking, what are you looking at?"

The bearded cultivator walked over and clapped his shoulder.

"Ah, Senior Brother Feng. I heard everything you said. I was just curious, we patrolled this area before, right? But how has there suddenly appeared a Taoist temple on the ground?"

...

In Kao Mountain Town, a private school.

After Jin Xu extended his Spiritual Sense eight hundred meters into the ground, he indeed found something.

He turned to look at Fan Youzeng, who still had frostbites on his body, casually pulled out two High Grade Spirit Stones from his storage magic treasure, and placed them on the table in the room.

Then he left with Little White.

The young Taoist did not understand why this schoolteacher chose to be an unsung hero in a small town for over a decade, but that did not stop him from admiring the man's perseverance.

These two High Grade Spirit Stones might help extend that perseverance a bit longer.

...

In the room, Fan Youzeng saw Jin Xu suddenly place something on the table and leave without a word, his expression one of astonishment.

He shivered as he walked to the table, and when he saw that the items on the table were High Grade Spirit Stones, his eyes sparkled with immense surprise and disbelief.

One High Grade Spirit Stone is equivalent to a hundred mid-Grade Spirit Stones, which equals ten thousand Low Grade Spirit Stones.

Two High Grade Spirit Stones—that's twenty thousand Low Grade Spirit Stones!

A minor cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm like himself was not worth so much money even if he sold himself.

The last time Fan Youzeng saw such an item was from the hands of his sect's Ancestor.

At that time, the Ancestor, to motivate their group of entry-level disciples to diligently cultivate, had specifically taken it out as a reward for an internal competition.

He remembered that the Spirit Stone was eventually won by a senior brother who had already reached the Foundation Establishment. As for Fan Youzeng, he ranked last in that competition and received only a consolation Strengthening Pill.

The schoolteacher shakily picked up the two High Grade Spirit Stones from the table, scrutinizing them closely.

"Hahaha! I never thought I, Fan Youzeng, would one day come across such an opportunity. This beating was worth it!"

Overjoyed, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He then carefully placed the two High Grade Spirit Stones into his chest, bowed deeply in the direction the young Taoist had left in. Fan Youzeng intended to kneel, but remembering that the young Daoist seemed to dislike people kneeling before him, he opted for a deep bow instead.

"With these, perhaps I can trade for some cultivation resources and try striving for the Golden Core."

The schoolteacher took out the Spirit Stones from his chest again.

"Eh, strange. Why do these two spirit stones smell so good, making one want to take a bite?"

After the initial excitement, Fan Youzeng then realized that the two high-grade spirit stones in his hand were fragrantly enticing, tempting one to eat them.

...

Outside the town, on an open ground.

Jin Xu did not know that the spirit stones he had sent out had been flavored with the exotic fragrance of the Age Chicken.

Guided by his Spiritual Sense, he had now arrived directly above the demon's den.

The Taoist initially wanted to drop a Hand Palm Thunder straight down, transforming the demon den into a fountain. However, after careful observation, he noticed that the demons inside were hosting a banquet, and a lot of living humans were imprisoned inside. Apparently, these humans seemed to be the main course of the feast.

So, Jin Xu was now pondering how to successfully eliminate the demons without killing the hostages.

After observing for half an hour, the Taoist had an idea.

"Little White, freeze me."

Jin Xu said to the demon pet behind him.

"What did you say, temple master?"

Little White thought he had heard incorrectly.

"Freeze me, and then you pretend to join the banquet. We'll blend in. Once inside, we'll rescue the hostages, and these evil demons can be disposed of as we see fit."

The Taoist emphasized once again.

He remembered that Sun Wukong had rescued Tang Seng in similar fashion in a previous life. 'Journey to the West' is one of the four great classical novels, so the strategies written in it should be feasible.

"Ao, okay, temple master."

Little White understood Jin Xu's intent, transformed back to his original shape.

Then, without hesitation, he sprayed a breath of Frost Ice Spiritual Power at Jin Xu, freezing the Taoist all around.

"Temple master, it's done, what next?"

"Carry me to the cave entrance thirty miles away. I saw that the demons attending the banquet are all entering the underground from there."

Jin Xu turned his eyeballs in the ice, communicating with his demon pet through sound transmission.

Earlier, he hadn't scanned the ground that far away. It was only after his Spiritual Sense delved underground and discovered the demon cave that he followed the path and found the entrance.

The chill inside the ice block reminded the Taoist of the air conditioning from his previous life, bringing a refreshing feeling during this August night.

However, there was a downside - he couldn't move about carelessly, or he might accidentally shatter the ice block.

"Okay, temple master."

The husky immediately picked up the Taoist in his mouth and, following the guidance, ran towards the cave entrance thirty miles away.

The entrance was hidden within a mountain cave.

Inside the cave, there was a deep pit that one had to jump into and then continue for a few hundred meters, finally arriving at the actual cave door.

At this moment, at the cave door.

A groundhog demon, not yet shape-shifted, held a steel fork and was boasting to a nearby centipede spirit.

"Tonight, I went out to hunt and wanted to try a live human for a change. Unexpectedly, I encountered a cultivator in the town thirty miles away. I immediately thought, since commoners are unappealing, why not try a cultivator for a taste?

However, it seemed he knew Mr. Shu here was formidable, as he sneakily attacked me with an animal trap as a hidden weapon first!

Humph! If not for the king ordering me to return tonight to tend to the guests, I would have definitely captured that cultivator."