Chapter Forty-Four: Breaking the Forbidden Array

The jade slip shattered in Mu Xin’s hands, but Li Mu’s spiritual sense detected nothing amiss, so he gave it no further thought.

Li Mie continued to search every corner of the bandit stronghold, while Li Mu released his own spiritual sense to aid in the search.

After some time, the two of them had collected a considerable number of items.

Among them were many spirit crystals of both medium and lower grades, which they divided between themselves without much discussion.

The two treasures on Wang Xiaoming’s body were both of first-grade quality: a brass hammer and a turtle bone shield. Evil cultivators relied heavily on their blood-forged bodies, which were extremely resilient, so they cared little for defensive treasures. As for Wang Xiaoming, his protective blood mist was far more formidable than an ordinary first-grade artifact, so he had never bothered to use them.

Mu Xin, however, also carried two treasures—a Greenwater Sword of superior first-grade quality, which Li Mie took a great liking to after a glance, and Li Mu tossed it straight to him.

The second was a crimson belt at his waist, a signature artifact of the Mingyu Valley. Every legitimate disciple possessed one. Li Mu had no use for it, so he stored it away in his spirit tower.

Some evil cultivators’ jade slips containing secret arts were summarily destroyed by the two. However, they kept a few slips, which recorded the methods for arranging several forbidden formations.

To Li Mie, these were like divine artifacts—he began studying them with great seriousness. After a few glances, he became so engrossed he didn’t want to move, his eyes flickering with light, as though lost in a trance. He had always been fond of forbidden formations, but few in the Jade Iron Sect were skilled in them. Now, having obtained these slips, his heart brimmed with joy; he wished for nothing more than to study them at once.

Li Mu did not disturb him, knowing that he too would sometimes fall into such states of fascination, which greatly benefited his cultivation.

Several hours passed before Li Mie finally stood up, reluctant to leave the study behind.

"Brother Li, my apologies, I lost track of time." As he noticed the sky had darkened, he bowed his head slightly in embarrassment.

"It's nothing. Did you discover anything?" Li Mu asked with a smile, having been practicing his spells nearby the whole time.

Li Mie nodded, then shook his head. "I have some leads, but it will take more time."

"No matter—go on. Oh, it’s best to study these in the valley," Li Mu suggested.

"Oh."

Before leaving the bandit stronghold, the two did not forget to burn the lair to the ground, putting an end to the bandits’ misdeeds at least.

Arriving at the valley entrance, Li Mie continued his intense study of the jade slips, while Li Mu took out several medium-grade spirit crystals to set up a simple spirit-gathering formation and sat at its center to cultivate.

Without a spiritual vein, such a formation’s effect was moderate at best, gathering power from the crystals and the ambient spiritual energy. Still, outside in the wild, unless one possessed top-grade crystals, there was no better way to cultivate.

Thus they sat for more than two days.

Suddenly, Li Mie leapt to his feet, his face pale and eyes bloodshot—yet his expression was one of excitement.

"I understand! I know how to do it!"

Li Mu opened his eyes, a gentle smile on his lips. "So soon? Very impressive."

Li Mie laughed aloud and hurried toward the valley’s depths.

Li Mu remained seated, his spiritual sense alert to his surroundings.

After a short while, Li Mie returned in high spirits. "Brother Li, I’ve found the core of the forbidden formation. But there’s a protective barrier in front of it—I can’t break through. Only someone at the Foundation Establishment stage could manage it."

"Let’s go," Li Mu said.

Li Mie led the way, guiding Li Mu deeper into the valley.

Mist swirled about them, obscuring their path. No matter which way they turned, they soon encountered the barrier.

At that moment, they could only marvel at the wonder of the formation—so intricate that even spiritual sense was ineffective. Yet Li Mie, following the clues, could discern the true path and pressed on step by step.

"Brother Li, it’s here."

After winding through the fog, they stopped before a peculiar stone.

"This stone is an illusion. Break it, and we’ll see the core of the forbidden formation behind it," Li Mie explained.

"Step back," Li Mu instructed.

He unleashed the Mark of Constancy, striking the stone three times in succession. With a thunderous crash, the stone quickly disintegrated.

Li Mie cheered and ran over. "Excellent!"

Looking closer, they saw a pale golden spike behind where the stone had been, its tip pointing upward, firmly planted in the earth.

"So, they really did use an artifact as the formation’s core—no wonder the defense was so formidable," Li Mie observed with understanding.

Li Mu smiled. "You’re getting stronger. To break such a formation with only the cultivation of Qi Condensation—your potential is limitless."

Li Mie blushed and lowered his head, embarrassed.

"Take this golden spike. It might prove useful for arranging forbidden formations in the future," Li Mu said with a smile, turning away.

But as he turned, Li Mu’s expression grew grave, as though water might drip from his face.

Before them, the valley floor was a mountain of corpses.

Thousands of bodies were piled within the valley, bones scattered everywhere. There was no trace of life—just a single glance was enough to chill the blood.

Among the dead were dozens of fresh corpses, clearly recently slain—not yet harvested for their cultivation value.

"This is unforgivable."

Li Mu’s fury was beyond words. For such inhuman evil cultivators, his hatred was profound.

"Ah!" Li Mie had just returned as well. Though he had seen much slaughter, the sight before them made his heart race with horror, his entire body trembling.

Li Mu reached out to steady him, casting a gentle wind spell. Soothing spiritual power calmed Li Mie little by little.

"Brother Li, what now?" Li Mie’s voice trembled as he spoke.

Li Mu sighed softly. "Burn them."

As he spoke, he conjured a ball of fire, pouring more than half his true power into it. The orb floated above his palm, bright as a miniature sun.

With a thunderous boom, the fireball struck the corpses. Flames erupted, spreading fiercely and inexorably.

The two watched the growing blaze in silence, their faces impassive.

Such a scene weighed heavily on both. They understood more keenly than ever the cruelty of this world. Cultivators were not merciful; to them, ordinary people were as dogs. But evil cultivators—those must be exterminated.

Li Mie wandered aimlessly near the fire, lost in thought. Suddenly, he stopped before a section of the valley wall.

"Hey, this spot seems a bit different. Brother Li, come take a look."

At his words, Li Mu came over and immediately sensed the difference—his spiritual sense detected lingering traces of energy on the stone wall.

"This is no natural cliff; it’s a deceptive formation. Not as strong as the one outside, but still a formation. Luckily, it’s a small one—I can break it," Li Mie said confidently.

Li Mu nodded, watching as Li Mie went to work.

In moments, the stone wall crumbled away like sand, revealing the true cliff behind.

On the pitch-black stone grew a tender green vine, about three meters long, bearing seven gourds of moderate size.

Each was just over two inches, pale green with distinct yellow patterns—very strange indeed.

"Green-and-yellow gourds?"

At the sight, Li Mu couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

He’d never imagined he would find such a rare treasure in this valley amid the Black Mountains.

This time, they had truly struck it rich.