Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Seeing this, Chen Yuan shook his head and said, "Fellow Daoist, please don't joke. 'Tongtian Pavilion' is your opportunity. How can I snatch it away? It is better for us to search together and divide the treasures equally."

The yellow-haired old man sighed, "Treasures belong only to capable people. I am incompetent and dare not covet the treasure..."

"Fellow Daoist, you saw me subdue Jin Luo with your own eyes, and yet you still want to leave? Don't you think it's a little late?" Chen Yuan looked at him with a smile.

The yellow-haired old man's expression froze: "This... Daoyou saved my life, Zong, I will never disclose this matter."

"Besides, my strength is low, and I dare not overestimate my own capabilities and offend fellow Taoists. I will follow in the footsteps of Zhangchao and Kuntong. Fellow Taoists, please rest assured."

Chen Yuan smiled slightly: "Fellow Daoist Zong also knows the principle of keeping a low profile, so why did you agree to Elder Gu's request and lead me into a trap?"

The yellow-haired old man's pupils shrank, and he forced a smile: "What do you mean by this, fellow Taoist? Zong... Zong doesn't understand."

Chen Yuan said calmly: "Do you still want to play dumb? In front of Tongtian Palace, you conspired with Elder Gu to lure me into a trap."

"After the matter is accomplished, he will give you a Haoran Pill that is unique to the Haoran Sect. I wish you can break through the bottleneck in the middle stage. Is that right or not?"

The yellow-haired old man's expression suddenly changed, and he said in a lost voice: "You actually knew about this?"

As a Nascent Soul cultivator, he is naturally extremely cunning.

However, this secret concerning life and death was easily revealed by Chen Yuan, making it impossible for him to remain calm.

Chen Yuan said coldly: "If you don't want others to know, then you better not do it. Since Brother Zong has promised Elder Gu that you will lure me into a trap, how can you give up halfway? Let's get going now."

As soon as the word "get on the road" came out, the yellow-haired old man trembled all over, picked up the broken jade bricks, and retreated a hundred feet away from the boulder.

Chen Yuan didn't move at all, just looked at the yellow-haired old man coldly, and said with a smile: "Daoyou think you can escape from my hands?"

The yellow-haired old man recalled the scene where Chen Yuan used the teleportation technique to kill Zhang Chao with the force of thunder. He felt a chill in his heart and slowly flew back to the boulder.

He clasped his fists and bowed to Chen Yuan, gritting his teeth and saying, "Please forgive me, my greed has driven me to the point of bewitching me, and I dared to become your enemy. I am really blind..."

He flipped his hand and took out the jade brick and the fragment of the scroll: "I hope that you will show some mercy to me because I have not done anything to harm you. I will now present these jade bricks and the fragment of the scroll to you with both hands."

"If you are still dissatisfied, I still have 26 top-grade spirit stones in my hand. I will give them all to you. I only ask you to let me go."

The yellow-haired old man took out more than twenty top-grade spirit stones. In the dim black mist, they were filled with spiritual energy and shining with light, which was very eye-catching.

Chen Yuan glanced at the spirit stones, jade bricks and broken bamboo slips, and smiled: "Daoyou is sensible, but you want to buy your life with only twenty top-grade spirit stones and two baits. Your life is too worthless, isn't it?"

The yellow-haired old man was stunned and quickly explained: "Daoyou, you have misunderstood. The Tongtian Tower is not something I made up, but it is a real thing."

"If you don't believe me, you can check the jade brick yourself. I don't have the means to forge such a treasure."

As he spoke, he presented the fragment of jade brick. Chen Yuan raised his hand and took the two treasures into his hands. He spread his spiritual sense and carefully examined the jade brick.

The jade brick is engraved with brilliant lightning patterns, which is majestic, but it is also infected by demonic energy and exudes a bit of weirdness.

When Chen Yuan touched the jade brick with his right hand, he felt a cool sensation, as if it could penetrate into his bones, making him shudder.

If it were a low-level cultivator, evil energy would have entered his body at this moment, killing him instantly, but he just circulated his true energy slightly, and the feeling of discomfort was swept away.

Chen Yuan's expression relaxed a little. The jade brick had an ancient and weathered feel, very much like something left over from ancient times. It should not have been forged by the yellow-haired old man.

The yellow-haired old man secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the change in Chen Yuan's expression. If Chen Yuan didn't believe what he said, he would be dead.

Chen Yuan took the twenty-six pieces of top-grade spirit stones into his hands, along with the jade brick fragments, and put them away. He said calmly, "Even if the jade brick fragments are real, the 'Tongtian Pavilion' is illusory. I don't know if this pavilion exists, and whether there are any treasures left behind. It's still not enough."

The yellow-haired old man was not surprised but happy when he saw Chen Yuan asking for such a high price. As long as Chen Yuan was willing to make the offer, it meant that he had no intention of killing him, otherwise he would have done it long ago.

He said quickly: "I still have three thousand-year-old spiritual herbs in my hand, as well as a top-grade spiritual material, Deep Sea Yin Iron, which I have treasured for a long time. I am willing to give them to you..."

As he spoke, he took out four wooden boxes from the mustard seed ring and handed them to Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan took the wooden box in his hand, opened it and saw three thousand-year-old spiritual herbs and a piece of dark blue fine iron inside.

He nodded slightly, put away the four wooden boxes, and said calmly, "It's still not enough."

The yellow-haired old man's expression became even more bitter. He was very regretful now. If he had known that Chen Yuan was so powerful, he would never have agreed to Elder Gu's deal.

But the Haoran Pill is too precious. It is refined with the Haoran righteousness as the guide, and can increase the chance of breaking through the mid-term bottleneck by 30%, and can even increase the chance of breaking through the late-term bottleneck by a few points. It is a precious pill unique to the Haoran Sect and is famous throughout the Jiuxian Continent. No Nascent Soul cultivator would not be tempted.

He suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "I have something in my hand that may contain a great opportunity. I am willing to give it to you, fellow Taoist!"

Chen Yuan smiled and said, "You are so lucky, you know two great opportunities. I don't know how many Nascent Soul cultivators can't come across one in their lifetime. Could it be another 'Tongtian Pavilion'?"

The yellow-haired old man smiled bitterly: "I have worked hard for half my life, and I only know these two opportunities, but they are not lucky either."

"If it weren't for this opportunity, I wouldn't have left Jiuxianzhou and joined the Righteous Alliance. I wouldn't have dared to set foot in Lizhou until now."

Chen Yuan's eyes flashed: "What kind of opportunity makes a Yuanying cultivator like you so cautious?"

The yellow-haired old man had a complicated expression: "This opportunity is related to the Jiuli Sect. Only the ten major sects can make Zong Mou so anxious all day long."

"Jiuli Sect?" Chen Yuan's heart moved, and he couldn't help but think of Tian You who was still dying in the Soul-Hiding Bowl.

The yellow-haired old man nodded and took out a wooden box from the mustard seed ring: "Yes, this is exactly what I got from an elder of the Jiuli Sect."

As he spoke, he raised his hand, made a gesture, muttered something, and pointed at the wooden box.

Chen Yuan looked intently and saw the wooden box glowing with spiritual light. It was actually made of a thousand-year-old spiritual wood. There was a talisman pasted on it with the word "seal" written in ancient seal script. The aura was mysterious and profound. All the sealing talismans Chen Yuan had seen were far inferior to it.

The yellow-haired old man pointed his finger, and the soul-sealing talisman flashed with light. He slowly opened the wooden box, revealing a jade plate inside.

The yellow-haired old man looked solemn, and stretched out his left hand holding the wooden box: "Fellow Daoist, please take a look."

Chen Yuan looked intently and saw that the yellow-haired old man took out a jade plate. One side had the Vermillion Bird, Black Tortoise, White Tiger and Azure Dragon engraved on it, all of them were lifelike, and the other side had the word "Ling" engraved on it. It had an extremely ancient aura and a sense of vicissitudes, and was very similar to the broken bamboo slip.

Chen Yuan raised his hand and took the jade token into his hand. He probed his spiritual sense into it and examined it carefully, but found nothing and there was nothing unusual. It looked normal.

He frowned: "This jade token doesn't seem to be anything special..."

The yellow-haired old man shook his head and said, "Fellow Daoist, you don't know that every few years, this jade token will suddenly become warm and hot, and even fly out of the mustard seed ring on its own."

“Fortunately, I did not return to the cave residence at that time, but stayed in the market of a large sect. The formation I set up was of a high grade, so I was able to stop it.”

"I'm worried that the Jiuli Sect is here to pursue us, so leave immediately."

"Later, I heard that, indeed, the day after I left, several cultivators came and surrounded the cave I rented. The leader seemed to be a Nascent Soul cultivator."

"I was so frightened that I didn't dare to stay in Lizhou for long. I fled to Jingzhou and bought this soul-sealing talisman in the Wanling Market and sealed it."

"After that, every few years, this jade token would behave strangely, but it could not break the seal."

"But I was still uneasy in my heart, so I came to Yuqing Sea and settled down. In the past three hundred years, I have never dared to return to Lizhou."

"This thing is so mysterious, and the Jiuli Sect attaches so much importance to it. It must be hiding a great secret, no less than the 'Tongtian Tower'."

Chen Yuan stared at the jade token, pondered for a moment, and said, "How did you get this jade token, can you tell me in more detail?"

The yellow-haired old man's eyes showed some reminiscence: "This matter has to start from three hundred years ago... At that time, I was only in the middle stage of Jindan cultivation, my skills were ordinary, and I only had a level six armored rhino with mediocre bloodline and mediocre strength."

"I went through untold hardships and exhausted all my cultivation resources before I was lucky enough to cultivate to the peak of the middle stage of Jindan, but I have been stuck at the bottleneck of the late stage and there is no hope of breaking through."

"In order to improve my strength and obtain more training resources, I can only venture into Nanzhou to find new spirit beasts..."

He paused for a moment, and then continued, "But Nanzhou is vast, and my strength is low. I dare not go too deep, and I can't find any good spirit beasts at all."

"I finally encountered a level 7 mountain rat, but I was no match for it. I had no choice but to flee."

"I have been wandering in the dense forests of Nanzhou for two years. I only found two three-hundred-year-old spiritual herbs and nothing else. I am exhausted both physically and mentally. I am discouraged and want to leave Nanzhou."

“But at this moment, I encountered a seriously injured Jindan cultivator who flew past the cave I had temporarily opened up and did not find any trace of me.”

"I thought this man was a casual cultivator who came to Nanzhou to look for spiritual beasts. He was injured by a powerful demon beast, so he became greedy and chased after him. Without saying a word, I started fighting with him."

"But who would have thought that this person would reveal his cultivation level and turn out to be a cultivator in the late Jindan stage, and he also claimed to be an elder of the Jiuli Sect. I was frightened and wanted to retreat quickly."

"But after fighting for a while, I found that this person only summoned a level 6 fire phoenix, which was also seriously injured. There were no other spirit beasts. It seemed that he was just a strong appearance but weak inside. So I made up my mind and wanted to kill him."

At this point, the yellow-haired old man showed a lingering fear on his face; "But the reputation of the ten great sect elders is indeed well-deserved. Although this man was seriously injured, he only had a severely injured level six fire phoenix in his hands, but his strength is very strong."

"I used every possible means and almost exhausted all my energy before I finally killed him. Huo Luan was connected to his mind and died with him."

"After I killed the Jiuli sect elder, I didn't dare stay for long. I immediately destroyed the body and took his mustard seed ring and spirit beast bag. I ran back to Nanzhou in one breath and found a market town to stay."

"From this person's mustard seed ring, I obtained a large amount of cultivation resources, enough to support my cultivation to the false infant realm, and I even have two infant spirit objects."

"It is thanks to this opportunity that I have achieved my current Nascent Soul cultivation level."

"The blue dragon in my hand was also found in this person's spirit beast bag."

"But it was just a dragon egg at the time. After it hatched, I discovered that the dragon's bloodline was very strong. I spent a lot of treasures to cultivate it to its current level..."

The yellow-haired old man frowned when he said this: "But this blue dragon is born with defects. Like the fierce beasts, it has no intelligence. Even if it survives the transformation thunder tribulation, it cannot successfully transform."

"In addition to this, the most precious treasure I got from the elder of Jiuli Sect is this jade token..." Chen Yuan raised his hand, gently held the jade token in his hand, rubbed it slowly, felt the delicate touch of the jade token, injected a wisp of true energy, but still gained nothing.

He frowned, gave up trying, and put it into the space inside his body.

The yellow-haired old man immediately warned: "This thing will behave strangely every once in a while and fly out on its own. It cannot be stopped even if it is placed in a mustard seed ring. Fellow Daoist, please be careful."

Chen Yuan said calmly: "Thank you for your reminder, I know my limits."

The space inside his body relies on Kunpeng's true blood. No matter how strange this jade token is, it can never break through the barrier of Kunpeng's power.

Seeing that Chen Yuan didn't care at all, the yellow-haired old man still had doubts in his heart, but he didn't dare to persuade him anymore. However, he secretly shook his head in his heart, thinking that Chen Yuan was a little stubborn and self-righteous.

Chen Yuan didn't know what he was thinking, so he asked, "Fellow Daoist Zong, you have revealed all your secrets. Aren't you afraid that I will kill you to silence you?"

The yellow-haired old man laughed bitterly: "Daoyou are extremely skilled. Zhang Chao's poison skills are so amazing that he died in Daoyou's hands in just a few rounds."

"As the saying goes, the Taoists are the butchers and I am the meat. I am no match for you Taoists. What's the point of being afraid?"

"Zong's greed got the better of him. He was bewitched by Elder Gu and offended fellow Taoist. His life and death are in his hands. It is useless to play tricks on him. Instead, he will seek his own death."

"For now, I'd better accept the defeat. I hope you will spare my life because I have nothing to hide. I will be very grateful."

Chen Yuan stared at him and suddenly smiled: "Daoyou is so frank. I originally wanted to kill you to silence you, but now it is a bit difficult to do so..."

Hearing this, the yellow-haired old man felt relieved and his hands, which were tightly clenched in his sleeves, slowly loosened.

Chen Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "As long as you can help me again, I will forgive you for helping Elder Gu set up an ambush."

The yellow-haired old man perked up and said quickly, "What do you want me to do, fellow Taoist?"

"Then where did Elder Gu ask you to lead me?"

Upon hearing this, the yellow-haired old man's eyes flashed with doubt, but he immediately replied: "He asked me to lead you to an altar deep in the Demonic Plain, the one thousands of miles ahead, on the edge of the rift valley."

Chen Yuan's eyes flashed: "Why choose there?"

The yellow-haired old man hesitated for a moment and said, "I was bewitched by Elder Gu and wanted to lure you into a trap. But I was worried that if I made up an excuse, you would see through it, so I wanted to use the Tongtian Pavilion as bait."

"Although I didn't know where the jade brick would eventually lead to before entering the Demon Plain, I thought that the 'Tongtian Tower' would definitely not be at the edge of the Demon Plain, but most likely in the depths of the Demon Plain, so I chose that altar."

"The demonic energy there is dense. It is said that many Nascent Soul cultivators have perished there. In the past, cultivators who entered the Demonic Plain rarely went there..."

Chen Yuan nodded slightly: "Daoyou, you are very considerate."

The distribution of the thirty-six altars in the Demonic Plain has long been known to everyone.

The altar that the yellow-haired old man mentioned is not in the deepest part of the Demonic Plain, but it is not far away. The demonic energy is thick, monsters are rampant, and it is rarely visited by people.

The yellow-haired old man smiled awkwardly: "Zong Mou shouldn't have been greedy, but after all, I didn't really do anything bad to you..."

Chen Yuan smiled and said nothing.

In front of the Tongtian Palace, he used his spiritual awareness, which was comparable to that of a great monk, to hear the conspiracy between Elder Gu and the yellow-haired old man.

He remembered clearly the greedy look on the yellow-haired old man's face when he asked Elder Gu for the treasure.

However, the two of them did not clearly state where to set the trap, so Chen Yuan asked this question. They should have discussed it after entering the Tongtian Palace.

The Tongtian Palace can block the detection of spiritual consciousness, and he entered the palace last, so he could not detect it.

But now that the yellow-haired old man was so frank, Chen Yuan stopped making sarcastic remarks and asked again, "Why didn't Elder Gu just meet up with fellow Taoists and set up an ambush directly, but chose to go far away and meet at the altar?"

The yellow-haired old man said, "Not everyone is as skilled as you. It is not difficult to plant a mark in the body of a Nascent Soul cultivator, but it is not easy to avoid the restrictions of the Demonic Origin."

"Elder Gu doesn't have such means. We can only agree to meet at one place."

Chen Yuan nodded: "In that case, please go as agreed and don't keep him waiting for too long."

The yellow-haired old man was stunned: "Daoyou, what are you doing..."

Chen Yuan said calmly, "Only if you personally help me deal with Elder Gu, I can believe that you will not leak the matter of the golden vein, and the conspiracy between you and Elder Gu to set up an ambush will also be written off."

The yellow-haired old man's face changed. He didn't want to offend Chen Yuan, but he also didn't want to offend Elder Gu. Now he just wanted to avoid the fight between the two and protect himself.

But facing Chen Yuan's calm gaze, he knew he had no choice but to agree: "Zong is willing to lend a helping hand."

Chen Yuan smiled slightly: "Daoyou's move is very wise. I know that Daoyou does not want to offend Elder Gu and Patriarch Yuntian."

"But you have already told him everything you planned. Even if you get away now, you have already offended him."

"We might as well go all out and leave them all in the Demonic Plain to eliminate future troubles."

The yellow-haired old man forced a smile: "Daoyou, what you said is very true..."

He agreed on the surface, but secretly sighed in his heart.

Of course he knew this truth, but how could he and Chen Yuan deal with two Nascent Soul cultivators, Ancestor Yuntian and Elder Gu, and another in the early Nascent Soul stage?

Rather than seeking his own death, he would rather offend Elder Gu and Patriarch Yuntian.

Anyway, he has the Righteous Alliance behind him. He just broke the agreement with Elder Gu and did not take his pills. If he went to apologize afterwards, showed enough gesture, was sincere, and compensated more generously, it would be over.

But now, he wanted to take action against Elder Gu, which greatly offended him.

But the situation was pressing and he dared not disobey.

Moreover, Qing Liu, who was on good terms with Chen Yuan, was also an elder of Haoran Sect. It was not necessarily unbearable to offend Elder Gu and Yang Liqian...

The yellow-haired old man was in a state of confusion, and was awakened by Chen Yuan's voice: "It is indeed a bit difficult for me and my Taoist friend to deal with Elder Gu and his three companions with just our strength."

"Before going to the appointment, go find Daoist Fellow Qingliu first, and then it won't be too late to fight him."

The yellow-haired old man felt relieved: "It should be so, but the Demonic Plain is vast, how can we find Daoist Fellow Qingliu? Could it be that Daoist Fellow has also left the Fire Lotus Mark in his body?"

Chen Yuan nodded: "Not only that, I have also informed Daoist Fellow Qingliu about the conspiracy between Daoist Fellow and Elder Gu."

"If it weren't for Zhang Chao's attack on Jin Luo today, I would have subdued you tomorrow at the latest and forced you to tell me where Elder Gu had set up the ambush, and then I would have gone to meet you at the appointment with Qing Liu."

Before entering Jueling Island, he left the mark of fire lotus in Qingliu Jushi's body.

If it were someone else, they would definitely not allow Chen Yuan to do this.

But given their relationship, and Chen Yuan's help in seizing the Qingfeng Bamboo, Qingliu Jushi naturally agreed readily.

In addition, he also gave three level eight magic cores to Qingliu Jushi, so as to avoid wasting time hunting monsters in the Demonic Plain.

After hearing the conversation between the yellow-haired old man and Elder Gu, Chen Yuan secretly informed Mr. Qingliu.

The yellow-haired old man broke out in a cold sweat, but when he learned that Chen Yuan and Mr. Qingliu dared to deal with Elder Gu and his two companions, he couldn't help but feel more confident.

The two of them didn't waste any more time. They flew up into the sky and soon disappeared into the horizon.

……

Deep in the Demonic Plain, a ray of golden light pierced the sky.

A beam of light came from the horizon and suddenly stopped, revealing the figure of a monk in a green robe. It was none other than the famous Kuixing Patriarch of Yuqing Sea.

He slowly landed on the altar, spread out his spiritual sense, and carefully checked the area within a radius of a hundred miles around him, but did not find anything unusual.

He nodded slightly and flicked his sleeves. A pile of magic cores appeared out of thin air on the altar, densely packed together to form a small hill.

At the top are three fist-sized pitch-black magic cores, emitting strong demonic energy. They all come from level nine magic beasts, and the others are all level seven magic cores.

The next moment, hundreds of magic cores exploded simultaneously, and the pure demonic energy contained in them poured into the altar.

The altar lit up with a black light, which flickered a few times before slowly dissipating.

The teleportation array slowly lit up, and a white beam of light shot up into the sky, enveloping the Kuixing ancestor and the magic core.

The spatial fluctuations spread, and the figure of the old ancestor Kuixing became blurred, and he was about to be teleported away.

At this moment, he suddenly took out a tattered robe and said in a loud voice: "Senior, please look at this!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the white light suddenly stopped, twisted for a moment, and then slowly dissipated.

At some point, a cultivator appeared in front of Patriarch Kuixing.

This person, like the old ancestor Kuixing, was also dressed in a green robe. He was very young, looking only in his twenties, with a handsome appearance, and stood with his hands behind his back.

The old man Kuixing clasped his fists and bowed, saying respectfully: "Junior Kuixing, I pay my respects to the senior!"

The green-robed monk looked at the tattered robe in the hands of Kuixing Patriarch, his eyes were vicissitudes, and contained a bit of nostalgia, and he said lightly: "This robe... where did you get it from?" (End of this chapter)