Cultivation begins with planting techniques

Although Li Ye was smiling, Elder Zheng, who was facing his smile, felt a chill inexplicably in his heart.

He quickly forced a smile, "Of course I brought it, please take a look, Fellow Daoist Li!"

As he spoke, a jade slip appeared in his hand, which he then presented to Li Ye.

Li Ye casually picked up the jade slip and quickly flipped through its contents with his divine sense. After a moment, the smile on his face became more genuine.

Although it is difficult to keep some common collections between different sects completely secret, the information about the Demon Abyss that Elder Zheng brought this time, including the map, does indeed differ from the records of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

The overlap of the two immediately gave Li Ye a deeper understanding of the Demon Abyss.

The information included details about the types and distribution of monsters, areas where opportunities might exist, and the ancient sects to which those areas once belonged.

Following these guidelines, as long as you don't go too far in, you can always find your way back without fear of getting lost.

To his slight disappointment, even the information from the Xuan Yin Cave did not mention anything related to the Ancient Tree of the Void Realm.

It was as if this tree wasn't actually in the Demon Abyss, and Li Ye had guessed the wrong direction.

After reflecting on this, he stopped worrying about it.

The Void Tree forms its own domain, capable of evolving into independent secret realms hidden in the void.

The secret realm evolved from the fifth-order Void Mother Tree has been hidden for countless years before it was accidentally revealed to the world.

This ancient tree is of a higher rank and is extraordinary; its magical powers in the void are naturally even more unfathomable.

Discovering its existence is difficult in itself!

While the lack of relevant information at present indicates that the situation is unknown, it also suggests that the treasure has not yet appeared, thus avoiding a lot of trouble.

The fact that none of the sects in the ancient tree world discovered it doesn't mean he couldn't discover it either.

With all this information he has now, it is enough for him to head to the Demon Abyss!

He looked up and smiled at Elder Zheng:
"Excellent! Fellow Daoist Zheng, you have indeed done your best. Compared with what my Heavenly Sword Sect has recorded, you have immediately filled in many gaps..."

Elder Zheng's expression immediately relaxed a little, and his smile became genuine.

"But do you really think I can't see through your shallow arrangement?"

Li Ye's expression turned cold, and a murderous intent appeared in his eyes.

The moment that sharp gaze met Elder Zheng's, it immediately caused him to feel a stinging pain in his eyes and his soul to waver, as if an invisible flying sword had pierced his mind. He was terrified.

The reason he was so wary of Li Ye was because of the inexplicable tree spirit transformation he had shown earlier. The combat power that was unleashed when that supernatural power was combined with the sword was simply terrifying.

Now that Li Ye has formed his Yuan Dan, his swordsmanship has become even more profound, bringing even greater pressure.

Just a glance between them was enough to shake their souls and nearly damage their spirits.

Even without the seed planted in his dantian, Elder Zheng didn't think it would be difficult for Li Ye to kill him with such sword skills.

With these many advantages, if Li Ye were to decide to kill him, he probably wouldn't even have a chance to escape!

At this moment, Elder Zheng's initial hope was almost completely extinguished. He looked terrified and hurriedly bowed to apologize.
"I hope Fellow Daoist Li can see the truth! I was merely being cautious to avoid any unforeseen complications, which is why I took some precautions. I had absolutely no intention of harming you!"

His behavior was almost obsequious.

Having barely escaped a dead end, and having even made preparations as Li Ye had instructed, it would be far too unworthy to die at his hands.

Li Ye looked at him, his expression unchanged, and asked, "Taking precautions? And what is the purpose of that fellow Daoist hiding to the side?"

Elder Zheng was taken aback.

Hidden to the side?
He clearly only had the borrowed corpse puppet lying in ambush nearby; there was no one else there...

Upon realizing this, Elder Zheng's expression changed drastically.

It was at this moment that corpse puppets emerged from the ground, most of them being second-tier, but the two leading ones were third-tier refined corpses.

Their energies interacted, instantly thickening the surrounding yin energy and unleashing highly toxic corpse poison, thus forming a battle formation.

The third-tier corpse that Elder Zheng borrowed was among them.

But he was completely unaware of all this; the brand implanted in the third-tier corpse puppet had lost all its effect at some point!
"Junior Brother Zheng, I thought you had gotten some kind of stroke of luck, that your own hard work in cultivating wasn't enough, and you even wanted to borrow my corpse-refining technique..."

"I never expected you to secretly betray your sect and grovel before such junior members of the Heavenly Sword Sect!"

"What a show I've certainly had!"

A sinister voice drifted from within the thick fog, carrying a hint of schadenfreude.

"This young man is currently at the height of his power, a potential Nascent Soul cultivator for the Heavenly Sword Sect. If we can eliminate him, it will be a great achievement for our sect. Thank you for luring him out; you've benefited me greatly..."

"When I refine you into a corpse puppet, I will be quick and efficient, and I will suffer less!"

Upon hearing these words, Elder Zheng looked around and saw the dense aura of Yin corpses surging in, his expression turning extremely grim.

"Senior Brother Cao, your elaborate scheme is truly remarkable!"

He borrowed the supernatural powers of his senior brother Cao, who was protected by refining corpses, and his cultivation was above his own. So he didn't notice much of the secret arrangements made by Cao, and only showed up when Li Ye pointed it out.

This setup is clearly intended to take advantage of this opportunity to kill him and Li Ye together here.

They would not only devour his entire fortune but also annihilate the Heavenly Sword Sect's prodigies, thus maximizing their own gains!
Even in this predicament, he still quickly seized the opportunity to explain to Li Ye.
"Fellow Daoist Li, you are wise. I, Zheng, did not set a trap. This was Cao Shan's doing in secret. I myself am now deeply involved and can hardly protect myself. I have no intention of harming you in the slightest!"

Li Ye's expression remained unchanged as he listened, his gaze fixed calmly on the approaching horde of corpses.

"Hahahaha! Junior Brother Zheng, even at this point, you're still bowing and scraping to this junior?!"

Cao Shan, who has yet to appear, sneered.

"If you truly wish to be my old servant, then you'd better kowtow to me three times and let me set up the restrictions. I might let you go then, how about it?"

"And as for the juniors of the Heavenly Sword Sect, if you are willing to become my servant, I might spare your life!"

Despite his words, only two third-tier refined corpses led the horde of corpses, forming a formation to attack Li Ye and his group. Cao Shan never showed his face once from beginning to end.

Even though he was just a junior who had just broken through to the Yuan Dan stage, he did not let his guard down.

Otherwise, if a sword technique were to suddenly appear, it would be difficult to deal with!
"Cao Shan, don't push your luck!"

Elder Zheng almost cursed, but he could only barely cope with the horde of corpses.

His natal magic weapon and natal corpse were completely destroyed in the battle with Li Ye. Now is the time when his combat power is low. It is no exaggeration to say that he is among the weakest Yuan Dan cultivators.

Even the borrowed corpse puppet was merely a backup plan set up by the other party. Despite his great anger, he had little confidence in surviving, let alone retaliating.

If we want to survive this battle, we can only rely on Li Ye!
With his cultivation having broken through to the Yuan Dan stage, if he were to transform into that tree spirit again, even if he couldn't defeat Cao Shan, breaking through shouldn't be too difficult! (End of Chapter)