The entry for cultivating immortality states that after dying a hundred times, I attained immortalit

The flying boat landed three miles away from Black Wind Valley.

The three groups arrived almost simultaneously.

The Jiang family's flying boat was moored on the east side, and the six people stood in a line.

To the west was the Li family's group, several men dressed in black, their swords at their waists all adorned with goose feather designs.

The Chen family members to the north were dressed in indigo robes with cloud and thunder patterns embroidered on the cuffs.

On the open ground at the valley entrance, the three sides are in a triangular confrontation.

Jiang Bai's gaze swept across the opposite side.

At the head of the Li family's procession stood a tall woman, her face veiled in black, revealing only her eyes.

It was Li Yueyao.

The one who wanted to take the bronze ring and commanded the sword formation outside the cave to surround and kill him.

Six people stood behind her, three of whom were middle-aged cultivators with composed auras, clearly not members of the Li family.

The leader of the Chen family was a burly young man carrying a broad-bladed heavy sword on his back.

He is Chen Lei.

He was staring at Jiang Bai with the look of someone sizing up prey.

"Everyone's here."

A sound came from the direction of the valley entrance.

Everyone turned to look and saw a figure slowly walking out of the poisonous miasma.

The newcomer was an old man dressed in a gray robe, with white hair and beard, and a withered face. However, with each step he took, a visible ripple of spiritual energy would spread across the ground.

This man was Li Zhen, the patriarch of the Li family.

The pressure from the Golden Core stage cultivator wasn't deliberately released, yet it caused all the Qi Refining cultivators present to pause slightly.

"The rules were explained yesterday: there are three array flags hidden in Black Wind Valley, placed at three array points at the bottom of the valley. Within twelve hours, whoever captures an array flag and brings it out of the valley will receive 50% of the mineral vein; the second place will receive 30%, and the last place will receive 20%."

He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping over the young men of the three clans.

"I'll add one more rule today."

"During the capture-the-flag battle, for each enemy cultivator killed," Li Zhen said, enunciating each word clearly, "the killer can secure an additional half-percent share of the enemy family's mine for their clan—this share will be deducted from the share of the killed clan."

After he finished speaking, the valley entrance fell into a deathly silence.

Jiang Bai's heart sank suddenly.

This is no longer a friendly competition, but a massacre with a price tag.

Kill one person, seize half a percent of the mineral resources.

For small families with limited resources, this temptation is enough to drive them crazy.

Jiang Yunshan's face turned ashen: "Fellow Daoist Li, this is going too far."

"Does Clan Chief Jiang have any objections?" Li Zhen didn't even lift his eyelids. "If you're unwilling, you can withdraw now. The share of the mine will be split equally between the Li family and the Chen family."

Jiang Yunshan gritted his teeth and ultimately didn't speak again.

Li Zhen waved his sleeve, and three jade slips shot towards the three team leaders respectively: "The map of the valley and the approximate locations of the array flags have been marked. The secret realm will open at 3:45 noon."

Jiang Bai took the jade slip and infused it with spiritual power.

Rough lines appeared in my mind, outlining the general shape of Black Wind Valley: the canyon was funnel-shaped, wider at the outside and narrower at the inside, with three main passages eventually converging at the bottom; the positions of the three array flags were marked at the ends of the three forks in the road.

The map has a line of small print: "The poisonous miasma in the valley is divided into three layers, becoming more intense the deeper you go. Within the miasma may be 'miasma ghosts' formed from the resentment of ancient battlefields. They are formless and intangible, and they devour the soul."

Time was up quickly.

The poisonous miasma at the valley entrance surged and, as if it came to life, parted to the sides, revealing a passage.

The scenery deep inside the passage was blurry, with only indistinct, jagged stone shadows visible.

"Enter."

Li Zhen gave the order.

The Li family rushed into the passage first, their figures quickly swallowed up by the poisonous miasma.

The Chen family followed closely behind.

"Proceed according to plan." Jiang Bai turned to his teammates. "Fellow Daoist Lu, you, Jiang Shan, and Jiang Wu are in one group, going to the left; Yu Rou and Jiang Lin are in my group, going to the right. The middle route has the most complex terrain, we'll explore it last."

Lu Qi nodded, picked up his sword, and walked into the left passage.

Jiang Shan and Jiang Wu exchanged a glance and followed closely behind.

Jiang Bai looked at Jiang Yurou and Jiang Lin: "Stay close to me."

The three stepped into the passage.

Poisonous miasma rushed towards us.

Even after taking antidote pills in advance, I could still feel a tingling, itchy sensation on my skin.

The grayish-black fog was thick and viscous, reducing visibility to less than ten feet.

A strange wind whistled in my ears, like countless people whispering.

Beneath the black veil on his wrist, the poisonous markings glowed slightly.

As he moved forward, Jiang Bai noticed the differences in the poisonous miasma.

The outer layer of miasma primarily paralyzes limbs, the middle layer begins to become corrosive, and the deeper inner layer... He focused his senses and vaguely detected fluctuations that could disturb his mind.

"The poisonous markings can clearly distinguish the three layers of miasma," Jiang Bai thought to himself, "This advantage is even greater than expected."

After traveling about a mile, the passage began to fork.

"This is it." Jiang Bai stopped and took out three communication talismans from his storage bag. "Proceed separately as planned. Signal immediately if you encounter danger. If the signal is jammed, regroup at 'Rock Slope' marked on the map."

Jiang Yurou took the communication talisman and whispered, "Be careful in everything."

Jiang Lin nodded and patted the talisman box at his waist.

The three of them split up and entered different forks in the road.

Jiang Bai walked on alone.

He had donned the cloak of invisibility, his figure appearing and disappearing amidst the poisonous miasma.

The poisonous markings on his right wrist continued to burn, like a compass guiding him, allowing him to avoid the areas with the densest miasma.

[Killing Intent Perception] is always active.

About half an incense stick's time later, a warning suddenly sounded, and three blurry, malevolent beams locked onto him.

Jiang Bai paused, then retreated behind a giant rock.

He saw three black-clad monks lurking on the cliff face.

Two men, each wielding a knife, and one holding a bow, lay in ambush in a triangular formation, clearly waiting for their prey to enter their encirclement.

"People from the Li family."

Jiang Bai's gaze swept over the goose-feather sabers at their waists.

With a slight thought, he activated the effect of the Shadow Cloak, making himself almost one with the shadow of the rock wall.

He approached slowly from the side, hugging the stone wall.

The archer seemed to sense something and turned to look in Jiang Bai's direction with a puzzled expression.

At that very moment, Jiang Baidong was moved.

Beneath the black veil on her right wrist, the first poisonous mark suddenly lit up.

Three bone-corroding poison needles shot out silently, tracing gray-black paths under the cover of poisonous miasma.

The archer felt a pain in his throat and instinctively tried to scream, but no sound came out.

He looked down and saw three small holes in his neck. The skin around the holes was rapidly turning grayish-white, crumbling like weathered rock.

He clutched his neck and collapsed to the ground.

"Enemy attack!"

The other two reacted and sprang into action simultaneously.

The man wielding the knife slashed in the direction from which the poisoned needles were shot, while the other man swiftly produced a jade pendant for calming the mind.

A soft light spread out, forcing the surrounding poisonous miasma back three feet.

Jiang Bai's bone-corroding poison needles entered the area of ​​the light barrier, their speed decreased sharply, and they were cleaved apart by the knife-wielder.

"He's out!" The knife-wielding man stared at Jiang Baiyin's reappearing figure and sneered, "The lone wolf of the Jiang family, Miss Li said your head is worth an entire mine!"

The two men pounced on him from the left and right.

Instead of retreating, Jiang Bai advanced, charging towards the swordsman on his left.

As the blade flashed, he dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow, letting the edge slice across his left arm.

"clang!"

The sound of metal clashing rang out.

The swordsman was stunned.

His low-grade magic weapon, the longsword, only left a white mark on the opponent's arm.

Jiang Bai reached out with his left hand and grabbed the swordsman's wrist.

The physical strength of the second level of body tempering erupted, and the five fingers closed.

"Snap!"

The sound of wrist bones shattering was clearly heard.

Before the swordsman could even utter a scream, Jiang Bai had already pressed his right hand against the back of his neck and twisted it forcefully.

A dull thud was heard as the cervical vertebra broke.

The body collapsed to the ground.

The last cultivator turned pale and fled.

He frantically channeled his spiritual power, pushing his speed to the limit, and raced towards the depths of the poisonous miasma.

The second poisonous line on Jiang Bai's right wrist swirled.

【Swift Shadow Step】Activated.

Within five breaths, his speed increased by thirty percent. Jiang Bai's figure left a trail of afterimages in the poisonous miasma, and he caught up with the man in three breaths.

The cultivator turned around and saw the approaching figure. He was so frightened that he tripped and fell to the ground.

Jiang Bai's foot stepped on his chest.

"Spare me! Spare my life!" the cultivator's voice trembled.

"How did the Li family and the people from Black Fiend Valley get mixed up?" Jiang Bai asked.

"Six...six hunting squads, three people per squad, two from the Li family and one from Black Fiend Valley, specializing in killing lone Jiang family cultivators..."

Where is Li Yueyao?

"She personally led a team to hunt down that guy who uses talismans..."

Jiang Bai's eyes sharpened: "Jiang Lin?"

"Yes, it's him! We have locators; we can track your people—"

Before he finished speaking, Jiang Bai exerted force with his feet.

A muffled thud came from the sternum.

The monk's eyes widened, blood and foam gushed from his mouth, and he convulsed a few times before becoming still.

Jiang Bai quickly searched the three corpses and took out a jade talisman from the last cultivator's storage bag.

The talisman was engraved with intricate patterns and was emitting a faint spiritual light, the halo pointing southeast.

This was the fork in the road where Jiang Lin had left.

"As expected, they have tracking methods."

Jiang Bai immediately took out a communication talisman, "Attention everyone, the enemy has a locator talisman that can track us. Check your storage bags immediately, and destroy any unusual talismans you find! Jiang Lin is probably in danger, I'll go rescue him first."

The message talisman transformed into a streak of light and disappeared into the pervasive poisonous miasma.

A moment later, two replies arrived in succession.

Jiang Shan: "The locator has been destroyed, and we are heading to the rocky slope."

Jiang Yurou: "No locator found, redirected to rendezvous point."

Jiang Lin was the only one who did not respond.

Jiang Bai put away the communication talisman, his gaze fixed on the jade talisman in his hand. The aura on the talisman remained stable, meaning Jiang Lin's location hadn't changed much; either he had found a safe place to hide, or…

He dared not think any further.

The poisonous markings on my right wrist continued to burn, guiding me to a path where the miasma was relatively thin.

Jiang Bai pushed his speed to the limit and sped off in the southeast direction.

The poisonous miasma grew increasingly intense, its color gradually changing from grayish-black to dark purple. Jagged, strange rocks began to appear around them, with scattered white bones occasionally visible between the crevices—it was unclear whether they were the remains of demonic beasts or the withered bones of people from the past.

The sounds of fighting could be faintly heard ahead.

Jiang Bai held his breath, wrapped his Shadow Cloak tightly around himself, and silently crept up a high slope.

Below the slope is a relatively open rocky area.

Five figures were attacking one person.

Surrounded in the center was Jiang Lin. His talisman box was empty, and he clutched the last two Explosive Flame Talismans tightly in his hand. His Taoist robe was torn in many places, and a deep, bone-revealing knife wound on his left shoulder was a shocking sight.

Of the five people who attacked him, two were dressed in black and held knives, while the other three were dressed in disheveled clothes but exuded a ruthless aura—they were rogue cultivators from Black Fiend Valley.

The leader was a one-eyed middle-aged man with the sixth level of Qi Refining cultivation, carrying a dark chain in his hand.

The other end of the chain was wrapped around Jiang Lin's ankle, restricting his movement.

"Kid, you've run out of talismans, haven't you?" the one-eyed man sneered. "Hand over your storage bag, and I'll give you a quick death."

Jiang Lin clenched his teeth and channeled the last bit of spiritual power into the Explosive Flame Talisman.

The talisman suddenly burst into flames.

"Stubborn fool!" The one-eyed man suddenly jerked the chain, causing Jiang Lin to lose his balance. The Exploding Flame Talisman missed its mark and exploded into a burst of fire on the rock wall.

The other four seized the opportunity to pounce.

Jiang Bai squinted his eyes from the high slope.

Beneath the black veil on her right wrist, three poisonous patterns lit up simultaneously.

He needs a decisive blow to break this deadlock.