I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

Chapter 38 A Massive Slaughter! A Frenzied Seizure of Spiritual Herbs!

After separating from Han Li, Zhou Yuan immediately activated his Breath Concealment Technique to the fullest extent, suppressing his aura to the extreme.

He moved like a ghost, darting through the dense forest and among the rocks, fast and silent.

According to the information obtained from the storage bags of the two cultivators from Spirit Beast Mountain, there should be a cave not far ahead, where the Purple Monkey Flower, one of the three main ingredients for refining Foundation Establishment Pills, should grow!

"Purple Monkey Flower—" Zhou Yuan's eyes flashed with eagerness.

If he can gather enough of the three main medicinal herbs, he can not only hand them over to the sect to exchange for Foundation Establishment Pills, but he can also try to refine them himself—with the help of the equipment slot, his success rate in refining pills far exceeds that of ordinary people.

A moment later, Zhou Yuan arrived at a secluded cliff face.

Below the mountain wall, there is a narrow cave entrance that can only accommodate one person at a time, and a faint heat emanates from inside.

"This is it." Zhou Yuan probed with his divine sense and confirmed that there were no other cultivators inside the cave.

But he didn't go in immediately. Instead, he dodged behind a boulder and held his breath.

Because at that very moment, his powerful divine sense detected that another aura was rapidly approaching from afar!

The people who came were fast, clearly with a clear goal in mind, heading straight for this cave.

A few breaths later, a figure in blue appeared in front of the cave entrance.

He was a young man in his early twenties, dressed in the attire of the Spirit Beast Mountain, with a cultivation level of the twelfth level of Qi Refining. He looked wary, glanced around, and then a hint of joy appeared on his face.

"Looks like I'm in luck; this place hasn't been visited yet," the young man muttered to himself, before preparing to enter the cave.

Just as he stepped into the cave entrance, a cold glint flashed in Zhou Yuan's eyes behind the boulder.

The Twelve Divine Threats, activated!

hum!

An invisible and intangible divine consciousness spike instantly traversed a distance of ten zhang and pierced the young man's sea of ​​consciousness!

"Well!"

The young man's body stiffened abruptly, his vision went black, and a wave of excruciating pain surged through his mind. He tried to scream, but found himself unable to utter a sound; his consciousness dissipated, and his magical power instantly ceased to circulate.

In that split second, Zhou Yuan pointed his fingers like a sword and instantly unleashed the Golden Sword Technique!

call out!

Twelve golden sword blades pierced through the air, passing through the youth like a meat grinder!

Puff puff puff puff—

The sounds of flesh tearing apart rang out in rapid succession.

The young man couldn't even muster a protective aura before being torn apart by the golden sword into a cloud of blood mist and died on the spot.

From the sneak attack to the kill, the entire process took no more than two breaths.

Fast! Accurate! Ruthless!

Zhou Yuan flashed out, grabbed the storage bag from the young man's waist, and at the same time fired a fireball, burning the corpse to ashes.

"Once you reach the second floor, everyone you encounter could be an enemy." Zhou Yuan remained expressionless, his heart undisturbed.

If you don't kill your opponent, they will kill you—this is the survival rule of the Bloodstained Forbidden Land.

After cleaning up the traces, Zhou Yuan didn't linger and slipped into the cave.

The cave was not large, about three zhang (approximately 10 meters) square. Some moss, emitting a faint glow, grew on the cave walls, providing dim lighting.

The most eye-catching feature is a small patch of spiritual soil in the center of the cave, on which two purple spiritual flowers grow.

The flower is shaped like a monkey's face, with layers upon layers of petals, exuding a faint spiritual aura and a unique fragrance; it is indeed the Purple Monkey Flower!

Beside the purple monkey flower lay a large wolf-like demon beast with crimson fur all over its body—a first-level high-ranking demon beast, the Flame Wolf!

At this moment, the Flame Wolf seemed to sense the intruder, slowly stood up, its crimson eyes fixed on Zhou Yuan, and let out a low roar, baring its fangs.

"roar!"

The Flame Wolf launched the first attack, spitting out three fireballs the size of bowls, which shot towards Zhou Yuan in a triangular pattern!

Zhou Yuan neither dodged nor avoided, but his mind stirred slightly.

Golden Armor Technique, instant cast!

A dazzling golden light covered his entire body, while his bright armor shimmered with silver light, and a yellow parasol opened up a yellow light shield.

Three layers of defense!

Three fireballs struck the yellow umbrella-shaped light shield, producing a muffled explosion and scattering sparks, yet they failed to even shake the outermost layer of the yellow light shield.

"It's my turn."

Zhou Yuan pointed with both fingers, unleashing the Golden Sword Technique once more!

Twelve golden blades roared out, heading straight for the Flame Wolf.

The Flame Wolf nimbly dodged left and right, avoiding most of the golden swords; only three grazed its body, leaving bloody marks.

But Zhou Yuan's attacks continued relentlessly.

The first round of golden swords had barely fallen when the second round was already taking shape!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Golden swords rained down, covering the entire cave.

Although the Flame Wolf was a high-level first-class demonic beast with strength comparable to a cultivator at the twelfth or thirteenth level of Qi Refining, it ultimately could not withstand the relentless bombardment of Zhou Yuan's almost limitless magical power.

After the fifth round of golden sword strikes, the Flame Wolf was covered in wounds and its movements were noticeably slower.

Zhou Yuan seized the opportunity and unleashed the power of the Breaking Gold Sword!

The dark golden, broad flying sword transformed into a streak of light, piercing through the Flame Wolf's head at a speed far exceeding its previous speed!

"Waaah————"

The fire wolf let out a mournful howl, collapsed to the ground, and breathed its last.

Zhou Yuan sheathed his broken gold sword, walked to the spirit soil, carefully picked two purple monkey flowers, and put them into a specially made jade box for preservation.

"Two purple monkey flowers, not bad."

Zhou Yuan nodded in satisfaction.

He quickly cleared the battlefield, took the valuable materials from the fire wolf, and then left the cave.

For the next half day, Zhou Yuan moved through the ring-shaped mountain range like a ghost.

With his powerful divine sense, he could sense other cultivators or demonic beasts in advance and choose to avoid them or launch a sneak attack.

Zhou Yuan did not kill all the cultivators he encountered.

If the opponent's cultivation level is only at the eleventh or twelfth level of Qi Refining and they have no intention of attacking, Zhou Yuan would choose to communicate and persuade them to retreat. After all, it's not easy for them to have survived until now, and there's no need to kill them all.

However, if the opponent is at the thirteenth level of Qi Refining, or has malicious intentions, Zhou Yuan will not hesitate to kill them.

Because cultivators at the thirteenth level of Qi Refining pose too great a threat, and most of them possess valuable treasures, once an enmity is formed, the consequences will be endless.

As for those who are stubborn and insist on competing with him for the elixir, they are courting death.

Zhou Yuan's tactics were simple yet effective:

First, use the Twelve Divine Thrusters to launch a sneak attack, damaging the opponent's consciousness and slowing their reaction time;

Immediately follow up with a barrage of instant Golden Sword Technique attacks, followed by finishing blows with a Broken Golden Sword or Talisman Knife.

With the blessing of four mid-grade spirit stones, his magical power was almost limitless, allowing him to cast high-grade spells continuously without any restraint.

This fighting style would be a headache even for early Foundation Establishment cultivators, let alone Qi Refining cultivators.

In half a day, Zhou Yuan experienced seven battles.

Four of the encounters involved other cultivators vying for spiritual herbs, while three were battles against guardian demonic beasts.

The result was no surprise – a perfect record of seven wins!

Zhou Yuan himself was unharmed and instead reaped a large amount of spoils.

Most importantly, the number of medicinal herbs he collected reached an astonishing figure:

Six purple monkey flower plants!

Five Chalcedony Mushrooms!

Six Heavenly Spirit Fruits!

A total of seventeen of the three main ingredients for refining the Foundation Building Pill!

"If all these spiritual herbs are handed over to the sect, they can only be exchanged for one Foundation Establishment Pill," Zhou Yuan estimated in his mind. "If I refine them myself, with the boost from the equipment slots, the success rate is at least 80%, and I can refine more than a dozen!"

For Zhou Yuan, who has a pseudo-spiritual root, this is almost a 100% guarantee of foundation building!

"But that's not enough—"

A glint of light flashed in Zhou Yuan's eyes.

He not only wanted to establish his foundation, but also wanted to take this opportunity to become a disciple of Li Huayuan, a Core Formation cultivator!

Before entering the forbidden area, Li Huayuan promised that the disciple who made the greatest contribution would be accepted as his personal disciple after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.

If one can become a direct disciple of a Core Formation cultivator, not only will one have a powerful backer after reaching Foundation Establishment, but one's cultivation resources and guidance will also far surpass those of ordinary disciples.

This was too tempting for Zhou Yuan, who had no background or connections.

"I'll collect more medicinal herbs to ensure I contribute the most!" Zhou Yuan made up his mind.

He determined the direction and headed towards another area rich in medicinal herbs, as marked in the data.

>