I, a cultivator, have ended up in the world of tomb raiding.

Li Yue, sensing his own condition, did not reply to Hong Guniang's words.

The corpse puppets don't bite people to tear flesh and blood, but to devour the lifeblood of the living and rip apart their souls.

As a cultivator, his physique and soul were far stronger than those of ordinary people.

But this last-ditch counterattack was swift and terrifying; if he had been even a fraction slower, it would have been enough to severely damage his soul.

Fortunately, he acted quickly enough to crush the corpse puppet in time.

But that sinister bite still left a tearing, piercing pain in his shoulder, originating from the depths of his soul.

The injuries are not minor.

Li Yue gritted his teeth and endured the piercing, chilling pain for the time being, and half-squatted in front of the corpse of Guanshan Taibao, which had lost its parasitic possession and was now completely silent.

He needs to carefully examine whether the corpse has the potential to rise from the dead again.

The sun was high in the sky, and the sunlight was intense.

The ancient corpse, now freed from the puppet's control, rapidly decayed under the sunlight.

The obese, stiff body gradually softened, and streams of blackish-green, putrid bodily fluid flowed from the wounds, emitting a pungent and unpleasant odor.

There were many withered leaves and broken branches nearby. Li Yue picked one up and carefully examined the corpse.

The body's outer clothing was already tattered, but he found two items among the rotting flesh and tattered fabric.

It was the same gold medal, covered in black blood and corpse filth.

It was during several falls and impacts that the metal pierced through the decaying clothes and penetrated the corpse's abdomen.

Li Yue used a twig to scrape away the dirt, revealing four powerful and upright ancient seal characters: "Guanshan Taibao".

"Guanshan Taibao?" Red Girl covered her nose and leaned closer.

Seeing Li Yue casually rummaging through the corpse's belongings, they assumed he was unharmed and couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's this?"

She had only been in Changsheng Mountain for a few years and was far from familiar with the ancient secrets of the tomb raiding lineage.

"A family specifically established by the Ming Dynasty for the purpose of repairing and protecting imperial tombs."

Li Yue replied casually, his gaze falling on something else.

It was a picture book wrapped in three layers of tung oil cloth, clearly cherished by its original owner.

However, after hundreds of years of decay and being tormented and battered by the corpse puppets, it had long since fallen apart and was damaged.

When it was taken from the corpse's bosom, only two pieces of paper remained of the cover, which crumbled at the slightest touch, and some pages were soaked with the corpse's fluids and venom.

Li Yue shook it gently, not daring to exert any force, for fear that the picture book, now only a tattered remnant, would shatter completely.

He quickly flipped through it; it contained all the secrets of ancient tombs that Guanshan Taibao had collected throughout his life.

Many entries also include brief maps and the locations of the treasures, most of which have already been explored.

Judging from the disappointment in his words, he had clearly not found what he truly wanted.

That's why they eventually set their sights on the Ping Mountain Tomb.

This aligns with Li Yue's guess: the Guanshan Taibao did not come to Pingshan for gold and silver jewelry.

But it wasn't for any elixir of immortality; rather, it was to explore the source of Yin energy gathering and nourishing Qi in Ping Mountain.

Following the few pages documenting Ping Mountain, only a few strokes of the pen convey the disappointment of this mountain-observing elder.

He went to great lengths to infiltrate this place, only to discover that the core of the formation for gathering Qi and stabilizing Yin in Ping Mountain was actually a giant Yin-nourishing tree that had been nurtured by countless corpses.

It's not that I feel that such practices of using corpses to nourish trees and using yin energy to refine elixirs are outrageous and resented by both heaven and man.

Unfortunately, the tree was too large to be stolen.

However, the initial preparations were costly and the sunk costs were too high, making him reluctant to leave.

From the preparations and methods recorded in the book, it's not hard for Li Yue to imagine the man's resolute determination back then.

He actually made up his mind to cultivate that evil method of corpse liberation and immortality deep within the Dan Palace.

First, he took the Nine-Turn Elixir of Poison, then used silver needles to pierce all the major acupoints on his body, forcibly forcing the Yin Sha of the Elixir Palace, the Corpse Qi of Bottle Mountain, and the highly toxic Elixir of Poison into his meridians. Finally, he sealed his nine orifices and sat down to die on the Elixir Platform.

He only seeks immortality of his physical body, hoping that when the time is right a hundred years later, he will awaken as a Corpse Immortal.

The so-called "Corpse-Dissolving Immortal" of Guanshan Taibao is a malevolent entity that uses poison, elixirs, Gu, and the Yin energy of the earth's veins to gradually transform living people into immortal beings, attempting to be reborn after death.

"As expected of an evil cultivator, he's so ruthless even towards himself."

Even Li Yue secretly admired such ruthless methods towards himself.

"However, two or three hundred years have passed, and it seems that this immortal has not succeeded in his cultivation."

Li Yue thought to himself, "Which cultivator doesn't fight for resources and undergo tribulations to break through in the outside world? To sit in this yin and evil place and wait to die, and then think that one can achieve immortality out of thin air, is wishful thinking."

He casually flipped through a few more pages, then his gaze suddenly stopped.

On a tattered piece of paper, there was a drawing of a tree with intertwined branches and a low-lying shape.

The design has simple lines, yet it looks strangely familiar.

"This tree... is remarkably similar to the one depicted in the murals of the Yuan Dynasty tomb."

Li Yue's gaze shifted upwards, his eyes fixed on the spot.

The paper clearly displayed four characters: Western Xia Blackwater City.

There really is such a tree in the Blackwater City of Western Xia?

It appears in the murals of a Yuan Dynasty general's tomb, and also in the secret album of Guanshan Taibao of the Ming Dynasty.

It seems this thing is no ordinary plant; it might actually be a rare and precious treasure.

He immediately turned to the next page.

There are very few records about this tree by Guanshan Taibao. Most of them are just fragments from ancient books, which are vague and unclear.

It is said that the tree's trunk and branches are like jade, with thousands of branches, and it can gather the earth's yin energy and spiritual energy.

It can both nourish the body and prevent decay for thousands of years, and also calm the mind, cleanse the meridians, and aid in spiritual practice.

It was even said that it could be used to nurture corpses and ward off evil spirits, making it seem like a mythical spiritual root.

Other ancient tomb records in the book also often contain such exaggerated descriptions.

However, after conducting on-site investigations, this Guanshan Taibao was often greatly disappointed.

However, the marking of the Blackwater City of Western Xia, though only a simple location, is far better than having no clue at all.

Regardless of whether the item is genuine or not, the location should be accurate.

It seems he absolutely has to visit the ruins of the Western Xia Blackwater City.

While Li Yue was deep in thought, Hong Guniang waited patiently by his side, covering her nose.

The smell of rotting corpses combined with the sweltering heat was truly pungent and unpleasant.

She simply couldn't understand how Li Yue could remain so calm and collected as he examined the stinking corpse for so long.

At this moment, Li Yue had come to his senses, stood up, and put the picture book and the Guanshan Taibao gold medal into his pocket, but secretly put them into his storage space.

"Um……"

A tingling, numb sensation came from his shoulder. He suddenly pressed his shoulder and let out a very soft groan.

I was so focused on examining the body and the catalog that I temporarily forgot about my pain.

As soon as I relaxed, the pain in my shoulder immediately came back to me.

The location where the corpse puppet bit was precisely the old spot that had been injured by the falling rocks.

The two injuries combined caused a tearing pain.

"I need to find a place to heal my wounds first," Li Yue thought to himself.

Upon seeing him clutching his shoulder in pain and his pale face, Hong Guniang immediately stepped forward:

"You're injured, don't go any further into these deep mountains!"

Come back to the Unloading Ridge Camp with me. There are herbs and clean places there. It's better than you being alone in this desolate wilderness!

Li Yue simply shook his head slightly, said nothing more, and continued walking in the original direction.

There was a risk of further rockfalls and landslides on the mountain at any moment, so he had to find a safe and secluded place with a wide view to stabilize his injuries before making any further plans.

Seeing that he wouldn't listen to her advice, Hong Gu Niang was both angry and anxious. She stamped her foot, but still couldn't put her mind at ease, so she quickly followed after him.

Li Yue glanced at her, too lazy to say anything more, and let her follow behind him.

If Hong Guniang were to return alone at this moment, she would surely tell Chen Yulou and Luo Laowai everything that had happened here.

When the engineers and artillery surround him, it will be extremely inconvenient for him to treat his wounds and move around.

The two walked one after the other toward an open area with sparse trees and scattered pebbles.