Am I the only cultivator in this cultivation group?

Chapter 9 Main Hall

"Pills, pills, all pills!"

Li Hu's eyes widened, and he pounced over to pick them up, stuffing the pills he grabbed from the ground into his arms.

In no time, his arms were stuffed full, and he could barely hold them up with his arms.

Meanwhile, his master and several senior disciples had already cleared away all the worshippers. A cold night wind swept through the forest, swirling up fallen leaves and ashes across the ground, but it couldn't dispel the burning passion in Li Hu's heart.

"Disciple, what are you doing?"

When Bai Xiaoyu turned around, she saw that Li Hu's arms were bulging with pills.

When Li Hu saw his master coming over, instead of hiding anything, he immediately stretched out both hands, his face full of seriousness.

"Master, these are all the pills that I found."

"Master Yuding, your disciple is truly interesting."

Guang Chengzi watched from the side and couldn't help but laugh.

"Keep these pills; they're just taking up space for me."

As Bai Xiaoyu spoke, she casually took a storage bag from her inventory and handed it to Li Hu.

"Here you go. This storage bag has ten cubic meters of space; that should be enough for you during your beginner phase."

"Storage bag!"

Li Hu's eyes widened immediately, and he quickly accepted the gift with both hands, bowing respectfully.

"Disciple thanks Master!"

He was genuinely excited.

Storage bags aren't particularly rare among cultivators, but for a lowly demon like him who had spent over a hundred years in the mountains, they were treasures beyond his reach. He couldn't even bear to touch one, let alone possess one.

But his master just gave it to him so casually.

"It's alright, these are the tools I had left over from before."

Bai Xiaoyu didn't take it to heart at all.

Neither these pills nor this storage bag are of any use to her anymore. Their grade is too low, offering no help whatsoever to her cultivation.

However, she could understand Li Hu's excitement.

After all, he was a newbie, and this was his first time running a dungeon at the Innate Realm level. Even a small drop from this dungeon would be enough for him for a long time, let alone the fact that he was running a high-difficulty dungeon like the Ancient Temple of Buddha's Desolation tonight.

"We've only just reached the foot of the mountain, let's hurry up and climb up."

Huang Yaoying spoke up to remind her.

The group didn't linger and continued up the mountain. Li Hu hurriedly stuffed all the pills into his storage bag, afraid of missing a single one, and only after he finished did he catch up.

The higher you go up the mountain, the more eerie the surrounding scenery becomes.

The dark clouds overhead pressed down even lower, like a sheet of murky ink hanging in the sky, so heavy it was hard to breathe. The fog in the forest had also become thicker, with wisps of black mist wandering among the trees, swirling and turning like living things.

Li Hu quickly began to feel the strain.

With each step forward, my feet felt like they were filled with lead, so heavy that even my breathing became increasingly labored.

hum-

A faint stream of light suddenly enveloped him.

Li Hu was taken aback, and then he felt his body lighten, as most of the gloomy pressure that had been pressing down on his limbs and bones was immediately relieved.

He looked up and saw that Bai Xiaoyu had casually added a spell to his spell.

"Thank you, Master."

Li Hu felt a warmth in his heart, thinking how wonderful it was to have his master protecting him.

"You really care about your disciple." Huang Yaoying glanced at Bai Xiaoyu on the opposite bed and couldn't help but complain, "Why didn't you help me block the pressure too?"

"Then you can become my apprentice too," Bai Xiaoyu said with a grin.

"No way."

As the two were talking, the Daoist Ran Deng, who had been mostly silent until now, suddenly spoke up:

"Be serious. This ancient Buddhist temple is not that simple."

"We've come all this way, and we haven't seen anything decent." Bai Xiaoyu said casually, but her hand was already on the hilt of her sword. "It seems the rumors aren't always accurate—"

She hadn't even finished speaking.

At the end of the mountain road, a sudden burst of black light erupted!

The black light came extremely fast, as if it suddenly exploded from the depths of the mountain, instantly illuminating the entire mountain road.

Something's up!

Everyone's expression tightened, and they all stopped in their tracks.

At the end of the mountain path, three figures were slowly emerging.

They were draped in tattered Buddhist robes, and their exposed arms and faces were all a dark, decaying bronze color, covered with mottled rust and cracks, emitting a faint but grating metallic scraping sound as they walked.

"This is a sacred Buddhist site. Trespassers will be punished!"

Three voices rang out at once, deep and hollow, unlike those of a living person.

With each shout, a dark wave of energy emanated from them, causing the forest to tremble slightly.

"How is this possible?"

Everyone looked up at the notification above the three figures and were taken aback.

Uniform

[Innate Realm - Initial Stage]

"Innate Realm!"

Li Hu's heart skipped a beat when he saw this.

In his understanding, those at the Innate Realm were already powerful enough to hold sway over a region; they were true great cultivators and old monsters.

But when they arrived at this ancient Buddhist temple, all they found were gatekeepers blocking the entrance.

"This is a sacred Buddhist site. Trespassers will be punished!"

The black light rippled out again, this time sweeping upwards from the foot of the mountain. Wherever it passed, the leaves rustled and the pebbles on the ground trembled.

Bai Xiaoyu reacted extremely quickly, immediately raising her hand to create a light barrier, enveloping Li Hu to prevent him from being killed by the aftershocks of the battle between innate realm cultivators.

When everyone turned around, their expressions changed.

On the mountain path they had come from, three identical bronze monks stood blocking their way back.

There are three statues in front and three in back.

Six innate realms.

"This leap from the Spirit Origin Realm to the Innate Realm in one go is just too outrageous!"

Bai Xiaoyu couldn't help but curse.

"Those strange creatures at the Spirit Origin Realm were probably all illusions," Huang Yaoying frowned. "They deliberately lowered people's guard before luring them here step by step."

Thinking about it this way, many things become clear.

Why is it that despite the infamous reputation of Fojue Ancient Temple, so few people turn back halfway through their journey?

Because this instance doesn't gradually increase in difficulty; instead, it deliberately lets you in at the beginning, and then suddenly raises the difficulty to a level that catches you off guard once you've gone deeper.

The area in front is the beginner village, and the sect competition is right behind.

They're all about playing dirty tricks.

"That planner is really good at designing."

Guang Chengzi couldn't help but curse.

"Master, what should we do now?"

Li Hu looked up and asked from inside the light barrier.

"Don't worry." Bai Xiaoyu was not flustered at all. "Your senior uncles are all at the Great Perfection of the Innate Realm. Dealing with these gatekeeper bronze men will not be too difficult for them."

Huang Yaoying stepped forward and said to Randeng Daoren, "Randeng, I'll deal with the three below, and you deal with the three above."

"Um."

The Taoist Ran Deng nodded.

The next instant, the two moved simultaneously.

Huang Yaoying flashed forward and pounced on the three bronze monks at the foot of the mountain.

The Taoist Ran Deng then carried his lantern forward to meet the three figures on the mountain.

"The bronze statue stands guard, not yielding an inch!"

The three bronze monks below simultaneously raised their hands, one hand in a gesture of respect and the other hand pushing out with a single palm.

In an instant, a cold wind arose.

The three palms struck out simultaneously, their combined force like a heavy, pressing black wall. Even Li Hu, watching from afar, felt a chill run down his spine and couldn't help but feel worried for Huang Yaoying.

But Huang Yaoying didn't even blink.

She simply raised her hand and gently brushed it away.

"Jade Soul Cold Light".

As soon as he finished speaking, several beams of moon-white, cold light silently flew out.

It lacked the astonishing power of Bai Xiaoyu's sword strike; even the sound of it breaking through the wind was extremely faint, as faint as a few wisps of moonlight drifting away in the wind.

But the moment those few cold glints fell, the air suddenly froze.

The three bronze monks, still in the posture of striking with their palms out, were all frozen in place, completely motionless.

next moment.

Click.

The three crisp sounds almost overlapped.

At the same time, a small white frost appeared between the brows of the three bronze monks, and a chill spread rapidly along the cracks, covering their entire bodies in the blink of an eye. Then, their bronze-like bodies shuddered violently, and they all fell to the ground, shattering into countless frozen, cracked pieces of bronze.

"Ice magic?"

Li Hu was stunned.

one move.

Just one move.

The three cultivators at the Innate Realm were completely sealed off from life!

"Fairy Yuxia specializes in the Frost lineage; this is just one of her most common moves," Bai Xiaoyu explained from the side, her tone tinged with a hint of boasting. "If one truly cultivates to the depths of the Great Dao, freezing time and space is not impossible."

"I see!"

Li Hu was still marveling when suddenly there was another loud bang behind him.

A burst of intense light illuminated half of the night-covered mountain.

It turns out that Daoist Ran Deng also made a move.

He stood still, merely raising the ancient lamp in his hand slightly, and uttered four words:

"Burning the heart to the bone."

The lamplight flickered.

The three bronze monk statues on the mountain stiffened simultaneously.

Before they could even react, a faint yellowish-brown glow emanated from their chests.

The next moment, the dim yellow light suddenly expanded, burning out inch by inch from the ribs, throat, and deep inside the eye sockets, as if some kind of fire had been ignited from within them.

In the blink of an eye, the fire spread along the cracks all over his body.

The next instant—

The three bronze monk statues melted together, turning directly into a pool of bubbling, dark red molten copper that flowed down the rocks with a hissing sound.

"It melted?"

Li Hu was stunned once again.

"Ran Deng Dao Ren is no ordinary fire cultivator," Bai Xiaoyu said. "He follows the Ancient Lamp Soul Burning lineage. The so-called soul burning doesn't just burn the physical body; the soul can be burned away as well."

"So, that ancient lamp is the real thing?"

Li Hu suddenly blurted out a sentence.

Guang Chengzi was immediately delighted.

"Haha, that's an interesting point. Not bad, that's about right. Right now, that lamp is indeed his lifeline."

Li Hu nodded thoughtfully, then couldn't help but ask:

"What type of magic can I practice in the future?"

"You'll know when you reach the Spirit Origin Realm," Bai Xiaoyu said. "When your spiritual essence takes shape, it will naturally show its biases. Ice, wood, water, fire, earth, and even some special attributes, who knows?"

"oh."

Li Hu nodded, his heart filled with anticipation.

Ice, wood, water, fire, earth.

Either way is fine.

As long as it can be repaired, as long as it can make me stronger, that's all that matters!

Soon, Huang Yaoying and Daoist Ran Deng returned.

"Let's go." Huang Yaoying looked towards the end of the mountain path. "Go through that gate ahead, and we'll reach the true core area of the ancient temple."

The group continued on their way.

Before long, we arrived at the gate of the main hall of the ancient temple.

The main hall's main gate was half-closed.

A faint, dim light shone through the crack in the door; it was not bright, yet it made people feel uneasy no matter how they looked at it.

Several mutilated corpses lay scattered on the stone steps in front of the hall.

Some were dressed in monks' robes, others in cloth shirts; it was impossible to tell who they originally were. Dried, blackened bloodstains, like ink that had been sitting for many years, remained in the cracks of the stone steps.

What's even stranger is that, despite the considerable commotion they made on their way up, the area outside the main hall became eerily quiet.

There is no wind.

There were no birds.

There were no insect sounds.

There was only a heavy, deathly silence, so oppressive that one dared not even breathe too heavily.

Then--

"when."

A bell rang out without warning, echoing from the depths of the temple.

The voice wasn't loud, but it was surprisingly deep, like an invisible hand that suddenly gripped a person's heart.

Almost simultaneously, everyone's expression changed.

"These people outside," Bai Xiaoyu said softly, her previous smile fading. "are just doormen."

"The real person is inside."