Mortal: I'm in Tianxing City, intelligence updates daily.

Chapter 84 Vast Skies and Boundless Oceans (Seeking monthly votes and recommendation votes)

The middle-aged woman in blue was, after all, a Core Formation stage cultivator who had lived for hundreds of years and had naturally experienced many trials and tribulations. She quickly suppressed the fear in her heart.

She said with a cold look in her eyes, "What kind of deal is this? Fellow Daoist, you've come here to steal my Thousand Bamboo Sect's Great Evolution Technique, haven't you? If so, just say so. Why put on such a show?"

"Fellow Daoist, please don't be so aloof. Besides, you haven't even heard my conditions yet," Li Shizhou said calmly after hearing the news.

"Fellow Daoist, give up now. Even if you are a Nascent Soul cultivator, my Thousand Bamboo Sect has its own secret techniques to prevent this. Even if you kill me, you cannot search my soul. My storage bag is also specially made. Once its owner dies, everything inside will be automatically destroyed. If you let me out, I will pretend that today's events never happened."

The middle-aged woman dared to say that, of course, because she had something to rely on.

She has been at the Core Formation stage for over two hundred years. Although she is still in the early stage, in addition to these hundreds of puppets, she has also prepared a lot of other life-saving items.

At worst, she could just take all these puppets and let them self-destruct. As long as she could blast a gap in the array's light barrier, preserving her own life wouldn't be difficult.

"What a joke! If I can't get what I want, why would I let you live? You're not thinking of using the puppet to self-destruct and escape, are you? Let me tell you, even a Nascent Soul cultivator would have some trouble breaking this formation. If you don't believe me, you're welcome to try."

Li Shizhou said in a somewhat mocking tone.

Although he only set up one formation this time, it was obtained from the storage bag of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

He had tried it before; even when he and several spirit beasts attacked together, they could only slightly shake the formation.

Having her thoughts exposed, the middle-aged woman immediately showed a hint of annoyance.

With a thought, hundreds of puppets immediately launched an attack on the same spot, their movements perfectly synchronized to maximize the power of the attack.

Surprisingly, after a series of operations, the array's light barrier only trembled slightly and then showed no other reaction, let alone being broken.

Seeing this, the middle-aged woman finally panicked and tried several more times, but the result was still the same.

Li Shizhou witnessed this scene.

A smile played on his lips as he waved his hand lightly in the air, and three green crystals hovered in front of him.

The "Netherworld Beast Crystal," also known as the "Soul Stone," which comes from the Netherworld, is an excellent material for crafting puppets.

For these cultivators of the Thousand Bamboo Sect, it was something they had always dreamed of.

As expected, the moment this object appeared, a glint of light appeared in the eyes of the middle-aged woman in blue within the array's light barrier.

Li Shizhou pressed his advantage, saying, "With your discerning eye, fellow Daoist, you must know the value of this item. As long as you hand over the Great Evolution Technique and the Puppet Making Technique, these three Soul Stones are yours."

The middle-aged woman's expression was complicated after hearing this; she was currently torn between her own feelings and her inner turmoil.

If you don't agree, you will die and your soul may be destroyed, and you may even have to suffer the torment of soul refining.

If she agreed, the three soul stones she would receive would be many times stronger than the demon beast spirits she had been searching for.

"Forget it, anyway, the first four layers of the Great Evolution Technique were taken to Tiannan by the former sect leader's son, and it's very likely that they've already been leaked. It won't make a difference if I do it this time. Besides, with these few soul stones, once I refine those late-stage Core Formation puppets, I can compete for the sect leader's position and obtain the complete Great Evolution Technique. In any case, Jin Nantian's sect leader position was also seized."

After some thought, although she had made up her mind, the middle-aged woman was still worried that once she handed over her bargaining chips, she would be of no use and her life and death would depend entirely on the other party's mood.

So she said, "I am indeed very interested in the Soul Stone, but what if you go back on your word after obtaining the Great Evolution Technique and the Puppet Technique?"

Li Shizhou was delighted upon hearing this: "Then how can you put my mind at ease? I can't just remove the formation first, can I?"

"You can simply swear an oath to your inner demons."

"That's all? No problem, I agree."

Li Shizhou had plenty of soul stones on him, and his original plan was to make a deal if the other party cooperated, and he did not want to kill anyone.

Naturally, he was not afraid of any oath of inner demons, and he immediately agreed and began to put it into action.

Seeing Li Shizhou's decisiveness, the middle-aged woman in blue finally felt relieved.

After she finished making the vow, she took out the two jade slips and threw them into the air: "Make copies yourself, so you won't worry that I've tampered with them. I only have the first four levels of the Great Evolution Technique."

"Fellow Daoist is truly a reasonable person."

After Li Shizhou finished speaking, he took the jade slip to his front, checked it and made a copy for each of them. Then he threw the jade slip and the three Yinming Beast Crystals back into the array light screen.

Then he waved his hand, and the solid array light screen immediately disappeared, and the array flags and other array-setting tools flew from the ground to his palm.

"Alright, the transaction is complete. You can leave now."

Upon seeing this, the middle-aged woman put away her belongings and flew away into the distance without saying a word.

Only after her figure disappeared did Ding Sheng and Wang Li anxiously fly over.

Li Shizhou looked at the two of them and said, "Have you decided which of the two paths I mentioned earlier you would choose?"

Ding Sheng and his wife immediately knelt down and said, "We are willing to serve you as our master and will follow you to the death from now on."

Li Shizhou naturally didn't believe these lies. These two people were willing to betray their master to save their own lives, and they could betray him in the future as well.

So he threw the two pitch-black soul tablets on the ground.

Then he said, "Hand over a portion of your primordial spirit, and I will see how you two behave afterward. If there are no mistakes within a hundred years, I will return it to you."

"Yes, Master."

Afterwards, Ding Sheng and Wang Li did as instructed, and Li Shizhou accepted the soul tablet and put it into his storage bag with satisfaction.

Then he took out four bottles of pills and gave two bottles to each of them: "One of these pills is an antidote, and the other can increase your cultivation. This is your reward for this time. If you perform well in the future, we will reward you according to your merits."

"Thank you, Master."

Having achieved his goal, Li Shizhou felt a great sense of relief.

The far west is lacking in spiritual resources, making it not a good place for other high-level cultivators.

However, for Li Shizhou, who currently has no shortage of cultivation resources, it is an excellent place for cultivation.

Now he has neither various sect missions weighing on his head, nor are there any cultivators nearby with higher cultivation levels than him.

It can be said that the sky is high enough for birds to fly freely, and the sea is wide enough for fish to leap freely, living a carefree and unrestrained life.

His most pressing matter now is to find a suitable place to live in seclusion so that he can begin his closed-door cultivation.

So Li Shizhou summoned the level six Purple-Eyed Bixie, and he and Yuan Yao sat on it together.

Ding Sheng and Wang Li were only Foundation Establishment cultivators, and their flight speed was far too slow compared to Core Formation cultivators.

He then lent the two of them his level-five purple eyes for temporary transportation.

Along the way, Li Shizhou will also summon the spirit beast "Spirit-Seeking Weasel" that he obtained from the Wanfamen cultivators in the Void Heaven Palace, to use in finding places with abundant spiritual energy.

Although this beast has little combat power, it can not only search for spiritual herbs, but is also quite effective in exploring spiritual lands.