Mortal: Joining the Star Palace at the Start

"Alright, Fellow Daoist Tang, please rest assured, I know what to do." Ji Qing nodded in agreement, knowing the seriousness of the matter.

The cave dwellings of ancient cultivators were full of opportunities.

This matter concerns whether he can obtain the Geng essence.

If other cultivators were to discover this place, it would indeed be a troublesome matter.

So Ji Qing didn't waste any more words. He immediately rode the wind and hid in the clouds.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, I beg you." Tang Hong bowed to Zhang Xiao, his attitude extremely sincere.

"Alright, I know what to do."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Xiao lightly stepped on the ground and immediately transformed into a golden streak of light, flying away into the distance.

"Brother Xiao, Fairy Ning, shall we begin?"

"Alright, in that case, let's begin." Xiao Mi replied, taking out the Breaking Formation Flag from his storage bag and flying out first, arriving above the formation.

Fairy Ning wasted no time. Holding the array-breaking disc in her hand, she gently moved her fingertips and began chanting incantations.

"Let's hope nothing unexpected happens."

Tang Hong thought to himself, his face grave.

He simply raised his hand and tossed it lightly, and the Breaking Formation Flag in his hand immediately shot towards the deserted island.

After the formation-breaking flags were planted around the deserted island, Tang Hong immediately shouted "Break!"

"boom!"

With the three working together, four gray beams of light suddenly descended from the sky, covering the entire island at an extremely fast speed.

The ancient formation protecting the deserted island began to crumble, making a constant "crackling" sound.

"The Two Elements Taiyuan Formation, the Formation-Breaking Plate, and the Thunder and Fire Sky-Supporting Formation."

It seems these guys have put in a lot of effort to get their hands on the opportunity inside.

I just don't know if it contains Geng Jing (a type of medicinal essence).

Ji Qing thought to himself, then glanced at Zhang Xiao in the distance.

On the way to the deserted island, after Tang Hong's introduction, he learned the identity of the person in front of him.

This person is a rogue cultivator from Tiankui Island, with a cultivation level at the early stage of Core Formation.

Like him, they both specialize in metal-based cultivation techniques.

The woman beside Tang Hong was named Ning Xue, commonly known as Fairy Ning. She was highly skilled in array formations and was also a rogue cultivator.

As for the last one, his name was Xiao Mi, and his identity is unknown.

Ji Qing crossed her arms, her eyes darting around, seemingly lost in thought.

His intuition told him that there seemed to be something fishy about the relationship between Xiao Mi and Fairy Ning.

As for how he figured it out, that's too simple.

Aside from Tang Hong, Xiao Mi and Ning Xianzi's teamwork was truly excellent.

Their teamwork was seamless and perfectly coordinated.

"Could these two be a couple practicing Daoist arts?"

Ji Qing became wary and began to take precautions.

A month later, the formation began to loosen.

As Tang Hong took out another set of formation-breaking flags, the most difficult-to-break outer formation collapsed.

"It's done!" Tang Hong exclaimed excitedly, and began to work even harder.

Just then, accompanied by a sharp beastly roar, countless wood demons suddenly crawled out from underground and swarmed towards Tang Hong in droves, their momentum terrifying.

"Fellow Daoist Li, it's up to you now!"

"good!"

Ji Qing replied, and with that, he swung his sword forward, and a golden sword light immediately swept towards the wood demon.

Then Ji Qing made a hand seal, and with a thought, a sword rang out, and five or six flying swords suddenly appeared behind him.

Ji Qing moved with lightning speed. With a flick of his finger, his flying sword and sword light slashed swiftly towards the wood demon with tremendous force.

Wherever the sword light and flying swords met, countless wood spirits fell, then dissipated into spiritual light and vanished completely.

Half a day later, Ji Qing realized something was wrong.

"No, if we keep killing like this, when will it ever end?" Ji Qing said with a heavy expression.

These wood spirits seemed inexhaustible; one wave killed, another wave appeared.

Like harvesting chives.

Ji Qing turned to look at Tang Hong, and seeing his inaction, he seemed to be deep in thought.

"Could it be...?"

As Ji Qing was thinking, Zhang Xiao suddenly transmitted his voice to him from afar:

"Fellow Daoist Li, these wood demons are all born from wood energy, and are formless and without substance."

They sent the two of us to deal with these wood spirits; they're clearly doing it on purpose."

"Oh?" Ji Qing suddenly realized and asked:

"Does that fellow Daoist have a way to break it?"

Zhang Xiao pondered for a moment before replying:

"If we destroy that wooden pillar, these wood demons will cease to exist."

"So that's how the wooden stake works."

"In that case, I would appreciate it if you could cover for me while I go and destroy the wooden pillar."

"Alright, since Fellow Daoist Li is willing to do this, then Fellow Daoist Li may go ahead. I will take care of these wood demons."

After saying that, Zhang Xiao suddenly shouted and conjured six clones, which swept towards the wood demon with lightning speed.

Taking advantage of the opening, Ji Qing immediately transformed into a golden light and rushed towards the wooden pillar.

"Is this the Wood Element Stake?" Ji Qing asked in confusion.

Before him stood a wooden pillar, about two zhang tall and more than one zhang wide, emitting a faint green light and covered with obscure and incomprehensible green runes.

Ji Qing glanced at it and felt dizzy and disoriented, momentarily lost in confusion.

"not good."

Ji Qing immediately snapped out of her daze, forcefully averting her eyes and refusing to look again.

"Fellow Daoist Li, this wooden pillar was crafted by ancient cultivators and contains divine-suppressing techniques."

"A cultivator below the Nascent Soul stage, if they only glance at it, will quickly succumb and become unable to extricate themselves if their will is not firm."

At this point, Zhang Xiao gave Ji Qing a deep look:

"Fellow Daoist's mental fortitude is probably among the best in the Core Formation stage."

The method to break the wooden stake is very simple; just use brute force to rotate it three times to the left and right.

Rotate left and right three times?

Are you kidding me?

The wooden stake in front of us looks to weigh over a thousand pounds.

He's not a body cultivator, how could he possibly rotate it?

"Fellow Daoist Li, hurry up! There are just too many of these wood demons. I can't hold out for much longer."

Upon hearing this, Ji Qing's expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

Things have come to this point, there's no turning back.

Since he took on this task voluntarily, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and give it a try.

Fortunately, he had been learning talisman making since childhood and had long since become a talisman master.

There are still some talismans left in my hand.

There just happens to be a Power Talisman.

Ji Qing glanced at the wooden stake.

Once he had determined the point of leverage, he immediately took out a Power Talisman from his storage bag.

Ji Qing affixed the Great Strength Talisman to his body.

In an instant, Ji Qing felt an inexhaustible amount of strength throughout his body.

"drink!"

Ji Qing roared as he hugged the wooden stake, his arm veins bulging.

Even so, the wooden stake showed no signs of loosening.

"Fellow Daoist Li, are you sure you can handle this? I can't take it anymore."

"Shut up, it's easy for you to talk when you're not the one suffering. Why don't you try it yourself?" Ji Qing said angrily, uttering a rare swear word.

A man should not say that he is incapable.

"I don't believe it! You think I can't move you? Open the door!"

Upon hearing this, with Ji Qing giving it his all, the wooden stake began to slowly move.

Seeing that it was effective, Ji Qing worked even harder.

And so, after about half an incense stick's time, the crisis came to an end as Ji Qing pushed over the wooden stake.