Mortal: Starting with the Golden Jade Book

a few days later.

A secret underground chamber somewhere in Yanling Fort.

Mingluo stood respectfully in front of Lin Zui, reporting something to him.

"Master, including the two we captured today, we now have eight members of the Yan family's Iron Guard under our control. It's just a pity that they are all Qi Refining cultivators. The true Foundation Establishment elites are beyond our ability to take them down."

"It's alright. It's already quite good that we can control eight Qi Refining Peak experts silently and without attracting attention. Foundation Establishment experts are not so easy to deal with, not to mention we can't alert the Yan family."

Lin Zui smiled slightly. Ever since he threatened the lives of these Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators and gained their control, the plan had been progressing very smoothly.

Lin Zui quickly amassed a considerable amount of covert power. Through analysis of the internal power structure of Yan Family Fortress, he identified the group of people most likely to come into contact with Yan Ruyan in the future: the Iron Guard, the core force of Yan Family Fortress!

This guard team was led by several Foundation Establishment cultivators, and all members were direct disciples of the Yan family, loyal to the Yan Family Fortress.

When Yan Ruyan returns to Yan Family Fort in the future, these people will surely protect her at all times. That will be the time for them to play their role.

However, in order to prevent his identity from being exposed again and to ensure that these people would not risk their lives to betray him, in addition to casting a divine suppression spell, he also cast a heart-locking spell on these people to prevent betrayal.

However, this continuous casting of spells placed a considerable burden on Lin Zui's spiritual sense, forcing him to abandon the idea of ​​further expanding his subordinates.

Otherwise, with so much time to prepare, he could have developed all the Qi Refining disciples in Yan Family Fortress into his own subordinates. Then, capturing a mere Yan Ruyan would have been a piece of cake.

"That's enough for now. I will personally train these eight people for a while. You just need to continue to be the Ghost Spirit Sect's spies. If there is any news, report it to me immediately."

"Yes, Master."

After waving away Ming Luo, Lin Zui reviewed his plan once more, making sure there were no problems, before taking out two books he had obtained from Xin Ruyin and starting to read them.

One of the books contained her insights into formations, while the other contained a large number of improved spiritual runes that Xin Ruyin had compiled for him.

Although he has already constructed an amplification array within his body, there are naturally far more types of internal arrays that can be constructed than just this one. Now that the hidden danger has been eliminated, it is not unreasonable to continue trying new arrays.

Although he had made ample preparations, he had never truly faced a Foundation Establishment cultivator before, so having more methods was always a good thing.

Seven months later.

A secluded corner of Yanliang Mountain.

As Lin Zui finished assembling the last component, the array beneath his feet emitted a slight hum, establishing a connection with another array dozens of miles away.

Lin Zui nodded, very satisfied with this one-time short-distance teleportation array. With this escape route, he would be more confident in escaping with Yan Ruyan later.

Long before he stabilized Xin Ruyin's meridians, he had already consulted the two of them about how to set up this short-distance teleportation array.

These past few months of studying Xin Ruyin's array formation insights have yielded great results, which has enabled me to complete the setup of these teleportation arrays before the treasure hunt.

Unfortunately, the materials for setting up the arrays were quite valuable, with each array costing at least five thousand spirit stones. Lin Zui made a lot of talismans to sell and also plundered some of the resources of his Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators, which was enough to barely set up four arrays, but that was already the limit.

A few days ago, Yan Family Fortress extended invitations to the Core Formation cultivators of the seven major sects and several surrounding countries, inviting their disciples to Yan Family Fortress to participate in the Treasure Hunt. They also offered the Qiankun Tower, a talismanic treasure, as the prize for the winners. It is believed that disciples from all sects will soon gather at Yan Family Fortress.

Prior to this, the cultivators of the Ghost Spirit Sect had already arrived. According to Ming Luo, three Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Ghost Spirit Sect had secretly entered Yan Family Fortress and taken over the Ghost Spirit Sect's spies in the fortress. Even he could only follow orders.

Fortunately, it's not a problem to take the opportunity to pass on a message.

Lin Zui had no complaints about this. He told him and his men to continue as usual and not to arouse the suspicion of the Foundation Establishment cultivators. He would inform them when it was time to do something.

After that, Lin Zui didn't do anything else. He settled down in Yanling Fortress and quietly observed the cultivators coming and going in the fortress every day, waiting for the right opportunity to come.

……

On this day, two young figures dressed in Huangfeng Valley uniforms entered the inner city of Yanling Fortress, led by two disciples of Yanjiabao.

One of them had dark skin, an ordinary appearance, and a serious demeanor. He observed his surroundings calmly and cautiously, clearly a very composed and cautious person. The other person accompanying him was a beautiful woman with a delicate and slender figure. Her eyes held a hint of spring, and with every smile and frown, she captivated the young disciples of Yan Family Fort who were leading the group.

Seeing that the woman with him was behaving somewhat dissolutely, the man frowned and tugged at her, reminding her.

"Junior Sister Dong, please don't forget Senior Sister Hong Fu's instructions and be mindful of your words and actions."

"Hmph, Senior Brother Han himself is clueless about social etiquette, how can I, your little sister, be so cold and distant? Otherwise, wouldn't people laugh at the Yellow Maple Valley for being so ill-mannered?"

The woman snorted coldly. All along the way, the other party had been suppressing her by using his master's name. Now that they had finally arrived at Yan Family Fortress, how could she be willing to put up with it?

After making a sarcastic remark to the other party, he rolled his eyes and turned back to chat with the young man from the Yan family.

These two were none other than Han Li and Dong Xuan'er, who had just arrived at Yan Family Fort.

Seeing Dong Xuan'er's spoiled princess temper flare up again, Han Li shook his head. However, considering that he was already in Yan Family Fortress and there shouldn't be any danger, he hesitated for a moment and then said nothing more.

Just as I was about to take a step to follow, I suddenly felt a strange sensation and turned to look to the side.

At a teahouse a few dozen meters away from the two.

Lin Zui held a cup of tea, his body devoid of any spiritual energy, as if he had blended into his surroundings.

Seeing Han Lichao looking in his direction, Lin Zui was startled and withdrew his gaze.

"We've been discovered? That can't be!"

Lin Zui was somewhat surprised. He wasn't using any ordinary methods like invisibility talismans or breath-concealing talismans, but rather the concealment secret technique from the "Five Elements Transformation Technique"—the Return to Origin Technique.

He completely blends his aura with the surrounding environment. Unless someone knows he is there in advance, once he uses this technique, anyone who investigates later will perceive him as one with the environment and will find it difficult to detect anything unusual.

Even when observing Wang Chan, the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect, the Li brothers, who were Core Formation cultivators under his command, failed to notice anything unusual, let alone Han Li, who was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage.

Although he cultivated the "Great Evolution Technique" and his spiritual sense was stronger than that of ordinary people, at this moment he could at most be compared to the late Foundation Establishment stage, so he shouldn't have such an ability.

"It's probably just a telepathic connection stemming from his cautious nature."

Seeing that Han Li quickly withdrew his gaze, Lin Zui breathed a sigh of relief. This kind of telepathy was purely a natural talent that Han Li possessed, and Lin Zui could only feel helpless about it.

As Han Li and his group gradually disappeared into the distance, Lin Zui looked at the bustling crowd outside. At this moment, Yan Family Fort was still a scene of peace and tranquility, with lights shining in every home.

But Lin Zui knew perfectly well that a violent storm was brewing in the shadows, just waiting for someone to make the final decision, and this place would instantly become a living hell.

Lin Zui finished the last sip of tea and pursed his lips.

"Everyone's here, so... let the show begin."