I Have An Infinite Cultivation Resource
Chapter 92: A Prairie Fire
Han Tian did not answer Wu Tong's words. Instead, he swiftly cut off Wu Tong's other arm.
He crippled Wu Tong's dantian so he could no longer use spiritual energy. Only after confirming that Wu Tong had absolutely no chance of escaping did Han Tian take out the eavesdropping artifact and replay everything that had happened on Huo Chuan's side right in front of him.
"Han Tian… Senior Brother Han, y-you…" Wu Tong endured the pain with difficulty, panic written all over his face. "Senior Brother Han, you misunderstood! Only those two hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators were meant to be blood sacrifices. That didn't include you! Elder Huo never intended to refine you into a human pill! Senior Brother Han, as long as you spare my life, I swear I won't pursue this matter. Or you can take my storage ring and leave the Verdant Cloud Sect. The resources inside are enough for your cultivation!"
"Me?" Han Tian froze for a moment. Wu Tong's explanation had completely caught him off guard. Then he finally understood why Wu Tong would say such a thing. "You actually think I killed you because I was cornered like a desperate dog? You truly feel no guilt whatsoever about slaughtering fellow disciples?"
"Slaughtering fellow disciples?" Wu Tong failed to react at first. Then he stared in disbelief. "Senior Brother Han, you killed me to avenge those Foundation Establishment cultivators? They were just a few insignificant cultivators! You're killing me over them?"
Looking at Wu Tong's twisted expression, Han Tian fell silent.
As expected, Wu Tong had never regarded ordinary disciples as people. To him and Huo Chuan, using fellow disciples to refine human pills was as trivial as soaking ants in wine. And Han Tian's actions were no different from murdering someone over a few ants.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Han Tian said bleakly, "So that's how it is. You people never considered us disciples—who struggle desperately to cultivate—as human beings. This sect is nothing more than a livestock farm. In your eyes, we are cattle and horses grazing on grass every day, born only to become food on your tables and mounts beneath your feet."
Looking at Wu Tong curled into a ball, too terrified to speak, Han Tian suddenly laughed.
"But that's fine too. At first, what I wanted was simple justice—to punish the murderers. But now I understand. What the Verdant Cloud Sect needs is not justice or fairness."
He pressed his sword against Wu Tong's throat and solemnly declared:
"Senior Brother Wu, lend me your life for a moment. Let the green clouds scatter, and reveal the true heavens beneath them!"
With that, Han Tian pierced Wu Tong's throat with his sword, then cut off his head. After confirming that Wu Tong was truly dead and could not survive through some hidden treasure, Han Tian lit a fire inside the cave and burned Wu Tong's corpse to ashes.
Meanwhile, Lu You and Lu Xiao'e rode atop the gant serpent, activating Divine Eye Talismans as they circled the humanoid mountain peak. They did not descend onto the mountain, merely flying around it again and again while carefully observing it.
"Lu You, aren't we going down?" Lu Xiao'e sensed a trace of power within the mountain different from the secret realm itself, and immediately grew eager to investigate.
But Lu You shook his head.
"You haven't fully recovered yet. Today we're only observing. Once your cultivation is restored, we'll inspect it together. Otherwise, if something strange is hidden inside the mountain, the two of us may not be able to handle it."
Lu You patted the serpent.
"Take us back first. Then I'll trouble you to patrol this mountain a little longer."
"No trouble at all! None at all!" the serpent replied with repeated nods and bows. It sent Lu You and Lu Xiao'e back before turning around and hurrying off to continue inspecting the mountain.
After the serpent disappeared, Lu You asked Lu Xiao'e:
"If there were more serpent eggs for you to consume, about how many days would it take for you to recover your Golden Core?"
Lu Xiao'e shook her head.
"Lu You, that serpent already suspects you today. You absolutely must not cook any more serpent eggs."
Lu You pondered for a moment before saying slowly:
"To be honest, there are still three serpent eggs I've already boiled. After refining those three, would you be able to recover?"
"Y-You— why did you boil so many at once? If that serpent comes counting eggs, won't everything be exposed?" Lu Xiao'e asked anxiously. Then she said seriously, "Three are enough. Find a way to stall the serpent for two days. I'll refine them as quickly as possible and recover my Golden Core cultivation. That way, even if the serpent discovers the truth and attacks us, we'll still be able to resist."
Lu Xiao'e's words were exactly what Lu You wanted to hear. Pulling her into the cave, Lu You retrieved three cooked serpent eggs from his secret chamber and handed them to her.
"Then I'll be relying on you. Hurry and refine the serpent eggs. I'll go delay the serpent. In two days, we'll break the formation core together."
Lu Xiao'e did not think too much about it. Carrying the serpent eggs, she returned to her room and immediately began cultivating in haste.
After calming Lu Xiao'e down, Lu You turned and left the cave. Along the tunnel, he casually activated soundproof talismans, sealing off all outside noise so that nothing could reach Lu Xiao'e's room.
He waited at the cave entrance for a while, and sure enough, the serpent sneaked back again in a furtive manner.
"Exalted One, this little beast is clever enough, right?" Seeing Lu You standing at the entrance, the serpent grinned obsequiously.
"Shh." Lu You motioned for it to lower its voice, then jumped onto the serpent's head. "Come on, fly over there. Fly higher, and don't get too close to that mountain."
Circling high above the mountain peak, Lu You used the Divine Eye Talisman to inspect it for quite some time, yet still failed to notice anything unusual. Then he took out the small cauldron and piled spirit stones and Qi-Nourishing Pills across the serpent's head before burying himself within the pile.
The next moment, Lu You focused his will. Countless Rain-Calling Talismans activated from within the small cauldron, and torrential rain suddenly poured down over the humanoid mountain peak.
This time, Lu You was using his full strength after entering the Foundation Establishment realm. With the aid of the ancient map and its rankless talismans, he could unleash up to five hundred thousand talismans at once without worrying about spiritual energy consumption.
The rain crashed down like a heavenly flood. Mud and rocks exploded off the black mountain under the impact. Through the Divine Eye Talisman, Lu You could clearly see massive amounts of soil being washed away—the mountain visibly shrank by an entire layer.
"Not enough. Let thunder descend!"
After swallowing a Qi-Nourishing Pill and replenishing himself with spirit stones, Lu You restored his spiritual energy and controlled the small cauldron again, this time activating Thunder Technique Talismans.
The Thunder Technique Talismans were first-tier talismans. Even after enhancement through the ancient map, they still remained within the scope of Qi Refinement realm control. But after entering Foundation Establishment, the quality and quantity of Lu You's spiritual energy had transformed completely. Using his full strength, the Thunder Technique Talismans he once could barely activate in small numbers now erupted in massive quantities—three hundred thousand at once.
At that instant, the sky seemed to split apart.
A gigantic purple dragon tore through the heavens, descending alongside the torrential rain as it lunged toward the mountain peak.
Crack!
The heavens flashed once, as though even sound itself had been shattered. The thunder dragon slammed violently into the mountain. Terrifying currents surged through the massive peak, instantly melting rock. Sparks flew everywhere as scorching heat spread across the land.
Under the blazing radiance of the thunder dragon, thick black smoke billowed from the mountain, carrying the pungent smell of sulfur. But before the smoke could even rise fully, the torrential rain extinguished it again. Under the repeated cycle of searing heat and freezing rain, the already unstable black mountain finally could no longer endure.
It began collapsing apart.
Huge sections split away into irregular fragments. The towering humanoid shape gradually shrank, and slowly, the outline of a human disappeared altogether. In the end, only a gigantic stone shaped like a spinal column remained on the ground.
Crack!
Another thunder dragon descended from the heavens and struck the spine-like stone. But this time, the thunder dragon failed to damage it in the slightest.
"Exalted One, it's the formation core! As expected of the Exalted One! To think you found the formation core using such a method! Exalted One! Exalted One! Truly worthy of the title!" The serpent trembled violently as it watched.
As a demonic beast, it was naturally terrified of heavenly might. And the heavenly power released by Lu You resembled an actual tribulation. Watching the black mountain—which could absorb spiritual energy—get melted apart by Lu You's lightning left the serpent feeling as though its brain had stopped working.
At such a moment, it should have been showering Lu You with flattery nonstop. But after holding it in for a long while, the serpent realized it could not think of a single suitable phrase.
"Ahem, ahem." Evil Eye cleared its throat inside Lu You's mind. "H-Heavens! Even a Nascent Soul cultivator would be trapped to death in this secret realm if they couldn't find the formation core. But Boss, you actually blasted the formation core out through sheer firepower coverage! Boss, do you know what this means?! It means that no matter what secret realm it is, you can always use this method to locate the formation core! No matter where it's hidden, as long as you blow apart all the unnecessary interference, the last thing remaining must be the formation core! Boss, I'm amazed! How in the world did you come up with such a brilliant method?!"
How did he come up with it?
Lu You secretly replied to Evil Eye, "I blasted apart a mountain before and accidentally uncovered you, so I figured I'd try the same thing here."
After replenishing his spiritual energy once again, Lu You glanced at the spine-like giant stone and still felt it wasn't safe enough. He controlled the small cauldron once more and activated Ice Talismans.
The Ice Talismans were already Foundation Establishment talismans. Combined with the enhancement from the ancient map, even with Lu You using his full strength, he could only activate two hundred thousand of them.
The sky, which had been filled with thunder and lightning just a moment earlier, instantly transformed into a frozen wasteland. The rainwater froze under the power of the Ice Talismans, wrapping around the spine and turning it into an enormous ice sculpture.
Not only the black spine-like stone, but all the surrounding mountains were frozen solid as well. The once pitch-black mountain range had now become an endless expanse of icy peaks.
"I want to see exactly what this secret realm's formation core really is!"
Lu You ordered the serpent to fly higher, then controlled the small cauldron and unleashed Mount Tai Talismans.
The Mount Tai Talismans activated slowly, but the endless frozen mountains had nowhere to dodge and could only wait helplessly for the talismans to descend upon them.
Unlike other talismans, Mount Tai Talismans consumed massive amounts of spiritual energy during creation and required continuous energy infusion. But once completed, their activation cost was only slightly greater than that of the Ice Talismans. Using his full strength, Lu You blanketed the endless icy mountains with one hundred fifty thousand Mount Tai Talismans.
What did one hundred fifty thousand Mount Tai mountains crashing down look like?
The entire secret realm trembled violently.
Then, every icy mountain before Lu You shattered into fine powder-like ice crystals. The endless mountain range transformed into an endless basin. At the deepest point of the basin, resting quietly, was a blood-red spinal bone.
The strange being inside Lu You's mind immediately shrieked:
"Ah! This is—Boss, hurry and take it! That's a Bone of Hell!"
Bone of Hell?
Hearing Evil Eye's words, Lu You not only refrained from taking it, he even flew a little farther away.
"You're the Eye of Hell, and this is the Bone of Hell. Don't tell me you things can piece together into an entire corpse?"
Sensing Lu You's wariness, Evil Eye quickly explained:
"Boss, you don't need to worry. The Bone of Hell and I are not the same thing. I became an eye because I was the spiritual consciousness that witnessed the fall of immortals. But the Bone of Hell was formed from the condensed spiritual essence of countless immortal corpses—it is not a natural creation of heaven and earth."
"The Bone of Hell is divided into five sections: the spine, arm bones, leg bones, skull, and chest bones. If all five are refined, one can immediately obtain the body of an immortal."
So these bones really could assemble into a corpse.
After hesitating for a moment, Lu You tried taking out his sword core and firing it at the spinal bone.
Clang!
The sword core shattered apart, while the spinal bone remained completely unharmed.
After this test, Lu You also confirmed that there was no soul hidden within the spine. Only then did he control the serpent to fly into the basin and pick up the spinal bone.
Hm?
Aside from the spinal bone, there was also an ancient map wedged within its cracks. It was identical to the ancient maps Lu You had previously obtained—maps drawn on the front, ancient text recorded on the back.
At the same moment he picked up the spinal bone, information about the secret realm flowed into Lu You's mind. This spinal bone was the formation core itself. As long as Lu You held it, he could dissolve the secret realm at any time.
"Ancient maps, the Eye of Hell, the Bone of Hell…"
Lu You pondered for a while before asking Evil Eye:
"All this information you know… who exactly told it to you?"
Evil Eye froze for a moment. "This… it feels like I've had these memories ever since I was born."
"And the ancient map?" Lu You continued. "Before, you were sealed as the tomb formation core. So where did that ancient map come from? Did the evil cultivator obtain the map first, or did they obtain you and then acquire the map afterward?"
"Huh?" Evil Eye stared blankly.
Since Lu You and Evil Eye were bound by contract, Lu You could control its life and death. Through the contract, he clearly sensed that Evil Eye truly had no memory whatsoever regarding this question.
"So that's how it is. The objects of Hell and these ancient maps seem to be bound together somehow. There must be a connection between them."
Placing both the Bone of Hell and the ancient map into the small cauldron, Lu You hurriedly rode the serpent back to the cave.
Lu Xiao'e, who had been refining the serpent eggs, sensed Lu You's hurried return and immediately stood up, nervously staring behind him, afraid the serpent had discovered the truth.
"No need to worry. I originally intended to stall the serpent, but it's been sealed inside this secret realm for millions of years and knows the realm like the back of its hand. After only a few rounds of observation, it managed to locate the formation core."
As he spoke, Lu You took out the ancient map and the spinal bone, placing them before Lu Xiao'e.
"As long as you hold this spinal bone, you can control the secret realm and dissolve it whenever you wish."
While speaking, Lu You carefully observed Lu Xiao'e's expression. Yet upon seeing the spinal bone, aside from curiosity, she showed no other reaction.
"When you previously obtained your ancient map, didn't you also receive something similar?" Seeing that her reaction did not appear fake, Lu You directly asked the question.
"My ancient map… was obtained by my master and then passed down to me…" Lu Xiao'e looked at the spinal bone, her expression turning ugly. "Could it be that these ancient maps have some deeper meaning? Or perhaps some hidden danger?"
Lu You thought for a moment before fabricating part of the explanation.
"Only the first person to pick up the spinal bone receives this information. Supposedly, this spinal bone was born in the land of a fallen immortal. It is divided into five parts: the spine, chest bone, arm bones, leg bones, and skull. Cultivators can refine these five pieces to obtain the power of an immortal."
"But besides that, I also received another piece of information: these ancient maps are made from the skin of Tribulation Transcendence cultivators."
Lu You paused slightly before continuing:
"Tell me, do you think it's possible that all of this is meant to piece together something terrifying?"