Chapter 100: Flying Sword of the Magic Treasure Level
A single Foundation Establishment cultivator—Gu Mo could handle that. But if another one arrived, the situation would become tricky. He had set the upper limit of his plant-based frontline to withstand two Foundation Establishment cultivators, but if possible, he didn't want to push things to the extreme.
One misstep, and everything could go terribly wrong.
The best course of action was to eliminate the Foundation Establishment cultivator before reinforcements arrived.
A Qi Refinement cultivator thinking about how to kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator—if anyone else heard that, they would surely laugh their heads off. But Gu Mo was seriously considering it because he actually had the capability to do so.
"Fairy Chu!"
Gu Mo gestured to Chu Feifei, then leaned in to whisper through voice transmission.
"Is… is that really possible?"
Chu Feifei's eyes were filled with shock upon hearing Gu Mo's words. The Nut Formation being able to block a Foundation Establishment cultivator's attacks had already left her astonished. But now, Gu Mo wanted to take things even further.
"It is. The enemy has already started calling for reinforcements. We have no other choice," Gu Mo said seriously.
"Alright!"
Trusting Gu Mo, Chu Feifei nodded. After all, he had never let her down.
"Senior Sister!"
After briefing Chu Feifei, Gu Mo turned to Yuan Niya and communicated with her via voice transmission.
"Are you insane?!" Yuan Niya gasped after hearing his plan. It was too risky—one wrong move would mean certain death.
"Then, Senior Sister, when will reinforcements from the sect arrive?" Gu Mo countered. He didn't want to take such a risk either, but there was no other way.
"…Fine. Just be careful." Yuan Niya relented, knowing that hesitation would only make things worse.
——
Meanwhile, Jia Qi, having sent out a distress signal, was scanning the formation with his divine sense, trying to find a flaw. If he could break the formation, those three Qi Refinement cultivators inside would be dead in an instant.
However, the Nut Formation, set up by Chu Feifei, was an unconventional array. Traditional methods of breaking formations were ineffective against it. Normally, to break an array, one would apply pressure until the formation stones cracked, creating a weakness that could be exploited.
But the Nut Formation dispersed all incoming pressure onto the nuts themselves, making standard breaking techniques completely useless.
That being said, Jia Qi had just detected a barely noticeable flaw in the formation—something only someone with divine sense could perceive. A typical Qi Refinement cultivator would never have noticed it.
With his reinforcements still on their way, Jia Qi decided to strike first. If he captured his targets now, he wouldn't have to share the generous rewards of this mission.
Of course, he considered the possibility of a trap. But remembering that there were only three Qi Refinement cultivators inside, he found the idea laughable.
"Now's my chance!"
Jia Qi's divine sense locked onto the flaw. The moment it appeared for the second time, he ruthlessly unleashed his lower-grade magic treasure flying sword, sending it streaking forward like a shooting star, piercing directly into the flaw in the formation.
Crack!
The sword penetrated the formation, tearing open a gap. Seeing this, Jia Qi was ecstatic. Without hesitation, he flashed forward and dashed into the formation.
"The game's over, kids."
Inside the formation, Jia Qi landed smoothly, sneering.
But before he could say another word—Crack! A sudden sound interrupted him.
He looked down and saw that he had stepped on a round wooden stick. He had seen this type of thing before—earlier, several late-stage Qi Refinement disciples had been blown to pieces by these devices.
But he was in the Foundation Establishment stage. A trap capable of killing Qi Refinement cultivators couldn't possibly—
Just as this thought crossed his mind, a wave of dread surged through his heart.
"Something's wrong!"
Without hesitation, Jia Qi tried to dodge.
But at that moment, a mud dragon erupted from the ground, lunging at him.
"Get lost!"
Jia Qi roared in terror, smashing the mud dragon with a palm strike.
But the next instant, a force of annihilation erupted beneath his feet.
He managed to take half a step before half of his body was obliterated into dust.
"AAAAHHH!!!"
Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn't help but scream in agony from such a severe injury. His vitality was impressive—despite losing half his body, he wasn't dead yet. But unless he had some legendary resurrection-grade elixir, this was a certain death situation.
Only Nascent Soul cultivators had the ability to survive such injuries by escaping with their Nascent Soul.
"I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"
Knowing he had no chance of survival, Jia Qi's eyes turned savage. He was determined to take Gu Mo and the others down with him before he died.
But before he could make a move, Gu Mo had already charged forward.
That mud dragon? It was Gu Mo's Earth Dragon Spell. Unfortunately, it had failed to completely restrain the enemy, allowing Jia Qi to escape with half his body intact. But Gu Mo had anticipated this.
"Hahaha…!"
Seeing a mere Qi Refinement cultivator daring to attack him, Jia Qi laughed madly. Even in his dying state, being challenged by someone so weak was a joke.
Swish!
A streak of golden sword energy from Gu Mo's fingertips slashed across Jia Qi's mangled body, cutting another wound into him. But at this stage, injuries meant nothing to Jia Qi—he only needed to unleash one final attack, and Gu Mo would die.
Actually, two people would die—because at that moment, Yuan Niya had already dashed out to complete her mission. Gu Mo had entrusted her with eliminating the remaining Qi Refinement cultivators outside, leaving none alive.
"As expected, a single Tier-2 Potato Landmine isn't enough to kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator."
Seeing that his attack had failed to finish Jia Qi off, Gu Mo sighed. The landmine was powerful, but Foundation Establishment cultivators had an extremely keen danger sense. Unless the opportunity was perfect, it was difficult to land a decisive blow with just one explosion.
Still, for someone at Qi Refinement Level Six to shatter the body of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, that was already terrifying. It meant Gu Mo could actually injure enemies of this level.
But Jia Qi was in a final frenzy.
To him, Gu Mo's attacks no longer mattered.
"DIE!"
Jia Qi let out a frenzied roar, preparing to unleash his final attack. But suddenly, a streak of emerald-green light shot from the distance, striking him squarely on the head. In an instant, his head exploded like a watermelon, shattered by the green light.
With his head obliterated and his soul annihilated, the attack he had been preparing naturally dissipated.
That green streak, of course, was the attack from the Tier-2 Peashooter. The heavily wounded and near-death Jia Qi had no strength left to resist and was instantly killed.
Jia Qi's death left Yi San and the others in shock. They never would have imagined that a Foundation Establishment cultivator could die at the hands of a mere Qi Refining cultivator.
"You still dare to lose focus?"
Just as Yi San was reeling in horror over Jia Qi's death, a blazing figure appeared—Yuan Niya. At this moment, she wielded a crimson greatsword, and her originally black-and-red hair had transformed into a fiery red, resembling flames themselves.
Her aura had also reached the peak of Qi Refining. This was the state of igniting one's heartfire—her strongest form.
Moments ago, she had already slaughtered the late-stage Qi Refining cultivators. Now, only Yi San, another peak Qi Refining cultivator, remained.
"You're seeking death!"
Yi San roared, appearing as if he was ready to fight Yuan Niya to the death. But in the next instant, he retracted his aura and turned to flee. Even Jia Qi, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, had perished. Yi San wasn't foolish—if he didn't run now, he wouldn't get another chance.
"Hmph, it's too late to run now."
If Yi San had fled the moment Jia Qi died, he might have had a chance. But now, it was clearly too late.
Especially in his panic, he stepped on a Potato Mine and was blasted into critical condition. Yuan Niya finished him off effortlessly.
With that, the team hunting Gu Mo was completely wiped out.
"We... actually won?"
Yuan Niya extinguished her heartfire, and a wave of weakness swept over her—a side effect of igniting one's heartfire. But rather than her body's exhaustion, she was more shaken by what she had just witnessed—by Gu Mo and his plants.
She had assumed the Peashooter and Potato Mines could only deal with Qi Refining cultivators, but to her shock, they could even threaten those at the Foundation Establishment stage.
It seemed that the very Potato Mine she had stepped on earlier was the same one that had just killed the Foundation Establishment cultivator.
"Don't just stand there—hurry up and clean up the battlefield," Gu Mo called out to Yuan Niya. He hadn't forgotten that their enemies had called for reinforcements. If they moved quickly, they might even set another trap.
"O-okay!"
Snapping out of her daze, Yuan Niya took a pill to ease her fatigue and quickly began handling the corpses.
While Yuan Niya dealt with the Qi Refining cultivators, Chu Feifei worked on repairing the formation. Earlier, Gu Mo had deliberately exposed a flaw in the formation to lure the Foundation Establishment cultivator in—right into the area where he had buried two Tier-2 Potato Mines.
That cultivator likely never expected that Gu Mo possessed mines capable of killing Foundation Establishment cultivators. And unlike the other mines buried outside, these two had been placed inside the formation specifically for this trap.
Unfortunately, one mine alone hadn't been enough for an instant kill, requiring the Tier-2 Peashooter to finish the job. But the outcome was still a success.
"This is... a low-grade magic treasure flying sword!"
Gu Mo approached Jia Qi's corpse and picked up the fallen flying sword. His heartbeat quickened when he recognized its grade—it was actually a magic treasure!
The sword's design was simple, revealing no clues about its original owner. That was great news for Gu Mo—he could use it freely without risk of being traced.
Owning a magic treasure-grade flying sword would significantly boost his combat strength. If he'd had this sword earlier, he could have killed the wounded Foundation Establishment cultivator himself, without needing the Peashooter's finishing blow.
The difference between magic weapons and magic treasures was vast. Magic weapons were merely tools, while magic treasures were true artifacts of power.
Once refined, a magic treasure could be stored inside a cultivator's body, nourished by their spiritual energy, growing stronger and more attuned over time.
However, refining a magic treasure required at least peak Qi Refining cultivation, with Foundation Establishment being the ideal stage. A typical Qi Refining cultivator could attempt it, but the process would be agonizingly slow—like trying to melt metal with a candle flame.
That said, Gu Mo could give it a try. His mist-like spiritual energy met the bare minimum requirement for refining a magic treasure.
Tossing the flying sword into his Black Mist Space for later refining, he continued searching for loot. Soon, he made another major discovery—a palm-sized storage pouch.
In this world of cultivation, storage pouches were rare treasures. In fact, even the most basic storage pouch was as valuable as a low-grade magic treasure.
Not every Foundation Establishment cultivator possessed one. Those without could use the spell "Sleeve-Sized small world technique" to store items instead, though this technique had its limitations—stored objects still weighed on the user. While Foundation Establishment cultivators could carry thousands of pounds effortlessly, spending vast amounts of spirit stones on a storage pouch was often seen as a luxury.
Of course, that was just an excuse for those who couldn't afford one. If given the choice, no one would turn down a storage pouch.
Storage pouches weren't just for carrying items—they also preserved them. Some special materials could only be stored and transported using such spatial artifacts.
Yuan Niya, being a wealthy young lady, had one of her own—gifted by her master. It was through her that Gu Mo had learned so much about storage pouches.
"As expected, only bosses drop the best loot!"
Gu Mo toyed with the pouch. Killing a single Foundation Establishment cultivator had already netted him a low-grade magic treasure flying sword and a storage pouch—and that was without even checking the contents yet.
Injecting spiritual energy into the pouch, he easily opened it. Since its previous owner was dead, the pouch's imprint had faded, making it ownerless. It was said that higher-grade storage rings had more advanced security measures, but that wasn't a concern for Gu Mo at the moment.
Probing inside with his spiritual sense, he quickly scanned its contents—spirit stones, pills, and a jade slip.
That was it.
Jia Qi had been on a mission to assassinate a Qinglu Sect core disciple candidate, so naturally, he hadn't brought anything that could expose his identity. Only some spirit stones and pills for energy recovery and healing were inside.
The quantity wasn't large, but they were high-quality items—mid-grade spirit stones and Tier-2 pills. No low-grade spirit stones or Tier-1 pills were present, as only mid-grade spirit stones and Tier-2 pills could quickly restore a Foundation Establishment cultivator's strength.
Unfortunately for Jia Qi, the Tier-2 Potato Mine had left him on the brink of death, giving him no chance to use these items. They now belonged to Gu Mo.
Finally, Gu Mo turned his attention to the jade slip. Before developing his spiritual sense, he wouldn't have been able to read it. But now, he could directly scan its contents.
(Show your support and read more chapters on my Patreon: [email protected]/psychopet. Thank you for your support!)