Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation.

Chapter 172 Neighborhood Team
Duanmu Qin, Hua Hongling and Zhou the tailor were there to help build their foundation. They were not forced to go to the front line like the family cultivators. They were all patrolling in the northeast direction.

That side mainly faces scattered cultivators from the two states, so it is relatively safe.

However, before Li Ji'an could find a way to contact Duanmu Qin, the situation took a sudden turn.

On the seventh day after the six major sects dispersed the wandering cultivators outside the barrier, the Biyun Sect compromised.

The six major sects compensated Biyun Sect for 60% of the cost of excavating the ruins over the years, and obtained about 30% of the unexcavated area on the northeast side of the entire ruins. The six sects began to work together to excavate.

The Biyun Sect withdrew its defenses and returned to the southwest of the ruins.

However, because the independent cultivators of the two states had been suppressed by the six major sects for a long time and had their roots there, they were unwilling to go against the six major sects, so they all gathered on the west side of the ruins. In addition, the number of independent cultivators who followed the six major sects was even greater than before, and the six sects in the ruins were wary of each other. The Biyun Sect recalled most of its inner disciples to the ruins, and the defense pressure was even greater for a while.

The good thing is that when the inner disciples of Biyun Sect entered the ruins, the outer defense circle was much more casual. Apart from the five major families at the forefront, most of the foundation-building cultivators were familiar with each other and formed their own teams to patrol.

"Hey, Fellow Daoist Li, you, an alchemist, are actually recruited to patrol. It's such a waste of talent." Hua Hongling looked at Li Ji'an in amazement and felt quite sympathetic.

Tailor Zhou had seen this a lot, and he shook his head helplessly: "In the eyes of the sect, it doesn't make much difference whether we casual cultivators have skills or not."

"That's fine, the four of us will huddle together for warmth." Duanmu Qin looked at Li Ji'an and smiled meaningfully.

The three of them just "accidentally" met Li Ji'an today.

"Thank goodness I met you." Li Ji'an said thankfully.

This is also half true. Ever since Wu Maoshan was recalled to the ruins by the Biyun Sect a few days ago, their temporary retirement and slacking team disbanded on its own.

Most of the small patrol teams we encountered later had no intention of accepting us.

"Don't worry, just follow me and I guarantee no one will hurt you." Hua Hongling patted her chest.

"Then I'll have to trouble you three fellow Taoists." Li Ji'an expressed his sincere gratitude.

Having been neighbors for more than ten years, Li Jian has a good understanding of them. Although this relationship is based on his status as an alchemist and the other party's need for exchange, it is still rare.

“Fellow Daoist Li, please change your appearance first,” Tailor Zhou reminded.

Now that there are no monks from the sect leading the team, if they encounter a fight between the two states' independent cultivators, it will be easy to make enemies.

Li Ji'an performed the disguise technique as instructed, but reduced the intensity to a level that their spiritual consciousness could sense, and did not use qi and blood to change his muscles and bones.

Then the four of them went on patrol together.

A few days later, through private communication with Duanmu Qin, Li Ji'an learned the approximate location of the cave, and it was right that he guessed it was three hundred miles away from the magic barrier.

The fact that he could tell the general location meant that he was certain that Li Ji'an would not be able to find it.

This was indeed the case. Li Ji'an and Gua Gua had patrolled that area long ago and found no clues.

The time is not right now, so we need to wait for the opportunity.

As time went on, the independent cultivators on the periphery finally erupted. Because of their large numbers, many of them slipped in through areas with weak defenses.

"Hmm?" That day, the four of them were regulating their breathing on a cliff, and Li Ji'an's consciousness moved.

Not far away, a faint breath was approaching and was about to enter their safe zone.

He is a cultivator in the late stage of Qi training, and has superb earth escape techniques. He can actually escape nearly ten feet underground, which is comparable to the escape techniques of a mid-first-stage monster like Gua Gua who has the talent for earth escape.

Moreover, his breath-concealing technique is also quite good. It is estimated that even an ordinary cultivator in the early stage of foundation building would find it difficult to sense it even if he was standing on the ground.

Li Ji'an ordered Guagua to follow him silently, and if it made any unusual movement, he would swallow it up in one gulp.

Fortunately, it quietly slipped away from the cliff without showing any hostility.

Only after Gua Gua followed him and was almost approaching the ruins did Li Ji'an let Gua Gua return.

This is not the first time this has happened recently.

A few days ago, I met a casual cultivator in the early stage of foundation building who was good at shadow escape.

However, it seemed to be injured and Duanmu Qin sensed its breath.

Fortunately, he showed no hostility and slowly retreated. The four of them watched him leave.

The reason these wandering cultivators were able to sneak in, apart from the fact that they had some magical escape techniques, was mostly because the patrolling cultivators turned a blind eye.

They are all independent cultivators, with no grudges in the past or hatred in the present, and they can all understand each other.

Moreover, for the four of them, the reward of 500 spirit stones for a late Qi training cultivator and 2,000 spirit stones for an early foundation building cultivator was not worth their effort. However, Li Ji'an never let his guard down, and never believed that there were many good people among these casual cultivators who were willing to risk their lives for a chance, so he remained vigilant at all times.

After a few more days, the attack on the front line became more and more intense, and more and more independent cultivators rushed into the barrier.

That day, Li Ji'an sensed from afar four auras of early foundation building.

Guagua immediately followed closely behind him.

They wanted to let them get away, but they never expected that after seeing them from afar, the four people would have bad intentions for some reason.

One of them actually released a spirit snake, which quietly slipped to the feet of the four people and opened its mouth to spit out wisps of poisonous mist.

Li Ji'an didn't think much about it and asked Gua Gua to attack the four people secretly, and then the four people were discovered by Duanmu Qin.

And the poisonous snake was also forced out from the ground by Gua Gua.

Hua Hongling was immediately furious, and rushed forward with a gilded hammer in her hand.

This was also the first time that Li Ji'an saw Hua Hongling fighting. She was obviously a magic cultivator, and she was using her most valuable magic weapon, but it was more like a close combat between physical cultivators.

This also inspired Li Ji'an. With his second-level physical cultivation strength, if he fought in close combat with a magic weapon, the power would be doubled.

If a martial art that combines both physical and technical skills could be created, combat power might be doubled.

The moment Hua Hongling rushed forward, Duanmu Qin suddenly let out a sharp scream. The sound waves shocked their minds, a bit like a soul attack. The four of them all paused for a moment.

And at this moment, Hua Hongling's heavy hammer broke through the air, and the person who was hit first turned into a pool of meat paste in an instant.

Before the remaining three people could react, Tailor Zhou had already quietly jumped onto the treetop and shot an embroidery needle at the last person, blocking his retreat.

"Ding~" The embroidery needle magic weapon hit the opponent's protective magic shield, making a slight sound, but failed to break the shield.

Just as he was about to turn around, a swarm of flying needles came towards him.

……

Li Ji'an stood behind Duanmu Qin and symbolically performed a few explosive slashes and fire snakes.

The power was quite good for these casual cultivators, at least it dimmed one person's protective shield a little.

However, except for Hua Hongling and Duanmuqin who cooperated to kill with one hammer for the first time, the other three became alert and used their own methods.

At once, magical instruments and talismans exploded.

However, after experiencing the battles of the sect's true disciples, their fights looked more and more like a fight between weaklings.

Just as the two sides were fighting, Li Ji'an's consciousness moved and he sensed several powerful auras in the ruins flying towards this side.

In the blink of an eye, four figures were already above the few people.

"Humph! You shameless thief cultivator dares to covet my ancestral relics. You're courting death!"

Swish~ Along with the sound, a bloody knife shadow fell.

Hua Hongling was just about to strike down with a hammer when the person in front of her was suddenly split in two by a flash of knife light, and the cross-section was as smooth as a mirror.

And this one blow directly killed the last two people together.

At the same time, the overflowing sword energy made Hua Hongling, who was close to her, feel a little nervous.

The four of them looked up and saw that they were all familiar faces. The one who put away the sword was Jiang Yunzhou, and he was accompanied by Fu Hanxing, who had defeated him before, and the true disciples of the other two sects.

Now they have become brothers and feel that they met too late.

After Jiang Yunzhou put away his sword, he glanced at the four people below with a gentle expression: "Thank you all for your hard work. These four people will all remember your contributions."

After saying this, there was no further pause, and the four of them continued forward while chatting and laughing.

Hua Hongling came back to her senses and looked at the glaring knife mark in front of her. She held her breath in her chest. If the knife had cut her, the result would have been the same.

Tailor Zhou landed on the ground, sighing inwardly and filled with envy. "This is the sect's true teaching!"

Duanmu Qin narrowed her eyes slightly, a strange look appeared on her face, and she looked at Li Ji'an with a firm gaze.

(End of this chapter)