Chapter 109: Fragile Treasure

  Those three were not brainless and reckless, they carefully walked towards the mountain wall, each taking out their defensive magic treasures, in case something went wrong, they could retreat in time.

  As they approached within a few dozen feet, the countless vines did not launch an attack, and the three of them secretly rejoiced, becoming even more certain that Su Che could enter safely, and so could they - these vines were definitely a type of plant that was close to humans... The first vine to come into contact with Su Che seemed to be the leader of all the vines, looking thicker and longer than the others. At this moment, it was the first to react, slowly moving towards the person on the far left.

  Because it was slow and didn't show any intention of attacking, the person hesitated for a moment and, like Su Che, smiled and extended his right hand in a friendly manner.

  The tendril leader wrapped around his arm and slowly approached his cheek... The man plucked up the courage to maintain a smile, thinking that he would also enjoy the same treatment as Su Che, being gently stroked on the face by this tendril. But unexpectedly... Swish!

  The tendril suddenly accelerated, piercing through one of his eye sockets into his brain, and the man didn't even have time to struggle or let out a pained cry before he was dead, and his defensive treasure hadn't even been activated.

  Zī zī zī zī...... The vine emitted a strange sound, shrinking and expanding like a tentacle-shaped straw, and began to suck out brain pulp and blood.

  Such a sudden change frightened the other two people pale, and they hastily activated their defensive treasures, speeding up their feet to escape from this place.

  But they had gone too close, and in an instant, the vines entwined them.

  Ka-cha-cha sounds, two defensive treasures shattered in response, just a glance, and countless vines were crushed into powder.

  Hehehe...... The two of them suddenly started screaming in agony, because the vines wrapped around their bodies had suddenly sprouted dense, thorny spikes that pierced into their flesh, sucking out their bodily fluids like syringes.

  In just a few breaths, two living people turned into skin-and-bone corpses.

  "This is..."

  Including Fei Yun and Zheng Rong, the four onlookers were shocked, retreating over a dozen zhang in fright, and secretly wondering why the vines didn't attack Su Che.

  Only Fei Yun seemed to have a sudden realization: "I've long heard that he's a spiritual grass doctor on Xuán Jī Peak, with the special ability to communicate intimately with plants. It seems it's really true..."

  Su Che, who had just entered the cave, also heard the mournful cries coming from outside the gate. Moreover, through Lao Hei's spiritual vision, he saw the tragic fate of those three people and said to himself once again: "I told you so, following me will only get you killed faster."

  The cave is exceptionally spacious inside, with a height of over 20 feet, like a giant's residence.

  Some ancient books describe that in the distant past, the sorcerer tribe was normally a group of tall people, nearly one zhang (about 3.3 meters) high, which can be considered as giants by ordinary people. However, once they transformed, they would become ten times, or even hundreds and thousands of times larger, at which point they could be considered truly gigantic.

  The Wuzu warriors can transform into hundred-zhang giants, the tribal leader 'Dawu' can transform into thousand-zhang giants, and the legendary 'Zuwu' can transform into a body that reaches the sky and stands on the ground for ten thousand zhang. Just listening to it makes one feel unbelievable.

  Su Che took out the illuminating crystal, and roughly looked around. The cave dwelling, which had not been inhabited for tens of millions of years, was still extremely clean inside, with very little dust accumulated. This was not surprising, as cultivators' caves could be set up with a permanent dust-removing array, achieving this effect.

  The living habits of the ancient witch tribe have remained relatively primitive in some aspects, so there are not many decorations inside the cave, except for stone tables and beds, as well as a few grid-like compartments carved into the stone walls to hold some ornaments.

  Seeing these exhibits, Su Che was secretly excited and thought: "It's them!"

  Arriving in front of a grid, Su Che looked at a furnace-like decoration and pondered that this might be a pretty good elixir furnace, which could be taken into the immortal prison to be used by the alchemist.

  Lao Hei carefully detected for a while and confirmed that there were no deadly mechanisms inside the cave, only then did Su Che cautiously reach out to grab the furnace that was over one foot tall.

  But unexpectedly, as soon as his fingers touched it, with a slight brushing sound, it shattered into a pile of powder!

  "It's broken!"

  Su Che sighed in regret and was even more certain that this furnace was indeed a high-quality treasure, but due to the erosion of time, it had completely decayed.

  Here is the translation:

  Spiritual treasures below the Lingbao level, under the condition of being unattended, will gradually weaken their spiritual surname as time passes. When their spiritual surname is completely lost, they will even decay faster than some ordinary objects. Most raw minerals can be exposed to air and remain intact for millions of years, but spiritual treasures cannot. Although they can easily shatter or cut various minerals during their peak period... Spiritual treasures above the Lingbao level often possess a spirit or have produced spiritual intelligence, which enables them to have the ability to "survive" on their own. They can automatically absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and it is said that they can coexist with heaven and earth without external destruction.

  "Try a few more things..."

  Su silently hoped that his luck wouldn't be too bad, and among the other items of 'antiques', if one of them was still intact as a magic treasure, it would mean that at least it was a spiritual treasure, then he would have made a big profit.

  It broke again, another axe-shaped decorative item.

  Su Che gently shook his head.

  Shattered again, another Falun-style decorative piece.

  Shattered again... Bang!

  The last piece of furniture, although it was the ugliest in style, surprisingly didn't break!

  Su Che was overjoyed, his heart racing slightly as he took the vase-shaped decorative item into his hands, it was intact and undamaged!

  "But the quantity seems a bit off...... 'Master, don't look at it anymore, it's just a jar, a very pure jar. It might be used to pickle vegetables, but it's definitely not a treasure.'" The old black man in the immortal prison reminded with a stifled smile.

  "What? How can it be?"

  Su Che was shocked and extremely unwilling: "A broken pot, how can it be perfectly preserved for tens of millions of years?"

  "Master, things made by the ancient witch tribe are generally quite durable. Moreover, this is a small Miao Xianjing, the holy land of the witch tribe. Any object used by the witch tribe will be protected by the power of the seal." Old Black scratched his head and said: "It should be so, I'm just guessing."

  Is it just a basin?

  Bang! Su Che didn't give up and knocked two more times, finally confirming that it really wasn't a treasure.

  Put it back, even if it's not a treasure, you can't destroy it at will, lest you be punished by the seal of the holy land. So, Su Che put the urn back gently again.

  "In a cave like this, could it be that we've gained nothing?" Su Che secretly shook his head, wondering if his luck was a bit... "It's not entirely without gain." Lao Hei reminded him: "Master, look at that pile of stone toys in the corner, they seem to be some high-grade refining materials."

  Su Che hastily walked over and saw more than a dozen small objects with rough workmanship in a corner, including small chickens, small deer, and small balls... They looked like children's toys.

  However, upon closer inspection, the little chicken turned out to be carved from deep-sea ink jade, while the small deer was pinched out of crimson blood gold. The metal ball was actually a whole piece of Extreme Steel Mother... "They are all extremely valuable top-grade refining materials, no wonder they can last for millions of years without decaying." Su Che thought to himself: "I reckon these materials originally belonged to some ancient cultivator, who was killed by the master of this cave. Since the witch tribe doesn't use magical artifacts and isn't skilled in refining equipment, they simply turned them into toys for their children to play with..."

  "Not bad, at least I didn't return empty-handed."

  Su Che put all these things into the Xian prison, such precious ancient refining materials are now rare in the current Xiuzhen world, of course, they are not willing to sell them for spiritual stones, but want to keep them until their strength is sufficient, use them to refine instruments, or exchange with others, each exchanging what they need.

  At this time, the four people waiting outside the cave were engaged in some kind of conspiracy.

  Fei Yun was worried about Su Che, fearing that he had encountered some kind of danger inside the cave. Suddenly, she heard someone transmit a voice to her: "Fellow Taoist, the person who just entered the cave clearly has some special skills and can coexist peacefully with the plants in the Xiaomixian realm. This way, all the treasures will be swallowed up by him alone, and we won't get anything."

  By this time, Fei Yun had already judged that the person who was transmitting sound to her was a cultivator with eight-character eyebrows and not Zheng Rong of the Tian Xuan Sect. Tian Wu Feng, also from the Tian Xuan Sect, could recognize Zheng Rong, but now she herself had changed greatly in appearance, so Zheng Rong couldn't recognize her.

  Fei Yun transmitted a voice back to the Eight Trigrams Eyebrow Taoist: "What do you want? Just say it directly."

  "My intention is that after a while, when he comes out, we'll catch him off guard and join forces to subdue him. Then we can think of ways to control him and make him help us get the treasure." The Eight Trigrams Browed Taoist replied: "Or perhaps, let him teach us his method of communicating with plants."

  "I don't care." Fei Yun's expression remained natural as he transmitted his voice: "Have you asked the other two?"

  "After communicating with them, both of them have agreed to my suggestion, only you, fellow Taoist, are left." The eight-character eyebrowed immortal said with a flickering gaze.

  "Did Zheng Rong agree as well?" Fei Yun's heart skipped a beat, and she thought resentfully: "You can know a person's face but not their heart. Zheng Rong was considered a good person on Tianwu Peak, yet he didn't care about the camaraderie of fellow disciples and was willing to join hands with others to harm Su Che."

  "Alright, let's work together then."

  "Excellent, Fellow Taoist is indeed wise."

  The eight-character eyebrow repairer was overjoyed in his heart, and with that, the four of them joined forces, taking down the guy 4 to 1, catching him off guard, shouldn't be a problem.

  Since all four of them had already agreed, there was no need to transmit the sound anymore. He called out: "Three fellow Taoists, let's go a bit further and discuss the specific details."

  "Good."

  Fei Yun, Zheng Rong and another sturdy young man nodded together.

  （）