Chapter 169 Digging a Hole and Stealing Marrow
In the ancient Spring and Autumn City on the border of Anping State and Chiyang State, it is suspected that a peerless dragon marrow was born.

Although the news was concealed by the mayor of the Spring and Autumn Ancient City, there is no wall that is impenetrable in this world, and the news that the peerless dragon marrow was about to be born soon spread privately.

It directly attracted the attention of all major forces within a radius of millions of miles, including some independent cultivators who mastered special skills.

However, the Chunqiu Ancient City belongs to the Anping State, and other forces did not send powerful people to compete for the dragon marrow. Only some young disciples came to join in the fun.

As one of the nine ancient kingdoms in Zhongzhou, Anping State is very powerful and ordinary forces dare not provoke it.

However, it does not include Chiyang State, which is the rival of Anping State.

As peerless dragon marrow is about to be born, the Anping Kingdom has sent Princess Yudie, who is known as the third most beautiful woman in Zhongzhou, to lead a team to pick the dragon marrow that is about to mature.

The Chiyang Kingdom was not willing to be outdone, and directly sent out a great general to lead the army to attack the Chunqiu Ancient City. It seemed that they not only wanted to seize the dragon marrow, but also wanted to bring the Chunqiu Ancient City under the rule of the Chiyang Kingdom.

In Zhongzhou, any place where peerless dragon marrow can be born has the opportunity to evolve into a supreme pure land for cultivation, and it can also produce dragon marrow continuously.

Dragon marrow is born from the essence of dragon veins. Although it takes a long time to be born, as long as the dragon veins are not destroyed, dragon marrow will not be a disposable thing.

Staying outside the ancient city of Spring and Autumn, Li Zhi followed the dragon-seeking monk and traveled among the surrounding mountains and rivers for several days.

The old man sighed: "The arrangements of Anping State are really watertight. There is not even a single flaw."

"Senior, can we only wait? There are more and more people outside the city. If we wait any longer, it will be even more difficult to get the dragon marrow." Li Zhi asked, pretending to know nothing.

After several days of contact, he had already understood the level of this dragon-seeking master.

The method of finding dragons and determining their veins is a bit wild, and it should not be the method of a dragon hunter who has undergone systematic training.

It is estimated that he got some secret methods of finding dragons by chance, and then practiced them in the mountains for many years, which led to his current skills.

He is only about a hundred years old, but he has already reached the middle stage of the Dragon Transformation Secret Realm. Even among the major forces, he is not considered a weakling. This shows how much dragon marrow he has obtained for cultivation.

The life span of the cultivators in the Dragon Transformation Secret Realm is generally between 500 and 800 years. Logically speaking, a cultivator in the Dragon Transformation Secret Realm who is around 100 years old is in the golden years of cultivation and should not be so old.

Li Zhi guessed that not only did he have ordinary aptitude, but even the scriptures he practiced were probably the kind that were not presentable, and not all the dragon marrow he had consumed were mature dragon marrow.

Before the dragon marrow is fully mature, it will breed unknown murderous intent inside. Only fully mature dragon marrow can be considered a fairy treasure. It is estimated that this dragon seeker did not understand this at the beginning, so he took a lot of immature dragon marrow, which not only did not extend his lifespan, but made his body age prematurely.

I guess he was aware of his own condition, so he came to the Spring and Autumn Ancient City to look for mature, top-quality dragon marrow to replenish his body.

Facing Li Zhi's question, the old man pondered for a moment and said, "The dragon marrow in Chunqiu City should not be fully mature yet. We don't need to worry. When the army of Chiyang Country attacks the city, the defense formation of Chunqiu Ancient City will inevitably have flaws. At that time, it will be time for us to enter the city to pick the dragon marrow."

After waiting outside the city for another two days, I suddenly heard the sound of beasts galloping.

Li Zhi turned his head and saw a huge iron-blooded flag appearing in the sky. Following the flag were endless barbarian knights, each wearing armor and holding sharp spears. Their military might was so great and their arrogance was overwhelming. In the blink of an eye, they arrived in front of the Spring and Autumn Ancient City.

The soldiers of Anping State immediately climbed the city wall to fight.

Soon, Li Zhi saw Princess Yudie and her personal guards also coming to the top of the city wall of the Spring and Autumn Ancient City.

Seeing that a war was about to break out, the old man said to Li Zhi, "Little Taoist priest, let's leave here first. A battle between two armies is no joke. Once you are dragged into the battlefield, even if I have the cultivation of the Dragon Transformation Secret Realm, I can't easily escape."

"I will listen to you, senior." Li Zhi had no intention of acting on his own. He obediently followed Master Xunlong away from the battlefield.

The old man was very satisfied with Li Zhi's performance. After he left the battlefield, he said to Li Zhi, "It seems that the Chiyang Kingdom sent a large army here not only for the dragon marrow, but also to capture Princess Yudie. It's a pity that I will never be able to enjoy such a beauty in my lifetime."

"Senior's dragon-hunting technique is profound and unfathomable. When you become a powerful man, I am sure that the King of Anping will use Princess Yudie as a bargaining chip to win you over." Seeing that the old man was so confident, Li Zhi directly used his great deception technique on him, and he was madly outputting all kinds of compliments.

The old man was flattered by Li Zhi and burst into laughter. Then he said with a mysterious look on his face: "People in the world are short-sighted and cannot see my extraordinary talent. Only you, the little Taoist priest, can see my mysterious skills.

If I had not received guidance from a famous teacher when I first embarked on the path of cultivation, which delayed decades of golden cultivation time, my current achievements, relying on my secret dragon-hunting technique, would be much higher than those of the princes and princesses of the ancient countries.

Little Taoist priest, I will show you my skills later, so that you can experience the supreme power of us dragon hunters.

Why do you dare to claim that you have a method for finding dragons and a way to control them? "

With less than 30% of his deception skills, the old man's true nature was revealed. He even disregarded the princes and princesses of the ancient country. Instead, Li Zhi became a little curious about his dragon-hunting skills.

Li Zhi had already seen the direction of the dragon veins near the ancient city of Chuqiu, and determined that a "true dragon orb" was being nurtured in the city.

It should produce top-grade dragon marrow.

But he was not in a hurry to enter the city. Instead, he was curious about what method the old man would use to fish in troubled waters.

At the same time, the army of Chiyang Kingdom began to attack the city without giving the soldiers of Chunqiu City any time to prepare.

"Boom! Rumble!"

The army formed a battle formation and released a variety of powerful attack spells, bombarding the city defense formation of the Spring and Autumn Ancient City, making bursts of roaring sounds.

The light curtain guarding the ancient Chunqiu City shook, and many monks on the city wall were also frightened. The intensity of the Chiyang Kingdom's attack was far beyond the intensity shown in previous battles, which made them have a bad premonition.

On the top of the city wall, the Lord of Chunqiu City, who saw this change, said to Princess Yudie: "Your Highness, the army of Chiyang Country is attacking fiercely this time. There may be danger on the top of the city wall. Please return to the City Lord's Mansion for a while."

"City Lord He, you don't need to worry about my safety with Uncle Qi here. Command the army well and make sure to repel the attack from Chiyang Kingdom. Don't weaken the military might of Anping Kingdom." Princess Yudie's voice was sonorous and powerful, full of an inspiring power, as if she was determined to fight to the death with the Chiyang Kingdom's army.

His words also made the soldiers on the city wall feel at ease, as if they felt the power of the princess being with them.

The mayor of Chunqiu City said to a middle-aged monk beside Princess Yudie: "Senior Qi, this battle is full of dangers and the future is uncertain. The princess's safety is in your hands."

"City Lord He, just focus on commanding the army to fight. With Qi here, no one can disturb the princess's safety." As Princess Yudie's protector, he is a truly powerful person.

As long as he wanted to leave, it would be almost impossible for the army on the ground to stop him.

After the battle started, the monks who had gathered outside the city also moved away from the battlefield, fearing that they would be affected.

Li Zhi also followed the old man to a forest a hundred miles away from Chunqiu City.

The old man took out a Feng Shui compass and after blasting dozens of large holes in the mountain, he finally found the trace of the underground dragon vein. He said excitedly, "I knew that Chunqiu City could not contain all the dragon veins hidden deep under the earth. After the city defense formation was disturbed, there was indeed a dragon energy leak here."

Then, he shouted to Li Zhi, "Little Taoist priest, don't look at the battle over there, let's start working."

Only then did Li Zhi turn his eyes away from the battlefield.

Originally, he was thinking about joining the army to gain some experience after arriving in Zhongzhou, but after seeing the performance of both sides on the battlefield, the idea of ​​joining the army disappeared instantly.

It is simply ridiculous that mortals are participating in a siege battle of this level.

As one of the nine ancient kingdoms in Zhongzhou, the level of war between Chiyang Kingdom and Anping Kingdom is really disappointing.

Sure enough, in the world of cultivation, ordinary armies will never play a decisive role.

"Senior, what should we do next?" Li Zhi shook off the distracting thoughts in his mind, looked at the old man with some confusion and asked.

The old man took out a shovel and handed it to Li Zhi, saying, "Dig along the direction of this underground dragon vein. I am sure I can dig a tunnel that leads directly to the dragon's lair."

Li Zhi said: "Why not follow the dragon vein and escape into the dragon cave?"

The old man acted like a senior and preached, "What good things are you thinking about? The dragon vein is the essence of the earth, how can ordinary people enter it. Moreover, the dragon vein in Chunqiu City must have been set up with powerful restrictions by the powerful people of Anping Country. Once they sense the unknown fluctuations of magic power, they will activate the magic circle to attack the intruder."

Li Zhi asked in confusion: "So digging a hole can bypass the magic circle?"

The old man's eyes flashed, and he revealed a mysterious smile and said, "When the time comes, you will understand."

Afterwards, Li Zhi and the old man began to dig a hole underground.

Fortunately, both of them were cultivators from the Dragon Transformation Secret Realm, and they dug the hole very quickly. In just over an hour, they had dug out a winding tunnel over 200 miles long underground, leading directly to the city defense formation of the Spring and Autumn Ancient City.

Looking at the formation barrier in front of him, Li Zhi said: "Senior, there is a formation ahead, and I can't dig it."

The old man said, "Little Taoist priest, please wait a moment while I prepare."

Afterwards, the old man took out several magical instruments and set up an altar in front of the barrier.

After the altar was set up, the old man said to Li Zhi: "Little Taoist, donate some blood. My magic circle needs our blood as a guide to ensure that the two of us can pass through the barrier in front of us smoothly."

Li Zhi did not doubt him and asked curiously, "How much blood do you need?"

A gleam of light flashed in the old man's eyes, and he said with a smile: "More than ten drops will be enough."

Li Zhi asked again: "Senior, what is this method?"

The old man seemed to be slightly impatient, as if he felt that Li Zhi's questions were too many, so he said, "I will tell you after we get to the dragon's lair."

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Okay then."

Raising his right hand, a sword energy instantly flew out from Li Zhi's fingertips, but it did not cut his skin, but instead cut off the old man's head.

The old man's head fell to the ground, and the blood from his neck immediately spurted onto the altar.

The altar glowed instantly, sucking all the blood from the old man. In an instant, the old man's body turned into a mummy, and the magic array began to breed a foul energy that could dissolve the array barrier. The old man did not die on the spot, but his face showed an extremely terrified look, and his soul was about to escape from his head.

Unfortunately, Li Zhi would never let him leave. He simply reached out and suppressed his soul, then searched his soul.

In a moment, the old man's soul turned into ashes.

Li Zhi shook his clean hands and said to himself, "You want to sacrifice my blood to the melting formation? Isn't this just showing off your skills in front of Guan Gong? Do you really think I'm a fledgling Taoist priest?"

Then, Li Zhi waved his hand and took out a large pile of things from the dried corpse left behind by the old man.

There are quite a lot of things, but they are all of low value, and many of them look like burial objects.

There was only a small white jade tripod that looked valuable.

When he opened the small tripod, he found thirteen drops of mature dragon marrow inside, but it was just the most ordinary dragon marrow.

After sealing the small tripod again, Li Zhi began to sort out the pile of things.

In addition to more than 12,000 kilograms of pure source, the only thing that aroused Li Zhi's interest was a piece of torn animal skin covered with words.

What was recorded on the animal skin was exactly the secret dragon-hunting technique that the old man had used before.

Li Zhi immediately began to read it carefully.

It records the methods of finding dragons and controlling dragons, which are very sophisticated methods of finding and controlling dragon veins.

But the key part is missing, which is why the old man's dragon-hunting method seems a bit wild and crude.

With the "Feng Shui Burial Sutra" as his foundation, Li Zhi quickly integrated the two secret methods.

Then he smashed the old man's body and the pile of magic weapons into powder with one palm. Finally, Li Zhi only collected the small white jade tripod containing dragon marrow and the pure source.

At this time, the filthy energy bred by the altar had been fully bred, and the dark energy directly melted out a round hole with a diameter of more than one foot on the city defense formation.

Then, Li Zhi stepped over the round hole and walked directly into the dragon vein.

At the same time, in the City Lord's Mansion, Princess Yudie looked worried and glanced at the situation outside from time to time.

The battle outside the city wall was extremely intense, which made people feel very uneasy.

Not long after, the dragon hunters brought by Princess Yudie came to the City Lord's Mansion to inform her that the dragon marrow was about to mature and they could prepare to pick it.

Princess Yudie immediately said to the protector, "Uncle Qi, let's go. As long as we bring the dragon marrow back to the capital and make this place unprofitable, the army of Chiyang will definitely stop fighting and retreat."

Afterwards, under the guidance of the dragon hunter, Princess Yudie came to a mountain range covered by layers of formations.

Within the mountains and rivers, dragon energy rises, purple energy is luxurious, and there are faint shadows of auspicious beasts flickering in the dragon energy, as if they are going to turn this piece of mountain into a pure land for spiritual practice.

After arriving at a place marked by formation flags, the dragon seeker introduced: "Princess, the dragon's lair is nine hundred meters below the formation flags."

Princess Yudie nodded slightly and said, "Open the way ahead."

The Dragon Seeker said, "Yes, Princess."

Then, the dragon hunter took out a special magical tool shaped like a shuttle and began to drill a hole under the ground.

During the drilling process, the ground veins were not damaged in any way, nor was the normal flow of dragon energy disturbed.

Soon, he drilled out of a cave 860 meters deep, and then encountered solid rock. The dragon seeker said, "Princess, my magic power is limited, and I can only dig here. There is still a section of the road leading to the dragon's lair, and I need Senior Qi to help."

The guardian beside Princess Yudie said, "Just show me the way, I will help you."

Under the guidance of the dragon hunter, the guards dug a cave on the hard rock that twisted and turned downward. They stopped only when they finally touched a rock that exuded a strong dragon aura.

The dragon hunter said, "Princess, penetrate the dragon scale flakes in front of you, and you will find the dragon cave inside. But you can't open it now. Only when the dragon energy in the dragon scale flakes is completely restrained, will it be the best time to enter, so as not to affect this dragon cave. By then, the dragon marrow will be fully mature, and the princess can go and collect the dragon marrow herself."

The dragon hunter seemed to have no intention of entering the dragon's lair.

Uncle Qi also spoke to Princess Yudie at this moment: "Princess, since we have arrived at the dragon's lair, Xu Cong and I will wait for you outside to prevent any accidents."

Princess Yudie's expression changed slightly, and she said, "Uncle Qi, what are you doing?"

Uncle Qi said, "Top-grade dragon marrow is hard to come by once in a hundred years. I'm afraid that when the dragon marrow is born, something strange will happen. Just in case, I'd better guard outside."

After saying that, he left the cave with the dragon hunter.

After seeing their performance, a hint of satisfaction flashed in Princess Yudie's eyes.

The dragon marrow here is extraordinary. It may be able to extend the life of a powerful person by a hundred years. It is definitely a treasure that will make people jealous.

The fewer people who know about the exact amount of dragon marrow and its quality inside the dragon's cave, the better.

While Princess Yudie was waiting for the dragon marrow to mature, Li Zhi had already taken the lead and entered the dragon cave along the dragon vein.

And he didn't enter by digging a hole. Li Zhi directly controlled the dragon's nest along the dragon vein and escaped into the underground dragon cave.

After entering the dragon's cave, Li Zhi looked around. The dragon's cave here was an egg-shaped cave space with a diameter of about three meters.

The surrounding rock walls are squeezed from rocks that look like dragon scales, like a natural dragon egg.

Inside the dragon's lair, there is a spiritual pool formed entirely from the liquefied energy of heaven and earth.

In the spirit pool, dragon energy was surging, all converging towards thirty-six drops of deep purple, crystal clear dragon marrow. A fragrance similar to that of elixir of immortality emanated from the dragon marrow, and at the same time, fragments of mysterious laws flickered in the dragon marrow.

It is truly a treasure land that captures the essence of heaven and earth and the mysteries of all things.

Afterwards, Li Zhi sat beside the spirit pool and carefully observed the maturation process of the dragon marrow. Soon a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes.

It seemed that he saw the truth that the dragon marrow contained fragments of the law.

He took out the small white jade tripod and poured the thirteen drops of mature dragon marrow in the tripod directly into the spirit pool.

Afterwards, he used the mini dragon nest as a medium to control the dragon energy of this place, and infused the essence of heaven and earth in the spirit pool into the thirteen drops of dragon marrow.

Soon, the thirteen drops of transparent dragon marrow turned purple under the infection of the spiritual liquid, and the dragon energy contained in them became richer.

Is it really possible?

Afterwards, Li Zhi used the dragon-controlling technique he had just acquired to construct a small dragon's nest for the thirteen drops of dragon marrow in the spirit pool, using the dragon energy of the place to nurture them.

In the spirit pool, the original thirty-six drops of dragon marrow that had not yet matured seemed to mature much slower because of the addition of these thirteen drops of dragon marrow.

Upon seeing this, Li Zhi shrunk the mini dragon's nest and placed it directly at the bottom of the spirit pool. Then the ninety-nine little dragons transformed from dragon energy on the dragon's nest began to swim in the surrounding dragon veins.

Soon, the dragon energy was attracted, which was several times more than before.

This is to replenish the dragon energy needed for the thirty-six drops of dragon marrow.

As the dragon energy in the dragon vein was attracted into the dragon cave on a large scale, the dragon energy in the dragon scale rock also disappeared.

Upon seeing this, Princess Yudie broke through the rock in front of her without saying a word and entered the dragon's lair.

But before she could make any move, Li Zhi took the lead and grabbed Princess Yudie in his hand with the Heavenly Transformation Palm.

"Where did this reckless girl come from? She almost destroyed my pool of dragon marrow." There was a sense of extreme dissatisfaction in his words.

Princess Yudie was also frightened by this scene.

All his magical powers were sealed, and it seemed that he could no longer move except being able to speak.

"Who are you and why are you here?" Seeing that Li Zhi merely suppressed her but did not kill her immediately, Princess Yudie calmed herself down and asked.

It’s a pity that her magic power was sealed at this time. In this dark underground dragon cave, she couldn’t see Li Zhi’s true face at all.

All you can see is the faint spiritual light emanating from the spirit pool and the dragon marrow emitting a fragrant scent in the pool.

"I am just a passer-by. Princess Yudie, if you don't want to be captured, you'd better not try to activate the talisman in your body. Otherwise, I can't guarantee that I won't do something to you. After all, there are many people in the world who covet the beauty of the third most beautiful woman in Zhongzhou."

While waiting for the dragon marrow to mature, Li Zhi had nothing to do, so he wanted to tease Princess Yudie in front of him.

When Princess Yudie saw Li Zhi waving his hand to seal the hole she had blasted open with dragon scale rock again, a trace of fear flashed in her eyes.

After feeling the disappearance of the giant hand that was imprisoning her, Princess Yudie was unable to call upon any magic power in her body. It seemed that her soul and the secret realm in her body were sealed by a mysterious force. After taking two steps back, she asked again.

"who are you?"

(End of this chapter)