Mortal: Fairy Song Yu has issued you a task.

Chapter 82 Abandoned Insect Chamber

Passing through the portal of light, Lin Jingchu was greeted by a tranquil and crystal-clear ice garden. Countless ice sculptures of flowers and trees bloomed in competition, shimmering and colorful under the glowing crystals of the dome, creating a scene that seemed like a dream.

Lin Jingchu remained invisible as he passed through the ice flower courtyard and began exploring this nameless ancient cultivation cave.

Just as Liu Yu and the others had said, this place was indeed an abandoned cave. The first place he found was the alchemy room, which was completely empty. Not to mention the elixirs, there was not even a trace of the alchemy furnace.

The herb garden, the weapon-refining room... the same was true for each place they explored. It seemed that the valuable items had been packed up and taken away by the cave owner when he left. As a result, the protective barriers set up in each room were all closed.

It wasn't entirely fruitless. Lin Jingchu discovered more than ten ice-type spiritual plants in some obscure corner, some of which were at least a thousand years old.

However, these spiritual plants are not products of abundant spiritual energy, but rather rely on extremely cold environments to grow, thus their uses are limited and their value is inevitably somewhat inferior.

Lin Jingchu did not covet too much. He carefully dug up only seven plants that were growing in the most hidden locations, and tried his best to restore the surrounding traces and erase the signs of picking, so as not to let Liu Yu and the others notice anything amiss after entering.

At that time, his hidden "oriole" might be exposed.

Lin Jingchu wasn't afraid of a direct confrontation with the four from the Yu Ling Sect. If he used all his methods, he was confident he could capture all four. However, doing so would likely leave him trapped and dead.

After observing along the way, it became clear that opening the cave entrance was beyond the capabilities of one person. Therefore, the best course of action was to arrive and leave quietly, without leaving a trace.

While Liu Yu and her group were waiting in the passageway for the ice dragon to dissipate, Lin Jingchu also arrived at the deepest part of the cave, a spacious stone chamber.

"This is?"

Lin Jingchu strode forward, his gaze landing on the center of the stone chamber. Two long, worm-like empty shells, resembling giant centipedes, were coiled and intertwined on the ground, with two pairs of broken, crystalline wing fragments scattered beside them.

"Could it be a six-winged centipede?"

The six-winged frost centipede is an ancient and wondrous insect containing the bloodline of a true dragon. It is incredibly fast, and once it is cultivated into an adult, the cold air it exhales can freeze thousands of miles away.

It would normally take thousands of years to cultivate something to this extent.

Lin Jingchu had previously guessed that this ancient cultivation cave was likely the place where Liu Yu obtained the eggs of the Six-Winged Frost Centipede. Now, seeing the distinctive insect shell with his own eyes, his guess was almost certainly confirmed.

Lin Jingchu suppressed his slightly accelerated heartbeat, first using his divine sense to carefully scan every corner of the stone chamber to confirm that there were no hidden restrictions or traps, before his figure flickered and he rushed to the side of the insect corpse.

The six-winged frost centipede possesses the bloodline of a true dragon. Judging from the size of its shell and the wings left on the ground, these two were at least level five demonic beasts in life, and the value of their shells and materials is immeasurable.

However, a problem now lies ahead. The two insect shells are over ten zhang long, and storage bags simply cannot hold them all. If only a portion of the resources are taken, Liu Yu and the others will surely become suspicious when they enter later.

"Alright, consider this insect corpse as payment for your hard work in opening the door," Lin Jingchu said to himself, bending down to carefully search the insect corpse's body. After a moment, a look of joy flashed in his eyes as he pulled out two items.

Two demon cores gleaming with a deep blue, cold light, and more than ten insect eggs as smooth and warm as jade.

Lin Jingchu first put the demon core into his storage bag, and then carefully sensed the insect egg. The insect egg was like a dead object, like cold jade, and he could not sense any fluctuations of life.

However, considering that Liu Yu would later successfully hatch several larvae, he put them all into the spirit beast bag he had previously obtained from the black-faced calamity cultivator.

Despite his gains, Lin Jingchu was not in a hurry to leave. A very faint blue luster appeared in the center of his right eye.

The Ming and Qing Dynasty Spirit Eye (fake) can see through fog and stone, but it is ineffective when encountering restrictions or spiritual interference.

All the protective barriers around this cave have been closed, so this seemingly useless spiritual eye ability is finally coming in handy. He used his spiritual eye to re-examine the areas he had previously passed through, and this place was no exception.

He had assumed this place would be the same, and that there would be no more discoveries. However, when his gaze swept across the rock wall facing the entrance of the stone chamber, he suddenly stopped.

In that pale blue field of vision, about three feet deep behind the rock wall, the outline of a small secret room could be vaguely seen!

Lin Jingchu arrived at the wall, extended his index finger, and tapped the rock face very lightly with his knuckle.

"Tap, tap."

The sound was deep and resonant, without any hollow echo. He then ran his fingertips over every uneven part of the rock face, but found no hidden mechanisms or gaps.

He activated his spiritual eyes, scrutinizing the entire stone wall meticulously, not missing an inch, but still found nothing. Just as he was about to give up, his gaze inadvertently swept over the spot where the base of the wall met the ground.

A tiny magic circle, extremely well hidden and almost blending into the ice and rock patterns on the ground, came into view.

With the discovery made, things became much easier. Lin Jingchu's spirits lifted, and he immediately squatted down, focusing intently on studying the concealment formation.

Meanwhile, inside the outer ice hall, the eighteen ice dragons formed from the cold air finally released all the accumulated cold air, dissipating one after another and turning into countless ice crystals that fell from the sky.

Seeing that the time was right, Liu Yu and the other three, who had been waiting anxiously in the passageway, rushed impatiently through the icy jade gate and arrived at the ice wall. By this time, the gate of light had already disappeared.

They had no choice but to cast the spell again to open it. As soon as the portal reappeared, the man surnamed He was the first to plunge into it.

Lin Jingchu, who had always been a shadowy figure, did not rush to follow this time, but instead leisurely remained outside the light gate.

If the clone can open the hidden chamber in time, all the better. If not, it's fine; it can simply come out and reunite with the main body.

We will then wait directly by the cold pool for Liu Yu and his group to emerge. Once they open the entrance to the outside world, whether or not we make a move against them will depend on our own mood.

The tranquility of the Ice Crystal Garden was abruptly shattered behind the portal.

The figures of Liu Yu and the other three appeared one after another. The moment they landed, they were all stunned by the ingenious ice crystal world in front of them, and their breath caught in their throats.

But this moment of amazement lasted only a brief instant; the four immediately began to explore carefully. The alchemy room, the meditation room, the storage room…

Just as the four were getting closer to the deepest chamber of insect corpses—

A very faint "click" sound rang out. The rock wall in front of Lin Jingchu's clone slid open to the left and right, revealing the secret chamber.

An ancient magic array, shaped like an altar and about ten feet square, occupied the entire secret chamber.

Lin Jingchu, the true form of the figure in the hall, suddenly focused his gaze and took out the ancient jade tablet he had obtained from Deacon Yang. The shape of the runes and the ancient charm of the two were exactly the same.

However, neither the group from the Yuling Sect who were exploring the cave nor Lin Jingchu, who had made new discoveries, were aware that the situation outside had quietly changed.

The six Demon Flame Sect disciples who had infiltrated the riverbed searched carefully, but failed to find any valuable clues.

The red-clad man with the sinister face at the head of the group immediately reported the situation to the young master, Lian Feihua.

Shortly after the message was sent, more than a dozen figures appeared on the distant horizon, riding various magical artifacts and speeding towards them, with a striking crimson light among them!

It was Lian Feihua who personally led people to arrive after receiving the message, and that crimson escape light was naturally that Core Formation cultivator surnamed Zhao.

"Your subordinate is incompetent!" Upon seeing Lian Feihua arrive, the sinister man hurriedly bowed and begged for forgiveness. "Using secret techniques to observe from afar, I did indeed see the Yu Ling Sect group open a passage formation here. I arrived too late, and there are no traces or clues left at the scene."