Opening the storage bags and inspecting their contents, Zhang Ling's expression turned strange.
It wasn't that these storage bags contained no treasures, but rather that they were filled with quite a few items. There were over a dozen magical artifacts alone, along with other treasures.
Inside one of the storage bags, he even found the Core Formation Pill that Old Daoist Yangshan had been holding. He carefully examined the pill, but unfortunately, it was indeed a useless pill.
Obtaining a precious but useless pill gave Zhang Ling a peculiar feeling.
In the world of cultivation, although useless pills are incompletely refined medicines that cultivators generally avoid consuming, they still have some value.
It is said that many sects use these useless pills to feed demonic beasts. Useless pills contain a lot of medicinal toxins, but they also condense the spiritual power of the medicine. Some demonic beasts with strong physiques are said to be able to ignore the medicinal toxins.
Furthermore, cultivators who raise poisonous insects and beasts often collect these useless pills to cultivate their poisonous creatures. The effects are often quite good.
These storage bags were likely Old Daoist Yangshan's, and Zhang Ling naturally accepted all of their contents without hesitation.
However, his primary purpose for returning here wasn't these ordinary treasures. He still wanted to find the blood-colored jade cauldron that Madam Cao had taken from the strange male cultivator.
That jade cauldron also seemed to be an ancient treasure.
But after searching the pool several times, Zhang Ling couldn't find it. During the search, he also paid special attention to see if he could find Madam Cao's body.
He had a feeling in his heart.
It was possible that Madam Cao had died in the mouth of a high-level desolate beast, or she might have been killed by the male cultivator who had transformed into a monster.
However, Zhang Ling felt that Madam Cao was not simple, and it was possible that she had also escaped from this place. After all, the blood-colored jade cauldron hadn't been found, so this possibility still existed.
In the end, Zhang Ling stopped overthinking and directly transformed into a ray of light and left.
What he didn't know was that Madam Cao was indeed not dead.
Two hours earlier, after a fierce battle in the Bloodworm Gu Formation, only Madam Cao and the middle-aged male cultivator who had turned into a monster remained.
After a fight between the two, Madam Cao was completely at a disadvantage.
But this woman was also decisive. Knowing that she couldn't fight the blood-colored monster, she directly detonated her body.
Madam Cao's divine soul, along with her damaged golden core, hid inside the blood-colored jade cauldron, using a secret technique to shield her aura, thus avoiding disaster.
Only the blood-colored monster was left inside the formation, and then the Gu formation directly disappeared. The blood-colored monster broke free and went straight after Zhang Ling.
The reason it chased Zhang Ling was because Zhang Ling had killed a high-level desolate beast in the blood-colored formation, and his body was stained with the blood energy from within the Gu formation.
Similarly, after the Bloodworm Gu Formation disappeared, Madam Cao's divine soul directly used a secret technique to activate the blood cauldron and escape from this place.
Her biggest goal for this trip was this blood cauldron. This treasure was not a simple ancient treasure, but a special ancient treasure belonging to the Snow Moon Tower's Master.
Although her physical body was destroyed, finding this treasure and handing it over to the Master would definitely be a great achievement. At that time, finding an excellent physical body would allow her to seize it and be reborn, and it would only take some time to restore her cultivation.
But these secrets are a story for later.
Let's talk about Zhang Ling. At this time, he was extremely depressed as he drove several flying swords to chop at the hard rock walls, slowly opening a passage to the outside.
It took him more than a day to leave the Icefire Jade Mine. Then he cast the Earth Escape Technique and passed through the soil layer.
An hour later, he finally escaped from the underground and saw the sunlight again. The place where he came out seemed to be on the other side of the deserted island.
Then he found a hidden place and meditated for several hours, restoring his cultivation to its peak state before leaving this place.
Before leaving, he went to the place where he had entered the underground before. There, he saw the four Foundation Establishment cultivators that Old Daoist Yangshan had arranged to guard outside.
These four were safe and sound.
However, after seeing them, Zhang Ling unceremoniously released his flying swords and instantly killed these people.
Although he had no grievances or hatred with these people, Old Daoist Yangshan had already died underground, and he was the only one who had escaped. He didn't want to cause any trouble.
After all, Old Daoist Yangshan was a sect cultivator, and Madam Cao's identity was not simple either. It would be bad if he was tracked down by the forces behind them.
Afterward, Zhang Ling directly transformed into a ray of light and left this deserted island.
……
Half a month later, Zhang Ling returned to his cave on Fire Cloud Island.
After returning, he didn't immediately go into closed-door cultivation but rested for two days. During this time, he examined the gains and losses of this trip.
This time, he was invited by Fire Dragon Immortal to explore for treasures. At first, there were no risks, but since entering the Icefire Jade Mine, it had been fraught with danger.
In the end, he even encountered the strange male cultivator who had turned into a blood-colored monster. It could be said that he had used all of his current means to barely kill this monster.
That male cultivator also had an unusual background, and seemed to be a member of Snow Moon Tower. Madam Cao had come for this person.
In addition to the dangers, he had also discovered a stone screen in the three-story pavilion, and the patterns carved on it were related to the memory jade in his hand.
The fragments of the stone screen were also brought out, and when matched with the pictures on the memory jade, several of them were indeed very similar. It seemed that they recorded the same thing.
However, Zhang Ling couldn't deduce the secrets of these ancient relics. He just had a feeling that he seemed to have gotten a little involved with these things.
These secret matters might have great opportunities, but they might also have greater risks. Zhang Ling guessed for a while and then put the matter out of his mind. He began to sort out his gains.
Inside a stone room in the cave, Zhang Ling waved his hand, and a broken humanoid puppet appeared on the table.
The puppet's body was well-preserved. It wasn't destroyed when the three-story stone building collapsed, so now was a good time to study it.
The humanoid puppet looked like only a second-order puppet. The body part seemed to be refined from some special material and was very hard. Divine sense couldn't penetrate the puppet's interior either. Zhang Ling could only constantly feel around this puppet.
After checking for a quarter of an hour, he suddenly seemed to have discovered something and pressed down on the back of the puppet. A finger-sized area on the puppet's back was pressed down.
Immediately, the sound of gears colliding came from the puppet's originally seamless chest cavity. After hearing this sound, Zhang Ling retreated several feet to the side. To be careful, a layer of spiritual light shield also appeared on his body to prevent any accidents from happening.
But his divine sense was always observing this humanoid puppet.
In the midst of the kabaka kabaka gear collision sound, several fine cracks appeared in the puppet's black chest area, and then the entire chest opened from the middle as if it was pieced together from pieces of wood.
Seeing that nothing unusual had happened, Zhang Ling moved closer and carefully observed the opened puppet chest.
