Mortals cultivate immortality, and their IQ is playing with their heartbeats

#325 - The secret of the cave

Li Chengfeng smiled slightly upon hearing this, but he already had a plan in mind.

He gently patted the toad's back as a warning: "If you dare to brag again, I'll cut out your tongue first.

Remember, misfortune comes from the mouth."

The toad trembled in fear and quickly nodded in agreement, not daring to say another word.

Li Chengfeng pondered to himself that although the toad's mouth was uncontrollable, its soul showed no abnormalities.

With the strength of his divine sense and soul power, if there were any remnants of souls residing within, he would be able to easily detect them.

But now it seemed that the toad's soul was pure and untainted, completely its own.

Then, why would it brag so uncontrollably? There must be a hidden reason behind this.

Thinking of this, Li Chengfeng became even more curious about the toad's origins and experiences.

He decided not to rush to subdue this spiritual beast, but to slowly study the secrets behind it.

Perhaps, there might be unexpected gains from this seemingly ordinary toad.

So, he rode the toad forward, with a plan secretly forming in his mind.

He wanted to first explore the Blackwater Swamp to see if there really were treasures hidden there that could trigger the power of thunder tribulation.

At the same time, he also wanted to study the habits and characteristics of this toad to see if he could find the reason why it bragged uncontrollably.

Although the toad liked to brag, it was not foolish.

It knew that following Li Chengfeng would at least guarantee food and clothing and avoid being killed, after all, its bragging habits would probably make it difficult to survive in the outside world for long.

Soon, they arrived at the core area of Qinghai City—the cave dwelling area.

Li Chengfeng, holding the token, found the residence that Lan Qianxue had recommended to him.

Here, cave dwellings were lined up, each occupying a vast area of dozens of acres, containing medicine gardens, spirit beast gardens, and the spiritual energy was so rich that it was indescribable, making it a beautiful sight.

The design of the cave dwelling's gate was even more exquisite, containing the profound philosophy of Yin-Yang and the Eight Trigrams.

After Li Chengfeng arrived, he quickly sent out a sound transmission talisman, and soon, the cave dwelling's gate slowly opened, and a surge of spiritual energy even more pure than the outside world poured out.

He immediately felt refreshed and thought that the ten thousand middle-grade spirit stones were well spent.

However, when Li Chengfeng stepped over the threshold, his expression changed slightly, because this cave dwelling was actually Lan Qianxue's residence.

Lan Qianxue covered her mouth and giggled upon seeing this: "That's right, this cave dwelling is mine.

I want to rent it to you, Fellow Daoist, to earn some spirit stones to spend, is there anything wrong with that?"

Li Chengfeng smiled in response: "Of course, but after all, this is the young lady's boudoir, and it might be inconvenient for a man like me to live here."

Lan Qianxue shook her head and smiled: "You and I are both cultivators, why bother with worldly formalities?

Just live here in peace, Fellow Daoist.

Besides, the price is fair and reasonable, and I will personally handle the handover procedures for you."

Her words revealed a kind of unrestrainedness, which made Li Chengfeng have more respect for this woman.

The croaking toad licked its face, squinted its eyes, and said with a look of disdain: "Hmph, with this ancestor here, I'll see what tricks you can play.

Such a small cave dwelling is barely enough for me.

And you, little girl, you look quite smooth and slippery, why not be a maid for this old ancestor?"

Before the words finished, Lan Qianxue's expression changed drastically, and an icy killing intent erupted like substance, scaring the toad to slump on the ground with a thud, its tongue sticking out long, and it dared not say another word.

It regretted in its heart that its mouth always caused trouble, it was really asking for trouble.

Li Chengfeng smiled calmly upon seeing this and smoothed things over: "This is my newly acquired spirit pet, it just has a foul mouth, likes to brag and boast, and I haven't had time to discipline it properly, I hope Fairy doesn't mind.

It didn't mean to offend you."

As he spoke, he flicked his finger gently, and a tiny bolt of lightning struck the toad, causing it to scream strangely, and it became even more obedient.

Lan Qianxue was amused by this scene and chuckled, saying: "Having such a toad is really interesting.

However, Fellow Daoist still needs to discipline it well, lest it causes trouble with its mouth, and it would be troublesome if it offends some senior expert."

Li Chengfeng quickly nodded in agreement, saying that he would discipline the toad well in the next few days to prevent it from causing trouble again.

Lan Qianxue, seeing this, handed him a formation plate and said: "This is the formation plate of the cave dwelling, which can control all the formations and early warning systems inside the cave dwelling, and the usage methods are all recorded inside.

Since you have decided to live here, then this little girl will take her leave first.

Please come and find me after you have refined what you need, and be sure to remember."

Li Chengfeng smiled and accepted the formation plate, expressing his gratitude to Lan Qianxue for her careful arrangements.

However, after Lan Qianxue left, the smile on his face gradually faded, revealing a hint of suspicion.

He always felt that things here were not simple, why would Lan Qianxue easily rent such a high-quality cave dwelling to him?

There must be something fishy about this.

He immediately used his divine sense to carefully explore the inside and outside of the cave dwelling, but he did not find anything unusual.

This made him even more puzzled, he didn't believe that the other party would be so generous to him for no reason.

He thought to himself that perhaps all of this was a superficial phenomenon, and there were deeper secrets hidden behind it.

However, Li Chengfeng was not in a hurry to uncover the mystery, he knew that in the cultivation world, maintaining vigilance and caution was the most important thing.

He decided to stand still and respond to all changes with constancy.

After Lan Qianxue left, the toad immediately straightened its back and was about to croak, but after touching Li Chengfeng's warning gaze, it quickly closed its mouth, appearing much more obedient.

Li Chengfeng led it into the depths of the cave dwelling, and the scenery inside the cave dwelling was indeed extraordinary, as Lan Qianxue had said.

Walking into the cultivation room, Li Chengfeng looked around and couldn't help but sigh: "Not bad, not bad! This cave dwelling is indeed worth the price."

He turned to the toad and said: "You almost caused a great disaster for yourself just now.

In order to prevent you from causing trouble again in the future, I have decided to give you some rules."

As he spoke, he took out a jade slip from his storage ring and gently threw it on the toad's head, "There are some etiquette methods here, as well as some cultivation methods suitable for demons, which I have modified to suit your cultivation.

Starting tomorrow, you will recite these to me properly, and you must also read good books to me, the voice must be gentle and emotional."

The toad wanted to retort a few words, but when it thought of the lesson just now, it finally swallowed the words "This old ancestor" back, and changed its words: "Yes, Master."

Li Chengfeng nodded in satisfaction, then waved his hand, and an elegant formation enveloped the toad.

Within the formation, wisps of righteous energy and the power of lightning intertwined, forming an invisible restraint.

"If you dare to be lazy, this lightning will teach you to be a toad again."

After leaving these words, Li Chengfeng turned and left, and began to walk around, carefully admiring every scenery of the cave dwelling.

The layout of the cave dwelling did contain mysteries, and each formation was ingeniously unusual, making it a marvel to behold.

Li Chengfeng's face became colorful with excitement, and he thought to himself: "Sure enough, my goal has been achieved by one-tenth."

He knew that the arrangement of these formations all came from that strange woman—that is, the hand of that mysterious formation master, and the Nine Profound Dragon Coiling Formation she arranged was even more exquisite.

Li Chengfeng carefully studied these formations and found that although they seemed unremarkable individually, they formed a special great formation when connected together.

What was even more surprising was that these formations actually hid the wonderful use of surveillance.

For example, that seemingly ordinary corner actually hid a divine sense formation, and one's every move might be under the other party's surveillance.

"I see." Li Chengfeng suddenly understood in his heart, he looked for the location of the divine sense eye without showing any signs, and at the same time understood the other party's intentions.

The reason why the other party arranged this way was undoubtedly to find out his details, and only after confirming that his identity and intentions were safe and harmless would they communicate further.