As the day of the Dragon Valley mission's end draws near, the atmosphere in the valley becomes increasingly tense. The elite disciples who are extremely confident in their own strength will frequently roam around, and once they catch a lone cultivator, they will kill them without mercy to plunder their treasures, not even sparing those from the same sect.

  However, if they encounter an opponent of similar strength, the two will tacitly leave each other alone, as if they had never met.

  No one is willing to engage in a life-or-death struggle with an expert without being sure of winning.

  Zhao Di had been slowly making his way to Ping An Valley, firstly because he had ample time and secondly because he was extremely cautious, always employing the Concealment Technique as he proceeded at a slow pace. As a result, his journey was not progressing very quickly. Furthermore, he frequently detected other cultivators passing by, and in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, he had no choice but to temporarily hide, which also wasted a considerable amount of time.

  All the way, he dodged at least seven or eight Qi Refining stage 13th layer cultivators and even witnessed a life-and-death battle between two 13th layer cultivators.

  As a result, Baiqiao Gate's cultivator wielded a set of four flying knives that danced in the air, while his opponent - a middle-aged Taoist from Yuqing Gate - was caught off guard and ultimately revealed an opening, meeting a tragic end under the blade.

  Zhao Di was confident that if he were to suddenly appear at this moment, using the top-grade artifact Fish Intestine Sword, he would have a 70-80% chance of killing this Hundred Crafts Sect cultivator with one strike. However, he considered that using the top-grade artifact would consume too much spiritual energy, and if he were to encounter another cultivator immediately after, the danger would greatly increase, so in the end, he let this cultivator leave.

  Anyway, he has already completed two tasks and doesn't need to take this risk.

  After seven or eight days, Zhao Di finally approached Ping'an Valley with caution, only over a hundred miles away from the exit.

  Now, as long as he passes through the narrow mountain valley in front of him, he will be within the range of Ping'an Valley, and then he can hide in a place like a cave or a big tree, quietly waiting for the opening of Xianglong Valley.

  It's now the most bloody and crazy moment in the valley! At this time, those who still dare to move in the valley are all elite disciples of various factions. They are like experienced hunters, looking for their own "prey".

  Some elite disciples choose to wander around and kill one whenever they meet!

  Some even choose to lie in wait at dangerous places and on roads, killing one by one as they come!

  The mountain valley in front of Zhao, which is only over 200 zhang long, is a good place to ambush. Not only does it lead directly to Ping An Valley, where many cultivators will pass through, but the terrain is also narrow and the vegetation on the cliff is lush, making it extremely unsuitable for flying with artifacts! Therefore, if there are elite disciples ambushing here, they may be able to launch a surprise attack successfully!

  Zhao Di had not originally intended to reach Ping'an Valley from here. However, after repeatedly and carefully probing with his divine sense, he found that there was indeed no cultivator in this valley.

  It's probably the case that the most seemingly dangerous places are actually safer. This place is so treacherous, generally no monks would choose this path and instead go around for dozens of miles. Perhaps it's because of this reason that there isn't a monk in sight here.

  With this idea in mind, Zhao Di simply chose to cross over through the mountain valley.

  He brought the art of concealment to perfection, not revealing a single breath, and stepped into the narrow mountain valley sandwiched between two towering peaks, while his divine consciousness was constantly sensing everything around him.

  Suddenly, a powerful spiritual energy fluctuation burst out from the mountain rocks about 70-80 feet away from him, and immediately a blue light broke through the air and rushed towards Zhao Di.

  Zhao Di couldn't be bothered to stick up a defensive talisman, and instead directly conjured up a crystal clear ice shield, meeting the blue light head-on.

  This spirit tool can be activated at any time as long as the spirit stone is installed, which is much faster than ordinary magic tools. Therefore, in a critical moment, Zhao Di didn't think much and took out the medium-grade spirit tool Ice Shield.

  The crisp sound of "ding", a seven or eight inch long sharp nail-like artifact in the blue light, was easily intercepted by the ice shield.

  Although the small shield had a minor flaw, it was still a mid-grade spiritual artifact installed with a mid-grade Ice Spirit Stone. Facing the blue long nail of a high-grade artifact, it naturally didn't feel any pressure at all.

  "Medium-grade spiritual artifact!"

  "Top-grade magic artifact?"

  The two people shouted at the same time. The difference was that the other side was an exclamation of surprise, while Zhao Di's tone was questioning.

  A young man in his early twenties, wearing a white robe, with sword-like eyebrows and fine eyes, an eagle nose and a raised mouth, looking like a good fighter. He was slowly putting away a half-transparent cloak that shone with a soft light, but his eyes were fixed on the transparent ice shield in front of Zhao Di.

  But Zhao Di suddenly noticed the strange cloak, from which a faint and sometimes extremely strong spiritual fluctuation was emitted, making it seem like an extremely rare auxiliary artifact of the highest quality. It's likely that the opponent relied on this treasure to completely deceive his divine sense. Even at a distance of seven or eight zhang, he didn't notice anything unusual. This shows that the cloak is by no means an ordinary high-quality artifact.

  "You're referring to this cloak? No, it's not some top-grade artifact, but rather a fragment of a treasure. Although it's just a fragment, compared to ordinary top-grade artifacts, it's still several times stronger." The young man in white said slowly, as if he was discussing the most mundane things in the world.

  "Treasured artifact! You actually possess this item, it seems that fellow Daoist is not an ordinary Refining Qi period disciple! With fellow Daoist's status, shouldn't be thinking of underhanded schemes!" Zhao Di was shocked in his heart, this white-clothed youth from the moment he appeared gave him a deeply unfathomable feeling. He faintly sensed that an extremely unfavorable situation was about to occur!

  "Not bad! With your twelve-layer cultivation, you can swagger right in front of me, and Cheng wouldn't even bother lifting a finger to kill you. However, your technique for hiding your spiritual energy is quite clever; if you hadn't appeared within my line of sight, I wouldn't have been able to detect any fluctuations in your spiritual energy with just my divine sense! This mysterious technique has piqued my interest." The white-robed cultivator nodded, his mouth curling up into a sinister smile.

  "Oh, I see! It seems that in the end, I've made a fool of myself. I suppose even if I hand over this secret manual now, Fellow Daoist won't let me off the hook?" Zhao Di's heart sank as he slowly spoke.

  The young man in white robes clapped his hands and laughed loudly, saying: "Haha! Fellow Daoist is indeed clever and quick-witted! Unfortunately, unfortunately, such a clever person will lose their life in the Dragon Descending Valley today. You said one thing that's right, an ordinary 12th layer Qi Refining cultivator can't defend against Cheng's blue sand nail sneak attack, let alone take out a mid-grade ice spirit stone embedded middle-grade spiritual tool. So, I'm also very interested in Fellow Daoist's background! Let's do this, if Fellow Daoist really wants to live, then leave behind all the storage bags and this ice shield, and then blind yourself. I'll spare Fellow Daoist's life on account of our pleasant conversation and the fact that we hit it off immediately." After finishing speaking, the young man nodded at Zhao, as if this was already a great favor.

  "Sorry! Although my eyes are not considered beautiful, I cherish them dearly and will not let them be destroyed. Fellow Taoist, you have a fragment of a treasure in your hand, but according to my careful examination, it seems that its extraordinary effects lie only in concealment and hiding, and it doesn't seem to have much use in attack or defense." Zhao said slowly, continuing to chat with the other person.

  "Haha, not bad. Fellow Daoist's eyes are as sharp as a torch, and I'm becoming more and more reluctant to just eliminate you like this. How about this, Cheng doesn't require you to blind yourself either, why don't you take my suggestion seriously?" The white-clothed youth's tone seemed extremely sincere.

  "It's unnecessary!" Zhao Di said these few words with absolute certainty, without any room for negotiation or turning back.

  "What a pity!" The young man in white shook his head and showed an extremely regretful expression.

  The young man in white finished speaking and slowly recalled the blue long nail into his hand, putting it back into his storage bag. Apparently, this mid-grade spiritual object was of little use against this high-grade artifact.

  Before the young man in white could take out another astonishing treasure, Zhao Di had already made his move!

  He pasted more than a dozen "Golden Shield Talismans" and "Wooden Armor Talismans" on his body in one breath, then shook both hands, and a silver light and over thirty red lights flew out of his sleeves.

  (First update, today's third update. Continue to ask for recommendations and collections, good data will make it easier to attract more readers, which is very helpful for new books!)