The remaining one layperson was the strongest among these three, as he was in the Middle Stage of Gang Condensing Realm.

He was once a general of the Liang Kingdom, and after its downfall, he submitted to Li Xuanji.

He instructed these three to explore the items within the valley for him.

"First, do not go deep into the valley; outside the valley, see if you can disperse the thick fog, and then set fire to burn the trees in the valley to see what happens."

Li Xuanji feared he wouldn’t survive if he went himself, so he didn’t dare to command at the site and could only share his ideas with these three.

These three listened and agreed, then left the Imperial Palace.

...

Half a day later, these three brought a troop of a thousand soldiers and arrived before the valley once again.

Residents from small towns near the valley saw the arrival of another army and couldn’t help pointing and whispering.

"They’re back again!"

"Aren’t they afraid of dying?"

"What exactly is in the valley that makes them keep coming?"

The town residents murmured behind these soldiers.

Most of the soldiers’ Martial Arts Cultivation wasn’t high and they were far away from these town residents, so they couldn’t hear the words spoken behind their backs.

However, the former general from the previous dynasty who led this thousand-man army from the trio of a monk, a Daoist, and a layperson could hear these town residents’ words clearly.

The general felt angry, holding the giant Iron Axe in his hand, veins popped on his hand, wanting to slaughter all the town residents behind him.

After mastering martial arts, he had become arrogant and looked down on ordinary people.

At this moment, hearing ordinary folks talk behind his back, how could he stand it?

Just as he was about to turn around, the Daoist beside him held him back: "General Luo, if you want to kill, be careful the Emperor kills you."

Li Xuanji always showed himself as a benevolent and upright ruler.

If General Luo really killed innocent civilians and word reached Li Xuanji’s ears, he would surely execute General Luo to make amends to the people.

General Luo heard this and took a few deep breaths, his armor on his chest moved up and down a few times.

He knew that he was no longer as free as during the previous dynasty, so he forced himself to suppress his anger towards the people.

Then, he looked at the woods and thick fog ahead and shouted: "Fire arrows, burn down this woods!"

So, the soldiers behind who listened to the orders, started several fires and wrapped oil-soaked cloth strips around the arrowheads.

They then picked up arrows, put the arrowheads in the fire, which immediately ignited.

They laid the arrows on the bows, pulled back, and at General Luo’s command, released them simultaneously.

Immediately, the fiery arrows traced arcs through the air, shooting towards the forest.

But just then, the fog within the forest began to churn.

The fog seemed to suddenly gain life, gathering around the flames on the arrowheads and then wrapping around them.

The flames on the arrowheads were instantly extinguished.

Moreover, once the thick fog enwrapped the arrows, they suddenly became heavier, tracing even more curved arcs, falling to the ground.

"There are indeed people in this forest!"

The Daoist, seeing the thick fog, said:

"The True Profound Sect also has a Mist Manipulation Talisman, capable of controlling fog."

"It seems someone is manipulating it within the forest."

"Or the fog has someone’s spiritual intent merged into it."

"Daoist Shi, do you have a method to crack it?" General Luo asked.

The Daoist named Shi thought for a moment, then took out a talisman from his Daoist Robe.

He was merely in the Late Stage of Meridian Opening Realm, and his Martial Arts Cultivation wasn’t considered high within the True Profound Sect.

Most of those with higher cultivation in the True Profound Sect were devout followers.

When Li Xuanji led his troops to wipe out the True Profound Sect, because these devotees refused to submit, they were surrounded and slaughtered by Li Xuanji and a group of Martial Artists.

After the sect was destroyed, many talismans were left.

Among those remaining from the sect, Daoist Shi, even though in the Late Stage of Meridian Opening Realm, could barely be ranked.

Because talismans were difficult to draw, few people could draw them, making them rather valuable.

Daoist Shi used to have only ten talismans in his pouch.

But now, his pouch contained fifty talismans.

Therefore, when using talismans, he no longer hesitated or felt heartache as he used to.

He pulled out a talisman and infused True Qi and spirit into it.

Originally, one had to reach Divine Realm to use spirit to stir Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

However, the talismans had a special Dharma Gate with a large amount of Spiritual Power stored within them.

It only required a small amount of True Qi and Spiritual Power to activate the talisman’s potency.

The hard part wasn’t using the talismans but drawing them.

Once the Mist Manipulation Talisman was activated, the fog churned, thinning a bit.

General Luo was about to order to fire arrows again.

But at this moment, a cold light suddenly shot out.

This cold light was extremely fast, even with General Luo’s eye power in the Middle Stage of Gang Condensing Realm, he couldn’t capture it.

Soon after, as the cold light swept by, everyone’s heads dropped down.

At this moment, the town residents watching from afar, witnessing this scene, their hearts were shaken, their pupils involuntarily shrinking.

Previously, whether it was the disappearance of town residents or previous waves of soldier disappearances were mysterious and unknown to them.

They held onto the fantasy that maybe those people were just lost in the forest and couldn’t come out, not necessarily in danger.

Now, seeing thousands of heads suddenly drop, dying right in front of them, they were shocked.

Soon after, the thick fog that locked the valley for all year moved forward, covering the corpses of thousands.

Before long, the fog retreated, and all the bodies on the ground vanished.

...

In the valley, a tall and a short figure, both wearing loose robes, walked within the fog.

"The emperor of this small world is indeed arrogant, daring to send people to disturb us again and again."

The shorter one, with a mustache, said.

This person was named Luo San, coming from the Upper Realm.

This valley already had thick fog, and Luo San used Magic to infuse spirit into the fog, so the fog could act according to his will.

The other person listened, nodded: "These people’s bodies can be used for medicine."

This person, taller and stronger than Luo San, appeared like a statue.

His face was quite square, with a full beard, standing stiffly.

This person was named Tie Venerable, also like Luo San, coming from the Upper Realm.

He held a blood-red ball, a Magical Artifact, capable of instantly gathering a person’s flesh within it.

And on his waist hung a Small Iron Sword.

It was this sword that transformed into cold light used to kill.

Whenever civilians and soldiers entered the forest, he killed with the Iron Sword and then used the sphere to convert all the flesh of the corpses into a gatherable substance.

Luo San and Tie Venerable chatted as they walked.

Soon, they reached the depths of the valley.

The depths of the valley presented an impressive scene.

There were herbal fields, with bright red flowers, luminous blue grasses...

On each miraculous herb and flower, a faint aura of glory was emitted.

These were the form of Celestial Medicine.

Luo San and Tie Venerable were indeed people from a faction in the heavens.

After stealing Celestial Medicine Seeds from that faction, they escaped downwards.

Within the Three Thousand Worlds, few worlds weren’t occupied by the Daoist Sect’s Celestial Court or the Buddhist Sect’s Spirit Mountain.

Any world occupied by these two forces would be "sealed."

People from the Upper Realm can’t descend, nor can people from the Lower Realm ascend.

Only a few worlds remain unsealed.

This world is one of them.

Therefore, they descended here to plant Celestial Medicine.

They arrived in this world about three hundred years ago.

Although this world’s Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is not as rich as the Upper Realm.

But they have arrays to gather the Spiritual Qi, and as time passed, the Celestial Medicine grew well in this realm.

Here they cultivated Immortal Elixir and practiced Alchemy and cultivation in the valley.

For these past three hundred years, their cultivation has made good progress.