Chapter 140: The Treasure Will Surely End Up in Lü Xinyue's Hands
Shen Mo chuckled lightly as he looked at the rock garden.
He swiftly struck with his palm.
Boom!
The rock garden instantly shattered into countless fragments, shooting in all directions.
Beneath it, a pit was revealed.
A rich floral fragrance immediately wafted out, spreading around the area.
Shen Mo quickly used his Eightfold Thunder Technique and dashed into the pit at top speed.
It turned out that there was a hidden underground tunnel here.
He surmised that it was probably constructed by the previous City Lord as an escape route.
With the old City Lord dead, the tunnel had naturally fallen into obscurity.
Shen Mo advanced rapidly through the tunnel.
There was no longer any trace of the blood, sweat, or burning smells from the outside world, so he followed the floral scent all the way forward.
He soon arrived at the spot where the fragrance was the most intense.
There was a small pool of water here.
Drip, drip.
Water droplets slowly fell from above.
Suspended in the pool was a lotus flower about the size of a palm.
It was the Thousand-Mile Fragrance!
At this moment, the flower had fully bloomed.
At its center was a single, crystal-clear droplet of dew.
This was the Thousand-Mile Fragrance Dew.
It was a drop of dew formed only when the Thousand-Mile Fragrance was in full bloom and undisturbed by external forces!
Shen Mo had already prepared a jade bottle and swiftly collected the Thousand-Mile Fragrance Dew.
Then, he took out a pair of small scissors made from jade and carefully cut the Thousand-Mile Fragrance.
If plucked by hand, much of its medicinal power would be lost.
Only by using jade scissors could the maximum potency be preserved.
After the fall of the Feishuang Sect and Blood River Sect, their records had been sent to the Qingxuan Sect.
During his downtime from cultivation, Shen Mo had read these books and was well aware of the Thousand-Mile Fragrance's properties.
By now, the strong floral scent had spread far and wide.
More and more people were beginning to notice this place.
Including Lü Xinyue, Liu Menghu, and Yang Tianxing, who were fighting in mid-air.
Had someone already obtained the Thousand-Mile Fragrance?
Whose hands was it in?
The same thought arose in all three of their minds.
They simultaneously stopped their battle and looked toward the gathering crowd.
They saw a large number of cultivators rushing toward the City Lord's mansion's rear garden.
Boom!
A loud explosion rang out.
A figure burst out from underground, moving at incredible speed.
Before the surrounding cultivators could even react, the figure had already widened the distance between them by several dozen meters.
"That's him!" one of the cultivators shouted, pointing at the figure in mid-air.
"Chase, chase, chase! The treasure is mine!"
"Hey, brat, stop running! Hand over the treasure!"
The cultivators were immediately thrown into a frenzy, madly pursuing the figure.
Xiao Fan, hearing the commotion, also returned to the vicinity of the rock garden. Through the hole in the ground, he saw the now-empty pool.
He quickly realized that the Thousand-Mile Fragrance had just been here, in this pool.
But now, it was gone.
The problem was, he had already felt that something was off with the rock garden earlier.
The treasure must have been beneath it.
Unfortunately, that Core Formation cultivator got involved, and he had to step aside.
As it turned out, his hunch had been right.
But now, the treasure had slipped away from him.
"Ah… such a frustrating feeling."
Xiao Fan was quite upset.
That Core Formation cultivator was clearly a stranger.
So why did it feel as if he was facing Shen Mo all over again?
"Brother Xiao Fan? Are you alright?" Ouyang Qian's concerned voice came from not far away.
"I'm fine… it's just that we're no longer in a position to compete for that treasure."
"From here on, only Core Formation cultivators will have any say in who gets it."
Xiao Fan sighed.
Ouyang Qian giggled, "It's alright, it's alright. If Brother Xiao Fan wants something, just let me know. I've got it."
"I remember you're still short two top-tier Profound-level treasures to form a perfect golden core, right?"
"I've got them for you."
As she spoke, she forcefully handed over two treasures to Xiao Fan.
Xiao Fan was shocked and quickly accepted them. "Alright! Sister Qian, your love for me is truly real!"
Ouyang Qian blushed furiously. "Brother Xiao Fan, you're being too blunt…"
"I need to find a quiet place to form my golden core, let's go."
"Mm, I'll guard you while you do it."
The two of them quickly left.
...
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.
Shen Mo used his *Eight Directional Thunder Movement*, swiftly moving through the City Lord's mansion.
His goal was simple: to shake off the pursuers and leave White Stone City.
It was easy enough to shake off the rogue cultivators, as most were merely at the Foundation Establishment stage, and he could kill them with a flick of his fingers.
However, the members of the three major sects wouldn't let him leave so easily.
Of course, since Shen Mo had decided to seize the Thousand-Mile Fragrance, he had also prepared to face these people.
After stepping into the *Great Accomplishment Core Formation* stage, he could kill any cultivator of the same level in seconds.
Against a peak Core Formation cultivator, he could still crush them.
Even when faced with a top-level Core Formation cultivator, though he might not be able to win, he could at least escape unscathed.
It could be said that of all the cultivators in the city, the only one Shen Mo needed to be cautious of was the elder from the White River Sect who had reached the peak of the Core Formation stage.
At that moment, a streak of moonlight suddenly spanned dozens of meters, crashing toward him.
Shen Mo instinctively dodged, easily avoiding the strike.
The moonlight smashed into one of the pavilions in the City Lord's mansion, reducing it to rubble.
Fragments of stone grazed Shen Mo's right leg, leaving a small cut.
However, such a wound was nothing in the face of his body's powerful regenerative abilities.
Within just a few breaths, the wound had already healed.
Lü Xinyue, watching this from a distance, raised an eyebrow slightly. She could tell at a glance that her opponent was also a Core Formation cultivator.
"Fellow cultivator, this item belongs to White Stone City. As an outsider, you shouldn't take it away," Lü Xinyue said calmly.
Shen Mo deliberately made his voice hoarse and laughed, "Priceless treasures belong to those with destiny."
"You, Lü Xinyue, just happened to be born in White Stone City, and you think you have the right to claim it?"
Lü Xinyue wasn't angered but continued, "Fellow cultivator, you're also at the Core Formation stage. I'm not one to make enemies lightly. Name your price. As long as it's reasonable, I'm willing to buy it."
Shen Mo sneered, "Heh heh, the Thousand-Mile Fragrance is one of the treasures that nurtures a lotus throne. It's worth half the life of a Nascent Soul cultivator. You want it? Bring me 10,000 top-grade spirit stones in exchange!"
Lü Xinyue frowned.
It was clear that this person had no intention of handing over the Thousand-Mile Fragrance.
"Then you can die," Lü Xinyue said coldly, her voice chilling as she waved her hand. In an instant, six streaks of moonlight shot out, enveloping Shen Mo from all directions.
Yang Tianxing and Liu Menghu, who were rushing over, both frowned when they saw this.
This move was Lü Xinyue's signature technique.
It was a move called "Sixfold Cold Moon," only comprehensible by those who had cultivated the White River Sect's Earth-rank martial art, Moon Path to Heaven, to the eighth level.
When unleashed, the six streaks of moonlight sealed off the opponent from every angle.
The moonlight was cold and yin in nature.
Attempting to break through it with brute force would only cause the moonlight to bind tighter.
Of course, with overwhelming brute strength, it was possible to shatter the moonlight.
But among cultivators of the same realm, no one had ever accomplished such a feat.
Both Liu Menghu and Yang Tianxing had fought against Lü Xinyue before.
The only way they knew to counter this move was to avoid it altogether.
"It seems that treasure will belong to Lü Xinyue," Yang Tianxing muttered with a frown.
Liu Menghu scratched his head.
He had a feeling that the rogue cultivator with the fire-patterned mask seemed unusually confident.
Even when wrapped in the moonlight, he showed no signs of panic.
Was it ignorance, or genuine confidence?
It wasn't just them—many of the cultivators rushing to the scene witnessed this moment.
The rogue cultivator who had seized the treasure and fled was now trapped in the six streaks of moonlight.
The onlookers sighed in unison.
There was no way that rogue cultivator could withstand that attack.
The treasure was surely going to fall into Lü Xinyue's hands.
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