Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 345 - 345 0263 Isnt He Still at His Mercy_2

Chapter 345: Chapter 0263: Isn’t He Still at His Mercy?_2 Chapter 345: Chapter 0263: Isn’t He Still at His Mercy?_2 Apart from this, those cultivators either died in the Wanhun Condensed Pill Array or fled after the array broke open. Let alone the possibility that they might not know about the appearance of this cave, even if they knew about it, they would suspect that this cave might be another trap like the Wanhun Condensed Pill Array, waiting for them to jump in and become stepping stones for others’ cultivation path.

When tranquility resumed in the cave, at about fifty meters deep near the cave mouth on the inner wall of the cave, a stone moved slightly and then fell down. A crack appeared on the wall and Qi Tian peeked out, gazing deeply inside the cave.

Just now, a gigantic cave appeared as the commercial area suddenly collapsed. Qi Tian happened to be at the edge of the cave. He was startled and dug desperately sideways, just narrowly escaping being swallowed by the cave. Afterwards, Qi Tian hid in the hole he had dug, witnessing everything that happened outside, including the Spirit Treasures rocketing into the sky and the subsequent surge of Spirit Qi. He saw everything clearly.

No one was coming down now. Qi Tian really wanted to seize this opportunity and run away to leave this damned place. His instinct told him that the appearance of this cave was too peculiar – there must be something strange going on and it was highly likely that it wasn’t good.

However, even though Qi Tian wanted to leave, the Heavenly Dao Engine transmitted a strong signal to him. The Heavenly Dao Engine was extremely sensitive to Spirit Qi that could serve as its fuel. The signal it transmitted to Qi Tian indicated that there was something very suitable for fuel in the cave.

Qi Tian didn’t dare disregard the information conveyed by the Heavenly Dao Engine. The Heavenly Dao Engine was his foundation. Anything that could improve the Heavenly Dao Engine or enable it to work efficiently for a long time was something Qi Tian was willing to do. Since the Heavenly Dao Engine showed so much desire, Qi Tian couldn’t pretend not to see it.

Qi Tian made up his mind quickly. He would definitely have to enter this cave. However, he absolutely couldn’t continue using the identity of “Zhang Li Ming”. He needed to change to an identity that wouldn’t bring trouble to himself, including his appearance and clothing.

In these aspects, Qi Tian was well-prepared. With the use of spare clothing, “Heavenly Deception Skills”, and other treasures like masks, Qi Tian soon changed his appearance successfully. Even people who knew him well would find it hard to recognize him now.

To be safe, Qi Tian took out some of the corpses of cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Stage from his Storage Bag and fed them to the Heavenly Dao Engine as fuel. Additionally, Qi Tian opened the space containers of these cultivators, rummaged for anything that he might need in the cave, and placed them in areas convenient for him to get to.

By the time Qi Tian was ready, nearly an hour had passed. During this time, around ten cultivators flew down into the cave one after another.

Qi Tian knew he could not delay any longer. He didn’t want to find that all the treasures and chances for pill formation in the cave were looted by others when he got down there. If such was the case, him going down there would be pointless.

Qi Tian stuck his head out from his hiding place, looked around, and found the cave was deserted. Therefore, he left his hiding place, released a flying sword, stepped on it, and flew towards the depths of the cave.

At this time, night had not yet fallen, but the sun was already in the west. The sunlight cast a golden light that couldn’t even illuminate half of the cave’s height. Areas closer to the top were somewhat better, but deeper down, it started to get dark.

The speed of the flying sword Qi Tian was riding was not very fast, but it was not slow either. He estimated that he had been descending for three to four minutes on the sword, and still hadn’t seen the bottom of the cave.

Qi Tian had no idea how long it would take to reach the ground, nor did he know if he was going to encounter any dangers continuing downward. All he could do was stay alert at all times, letting the Heavenly Dao Engine detect the Spirit Qi around him, to avoid anyone lurking somewhere, ready to launch a surprise attack on him.

However, what relieved Qi Tian was that even after landing, he hadn’t encountered any ambushes. He dismounted from his flying sword, his feet touching solid ground. He then looked upwards to find that the hundred-meter-wide mouth of the cave above looked no bigger than a bathtub.

How deep was this cave? Was it already over a kilometer deep?

Would there be any sinister traps in such a deep cave? If so, the person who set up such traps would be incredibly powerful, considering the enormity and depth of this cave, how great were his divine abilities?

After Qi Tian muttered a comment, he took out two offensive talismans, ready in his hand. These talismans were among his spoils of war. He had collected the corpses of more than three hundred cultivators, from which about half of their Storage Bags were still usable. The unusable ones were thrown into the Heavenly Dao Engine along with their owners, to be used as fuel.

Qi Tian had organized quite a lot of useful items from these usable Storage Bags. Just the number of low-grade spirit stones exceeded fifty thousand, accompanied by over five hundred middle-grade spirit stones. As for the number of talismans, it was even more, with the ones he currently held in hand being offensive and possessing power comparable to the Explosive Thunder Talisman. These could even threaten cultivators at the later stages of Foundation Establishment, considering them to be quite powerful talismans.

Qi Tian planned to disguise himself as a talisman cultivator this time. It was normal to have a bunch of talismans readily at hand.

After making the necessary preparations, Qi Tian began to move forward. Most of the cultivators who arrived before him chose to stay on the solid ground, just like him. Doing so, they would inevitably leave some traces behind.

Qi Tian followed these traces, always being attentive to avoid any ambushes. However, it turned out that he was overthinking, as under the intense temptation of the chance to form the golden pill, not a single person could remain calm, let alone lay an ambush. At this time, even if one could rob, what could they rob? Could it be compared with the chance to form the golden pill?

As he kept moving forward, Qi Tian arrived at an intersection. The number of paths this intersection had was surprisingly many, up to a dozen or so. Each path led to a different direction, each revealing only a pitch-black cave entrance. No one could see what lay inside.

Qi Tian noticed that the entrance to each cave showed signs of human activity, which meant that each entrance was chosen by someone and there were people who had already entered. Qi Tian didn’t know what the basis of these people’s choices was. In any case, he would not make a choice himself. He walked to look at each cave entrance, and with the help of the Heavenly Dao Engine, sensed the situation inside these caves, trying to find the cave entrance that gave off the strongest response.

Qi Tian quickly realized this method wasn’t very effective. All the cave entrances elicited a weak response from the Heavenly Dao Engine. However, it reacted strongly to one of the cave walls. Without a moment’s hesitation, Qi Tian took out a Spirit Saber and began digging.

Among his several gains, this Spirit Saber was slightly better than the one he had seized from Li Hongcai. Qi Tian plunged the saber into the cave wall, but instead of the expected embedding into the rocky surface, sparks flew off the point of contact, and symbols began to flow on the wall of the cave, suggesting an unyielding nature.

Qi Tian, not ready to give up, tried again in a few different locations, but each attempt yielded the same result—his Spirit Saber was unable to affect the cave walls.

Qi Tian thought for a moment, pressed his palm to the symbols and tried to see if the effects of the Heavenly Dao Engine can nullify these symbols. After all, if these symbols lost their force, wouldn’t the cave wall become vulnerable, ready to be gouged at his will?

With a mere thought, a black hole emerged from Qi Tian’s palm, from which a Transporting Whirlwind flew out, aimed at the symbols…