Lily used to think that if she ascended to immortality one day and gained her Tao Fruit, she would definitely be a cowardly Immortal.
But now she feels she might be an unlucky Immortal.
This is Celestial Driver Valley, the back mountain of the Seventh Sword Pavilion, with eight hundred miles of desolation behind it, and seventy miles ahead full of Golden Core cultivators and Foundation Establishment cultivators like dogs.
Although the entire Celestial Driver Valley doesn't have a map, in theory, it's an absolutely safe place.
After all, any Demon Beast that has gained some intelligence and can walk on the ground can sense the existence of the Sword Pavilion; it's obvious that the farther away from here, the better.
So Lily wandered around with peace of mind, never having thought she would be in danger.
She certainly never thought there would be a pitfall cave at the bottom of the valley that couldn't be detected by the Earth Listening Disc.
And there were things within this cave that she couldn't understand.
Sticky mycelium and rather suspicious gelatinous substances.
If it weren't for the life-saving Thousand Mechanism Cocoon left by her master, she might have already been consumed clean by these elusive mycelium.
Lily had already been inside the cocoon for three days, and when she was awake, she sent signals for help, hoping her wise and heroic leader could match her mental wavelength.
As expected, Lily saw her leader had also fallen down.
"Boss, why don't you come over and squeeze in with me?" Liu Lili looked at Zhang Ze who was rolling in the mycelium and moved aside.
"No need, I have a Sound Transmission Jade Pendant..."
Zhang Ze was about to take out the Sound Transmission Jade Pendant to call for help, but found, at some point, the string of jade pendants hanging on his waist was missing.
Now the only person he could contact was the brewery boss, Song Qingpao.
Contacting him was useless; even if Song Qingpao had been persuaded crippled, borrowing him eight hundred guts, he wouldn't dare come to the Sword Sect to rescue people.
After searching for a while, Zhang Ze eventually gave up completely. The layers of mycelium and mucus combined with the dark environment made searching for a string of jade pendants like finding a needle in a haystack.
Moreover, this mycelium was quite eerie, seemingly absorbing the Spiritual Qi of anything it touched; just during this moment, Zhang Ze already felt weak.
Giving up on searching for the jade pendant, Zhang Ze crawled over to Lily's side.
"Are there any Demon Beasts here?"
Mid-crawl, Zhang Ze suddenly thought of this question.
According to the plot, places like these should undoubtedly be nests of certain demons.
"Never seen them, but... oh no, boss, don't touch that!"
However, Lily's reminder was already too late; Zhang Ze's hand coincidentally pressed onto a protruding lump.
Hard and quite different in texture compared to other places.
It was as if a switch had been activated, and the entire cavern seemed to come alive.
The cave walls began to tighten, the mycelium squirmed and undulated, and Lily boldly protruded half of her body, grabbing Zhang Ze's hand to pull him into the cocoon.
Almost simultaneously, layer upon layer of mycelium covered the Thousand Mechanism Cocoon.
"I forgot to tell you, don't touch the protrusions."
"I got trapped here because I touched that thing; without this Thousand Mechanism Cocoon, I'd have been dead long ago."
"Boss, what do we do now?"
"By the way boss, do you have food? I've been gnawing on steamed buns for three days."
Only after Zhang Ze stuffed a brown sugar biscuit into Lily's mouth did he finally have time to think.
Zhang Ze thought for a while, but didn't find any related records in Grandpa Wang's collection of storytelling episodes.
The "Thousand Demons Chart," which he had just read through a few days ago, also didn't have any records of such things.
Zhang Ze pinched some of the mucus that seeped into the Thousand Mechanism Cocoon, feeling the texture somewhat familiar.
A bit like that fart... Mountain-worshiping Taisui.
Zhang Ze thought about bringing out the Taisui for comparison, but then remembered there was a flat-chested Lily by his side.
Seeing Liu Lili, who was munching on the brown sugar biscuit, Zhang Ze abandoned the idea.
After months of interacting, Zhang Ze already knew Liu Lili's standards were certainly lower than his.
If he lets her see him pull out a black butt from the Hundred Treasures Bag.
This matter would undoubtedly spread throughout the Sword Pavilion in three days, known to all in the Cyan Thorn area within a month.
If that happens, he'd rather die here directly.
Liu Lili, while munching the biscuit, realized Zhang Ze was watching her and swallowed the biscuit with a grin, "Any meat, boss?"
"Boss, got fire? This biscuit is a bit hard; get some fire and roast it."
"By the way, boss. Do you think after we get out, making a four-in-one walking Jianghu Qi Cultivation Stage Hundred Treasures Box has any prospects?"
"Integrate various low tier spells, I guess it could sell big,..."
Although Zhang Ze's cultivation is even lower than hers, seeing Zhang Ze here made her inexplicably feel secure.
She felt with Zhang Ze around, she was definitely safe.
And Lily also reminded Zhang Ze.
Despite the Spiritual Qi absorption issue preventing powerful Taoist Techniques from being performed here, the Thousand Machines Technique was still unaffected.
"Lily, have you tried using Thousand Mechanism Tools to blast a path?"
"No use, already tried."
"Spells like the Talisman Soldier Sword don't have much effect; these strange things are immune, they immediately heal after being severed."
"Explosions do have some effect, these things seem to fear fire, but once the heat dissipates, they tighten again."
"What, does boss have any ideas?"
Zhang Ze's face was peculiar; he indeed thought of something but wasn't sure.
"Let me try."
Zhang Ze reached out to perform a toy cultivation technique.
[Molten Fire Finger]
Due to the absorption of Spiritual Qi, merely using this small spell made Zhang Ze feel slightly dizzy.
Also, the power of Molten Fire Finger was pathetically small.
It probably can't light a cigarette but is just fine for massaging and scraping.
Zhang Ze asked Liu Lili to open a seam in the Thousand Mechanism Cocoon, then stretched his hand out.
He placed his hand on the mycelium and gently pinched it.
Then Zhang Ze saw the mycelium tremble and shrink back.
Zhang Ze was speechless; he continued expertly kneading the mycelium and those protrusions.
Liu Lili watched and showed a sinister smile, "Boss, nice technique... where'd you learn it."
"Don't ask; do you want to get out?"
"I do."
"Then come and help."
Liu Lili quickly crawled over to assist Zhang Ze in carving out a path, and her technique surprisingly wasn't weaker than Zhang Ze's!
With their actions, the mycelium tightly wrapped around the Thousand Mechanism Cocoon loosened.
The passage expanded again, until the front mycelium suddenly recessed in a section.
Zhang Ze threw a Luminous Pearl down, its faint glow enough to reveal a hard, black surface surrounding the pearl.
Liu Lili had already retrieved her treasured Thousand Mechanism Cocoon by now, stretching her neck to look down.
"Isn't your Thousand Mechanism Cocoon a one-time thing?", Zhang Ze asked.
"Of course not. It's our family heirloom, traditional craftsmanship."
"Alright, then you go explore."
Saying this, Zhang Ze tossed Liu Lili down.
After Zhang Ze also jumped down, Liu Lili ran over and began kicking her boss' heel furiously.
Indeed, separated from that eerie mycelium, the Spiritual Qi circulation resumed.
Zhang Ze picked Liu Lili up and moved her aside, pinched a spell, and summoned the remodeled Five Ghosts.
He couldn't tell if it was because the Golden Armor Soldiers spell had gone unused for too long, or because his cultivation had improved.
For some reason, these Five Ghosts seemed different from before.
Just before he had time to ponder, a female voice sounded behind Zhang Ze.
"Why are you touching me there?"