Xu Yi shook her head slightly, feeling no great disappointment.
She had long suspected that finding the Fire Slurry Fruit would not be so easy.
But Wang Tiechui could not accept this setback.
"How could this happen? How could this happen?"
He muttered to himself, lowering his head, wishing he could smash his own head with his hands.
Clearly, clearly it was only the last step, and he would receive guidance from the senior.
Seeing this opportunity slip through his fingers, Wang Tiechui was so frustrated he felt like spitting blood.
"We must make a long-term plan."
Ji Buwang looked at the continuously erupting lava and said softly to Xu Yi, his tone gentle and comforting.
Xu Yi smiled at him slightly, then said to Wang Tiechui, "Although we didn't get that clue, I've decided to give you a gift, hoping it can help you."
Before Wang Tiechui could react, a beam of spiritual light suddenly entered his sea of consciousness, and his body, out of his control, began to escape into the distance.
In the blink of an eye, Wang Tiechui appeared a thousand miles away.
He stood there dumbfounded. After an unknown amount of time, a look of wild joy gradually appeared on his face.
He fell to his knees with a thud and kowtowed three times towards the direction of Mount Fire Burn, "Thank you, senior, for your guidance, thank you, senior, for your guidance!"
Wang Tiechui had not expected that this senior was also skilled in artifact refining and had taught him a spell that could quickly temper ores, which was a great help to him.
He was now eager to try out this spell.
With this thought, Wang Tiechui directly took out the artifact refining platform he had put away earlier from his storage bag and began to swing his hammer again.
Sweat trickled down his cheeks onto his clothes, but Wang Tiechui paid it no mind, his eyes fixed only on the dancing flames and the melting ore.
...
On the other side, Xu Yi and Ji Buwang returned to the stone platform. They decided to wait for the lava to subside before searching for the Fire Slurry Fruit.
Xu Yi sat cross-legged not far from Long Haotian and the other two, then took out a hand-cranked bell from her storage ring and placed it in front of her.
"The Soul Dissolving Bell?" Ji Buwang looked at the familiar bell in surprise, "When did Ancestor Wu Qian give you the Soul Dissolving Bell?"
"When we teleported over," Xu Yi replied casually, observing the Soul Dissolving Bell.
Sensing Xu Yi's gaze, the Soul Dissolving Bell could not help but tremble, its previous arrogant aura completely gone.
"Come out," Xu Yi said softly to the Soul Dissolving Bell.
However, the Soul Dissolving Bell chose to play dead at this moment, seemingly certain that Xu Yi would not dare to do anything to it.
Xu Yi let out a cold laugh. The Heart of the Earth Cyan Flame in her hand spewed forth, its faint cyan glow gently swaying in the air.
At the same time, she formed a hand seal with her left hand, and a faint spiritual light flashed madly on the Soul Dissolving Bell.
"No, I'm coming out! I'm coming out!"
The artifact spirit, transformed into human form, floated out of the Soul Dissolving Bell and sat above it, repeatedly bowing to Xu Yi, lamenting its misfortune.
That detestable old man had actually passed on the method to subdue it to this woman, forcing it to submit to her tyranny. m..oΓg
Having roamed freely in the secret realm for many years, the Soul Dissolving Bell was now a prisoner, naturally filled with resentment.
However, it had absorbed too many cultivators' memories and understood the principle of seeking advantage and avoiding harm, so it did not dare to rashly resist, fearing that Xu Yi would truly destroy its本体.
"Tell me."
"Tell you what?"
The Soul Dissolving Bell feigned ignorance.
Xu Yi raised an eyebrow, "Naturally, about your origin and how much evil you have done over the years."
"It's a misunderstanding, Your Excellency. I am just a small artifact spirit. I have always stayed in the secret realm and dared not leave. How could I have caused trouble everywhere?"
The artifact spirit held its本体 and shouted its innocence, a hint of imperceptible cunning and malice flashing in its eyes.
As long as it had a chance to escape, it would devour souls on a large scale, strengthen itself, and then come back to take revenge on these people.
"A misunderstanding? Not to mention the blood crimes you committed before, just this time you've swallowed the souls of countless cultivators, and you still dare to cry injustice? You truly refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit."
Xu Yi had always been very interested in artifact spirits born from magical artifacts.
She had always believed that only magical treasures that gave birth to artifact spirits would be powerful magical treasures that could communicate with their masters.
However, the Soul Dissolving Bell before her, although it had also given birth to an artifact spirit, this artifact spirit had long been tainted with malevolence, its nature cruel, comparable to a demonic artifact.
If it weren't for the Monkey King specifically requesting the Soul Dissolving Bell, Xu Yi would rather destroy it than let it remain to wreak havoc on the Nine Provinces Continent.
Therefore, seeing that the Soul Dissolving Bell was stubborn and trying to deceive people, she simply flicked a wisp of flame from the Heart of the Earth Cyan Flame.
The flame landed precisely on the artifact spirit of the Soul Dissolving Bell.
The artifact spirit immediately let out continuous screams, begging, "Your Excellency, I was wrong, I'll say whatever you want."
Xu Yi turned a deaf ear. Only when the flame on the artifact spirit was about to extinguish did she slowly withdraw the flame, "Speak."
"I, I was a long time ago..."
The artifact spirit sobbed as it recounted its experiences, including much feigned ignorance.
Xu Yi was not lenient and threatened it with the Heart of the Earth Cyan Flame from time to time.
An hour later, the artifact spirit could no longer maintain its human form and turned into a wisp of black gas, re-entering the Soul Dissolving Bell.
Xu Yi first put the Soul Dissolving Bell back into her storage ring, then looked at Ji Buwang, "I have a piece of memory from Ancestor Wu Qian here. You watch it first, and then we can discuss."
After speaking, Xu Yi flicked her daoist robe, sending out a wave of spiritual light that sprinkled onto Ji Buwang.
Ji Buwang closed his eyes and absorbed the information in the spiritual light. After a moment, he slowly opened them, his eyes flashing with an inexplicable brilliance.
"The Beast King that Ancestor Wu Qian encountered, could it be..."
"Very likely."
Xu Yi sighed with emotion. She had not expected to hear about the Beast King on the Nine Provinces Continent.
She and Ji Buwang had accidentally fallen onto another continent before. That continent was called the Beast King Continent, and the people of the tribes living there regarded the Beast King as a god.
Xu Yi and Ji Buwang had heard many tales about the Beast King. It was thanks to the Beast King's will that they were able to return to the Nine Provinces Continent from the Beast King Continent.
But neither of them had expected that the existence revered by the tribes would perish on the Nine Provinces Continent, leaving behind only a disembodied head, drifting in the void.
The Beast King was clearly the supreme being of the Beast King Continent. Why did he come to the Nine Provinces Continent and encounter an accident here?
And why did a mysterious and unfathomable secret realm form within his skull?
There were too many mysteries that could not be explained.
What Xu Yi cared about more was the subsequent attack by the Demon King who descended from the heavens.
The Demon King, whom even Ancestor Wu Qian could not resist, Xu Yi could not think of anyone else besides the one who ascended.
But that Demon King had clearly ascended, so why could he still intervene in the lower realm?
And what was his connection to the Soul Dissolving Bell, and why did he seal the Soul Dissolving Bell within the Beast King's skull?