"Phew, finally successful."
Xu Yi exhaled lightly, her eyes shining as she looked at the flowing, colorful, and imposing magical artifact in her hand, a slight smile gracing her lips. .oΓg
Scattered at her feet were over a dozen magical artifacts, all refined by her during this period.
Every time she finished refining an artifact, the puppet would emerge from the corner and hand her another storage bag filled with new refining materials.
She accepted any good opportunity that allowed her to practice for free.
By today, she had lost count of how long she had been in this refining chamber.
Seeing her stop, the puppet in the corner once again began to walk towards her with its stiff gait.
As the puppet's eyes focused on the artifact, just as Xu Yi expected it to take out another storage bag, it suddenly turned and walked towards the outside of the refining chamber.
Xu Yi was startled and looked at it with great confusion.
The puppet stopped at the doorway, then turned to look back at Xu Yi.
Although its facial expression remained unchanged, Xu Yi felt as though she saw an urge to hurry from its face.
Xu Yi pondered for a moment, collected all the artifacts at her feet into her storage ring, and walked towards the puppet.
The puppet led Xu Yi through the courtyard, and after half an hour, stopped outside a room.
The puppet did not push the door open but, as Xu Yi had done when refining, retreated into a corner.
Xu Yi pointed at the door with her finger, "Let me in?"
The puppet remained motionless.
Xu Yi tentatively took a step back.
A fierce glint appeared in the puppet's eyes, and a chilling pressure flashed by.
Xu Yi silently withdrew her foot and walked towards the room.
This time, the puppet made no reaction.
Xu Yi shrugged, pushed open the door, and the room was pitch black with no light.
Xu Yi hesitated, then stepped into the room.
Bang!
The door slammed shut.
In the dark room, one by one, bright light clusters suddenly appeared.
Within the light clusters, the faint shadow of jade slips could be seen.
Xu Yi reached out and gently grasped a light cluster.
The light cluster shattered, and a jade slip quietly lay in her palm.
She sent a wisp of her divine sense into the jade slip, and then she saw a sturdy man, bare-chested, standing in the refining chamber where she had just been.
The bright, flickering flames cast upon him, bathing him in a dazzling golden light.
The man looked up, his gaze meeting Xu Yi's divine sense, "Watch carefully."
After saying this, he let out a low cry and took out a large ox horn, placing it on the refining platform. Flames surged upwards, and soon the ox horn began to ooze thick black liquid.
Xu Yi's mind was gradually drawn in by the man's every move, oblivious to the passage of time.
Mine.
Long Haotian wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, picked up the iron hoe he had discarded, and hobbled up the mine, continuing to dig.
Chen Tao wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned over to Long Haotian, softly advising, "Senior Brother Long, we can't defeat those puppets. You should stop thinking about escaping, lest you suffer more physical pain."
Alas, Senior Brother Long has been captured six times, why hasn't he given up yet?
Long Haotian glared at him, swinging the iron hoe with vigor, and amid the clanging sounds, he said hatefully, "If I don't run, will I just be locked up here mining forever! You can tolerate it, but I can't! One day, I will escape from here!"
Long Haotian's eyes burned with raging anger.
He, an elite disciple of the Xuan Qing Sect, had actually become a miner; it was enough to make people laugh their heads off if spoken of.
He would not give up so easily.
He couldn't defeat those puppets now, but in ten years, twenty years, a hundred years, one day, he would tear those puppets limb from limb.
Long Haotian gritted his teeth. Chen Tao dared not approach him again, shrunk his shoulders, tiptoed to the other side, and picked up his iron hoe.
Their movements did not attract Wang Yi'an's attention; he was solely focused on digging, his task for the day not yet completed, and he did not want to anger the puppets.
Only the sound of mining echoed on the mountain.
...
Xuanji Sect.
Elder Qingfeng lay dozing on a recliner, a suspicious smile still lingering on his lips.
"Master, you're slacking off here again."
A woman's cheerful voice sounded above Elder Qingfeng's head.
Elder Qingfeng opened his hazy eyes and said helplessly, "Ling'er, your master is not slacking off; I am comprehending the laws of heaven and earth."
"Master is fooling me again."
Yun Ling'er did not believe her master's words.
She still remembered when she first became a disciple, she had stumbled upon her master stealing the immortal cranes raised by their neighbor, True Person Nanzhi, to roast them.
Her master had then vehemently told her that he was helping the immortal cranes transcend.
The young her had naively believed him.
It wasn't until True Person Nanzhi came knocking that she realized she had been deceived.
From then on, she knew that her master could deceive children.
"Heh heh, Ling'er, is there something you need from your master? Have you run out of spirit stones? Come, Master will give you some more, but don't tell your other fellow disciples, okay."
With the Sect Master away, Elder Qingfeng had taken over sect affairs and had more funds at his disposal.
As he spoke, he reached for the storage bag at his waist, but Yun Ling'er quickly stopped him.
"Master, I'm already a Nascent Soul cultivator, why do you still treat me like a child?" Yun Ling'er pouted and took out a jade slip, "Here, I've come to give this to you."
Elder Qingfeng chuckled and was about to tease her when he caught sight of the jade slip and immediately jumped up from the recliner.
"It's a letter from the Grand Ancestor."
Yun Ling'er's eyes lit up, "So it's a letter from the little grand ancestor. Master, quickly open it and see what the Grand Ancestor said."
Elder Qingfeng took the jade slip, formed a hand seal, and sent out a spiritual light, then probed his divine sense into it.
Yun Ling'er waited for the time it took for an incense stick to burn, and seeing that her master remained silent, she curiously asked, "Master, what exactly did the Grand Ancestor say?"
"Cough, cough." Elder Qingfeng put away the jade slip and cleared his throat. "It's nothing, the Grand Ancestor asked me to send her regards to the other elders."
"That's all?"
"That's all."
Yun Ling'er's suspicious gaze swept over Elder Qingfeng's face.
"That's not right. If the Grand Ancestor has a communication disk, why would she need you to send her regards?"
"The Grand Ancestor accidentally broke her communication disk during her training, so she asked me to do it for her." Elder Qingfeng suddenly sighed, "Ling'er, your master is a bit tired, I'll be leaving now."
With that, his figure flashed away, leaving Yun Ling'er standing there stunned.
"Master, you're fooling me again!"
Elder Qingfeng sat in his cave dwelling, wiping the sweat from his forehead, and took out the jade slip again.
What he had said earlier was not false; the jade slip indeed contained the Grand Ancestor's request for him to greet several elders, but more importantly, the Grand Ancestor was inquiring about Lu Zaiye's situation.
"Lu Zaiye..."
Elder Qingfeng felt a headache coming on.
He had not been able to contact that person since they left the Xuanji Sect.
Upon seeing the message from the Grand Ancestor just now, he realized that they had gone to the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge.
He pondered for a moment, picked up the communication disk, and sent a concise message about the Grand Ancestor.
Unexpectedly, this time he received a response quickly.