Although the current situation was not the worst possible outcome, and their most dire predictions had not come true, this result was still the most troublesome.
However, it at least proved one thing: the Nuwa Stone's earlier sensing that resolving these matters would not involve truly significant danger. It seemed to be the case now as well. The problems they needed to solve didn't appear to be that dangerous, yet they were making Ye Tiancheng and the others incredibly difficult to manage.
After Azhi had finished explaining everything she needed to, Ye Tiancheng remained silent for a long time.
The little fox knew that Ye Tiancheng was seriously contemplating the situation and didn't want to disturb him. If Azhi had questions for him, he would answer truthfully. If she didn't, he could sit quietly by himself, playing with his fingers or twirling a teacup, entertaining himself.
However, Ye Tiancheng's silence stretched for too long, to the point where the atmosphere became somewhat awkward, at least for the little fox.
Therefore, the little fox finally broke the silence in the room, asking, "Big Brother, what should we do now? Where should we start?"
Hearing the little fox speak, Ye Tiancheng snapped back to attention. Remembering the little fox's question, he thought for a moment before replying, "Now, we can only verify all our ideas one by one."
"Currently, the only unverified method seems to be solving Azhi's soul-body separation problem, right?"
The little fox nodded and said, "It seems so, but I can't think of how to do it. Azhi hasn't been able to solve this problem for so long, so it's definitely not something easy to resolve."
"What I know doesn't seem particularly helpful. If it were a conventional case, it would be fine, and the soul would have to be separated while still alive."
"For someone who has already died, trying to re-match a dead soul with its body, especially when both the soul and the body already have 'matched' shells and cores, is truly baffling. It's completely outside my knowledge."
Ye Tiancheng sighed, but then he rallied, saying, "I believe these problems are not insurmountable; we just haven't discovered or thought of the solutions yet."
As he spoke, Ye Tiancheng looked at Azhi. "By the way, have you confirmed one thing? If the condition for leaving is related to whether your soul and body are together, then if your soul can no longer merge with its old shell, and you and your shell arrive at the entrance simultaneously, can you leave?"
Upon hearing Ye Tiancheng's words, Azhi froze slightly, then exclaimed, "This Big Brother, you are truly a person with many ideas."
Ye Tiancheng was somewhat speechless, his mouth twitching slightly. "Don't. You call me Big Brother, but I'm only in my twenties, and how old are you?"
Azhi giggled. "That's fine too. If I don't call you Big Brother, will you call me Ancestor?"
Ye Tiancheng was even more speechless. He felt that being called Big Brother was taking advantage of him, and being called Ancestor was even more so. After comparing the two, Ye Tiancheng changed his mind. "Then you can call me Big Brother. At least we're both taking advantage of each other."
Azhi spread her hands, her eyes playful. "I don't mind. That's fine too. Anyway, after we get out, I'll have to follow you. I'll need an identity. From now on, you are my Big Brother."
As soon as she finished speaking, the little fox's gaze swept towards Azhi. He hesitated for a long time, his expression showing a hint of reluctance, but in the end, he said nothing.
However, both Ye Tiancheng and Azhi noticed. Mr. Ye Tiancheng gently touched the little fox's head and patted his shoulder, then comforted him, saying softly, "He'll follow us, but it's just a verbal agreement, just for an identity. It's different from you, little fox."
Azhi's eyes darted around, thinking about something, but she didn't add fuel to the fire.
The little fox looked at Ye Tiancheng with his big eyes, his expression a bit pitiful, but he only nodded slightly and responded softly.
Finally, the topic returned to business. Ye Tiancheng confirmed with Azhi, "You said that before, so you really haven't tried if you can leave here by passing through the entrance with your shell at the same time, have you?"
Azhi propped her chin on her hand, rubbing her face with her thumb thoughtfully. "I haven't tried that, but things shouldn't be solved that easily, right? Otherwise, wouldn't I have been trapped here for so long for nothing?"
Ye Tiancheng said, "Indeed, even if you try it, it might not necessarily succeed and allow you to leave."
"However, this matter has experimental value because it is your own shell. The current problem is likely due to the separation of your soul from your old shell. If you try it, even if it doesn't succeed, it might trigger some other special conditions or abnormal factors, allowing us to make some new discoveries."
Azhi thought about it and felt that it made sense. So she said, "That seems reasonable. Then we can try it. Shall we go find my old shell now?"
Hearing this, Ye Tiancheng suddenly remembered something else. Previously, they had suspected that Azhi's old shell might have some connection to the little fox. They themselves didn't have much energy to investigate at the time, so they had entrusted the matter to Zhang Liushun, who wanted to do something for Ye Tiancheng and the others.
As a result, Zhang Liushun was still investigating, and had only just begun. Ye Tiancheng and the little fox had done nothing, yet they had already figured out the origin of that little monster.
So, what should Zhang Liushun do now? Should he continue investigating? Or should they dismiss him?
Ye Tiancheng hesitated for a moment before finally saying to Azhi, "There's no need to do it immediately. We still have other issues to resolve. After we've made some necessary preparations, we can proceed with our ideas without any worries, can't we?"
Azhi tilted her head, looking at Ye Tiancheng in confusion. "Huh? Are there other things? What preparations do we need to make?"
Ye Tiancheng then explained to Azhi, "There are several important issues that need to be resolved. First, for me and the little fox, we need to wrap things up. Then, we will experiment together on how to bring you out of this space. This shouldn't attract too much attention."
"When the little fox and I first came here, because we were unfamiliar with everything, we found other beings who were familiar with this place to help us understand the situation. To avoid trouble, we acted quite ostentatiously. While that was acceptable at the time, in the current situation, it will actually create trouble."
"Therefore, we need to gradually become more low-key. And the person we invited to help also needs to be handled properly."
Ye Tiancheng paused slightly. "Then, there are some things that you need to resolve, and this is something that only you can do."
Azhi didn't quite understand and asked Ye Tiancheng, "What are you talking about? Why don't you tell me? If I can do it, I will. I promised to cooperate with you."
Ye Tiancheng nodded and made his request without hesitation. "It's like this. No matter how we experiment, our ultimate goal is to bring you out of this space and obtain the fragments of the Fuxi Qin.
"This means we will have to frequently linger at the space's entrance and enter and exit repeatedly."
"Precisely at this time, you know about the sealing formation outside, right? The space entrance is currently sealed by some unknown entity, preventing everyone inside from leaving."
Azhi certainly knew about this. Even Ye Tiancheng knew about it before meeting Azhi, as some beings had already reported it to Azhi.
However, initially, Ye Tiancheng had been wondering why the Great Master of the Strange Market didn't go out to check the situation and why he always stayed within the Strange Market, in his residence, never leaving his doors.
Now, Ye Tiancheng understood part of the reason. The most important point was that Azhi couldn't leave this space. How could he go out to check the situation and resolve the problem of the sealing formation outside?
It was fortunate that the evil spirits trapped in the Strange Market firmly believed that their Great Master could easily resolve this matter and that there was no need to worry.
However, from Ye Tiancheng's perspective, it was clearly very worrying. If he couldn't solve the problem of bringing Azhi out and obtaining the Fuxi Qin fragments within a year or a half, who knew how long they would be trapped here.
However, Ye Tiancheng was confirming this matter with Azhi now to understand how much Azhi knew about the formation outside.
Azhi replied to Ye Tiancheng, "I know, but I can't get out either, so I haven't bothered with it.
"But now I think this matter was probably caused by you. Can't that thing be opened? If you want to be low-key, then just open the formation outside and drive out all the other beings inside. Then we can do whatever we want in here."
"If you plan to drive them away, I have no objections. As long as you open the formation, I can immediately drive them all out, and no one will dare to object."
Indeed, no one would dare to object. Azhi was the owner of this place, its ruler. He had absolute control. He could open or close the Strange Market whenever he pleased, and no one dared to object.
Moreover, even those living in the Strange Market were dependent on Azhi. If Azhi no longer wanted them there, what could they do?
Hearing Azhi's words, Ye Tiancheng felt even more helpless and troubled because he suddenly realized that more troublesome matters awaited him.
A ghost fox of Azhi's age, who also controlled the fragments of the Fuxi Qin, although the fragments would go to Ye Tiancheng after Azhi left, Azhi had possessed them before.
So, the problem arose: a very serious problem. With Azhi's discernment, could he tell what the formation outside was for? Would he know that Ye Tiancheng could operate this formation freely?