Treatment Fee

Stepping into the Profound Crystal Abyss—

The moment Ye Chuan was enveloped by the teleportation light, his vision blurred. The surrounding chill and spiritual mist abruptly dissipated, replaced by a warm airflow and dense spiritual energy.

As the light and shadows faded, he found himself standing in a spacious cavern.

Drip, drip.

The sound of dripping water came from somewhere.

Collecting himself, Ye Chuan began to observe his surroundings. The cavern ceiling was inlaid with countless glowing ores, illuminating the interior as bright as day. The ground was covered in fine crystal sand that crunched softly underfoot.

"Wife..."

No response.

"Qianshuang?" Ye Chuan's gaze swept the area. He released his spiritual sense but found it obstructed by the ores, unable to detect Bai Qianshuang's aura.

"Hmm? The others aren't here either. So, Qianshuang and I were teleported to different zones?"

Ye Chuan wasn't particularly worried. With Bai Qianshuang's current Enlightened Dao realm strength, the dangers of this secret realm couldn't harm her.

It would be a blessing if the sect disciples and demonic beasts weren't the ones being chased down by her.

Joking aside, an Enlightened Dao expert appearing among a bunch of Golden Core cultivators?

That was like an elephant stomping into an anthill.

What surprised Ye Chuan slightly was the scene before him—the cavern walls on both sides were actually embedded with various ores!

Although Ye Chuan didn't know much about them, he stuffed them into his backpack without hesitation.

[Obtained Purple Gold Copper x20, placed in backpack]

[Obtained Heavy Silver Frost Iron x10, placed in backpack]

[Obtained Star Pattern Refined Iron, placed in backpack]

"Some of these aren't cheap at the Treasure Pavilion, if I recall," Ye Chuan grinned, raising his hand towards the wall. His spiritual power transformed into an invisible giant hand, peeling entire sections of embedded ore from the rock face.

Chunks of ore flew one after another into his backpack space. In mere moments, half the mineral veins in the cavern had been plundered by him.

He even discovered several special spirit herbs in a corner of the cavern—all of which Ye Chuan promptly planted in his medicine garden.

At this moment, Ye Chuan was like a harvesting machine, even tempted to dig at the floor on the spot to see if there were more materials.

Just as Ye Chuan prepared to venture deeper into the cavern for further exploration, a series of hurried sounds of combat, mixed with a faint woman's voice, suddenly came from the distance.

Ye Chuan's brow raised slightly. His figure flickered as he flew towards the source of the sound.

Was it Qianshuang?

Rounding a bend in the cavern, the view before him suddenly opened up—this was an even larger cavern. At its center stood a colossal hundred-zhang tall Profound Crystal Pillar, around which coiled a pitch-black centipede demonic beast.

The centipede was hundreds of zhang long, its carapace as hard as dark iron. Its legs gripped the pillar as it spewed black poison mist from its maw. Where the mist landed on the ground, small holes were instantly corroded.

Opposite the centipede demonic beast stood a woman wearing the attire of the Ice Cloud Sect.

With a glance, Ye Chuan recognized a familiar face—it was Su Qinghan, the Holy Maiden of the Ice Cloud Sect he'd seen at the secret realm's entrance.

It seemed this Holy Maiden had also gotten separated from her sect's disciples.

Her aura was currently disordered. Her light blue dress was stained with dust, and her left arm, grazed by the poison mist, showed a sinister black-purple discoloration.

The jade zither treasure in her hands played continuously, condensing into ice blades that shot towards the centipede. Yet, when the ice blades struck the centipede's carapace, they only left shallow white marks, utterly incapable of causing substantial damage.

"Damn it! How is this beast's shell so hard?!" Su Qinghan gritted her teeth, the spiritual power within her body nearly depleted.

She had stumbled upon the legendary Profound Crystal Pillar here by chance, but before she could even feel joy, she encountered the Profound Crystal Centipede guarding it. To make matters worse, she had been separated from her sect disciples during teleportation and now had to face this demonic beast, whose strength rivaled the late Nascent Soul stage, alone!

A guardian beast actually at the late Nascent Soul stage—Su Qinghan found it difficult to even escape!

At that moment, the Profound Crystal Centipede seemed enraged by Su Qinghan's attacks. It suddenly raised its head, a mass of black venom coalescing in its mouth before shooting towards Su Qinghan!

Su Qinghan's face paled. She wanted to dodge, but due to her depleted spiritual power, her movements were a beat too slow!

The venom splattered onto her arm, rapidly corroding her skin and bones!

"Ah!" Su Qinghan's expression changed drastically. She immediately took out a spirit medicine and swallowed it to counteract the poison.

Having scored a hit, the Profound Crystal Centipede let out a sharp shriek and spewed another stream of venom towards Su Qinghan!

Not good!

Just then, a streak of black spiritual light suddenly shot from the side, instantly dispersing the venom.

Su Qinghan was stunned. Turning her head, she saw a man who had appeared at the cavern passageway at some point, standing with his arms crossed as if watching a show:

"The Ice Cloud Sect's Holy Maiden? In such a sorry state?"

Su Qinghan felt both shock and anger—shock that Ye Chuan could so easily disperse the centipede's venom, and anger at the obvious mockery in his tone.

"Fellow Daoist, please lend me your aid." Su Qinghan couldn't gauge Ye Chuan's intentions, but seeing he had just helped her, she had no choice but to speak up. "If you and I can subdue this demonic beast together..."

But before she could finish, the Profound Crystal Centipede had already noticed Ye Chuan. It turned its focus, lunging towards him, its massive insect legs leaving deep gouges in the ground.

Ye Chuan's expression remained calm. He raised his hand and pressed it palm-down towards the centipede from a distance. "Gravity."

Spiritual power transformed into invisible pressure, instantly pinning the Profound Crystal Centipede to the ground!

The centipede thrashed wildly but couldn't break free. Its carapace scraped against the stone, emitting a piercing metallic screech.

"Quite a big one, just a bit weak." Ye Chuan flicked his finger. A black arc of energy shot out, accurately striking the centipede's eye—and slicing off half its head along with it.

The Profound Crystal Centipede let out a final, shrill shriek. Its body convulsed a few times before falling completely still.

"Rise." As soon as Ye Chuan spoke, the centipede's massive form was enveloped by black mist spreading from his feet, finally dissolving into Ye Chuan's black mist.

Zoo enforcer +1.

Ye Chuan withdrew his spiritual power, walked to the Profound Crystal Pillar, and stored the entire pillar into his backpack space.

The hundred-zhang tall ore pillar vanished instantly. Ye Chuan stroked his chin.

Turning to look at Su Qinghan, he found her staring at him dumbfounded, her eyes filled with utter astonishment—the Profound Crystal Centipede she couldn't scratch despite her full effort had been dealt with so effortlessly by Ye Chuan. Just how strong was this guy?

But... but he looked so young!

"Seen enough?" Ye Chuan said. "I know I'm handsome, but I already have quite a few dao companions."

Su Qinghan's cheeks flushed slightly as she snapped back to reality, her expression complex as she looked at Ye Chuan. "Th-thank you... Fellow Daoist, for saving me. I am Su Qinghan of the Ice Cloud Sect. May I ask your esteemed name, Senior?"

"Hao Tianhuang."

After answering, Ye Chuan also noticed Su Qinghan's corroded arm.

The entire arm was ruined.

Gone.

But Ye Chuan showed no intention of offering treatment. Instead, he stated with professional detachment, "If you want to save your life, give me all the spirit stones you have on you."

"Senior Hao, can you cure this poison?"

Su Qinghan, enduring the excruciating pain of her melting arm, immediately tossed one of her storage pouches to Ye Chuan. "These are all the spirit stones I have on me."