Hey You can't listen to his nonsense

[This soak lasted a full thirty years.]

[It wasn’t until the past few years that the spirits of the Demon Refining Pot, the Heavenly Dragon Blade, and the others gradually recovered.]

[The moment the artifact spirits appeared, they created a strange contradiction.]

[The quality of the Demon Refining Pot and the others had risen to the level of ordinary spirit treasures.]

[But ordinary spirit treasures weren’t supposed to have artifact spirits. Even legendary spirit treasures didn’t have them.]

[Artifact spirits were a special existence found only in certain innate spirit treasures.]

[So the old hag gave these strange artifacts—the Myriad Soul Banner, the Demon Refining Pot, and the others—a unique classification: half-step innate spirit treasures.]

[“The old hag wanted us to acknowledge her as our master, but we’d rather die than submit!”]

[You looked at the Demon Refining Pot suspiciously.]

[“Are you sure it isn’t because you couldn’t acknowledge her as your master?”]

[“Oh, come on! Who said that?”]

[“Old Wan did.”]

[“Hey! You can’t listen to his nonsense! Come on, let’s get out of this place before trouble finds us!”]

[“We really should leave.”]

[The Myriad Soul Banner flew over and said,]

[“We should leave! But, buddy, you have to do a classic repeat!”]

[“A classic repeat of what?”]

[“Just like back at the Shen estate! Pack up this entire pool and take it with us! The spirit-nurturing pool is a good thing. Look—it not only raised these guys to spirit treasure quality, it even gave them intelligence!”]

[You could indeed pack up the entire pool. After all, you had quite a few storage bags on you now. As for where they came from, don’t worry about it.]

[But you couldn’t do that.]

[“No. You can’t keep soaking in there.”]

[“Why not? Have you changed your ways? Does that fit your character?”]

[You scooped up some spirit liquid from the pool and casually sprinkled it onto the ground.]

[“This really is good stuff, but something has been mixed into it.”]

[Reverse Engineering allowed you to see that a medicinal liquid called Soul-Washing Water had been mixed into the spirit-nurturing liquid.]

[It was an immortal cultivation creation. Either the Old Hag had refined it herself, or she had gotten it from somewhere.]

[Its effect was that prolonged soaking in it or consuming it would rewrite one’s memories.]

[You guessed that, after discovering these half-step innate spirit treasures couldn’t acknowledge her as their master, the Old Hag had tried to rewrite the artifact spirits’ memories and make them believe that she was their master.]

[In this way, she could achieve a form of acknowledgment that wasn’t possible according to the rules, but was theoretically feasible.]

[“Those sweet dreams you were talking about earlier were probably caused by this potion taking effect.”]

[The Myriad Soul Banner still clung to a glimmer of hope.]

[“But… they were all wonderful dreams.”]

[“Dreams are the opposite of reality, buddy.”]

[The Myriad Soul Banner thought it over and was horrified. With a splash, it leaped out of the pool.]

[“You vile hag! I knew at a glance that she was no good! She actually poisoned us!”]

[The various immortal artifacts all left the pool and gathered around you.]

[Now that their artifact spirits had recovered and their quality had improved, you could clearly feel that they were different from when they had first arrived in the Real Realm.]

[They now looked full of spirituality, much like they had in the Void Realm.]

[The Myriad Soul Banner still refused to give up.]

[“Is there any way to separate the poison from the spirit liquid? We could just take the spirit liquid with us!”]

[You shook your head, indicating that you couldn’t do that.]

[But you seemed to recall seeing a divine ability in the Divine Ability Index that might be able to accomplish it.]

[So you took out a storage bag and packed up the entire pool. Once you gained the ability to separate the poison, you could let the immortal artifacts soak in it again.]

[“You really don’t know where the Old Hag went?”]

[“To put it bluntly, the old hag kept us confined in this pool. She certainly wasn’t going to report to us where she was going.”]

[The whereabouts of Granny Duobao were currently unknown, and even her disciples couldn’t say where she had gone.]

[You guessed that, like the last time she went to Fortune Star, she might have been invited somewhere to refine artifacts. She might not even be on Blazing Light Star anymore.]

[Interstellar travel was measured in years. If she had left Blazing Light Star, you really had no hope of finding her anytime soon.]

[“This time, we tore down her temple, killed her disciples, and packed up all her belongings. That should have helped us blow off some steam!”]

[You set off and began your journey back to the Firewood Sect.]

[Year forty-eight, age seventy-two.]

[“Buddy! With the whole universe at your disposal, why do you insist on going back to that tiny Firewood Sect?”]

[As you drew near Firewood Town, the Myriad Soul Banner, slung over your back, spoke in its shrill voice.]

[“Tiny Firewood Sect? Hah, have you forgotten? Didn’t I tell you that, under my reforms and leadership, the Firewood Sect has become completely different?

“After all these years of development, they should have grown wealthy and accumulated plenty of resources. As their Sixth Elder, it’s only natural that I claim some cultivation resources, right?

“And besides, everyone in the Firewood Sect is of excellent character. They surely wouldn’t just enrich themselves—they’d have helped the common people around them prosper as well!

“Firewood Town must be flourishing and bustling with activity by now!”]

[You entered Firewood Town. What greeted your eyes was a scene of desolation. Fallen leaves mixed with unknown scraps of garbage, swirling through the air.]

[Rows of beggars sat along the roadside. They were all human.]

[Nine out of ten houses stood empty.]

[The entire place was a wreck.]

[The Myriad Soul Banner couldn’t hold back.]

[“You call this flourishing?”]

[“What happened? Even when things were desperately poor, it was never this bad!”]

[You took a deep breath and adjusted your state of mind.]

[“Cultivators, you know, are probably a little more selfish than ordinary people. The people of the Firewood Sect grew wealthy, but perhaps they didn’t bother caring for the common folk nearby, which is why the townspeople are suffering.

“But the Firewood Sect itself must be thriving by now, with a flourishing population, a strong cultivation atmosphere, and abundant resources!”]

[You pushed open the gate to the Firewood Sect’s main compound.]

[There wasn’t a single person in sight!]

[“You call this a flourishing population?”]

[“Damn it! Where did everyone go?”]

[“Buddy, did this sect disband?”]

[“That can’t be right!”]

[“Buddy, was there never a sect here at all? Were you just bragging?”]

[“I’ll brag about your grandmother!”]

[Suddenly, you thought of something.]

[“I get it now. I’ve been gone for quite a few years. Maybe something went wrong with the formation at the mines and it stopped working, so everyone from the sect went to the mine to supervise the work. Come on, let’s take a look.”]

[You arrived at the Firewood Sect’s mining site.]

[You saw a group of humans swinging chisels and hammers in the mine. They were drenched in sweat and so emaciated that they were little more than skin and bones.]

[The overseers were a group of bull-headed beings.]

[They were fat and bloated, chatting away while drinking wine and eating meat.]

[The Myriad Soul Banner couldn’t hold back again.]

[“You call that supervising?”]

[The veins on your forehead bulged.]

[The moment you saw the bull-headed men, you had already guessed most of what had happened.]

[Just then, the head overseer spotted you.]

[“Hey, you there! What are you standing around for? Have you finished today’s quota? Get over here and get to work!”]

[You took hold of the Myriad Soul Banner behind you.]

[The veins on your face bulged one by one, as though you could see the blood surging through them.]

【Your grim expression was as dark as the blackest void in the universe.】

【You fixed your gaze on the bull-headed men and spoke a single sentence, each word ringing with force.】

【“You’d better have bodies that are impervious to blade and fire!”】