There must be something strange behind the abnormal

Once the cultivation chamber had been completed, Lingxian Sect’s evening lessons were no longer held in the classrooms of Lingxian Academy. Instead, they were moved to Shenxing Path.

However, there was no road connecting the mountain where Shenxing Path was located to Azure Cloud Peak, and many of the disciples in the Qi Refining Stage had yet to unlock the ability to fly on swords.

Therefore, every evening after dinner, the sect arranged spirit boats to ferry everyone to class. Once lessons ended, the boats would take them back.

This was also more efficient.

Lin Xiao, however, was in no hurry to have the disciples of Azure Cloud Peak build a road. Although the sect’s traditions had to be maintained, circumstances had to be taken into account as well.

Everyone’s days were already packed with cultivation, work, and all sorts of other matters. They simply had no time to build a road.

They could wait until their cultivation techniques began to show results and their cultivation levels improved. Building the road would be easier then.

During those ten days, He Yi did nothing else. He quietly and alone circled the entire Northern Mountain Range.

In truth, he had no idea that Lingxian Sect’s territory encompassed the entire Northern Mountain Range. He had actually been following the perimeter of the sect-protecting formation.

In the end, he discovered that the formation happened to cover the entire Northern Mountain Range perfectly.

At the same time, while staying in Xiushui Village during this period, he discovered that in a valley a short distance beyond the village’s burial hill, there lingered a faint aura belonging to a demon beast.

He had gone to investigate the valley. Although the remaining demonic aura was already extremely faint, he collected a wisp and carefully analyzed it. He found that the aura’s original owner had possessed a very high level of cultivation—roughly equivalent to the Nascent Soul Stage.

What was even stranger was that this demonic aura also contained a wisp of an aura belonging to a spirit-devouring beast.

During the year he had spent traveling through the Land of Absolute Spiritual Desolation, He Yi had become extremely familiar with the aura of spirit-devouring beasts. Discovering one so suddenly naturally left him puzzled.

How had a spirit-devouring beast appeared in the mortal world as well?

More strangely, judging from how unbelievably faint this wisp of spirit-devouring aura was, it clearly did not seem to have come from a complete spirit-devouring beast.

Yet the aura had evidently remained here for quite some time. It was impossible for it to have lasted this long if the Nascent Soul demon beast had merely killed and eaten a spirit-devouring beast.

Besides, no demon beast would ever prey on a spirit-devouring beast.

For cultivators and demon beasts that cultivated through spiritual energy, such creatures offered no benefit whatsoever. If anything, they were somewhat harmful.

With these doubts in mind, He Yi also examined the area surrounding the valley.

As a result, he accidentally discovered a region where the aura was exceptionally clean, entirely untouched by even the slightest trace of the lingering demonic presence.

That did not make sense.

The demon beast’s cultivation had been extremely high, and it should have remained here for a long time. Its aura had already permeated the valley and the surrounding area.

Yet this clean region stood out sharply amid the extensive demonic aura.

It was as though someone had used some method to completely purge this section of space.

He Yi investigated carefully for a long while, but found no further clues.

The nearest place to this area was Lingxian Sect. It seemed likely that this matter was connected to the sect in some way.

Unable to see anything more, He Yi could only set the matter aside for the time being.

Standing among the villagers of Xiushui Village, he raised his head and gazed at the nearby Path of Seeking the Heart.

Although none of the information he had gathered so far seemed to have anything to do with the Jishi incident, the more He Yi learned about the Lingxian Sect along the way, the more inexplicably interested he became in the sect.

The Lingxian Sect had an excellent reputation. In the eyes of outsiders, it was practically the very image of selflessness—a sect devoted to helping ordinary people.

But could a sect like that really exist?

In the mortal world, where extraordinary power was extremely limited compared to the ordinary people who lived there, cultivators were practically unrivaled beings in the eyes of mortals. Could there truly be a sect composed primarily of cultivators that did not disregard or look down upon mortals, but instead offered them all kinds of appropriate assistance?

It was simply too abnormal.

And where there was abnormality, there was bound to be something sinister lurking beneath.

That was one of the principles He Yi had always followed throughout his many years in the cultivation world.

He simply did not know what the “sinister thing” behind the Lingxian Sect might be—or why they would need the goodwill of mortals, who were no different from ants to most cultivators...

But now that he had made his way to the foot of the Lingxian Sect’s mountain, he had gathered all the information available to the outside world. There was nothing more he could learn from out here.

It seemed that if he truly wanted to understand what lay within, he would have to meet this legendary Lingxian Sect in person.

“Boom—”

A thunderous explosion shattered the tranquility within the Lingxian Sect.

The moment they were startled by the noise, everyone in the sect hurried toward its source—the alchemy room.

When Lin Xiao and the others arrived outside the alchemy room, they saw that although the building had retained its intact exterior under the protection of layer upon layer of powerful formations, it was clearly on the verge of collapse.

At that moment, Liao Pantu and Sun Yigao walked out from inside.

As Liao Pantu was a soul form, he looked more or less fine. Sun Yigao, however, was covered in soot and dust. Even the sect uniform he wore—which had undergone several upgrades to its defensive capabilities—was torn in quite a few places.

It was obvious at a glance that the two of them had blown up the pill furnace while refining pills.

Yet there was no sign of shock or distress on their faces. Instead, they both looked deeply regretful.

“Sigh, we should have waited until your cultivation was a little higher,” Liao Pantu said as he walked out.

Sun Yigao nodded regretfully as well.

“Master is right. If my cultivation had been a little higher, I could have stabilized the medicinal energy inside the furnace.”

“We were just a little short,” Liao Pantu sighed.

“What a pity,” Sun Yigao echoed.

The group of people who had heard the commotion and immediately dropped whatever they were doing to rush over were greeted by this perfectly coordinated exchange between master and disciple.

After listening to the general gist of things, Lin Xiao asked in confusion, “You only blew up the furnace, didn’t you? If it didn’t work this time, couldn’t you just try again next time?”

Jiang Youfu was puzzled as well.

“Yeah. Why do you both look so regretful?”

Liao Pantu turned to glance at them. With a mournful sigh, he said nothing.

Sun Yigao answered somewhat sheepishly, “One of the main ingredients in this alchemy experiment was Tempered Ice Soul. We had already failed many times before, all because there had been some problems with our choice of materials. But this time, after using Tempered Ice Soul, the various medicinal ingredients fused extremely well. Their medicinal properties also followed the direction we had established perfectly, flowing into the formation patterns we had inscribed inside the pill furnace with spiritual power.”

“Everything was on the verge of falling into place. But at the critical final moment, the furnace needed an even more powerful surge of spiritual energy to hold everything steady and complete the process. Unfortunately, my cultivation was insufficient. Sigh...”

The master and disciple had recently been conducting experiments to refine a new kind of pill, something everyone in the sect knew about.

“This time, we tried combining pill refinement with formations and artifact crafting. We had anticipated that the final stage of deepening and stabilization would require a stronger supply of spiritual power, so we prepared spirit stones, a spirit-gathering formation, and all kinds of pills to replenish spiritual energy. But who would have thought that it would require more than a steady stream of spiritual energy? It also demands a far greater intensity of spiritual power,” Liao Pantu added.

At this, the onlookers exchanged glances. Mo Yuanjiao asked, puzzled, “What’s there to regret? Just make adequate preparations and try refining another batch.”

This time, neither Sun Yigao nor Liao Pantu needed to explain. Qin Jianghe covered his face with one hand and said helplessly, “That Tempering Ice Soul only appears once every few hundred years. I spent fifty thousand spirit stones to buy it at an auction in Yuanling City. Even then, I only managed to get it because our sect has ties with the Yuan family, and the head of the Yuan family chose not to bid against us.”

Everyone fell silent.

Clearly, Sun Yigao and Liao Pantu both understood how impossible it was to encounter such a treasure again, which was why they were so regretful.

“Who knows when we’ll have another chance to come across a Tempering Ice Soul?” Liao Pantu sighed again.