"This box contains a stick of soul incense. If anything urgent happens, light it and we'll know immediately."
"Alright, then I'll accept it, big brother."
Yun Xi smiled gently and tucked the wooden box into her storage ring.
Once Black and White Impermanence confirmed there were no remaining souls, they turned and stepped into the black vortex. As their figures vanished, the vortex closed behind them.
The oppressive, eerie feeling in the air lifted, and Liu Haotian exhaled with relief. "This place is safe now. Let's rest here for the night before we move on."
Xia You sighed softly. "Let's finish what we started. We should gather and bury the remains."
Yun Xi nodded in agreement. "Yes, we can spare the time."
Yu Qingcheng was more direct. "These corpses left out like this are an eyesore. How are we supposed to cultivate in peace? Let's bury them first."
The four of them were cultivators. With a few quick hand seals, they gathered the bones into a pile. Xia You used an earth-element spell to bury them. Once finished, the village of Taoyuan felt even more deserted, devoid of all vitality.
Liu Haotian said, "It probably won't be long before someone notices something's wrong here."
"That's alright. The source of the evil has been destroyed. It won't take long before new families move in and the village is brought back to life."
That night, the four of them rested in the village chief's abandoned house. They focused primarily on testing how well soul stones worked for cultivation. After a night of training, the benefits of soul stones were obvious to all three.
Yu Qingcheng praised, "Yun Xi, you really do have sharp instincts. I refined the soul force from a single low-grade soul stone last night, and instantly felt refreshed. Even my techniques ran more smoothly."
Xia You chimed in, "Me too. That heavy feeling I had inside the Soul-Gathering Mirror is completely gone now."
Liu Haotian's improvement was even more obvious. "I've already caught a glimpse of the opportunity to break through to Golden Core."
All three turned toward Liu Haotian. Yu Qingcheng looked at him with concern.
"Senior Brother Liu, can you still suppress it? If not, we should find a safe place for your breakthrough. We'll guard you."
Liu Haotian waved a hand. "No need. I can hold it back for now. But with the help of soul stones, I feel my breakthrough will go more smoothly."
Yun Xi immediately cupped her hands and smiled. "Congratulations, Liu Daoyou. Looks like you're just a step away from entering the Golden Core realm."
"All thanks to Wei Zhēnrén."
Liu Haotian replied sincerely.
Yu Qingcheng laughed.
"Let's skip the formalities. Since Senior Brother Liu can hold it in, let's return to the cultivation realm as soon as we can. It'll be better to break through there, where the spiritual energy is stronger."
"Junior Sister Yu is right. I'll try to wait until we're back before I make the breakthrough."
Still, Liu Haotian added with a warning tone, "Everyone, it's best not to tell others about the soul stones we acquired today."
Yu Qingcheng's phoenix eyes blinked with understanding. She immediately picked up the thread.
"Senior Brother is absolutely right. This is our opportunity alone. We only made contact with the ghost messengers because of Wei Zhēnrén. I'm certainly not going to let anyone know I've got something this good."
Xia You laughed and promised, "I contributed the least and still got a share of the spoils. That's already generous of you. Don't worry, I'll keep my storage bag shut and my mouth tighter."
Yun Xi understood they were giving her their word. She smiled and nodded, letting the matter pass. The group of four then departed from Taoyuan Village.
Half an hour after their departure, a dark shadow crept into the village, moving stealthily. Looking at the empty, lifeless settlement, the newcomer cursed.
"Damn it. Just my luck. That evil artifact was almost fully nurtured. Who the hell ruined everything?"
The figure searched around for a while but found no clues. In the end, he could only leave in frustration.
After leaving Taoyuan Village, Yun Xi and her group headed toward the next major human city: Jinyun City. Previously, most of their travel involved camping outdoors. They had only stayed in inns a handful of times. Now that they were in a proper city, Yu Qingcheng suggested they rest for two full days. Everyone agreed.
There was an entrance fee to enter Jinyun City. After paying a few copper coins, they headed straight to the largest inn in the city: Yunlai Inn.
The four were generous with their money, so the innkeeper treated them with exceptional warmth. They were given a courtyard with a hot spring and served Jinyun City's finest delicacies. The hospitality was impeccable.
Each of them took turns soaking in the hot spring before returning to their rooms to rest.
Although Yun Xi had already stepped into the Golden Core stage, the mortal realm was no ideal place to cultivate. She decided to enjoy a good night's sleep instead. As she drifted off, she couldn't help but wonder how things were going between the female and male lead.
The people she was thinking about, Wei Yunqing and Sheng Yuhong, were not growing closer like in the original novel. After discovering that Yunqing had been pretending to be weak and secretly slandering Wei Yunxi in front of him, Sheng Yuhong began distancing himself from her. As the sect's chief disciple, it was easy for him to find plenty of excuses.
Once Sheng Yuhong stopped visiting the Dan Peak, Wei Yunqing barely saw him anymore. She tried to take on some sect missions, hoping to "accidentally" run into him, but all her efforts were in vain. This left her anxious and unfocused in her cultivation.
Ye Shaohua noticed something was off and sought her out for a conversation. He reminded her that she was only a registered disciple under the peak lord. If she didn't perform well, she could be removed at any time. There were plenty of other disciples with better talent and work ethic.
Only then did Wei Yunqing force herself to refocus on cultivation. Not long after, she heard that Yun Xi had taken a sect mission and left. Wei Yunqing guessed Yun Xi had returned to the family.
Given that Yun Xi had now become the disciple of a Yuányīng Zhēnjūn, the family would likely value her far more than before. That would be a huge advantage.
Wei Yunqing could already imagine how difficult her own position in the clan would be. Unwilling to accept it, she decided to return to the family herself. If she could arrive before Yun Xi, she might have time to prepare her own strategy.
Once she made up her mind, she went to find Wei Zonghao and invited him to travel with her. But Wei Zonghao politely declined.
"Sister Yunqing, I've recently made progress in alchemy under the guidance of Danyang Zhēnrén. I can't leave the sect right now. If you're not in a rush, wait half a month for me."
Wei Yunqing was clearly unhappy at the delay.
"Brother Zonghao, can't you come home with me first?"
Wei Zonghao rolled his eyes internally and replied, "Danyang Zhēnrén is calling me. I have to return to the alchemy pavilion."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and left, leaving Wei Yunqing standing there grumbling to herself. In the end, she had no choice but to return alone. Knowing her own strength was limited, she made proper preparations and headed to Haoran City to catch an airship back to Kunyu City.
Her journey was anything but smooth. While crossing the Baohua Mountain Range, the airship she was on was attacked by a flock of red-beaked hawks. The Golden Core cultivator guarding the ship immediately leapt out to battle the leading third-rank hawk.
Meanwhile, the ship's guards and cultivators pulled out their weapons to fight off the second-rank hawks. Chaos erupted midair.
Wei Yunqing had terrible luck. One of the third-rank hawk's wings clipped her and knocked her off the airship. She avoided being surrounded, but now she was stranded alone in the Baohua Mountains.