Wen Xinliang was delighted. He cared a great deal about this flying Magical Artifact; naturally, the higher its grade, the better. Seeing this opportunity, he certainly wouldn't let it pass. "In that case, I must thank Junior Sister Bai in advance. What materials do you need? I'll have to trouble you for a list later."
Bai Rou nodded lightly and, with a wave of her delicate hand, pressed a pure white Jade Slip to her forehead.
Whether for a formation master or an artifact refiner, when crafting for others, all necessary raw materials were to be provided by the person requesting the service. Moreover, multiple portions of the same material were often prepared to account for consumption and failure. Even so, finding a master to help refine an artifact or inscribe a formation was often a fruitless endeavor. Therefore, artifact refiners and formation masters were highly respected in any sect in the cultivation world.
Normally, when Wen Xinliang and the others sought someone in the sect for pill or artifact refining, they could only find ordinary disciples to help them. This was also why Wen Xinliang had gone to purchase a relatively high-grade Magical Artifact directly.
A moment later, Bai Rou lifted her fair face, removed the Jade Slip from her smooth forehead, and handed it to Wen Xinliang.
Wen Xinliang accepted it without ceremony and smiled. "Junior Sister Bai, if you ever need anything in the future, you can find me. Although I wouldn't call myself a master, I will do my best to help." His words were equivalent to giving Bai Rou a promise.
Bai Rou gave a soft "mm" in reply. Although her personality was meek, she was extremely intelligent. It was just her nature that she disliked interacting with people much, so she had very few acquaintances. After this trip out, and chatting with Wen and Lin on the way back—Lin Daqiao's frank and spontaneous nature, Wen Xinliang's thorough consideration—she felt it wasn't as difficult to communicate as she had imagined. On the contrary, the conversation had been very pleasant. She naturally developed a desire to befriend them. The old saying that more friends meant more paths was an unchanging truth.
Under Lin Daqiao's somewhat expectant gaze, Bai Rou's beautiful brows relaxed, and she also spoke to him softly, "Senior Brother Lin, could you let your junior sister take a look at your weapon?"
This was the very sentence Lin Daqiao had been waiting for. A look of joy appeared on his face as he slapped his waist. With a flash of light, a pair of Handguard Wu Hook Swords appeared in his hands.
"I'll have to trouble Junior Sister Bai," he said, handing over the pair of cold, gleaming hook swords.
With a beckoning gesture from her jade-like hand, the pair of hook swords floated up and slowly drifted in front of her. She didn't touch them directly. Instead, after a sweep of her beautiful eyes, she pointed a slender, jade-like finger into the air. The pair of levitating hook swords instantly came to life. With a series of contortions, they transformed into two three-foot-long, crimson centipedes, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws. They shook their heads and opened their sharp mandibles as if to pounce on her, but they seemed to be enveloped by an invisible sphere of air, confined to moving within a few feet, hissing from time to time.
After watching for a short while, Bai Rou once again tapped her finger lightly at the two centipedes. A black mist rose from the two menacing creatures, and they reverted to a pair of hook swords glinting with a dark light, floating in the air.
"Senior Brother, these two hook swords were refined from the Essence Soul of a first-tier Shadowmoon Centipede. A simple formation was used to preserve its Essence Soul within this Spirit Treasure. Although you can summon the Shadowmoon Centipede's Essence Soul in battle, you can likely only command its instincts and cannot fully unleash its combat power."
With a wave of her sleeve, Bai Rou sent the two hook swords flying back. Lin Daqiao caught them and said with a laugh, "Junior Sister Bai has excellent skills, spotting the refining method and flaws of my hook swords with just a few glances. And you are indeed correct."
"Mm, Senior Brother Lin, please wait a few days. After I've adjusted and inscribed the formation for Senior Brother Wen's flying Magical Artifact, I will send you a message. You can bring the hook swords then. It should only take about a day. However, the Essence Soul within the hook swords is first-tier. With my current ability, I can at most enable it to display the power of a high-grade Spirit Treasure, and I only have a sixty percent chance of success. If I fail..." As Bai Rou spoke, a hint of apology appeared in her eyes.
Controlling the demonic beast's Essence Soul in Lin Daqiao's weapon was different from modifying the formation in Wen Xinliang's. She was not involved in refining the purple butterfly itself, only providing the inscribed formation. But with Lin Daqiao's hook swords, a single mistake could cause the Shadowmoon Centipede's Essence Soul to dissipate, resulting in a total loss. So, she didn't dare to guarantee success.
"Hehe, Junior Sister Bai, you jest. I've shown these hook swords to some formation masters before. The most they could do was raise the weapon's power to that of a mid-grade Spirit Treasure, and their confidence was far below forty percent. That's why I never had the formation inscribed. It seems I was right to wait. Besides, what does it matter if it fails? At worst, I'll just go to the Hundred Thousand Mountains and catch another demonic beast. Please don't worry about it, Junior Sister Bai." At this, Lin Daqiao shrugged nonchalantly and put away the hook swords with a grin.
Seeing Lin Daqiao agree so readily to the inscription made Bai Rou slightly surprised. It might have sounded easy when he said it, but the reality was quite different. Spirit Treasures were good, but not everyone had one. The vast majority of Foundation Establishment cultivators only had high-grade Spirit Artifacts or low-grade Spirit Treasures. This was true even in the four great sects. Through their conversation on the way, Bai Rou had learned that this Senior Brother Lin had only reached Foundation Establishment about three years ago. His wealth was far from that of the veteran Foundation Establishment cultivators. For these hook swords to already be a low-grade Spirit Treasure without a high-grade formation inscribed meant he had paid a great price for them. It wasn't as simple as just the Essence Soul of a first-tier Shadowmoon Centipede; the other raw materials must have been painstakingly acquired.
For a moment, Bai Rou felt that everyone from this Little Bamboo Peak was an extraordinary individual. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but look at Li Yan beside her. Li Yan had barely spoken the entire way, only occasionally uttering "mm" or "oh" in response to their conversation. This made him even more inscrutable to Bai Rou. Ever since Li Yan had directly blocked Sun Guoshu's Divine Sense "attack" in the free market, Sun Guoshu had called him a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. But Bai Rou knew that couldn't be right. It had only been about four months since the sect competition. How could Li Yan have jumped from the seventh layer of Qi Condensation to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment?
Although she was curious, she was an extremely intelligent person and never used her Divine Sense to scan Li Yan, lest she displease him. The four of them had been standing quite close on the purple butterfly's back. Even without releasing her Divine Sense, she could still feel the eighth-layer Qi Condensation aura fluctuating from Li Yan. This confused her, making it impossible to determine his true realm and making this junior brother seem all the more mysterious.
Half an incense stick's time later, the purple butterfly shot through the majestic mountain gate and quickly disappeared within the sect-protecting formation.
A moment later, the purple butterfly appeared before the five towering peaks. A graceful figure flew up from the butterfly, and with a spin, stood elegantly in mid-air.
"Thank you, two Senior Brothers and Junior Brother Li, for the trip to the trading city," Bai Rou said softly from the air. At this moment, although her voice was still gentle, after chatting all the way, she was less reserved and her expression was much more natural.
"We should be the ones thanking Junior Sister Bai. Even if we didn't travel together, with your cultivation, you could have come and gone freely. Tomorrow, when I have prepared the necessary materials, I will send this Magical Artifact and the materials over. I'll have to trouble you then, Junior Sister Bai," Wen Xinliang said loudly from the flying Magical Artifact. He had just looked at the jade slip Bai Rou gave him. He already had most of the items listed, but had been unable to find a suitable artifact refiner and formation master. There were three materials on the list he didn't have, but he knew he could buy them within the sect, so there was no need to make another trip to the trading city.
Bai Rou nodded slightly in agreement.
Lin Daqiao and Li Yan also smiled. Seeing that their business was concluded, they all cupped their hands, intending to part ways with Bai Rou. Just as Wen Xinliang was about to urge the Magical Artifact to fly toward Little Bamboo Peak, Bai Rou, in the air, seemed to hesitate. Seeing that the three were about to leave, she couldn't help but say, "J-J-Junior Brother Li, c-c-could you wait a moment? I have a matter to ask you about." As she said this, she lowered her head again, a few strands of her black hair brushing against her face, hiding her shy expression.
Li Yan was stunned but then immediately thought that he was just looking for a time to give her the thousand Spirit Stones. With his two senior brothers around, there hadn't been a suitable moment. Seeing Bai Rou call out to him, although he didn't know what it was about, it was a good opportunity. He smiled at the two beside him who were giving him strange looks, communicated with his storage pouch via Divine Sense, and with a flash of light, a flying sword was already under his feet.
Wen Xinliang saw this and chuckled, his eyes sweeping up and down Li Yan several more times, which made Li Yan's skin crawl. Then Wen Xinliang turned his gaze to Bai Rou, who was looking down from the sky. Without another word, he chuckled a few more times, urged the purple butterfly under his feet, and with a swirl, flew off in the direction of Little Bamboo Peak.
Lin Daqiao's distant mumbling drifted through the air, "Isn't it Senior Sister Min? Why does this look like..." Although his voice was soft, it made Bai Rou, in the air, freeze for a moment. She then looked at Li Yan, a puzzled expression on her face, not understanding what Senior Brother Lin had meant.
Li Yan, standing on his flying sword, acted as if he hadn't heard. With a flash of spiritual light from his hand, a storage pouch appeared. He flicked his hand, and the storage pouch flew toward the somewhat dazed Bai Rou. "Senior Sister Bai, this is the compensation from the market. Take it."
Seeing a streak of light fly toward her and hearing Li Yan's words, a look of embarrassed anger appeared on Bai Rou's face. Without even looking at the storage pouch, she stared at Li Yan again. With a flick of her jade-like finger, the storage pouch flew back toward Li Yan even faster than before. At the same time, a low whisper reached Li Yan's ears. "Junior Brother Li, what is the meaning of this? You obtained this by helping me; it is not mine. If you act like this, should I also take out a thousand Spirit Stones to thank you? Did you think I asked you to stay behind for this?"
Although her voice was soft, the hidden anger within was very clear. Li Yan had expected she might refuse, but he didn't think he would anger this Senior Sister who had been as calm as a lake the entire journey. Seeing the storage pouch fly back, he thought for a moment, then reached out and hung it back on his waist without a word.
Seeing Li Yan take back the storage pouch directly, Bai Rou's pretty face returned to normal, but in the next moment, a blush rose on her cheeks again. The place where they had stopped was on the main path to the various peaks after coming from the sect gate. Although it was already dusk, there were still many cultivators flying past. The two of them, standing there in mid-air, had already attracted a lot of attention. Although no one flew over to ask, everyone who passed by looked in their direction. Bai Rou had never experienced being alone with a man like this in her entire life, and her heart began to panic.
"Ahem, Senior Sister Bai, what did you want to ask?" Li Yan frowned, looking at the gazes of the passing cultivators. He also disliked this kind of atmosphere.
"Oh, it's... it's like this. This isn't the place to talk. Let's go over there and talk," Bai Rou said after Li Yan spoke. She glanced around lightly, then pointed to a more secluded spot and hurriedly flew over with her head down.
Li Yan, of course, didn't want to stand here either. Filled with questions, he followed Bai Rou to the side.
As Bai Rou flew ahead, hearing the sound of parting air behind her, her heart began to beat faster against her will. Her act of flying to a remote place gave her an indescribable feeling.
The two of them, one in front and one behind, flew for about four to five hundred zhang to the side and stopped on top of a small hill.
On the hilltop, clouds and mist drifted, and a gentle breeze blew. Bai Rou landed first on a rock. The breeze lifted her long robe, and her hair danced in the air, giving her a sense of wanting to ascend and fly away.
Li Yan followed on his sword, and after a swirl, landed not far from Bai Rou.