Just as Falling Star Valley was slowly returning to normal, and the demand for alchemy and artifact forging was endless, seven months had quietly passed since that great battle, ushering in the bleak winter.
Su Yuan was an old-timer in Falling Star Valley. He had been at the Late-stage Foundation Establishment for over thirty years, and his actual age had reached one hundred and forty-three.
At his age, he had no hope of forming a core in this lifetime.
Therefore, more than ten years ago, he had to find a way to enter the "Myriad Stars Pavilion" as a deacon. That was where the refined pills, magical treasures, and the like of Falling Star Valley were stored.
There, he could be the first to know what good pills the sect had refined. The deacons and disciples there would have the advantage of being closest to the source.
They could buy the best pills, magical treasures, and spirit artifacts at the most favorable prices.
Su Yuan had been in the "Myriad Stars Pavilion" for seventeen years, and he had used his status as a deacon to purchase two fourth-rank "Essence-Increasing Pills."
The "Essence-Increasing Pill" was very useful for Foundation Establishment cultivators to break through minor realms. But just in case, Su Yuan planned to immediately go into seclusion to break through to the Pseudo-Core realm after purchasing the third "Essence-Increasing Pill."
The longer a cultivator lived, the more they feared death and the more they craved a longer lifespan. Su Yuan was, of course, no exception.
But at this critical juncture, the four sects invaded. Whether you were willing or not, all Foundation Establishment cultivators would be sent out to lead the disciples to fight the enemy in the outer valley.
Su Yuan was no exception. He didn't know that because of his old age, he had long been excluded from the elite disciples by Xing Ming.
Therefore, although there were many Foundation Establishment disciples among the secretly transferred disciples, his name was not among them. He was left in the valley as a meat shield.
Although he knew this battle was a matter of life and death, Su Yuan had no attachments and was able to think it through.
Ever since he knew that forming a core would be difficult for him, he hadn't even been willing to take on a single disciple. He didn't even have enough Spirit Stones for himself, so how could he have the energy to take care of a so-called disciple?
Before the battle, Lin Xinghe had also promised them various benefits. Because of this, Su Yuan thought he had found a good opportunity.
As long as he made great contributions in this battle, he could use it as a condition to directly ask the sect for one, or even two, "Essence-Increasing Pills."
Since he was also an old-timer in Falling Star Valley, when choosing a defensive point, the deacon on duty let Su Yuan's team have priority in choosing a place.
So Su Yuan and the other three Foundation Establishment cultivators discussed it and quickly reached a consensus.
They believed that if they set up an ambush near the sect gate, the enemy would have just entered and would be at their strongest in terms of morale and numbers. Although they could kill more enemies, the chances of being smashed into meat paste themselves were greater.
And the middle section between the sect gate and the inner valley was too large, so the enemy would be too scattered, and the number of people they could kill would be limited.
So, in the end, they decided to choose a defensive point near the entrance to the inner valley. That was where the enemy would eventually have to go, and by then, the enemy would have already lost a good number of their forces, so they could make the final strike.
At the same time, if they couldn't hold on, it would be most convenient to teleport into the inner valley, and their chances of survival would also be much greater.
But the result was a great shock to Su Yuan's team. In the end, their team only had to defend against a small team of less than five people.
And the other party only had one Foundation Establishment cultivator leading the team. After they easily wiped out this small enemy team, the news came that all the enemies had been annihilated and Falling Star Valley was victorious.
Su Yuan and the others couldn't believe the initial news they received. But more and more such messages came from all directions.
This time, most of the people in Su Yuan's team were overjoyed. Not a single one of them had been harmed, yet they had welcomed victory and survival. How could they not be happy?
But for Su Yuan, this was undoubtedly a heavy blow.
It was only after he returned to the inner valley and inquired about the details that he learned more of the story.
Originally, many cultivators had been close to the inner valley, but in the end, they were wiped out by several teams working together, about one or two hundred people in total.
But he didn't know that an enemy Golden Core cultivator had once appeared there. Otherwise, besides fear, he wouldn't have had any other reaction.
And when facing the remaining enemies, the Grand Elder of the "Green Wind Sect" actually arrived with a large group of Foundation Establishment cultivators.
With their addition, the remaining hundred or so enemies were all wiped out before they had even covered sixty percent of the road from the sect gate to the inner valley.
This made Su Yuan sigh at his rotten luck. He was a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. In this battle, he should have gained a lot of benefits no matter what.
Even if it was just getting something from the enemy. But of the five people they killed, there was only one Foundation Establishment cultivator, and the things in their storage pouches weren't even enough to be divided among the four of them. It amounted to only about ten Spirit Stones.
But what happened later made Su Yuan even more annoyed. After this battle, the Sect Master Lin Xinghe was seriously injured and went into seclusion, while the previous Sect Master Xing Ming miraculously returned.
This former Sect Master valued the contributions of the sect's disciples to the sect even more.
So, after a tally of the battle merits, the deacon position in the "Myriad Stars Pavilion" that Su Yuan had spent a huge price to get was taken away by the trio led by Zhu Luomu.
How could Su Yuan accept this? He wanted to find the current Sect Master to fight for it, to see if he could pull some strings and let him stay in the "Myriad Stars Pavilion."
Although Su Yuan was an old-timer in Falling Star Valley, he was only over one hundred and forty years old. When he entered Falling Star Valley, Lin Xinghe was already the Sect Master.
Therefore, his understanding of Xing Ming was probably only from some classics.
In the end, when he saw Xing Ming, and saw Zhu Luomu and his two martial siblings standing by the Sect Master's side, a bad feeling arose in his heart.
Xing Ming, with a smile on his face, kindly waved his hand and let Su Yuan sit down casually. His attitude towards him was also quite friendly.
Then, before Su Yuan could speak, he said casually, as if he didn't care, "Deacon Su, you don't have to be so restrained. Although this old man hasn't been in the sect for hundreds of years, you are very familiar with my few disciples. Just be casual. By the way, what did you come to see me for? Speak slowly... hehe..."
At that time, Su Yuan was completely stunned, the last trace of hope in his heart shattered.
Afterward, he endured his fear, found some things to say, and then hurriedly left.
And then, he was assigned to guard the "Shattered Star Chamber" here.
Although this was also a lucrative post, due to the strict sect rules now, far fewer people were using the underground "Shattered Star Chamber."
And the "Lesser Shattered Star Chambers" on the surface were generally for Qi Condensation disciples. Those people were so poor they barely had enough Spirit Stones to cultivate, so what kind of profit could be squeezed out of them?
At the same time, the guard duty here was on rotation. One month per rotation, and including Su Yuan, there were a total of three Foundation Establishment cultivators taking turns on duty.
This way, the benefits he could get were even more pitifully small.
Su Yuan knew that he absolutely could not afford to provoke the always low-key Zhu Luomu trio now, so he blamed all this disaster on others—the other teams that had wiped out one or two hundred enemies.
Those people ate the meat, and in the end, they only left a single drop of the gravy for him to "drink"—or rather, to "lick."
As for the enemies who were ultimately killed by the Grand Elder of the "Green Wind Sect" and his men, he naturally ignored them in his heart.
If he were to find out which of his fellow sect members had ruined his plan, the next time they came to the "Shattered Star Chamber," he would definitely get back those losses from them.
But no matter how he inquired, in the end, he only got one piece of news.
"It was several teams led by Zhu Luomu who joined forces to resist the enemy." Other than that, he couldn't even find out the identity of a single Qi Condensation disciple who had appeared there. It seemed as if someone was deliberately hiding everything.
This was all because the current Sect Master Xing Ming, on the grounds of protecting the reinforcing cultivators from the "Green Wind Sect," did not allow the details of the great battle to be revealed.
This reason seemed very far-fetched to Su Yuan. The current Sect Master was hiding something.
But because of this, Su Yuan didn't dare to continue inquiring afterward, because he thought of the rumors that the Grand Elder was seriously injured, and the person who spread them had been severely punished by Xing Ming. The outcome was said to be quite tragic.
Perhaps the content he was inquiring about also involved the Sect Master Lin Xinghe, and it was not impossible that it was also related to the Grand Elder.
Su Yuan, after synthesizing the information he had inquired about before, had his own judgment. In the end, he attributed everything to the current Sect Master.
"This must have been done personally by this former Sect Master, and then he deliberately placed these merits on his disciples."
Every time he thought of this matter, Su Yuan, who was sitting cross-legged in front of the "Shattered Star Grotto" on duty, would be filled with anger.
The more he thought about these things, the more annoyed he became. Usually, in the end, besides forcefully shaking his head, trying to squeeze the matter out of his mind, he could only think of other things to distract himself.
Suddenly, he thought of the person in a certain "Shattered Star Chamber."
"That person has been in there for more than half a year, but to this day, he still hasn't come out. This person's strength is so terrifying, but why don't I know him?"
After being distracted, the first thing Su Yuan thought of was the person who had made all three deacons feel incredulous.
Seven months ago, he had taken a young man dressed in the Falling Star Valley sect uniform and holding a jade slip with the Sect Master's voice message to the underground Refining Chamber D.
At that time, he had been very concerned about the cultivator whose cultivation he couldn't see through at all. How could he get a jade slip with the Sect Master's personal voice message?
Their Sect Master had been missing for a very, very long time. Even he had never seen him before. After such a miraculous return, why could this person, who looked like a disciple of the valley, get connected with the former Sect Master?
This point alone was enough for Su Yuan to notice this young man.
What surprised Su Yuan even more happened later. After that person had been inside for more than half a month, he still hadn't come out. At that time, Su Yuan hadn't paid special attention to the matter.
It was already the turn of another Foundation Establishment cultivator to be on duty, so Su Yuan went back to rest.
During the month he was back, although not intentionally, he had inquired a little about that person's appearance.
Unfortunately, very few people in the valley knew Li Yan. Su Yuan hadn't asked the right person. He certainly didn't think that the disciples the other party knew the most were actually in the Qi Condensation stage.
Afterward, he put the matter out of his mind. The current Sect Master seemed to be keeping a close eye on the Foundation Establishment cultivators.
He dared not privately inquire about the news of other fellow sect members anymore. If he was caught as a spy and had his soul searched, he would be truly finished.
And then, two months later, when he was on duty again and was handing over with the previous cultivator, he was surprised to find that Refining Chamber D was still in use.
So he hurriedly asked that deacon when this Refining Chamber D was opened. That deacon was stunned for a moment before saying.
"It was probably opened when Senior Brother Liu was on duty. It's probably been a little over a month. He should be out soon."
Su Yuan immediately felt that something was wrong. He immediately took out a voice transmission talisman and sent a message to Junior Brother Liu. A moment later, the other party's reply made him gasp in shock.
"Senior Brother, wasn't Refining Chamber D opened when you were here? Could there be a problem?"