Xiang Yushuang was pampered by the Xuantian Sect leader since childhood. Because she possessed a pure Yin constitution, she was constantly protected from danger, which sometimes made her quite immature in matters of human relationships. Shi Yunxuan's merciless words were unbearable for her, and with tears in her eyes, she hurriedly chased after Huo Chongjun.
Once they were out of sight, Shi Yunxuan suddenly collapsed, unable to continue. Xu Zifan helped her sit down against a large tree, frowning as he said, "Your injuries are serious, why force yourself?"
Shi Yunxuan twitched the corner of her mouth. "I can't let people look down on me, especially not some petty person who tries to steal our things. By the way, Brother Xu, have you ever heard of Master Zhengyang? Back then, the news of Master Zhengyang leaving the Xuantian Sect was all over the place. You must have heard of him, right? Speaking of which, you two are from the same clan."
Xu Zifan met Shi Yunxuan's gaze and said calmly, "I know a little bit, but I'm only interested in alchemy."
Xu Zifan gave her the pill and transferred some spiritual energy to her before getting up to deal with the demonic beast. Shi Yunxuan refused everything she had obtained along the way, insisting that it all belong to her benefactor. Xu Zifan didn't stand on ceremony with her, and the back-and-forth between them only made things more confusing.
Shi Yunxuan kept looking at him, then squinted and asked tentatively, "Brother Xu, why didn't you say anything just now? Those two are the daughter of the Xuantian Sect's leader and the next leader. I heard... they are a match made in heaven, and their cultivation improved very quickly after they became Daoist partners."
Xu Zifan peeled off the monster's skin without even looking up. "I saw that you were being aggressive, which is unlike your usual personality. I assumed you had a grudge against each other, so I didn't say anything."
Shi Yunxuan smiled slightly, simply looking at him. She harbored no grudge; even if she disapproved of their actions, she wouldn't arbitrarily provoke a conflict. She was merely deliberately bringing up past events to see Xu Zifan's reaction. If he were truly the True Man of Zhengyang, he shouldn't have remained completely unmoved. But it was precisely because he showed no reaction whatsoever, and didn't utter a single word, that she became even more certain that he was indeed the True Man of Zhengyang.
No wonder she always felt a sense of familiarity with him; it turned out they had indeed met before. She always has a vivid memory for people who interest her.
Master Zhengyang, the cloaked man, and Xu Yi all possess the Thunder Spirit Root. From Master Zhengyang's disappearance to the cloaked man and the spirit fruit's subsequent disappearances, and then Xu Yi's reappearance, it would be too much of a coincidence if the three of them were not the same person.
Xu Zifan stopped what he was doing, turned to look at her, and said helplessly, "You did this on purpose."
Shi Yunxuan's eyes crinkled into a smile as she exclaimed happily, "Am I smart?"
Talking to intelligent people isn't so difficult; they all know what the other is saying and understand that denying it is pointless and only makes them look inferior. Xu Zifan had a feeling from the first time he saw her that she might recognize him, and now that she had, he sighed, put the processed demon beast meat into his spatial storage, walked up to Shi Yunxuan, bent down, and looked into her eyes. "So, Junior Sister Yunxuan, is there anything you'd like to say?"
Shi Yunxuan immediately shook her head and smiled, "You're still you. It just feels better to know your true identity. Luckily you didn't change your surname, so it's not wrong for me to call you Brother Xu." She stood up, leaning against the tree trunk. "Let's hurry up. They've gone that way too. If they discover the entrance to the underground palace, they'll beat us to it."
Xu Zifan thought for a moment, then pulled out an ancient wooden cart used for hauling goods from his spatial storage and gestured for Shi Yunxuan to sit on it. "I'll use this to take you. You should quickly circulate your internal energy and regulate your breathing."
Shi Yunxuan stared dumbfounded at the wooden cart. "Brother Xu, how...how did you get something like this?"
Xu Zifan shrugged. "It was a long time ago, I forgot." This was something he used when he went into the mountains to gather herbs in the last world, and it came in handy now. However, compared to Shi Yunxuan bringing out spiritual fruits and fur mats, his simple wooden cart was quite different, not at the level of a Nascent Soul cultivator. No wonder Shi Yunxuan was so surprised.
Shi Yunxuan spread the fur cushion on the wooden cart and obediently sat down. A cultivator wouldn't feel much weight pulling someone, and Xu Zifan easily pulled her along. Shi Yunxuan took another pill, sat cross-legged, closed her eyes, and focused on healing her injuries. They would soon reach the underground palace, which was fraught with danger. Huo Chongjun and Xiang Yushuang were nearby, and her senior brothers and sisters might arrive at any time. She absolutely couldn't hold them back; otherwise, it wouldn't be repaying a debt of gratitude but harming others.
Xu Zifan kept observing his surroundings with his divine sense. Seeing Huo Chongjun and the others turn at an intersection, he felt a slight sense of relief. Huo Chongjun had many opportunities; such people often possessed a certain luck. If they entered the underground palace at the same time, he might not necessarily get the same chance. The cultivation world sometimes places great importance on luck, much like fortune.
Half a day later, they arrived at the entrance to the underground palace. It was very well hidden; Shi Yunxuan had discovered it by chance while chasing a demonic beast. The two entered the palace, with Shi Yunxuan leading the way cautiously. Having cultivated for half a day, her body had recovered somewhat, and she could easily handle simple combat. Under her guidance, they easily avoided the traps at the first two doors. Upon reaching the third door, Shi Yunxuan said, "It was behind this door that I encountered an eighth-tier demonic beast and was severely injured. During that time, I opened the fourth door, which is where the alchemy inheritance is located. There doesn't seem to be any danger inside; that demonic beast must be guarding that room."
She looked at the two empty rooms in front of her and explained, "These two rooms contain more than a dozen boxes of spirit stones, of all grades, as well as a few low-grade magic artifacts. We collected them separately when we came here that day."
Xu Zifan nodded. The lost things were no longer relevant to him. He whispered to Shi Yunxuan to hide behind the wall, then turned the mechanism on the wall. The third door opened with a click, and a massive demonic beast inside instantly roared at him. Xu Zifan unleashed various lightning spells without restraint, but the demonic beast used ice magic, which weakened his attacks by more than half. Instead, it was the beast's attacks that made Xu Zifan...
They had to dodge repeatedly and defend themselves with all their might.
Facing an eighth-tier demonic beast for the second time on the same day, Xu Zifan wondered what his luck was. He threw out his Xuan Iron Fan, and the demonic beast instantly erected an ice wall as a shield. The ice wall was cut through, but the Xuan Iron Fan's attack was also neutralized, and the beast returned to its original position. Just as Xu Zifan was thinking about how to win quickly, he suddenly heard Shi Yunxuan urgently say, "Someone's coming! Brother Xu, hurry! I'll go restore the mechanisms and stop them!"
"Yunxuan!" Xu Zifan called out, somewhat anxious that she was in danger due to her serious injuries, but the demon beast's attack blocked his path, so he could only continue fighting the demon beast and could not even spare his divine sense to pay attention to the outside world. "Shaohua, keep an eye on Yunxuan's situation."
[Shaohua: Don't worry, there's no danger for now.]
Shi Yunxuan had studied mechanisms and formations, and was very familiar with the mechanisms of the first two doors, having traversed them twice. She released her divine sense and heard a confrontation outside, one person questioning the other about their location. Calmly, she restored the first door to its original state and activated an attack array behind it. She got up to go to the second door, when suddenly she heard the person being questioned outside speaking—it was her senior brother and sister who had sent her into the lion's den!
Shi Yunxuan whirled around, gripping her longsword tightly, her eyes blazing with murderous intent. But remembering that Xu Zifan was battling an eighth-tier demonic beast and could not afford to fail, she could only suppress her anger and quickly ran to the mechanism of the second door, resetting it with lightning speed. This time, she didn't set a trap at the door, just like before, to put them on guard.
She set up an illusion array with spirit stones outside the third door. Once the array was complete, the spirit stones disappeared, making it look no different from the rest of the place. Those people would definitely come to open the third door when they saw it. They would be so focused on guarding the inside that they wouldn't pay attention to the outside. With her abilities, this illusion array wouldn't be very effective against cautious people, but if someone stepped into the array's range without any precautions, they would definitely be immersed in the illusion, which would at least hinder them for a moment.
Having done all this, Shi Yunxuan resolutely entered the third door and closed it, exposing herself to the demon beast. Seeing someone else approaching, the demon beast became even more agitated. Shi Yunxuan took out her top-grade magic weapon dagger, intently watching the demon beast, intending to repeat her previous method. Xu Zifan, at this moment, thought of an idea and quickly ran to Shi Yunxuan's side, shouting, "Let's go!"
With a wave of his hand, he used the Golden Concealment Bell to shield them, disappearing from the demon beast's sight. Hearing his words and seeing them vanish, the demon beast truly believed they had left, letting out an angry growl and cautiously approaching the doorway to check.
The Golden Concealment Bell was also a top-grade magic weapon, isolating divine sense and making the demonic beasts even more convinced that they were gone. Xu Zifan, however, possessed the cheat code of "Youthful Radiance," allowing him to clearly see the demonic beasts' every move on the virtual screen. Once the demonic beasts entered his attack range, he instantly retracted the Golden Concealment Bell and activated the mechanism of the Xuan Iron Fan!
The Xuan Iron Fan unleashed several poisonous needles, all of which pierced the monster's body. The monster roared in agony and crashed headlong into the wall. Xu Zifan seized the opportunity to throw the Xuan Iron Fan, slashing open its belly, and then unleashed a barrage of lightning-based spells upon it. The monster's body was corroded by the poison, greatly reducing its resistance and attack power, and it died within two quarters of an hour.
Shi Yunxuan listened to the commotion outside the door. While they were fighting, the people outside had already opened the second door. She heard her senior brother cursing that the mechanisms here were even more difficult. Then her senior sister stepped into her illusion array. There were some noisy and chaotic sounds outside, but a male voice said to open the third door first. She recognized the voice as Huo Chongjun.
Shi Yunxuan cursed inwardly. Huo Chongjun and the others had gone in another direction; they must have seen her senior brothers and sisters following them from there. She placed a few Five Thunder Talismans on the ground, used spirit stones to form an array to conceal herself, and hurriedly ran to open the fourth door. "Quick!"
Xu Zifan put the monster's corpse into his spatial storage and flashed into the fourth door. At the same time, the third door opened, and they were face to face with the people outside. Xu Zifan was closing the fourth door when Huo Chongjun, for some reason, suddenly felt a sense of crisis and took the lead in rushing into the third door. He stepped into the formation, and several Five Thunder Talismans immediately exploded. The last thing Xu Zifan saw was Huo Chongjun with his clothes torn to shreds, his face blackened, and his hair singed!
Xu Zifan felt pleased. Seeing Shi Yunxuan setting up an array on the ground again, he laughed and said, "Your Five Thunder Talisman is very powerful. It even blew Huo Chongjun's high-grade Taoist robe to shreds."
Shi Yunxuan said proudly, "That was a talisman drawn by my master, so of course it's very powerful."
There was no time for conversation. Seeing that she had finished setting up the array, Xu Zifan led her inside. Suddenly, the room was brightly lit, all the candles lit automatically. On a table at the front were offerings of fine spiritual fruits, and on the wall hung a portrait of the most outstanding alchemist of the past ten thousand years. Xu Zifan looked at the portrait and walked forward. Behind him, the fourth door was opened by Huo Chongjun.