Here Is Joy, No Thought of Chen!

[Choose one of these ten disciples who is relatively intact and have him lead the way.]

[Let the rest of them fend for themselves.]

[Since three have already escaped, it doesn't make a difference whether we eliminate the root cause or not.]

[This Daoist disciple led you down the mountain and then up again, until you arrived at a spot halfway up the mountain.]

[Here lies a protective array and an illusion array, guarding an important location: the Spirit Nourishing Pool used by the Duobao Tonglao to nurture her Law Treasure.]

"Nourish Law Treasure? You mean it's beneficial to keep Artifact Spirit here?"

"That's right, Master said it can improve the quality of Law Treasure Law Treasure, and even give them Artifact Spirit."

Your brow twitched.

I thought my brother had been kidnapped by bad guys and was living a miserable life, but it turns out they're enjoying a comfortable retirement here!

[Thinking about all the hard work and struggles I've had out there...]

"Activate the formation!"

[The disciple said he didn't know how to activate these protective formations; the Old Demon Hag had hired a renowned Formation Master to set them up, and this place was her most prized possession.]

[Can't open?]

[It doesn't matter!]

[You can directly charge into the formation with your bare hands, enduring all sorts of damage and confusion. Anyway, with "Wolverine" around, as long as you're not afraid of pain, it's practically a no-damage speedrun!]

[The last barrier blocking your way is a large protective array.]

[This formation is of the second rank; Heaven-Reaching Realm could only look on helplessly. No amount of brute force could break it; in fact, the more it was attacked, the thicker the protective shield became.]

[Unfortunately, this is a formation with a hidden entrance.]

[The Old Demon Hag was probably worried that if she lost the method to activate the formation one day, she would still have a way to get in.]

[Theoretically, this hidden door should be undetectable to outsiders.]

[But you are Formation Master yourself, and you have "Reverse Engineering" skills, so naturally you saw through it.]

Opening the hidden door is very simple; just recite a Mnemonic.

"All the treasures of the world are in my pocket! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

[A cramped entrance appeared.]

[Are you sure this is an entrance that the Old Demon Hag tailored specifically for her, one that only someone as short as her can pass through?]

[You are strong and healthy, 1.8 meters tall, your head is okay, but your shoulders are not.]

["Huh? I think I'm stuck..."]

[Right now, your head is inside the formation, and your butt is outside.]

[Luckily, the Daoist disciple who just led you there was outside the maze of traps and Killing Array, so he couldn't see your current situation at all, otherwise you'd feel a slight chill in your chrysanthemum.]

[You see, within this last layer of the formation, there's a small pool emitting steam.]

Several familiar faces were soaking in the pool.

[Myriad Souls Banner, Demon Refining Pot, Thunder-Chasing Lightning-Catching Boots, Heavenly Dragon Blade Immortal-Binding Rope, Primordial Armor, Nine Crows Divine Bow.]

[You are surprised to find that after entering the Real Realm, the Demon Refining Pot and other artifacts whose Artifact Spirit had disappeared have regained their Artifact Spirit, because you hear them chatting.]

[Myriad Souls Banner: "Hey guys, you're up pretty early today. You woke up at noon. Maybe last night wasn't a sweet dream?"]

[Immortal-Binding Rope: "In this Spirit Nourishing Pool, as long as you rest, you will automatically enter Land of Sweet Dreams. How could you not have sweet dreams?"]

[Heavenly Dragon Blade: "Last night in my dream I transformed into a giant blade that could cleave the heavens and split the earth, invincible and all weapons bowed down! I was the only one who reigned supreme, whether in the heavens or the earth! Awesome!"]

[Primordial Armor: "I dreamt I got married, haha, over a hundred wives!"]

[Nine Crows Divine Bow: "Yaya, go out! Yaya, fight!"]

[The Demon Refining Pot: "Hey, crow, can you please calm down? We're safe and sound here, without wind or rain, without any disasters or difficulties. We can even nurture our Spirit Body, it's great!"]

[The Myriad Souls Banner floated halfway up from the pool, its surface transforming into a hand, which pointed towards the Demon Refining Pot.]

"The old steward is right! What's so great about fighting and killing outside? We can do whatever we want in our dreams every day here, isn't that wonderful?"

[At this moment, the Myriad Souls Banner heard a voice beside it.]

"Old Wan, are you thinking about Chen?"

[The Myriad Souls Banner didn't turn its head, but waved its banner.]

"The joy here is boundless, I have no desire to return!"

[Only after saying that did he suddenly realize.]

["That voice sounds strangely familiar..."]

[The Myriad Souls Banner turned its head and saw a scene reminiscent of a ghost suddenly appearing in the face of a monster in a horror movie.]

[You, now only half-body, are baring your teeth and cursing loudly at the Myriad Souls Banner.]

[Myriad Souls Banner: "Brothers, I think I've seen an old friend."]

[Demon Refining Pot: "Hey! No way! We followed that old woman across planets, and Boss Chen is only one kalami in the Real Realm, how could he have followed us?"]

[Heavenly Dragon Blade: "Are we still half asleep?"]

[Myriad Souls Banner: "Dreaming of this old friend is no pleasant dream, it's a nightmare..."]

The Myriad Souls Banner has indeed encountered a nightmare.

In your haste, you broke your shoulder, your body contorted, bones cracking and popping as you forced your way in.

[In Myriad Souls Banner's view, this scene was no less dramatic than Sadako crawling out of the television.]

[Then you slowly stand up, your body healing itself with a "crackling" sound under "Wolverine's" influence, looking about 90% like a zombie standing up.]

[You beat up the Myriad Souls Banner first.]

[Then, her eyes welled up with tears, and she opened her arms.]

"Brothers! I've come to take you home!"

[Though they may have played and joked, the Artifact Spirit couldn't hide their joy at finally seeing you, their old friend.]

[Especially the Myriad Souls Banner; it moved them to tears, and they were muttering incoherently.]

"Have you acknowledged that old woman as your master?"

[The Demon Refining Pot flicked its spout.]

"How could that be! Our Human World Immortal Artifact Squad will forever follow you, Martial God Chen!"

[The Banner of Myriad Souls Banner roared.]

["Come on! When your Artifact Spirit recovered, you were clearly at that old woman's feet wiping her shoes! The reason it doesn't recognize its master is because after we had Artifact Spirit, we became Half-step Pre-celestial Spirit Treasure and couldn't recognize a master anymore!"]

[The Demon Refining Pot pretended not to hear.]

"My lord, let's hurry! That old woman could appear at any moment!"

[You crouched down and scooped up some of the spiritual liquid from the pool.]

"No rush, tell me first what exactly happened."

[Actually, it's not complicated.]

[Why would the Duobao Tonglao family be interested in a bunch of things that, by the Real Realm standards, are merely high-level Law Artifact artifacts?]

[Of course, the Myriad Souls Banner is not.]

[In fact, the Duobao Tonglao has a sharp eye; she glanced at you from the Fortune Star and immediately noticed that the item you were carrying was no ordinary object.]

[She didn't think about the Void Realm Void Realm because she hadn't heard of any Human Race ascending from there for many years (the Desolate Ancient Remnant People might have concealed their origins after taking the Ascension Path).]

[So she had the idea of taking it.]

[After taking them back, she examined them and discovered that the Demon Refining Pot and other Immortal Artifact already possessed Artifact Spirit, but these spirits had been suppressed to the point of almost disappearing.]

[Considering the normal state of the Myriad Souls Banner's Artifact Spirit, she realized she could awaken Artifact Spirit by improving the quality of items like the Demon Refining Pot.]

So she soaked them all in the precious Spirit Nourishing Liquid.

[The Spirit Nourishing Liquid was refined using her unique Secret Technique; it contained abundant resources for Artifact Refining and represented her life's savings.]