People of the Azure Feather Immortal Sect Have Disappeared

At that moment, Yin Xiao looked at the copper furnace and said, "What do you mean, two thousand spirit stones?"

Seeing this, the Tianji Gate man narrowed his eyes. "Senior Brother, what do you mean by this?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean? This isn't an auction. Does calling out a price mean you have to buy it? What, is Tianji Gate trying to force a sale now?" Yin Xiao shot back.

The Tianji Gate man's eyes were full of disbelief. How could someone be this shameless?

Was this how the Azure Flame Dao Palace conducted itself?

"Get lost! You want two thousand spirit stones for this piece of junk? Since when did Tianji Gate become this poor?"

After saying that, Yin Xiao turned and left with his people, leaving the stall owner standing there dumbfounded with the furnace in his hands.

"Fuck your mother!"

Having come back to his senses, the stall owner immediately began cursing in the street.

He had cultivated for so long, yet he had never seen such a brazenly shameless person!

But as a mere mid-stage Golden Core Realm cultivator, he simply was no match for them.

"Twenty spirit stones!" Just as the stall owner turned around in frustration, a familiar voice suddenly rang out.

Turning his head, he saw Zhou Qing and Yan Xiaohu grinning at him.

The stall owner's face immediately filled with bitterness and heartache.

"From two thousand to twenty... that gap is way too huge!"

On the way back to the sect, Yan Xiaohu carefully studied the copper furnace for a while before tossing it directly to Zhou Qing.

"Twenty spirit stones was a massive loss, but being able to disgust Yin Xiao was still pretty satisfying. I've got some insider news. Want to hear it?" Yan Xiaohu asked mysteriously.

Yet Zhou Qing was utterly engrossed in the copper furnace. He shook his head. "No."

"Hey, you're doing this on purpose, aren't you? The more you don't want to hear it, the more I'm going to tell you. Isn't Si Kong Yan, the Palace Master of the Azure Flame Dao Palace, pursuing Profound Abyss Immortal? But for all these years, the falling flowers had feelings while the flowing water remained indifferent."

"So Si Kong Yan gave his disciples a Secret Order. Guess what it was?" Yan Xiaohu chuckled.

Zhou Qing shook his head.

Yan Xiaohu said, "Knew you wouldn't know. The Secret Order was for all his disciples to pursue Profound Abyss Immortal's disciples without leaving any traces. If they wanted to win over that icy immortal, they had to first breach her from within."

"Only by turning her disciples into their own people could they constantly learn all about Profound Abyss Immortal's movements, whereabouts, and why she refused to accept him. In short, there were countless benefits."

Zhou Qing was utterly incredulous after hearing this.

Doing things this way seemed rather petty.

"Where did you hear that?" Zhou Qing asked.

Yan Xiaohu said, "I deduced it from all sorts of clues. That's why I'm saying Yin Xiao is definitely no good person. His pursuit of Cui Yingying is only to complete a mission from his sect."

Hearing this, Zhou Qing vaguely seemed to understand Third Senior Brother's painstaking intentions.

If Yin Xiao were sincerely pursuing Cui Yingying, while Zhou Qing had carelessly seen something he should not have, then that truly would have been somewhat immoral.

Especially since the other party had come to his door demanding an explanation—it was only reasonable.

However, if that fellow merely wanted to show off before Cui Yingying and build connections with her, then it was another matter entirely.

All in all, Yan Xiaohu hoped Zhou Qing would not carry a psychological burden over possibly disturbing someone else.

"I understand, Third Senior Brother!" Zhou Qing said with a smile.

That night, after feeding Spirit Stone Powder to the Old Hen, Zhou Qing took out the copper furnace and examined it carefully.

There were indeed some blackened traces along the copper furnace's inner walls. It seemed to have long since lost all spirituality. Without close inspection, one might have taken it for ordinary grime.

Who could have imagined that it was actually the essence blood of an aged Suanni Fierce Beast?

However, he did not use Pill Fire to refine it as the appraisal method had indicated. Instead, he cultivated through bathing and soaking according to the method Second Uncle had taught him.

Besides, he was not a Pill Refiner, nor did he possess any Pill Fire.

Steam billowed from the bath barrel. As time slowly passed, the blood on the copper furnace's inner walls seemed to dissolve in the water. Like the Crimson Flame Dragon Lion crushed bones from before, specks of bloody froth began to seep out.

Stimulated by Zhou Qing's Secret Techniques, Silver Dragon Hand and Silver Dragon Step, those specks of bloody froth seemed to awaken some kind of power. They gave off waves of pressure before merging into his body.

Suppressing the smile at the corners of his lips, Zhou Qing devoted himself completely to cultivation...

Boom!

A colossal silver dragon, roughly ten meters long, suddenly appeared. The mountainside in the distance instantly collapsed completely.

With a light lift of his foot, Zhou Qing vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he had already arrived at the collapsed area.

His face was slightly pale, but his expression was incomparably excited.

Looking at the small mountain blasted into fragments before him, Zhou Qing still could not believe that in just seven days, he had completely mastered both Silver Dragon Hand and Silver Dragon Step.

Not only that, continuously absorbing Top-Grade Spirit Stones had also allowed him to smoothly break through to Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

"Whether the Crimson Flame Dragon Lion crushed bones or the Suanni's residual blood, they merely gave me a push to a certain extent. Ultimately, it was Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment that brought my comprehension ability to an unbelievable level!"

Feeling the remaining spiritual power within his body, Zhou Qing murmured softly.

"I've also been looking through ancient texts lately. Even Yin-Yang, the Heavenly Dao Energy ranked first, should not have brought me such enormous changes. There is only one possibility: this is not ordinary Heavenly Dao Energy, but something that has undergone a mutation, just like the Old Hen."

Whoosh! Whoosh!

At that moment, patrol disciples who had heard the commotion immediately rushed over. Upon seeing Zhou Qing, they hurriedly saluted him.

"Clean this up!"

After giving the order, Zhou Qing turned and left.

Upon returning to his room, Zhou Qing looked at the now-dim Top-Grade Spirit Stone with some heartache.

"Together with the Spirit Egg laid by the Old Hen, the two should be able to help me rise another minor realm!" Zhou Qing guessed, then carefully put it away.

After recovering for a while, Zhou Qing received a message from Mo Xingjian through his token.

"Come to the Council Hall at once!"

Just as Zhou Qing arrived, Third Senior Brother Yan Xiaohu happened to descend as well.

"Did you cause trouble again?"

The two asked in unison.

"No!"

The two shook their heads together again.

"Then what's going on? Old Mo sounded somewhat angry. I thought you had peeped at someone bathing again." Yan Xiaohu let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Zhou Qing was speechless. So even you think that of me now?

The two then entered the great hall and immediately saw Mo Xingjian sitting at the very top, his face ashen.

Under normal circumstances, seeing such a scene, the guilty pair would have instantly dropped to their knees and recited their long-practiced catchphrase—Master, we were wrong!

But now that they had nothing to hide, they naturally entered openly and uprightly.

"Over two hundred disciples of the Azure Feather Immortal Sect have yet to return to their sect after attending the Treasure Exchange Gathering!"

The moment Mo Xingjian spoke, both their expressions changed.

"More than two hundred people? Did they get lost?" Yan Xiaohu asked in shock.

Mo Xingjian said gravely, "According to the message sent back by the Azure Feather Immortal Sect, more than a hundred of their soul lamps have already gone out, while the rest still cannot be contacted. There are even several Core Disciples among them. Oh, and Cui Yingying, who came looking for you last time, is among them as well."

Upon hearing that Cui Yingying was among them, and that so many people had died, Zhou Qing and Yan Xiaohu were completely stunned.

After all, Cui Yingying was at least in the Golden Core Realm. With so many people mysteriously disappearing, it seemed someone had begun making a move against the Azure Feather Immortal Sect.

Double monthly votes are here—please vote!