Mending the Cistern

Li Jun used the "Shadow-Folding Wandering Dragon Step," constantly weaving through the human silhouettes.

As he swung his sword, he observed them, and came to a conclusion that chilled his heart.

These human silhouettes seemed undying and indestructible!

"Impossible! How could anything undying and indestructible exist in this world?"

Li Jun looked at those black shadows, and then his heart stirred.

He mobilized the Innate Fire within his body and covered his eyes with it directly.

"This..."

He looked ahead, and the black shadows that had originally been charging at him to kill him vanished completely.

And the magnificent palace before his eyes turned into gray walls and earthen tiles; even the green jade flagstones beneath his feet became a stretch of mire.

"Mire! This place is actually all mire!"

Li Jun was shocked, finding it beyond belief.

The Black Box he had picked up in the mire before had also been because that stretch of mire had revealed the Spirit River Phantom.

And now, beneath his feet was mire!

Li Jun turned to look toward the original altar, and it had actually become a high platform piled from white bones.

Atop the high platform stood a simple, ancient round vat. Around the mouth of the vat, dense tangles of silkworm threads lay in disorder, many of them actually a fresh crimson red.

Even stranger, there seemed to be a gap at the bottom of that ancient vat.

The mire was flowing out from there, following the white-bone stone platform and running straight down to the ground.

"So this is the truest appearance?"

Li Jun looked above the ancient vat. A Spirit River Phantom hung down quietly, and within it, a woman silently breathed in and out, exactly the same as what he had seen before.

The woman within the Spirit River Phantom seemed to sense something. She suddenly turned her head and looked at Li Jun.

Every hair on Li Jun's body stood on end, and he was about to flee.

"Repair the ancient vat, and I'll spare your life."

Her gaze was indifferent, but after seeing the Innate Fire in Li Jun's abdomen, a trace of surprise appeared in her eyes.

Li Jun's expression froze, and he stopped in his tracks.

The woman inside this Spirit River Phantom could actually speak?

"Many thanks, Senior! This junior will do everything in his power!"

The woman looked at him and said softly, "Temper the silkworm threads with Innate Fire, supplemented by Pupa Mud, and the ancient vat can be repaired."

"Thank you for telling me, Senior!"

Li Jun did not dare be negligent. Though he did not know this woman's origins, he vaguely felt that she was probably deeply connected to that woman named Sang.

Only, the current era was far too distant from the time of spiritual energy's revival. How could anything in all creation possibly have existed for so long?

But one thing was certain.

The woman before his eyes was absolutely not someone a cultivator of his current stage could fathom. Even the elders of the sect probably did not have that qualification.

"So this thing is called Pupa Mud. It seems to be of tremendous benefit to the body."

Li Jun collected the Pupa Mud on the ground. He had only just touched it when he felt warm all over, and his body seemed to instinctively crave more Pupa Mud.

"No wonder both the Ghost-Faced Crab and the Mystic Swan chased after this Pupa Mud like ducks after bread."

He collected several buckets of Pupa Mud, then climbed along the white-bone stone platform to the side of the ancient vat.

"This... what a heavy stench of blood!"

He looked inside the ancient vat. The Pupa Mud bubbled with a gurgle, and dense silkworm threads extended out from within, making it impossible to see clearly.

Li Jun took a deep breath, took out a strand of silkworm thread that was not stained with blood, and according to the woman's method, began to temper it.

Half a shichen later, the silkworm thread and Pupa Mud turned into a porcelain shard the size of a fingernail.

"It really can be done. But why is there only this little?"

Li Jun looked at the porcelain shard in his hand, then looked at the gap in the ancient vat. At this rate, it would probably take a month or so.

"Forget it. For now, repairing it is the safest choice."

Although he very much wanted to leave this troublesome place as quickly as possible, if he could not complete this task, the woman probably would not spare him.

That day, the other party had merely given a single look, and the Mystic Swan had fainted dead away on the spot.

Now that the other party was willing to speak properly, that was the best possible thing for him.

After thinking it through, Li Jun continued collecting Pupa Mud and tempering silkworm threads without pause, using them to repair this mysterious ancient vat.

One month later.

Inside the ancient tomb, all the Pupa Mud on the ground had been collected, and that mysterious ancient vat had also been fully repaired.

"Senior, this item has been repaired. May this junior leave?" Li Jun cupped his fists.

The woman within the Spirit River Phantom turned her head and said thoughtfully, "All things in this world have cause and effect. You must never show the breathing technique you have learned to anyone. As for what you have seen and heard here, do not mention it to anyone else either."

Li Jun was slightly startled, then raised his hand and swore an oath. "Senior, rest assured. This junior will keep his mouth sealed like a bottle. If even half a word leaks out, may I be struck by five bolts of heavenly thunder!"

The woman nodded lightly, then pointed. A strand of silkworm thread drifted into his hand.

"This silkworm thread can help you leave this place. Go quickly!"

"Many thanks, Senior!"

Li Jun put away the silkworm thread and bowed.

Immediately after, he discovered that the Spirit River Phantom had actually vanished.

The woman's figure within it turned into a disc of light and once more sank into the ancient vat.

Li Jun did not dare delay. He turned and walked out of the palace.

Unlike when he had arrived, this time he left through the main doors. Outside the hall was a passageway, no different from a tomb passage.

"This place really is a great tomb. Without the Innate Fire, this ancient tomb would be just like that majestic palace. It truly is extremely peculiar."

He turned his head to look at the ancient tomb, deeply sensing the eeriness of this place.

Fortunately, the Spirit River Phantom had now disappeared. Presumably, the matter the Mystic Swan had been worried about would not happen.

It was just that the latter's warning left him somewhat uneasy.

"Who knows where that damn bird is right now. It had better not have been eaten by that Cold Bone Ice Spider."

Li Jun walked along the tomb passage. A quarter of an hour later, a glimmer of light seemed to appear before his eyes.

Suddenly, a cold flash swept past. A long halberd appeared out of nowhere and rested against his neck.

"Don't move, or I'll take your little life."

Li Jun's whole body stiffened. He turned his head and saw a woman in purple walk out from the shadows.

She had a bright, lovely appearance, her brows and eyes as exquisite as a painting. Her luxurious spell robe carried the noble air of an aristocratic clan, yet her long, narrow phoenix eyes were as cold as an icy pool, with viciousness and indifference hidden in their depths.

It was none other than the current chief disciple of Artifact Peak—Yao Yuzhi.

"Senior Sister Yao, I am Li Youde, an outer disciple of Beast Peak. Please show mercy, Senior Sister," Li Jun said, forcing himself to speak.

"Oh? An outer disciple of Beast Peak?" Yao Yuzhi sized him up, her fine brows knitting slightly. "How did you get inside? I want the truth!"

Li Jun swallowed and said offhandedly, "Senior Sister Yao, we encountered the Cold Bone Ice Spider. The elder ordered us to fall back to No. 10 Mine. After that, for some reason, No. 10 Mine was hit by a violent tremor, and all kinds of demon beasts charged out from the cracks..."

He described the earlier situation, naturally leaving out the matter of Ji Shaoyong.

At the same time, Li Jun was also observing her expression.

He did not know whether Yao Yuzhi knew that Ji Shaoyong had failed.

If she knew, then his situation would be dangerous.

But if she did not know, then there was still a chance for everything.

After listening to Li Jun's account, Yao Yuzhi frowned.

As for the matter of the Cold Bone Ice Spider, she knew the reason better than anyone.

Originally, she had thought there would be no problem, so she had been researching the matter of the Spirit River Phantom all along.

She just had not expected Cangwu Mountain to suddenly suffer a violent tremor, causing even her to fall into the interior of Cangwu Mountain. Only in the past two days had she successfully escaped.

"If what this kid says is true, then Ji Shaoyong probably hasn't made his move yet."

Yao Yuzhi let out a breath of relief.

This time, she had taken a dangerous and unconventional path, and the risk was enormous.

If Ji Shaoyong had already acted, then with such a fierce earthquake occurring, there was a very high chance some disciples from the three peaks had slipped through the net.

If those people returned to the Azure Cloud Sect and exposed this matter, her situation would become anything but good.

But if he had not yet acted, then she had not been exposed, and everything still had room to turn around.

"This place is rather dangerous. Let me ask you, what is inside?" Yao Yuzhi asked.

Without thinking, Li Jun answered directly, "Senior Sister Yao, inside is a palace, an extremely luxurious one. There's also an altar in the center, and there seems to be a cocoon on it. I found it a bit strange, so I hurriedly left!"

Yao Yuzhi narrowed her eyes, and her heart stirred. "Could it be that what was recorded in the ancient texts is true? Back then, the emperor of the Fire Kingdom really enshrined an Innate Spirit Beast here? And that Spirit River Phantom was the Spirit Beast cultivating here?"