Sustainable Development

Pain. So much pain. Unbearable pain.

Even if Xiao Wu's mouth were released now, she no longer had the strength to utter a complete sentence.

Watching her intact left arm burn into essence blood with her own eyes, she desperately wished this was nothing more than a terrifying nightmare. She wished for a prince on a white horse to appear and save her life.

Unfortunately, until the pain made her lose consciousness, the nightmare never ended, and the prince she had hoped for was nowhere to be seen.

Was she about to die?

Once upon a time, Xiao Wu had never imagined that death could sometimes count as a release.

But now that she had been completely captured, she could not even kill herself if she wanted to.

Who knew how long passed before the flames clinging to her body like maggots on bone, bringing her endless agony, gradually died out. The furnace door opened again, and fresh air poured in, but Xiao Wu had no mind to think about anything else.

She was hanging on by only a single breath. Any slightly heavier injury could cause her soul ring and soul bone to burst out at any moment.

Naturally, Jiang Xuan had done this deliberately.

If it had been Little Tortoise Three facing Xiao Wu's current condition, he could only "tearfully" accept her soul ring and soul bone, then fast-forward to the "Come back to life, my beloved" part.

But to Jiang Xuan, this was nothing.

With Lao Jun's alchemy inheritance, no matter how severe someone's injuries were, as long as they still had one breath left, he could snatch them straight back from the King of Hell's hall!

The medicinal ingredients he had stored on him, however, were not yet sufficient to refine a pill that could completely heal Xiao Wu. He could only wait until he had finished stocking up at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well before treating her.

After putting away the ten drops of essence blood extracted from Xiao Wu, Jiang Xuan shut the furnace door again. Using soul power, he placed Xiao Wu's currently immobile body at the position of the Gate of Life within the Eight Trigrams Formation, temporarily preserving her life.

Seeing this, Qian Renxue, who had watched the entire process, could not understand.

"Jiang Xuan, you were clearly about to kill this soul beast. Why did you suddenly stop?"

Hearing this, Jiang Xuan did not even turn around as he casually answered,

"Simple. I'm taking the sustainable development route."

"Sustainable development?" Qian Renxue clearly did not understand the meaning of those words.

"To put it simply, I have a way to heal this soul beast and restore her to peak condition. Then I can draw fresh essence blood from her again, avoiding the problem of being unable to find a hundred-thousand-year soul beast's essence blood when refining pills later."

After hearing Jiang Xuan's explanation, Qian Renxue was utterly stunned.

You could do that?

There was something else Jiang Xuan had not said aloud.

The pills he refined would trigger system rebates when successfully gifted away. Once Xiao Wu consumed his pills, she could both recover and provide him with new essence blood, while he would also earn a huge rebate in Merit Points. It was killing several birds with one stone—too satisfying!

With a thought, Jiang Xuan was about to shrink and put away the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

However, at that very moment, the Eight Trigrams Furnace's artifact spirit spoke up on its own again, and this time its words were much smoother than before.

"This Heavenly Essence and Earthly Qi is very good! I want more! I can barely hold myself back. Can I eat all of it?"

After the earlier experience, Jiang Xuan could now understand seven or eight parts out of ten of what the Eight Trigrams Furnace's artifact spirit said.

The so-called Heavenly Essence and Earthly Qi was the flesh and blood of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. While the ten drops of essence blood had just been refined, the Eight Trigrams Furnace had absorbed all the other dissipating energy, replenishing its depleted origin.

As for eating all of it...

It was definitely referring to eating Xiao Wu, who was currently hanging on by only one breath.

How could he allow that?

If the Eight Trigrams Furnace ate everything, it might feel good for the moment, but how was he supposed to carry out his sustainable development strategy?

Thus, Jiang Xuan refused without hesitation and warned the Eight Trigrams Furnace's artifact spirit to restrain itself. In a few days, he would feed it again.

After placating the Eight Trigrams Furnace's artifact spirit, Jiang Xuan recalled his martial soul.

This made him marvel once more at just how heaven-defying the Eight Trigrams Furnace was.

It could actually let him store living creatures inside his martial soul and bring them into his mental sea!

Qian Renxue was dumbfounded as well.

However, she had already seen too many "unbelievable" things on Jiang Xuan, such as her own shrunken body.

As a result, she simply took it for granted that such a thing happening to Jiang Xuan was perfectly reasonable, with no need to question it.

"Alright, stop staring. Carry me and fly again. Don't forget why we came to Sunset Forest in the first place."

At Jiang Xuan's words, Qian Renxue quickly snapped back to her senses and nodded obediently. She then smoothly moved behind Jiang Xuan, spread her wings, wrapped her arms around him, and flew into the air.

Although Sunset Forest was not small, it was hardly worth mentioning before Qian Renxue's flying ability.

After only half an hour, Jiang Xuan spotted what seemed to be their destination from the air.

After directing Qian Renxue to fly at full speed in that direction for a while, the two arrived at the entrance to a valley filled with poisonous miasma.

A great number of artificially cultivated Jade-Scale Seven-Extinction Flowers gathered here. The terrifying toxic miasma they formed could leave even a Soul Saint seriously injured at the very least if they tried to force their way through.

Ordinarily, to safely enter the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, one either needed a super powerhouse to clear the path and crush the toxic miasma with soul power, or an expert proficient in poison, such as Dugu Bo, the very person who had arranged this poisonous miasma.

Other than that, no one else had any chance of getting in safely.

But Jiang Xuan was different.

After giving it a moment's thought, he directly summoned his second martial soul, which was likewise a top-grade innate spiritual treasure: the Banana Sun Fan!

That was right. Qian Renxue, standing beside him, was stunned once again.

Jiang Xuan actually possessed the extremely rare twin martial souls!

How could one person be this outstanding?

But from another perspective, such an outstanding person had happened to cross paths with her by chance.

In a sense, it would not be wrong to call him an opportunity bestowed upon Qian Renxue!

Just as the little girl began fantasizing about the future, Jiang Xuan activated his soul power and enlarged the Banana Sun Fan in his hand until it was bigger than his entire body.

Then he shouted into the valley,

"Is anyone in the valley? If there is, could you come out and take my sister and me inside? I'll wait here for five minutes. If I don't hear a response or no one comes out of the valley by then, I'll assume no one is inside and use my own methods to enter!"

After finishing his disclaimer, Jiang Xuan began counting down in his heart.

In truth, he was not sure whether that old fellow Dugu Bo was in the valley at the moment. If he was, what reaction would the old man have upon hearing that "disclaimer"?

Dugu Bo happened to be studying medicinal herbs near the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well today, and he had clearly heard Jiang Xuan's "disclaimer."

But he did not care.

Use his own methods to enter the valley?

He was simply courting death. There was no need to pay attention.