Before leaving, Xiao Yu asked the elders whether there were any cultivators from Great Jin's Heavenly Talisman Sect in the village. After receiving a negative answer, he bade them farewell.
Afterward, he took the three women on another stroll around the village, paying particular attention to the tall stone platform in its center, which he climbed up to examine carefully.
He discovered that the magic formation here differed from conventional arrangements. It combined formation arts with the Talisman Way to create a special formation that drew energy from Soul Crystals to produce wisps of purple mist. This mist absorbed lightning from the air, thereby protecting the village.
This approach was ingenious and had its own merits. Xiao Yu spent half a day studying it carefully and felt he had gained quite a bit.
He then thoroughly searched for belongings left behind by other cultivators, such as Storage Bags. Unfortunately, he found nothing despite searching everywhere. He suspected the cultivators must have disposed of those things separately.
He did, however, find a liquid called "Sinking Water." This was merely the name the natives used for it. After soaking their weapons in Sinking Water, they could imbue them with special properties that allowed them to injure Yin Beasts.
In the outside world, this "Sinking Water" was actually known as yin spirit water. It could turn stone into metal and was truly wondrous.
Knowing its true purpose, Xiao Yu naturally helped himself without hesitation, filling several of the large jade bottles he had taken out earlier.
Finally, after confirming that no one from the Heavenly Talisman Sect lived in this village and that no Nascent Soul cultivator had ever visited, Xiao Yu left with the three women. More than a dozen young men and women accompanied them, including the man named Du Jing.