The Day of Emergence

This time, Su Yuan and the steward taking over from him broke out in cold sweats. Could the person in Refining Room D have died?

When Su Yuan added that the man had arrived carrying a jade slip with a recorded message from the sect master, both men lost their composure.

They exchanged another glance, then hurried underground, heedless of everything else.

At the door to Refining Room D, they saw that the Stone Gate still registered soul-force fluctuations within. They breathed sighs of relief, though their doubts remained.

To protect the cultivator's privacy, the restriction on the Stone Gate only detected soul-force fluctuations inside the Stone Chamber. It could not identify their source.

"Senior Brother Su, did he bring any spirit beast bags when he went in? Could he have died from fire poison, leaving the restriction to detect the beasts' auras after they escaped their masterless bags?"

"Oh no. He did have several spirit beast bags at his waist. Could it really be..."

Su Yuan suddenly remembered the bags at the young man's waist.

If the beasts inside were some kind of fire-attributed Magic Beast, it was possible they had survived until now.

"Quick. I'll keep watch here. Go notify the sect master."

Su Yuan immediately instructed Junior Brother Liu. Although they had control tokens that could forcibly open the alchemy and refining rooms, they dared not use them.

If the man inside was fine and wholly absorbed in refining, forcing open the Stone Gate could ruin the artifact he was making. They could never afford to compensate him.

Likewise, Falling Star Valley, like many sects, installed no surveillance arrays inside, lest they provoke the disciples' resentment.

There was usually a minor restriction, however, that temporarily interrupted the protective array and allowed someone outside to probe the room