Although the Fuyao Palace had given both Qin’nyao and Xiao Shanhe Divine-level technique manuals and directed them towards the path of forming the golden core, the palace hadn’t left behind any resources and the two had to gather some necessary items themselves.

　　Before the Mysterious Domain opened up, Elder Qin’nyao had intended to marry off Xu Linyun as a concubine to an old cultivator over two hundred years old in exchange for a rare spirit herb. When the Mysterious Domain opened, however, Xu Linyun directly asked to enter in order to bring back the various resources Elder Qin’nyao needed, and although Qin’nyao was aware Xu Linyun had decided to kill herself within, her greed for the resources was simply too great. Qin’nyao was also familiar with her student’s temperament, and she knew that even if Xu Linyun ended up dying, she’d still do everything in her power to help her teacher gather resources. For that reason, Qin’nyao postponed the marriage and begged the White Dragon Sect to take Xu Linyun into the Mysterious Domain.

　　This situation naturally caused a large rift to form between teacher and pupil, and it was only now that Qin’nyao remembered the little brat had always been rather close with Xu Linyun—there was even news saying her treasured pupil protected that little brat without fearing for her own safety when he’d been surrounded. Qin’nyao was left even more terrified and was worried Fang Xing would come back for her on Xu Linyun’s behalf.

　　Of course, these thoughts were all caused by her paranoid mind and vile heart. Not only had Xu Linyun not mentioned any of this to Fang Xing, she’d even prepared a parting gift of gratitude for her teacher before leaving Jambu. It was simply that she and the blue-clothed bandit hadn’t left the Mysterious Domain yet, so she simply hadn’t had the chance to send a message over and Qin’nyao was left with only her own speculation.

　　After having her true thoughts laid bare by Xiao Shanhe, Qin’nyao’s voice grew colder. “No, that little brat dared to anger the Huangfu clan; it will be difficult for him to escape his death….” She was absolutely certain Fang Xing would die.

　　Xiao Shanhe simply let out a cold laugh. “He was merely a Spirit Stage insect in front of us before and we were certain he’d die then as well. What was the result? It’s only been so many years, yet he’s already grown into someone we’re terrified to even think about. Besides, he slipped right past our eyes back then, and the Huangfu clan doesn’t know where he is; how can you be so certain he’ll definitely die this time? What if he’s found a safe hiding place and ends up hiding for dozens of years; who would be able to do anything to him then?”

　　Qin’nyao shot a venomous gaze towards Xiao Shanhe and sternly asked, “Is there a reason for saying these things?”

　　Xiao Shanhe released a loud laugh, only for his tone to abruptly change before the laugh had finished. “That little brat must die this time. If he doesn’t die, wewill . The path to the golden core will go up in smoke. Besides, heh, the Huangfu clan has really put a lot of effort into killing this little demon. You’ve read the details of the bounty as well; if we had that reward, just how easy would it be for us to form the golden core?”

　　Qin’nyao’s eyes lit up when she heard the word “reward”, but she grew dispirited and sighed after only a few moments. “It’s not like we can do much. We couldn’t capture that brat even when he was weak, but now he’s formed his foundation and is infamous for his viciousness as a battle cultivator. One of us focuses on alchemy and the other on formations; how could we possibly capture him?”

　　Xiao Shanhe smirked at this. “Who said we’re going to capture him ourselves? We’ll just need to tell the Huangfu clan how to capture him!” Qin’nyao turned to look at him with surprise, but Xiao Shanhe continued to laugh and say, “That brat might not have any relatives, but there might still be someone who can force him out….”

　　Qin’nyao instantly understood the meaning behind Xiao Shanhe’s words, and even she couldn’t help but to shiver at the thought.

　　—

　　While the Qing-Yun Sect was discussing Fang Xing, he was currently exploring within hundreds of thousands of mountains. He and the golden crow hadn’t entered any cities or towns ever since and had been traveling through the mountain ranges, partially to avoid any trouble and partially to seek the spirit veins found within.

　　The heavens and earth were naturally filled with an abundance of Qi, and there were some special locations where Qi gathered in great abundance known as spirit veins—the places where Spirit Stones were mined from. Some cultivators would stay in the depths of the mountains all year long trying to find spirit veins that hadn’t been discovered yet, then they’d mine the Spirit Stones for themselves. Of course, Fang Xing wasn’t strolling around a place like this just to get some low-quality Spirit Stones; although he was indeed searching for spirit mines, his intentions were to inhale all of its Qi in one breath once he found one….

　　Since Qi was scattered around between the heavens and earth and only Spirit Stones were able to store Qi, cultivators were forced to cultivate using Spirit Stones during their practice—drawing in all of the ambient Qi out in the open was something unheard of. Only someone like Fang Xing—who had a Nine-Turn Lucidity Pellet within him—was able to make something like this possible and cultivate directly from spirit mines.

　　Regardless, finding a spirit mine wasn’t a simple task. The spirit veins were in fact similar to naturally-occurring formations found between the heavens and earth, and so it required proficiency in formations to decipher the spiritual path. Not even the Book of Revelation was of much use here, so it was the golden crow who took center stage since he was much better at this than Fang Xing was.

　　After identifying the flows of the rivers and the paths of the mountain ranges using the theories of Yin and Yang, the two of them managed to come across a few rather messy spirit veins. High-quality spirit veins were very rare, and the few they did find were so low quality that only one or two low-grade Spirit Stones could be found in each.

　　Another one had only just recently formed and didn’t have any Spirit Stones at all. An outcropping of red stone was embedded into a mountain face and cast a shadow like a dragon, as though it was waiting for the chance to break away and fly off into the sky at any moment. Several formation flags were placed around this stone in order to prevent the Qi from scattering about, and Fang Xing himself stood atop a black cloud at the front while muttering under his breath and focusing his mind.

　　A terrible whirlpool seemed to form inside his body as he breathed, and the illusion of the dragon hanging from the cliff began to dim before disappearing into nothingness, as though it had never been there in the first place. Fang Xing then sat cross-legged and began slowly digesting the enormous amount of Qi from the spirit vein—refining its impurities, concentrating it into his meridians, and then finally adding it to his cultivation level.

　　This kind of method was something ordinary cultivators could never imagine. If one had to describe it, it was the method of an immortal!

　　The golden crow was guarding Fang Xing close by, and the more he saw, the more dismay he felt. ‘My god! This spirit vein is called the Dragon’s Ancestor. Legends say the very first spirit vein was formed by a dragon, which is why spirit veins are called dragons’ veins in the ordinary realm. Although this is not a purple high-quality dragon vein and was just a thin low-quality vein, it’s still a spirit vein, yet it was engulfed by this bastard just like that? Isn’t this the same as him just having swallowed a dragon? ‘ His heart began to ache as he lamented, ‘If only I had been given one of those golden pellets too!’

　　The golden crow picked up jade scroll and sensed it carefully, only for his gaze to instantly change. He looked towards Fang Xing with concern, uncertain as to whether he should call out to him or not. “Oh no, things have gotten out of hand….”

　　It naturally wasn’t a good idea to remain completely unaware of what was going on in the outside world while searching these deep mountains for spirit veins, and so they had the Myriad Beasts Sect’s Ying Shihou keep an eye out for them. If any important information cropped up, he’d deliver news using a vermillion sparrow—a beast tamed by the Myriad Beasts Sect specifically for delivering messages—which was precisely where the scroll in the golden crow’s hands had come from.

　　The golden crow had the Myriad Beasts Sect’s stolen Beast Kind Cauldron, which was also a Divine spirit tool used to control low-level beasts. Although the sect had originally held great enmity towards the crow for stealing it from them, Ying Shihou no longer dared to cause problems once the crow leveraged Fang Xing’s might. This Beast King Cauldron had become his as a matter of course, and its aura allowed the vermillion sparrow to find him even in these mountains.

　　The golden crow’s expression fell after rereading through the information on the jade scroll once more. He could tell this was going to be a big problem, and he even considered hiding the scroll away from Fang Xing but dismissed such an idea after some deep thought. After the burn of incense of time later, Fang Xing finished what he was doing and flew over, followed by the golden crow throwing the scroll over and saying, “There’s trouble. To rescue or not is all up to you!”

　　Fang Xing’s brows creased slightly as he took the jade scroll and he began to immerse his spirit sense inside. At first he wasn’t too concerned—there wasn’t much that could seriously be considered “trouble” for someone like him—but after reading through the details, he was abruptly frozen stiff as though he’d been struck by lightning….

　　“Huangfu clan, you certainly intend to play with your little grandpa to the very end….” A look of viciousness flashed across Fang Xing’s face and a loud crack suddenly rang out in the air as the jade scroll turned into dust in his hand. The contents of the scroll had truly enraged him, and an intense flame of fury began to burn at the bottom of his heart like never before. He would have never imagined the Huangfu clan would use such a method to force him to show himself….