Everyone’s cultivation was greatly boosted in this group BUFF, especially Si Yu and Yu Hong, who directly rose to mystic immortals. Father Niu’s cultivation was unchanged, he was still an exalted immortal, except that the immortal qi in his body had increased to the level of a young emperor. As they were not far from Heavens beyond Heaven, they headed back and made a trip to the Immortal Ascension Stage.

　　However, ever since their epiphanies, the immortal qi in their bodies seemed different from before. In the past, their Qi was clear and pristine, now it was colored with streaks of gold and pulsated around their bodies. This was true especially in the case of Father Niu, who had to rein in his Qi, else the golden streaks of Qi would certainly condense into material form.

　　Yi Qing investigated this phenomenon for almost half a day but still could not make out what these golden streaks were. Even Feng Ying, who used his system to scan it, did not get a conclusive result. All his system said was that it was harmless.

　　With all these delays, it was almost four months later before they reached Invincible Sect.

　　Everything was as usual at the Invincible Sect. Although they no longer had the demonic Qi to train in, with the aid of their numerous dharma treasures, their cultivation levels continue to grow. Especially Xuan Tong, who showed signs of developing immortal bones. Although her progress was slower compared to the other disciples, but taking into consideration that her cultivation was limited by the stabilisation effect of her necklace, the fact that she had improved this much showed commendable effort on her part.

　　Roasted Chicken Gal was naturally very pleased with her. In order that Xuan Tong could have a quiet seclusion for her cultivation, she asked permission from Lonemoon to build a cave abode at the base of the mountain where the immortal qi was densest. Every once in a while she would go there to check on Xuan Tong. This angered Feng Ying, who felt like a neglected boyfriend.

　　Two months later…

　　“Hey, plant Radish at the back of the mountain later. I’ve left a plot on the north side for him. Plant him in the biggest pit there.” With a wave of his sleeve, Lonemoon tossed a man-sized flower pot over to Shen Ying. A green radish lay in the center of the pot. It was throwing pebbles with its leaves in a bored manner. Every one of pebbles was aimed at Lonemoon. However, the defensive array formation outside the pot rendered his efforts futile.

　　“What for?” Shen Ying swallowed the last mouthful of rice and glanced at the pot. Didn’t Radish already have his own pit at the back of the mountain?

　　“The old pit is too remote. We’ll plant him inside the immortal vein so that the immortal herbs can grow faster.” The herbs that Wu Hong and Biao Ting sent them had already sprouted. Those two immortal emperors, afraid that their herbs would not grow well, even insisted on giving them two immortal veins as gifts. Now that he had embedded the vein into the back of the mountain and adjusted the array there as well, Radish had to change his pit as well.

　　“It’s so troublesome, why did you pick me to do it?” Shen Ying instantly felt her whole body starting to ache.

　　“If you don’t go, you think Radish will be willing to be planted there?” Lonemoon rolled his eyes at her. Radish’s stubborn character was all her fault. She had spoiled him. The once pure and innocent vegetation spirit was showing signs of turning into a rebellious teenager. “It takes anywhere from a thousand to ten thousand years for immortal herbs to grow. If Radish doesn’t help them to ripen faster, how can we use them to refine pills to earn money?”

　　Shen Ying asked softly, “Do we still need to plant these weeds to earn money?” Didn’t we hit the big time recently?

　　“Do we need to?” Lonemoon bellowed. He got up and pounded his hand on the table. “Actually we won’t need to if you stop your habit of taking in freeloaders!” He turned and pointed at Lan Hua angrily. “Xuan Tong was a special case. But how do you explain this fellow?” Isn’t he from the demonic tribe? Why is he still here and eating at our table? Don’t you know that immortals and demons are sworn enemies?”

　　“Don’t be so concerned over these small details!”

　　“Small details my foot!”

　　As a demon, not only did Lan Hua not hide from immortal cultivators, he openly came to an immortal sect for a meal. Yet the sect master and her disciples treated this situation as if it were perfectly normal.

　　Bloody hell! They were decent and abiding immortals!

　　“You were the ones who first captured me and then dragged me to Heavens beyond Heaven.” Lan Hua retorted angrily. “Hmph! If you hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be here.”

　　“Then why don’t you leave!” Lonemoon glared at him. Now, nobody has tied you up or detained you. Why are you still free loading here?

　　“Er…” Lan Hua was stumped. He realized that he was indeed free. He did not understand why he had lingered and even sat down for a meal with Shen Ying.

　　But his legs refused to move when he thought of leaving. After racking his head, he explained, “I… I can’t leave because my Good Heart is here.” What if something happened to her?

　　“Bullshit!” Lonemoon glared at him. “You left happily enough the other time.” He remembered a certain someone hiding in the willow forest.

　　“…”

　　OK, you win Father Niu!

　　Glaring at the two useless bums on the table, Lonemoon said threateningly, “We in Invincible Sect don’t accept useless people as members. If you want to stay, you need to work. Understand?”

　　“Yes, yes, yes.” The two of them nodded and continued their meal calmly.

　　Seeing no response from the two, Lonemoon instructed, “Yu Hong, ask the disciple who went to buy groceries to return at once.”

　　The person who had been busy eating, jumped to her feet immediately.

　　“Don’t worry, Father Niu, leave Radish to me. I’ll definitely ensure a good crop of high quality spirit herbs!”

　　Then she picked up the flower pot and disappeared down the mountain.

　　Lonemoon turned to look at a certain someone who had remained behind. “You..”

　　“I’ll start work too…” said Lan Hua, waving a melon in his hand.

　　So in the short space of a day, under the eagle eye of Lonemoon, the multi-talented, immortal emperor Lan Hua toiled like a dog to reorganize the defensive arrays around the mountain and a hundred various arrays throughout the sect, refined three cauldrons of elixirs and two immortal weapons.

　　It was when he flopped on his bed in exhaustion that a thought came to him.

　　Wait a moment!

　　That freak Yi Qing was not the one ordering him around, why should he be so obedient?

　　Σ(°△°|||)

　　——————

　　Late into the night.

　　A figure covered with white fur slipped into the front palace and scuttled in the direction of the palace wing until it reached a small building. It then jumped up to one of the windows and sat there with its two furry tails hanging out from the window sill.

　　The furry animal gently opened the window. Its two black eyes scanned the room carefully and suddenly alighted on a wooden table nearby. Its eyes widened and screeched excitedly, “Coo…”

　　However, it covered its mouth immediately and panted silently. It scanned its surroundings alertly. After a while, as if satisfied that no one had detected its presence, it reached out to the table with its long tail.

　　There was a lamp on the table, its flames extinguished. The lamp seemed to be from jade, with flowery designs floating on top. Even though it was night, the lamp was still emitting a faint light.

　　The small, furry little animal tried hard to extend its tail as far as it could, but the wooden table was at the far end of the room, way beyond its reach.

　　It seemed a little anxious, waving its tail that was outside the window impatiently. After a while, it seemed to come up with an idea. It chanted a dharmic spell softly. Instantly, its fat tail began to elongate until it became twice its original length and almost touched the table. However, it was still not long enough to be able to wrap around the lamp.

　　It had wriggled almost half of its body through the window, but was still unable to reach the lamp. Shaking its furry body, it then extended its other tail. Opening its mouth, it bit down on its tail. Drops of blood immediately oozed out and flowed down the tail. The other tail began to grow longer until it became longer than the first tail.

　　Pleased with the result, the furry white animal totally forgot to stem the blood flow and reached its tail towards the lamp. It was about the touch the lamp when…

　　Shen Ying, sitting beside the table: “…”

　　The next moment, she reached out with her hand and quietly moved the lamp an inch away from the tail.

　　“…”

　　“You’ll get burned,” explained Shen Ying gravely.

　　“You..” White Fur got a start. His fur stood on end and a female voice rang out, “Why are you here!” When did this person come into the room? How could she have escape its notice.

　　There was a look of panic on White Fur’s face. Suddenly it growled fiercely, “Give me the lamp!” Then its body emitted a red beam of light and its two tails elongated once again. Wrapping its tail over Shen Ying’s hand, which in turn was holding onto the lamp, it turned and tried to escape through the window.

　　It tugged hard, thinking to drag both Shen Ying and the lamp with it, but found that it was unable to… move.

　　(⊙_⊙)

　　How could this be possible!?

　　It muttered a wind spell and then tugged even harder. But… nothing moved.

　　○| ̄|_

　　All it got for its effort was a tearing sensation at the tip of its tail. White Fur curled up in pain.

　　Shen Ying glanced at her hand that was entwined with a furry tail. She frowned in disgust and instinctively pulled her hand away.

　　White Fur, who was still trying to pull its tail away, instantly lurched forwards, its four claws still clinging onto the window sill. Bang! White Fur, together with the window sill, crashed into the room.

　　The force of the impact caused it to roll forwards until it reached Shen Ying’s feet, whereupon it passed out.

　　Shen Ying: “…”

　　What was this thing?

　　A beast reared by their Sect… for their supper?

　　——————

　　Ten minutes later.

　　“Demon?” Lonemoon rushed in upon hearing the commotion. Picking up the little white animal, he said, “This is only a second-level demon! What is happening?” Turning to Yu Hong, he asked, “How did this weak demon beak into our sect?” It had even slipped into Shen Ying’s room.

　　“I… I don’t know,” replied Yu Hong, shaking her hand.

　　“Are you telling me that none of you managed to spot such a conspicuous demon?” Lonemoon began to doubt the effectiveness of the newly set up arrays.

　　“There are many animals reared by our disciples. I’m not sure exactly when this demon infiltrated our sect.”

　　Lonemoon’s mouth twitched. “I thought that the animals you are rearing have not developed intelligence?” Did they think that he did not know that these animals were Shen Ying’s backup food source in the event that he reduced their food allowance. “This is obviously a fox. A two-tailed Spirit Fox!”

　　“Fox?!” Yu Hong exclaimed, glancing at the ball of fur. No wonder they had not discovered its presence. “I thought it was a rabbit demon.”

　　Si Yu: “I thought it was a goat demon.

　　Bitao: “I thought it was a pig demon.”

　　Shen Ying: “Mmmn. It looks meaty.”

　　Yi Qing: “Master, shall I get a knife?”

　　“Hey, that’s enough!” Lonemoon glared at them. “Do you guys have anything in your brain other than food?” He knew that demons that had developed intelligence in the immortal world were either someone’s pet or was related to an immortal demon. It definitely had an owner!

　　Lonemoon conjured a seal to awake the fox demon.

　　“Where did you come from and why do you want to steal this lamp?” He asked, pointing to the jade lamp on the table.

　　The fox demon was still a little dazed. Shaking its head, it subconsciously shifted its gaze to the lamp on the table. Instantly, its eyes widened. “Lamp! My…” Then it pounced towards the lamp.

　　It clutched the lamp fiercely with its two paws. Before it could pick the lamp up, it suddenly gave a loud whine and released its paws. The fur on its front paws started to turn black. There was a faint smell of burnt flesh.

　　Shen Ying: “…” I warned you it was hot. Do you want to be roasted? I prefer steaming.

　　Lonemoon frowned and immediately placed the fox demon back in its original position. Then he asked again, “Tell me the truth. Why would a Wind Spirit Root Fox Demon like you steal an old lamp?”

　　It was only then that the Fox Demon realized the predicament it was in. It looked timidly at them and curled up into a ball. It made no reply but kept looking at the lamp on the table.

　　“You refuse to tell?” Lonemoon’s face darkened. “If you won’t tell, I’ll look for your master and ask him.” He then conjured a contract display seal and waved it towards the fox. Whether they were spirit pets or relatives of a demon immortal, all demons that had reached immortal level in the immortal world had a contract seal, to prevent them from being mistakenly attacked. It was easy enough to find out who its owner was.

　　The white fox trembled. It seemed to realize what Lonemoon was trying to do and cried out in alarm, “Don’t! Don’t … This has nothing to do with my master. He doesn’t know about this. Don’t look for my master!”

　　“Then why do you want to steal this lamp for?”

　　“I… I…” Its voice grew increasingly weak and it trembled even more. It was unable to give an answer.

　　“Yu Hong, fetch Lan Hua from the back palace.” Lonemoon instructed. He could not be bothered to listen to this fat fox. This lamp was one of the objects that he had dug out from the pile of immortal artifacts. Not knowing what it was, he had placed it Shen Ying’s room, to use as a light source. Now it seemed that the lamp had other uses.

　　“This is a Spirit Convening Lamp!” explained Lan Hua, who had just been dragged in by Yu Hong.

　　“Spirit Convening Lamp?” What was that?

　　“It’s used to gather all remnant souls.” Lan Hua said with a careless air. “There is nothing much useful about it, unless someone’s soul is missing. But this lamp can only gather the remnant soul of mortals. It cannot recall the souls of immortals who are critically injured, the most it can do is to recall a part of its primordial spirit.”

　　“There’s actually an artifact that can recover immortal souls!” Lonemoon was surprised. From what he knew, souls that had left the body were almost impossible to recover. The souls of mortals were particularly fragile, and would disintegrate once it was expelled from the body.

　　“Who said this is an immortal artifact?” Lan Hua looked at Lonemoon as if looking at an ignoramus.

　　“Not an immortal artifact?” Then what was it?

　　“It’s an authentic Ten Directions Divine Armament that I found in Yu Feng immortal city!”

　　Shen Ying: “…”

　　Lonemoon: “…”

　　Yi Qing: “…”

　　You even have a divine artifact! Is there anything else you haven’t given Shen Ying?

　　Heh heh… So Shen Ying had been using this divine artifact as a lighting source?

　　The uses of this Ten Directions Divine Armament were indeed wide-ranging!