Dawn.

　　When Shen Ying woke up, Father Niu and Chef were digging for something in a pile of broken metal parts. The more Father Niu dug, the more excited he became. The smile on his face was as bright as a sunflower.

　　“These things are actually made of high-grade materials! Holy Shit! They are made from Heavenly Fire stones. Keep them safe. Yi Qing, do you still have the storage bag? Put them inside quickly. The more the merrier.”

　　Shen Ying gave herself a lazy stretch before waving her hand in greeting. “Good morning!”

　　The two men, who were busy scavenging, turned their heads and gave her a strange look.

　　“What?” Why were they looking at her with this expression? Shen Ying went to the pile of debris and gave it a kick. “What’s this? Where did this come from?” I didn’t see it here yesterday.

　　“Master, you’re awake?” asked Yi Qing tentatively as he walked over to her.

　　“Umn.” She nodded.

　　“It emerged from the ground,” Lonemoon replied. “It was a divine artifact that developed intelligence. Although it’s now destroyed, its materials can be reused.”

　　“Oh.” Shen Ying did not ask further. Looking around her, she suddenly exclaimed, “The gardener! Where is he? Has he gone home to plant his tree?”

　　Yi Qing: “…”

　　Lonemoon: “…”

　　The two men did not answer her, but gave her a queer look, then they lowered their heads and directed their gaze at her feet.

　　“What wrong?” asked Shen Ying, disconcerted at being the object of their attention. “Why are you looking at me like this?” she asked, subconsciously lowering her head to follow their gaze.”What’s under my feet…?!”

　　Holy Shit! There’ really someone here! And he’s stuck in a crevice in the ground, his whole body as swollen as a ball.

　　Squatting down, Shen Ying grabbed the man’s collar, and pulled forcefully. The man popped out like a plucked radish. After taking a closer look, Shen Ying realized that he was actually Comrade Gardener.

　　“What are you doing inside? You look very swollen….” Doing this to keep cool was surely going overboard. If it weren’t for the familiar blue robes, she wouldn’t have recognized him. “I say, you…”

　　“Don’t come near!” Xun Shu got up instantly and sprang back a few meters. His face had lost all traces of its former attractiveness. Shrinking desperately away from her, he shrieked, “Stay away from me, you hear. If you dare come near me, I… I… I… I’ll kill myself!”

　　Shen Ying: “…”

　　What a scary threat…

　　-_-|||

　　“Chef.” Nudging Yi Qing, who was next to her, Shen Ying asked in a whisper, “What’s with him? Why is he suddenly acting this way?”

　　“Nothing… Nothing.” Yi Qing’s mouth twitched a little as he answered, “Maybe because… he didn’t get enough sleep yesterday.”

　　Or maybe because he had been beaten up for no reason…

　　“Oh,” said Shen Ying, nodding her head. Wasn’t it strange to sleep in a crevice? She was just about to ask further when…

　　Lonemoon suddenly spoke up, “OK, we’ve gathered enough.” Glancing at the terrified Xun Shu, he added, “Once Xun Shu has finished regulating his meridians, we’ll set off.”

　　In fact, Shen Ying had been awake for only about ten minutes last night before falling asleep again. Perhaps it was because he got beaten up so badly, for when Xun Shu was punched into the crevice, he absolutely refused to come out from it. When Yi Qing and Lonemoon attempted to help him out, he became frantic and even swore at them.

　　“I’m not coming out. Don’t think you can trick me into coming out to get beaten, you bastards!”

　　He did not even dare to regulate his meridians, forcing himself to stay awake until Shen Ying woke up the next morning.

　　The mental trauma he had gone through was indescribable!

　　Xun Shu finally pulled himself together after Lonemoon announced his plans for the day. Warily retreating a few steps, he sat down and started regulating his meridians. Never before had he been beaten up so badly. Had he not been quick-witted and burrowed into the crevice, all his immortal bones would have been broken by her.

　　And all because she had been interrupted in her sleep! Her waking-up temper was really terrifying!

　　But Xun Shu was a young emperor with a high level of cultivation, so after regulating his meridians for just an hour, he totally recovered from his injuries. During that period, Shen Ying took the opportunity to have her breakfast.

　　“Let’s set off. The unchartered territory lies just ahead. Everyone be careful!” exhorted Lonemoon. They had the run-in with the intelligent divine artifact immediately after their arrival. Who knew what they else they would encounter later?

　　Lonemoon mounted his sword and flew off. The four of them started flying straight ahead. A barren landscape stretched into the distance. The place was covered with different types of mountain stones but very few vegetation.

　　But the strange thing was, compared to the previous places they had been where weapon refinement materials were abundant, this place was especially… clean! They could not find any first or second grade materials, let alone high grade weapon refinement ore or divine artifacts.

　　The four immortals flew around this unchartered territory for four to five days but could not find anything of value. Lonemoon became a little impatient, if the situation was like this further inland, then they might as well head back.

　　“Father Niu…” asked Shen Ying suddenly, “Why are we back here again?”

　　“What?” answered Lonemoon, “What do you mean we’re back here again? We…”

　　He did not continue, for following her gaze, he spotted something that startled him. “Holy shit!”

　　What he saw was a pile of bone fragments, the bones of a beast demon. It wasn’t uncommon to find bones in such a barren place but the key issue was… they were the ones who had discarded the bones. Moreover, these were the bones they had left behind after their dinner two days ago.

　　Lonemoon flew over and examined the bones. It was indeed the pile they had left behind two days ago.

　　But, this was clearly not the place where they had stopped to rest that day, unless…

　　Lonemoon’s expression changed. Looking back, he instructed, “Yi Qing, activate the Five Elements Array!”

　　Yi Qing nodded his head. With a sweep of his sword, five swords created from immortal Qi were instantly inserted into five different spots. Conjuring a hand seal, Lonemoon set up an array formation. In a flash, a few beams of light lit up. Their surroundings started to shake and the ground buckled.

　　Within moments, various objects like dead leaves, weeds, fruit skins, food residues, and rubbish such as bone fragments appeared. They were all things they had left behind the past few days.

　　All the rubbish was lying within a radius of a few meters. There were some even lying a few feet apart.

　　“This…” What happened?

　　Don’t tell me we’ve been circling the same place!

　　The key issue was that they had not realized anything was amiss!

　　“It’s the Soul Zither Array!” exclaimed Xun Shu suddenly. Stepping forward, he continued, “The Soul Zither Array can create a circular barrier. No matter how far you go, you will return to the original place, but the scenery inside changes continually. We must be inside this barrier now!”

　　As he said this, he conjured a seal and muttered a word. Instantly, the seal in his hand flew off. There was a flash of white light and a transparent shield appeared before their eyes. Then some gold objects started amassing not far above them.

　　On closer examination, they found that it was a map in the shape of a four-leaf clover.

　　“This must be the entrance to the center of the immortal realm.” Xun Shu’s eyes lit up, unable to suppress his excitement. He fished out a Winter Spirit leaf from his robes and tossed it towards the map in the sky.

　　Immediately, the shield in front of them moved and started splitting apart from the center. Within moments, it transformed into something that looked like an archway.

　　“This is the entrance!” exclaimed Xun Shu, an ecstatic expression on his face. Pointing at the archway, he urged them as he walked towards it, “Let’s enter quickly!”

　　“Oh,” said Shen Ying suddenly, “You’ve been here before!”

　　“…”

　　Xun Shu instantly stiffened.