Translator: CinderTL
Cloudveil City.
In a secret chamber within a teahouse, Song Wen held Ye Bing's Communication Jade Slip and initiated a message.
[Fellow Daoist Ye Bing, are you still in Cloudveil City?]
The message was sent, and Song Wen quickly received a reply, but it wasn't from Ye Bing.
[Senior Gou Jun, I've been waiting for your message.]
The reply came from a female cultivator with a crisp, clear voice. Song Wen guessed her cultivation level was likely low.
[Who are you? Why is this Communication Jade Slip in your possession?] Song Wen demanded coldly.
[Senior, my name is Wu Qian. Senior Li Yue gave me this Jade Slip,] the woman replied.
Li Yue was Ye Bing's alias, which she had used in Phoenix Feather City.
[Why would she give you this Jade Slip?] Song Wen pressed.
The woman calling herself Wu Qian explained, [Senior Li Yue said she had an agreement to meet you in Cloudveil City. However, she's rarely here and feared missing you, so she hired me to monitor the Jade Slip for any activity. I'm a rogue cultivator who has resided in Cloudveil City's North City for many years.]
Song Wen wasn't particularly skeptical of the woman's message.
Given Du'e's presence, Ye Bing would undoubtedly avoid staying in Cloudveil City for long. Having Wu Qian monitor the Communication Jade Slip significantly reduced the risk of being discovered.
[Do you know where I can find her?] Song Wen asked.
[This junior does not know,] Wu Qian replied. [Senior Li Yue has always contacted me directly; I'm unaware of her current whereabouts. However, Senior Ye Bing visits Cloudveil City every few months. If you wait a few months, Senior, you should be able to meet Senior Li Yue.]
Unwilling to wait idly in Cloudveil City, Song Wen sent a reply:
[Tell her I'm at the place where she left the message.]
After sending the message, Song Wen put away the Communication Jade Slip, left the teahouse, and returned to Wu Yuan Island.
He dove beneath the muddy waters to the cultivation cave he had previously carved out, cleared the silt, and summoned a torrent of water to thoroughly cleanse the cave.
Next, he used scorching flames to purify the entire cultivation cave, leaving it spotless and free of any swampy odors.
Song Wen set up concealment and defensive formations, summoned several Gu, and began refining medicinal pills for them.
In recent years, he had been so preoccupied with his own cultivation that he had neglected these Gu, resulting in their limited growth in strength.
After refining the pills and feeding them to the Gu, Song Wen began refining the Blood Demon Pill.
With his cultivation realm having surged dramatically, he now found refining low-grade pills effortless. In just over a day, he successfully refined four Blood Demon Pills.
Song Wen picked up one of the pills and swallowed it.
The medicinal potency and toxicity erupted simultaneously within his abdomen. To his dismay, Song Wen discovered that the Spiritual Qi converted from blood essence by the Blood Demon Pill now seemed rather weak for his current cultivation level.
After a moment's hesitation, he swallowed the remaining three pills together.
Perhaps due to the pill's toxic nature, the medicinal potency of all three pills erupted simultaneously, consuming not just three times the blood essence of a single pill, but rather six or seven times as much.
The Spiritual Qi generated this time, while still falling short of Song Wen's expectations, was at least passable.
At the very least, cultivating with this medicinal pill was significantly faster than relying on his own absorption of heaven and earth spiritual qi.
After all, with only a mid-grade spirit root, his cultivation speed was likely among the slowest of all Void Refinement Stage cultivators.
However, because the Blood Demon Pill required personal crafting and time-consuming refinement, even with its use, his cultivation speed would still struggle to match that of other Void Refinement Stage cultivators.
Song Wen estimated that reaching the bottleneck of the early Void Refinement Stage would take at least a thousand years.
Given the five-thousand-year lifespan of Void Refinement Stage cultivators, and disregarding the bottleneck, he could theoretically reach the peak of the Void Refinement Stage within his lifetime.
While contemplating whether to develop a more potent medicinal pill, Song Wen retrieved the Soul Cleaving Blade and began refining it.
He had acquired this blade over three centuries ago. However, due to insufficient cultivation, he had been unable to refine it and had never unleashed its true power.
Now, he could finally refine this treasure.
The refinement of the Soul Cleaving Blade proceeded smoothly. In just three months, Song Wen successfully refined it.
After maneuvering the short blade around his cultivation cave a few times, Song Wen stored it away and retrieved the Blood Sea Seal, pondering how to enhance this treasure.
According to the Blood Sea Seal refinement techniques he had obtained from Chi Pei, no single spiritual object could directly upgrade the Blood Sea Seal from a low-grade to a mid-grade spirit treasure. Instead, prolonged nurturing was required for its advancement.
However, some senior cultivators from the Divine Blood Gate who had refined the Blood Sea Seal had discovered methods to rapidly enhance its power.
The first method involved finding a heaven and earth spiritual object compatible with the Blood Sea Seal and integrating it into the seal.
The second method used the cultivator's own blood essence as a catalyst to inscribe a special Sacrificial Refinement Formation, forcibly enhancing the Blood Sea Seal's spiritual essence.
Each method had its advantages and disadvantages.
The former required rare spiritual objects that were difficult to find.
The latter's effectiveness depended on the amount of blood essence consumed. A cultivator's blood essence was limited; even exhausting all of it would only yield a marginal increase in power.
But this posed no problem for Song Wen.
To him, blood essence was an inexhaustible cultivation resource.
As Song Wen prepared to inscribe the Sacrificial Refinement Formation, a voice suddenly echoed from the sky outside his cultivation cave.
"Gou Jun, I've come! Where are you?"
Song Wen's eyes lit up at the sound.
It was Ye Bing!
He pierced through the formation barrier, shattered the thick layers of silt, and ascended into the air.
There, Ye Bing stood suspended, her eyes burning with fervent excitement as she gazed intently at him.
"I've searched for you for an entire Sexagenary Cycle, yet I couldn't find you. I feared you had perished."
"After barely escaping back then, I was gravely wounded by Du'e. I had no choice but to hide and recuperate," Song Wen replied, feeling a pang of guilt under Ye Bing's intense gaze. He instinctively began to fabricate a story.
After all, if he had considered that Ye Bing might come to Wu Yuan Island sooner, they could have reunited long ago. The truth was, he had never even thought of seeking her out.
Ye Bing showed no suspicion of Song Wen's words. With a swift movement, she appeared before him.
"How has your recovery progressed?" she asked with genuine concern.
"Thank you for your concern, Immortal Maiden. I am fully recovered," Song Wen replied.
"That's good," Ye Bing said, a faint smile gracing her lips. "We haven't seen each other in decades. Won't you invite me to your cultivation cave?"
"It would be my honor to have Immortal Maiden grace my humble abode," Song Wen replied, stepping aside with a gesture of invitation.
"Lead the way," Ye Bing instructed.
Song Wen nodded and dove into the water below.
"You're a Divine Transformation Stage cultivator, yet you built your cultivation cave beneath this filthy mud? Aren't you afraid of losing face?" Ye Bing followed Song Wen into the water, her gaze sweeping over the pitch-black silt. She chuckled softly, her tone teasing.
"As a rogue cultivator, I have no face to lose," Song Wen replied. "Survival is my greatest fortune. However, I do apologize for the inconvenience to Immortal Maiden. Your beauty rivals the moon's radiance, and your cultivation has reached the Void Refinement Stage. It seems inappropriate for you to wade through this filth."
From their first meeting, Song Wen had already confirmed that Ye Bing had advanced to the Void Refinement Stage.
"Do you truly find me beautiful?" Ye Bing asked.
"Immortal Maiden's beauty is unparalleled, a truth witnessed by all the world," Song Wen replied. "How could it be otherwise?"
As they spoke, they entered the cultivation cave.
Suddenly, Song Wen realized Ye Bing was lunging toward him.
Even as she moved, her robes gradually slipped from her body, drifting weightlessly in the air.
(End of the Chapter)