Guixu Stone

The two of them walked deeper, following the direction of the flowing spiritual energy. Before long, they found the source.

A pitch-black spatial rift spanned across the rocky wall, resembling a wide-open maw.

An endless stream of spiritual energy was rushing frantically into the rift, as if it cost nothing.

Fragmented spatial turbulence drifted around the rift, grinding the surrounding rocks into absolute nothingness, leaving not even a speck of dust behind.

Xue Mingzhao quickly stopped and pulled Su Ye back several paces.

If they got any closer, they would probably be shredded to pieces.

Cang Jue's voice grew solemn. “So that's how it is... All the spiritual energy is being sucked in by this rift, which is why the spiritual energy outside is dwindling.”

Xue Mingzhao stared at the rift, her brow furrowed. “Can this rift be sealed?”

“It can be sealed using a Primordial Heaven-Mending Stone.”

“What's that?”

“A supreme treasure naturally nurtured during the dawn of heaven and earth.”

Xue Mingzhao: “...”

Just by the name alone, she knew it would be impossible to find.

She turned to Su Ye and asked, “Senior Brother, have you ever heard of a Primordial Heaven-Mending Stone?”

Su Ye shook his head blankly. “Never heard of it.”

Great. Even a native of this world didn't know about it. This thing was probably even harder to find than the Hunyuan Cauldron.

Cang Jue suddenly suggested, “Hey, Boss, isn't the Chaos Spiritual Root also something born at the dawn of heaven and earth? Since your origins are similar, maybe when you get close to a Primordial Heaven-Mending Stone, it will be able to sense it?”

The Chaos Spiritual Root instantly blew its top. “You useless cauldron! You can't find it yourself, so you're shifting the blame to me? I'm just a spiritual root! How on earth am I supposed to sense it!”

Cang Jue said in all seriousness, “You were both born from chaos. There must be a resonance between things of the same origin.”

The Chaos Spiritual Root countered, “Who says supreme treasures born in the same era can sense each other? Can you sense the aura of other supreme treasures that came into existence alongside you?”

Cang Jue replied earnestly, “Yes, I can.”

The Chaos Spiritual Root: “...”

“Forget it, there's no reasoning with you.” The Chaos Spiritual Root threw its hands up in resignation. “I've never seen that stupid stone, so I can't sense it. I can't help you.”

Xue Mingzhao wasn't too disappointed.

After all, how could a massive rift like this be sealed so easily?

“Is there a second-best option?” she asked.

“A Guixu Stone would do in a pinch, and that's relatively easier to find,” Cang Jue said.

Xue Mingzhao let out a sigh of relief.

Good, as long as there was a way.

She took another distant glance at the troublesome rift and pulled Su Ye along. “Let's go, Senior Brother, let's head back first. This place is too dangerous; it's not something we can handle.”

The two of them left the underground mystic realm by the way they came. Once they stepped back onto the shore, Xue Mingzhao began to quietly scheme in her mind.

Since this rift could be sealed... then...

She turned to Su Ye beside her. “Senior Brother, go back and practice your swordplay first. I'll come find you tonight.”

“Alright!” Su Ye nodded obediently, cradling his sword as he departed.

He secretly anticipated what shocking, earth-shattering thing his junior sister was going to pull off tonight.

Xue Mingzhao returned to her small courtyard, shut the door, and rolled up her sleeves—

Time to get to work!

She dumped all the spirit herbs from her storage bag into the Hunyuan Cauldron in one go.

Refining a supreme-grade Mahayana Pill still required one crucial ingredient—a Ten-Thousand-Year Bodhi Seed.

She currently had no stock of it, so she could only refine some pills to sell first, then buy it once she had enough spirit stones.

For the rest of the afternoon, the small courtyard was a bustling hive of activity.

The Hunyuan Cauldron was fired up to its maximum capacity, spitting out batch after batch of pills—two hundred supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, two hundred Boundary-Breaking Pills, fifty supreme-grade Golden Core-Condensing Pills, fifteen supreme-grade Nascent Soul-Forming Pills...

Xue Mingzhao wasn't idle either, sitting to the side and drawing talismans like mad.

Speed talismans, Sky-Blasting Talismans, defensive talismans, Traceless Talismans... one after another, her hands moving so fast they almost left afterimages.

They kept busy until the sun dipped below the horizon, at which point both the girl and the cauldron collapsed in exhaustion.

Xue Mingzhao patted the Hunyuan Cauldron. “Tonight we'll go get some more spirit plants, then we'll come back and keep working!”

The Hunyuan Cauldron: “...” If I had known, I would have preferred to rot in the dirt.

Despite his endless silent complaints, he was becoming increasingly shocked.

Xue Mingzhao had spent the entire afternoon drawing talismans, consuming a staggering amount of spiritual energy.

Yet the spiritual energy in her dantian flowed endlessly, as if it would never run dry.

This wasn't just because of the Chaos Spiritual Root.

It was her dantian!

Her dantian was like a boundless deep sea, harboring an inexhaustible supply of spiritual energy.

In the courtyard, Su Ye was slacking off, leaning against a tree trunk and looking up at the stars with a blade of grass between his teeth.

He turned his head and was startled to see someone standing behind him—face deathly pale, dark circles under her eyes, looking like she had just crawled out of a grave.

Su Ye shuddered in fright, the blade of grass slipping from his mouth as his voice trembled. “J-Junior Sister? Wh-what happened to you? Did someone beat you up?”

Xue Mingzhao weakly lifted her eyelids.

Well, duh. She had spent the entire afternoon refining pills and drawing talismans without a single moment of rest, spinning like a top. How could she not look exhausted?

“Let's go,” she said, her voice hoarse. “Come with me to sell some things.”

The moment Su Ye heard the words “sell some things,” his eyes lit up.

He knew it! His junior sister looking for him at night definitely meant they were going to do something big!

The two of them took out their black market jade talismans and channeled their spiritual energy. With a flash of white light, they stood at the entrance of the black market in the next instant.

The elderly man guarding the entrance sensed the fluctuation of spiritual energy. Seeing them, he offered a faint smile. “Back again.”

Xue Mingzhao nodded. Just as she was about to walk in, she stepped back. “Senior, I'd like to ask you something. Do you know where I can buy a Ten-Thousand-Year Bodhi Seed?”

The elderly man raised his finger and pointed toward a stall shielded by a cloth curtain deep within the black market. “Go ask over there. Her wares are all unusual, and she only sells genuine goods. It's just that the owner has a bit of an eccentric temper.”

Su Ye asked curiously, “How is she eccentric?”

The elderly man glanced at him. “You'll know when you get there.”

Xue Mingzhao thanked him and followed up with another question. “Then may I also boldly ask, do you know where I can buy a Guixu Stone?”

The hand with which the elderly man was holding his tea paused slightly.

It was a rule of the black market not to ask where goods came from or what they would be used for.

But a Guixu Stone...

He remained silent for a few seconds before finally speaking. “A treasure like the Guixu Stone... as far as what is publicly known, only the Nine Underworlds Heaven-Burning Asura Gate possesses one. It is the sacred treasure of their demon race. I am afraid it cannot be bought.”

Xue Mingzhao was stunned.

A demon race treasure?

She frantically ranted to Cang Jue in her mind: Didn't you say this thing was quite common?!

Cang Jue: “Before I went to sleep, it really was quite common...”

Xue Mingzhao: “...”