Mortal: Junior Sister Song Yu

The stone steps are deep and dark, paved with a single piece of black jade. They are cold and hard to the touch, and there are at least a thousand steps.

Li Xiao carried the unconscious Song Yu, walking very steadily step by step.

This place is hundreds of feet underground, where the spiritual energy is even more concentrated, seeping into his pores and nourishing his parched meridians.

Each breath felt like inhaling and exhaling a spiritual stone, invigorating his spirit.

In the empty passageway, only the sound of his steady and powerful footsteps and the barely audible, slightly hurried breathing of Song Yu in his arms could be heard.

At the end of the stone steps, the light shone brightly, and the view suddenly opened up.

A magnificent underground cavern, far exceeding his imagination, appeared before his eyes.

The cave was a perfect five-pointed star structure, with a spacious circular hall in the center and five corners leading to five tightly closed, huge stone chambers.

On the ground, intricate and dazzling array patterns were drawn out, flowing slowly like breathing, constantly drawing the rich spiritual energy emanating from the crystals on the surrounding walls to the center of the hall.

This is actually a spirit-gathering array of immeasurable quality!

Just standing on the edge, Li Xiao could feel his magic power stirring and showing signs of recovery.

On the dome of the cave, twelve fist-sized luminous pearls are arranged like stars, emitting a soft glow that illuminates the place as bright as day.

Strangely, despite the bright light, there were no shadows on the ground, as if the light had penetrated everything, giving people an unreal and illusory feeling.

In the center of the hall stood a three-zhang-tall white jade statue.

She was a female cultivator, with bones of white jade and a natural, divine charm.

She held an ancient-looking magic sword in her hand, and her light blue palace dress fluttered in the wind, as if she were about to ride the wind away at any moment.

Her brows and eyebrows bore a striking resemblance to Song Yu in her arms, especially her eyes, which possessed a gentle yet unyielding determination.

Just as Li Xiao's mind was drawn to the statue, a nearly transparent phantom slowly emerged from the jade statue.

She wore a light blue palace dress that was identical to the statue, with unparalleled beauty and an ethereal temperament, as if she did not belong to this mortal world.

Her gaze immediately fell on Song Yu in Li Xiao's arms, and a clear ripple finally appeared in her ethereal eyes.

"Water attribute... Heavenly spiritual root. How many years has it been, to see it again..."

"Unfortunately, the origin of his divine consciousness has been damaged, which is somewhat similar to what happened to me back then."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it didn't travel through the air; rather, it was like a clear spring, resonating directly deep within Li Xiao's soul, carrying a unique power to soothe the soul.

Li Xiao's heart clenched, and the last bit of magical power he had recovered instantly tightened to its limit, like a young animal guarding its food, protecting Song Yu even more tightly.

He suppressed his shock and asked in a deep voice, "Who are you, senior?"

"Clouds and Water".

The female cultivator's illusory figure uttered two words indifferently, finally shifting her gaze from Song Yu to Li Xiao, her expression carrying a penetrating scrutiny and an almost imperceptible admiration.

"At the Qi Refining stage, your level of mana condensation surpasses that of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. With dual spiritual roots of metal and fire... to be able to break through the outer array eye of the Heavenly Gang Array that I casually set up with such cultivation and brute force, your temperament and perseverance are one in a million."

Heavenly Gang Formation!

Li Xiao's pupils suddenly contracted. It turned out that the deadly trap that had brought them to the brink of death was just a "casual arrangement" by this senior!

He disregarded his shock, his tone carrying a pleading and urgency he himself didn't realize: "Senior, my junior sister's injuries are extremely serious, I beg you..."

Daoist Yunshui did not answer immediately.

Her ethereal gaze seemed to see right through Li Xiao's very being: "You're so concerned about her, is it because of her talent, wanting to rely on her for the future? Or... is there something else going on?"

This question was like a bucket of ice water, instantly calming Li Xiao down.

He met that gaze that seemed to see right through him and said resolutely, "She is my junior sister! We've been through life and death together. I saved her, not because of my talent, but simply because she is my junior sister, my family! If it weren't for her risking her life to deduce the truth, I would already be a skeleton in this formation!"

Daoist Yunshui looked at him quietly for a long time, then a smile appeared on his illusory face: "Very good."

She raised her crystal-clear jade finger and pointed it at Song Yu's brow from afar.

A pure, azure halo, like the gentlest spring rain, silently passed through Li Xiao's arm and precisely merged into Song Yu's brow.

Song Yu's originally pale complexion regained a healthy rosy hue at a visible speed, his tightly furrowed brows completely relaxed, and his breathing became steady and long.

"This is a wisp of my primordial energy, which can ensure that her soul and essence are not lost."

"She possesses a celestial spiritual root, is destined to be with me, and is fit to inherit my lineage."

After using this technique, the illusory image of Daoist Yunshui became noticeably dimmer, and she gave Li Xiao a deep look.

"This is where I passed away peacefully. It contains five rooms, used for refining weapons, alchemy, talismans, storing scriptures, and cultivation."

"The opportunity lies within; how much you gain depends entirely on your own ability and understanding."

"Remember, greed leads to loss."

As soon as she finished speaking, her figure vanished like mist blown away by the wind, disappearing back into the white jade statue without a sound, as if she had never existed.

Only a lingering echo remained, gently reverberating in the empty cave.

"I'm in the training room, waiting for you."

Li Xiao stood frozen in place, his mind reeling with shock.

Yunshui... This senior has probably already surpassed the Nascent Soul stage and is a legendary Nascent Soul cultivator who has touched the laws of heaven and earth!

He forcibly suppressed the shock in his heart, quickly walked to the spirit-gathering array eye in the center of the hall, and gently put Song Yu down.

The spiritual energy at the core of the array was the most concentrated. The array patterns sensed the presence of living beings and instantly lit up. The gentle water-attribute spiritual energy spontaneously transformed into a visible vortex, enveloping Song Yu's body and continuously nourishing her damaged consciousness.

After confirming that his junior sister was temporarily unharmed, Li Xiao slowly stood up, turned around to face the five stone chambers, and finally his gaze fell on the first one.

Above the stone gate, two powerful characters were engraved in an ancient seal script he had never seen before: Refining Weapons.

He took a deep breath, braced his hands against the heavy stone door, and pushed hard.

Boom!

A scorching heat wave, mixed with the aura of metal and fire, swept over us, and the air was filled with the purest earth fire energy.

In the center of the room, a towering, nine-foot-tall crimson furnace stands majestically, its body carved with nine lifelike fire dragons. The crimson flame stones inlaid in the dragons' eyes emit a chilling heat that slightly distorts the space.

There was a stone platform on each side of the furnace, with an item on each platform, all shrouded in a faint light.

On the stone platform to the left is a deep blue magic sword. Its blade is translucent, as if sealing a deep sea, with visible water shimmering within it.

The hilt of the sword is engraved with two ancient characters: Han Yuan.

On the stone platform to the right is a blue shield with ripples all over its surface, named: Xuan Shui. The shield surface flows endlessly as if it were alive, and the edge is inlaid with thirteen aquamarine beads the size of an infant's fist, exuding a powerful spiritual energy.

Ancient treasures! And two exquisite water-attribute ancient treasures in perfect condition, with their spiritual essence intact! The spiritual pressure they exuded was far stronger than any magical artifact Li Xiao had ever seen.

He was not blinded by greed and knew clearly that these two treasures were prepared by Daoist Yunshui for Song Yu.

He tried to reach out his finger and touch the light screen surrounding the "Frost Abyss Sword".

The moment his fingertips touched him, a chilling, bone-piercing force, carrying a strong sense of repulsion, suddenly struck him, as if trying to freeze his soul into ice crystals!

Clearly, non-designated water-attribute cultivators are not even qualified to touch it.

Li Xiao stopped pressuring, his sharp gaze sweeping across the entire weapon-refining room, not missing a single corner.

As Yunshui Daojun said, "How much you gain depends on your own ability," and it is absolutely impossible to gain nothing.

In a recessed area on the base of the furnace used to adjust the ground fire vent, he found an inconspicuous storage bag, with two blue-green belts neatly stacked next to it.

He picked up the belt; it was icy to the touch, made of neither gold nor jade, and exceptionally supple.

As he probed with his divine sense, a piece of information naturally came to mind.

This is the "Three Talents Jade Belt," a top-grade defensive magic artifact. It comes with three miniature arrays for avoiding water, fire, and poison, and can perfectly withstand a full-force attack from a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"nice one!"

Li Xiao's spirits lifted, and without hesitation, he tied one of the jade belts around his waist. The jade belt sensed the magic power and automatically tightened, fitting perfectly yet feeling as light as a feather.

He carefully tucked the other one into his bosom; it was for Song Yu.

Finally, his gaze fell on a tool rack covered in thick dust on the side and back of the refining furnace.

On the shelf, a mask sat all alone.

With a blue face and fangs, resembling a demon, and made of rough material, as if carved from some inferior wood, it showed no signs of magical power and was completely out of place in this radiant weapon-refining room.

Li Xiao scanned the mask with his divine sense, only to be horrified to find that it was like a mud ox sinking into the sea, unable to penetrate the mask even slightly!

A thought suddenly struck him, and he walked over and picked up the mask.

It's incredibly light, almost weightless. This is absolutely extraordinary!

He tried to channel the sliver of pure magical power that had just been restored into his body.

Om-!

The rough wood texture on the mask's surface instantly came to life, with a layer of dark and deep radiance flowing erratically, as if countless unwilling demons and vengeful spirits were silently roaring within it.

A cold, complex, and chaotic stream of information flowed down his arm, like a steel needle piercing deep into the top of his head!

"The Thousand-Faced Ghost Mask is a relic of the 'Thousand-Faced Venerable' at the late Nascent Soul stage. It is made by fusing the skins of a thousand powerful demons and ghosts and refining them with the 'Formless Divine Stone'. Wearing it allows one to change their appearance and form at will, isolate themselves from all divine sense probing below the Nascent Soul stage, and perfectly conceal their cultivation level and aura."

"This thing is filled with resentment; if used for evil, it will surely suffer a backlash from inner demons, leading to eternal damnation!"

Li Xiao's breath caught in her throat for a moment.

He gripped the unremarkable mask tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force, his heart pounding wildly.

This...this is the true treasure prepared for him in this weapon-refining room!

A trump card that allows him to easily defeat even a Nascent Soul stage monster!

A divine artifact that would allow him to travel the world without any worries!

He eagerly put the mask on his face and activated his magic.

The cool mask, like melted wax, instantly and perfectly conformed to the contours of his face without a single gap, as if it had been there naturally.

With a thought, he visualized himself just stepping into the tenth level of Qi Refining.

Upon internal observation, he discovered that his spiritual energy fluctuations, which had originally reached the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining stage and were about to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, were indeed forcibly suppressed and disguised by an invisible force, remaining steadily at the early stage of the tenth level of Qi Refining! Without any flaws!

Become!

Li Xiao forcibly suppressed the overwhelming joy that was about to burst from his chest, solemnly removed the mask, put it into the deepest part of his most personal storage bag, and used his divine sense to place several restrictions on it.

With this, his future will hold limitless possibilities!