Starting with the consumables of the Demonic Sect, one can barely achieve immortality.

Meanwhile, Yan Cheng, who had escaped back to her dormitory unharmed, was still filled with unease.

He was practicing the "Hidden Mist Concealing Origin Technique," which had been deduced and supplemented by the Hidden Immortal Mirror.

Although she has only recently completed her training, her transformation speed is already faster than that of the Silk Weaver, and the duration of her mist transformation is also longer.

This was to be expected, since the silk weavers' incantations were not cultivated by themselves, but were entirely driven by the talisman arrays behind them.

Even the Qi Palace was opened by someone else, which greatly reduced the power and precision of the technique.

Pre-made incantations, pre-made mist, pre-made cave dwellings...

Behind the mid-stage perfection of strength lies the crystallization of the Immortal Sect's profound prefabrication techniques.

In the end, all that was achieved was a pre-made person with no future.

But whenever Yan Cheng thought of this, he couldn't help but curse the Immortal Sect for being inhuman.

The upper limit of the technique he cultivated was much higher, but during the mist transformation, the speed at which his true energy dissipated was still beyond his expectations, almost preventing him from making it back to the palace.

While the indeterminate fog can evade ordinary means of perception, it cannot be hidden from the naked eye.

Fortunately, they did not encounter anyone else on their way here.

But... could this also be part of someone's scheme?

Yan Cheng places the backs of his palms together and hooks his little fingers together; this is the fifth form of the "Moon Wheel Refining Flower Seal"—the Moon Pot Seal.

Use the moon as a mirror to calm your mind and settle your thoughts.

He truly had a mirror hidden within his consciousness, making the cultivation of this Dharma seal exceptionally easy.

He quickly calmed his thoughts and began to think rationally:

"The Silk Weaver... must have escaped beyond the Sea of ​​Fog, but that doesn't necessarily mean she escaped to safety."

"That guy possesses a secret that even the Hidden Immortal Mirror cannot see through. He suddenly stopped just before he was about to succeed; perhaps he sensed some huge pit ahead..."

"If I'm not mistaken, Huang Tong's ringing of the bell wasn't meant to stop her, but rather to urge her to hasten her death!"

But what is the reason for it?

Yan Cheng shook his head.

He wasn't stupid, but given the vast information gap, he simply couldn't guess the true motives behind the cultivators' actions.

"It is said that corpse cultivators who have reached the mid-stage will be moved to the fourth floor, late-stage cultivators to the fifth floor, and true disciples to the sixth floor."

"If I can break through soon and reach a higher position, I might be able to see things more clearly."

Do we need to break through?

Yan Cheng knew his own situation. His cultivation was nearing completion, and it would only be a few days before he had cultivated all forty-nine strands of star energy.

The quality and purity of the Yin Star Qi far surpassed that of the Yin Corpse Fiend, and Yan Cheng's cultivation technique was frighteningly advanced.

At the mid-stage of Qi Refining, there was no possibility of failing to break through.

"The difficulty lies in two points: first, how to explain the rapid progress of one's own cultivation."

"I've already thought this through; I can use the inexplicable pills I obtained from Chen Caimin as a reason."

"Since no one has taken this pill, who can definitively say it doesn't have the miraculous effect of boosting cultivation and helping someone achieve instant advancement?"

"As for the second point, it's the clear difference between this cultivation level and that of the Yin Corpse Fiend."

"Tian Tong has studied the art of observing qi. Although he certainly can't see through the Unstable Mist, who knows if he can tell that what I'm cultivating isn't malevolent qi?"

"I've never taken out a loan from a corpse. After my breakthrough, I'll definitely be noticed by Huang Tong and recruited into his ranks. I'll inevitably have to deal with Tian Tong, who is Huang Tong's right-hand man."

"This guy is even more cunning and shrewd than the true disciples; he can't be easily fooled..."

Yan Cheng's gaze flickered between light and shadow.

Just then, someone knocked on the door from outside.

"Please come in."

The one who entered was an unfamiliar corpse cultivator carrying a sword. His aura was around the mid-stage of Qi Refining, similar to that of Chen Caimin, Guan Caishun, and others.

It's rather strange, but Yan Cheng has been in the palace for almost three months, and in the first two months he didn't see many mid-stage cultivators at all.

But ever since the incident with the Silk Weaver, mid-stage corpse cultivators have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, as if they had agreed to avoid her sharp edge.

This made Yan Cheng even more certain that as long as he broke through to the mid-stage, his status in the palace would be elevated, and he would be able to access more and more detailed information.

In this place, intelligence is often synonymous with lifeline.

Perhaps the silk weaver was right; he was indeed afraid of the unknown unease beyond the foggy sea.

Staying in the palace at least provides him with a seemingly safe path forward, allowing him to gradually progress to the Foundation Establishment stage.

If we follow them and go far away, won't we end up like those corpse cultivators who were frozen in place?

In fact, even the silk weaver herself eventually stopped, so how could she mock him for not going with her?

Yan Cheng was not unaware that he had gradually been tamed by the emperor and had begun to feel satisfied with the illusion of safety.

But there's nothing that can be done about it, at least not at this moment...

"How should I address you, senior brother?"

The sword-wielding corpse cultivator didn't answer, but simply pointed to a dark coffin behind him, bound by heavy steel chains.

Yan Cheng didn't even need to use the [Cave Illumination]; he could tell what was being suppressed inside simply from the coffin's unusually large size.

Corpse-eating Yin Puppet.

Tian Tong had assured the cultivators that he would retrieve the ghoul-eating puppets that were patrolling the second-floor corridor.

Now, this nameless corpse cultivator has brought out an entire Yin Puppet along with its coffin!

The face of the sword-wielding corpse cultivator was obscured by a yellow talisman, making it impossible to discern his appearance or age.

It is a talisman for suppressing yang.

The sun had already risen outside the hall, and the corpse cultivator's yin body was not supposed to leave the coffin.

Even a mid-stage cultivator with a strong physical body can at most sit in a coffin and do some simple cultivation; there's no reason for them to have any freedom of movement.

Only a group of corpse cultivators had the necessity to walk on the hall day and night.

Therefore, the Emperor specially bestowed a Yang-suppressing talisman to temporarily suppress the surging Yang fire within these corpse cultivators, allowing them to still move around during the day.

Corpse cultivators from the enforcement team.

Yan Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly, only to hear the sword-wielding corpse cultivator speak coldly:

Where were you an hour ago?

A chill immediately crept up Yan Cheng's back.

Why did this person ask that question? Had his collaboration with the silk weaver been exposed?

He quickly dismissed his own guess.

If that's the case, then the one who comes won't be an unknown law enforcement corpse cultivator; it will at least be a celestial child.

There may indeed be an object in the hall that can sense presence.

At most, they could only determine which corpse cultivators were not in their houses at the same time.

The upper cultivators have neither the need nor the inclination to pay attention to the every move of each corpse cultivator.

Moreover, given his level, it's unlikely he would know so much.

Could it be that they've asked this question all the way here?

He secretly formed the Moon Pot Seal under his sleeve, and after calming himself, he slowly spoke:

"It's always been here."

The silence continued, and the gaze of the corpse cultivator under the yellow talisman remained fixed on Yan Cheng.

Yan Cheng's gaze, however, was fixed on the black coffin behind him.

He definitely couldn't win a head-on fight against two mid-level combatants, but it wasn't impossible for him to escape by turning into mist.

Unexpectedly, less than an hour later, he began to wonder if he should have gone far away with the silk weaver!