To comprehend all laws and attain immortality

"My name is Gu Fan. I greet Fellow Daoist Liu." Gu Fan returned the greeting with a cupped hand.

When Liu Qin saw Gu Fan's handsome appearance, her eyes lit up slightly, and she smiled and said, "I should have gone to visit you, but you are in seclusion, so I had to ask Senior Brother Meng for help."

Gu Fan nodded and said, "I heard that you wish to forge a magical artifact. May I ask what it is?"

"That is indeed true." Liu Qin took out a three-foot-long green bamboo from a pouch-shaped storage bag and showed it to Gu Fan: "Fellow Daoist, take a look at this Heavenly Star Bamboo. I want to refine it into a mid-grade offensive magic weapon."

Gu Fan took the Heavenly Star Bamboo and examined it carefully.

This section of Star Bamboo is only as thick as a thumb and no more than three feet long. It is entirely blackish-purple with countless white specks on its surface, resembling a sky full of stars, hence the name Star Bamboo.

Among wood-based spiritual materials, Heavenly Star Bamboo is only of average quality. It is easy to refine low-grade magic weapons, but to refine mid-grade magic weapons, it is necessary to incorporate many rare spiritual materials to improve its quality.

No wonder Liu Qin couldn't afford spirit stones and could only exchange them for rare flower petals.

Gu Fan extended a wisp of his magic power and sensed that the Heavenly Star Bamboo was rich in spiritual energy, suggesting that it had been recently felled. He figured that using it as a basis to refine a mid-grade magic weapon was not out of the question, so he nodded in agreement.

"After returning to my sect, I will forge weapons for you."

Upon hearing this, Liu Qin smiled and said, "Thank you, fellow Daoist. You may leave the Heavenly Star Bamboo with you. Once the magic weapon is finished, you can let me know so I can retrieve it."

After speaking, Liu Qin took out another item from her storage bag, which was a communication talisman.

As the name suggests, this talisman is only used to transmit signals. You only need to leave a trace of energy in it, and after handing it over to someone else, the person holding the talisman can release it and then track the person who left the energy.

The premise is that the other party must be within a certain range when using the talisman, which can be considered a simple short-range summoning.

Gu Fan put the communication talisman and the Heavenly Star Bamboo into his storage bag, and then more people began to descend into the valley.

There were five people in total: a heroic young man who rode in on a sword, a simple and honest man in brown linen clothes, a middle-aged Taoist priest with yellow face and white hair, a refined young man in a blue scholar's robe, and the last one was a cold-faced woman wearing a black gauze robe.

Gu Fan recognized all these people; he had seen them all on Lanyun Peak, and some were even regular customers who patronized his talisman-drawing business. So he went up to greet them.

"My fellow senior brothers and sisters, it's been a long time."

The young man riding the sword light was named Jiang Qingque. The magic sword under his feet was made by Gu Fan. Upon seeing Gu Fan, he showed a friendly smile: "I thought Junior Brother Gu was going to be in seclusion for a long time. I've almost used up all the spirit talismans I bought last time."

"I've kept you waiting, Senior Brother." Gu Fan smiled and nodded, exchanging a few pleasantries with the others.

I turned around and counted, there were exactly twelve people present, which corresponds exactly to the number of petals of 【Fleeting Beauty】.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Meng Wei said, "Fellow Daoist Liu, now that everyone is here, please lead the way."

"Please follow me, everyone!"

Liu Qin nodded in response, then released a cyan silk ribbon that wrapped around her waist as if surrounded by a gentle breeze. She lightly touched the ground with her feet and rose into the air.

Seeing this, everyone released their flying artifacts to follow, and Gu Fan also stepped onto the Sky-Breaking Shuttle.

Meng Wei's flying artifact was a bronze chariot, which made him look quite majestic when he sat on it. Long Ying, on the other hand, summoned a crimson-gold phoenix chariot, which was not only luxurious in appearance, but also had phoenix shadows circling around it, making it clear at a glance that it was extraordinary.

Various colors of light rose from the valley, with Liu Qin leading the way, heading straight for the sea of ​​clouds.

After entering the sea of ​​clouds, Liu Qin led the group to avoid the sea fog, occasionally taking out a compass to determine the direction. After doing this several times, the group traveled around for half a day before a black dot finally appeared in their field of vision.

Upon closer inspection, the group discovered that the black dots were actually small islands, with more than a dozen islands scattered around, surrounding the central island.

"Gentlemen, the rare flower is on that island in the middle."

Upon seeing the black dot, Liu Qin breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as she addressed the crowd.

So the group flew toward the black dot and saw that the entire island was only about ten feet in circumference, with only about three feet above the water. It was more like a large reef than an island.

In the center of the reef is a five-foot square puddle, where a round leaf supports a closed white flower bud.

The flower bud was about the size of a fist, entirely white like jade, and emitting a faint fragrance that refreshed the mind and body.

The leaves beneath the flower buds are as tall as three feet, with crisscrossing veins forming a complex pattern.

The crowd stood scattered around the flower bud. Long Ying stepped forward, examined it carefully, and nodded, saying, "Indeed, this flower matches the description in the pharmacopoeia. It is indeed the legendary 'Fleeting Beauty'."

"This flower will not bloom for another three days, and its fragrance has not yet spread. As the blooming time approaches, the fragrance will spread further and further, at which time the sea monsters will attack."

Among everyone, Long Ying's alchemy skills were the highest, reaching the first-grade superior level, so everyone naturally believed what she said.

So they dispersed, found places to sit down, and chatted in twos and threes, preparing to deal with the approaching sea monsters.

Liu Qin sat down next to Gu Fan, and the two discussed the crafting of magical artifacts in detail. However, Liu Qin seemed somewhat distracted, and her eyes kept drifting towards Gu Fan.

"Speaking of which, this place is quite remote. How did Fellow Daoist Liu find his way here?" Gu Fan asked curiously.

Liu Qin reached out and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, smiling as she said, "This matter, in retrospect, was quite a stroke of luck for me."

Several months ago, Liu Qin accepted a sect mission to capture a rare sea monster. Unexpectedly, the sea monster was quite alert and its underwater speed was astonishing. Liu Qin chased it for two days before finally capturing it.

Originally, I wanted to find a place to stay and meditate to recover my magical power, but I coincidentally discovered traces of a strange flower on the island.

"Fellow Daoist is truly fortunate." Gu Fan nodded in praise, then closed his eyes and sat down to meditate, pondering the array runes in his sea of ​​consciousness.

Liu Qin seemed to want to chat with Gu Fan for a while longer, but he closed his eyes, sat in meditation, pursed his lips, and did not speak again.

The sun rises and sets, and two days pass in the blink of an eye.

Everyone waited quietly for the flowers to bloom. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Gu Fan could not cultivate and gather qi, which he found quite regrettable.

Several sea monsters were also attracted by the fragrance, but they were all weak and insignificant, and were easily dealt with by the group with a few spells.

Through these sea monsters, Gu Fan witnessed Meng Wei's first action.

With a casual wave of his hand, a lightning spear condensed in his palm. He threw it and pierced through a three-zhang-long sea monster. Violent lightning exploded at the wound, paralyzing the sea monster.

In addition, a seabird descended from the sky with great speed. Meng Wei waved his hand and released an electric net to surround it, pulling it down like a hunter, and then finishing it off with a lightning strike.

"Senior brother's lightning magic is indeed superb," ​​Gu Fan exclaimed.

Meng Wei smiled smugly upon hearing this, but Long Ying beside him curled her lip and said, "He only knows that one move."