When I woke up, the entire cultivation world was talking about my master.

Outside the forbidden altar.

Witnessing Chu Xianlan being swallowed by the yellow sand in the blink of an eye, Niu Shi and Ma Mian were speechless for a long time, their hearts filled with sorrow.

Everyone believed that the boy was likely in grave danger.

No one knows what lies beneath the desert, or how long Chu Xianlan can resist in such a perilous situation. In any case, the chances of her surviving are not high.

Wei Jin grabbed the leader's collar, his bright eyes flashing with ruthlessness, and said without any politeness, "What exactly are you hiding from me? That puppet clearly has no self-awareness, so why did it kidnap my nephew!"

The team leader was covered in cold sweat.

This was the first time he had encountered a mechanical puppet being triggered, and he genuinely couldn't figure out what was going on. "I... I don't know either. According to the records..."

"Stop talking nonsense," Wei Jin interrupted coldly.

"I only know that the puppets attack anyone who gets close to the altar; they've never taken anyone away on their own. The artifact cultivators of Peach Blossom Spring know more about this. Rather than wasting time here, we might as well..."

As they were talking, the team leader's expression suddenly changed, and his gaze trembled as he looked past Wei Jin.

He felt—

A powerful, albeit subtle, aura of malevolence raged around the area.

Under normal circumstances, as long as they are not affected by the lunar eclipse, the ferocity of a half-demon is relatively controllable. Unless they deliberately release their ferocity, or... their emotions go berserk and their rationality collapses, the madness deep within their bloodline will be revealed without restraint.

A half-demon is devoted to only one person in their lifetime. Losing their partner is an unbearable, agonizing pain. If a half-demon at the Nascent Soul stage were to go berserk and out of control here, it would be an unimaginable situation for anyone... Everyone was immediately shocked and took a step back, moving away from that white figure.

Wei Jin's face was ashen as he grabbed one thing and then another:

"Yi Chen, calm down. Your disciple isn't that easy to get into trouble with."

Yi Chen's motionless posture was too unusual, and Wei Jin was afraid that he would jump into the sand without thinking.

From the moment they met in their sect, Yi Chen was like still water, calm and undisturbed.

He always maintained a calm and composed mind, rarely showing his emotions to others, and always remained calm. Even amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he could calmly sheathe his sword. Everything was insignificant in his eyes, like a... heartless and emotionless person.

Wei Jin thought to himself, "This is really outrageous! Things are finally getting better."

He never imagined that one day he would be the one to tell this person to "calm down".

Yi Chen knew that Wei Jin was right.

The master-disciple bond was still intact, and Yi Chen knew better than anyone else present whether the other party was in danger and where they were.

The invisible thread remained firmly tied to the depths of his consciousness, with the other end positioned below the altar... Chu Xianlan was safe and sound at this moment.

He also knew that the young man was cautious and very intelligent, whose abilities and courage were no less than any other young cultivator in the world. He would surely handle unexpected situations carefully, would not take risks, and possessed the ability to protect himself, but...

But I couldn't help it.

Even he himself could not control the fluctuations in his emotions.

Yi Chen was no longer used to being alone.

Unbeknownst to him, Chu Xianlan had occupied a very important place in his heart. Yi Chen had witnessed the giant hand dragging his disciple into the abyss. As a master, failing to protect his disciple was a dereliction of duty. How could he possibly remain calm?

Everyone thought the swordsman would jump down to save people without hesitation, but a cold wind swept by, the murderous aura gradually dissipated, and Yi Chen's figure headed straight for the altar.

The altar's gate remained unmoved, sealed by some powerful array.

The team leader realized this was indeed the case, his face turning grim: "No wonder the first group of artifact cultivators who arrived at the forbidden area haven't returned. It turns out the sealing formation here has been triggered... They must be trapped inside the altar. Sigh, that's troublesome; breaking the formation will take time—"

Before the words were finished, an unstoppable flash of sword light swept past, and the gate burst open with a deafening roar.

Someone immediately shouted, "The formation has been broken! Let's get out of here!"

Team leader: "?"

Is it difficult... or not difficult...?

The group filed in. The interior of the altar was dark and cold. Several half-demons lay sprawled at the entrance; they were the first group of artifact cultivators to enter. They appeared to be seriously injured, groaning in pain as they lay on the ground. Niu Shi and Ma Mian rushed over and took out pills to treat them.

"What exactly happened?"

"Cough, all the mechanisms in the forbidden area are in chaos," one of the wounded artifact cultivators said weakly, having stopped bleeding. "We... were injured by the formation, and the ancient artifacts... have also disappeared."

Niu Si couldn't believe it. "Disappeared?"

The artifact repairmen arrived at the forbidden altar to repair the ancient artifact, thinking their trip would go smoothly. However, when they reached the deepest part, they discovered that the ancient artifact had disappeared. This was completely unexpected, and no matter how they searched, they could not find a trace of it.

Realizing something was wrong, they immediately wanted to return to Peach Blossom Spring to report the matter.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I turned around, I fell into the formation.

The large formation contained smaller formations, layer upon layer, like a trap deliberately set by someone. When they turned around, the altar's gate had been sealed shut, leaving them trapped inside, suffering the attacks of the formations for several hours.

"So, you're saying your injuries were pretty minor?" Ma Mian was taken aback.

Several hours?

That means you can take a lot of beatings.

The weapon cultivator sat up, wiped his sweat, and said with difficulty, "To be honest, we have to thank Xiao Huandu. Uh, he sensed that something was wrong and used the protective formation he learned from the Taiyi Sect to block several waves of attacks for us. If it weren't for him, we weapon cultivators probably wouldn't have made it this far."

Wei Jin picked up a small wolf, about the size of his palm, from the ground.

Xiao Huandu had exhausted his spiritual power and could barely maintain his human form, so he could only show himself in this shameful way.

The little wolf lay in Wei Jin's arms, letting out a few soft whimpers before closing its eyes and falling unconscious.

At this moment, the team leader stared blankly at the empty stone platform high above... Where did the ancient magical artifact go?

Just then, a zither melody suddenly rang out from inside the altar.

Yi Chen remained silent throughout. He did not consult with anyone, nor did he need to. He prepared to break open the altar from above.

Suddenly, the untethered boat in his hand trembled violently.

Yi Chen stopped moving expressionlessly, as if there were shadows, both real and illusory, swaying in front of him.

The entire altar was trembling slightly.

Everyone looked up at the same time and saw Chu Xianlan appear out of thin air above the altar.

The boy had an exceptionally graceful figure, like a newly sprouted bamboo in the mountains, vibrant and incomparable.

He was holding a guqin (a traditional Chinese stringed instrument) in his arms.

"Master?"

Upon seeing the person before him, Chu Xianlan's eyes seemed to hold two pools of autumn water. He tilted his head slightly, as if surprised and delighted, his eyebrows curving as he gave Yi Chen a genuine smile.