Meanwhile, far away from where Li Xinwen lives, a group of people could be seen entering a huge cave. They continued to walk through the cave path. The deeper they go, the colder the cave get. Not only that, they could hear the pained howl from within getting louder and louder.
When they reached the heart of the cave, they saw Chen Jingguo worried expression as the other stared into one of the smaller cave openings.
"Master Chen, how was the lord?" one of the cultivators asked.
"He's still in pain. How about those cultivators from Min Shaotian's side?" Chen Jingguo asked back.
"They still haven't figured out where we're hiding. But they are getting closer. We need to move soon."
"I will bring this matter up to the lord," Chen Jingguo replied before he entered the smaller cave.
Inside the smaller cave is where An Wuya resides. The items within were a mess, some laid broken on the ground. Chen Jingguo knew that ever since An Wuya confronted Li Xinwen, the other's mood has been chaotic. He regretted telling An Wuya about Li Xinwen's existence. If he had kept his mouth shut, this wouldn't have happened.
"My lord... we have to leave to our new hideout soon," Chen Jingguo said. "According to the people I sent out, Min Shaotian's group will find out about this place sooner or later. With you injured-"
"If you have time to worry about such things, how about you start figuring out how to undo this seal placed on me?!" An Wuya roared out at Chen Jingguo. "Who was that little cultivator you told me about? Why is his soul at the peak of Kongming stage?!"
"I don't know! I was sure that he is only at Houtian!"
An Wuya just clicked his tongue, and he looked at Chen Jingguo. "How long until you can figure out how to undo the seal?"
"Actually, I have already figured it out. It's just that... My lord, your soul was severely damaged. Unless you can heal your soul..." Chen Jingguo, though he is not that talented as a cultivator, his brain can be considered a top-notch. After all, he was once someone who is the top scorer of the provincial exam. Figuring out arrays and formations was not a problem for him.
An Wuya narrowed his eyes, then he looked over at the entrance to his small cave. "Those cultivators we gathered, are they still outside?" An Wuya asked.
"Yes."
"Go out and tell them to come here. You wait outside," An Wuya ordered Chen Jingguo.
Chen Jingguo did as he was told, and left the room. He told the group of cultivators to go inside as per ordered by An Wuya and waited patiently outside. It hasn't even been ten seconds when he heard a series of screams from within. It didn't take long for the scream to subside though. Chen Jingguo continued to wait until An Wuya came out.
"The rest?" Chen Jingguo asked, though by looking at An Wuya's complexion and the scream from earlier, he could already guess what happened. If he said he wasn't afraid, then he's lying. The coldness within An Wuya's eyes was worse than what he'd seen in Li Xinwen's eyes. At least, with Li Xinwen, he was still seen as a man while with An Wuya, he felt that he was seen as an animal waiting to be slaughtered.
"The rest? They have served their purpose. So to reward them, I let them 'rest'."
"Rest?"
"Jingguo, ah... don't ask too much question unless you want to anger me. Come and help me remove the seal," An Wuya gestured for Chen Jingguo to come closer. An Wuya's voice contains his usual charming effect and Chen Jingguo found himself walking towards him. Chen Jingguo pressed his hand over to An Wuya's chest and closed his eyes. He poured his spiritual energy in, inspecting An Wuya's condition. After a while, he opened his eyes and shook his head.
"Is it not enough?" An Wuya asked. The voice was low while his face scrunched up showing his irritation.
"Undoing the seal and removing it is a dangerous process. It is better to wait until your soul is healed up completely, my lord," Chen Jingguo replied.
With a click of his tongue, An Wuya turned and walked towards the entrance of the cave. Chen Jingguo who saw this quickly chased after An Wuya. "My lord, what are you doing? It's dangerous to go out without any plans! Those people from Min Shaotian's group might be around."
An Wuya paused in his track then turned to Chen Jingguo. "What about the rest of our men?"
"Most of them are still scattered around the country. Some are still hidden," Chen Jingguo replied.
"Good. Call them all here. Once I've recovered, not only that Min Shaotian, I'll also let that little cultivator Li Xinwen pay his debts!" An Wuya hissed out.
"My lord... I still think it is better to go to our next hiding place. By then, it will still not be too late to make them pay," Chen Jingguo once again suggested that they abandon their current hideout.
"Jingguo, ah... Are you the leader or am I the leader? You said it yourself, they will find out about this place sooner or later, which means, there is still time," An Wuya told him. "Just do as I say, and call our men. Once I've recovered, those ants won't amount to anything."
Chen Jingguo could hear the displeasure in An Wuya's tone when he speaks so he didn't dare to press on. In the end, he could only obediently called for their men to come back.
While the demonic cultivator was on the move and Min Shaotian trying to find them, Li Xinwen finally removed the seal on the alchemy room completely. As soon as the last of the seal was removed, Li Xinwen grabbed Lanyu and entered the room.
"Help me find Blood of the Sea Serpent, Thousand-year Spirit Birchlock Root, 3 bundles of Nether Drakebloom Flower, Manticore's tail and marrow," Li Xinwen said the five type of ingredients in one breath.
Lanyu, who was suddenly dragged into the alchemy room was still in a daze. It has been a long time since he entered this room and it had brought back some old memories. The room still looked as it was since the last time he entered. It wasn't until Li Xinwen poked him did he return to his sense. "Ah, yes. I'll go find them now!"
Li Xinwen watched as Lanyu went through the storage shelves. The shelves were made of top-grade jades so the ingredients stored inside would retain its spiritual vitality. Li Xinwen's eyes then went to the cauldron that rests in the centre of the room. It was a top-grade cauldron and if compared to Li Xinwen's old cauldron back in Long Xing, it paled in comparison. But unfortunately, Li Xinwen had laid his eyes on one of the Twelve Celestial Cauldron. So he didn't feel excited when he sees this top-grade cauldron.
'When I get the chance, should I ask the cauldron back from Hua-jie? Or make do with this for now until the right time comes?' Li Xinwen wondered. Li Xinwen walked towards the cauldron and inspected it properly. After making sure that the cauldron was in perfect shape, only then did he begin to light up the furnace underneath the cauldron. Cultivators who practised in the alchemy path are usually people who had awoken their alchemy spiritual flames.
But what Li Xinwen used to light the furnace was not an alchemy spiritual flame but instead, his own soul fire. The blue flames burned bright, and Li Xinwen began to control its heat. When Lanyu came over to put one of the ingredients over, he saw the blue flames and couldn't help but become fascinated.
"Blue coloured soul fire... The same colour as the old master. This colour is the second closest to the divine soul fire," Lanyu murmured in a soft voice. He couldn't help but reminisce the time when his old master was still present and couldn't help but feel sad. In the past, he also helped the old master in getting the ingredients, along with the other fairies.
"Lanyu, are you alright?" Li Xinwen asked when he saw that Lanyu was in a daze. This was the second time since entering the alchemy room.
"I'm alright, master!" Lanyu replied quickly. "Here are the ingredients but... I realized that there were no Thousand years Spiritual Birchlock Root. So I replaced it with a Ten Thousand years Spiritual Birchlock Root," Lanyu informed Li Xinwen.
"Ten thousand years!" Li Xinwen hissed in amazement. Back in Long Xing, Li Xinwen only saw Thousand years Spiritual Birchlock Root and even that was already expensive. For Lanyu to use it as a replacement ingredient, Li Xinwen could feel his heart ache. "How many of these are left?" Li Xinwen asked.
"Don't worry. There are still tons of it left!" Lanyu replied with a big smile. "Ah, but we don't have much of Sea Serpent's blood left," he added.
"Alright, I won't make a mistake, don't worry," Li Xinwen said. 'After all, this is a Ten-thousand years Spiritual Birchlock Root, ah! If I mess up, it'll be a big loss!'