Chapter 60: Incident

The moon was bright, the stars sparse, silver light sprinkled down in the brightly lit shopping mall, like a drop of water merging into the sea, without a ripple.

Only a place as secluded as the Hundred Arts Garden could show traces of moonlight.

After the banquet dispersed, Wang Ping and Tie Lanshan returned to the Heavenly Gang Court, and his residence would not be handed over to him until the next day.

So tonight he would still stay at Tie Lanshan's place.

In the basement, after setting up the formation, Wang Ping pulled out a palm-sized, dull black token from the corner of his storage bag.

He gently rubbed the cold metal token with the pad of his thumb, feeling the same metallic texture, icy and hard.

This is the teleportation token, capable of teleporting at least ten thousand li at the lowest level.

Such a precious treasure, Tie Lanshan said that even in ancient times it was highly valued, but not to the extent of having completely disappeared as it has today.

Nowadays, even a damaged teleportation token cannot be found in the cultivation world.

The formation lines engraved on the token are so dense that the naked eye cannot see them.

Only with mental power can one touch the outermost layer of formation lines on the token.

That layer of formation lines is also the key to activating the teleportation.

Upon probing with mental power, both sides bear patterns that emit a silver light.

That is the spatial formation lines Tie Lanshan spoke of.

Wang Ping's heart stirred; his mental power sank into his mind, and a stone gate emitting silver light floated silently in the space of his mind.

This light? Wang Ping had always thought it was merely the innate glow of such a treasure.

Only when he saw the faint silver light emanating from those formation lines on the token did he realize how similar the two lights were.

Only one was dazzling, the other dim.

Thus, the silver stone gate must be capable of teleportation and surely bears engraved spatial formation lines, Wang Ping guessed to himself.

Formation lines are the essence of a formation; only by comprehending the formation to an extremely profound degree can one condense the formation into lines, allowing their size to be freely adjusted.

The lines on the token serve as proof.

As for formations, Wang Ping also felt eager, but unfortunately he currently lacks the energy for it.

After playing with it for a while, he tossed the teleportation token into his storage bag and turned to ponder his situation.

Having the identity of an artifact refiner, the threat from the sect is actually not great.

A genius artifact refiner, a thirty-one-year-old cultivator on the verge of reaching the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, the sect's higher-ups, as long as they are not foolish, would not abandon such a disciple over a rumor of uncertain truth.

A person's horizons and experiences determine his way of thinking.

In the past, he was cautious, cultivating alone without communication, so his thoughts were prone to bias or he became lost in his own perspective.

At today's banquet, Zhang Zuo and the others displayed starkly different attitudes, and his conversation with them made him realize that the sect's threat was no longer even a threat.

His only concern now is the Soul Refining Hall; since its appearance, there has been not a hint of news about the Soul Refining Heart Sutra in the cultivation world of the West Drooping Region.

This shows how much they value this cultivation method.

Black Heaven's arrogance back then is still fresh in his memory.

If it weren't for the Heaven-Overturning Seal, he would likely have died long ago.

Killing Black Heaven is a minor matter; but if people discovered he had cultivated someone else's technique, that would be serious!

Another matter is the teleportation token; Wang Ping hopes it has nothing to do with the Soul Refining Hall.

What Wang Ping does not know is that the headquarters of the Soul Refining Hall, twenty thousand li away from the shopping mall, has already been stirred up by a huge wave.

In the Jin State, within the Azure Cloud Mountain Range, black great halls stand on the flattened mountain peaks.

At this moment, endless black mist enveloped the entire Soul Refining Hall, and a heart‑trembling roar echoed from within the mist:

"Investigate! Investigate! Examine everyone who has come into contact with Black Heaven and search their souls!"

"Hun Yan! Are you sure you lost a jade slip of the Holy Scripture? Why do you have an engraved jade slip there? Even if you are a Golden Core True Person, you have no permission to replicate jade slips!"

Another voice in the black mist coldly rang out, its tone filled with questioning.

Hmph!

A cold snort sounded, and the black mist gradually gathered, slowly converging into a great hall.

Hun Yan sat at the highest point of the great hall, gazing forward; although extremely unwilling, he knew that if he did not give an explanation now, the others would likely take him into custody.

"That Black Heaven has a special constitution; once he breaks through Foundation Establishment, he can condense a soul liquid of extremely high quality, and the higher his realm, the higher the quality of the soul liquid. Therefore I spent a hundred merit points to apply to the True Lord for permission to replicate the first layer of the Holy Scripture's cultivation method. Do you understand what that means?"

"I see, you intend to use high‑quality soul liquid to aid your transformation!"

Hun Yan nodded, saying: "I secretly gave the Soul Refining Heart Sutra to him, making him believe he had received a great fortune, so he would diligently cultivate the Holy Scripture. But…"

Saying this, Hun Yan was so angry he almost went berserk again; it was only a period of closed‑door cultivation, yet Black Heaven actually died, and those below merely regarded him as an ordinary staff member, so after a brief investigation there was no further news.

"Didn't you give that Black Heaven any defensive treasures, or lay a protective restriction on him?" another voice in the great hall asked.

Hun Yan heard this and suddenly let out a sigh, saying regretfully:

"Black Heaven's soul is special; I only placed a protective restriction on his soul. Even if his body dies, his soul will be preserved, whether the soul alone survives for more than half an hour or is refined, it will trigger the restriction I set."

"This restriction is enough to protect him; once I find him, I will help him seize a body and cultivate anew!"

The ruthlessness toward life revealed in Hun Yan's regretful words sent a chill through the heart.

"Heh! So you're saying your protective restriction has failed now?"

Hun Yan nodded; this was his greatest doubt. He had confidence that even against a fellow Golden Core cultivator, his protective restriction would be sufficient to withstand the opponent's arrival.

Moreover, he had planted a wisp of soul thought in Black Heaven's soul, allowing him to sense the latter's vague position within a thousand li; once Black Heaven's soul was destroyed, that wisp would transfer to the killer's body and not dissipate for a hundred years.

Nowadays, he can no longer sense it; when he went to the scene, the battle traces had almost vanished, leaving only the big pit mentioned in the report.

But according to the servants' description, it was clearly a fight between two Qi Refining stage cultivators.

This is where his puzzlement lies.

"Hun Yan!"

Lost in thought, Hun Yan raised his head and gazed ahead.

I ask you, how many stages are there in the first layer of the Holy Scripture recorded in that jade slip?

Hunyan fell silent for a moment, then said with a bitter smile:

Because Heitian's soul is special, after three years of cultivating the Holy Scripture he is about to reach the limit of the Qi Refining stage, so I gave him all six stages of the cultivation method! The reason is that I feared he would break through too quickly during my seclusion, leaving no further cultivation method and delaying his progress.

You! Sigh!

A voice from the void was full of helplessness; it paused for three breaths, then that voice spoke again:

The Holy Scripture must not be lost; it must be retrieved. Issue the order: fully investigate all information about Heitian before the incident! Anyone who disobeys will be killed!

"Received the order!" A gloomy voice sounded from outside, followed by the sound of footsteps fading away.

Hunyan! Prepare to apologize to the True Lord!