Chapter 125

"Liu Yiyi, what are you thinking about?"

Seeing Liu Liu Yiyi lost in thought, Su Yan reached out and waved in front of her eyes, her gentle eyes carrying a hint of curiosity.

"Nothing."

Liu Liu Yiyi withdrew her thoughts, her cold face quickly returning to its usual calm, as if that moment of distraction had never existed. "Continue."

Su Yan did not suspect anything and began to talk enthusiastically about the Su family's recent glorious events.

From the expansion of business lines to the newly recruited retainers, from the change in attitude of various families in the prefecture city to the doubling of the numbers on the account books, she became more and more excited as she spoke, her brows and eyes full of the demeanor of a household head.

Liu Liu Yiyi listened quietly, nodding occasionally, smiling occasionally, but deep within those cold eyes, a hint of unresolvable contemplation remained hidden.

"After I return to the sect, I must inquire about this Elder Jiang..."

The young girl pondered inwardly.

"By the way, Liu Yiyi."

Su Yan suddenly changed the subject, a hint of embarrassment appearing on her face, her fingers twisting the corner of her clothes, showing a rare, youthful shyness: "This Elder Jiang has done a great favor for our Su family. I want to visit him in person to express my gratitude. Can you help me introduce him when the time comes?"

Liu Liu Yiyi was slightly startled, and that thin, withered figure flashed through her mind again.

She suppressed the chaotic thoughts in her heart, nodded slightly, her voice cold yet carrying a hint of certainty: "Okay, just come to the Profound Heaven Sect to find me when the time comes."

"Then thank you so much, Liu Yiyi!"

Su Yan smiled, her smile bright and sincere, as if a weight had been lifted from her heart.

She held Liu Liu Yiyi's hand and chattered about other things; laughter filled the boudoir, and in a trance, it seemed as if they had returned to those carefree days at the Liu Qingshi Martial Arts Academy.

"Finally back."

When Jiang Ye and the others stepped onto the mountain road of Tianyangfeng, they all let out a long sigh of relief in unison.

Tianyangfeng remained quiet, the tripod furnace in the distance was still burning fiercely, and everything was exactly the same as when they had left.

Yet everyone felt as if a lifetime had passed.

The corpse ghosts, blood mist, ice coffins in the stone cave, and that unfathomable Five Elements Elder seemed like a nightmare, and now they had finally woken up.

"Elder Jiang, then I will take Xiao Hui back to rest first."

Zheng Feng bowed slightly to Jiang Ye, his handsome and delicate face carrying a hint of exhaustion.

Beside him, Zheng Hui was drooping her little face, her eyelids fighting each other, her dark, round eyes half-open and half-closed, leaning against Zheng Feng, looking completely exhausted.

Having experienced such terror in the stone cave and then rushing back, it was indeed a significant challenge for this little girl.

Her little mouth was still muttering something unconsciously, probably things like "never going again."

"Hmm, go get some rest early."

Jiang Ye smiled faintly, his face revealing a hint of an elder's gentleness.

"Xiao Hui, remember to come find Chen Xu Shijie to play when you have time~"

Chen Chen Lili waved at Zheng Hui with a smile, her bright face full of joy, as if the injury on her arm didn't matter at all.

The sleepy Zheng Hui opened her eyes with a "whoosh," a hint of anticipation flashing in her dark, round eyes, and the sleepiness was dispersed a bit: "Chen Xu Shijie, I'll come find you after I've slept enough......"

Zheng Feng's heart tightened, fearing his sister would be led astray by Chen Chen Lili, so he coughed lightly and hurriedly took Zheng Hui away.

Watching the two figures disappear, Jiang Ye and Chen Chen Lili walked toward the herb garden at a steady pace.

Before they even reached the entrance, they saw that little fatty, Lü Ming, already waiting for them. He stood at the entrance of the herb garden, his round face full of excitement.

"Elder Jiang, Chen Xu Shijie!"

Lü Ming ran toward the two with a face full of excitement, his round body actually showing a bit of agility.

"This kid......"

For some reason, seeing Lü Ming running over excitedly, Chen Chen Lili suddenly felt a strange sense of incongruity.

It was as if she and Elder Jiang were a married couple returning from a long journey, and Lü Ming was the child welcoming them back......

"No... what am I thinking about..."

Chen Chen Lili was startled by this inexplicable thought in her own mind.

A layer of blush quietly dyed her fair neck.

She glanced at Jiang Ye from the corner of her eye and, seeing his expression was normal, secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly shook that absurd thought out of her mind.

"Chen Xu Shijie, you... why are you injured?!"

Lü Ming, who had run over, saw the bandage wrapped around Chen Chen Lili's arm at a glance, and a look of concern immediately appeared on his face.

He leaned in closer, carefully examining the wound, a faint hint of relief in his eyes.

Searching for the ruins of the previous dynasty was indeed extremely dangerous; even Chen Xu Shijie, whose strength was greater than his, had been injured.

If it had been him, it would have been even more dangerous.

"Just a minor injury."

Chen Chen Lili suppressed the chaotic thoughts in her heart and laughed heartily.

"The herb garden should be fine these days, right?"

Jiang Ye asked casually, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding herb fields.

Lü Ming patted his chest and said loudly: "Don't worry, Elder Jiang! I've kept the herb fields in perfect order! Red Sun Grass, Flame Heart Fruit, Earth Fire Ginseng, Heavenly Sunflower Grass—watered when needed, fertilized when needed, pests removed when needed—not a single plant is missing!"

As he spoke, he pointed to the herb fields in the distance, his stance as if he wanted to count every single herb.

Jiang Ye looked at the hint of exhaustion between Lü Ming's brows and nodded inwardly.

He trusted Lü Ming's ability to manage the herb garden.

Managing several herb fields alone these days must have been exhausting.

His originally round face seemed to have thinned, and there were faint dark circles under his eyelids.

"Little Lü, you've worked hard these days."

Jiang Ye smiled faintly, his smile carrying a hint of approval.

Lü Ming was instantly revitalized, the exhaustion on his face swept away, his back straightened, and his voice was loud:

"Elder Jiang and Chen Xu Shijie working hard for the sect's mission is the real hard work! What is this to me? Just moving my fingers!"

Chen Chen Lili rolled her eyes: "No, your flattery skills are getting better and better, kid."

Lü Ming chuckled: "Just heartfelt words."

Jiang Ye smiled faintly: "You both did well. I will reward you after I come out of seclusion."

Saying this, Jiang Ye walked toward the Heavenly Sunflower Grass herb garden.

He couldn't wait to practice that "Shadow-Splitting Tracking Step."

After seeing Jiang Ye's figure walk away, Lü Ming raised an eyebrow and chuckled meaningfully at Chen Chen Lili beside him: "Chen Xu Shijie, did you get pregnant with twins after going out with Elder Jiang this time......"

Chen Chen Lili was stunned for a moment, then rolled her eyes unceremoniously and retorted:

"What do you think?!"

Saying this, she pointed at Jiang Ye's retreating figure with her fair, slender fingers and laughed:

"Why do you think Elder Jiang is so tired that he has to go into seclusion as soon as he returns?"

"Guess what he did to get so tired?"

Hearing this, Lü Ming could only concede defeat: "Awesome!"

After returning to the Heavenly Sunflower Grass herb garden.

Jiang Ye couldn't wait to take out the "Shadow-Splitting Tracking Step" and opened it to study it carefully.

The more he read, the brighter his eyes became.

This was indeed a top-tier movement technique manual.

The book recorded that a martial artist could control their body through the force within, causing the body to shake at high frequency in an instant, leaving behind afterimages in place while the true body had already shifted elsewhere.

That Bai Bai Laosan had relied on this technique to escape from the hands of Embracing the Pill Realm experts multiple times while in the Transformation of Force Realm at Mount Tai'an.

Its subtlety lay not in speed, but in "trickery."

You clearly see him there, throw a punch, but it's just a phantom...

You clearly feel he is on the left, slash with a blade, but he is already on the right.

"Wonderful."

Jiang Ye couldn't help but sigh in praise, a sharp light flickering in his aged eyes.

This martial art had extremely harsh requirements for the practitioner.

The most basic condition was that the martial artist must have control over their own body to the point of "achieving ultimate weight."

Those with such talent were one in ten thousand.

That Bai Bai Laosan could master it was likely due to innate talent combined with decades of hard practice.

Ordinary people couldn't practice it at all, even if they obtained this manual.

Jiang Ye's mouth curled slightly.

As it happened, having practiced the Bird-Form True Intent, he was one of those people.

It was a perfect match.

He continued to flip through it and saw the core secret technique of this martial art—Demonic Shadow Splitting.

After practicing this martial art to the minor success stage, one could use their own essence blood to activate the secret technique and split off a demonic shadow identical to oneself.

At higher realms, one could split off even more demonic shadows.

Jiang Ye thought of Bai Bai Laosan's cloning technique at the time and nodded slightly.

It seemed Bai Bai Laosan had only reached minor success after a lifetime of practice.

He didn't rush to get up and practice, but closed his eyes, repeatedly simulating every movement and every flow of force from the manual in his mind.

The characters and patterns on the pages turned into vivid images in his mind.

The human figures outlined by those lines moved in his imagination, shifting and changing, real and fake.

This was the benefit of having "superb comprehension."

The key points that others would need months or even years to comprehend, he could master after just a moment of simulation in his mind.

Not knowing how much time had passed, Jiang Ye suddenly opened his eyes.

He stood up and took steps in the narrow open space of the wooden house.

At first, it was very slow, like a toddler learning to walk, one step at a time, appearing somewhat clumsy.

But gradually, his steps became fluid, his speed grew faster, and his figure became more and more elusive.