Ye Fan was refining spiritual weapons when several acquaintances came to the door.
Noticing that the restriction had been triggered, Xu Mingyang took the initiative to walk out.
When Lin Mo and the others saw Xu Mingyang, they couldn’t help looking at each other.
Xu Mingyang looked at the group of cultivators at the door. Seeing that they didn’t seem to be here to find fault, he asked in a low voice, “Fellow Daoists, what’s the matter?”
Lin Mo resisted the confusion in his heart, looked at Xu Mingyang, and said, “We’re here to find Alchemist Ye.”
Xu Mingyang raised his eyebrows and said, “Are you looking for Ye Fan?”
“Brother Xu, who is here?” Bai Yunxi’s voice came out.
Luo Dieyi was already surprised when she saw Xu Mingyang coming out to check the situation after the restriction was triggered. When she heard Bai Yunxi’s address for Xu Mingyang, she was surprised again.
“It’s Fellow Daoist Lin!” Bai Yunxi opened the formation and let them in.
Luo Dieyi looked at Bai Yunxi, and then at Xu Mingyang, and secretly thought: Bai Yunxi’s temperament was so good! He actually let Xu Mingyang live with them in the cave residence. Ye Fan was really lucky to have such an understanding Daoist companion.
Xu Mingyang smiled and entered the room as if he didn’t notice Luo Dieyi’s gaze.
Luo Dieyi looked at Bai Yunxi and couldn’t help but say, “Fellow Daoist Bai and Fellow Daoist Xu get along well.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “En, it’s okay.”
Ever since they made things clear about Ye Fan’s identity, Bai Yunxi and Xu Mingyang had a good chat. Ye Fan, this guy, was full of loopholes every day, but he always thought he was hiding it well.
Soul-replenishing grass usually grew in gloomy restricted areas. Bai Yunxi felt that since Ye Qixian was willing to venture to such places to find soul-replenishing grass for Xu Mingyang, it was obvious that the two had a very close relationship. If Ye Qixian and Xu Mingyang really became partners, then maybe when they met again in the future. Xu Mingyang would be his and Ye Fan’s sister-in-law*.
Thinking of such a possibility, Bai Yunxi was very polite to Xu Mingyang. Xu Mingyang was not an ignorant person. He also told Bai Yunxi a lot of things about the cultivation world, and gave Bai Yunxi a lot of guidance.
“Fellow Daoist Xu taught me a lot about weapon refining. What are you here for this time?” Bai Yunxi asked.
Lin Mo looked at Bai Yunxi and said, “Actually, I want to ask Alchemist Ye to help refine some medicinal pills. The competition in the secret realm is fierce, and medicinal pills are consumed quickly.”
Bai Yunxi said, “Oh” and nodded.
Luo Dieyi looked at Bai Yunxi and said, “Fellow Daoist Bai, don’t you want to go anywhere else?”
Bai Yunxi frowned and said, “En, we do need to take a look around.” Originally, they planned to go explore the secret realm a bit, but when they met Xu Mingyang, it was delayed for another two months.
…
Xu Mingyang pondered for a while and said, “Calculating the time, Spiritual Spring Valley should be opening around this time. We can go and see.”
Bai Yunxi looked at Xu Mingyang and asked, “Spiritual Spring Valley? What is that place?”
“It has a lot of spiritual springs. It should be the place where the tree people used to soak in spiritual springs. The spiritual springs are divided into four levels of heaven, earth, black and yellow*. The higher the level of the spiritual spring, the stronger the spiritual energy it contains.”
“The yellow-level spiritual springs are not restricted and anyone can enter. Starting from the black-level spiritual springs and up, there is a protective formation preventing entry. The formations guarding the earth-level spiritual springs are of a higher level, and the quality of the spiritual springs is also naturally higher. Every time the Spiritual Spring Valley opens, the competition for the earth-level spiritual springs will be very Intense. If we want to go, we have to hurry up,” Xu Mingyang said.
Bai Yunxi looked at Xu Mingyang in confusion and asked, “What about the heaven-level spiritual spring?”
“The formation guarding the heaven-level spiritual spring is relatively high, and it has not been opened yet,” Xu Mingyang said.
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “I see!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Luo Dieyi looked at Xu Mingyang and Bai Yunxi’s natural exchange, and her expression became even stranger.
…
A burst of explosions sounded, and Ye Fan walked out with a gloomy face. His clothes were messy and his hair was standing on end.
“Did the furnace explode again?” Xu Mingyang asked.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Yeah! Weapon refining is really not done by humans.”
Xu Mingyang shook his head, and said earnestly, “Weapon refining is a step-by-step process. You have only been in touch with it for a while. It’s best to use some other spiritual materials to practice more…”
Xu Mingyang secretly thought: Although Ye Fan knew a lot about weapon refining, he had little practical experience. He was just getting started, yet he used Heavenly Thunder Bamboo as refining materials. It would be weirder if he didn’t explode the furnace. Fortunately, Ye Fan’s body refining level was not bad and he could withstand it. A cultivator with a weaker physique would have been seriously injured and need to recuperate for a few months.
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and said, “Ye Fan, let’s put the weapon refining thing aside for now. Let’s go soak in a spiritual spring first.”
“Soaking in a spiritual spring! Ah! I like that. I’ve been in the secret realm for so long, and I’ve been working so hard, so I should relax,” Ye Fan said happily.
Luo Dieyi: “…” What kind of hard work did this guy Ye Fan do? He surrounded himself with a beauty on each side and enjoyed the blessings of everyone.
Ye Fan looked at Lin Mo and said, “Fellow Daoist Lin, what’s the matter?”
Lin Mo frowned and said, “I got some new spiritual herbs. I wanted to exchange them for some medicinal pills.”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “What kind of medicinal pills do you want? If I have them in stock, I’ll exchange them for you. If I don’t have them, you should wait for me to come back from the spiritual spring. I’m going to take a mandarin duck* bath!”
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and said angrily, “Go clean yourself first. Look how dirty you are.”
Ye Fan: “…”
…
Ye Fan quickly packed up and walked out.
“Alchemist Ye, this is my newly acquired spiritual herb.” Lin Mo took out a green spiritual herb.
“Emerald Jingzhi Herb. This is a good thing! However, you have to refine it into a medicinal pill as soon as possible, otherwise it will be ineffective,” Ye Fan said solemnly.
Lin Mo nodded and said, “Yes, but Alchemist Ye is going to Spiritual Spring Valley.”
Xu Mingyang calculated with his fingers and said, “Ye Fan, if you are quick, you should be able to finish refining and still make it.” Emerald Jingzhi Herb was a rare spiritual herb, and it would be a pity if it was wasted.
Ye Fan glanced at Lin Mo and said, “Okay, I will finish refining it for you as soon as possible. Come with me.”
Luo Dieyi looked at Ye Fan and said, “Alchemist Ye, if you put Fellow Daoist Xu in the cave residence like this, won’t Fellow Daoist Bai be angry?”
Ye Fan gave Luo Dieyi a puzzled look and said, “Angry? Why would he be angry?”
Luo Dieyi looked at Ye Fan and said, “Don’t Fellow Daoist Bai and Fellow Daoist Xu fight?”
Ye Fan shook his head and said, “No! They have a good relationship. Yunxi likes to talk to him. When the two of them chat, Yunxi ignores me. What’s more, I can’t shoo that guy away even if I want to.”
“Why not?” Luo Dieyi asked in confusion.
Ye Fan blinked and secretly thought: After all, he was his big brother’s friend. Even if he didn’t look at the cultivator’s face, he had to look at the Buddha’s face*. What was more, Xu Mingyang also gave him a silver thread net! Those that received gifts had short hands*. However, Xu Mingyang was also really too generous. He actually gave such a precious thing to a stranger.
Ye Fan glared at Luo Dieyi and said, “Why are you so gossipy?”
Luo Dieyi didn’t quite understand the meaning of being gossipy*, but seeing that Ye Fan was not very happy, she immediately stopped asking.
Ye Fan entered the alchemy room, while Lin Mo and the others waited outside.
Bai Yunxi and Xu Mingyang sat face to face drinking tea, and they chatted from time to time.
Luo Dieyi looked at this scene, and suddenly felt that Ye Fan had taken the blame for Bai Yunxi. It was not Bai Yunxi who should feel aggrieved by Xu Mingyang’s presence, but Ye Fan.
Lin Mo exchanged his spiritual herbs for medicinal pills, and was sent away by Ye Fan.
Luo Dieyi looked at Lin Mo and couldn’t help but ask, “Senior brother, what do you think is going on?”
Lin Mo shook his head and said, “I don’t know either.”
He heard that the foreign cultivators were very xenophobic! But Xu Mingyang seemed to get along well with Bai Yunxi and Ye Fan.
Luo Dieyi frowned, only to feel that Ye Fan was becoming more and more incomprehensible.
…
Ye Fan rushed to Spiritual Spring Valley and saw many cultivators waiting outside Spiritual Spring Valley.
Seeing the three of them coming over, many people glanced at them and then looked away.
When a cultivator saw Ye Fan, he couldn’t help showing a bit of hatred in his eyes.
Ye Fan quickly recognized that the man was that formation master. He had released the Eclipse Ghost Mist Insect before in an attempt to corrode his protective formation. However, unfortunately for him, the Taotie ghost was hungry and swallowed his insect.
Ye Fan originally thought that the man died in the explosion, but he didn’t expect him to still be alive.
“Fellow Daoist Lu’s face is not very good! Did you meet someone?” A cultivator asked Lu Yinfei.
Lu Yinfei smiled reluctantly and said, “It’s nothing. I met an old enemy.”
To enter the spiritual spring, you needed to break the formation restrictions. The formation restrictions of the earth-level spiritual springs were not easy to break, and the status of formation masters was relatively high. Several cultivators eyeing the earth-level spiritual springs had already contacted the known formation masters and fought for them. Now everyone who had managed to recruit a formation master was here.
The Eclipse Ghost Mist Insect was discovered by Lu Yinfei in the cave of an ancient cultivator. It took Lu Yinfei a lot of spirit stones to hatch this thing. Fortunately, his efforts paid off. Lu Yinfei had used the Eclipse Ghost Mist Insect to break formations everywhere. Now that he had lost the trump card that he had carefully cultivated, Lu Yinfei was so distressed that he almost vomited blood.
“Otherwise, I will help Fellow Daoist Lu deal with him.” A cultivator on the side said.
Lu Yinfei looked at the cultivator who opened his mouth and said, “Forget it. Spiritual Spring Valley is about to open. Don’t cause more trouble at this juncture.”
“Okay.”
Lu Yinfei was secretly disdainful. Help him deal with him? If Ye Fan was so easy to deal with, how could he still stand here fine at this time?
Lu Yinfei was very surprised that Xu Mingyang and Ye Fan mixed together. Lu Yinfei knew Xu Mingyang a little bit, and knew that this person had once set half a step into the realm of Golden Core. Right when he was about to advance, he had an accident and his cultivation base dropped sharply. However, this person seemed to have recovered. Now, the recovered Xu Mingyang was not easy to deal with!
Lu Yinfei glanced at the few helpers around him, and secretly thought: If he hadn’t lost the Eclipse Ghost Mist Insect, there would be no need for him to team up with these people!
…
Feng Mo’er held her sword and stood on the side.
Ye Fan glanced in the direction of Feng Mo’er. Feng Mo’er nodded lightly at Ye Fan.
“Senior sister, this guy Ye Fan is really making a lot of money. This guy earns too much, and he can’t spend all his spirit stones, so he found someone to spend them with him!” Ma Rui hid on the side and didn’t dare to speak too loudly. His defensive weapons had mostly been used up and he could no longer act domineering.
Ma Rui had been hiding for the past year. Recently, he heard that Spiritual Spring Valley was about to open, so he came to see if he could find a lower-level spiritual spring to take a dip.
Feng Mo’er glanced at Ma Rui and said, “Speak less.”
There were many cultivators here, and many of them had higher cultivation than Feng Mo’er. Feeling a few malicious gazes, Feng Mo’er couldn’t help frowning. Feng Mo’er was very clear that many people here were interested in them. She and Ma Rui were two fat sheep, but because Spiritual Spring Valley was about to open, all forces did not want to waste their energy at this time.
…
“Miss, Ye Fan is here too,” Qing Li said.
Mu Xue narrowed her eyes and said, “I see.”
A few months ago, Mu Xue met a foreign cultivator.
The two fought for a spiritual grass. After the battle, Mu Xue learned from that person that the flame of life would only appear after the inner city was opened. This news made Mu Xue angry.
There were not many cultivators from the Eastern Continent who had made it out of the Heavenly Wood Secret Realm. Many cultivators reported conflicting news about the secret realm. Some sects might know some news, but they kept it to themselves and did not tell outsiders. Mu Xue realized after coming in that many of the preparations she had made were useless.
…
“There are four earth-level spiritual springs, and each spiritual spring can accommodate up to five cultivators. Let’s hurry up and grab one,” Xu Mingyang said to Bai Yunxi and Ye Fan.
Bai Yunxi and Ye Fan didn’t make any preparations before they came in, but Xu Mingyang knew a lot. Bai Yunxi got a map from Xu Mingyang, which was much better than the one they received from Feng Mo’er before.
“Five cultivators?” Ye Fan asked.
Xu Mingyang nodded and said, “Yes. Usually every time Spiritual Spring Valley is opened, cultivators will join together in groups of five to break the formation and enter.”
Ye Fan looked around casually and said, “So that’s the case. No wonder there are many groups with exactly five cultivators.”
Ye Fan raised his eyes and said with a displeased expression, “Brother Xu, the earth level seems to be a bit low-level! Isn’t there another heaven level?”
Xu Mingyang said angrily, “No one can break the formation of the heaven-level spiritual spring. It is said that it was the place where the tree people’s Golden Core cultivators used to soak.”
“Golden Core? What about Nascent Soul? Is there a higher-grade spiritual spring?” Ye Fan asked with wide eyes.
Xu Mingyang shook his head and said, “No. These spiritual springs have a limited effect and have no effect on Nascent Soul cultivators. Therefore, there is no Nascent Soul area.”
Ye Fan carried his hands on his back, raised his head, and said, “Let’s go to the heaven-level spiritual spring and see what the difference is in the spring that Golden Core cultivators used to soak in.”
“In the past, there were many people who went to break the formation restriction on the heaven-level spiritual spring. Originally, if these people didn’t overestimate themselves, they would have had no problem grabbing an Earth-level spiritual spring, but in the end they didn’t get anything,” Xu Mingyang reminded.
“No one could break it before, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be broken! You know, I’m a genius and can do things that ordinary people can’t do,” Ye Fan said with confidence.
Xu Mingyang looked at Ye Fan’s glowing eyes, and no matter how much he wanted to persuade him, he couldn’t say anything. “You can give it a try if you want, but don’t spend too much time…”
***
T/N: Bonus chapter for Sam. Thanks for the ko-fi!
*Chinese addresses/titles for relationships always assume heterosexual relationships. So just like how Ye Fan always refers to Bai Yunxi as his wife and not his husband, if Ye Qixian and Xu Mingyang were to become Daoist companions, Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi would address Xu Mingyang as “sister in law” (the term in Chinese is specifically used to refer to your brother’s wife) instead of brother in law.
*Tian di xuan huang (天地玄黄) (heaven, earth, black/dark and yellow) is the first line of the Thousand Character Chinese Classic. You see it used pretty often as a ranking system in cultivation novels.
*Mandarin ducks are a way to refer to lovers in Chinese, so a mandarin duck bath is a bath between lovers.
*Chinese idiom that means even if you don’t give face to someone, you can’t treat them badly because you must give face to the backer behind them.
*Chinese idiom that means gifts blind the eyes. You tend to favor those who give you gifts.
*Luo Dieyi doesn’t understand the meaning of gossipy because it’s a modern term.
