Open the furnace

Above the vast white clouds, the sun shone brightly and warmly, painting the clouds with a layer of orange and gold. However, beneath the vast mass of white clouds, there was still a clear and soft light like the early morning.

"Can you survive with only your head left?"

Xu Xianlin suddenly asked coldly.

Jiang Weiji and Yu Linhuan paused, looking at her in surprise. Zhao Ningyu, who was being suppressed by the crowd, suddenly changed his expression and his pupils trembled slightly.

Xu Xianlin stared blankly ahead, not looking at them. He said, "Seeing his strange appearance, who would have thought he wouldn't try it three hundred years ago? He talks about wanting to cooperate, but he's completely concealing his intentions. There's no sincerity at all."

The direction of the words is clear, sharp and direct.

Jiang Weiji didn't care and asked, "Do you want to cook it?"

As soon as these words came out, the indifferent expression on Xu Xianlin's face suddenly broke, and his face couldn't help but look ugly -

What kind of people can't even talk! It's not enough that Xu Qinglin is disgusting, and here come another, two, three, what kind of crap are they...

"Open the furnace and make the elixir."

Xu Xianlin said with a cold face and a gloomy tone.

It still needs to be cooked... Jiang Weiji's face remained calm, and he said without any reaction: "I'm afraid he will die directly, and I haven't chopped off his head."

Then he asked Zhao Ningyu: "Zhao Ningyu, can you chop off your head?"

Zhao Ningyu's expression was ferocious: "!!!" Anger, rage and anxiety all rushed into his heart. He instantly spat out a mouthful of blood and was shaking with anger.

Jiang Weiji paused thoughtfully and said, "Don't do it too drastically, or you can try it little by little."

Perhaps several of them had this idea, he said, and they walked forward slowly, their calm and indifferent eyes wandering over Zhao Ningyu's limbs and neck.

"You're really patient." Jiang Weiji bent down and tilted his head to glance at Zhao Ningyu's face, then straightened up and smiled, "Tell me, explain everything clearly and we'll let you go."

Xu Xianlin stood quietly not far away, watching indifferently as the man from Beigui Shuangque wiped his sword and walked towards Zhao Ningyu.

Zhao Ningyu pursed his lips and remained silent, his facial features slightly distorted. What could he possibly confess?! What could he possibly confess?!

Is he going to say that he ate the flesh and blood of immortals in the Immortal Mountain??!

Great! It would have been fine if he hadn't said anything. As soon as he did, they immediately stewed him without hesitation!

Extreme resentment entangled his heart for a moment, and then all that was left was despair. The corners of Zhao Ningyu's tense mouth relaxed little by little.

If one possesses a treasure but is unable to protect it, he will only become a vassal of the treasure and be robbed again and again.

The beautiful long swords were raised and pointed at his neck. His eyes were lowered and his face was so calm that it seemed as if there was death in it.

Jiang Weiji shook his head, "Why bother..." He smiled strangely, "Suffering in vain."

Suddenly, a clear and calm voice came from above:

"Since we are going to refine the elixir, let's refine the whole person into the elixir together."

Jiang Weiji's smile faded and he looked up. Xu Xianlin paused and slowly raised his head to look.

The girl in white was still sitting casually on the tree trunk, her face calm. "It's useless to ask any more questions," she said.

Xu Xianlin withdrew his gaze without answering. He looked at the figures in black and white in front of him and suddenly said, "Back off."

The people in front were startled, put away their swords, turned around, and retreated quickly to both sides.

Whoosh—the surging clouds were suddenly torn open by the strong wind, leaving a huge gap.

"boom!!!"

A huge black shadow fell from the sky and suddenly crashed onto the altar, instantly sending up flying sand, rocks and dust all over the sky.

An invisible force pushed aside the gray fog, and the off-white altar collapsed, revealing a massive crater. Within the crater, a massive alchemy furnace, two men tall, stood. Mottled with bronze and gold, its inscriptions and patterns unevenly carved, specks of rust clinging to it, a melodious, ancient sound.

A strong wind blew on his face, making his robe rustle. Jiang Weiji did not dodge, but unconsciously raised his hand to cover the lower half of his face.

He looked at the huge alchemy furnace not far ahead, and his eyes, on the exposed upper half of his face, showed a look of waiting and thinking.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

The heat wave suddenly hit, and Zhao Ningyu was thrown against the cliff and then slammed into the ground. The few people who were holding him down on both sides were unable to dodge and were broken in half by the sharp rocks and died.

Zhao Ningyu opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of bright red liquid, coughing intermittently and with great difficulty.

Puff——!

Hands with bulging veins suddenly grabbed his neck, arms and shoulders, pinning him to the ground.

"Swish..." The golden bells trembled and collided with each other. Xu Xianlin's white and blue veil fluttered in the wind, making her look even more ethereal. She said softly and lightly, with a hint of coldness:

"Open the furnace—"

"Alchemy."

Almost at the moment she finished speaking, the huge alchemy furnace opened the mouth of the abyss like a beast, and five figures in green suddenly worked together to lift Zhao Ningyu, who was vomiting blood crazily, stepped into the air, and threw him in.

"Bang!"

"boom!"

The flesh and blood body made a muffled sound as it fell into the alchemy furnace. Xu Xianlin waved his hand, and shadows flew out from his long sleeves and fell into it. The alchemy furnace, as tall as a hill, suddenly closed tightly.

Suddenly, orange-red flames jumped up and swayed under the bronze and gold alchemy furnace.

A golden bell rose out of thin air in front of him. Xu Xianlin stared at the golden bell and the huge alchemy furnace, making seals with his hands.

The people from Beigui Shuangque, dressed in white and blue, protected her in layers, and even people from Baizetang were not allowed to get close.

"Jiang Jingyuan..."

Xu Qinglin's voice echoed faintly in his mind, "Are you really not going to try again and refine the Blood Seal quickly?"

Jiang Jingyuan paused, and subconsciously grasped the blood seal tighter, his fingers turning red, and an idea came to his mind.

"They've dealt with the Zhao family. The next step is to seize the Blood Seal." Xu Qinglin forced himself not to let his despair and helplessness show, and his voice was forced to be calm and trusting. "I believe you, but material possessions are just material possessions after all. Only by refining them can they be kept safe. Besides, Beigui Shuangque is still watching us from afar."

She couldn't help but say, "I think you should take advantage of this opportunity to refine the Blood Seal."

Jiang Jingyuan was silent for a moment, pursed his lips, and slowly responded in his mind, "But I feel that if I rush to refine the Blood Seal right now, most of the power in it will be lost and wasted."

——She wanted to find the key to this, and then find a better opportunity to properly refine the Blood Seal. However, the fact that she could say this meant that she also somewhat acknowledged Xu Qinglin's concerns, and her heart was extremely conflicted.

Xu Qinglin was silent for a moment. Even a high-level magic weapon would hesitate and feel distressed when faced with such a situation, not to mention that this was a blood seal... Most of the power of the blood seal had been lost, so the blood seal also lost the value it should have had.

Xu Qinglin suddenly gritted his teeth and said in a resolute tone, "Didn't you say 'what you get is yours'? Rather than letting someone snatch it away later, it's better to refine it now and keep as much as you can!"

Jiang Jingyuan held onto the blood seal and remained silent for a while before saying, "Even after the pill is completed, they will still have to fight for it. I'll wait a little longer..."

Xu Qinglin was silent for a while, and finally calmed down and said softly, "Okay."

She could only trust Jiang Jingyuan. Since her heart had decided to believe him, she shouldn't show disbelief through her actions.

"It's okay, Jiang Jingyuan." Xu Qinglin suddenly said softly, "We will always exist. Only when we don't exist will we not exist..."

…So don’t be afraid.

Decisions are just tendencies, tendencies are just preferences, both preferences and non-preferences are acceptable, so don't panic about it.

Jiang Jingyuan hummed softly.

Fear and unwillingness are intertwined to form pain in people's hearts.

Fear of the unknown, fear of extinction, fear of losing what I didn't have. Unwilling to let it go, so close, as if I could reach out and grab it, unwilling to fall to the bottom.

The me with memories doesn't have the energy to go through it again, and the me without memories is panicked and excluded from "me" by my current self.

Building high walls and looking at the world from a well will only limit others.

"call--"

A scorching wind howled through the broken valley. Xu Xianlin slowly formed seals with his hands, and the alchemy furnace trembled slightly, and wisps of delicate fragrance spread outward.

"Buzz!"

There was a sudden buzzing sound, and the bronze and gold alchemy furnace opened and closed, and a bright red and purple round pill flew out. Xu Xianlin spread it out in his hand.

"boom!!!"

Almost at the same time, everyone at the bottom of the cliff attacked together. The sounds overlapped, the earth shook, and thick gray fog covered the sky.

The shock caused both the people and the trees on the cliffs to shake violently.

Although she had anticipated this, Jiang Jingyuan couldn't help but feel her heart tremble violently when the loud explosion suddenly occurred. She swayed twice, then stood up alertly and stood on the tree trunk.

Jiang Jingyuan held onto the blood seal and didn't dare to relax even a little, nor did he dare to put it into the storage space.

She needed to be constantly aware that she was holding the Blood Seal tightly in her grasp to feel at ease. Holding the Blood Seal in her hand would allow her to react instantly to any unexpected ambush or plot.

However, the people at the bottom of the cliff seemed to have no intention of taking the blood seal. Sand and rocks were flying, murderous aura was rising, and swords and knives were clashing. In the gray fog, it was so fast that only shadows could be vaguely seen flashing.

In the gray smoke, that bright red and purple spot was quietly suspended in the air.

Beyond the steep cliffs, layers of invisible barriers blocked out prying eyes. Did the people from Beigui Shuangque take advantage of this opportunity to steal the elixir or the blood seal...?

Jiang Jingyuan was stunned. In fact, what she was most worried about was that when they were fighting in a melee, the people from Beigui Shuangque in the distance would suddenly attack.

"What the East and West Masters of the Beigui Shuangque want is to become immortals, and a clear method of becoming immortals, not these petty gains." Xu Qinglin saw her confusion and calmly explained:

"The Zhao family's ancestors were indeed peculiar, but that's only to those of us who have only lived for a few hundred years. The East and West Palace Masters of the Beigui Shuangque are considered among the most unique people in the world today. It's impossible to verify how many years they lived, but their peculiarities are so numerous that they've become unremarkable. They look down on these ordinary things."

Jiang Jingyuan paused and asked, "Then, where is the blood seal?"

"Yes, the blood seal is the only thing that I've always found very strange," Xu Qinglin said. "The blood seal is a gift from heaven. Even the most ordinary gift from heaven must be carefully considered, not to mention that the blood seal is not ordinary."

"As everyone knows, the Blood Seal fell from the sky thousands of years ago, and it wasn't until three hundred years ago that it was obtained by Jiang Weiji, Emperor Huan of Yuan State. Emperor Huan was the first holder of the Blood Seal, and it wasn't until now that it was taken away by you."

She said:

"I have always been very curious why the East and West Palace Masters of Beigui Shuangque and other figures such as the Tianlu Pavilion Master did not obtain the Blood Seal?

"Don't they want the blood seal?"