Central region, Luyun City.
Luyun City is very large, ranking among the top ten cities in the Xuanhuang Continent, and is not far from Hengjian Mountain, where the Immortal Sword Sect is located.
On this day, a middle-aged man entered the city and went straight to an inconspicuous Wang's Snack Shop, seemingly very familiar with the shop.
The man had prominent, sword-like eyebrows and extremely sharp eyes, yet his gaze was restrained, exuding an aura of authority without anger.
This person was none other than Duan Yu, the master of the Immortal Sword Sect.
Wangji Snack Shop is so small that there isn't enough room for a single table inside; there are only a few tables outside, and a tent has been set up for them.
Occasionally, one or two people would eat egg pancakes, filling the air with their delicious aroma.
The shopkeeper was middle-aged, with a mustache, and looked like a shrewd man.
Upon seeing a distinguished guest arrive, he greeted him with a beaming smile, "What kind of cake would you like, sir?"
Duan Yu whispered, "A bowl of pork bone soup!"
The shopkeeper pointed to the menu and laughed, "I sell pancakes here! Baked flatbread, savory pancakes, egg pancakes, you name it! And the big bone soup is just to the right after you leave!"
"Or, sir, would you like to change to a flatbread?"
Duan Yu whispered again, "Human bone tonic soup, how could there not be any?"
The shopkeeper's eyes flashed with a strange light, and he replied in a low voice, "Would you like some snacks to go with your drinks?"
Duan Yu smiled slightly and said, "Let's stir-fry a pair of pork kidneys!"
The shopkeeper then asked, "Whose bone do you want? Whose kidney?"
Duan Yu remained silent, took out a small piece of paper from his pocket, and handed it over.
The shopkeeper glanced at the soup, pondered for a moment, and said, "This bone broth isn't cheap. I need to ask the chef how much it costs!"
Duan Yu laughed and said, "In this Xuanhuang Continent, there's no meal I can't afford. Name your price!"
The two went back and forth, with the shopkeeper leaving the counter from time to time. After a while, Duan Yu finally came out of the snack shop, his face showing a hint of coldness.
"Please take care, esteemed guest. This bone broth is not easy to make; it will take some time!"
"It's fine. If we really can't do it, we'll just smash the signboard!"
After saying that, the person had already walked away.
The shopkeeper muttered to himself, "Even the sect leader of the Immortal Sword Sect is hiring a hitman, how strange!"
As soon as Duan Yu left Luyun City, the communication jade talisman in his pocket lit up.
"You finished my order so quickly?"
Duan Yu muttered something to himself, opened the package, and his expression changed slightly. "The Path of Slaughter has actually reappeared?"
Without time to think, Duan Yu transformed into a streak of light and flew towards the Immortal Sword Sect.
Inside Huoyun Mountain.
Lan Hua looked frustrated. She had finally managed to get through to Zi Yue, but it was only for a few words.
"My beautiful master was fighting in the Heavenly Realm, yet she still knew about my rekindled inner fire. That's just too heaven-defying!"
"How did the beautiful master manage to connect the two realms?"
Lan Hua couldn't help but worry about Zi Yue, because during the phone call just now, he felt that Zi Yue's breathing was unstable, as if she had been injured.
"Since my beautiful master won't come back to find me, I have no choice but to cultivate diligently and ascend to the Heavenly Realm as soon as possible to reunite with her!"
He remembered that after the inner core of the Purple Flame Turtle was rekindled, it still had a lot of power, so he simply absorbed the entire inner core and began to cultivate the Yin-Yang Heavenly Technique.
Two days later, Lan Hua woke up from her cultivation, and her entire demeanor changed again, becoming impeccable.
Using the method of internal vision, a primordial elixir floated in the middle of his lower abdomen, slowly rotating on its own.
Cultivating both dantian simultaneously boosted Lan Hua's strength, and her cultivation level broke through to the fifth level of the Danxia Realm.
However, he was still at the third level of the Yin-Yang Heavenly Technique, which puzzled him.
"Red Rose!" Lan Hua called out softly.
A red figure appeared, startling Baxia into exclaiming, "A female ghost!"
Hongmei was furious. "Little turtle, have you ever seen such a beautiful female ghost?"
Baxia shook his head and remained hidden behind Lanhua.
Lan Hua said, "Hong Mei, your spiritual power has recovered quite a bit, and your strength should be close to that of a peak Danxia Realm expert. Can you sense the whereabouts of the Qiankun Bowl now?"
Hongmei remained silent, stretching out her arms and focusing all her energy on sensing the aura of the Qiankun Bowl.
After a long while, Hongmei lowered her arms and shook her head helplessly.
Lan Hua asked in surprise, "Why is this? It doesn't make sense to say it's because of insufficient spiritual energy."
Hongmei said, "It seems there is only one possibility, which is also what I have always feared the most: the Qiankun Bowl has been obtained by some powerful person and imprisoned!"
"Or perhaps they used great supernatural powers to isolate the aura of the Qiankun Bowl!"
Lan Hua was taken aback. "How strong must someone be to do that?"
Hongmei said, "They must be at least at the Celestial Realm level, or maybe even the Profound Venerable level!"
Lan Hua smiled wryly, "It seems that the Qiankun Bowl has been intercepted by some powerful figure in the Heavenly Domain. Of course, such a treasure, having torn through space, will surely be discovered by the strongest!"
"My precious, my cheat, it's all gone!"
Lan Hua felt a pang of bitterness in her heart.
Hongmei said, "Master, if we want to get back the Qiankun Bowl, we can only rely on you. As long as you ascend to become a Celestial Being and become the strongest person in the world, you will definitely take back the Qiankun Bowl!"
Lan Hua was speechless. He was about to become the strongest, so what was the point of having or not having the Qiankun Bowl?
"Well, perhaps this is fate. If fate wants me to take things one step at a time, then I'll go with the flow. Once I become a celestial being, I'll take back the Qiankun Bowl!"
Lan Hua called out softly, "Brother Ba, let's go!"
Baxia leaped lightly onto Lanhua's shoulder and followed her away from Huoyun Mountain.
With the fire in her lower dantian reignited, Lan Hua felt somewhat listless, unsure of where to go, except for the missing Qiankun Bowl and her beloved master.
"Since we're in the Western Regions anyway, we might as well go to the Gobi Desert and see if we can find any Zhenyuan Gold!"
To the south of the Western Regions lies a vast Gobi Desert, the only place where Zhenyuan Gold is produced, as Chen Kun had told me.
As Lan Hua traveled south, he soon came to see a vast expanse of Gobi Desert.
From the sky, the Gobi Desert appears golden, with some animal shadows swaying about.
Lan Hua landed on the outer edge of the Gobi Desert and walked deeper into it.
Only then did he see the truth about the ground.
Those swaying beast shadows came from the Gold-Eating Beast, which was tall and mighty, with two horns on its head, somewhat like a Qilin and somewhat like a deer.
However, these gold-devouring beasts looked weak and listless, and every now and then one of them would collapse to the ground, panting heavily.
However, it takes in more air than it expels.
"How strange, what's wrong with these Gold-Eating Beasts?" Lan Hua murmured.
"He's starving! You can tell at a glance, he hasn't eaten for more than ten days, he can barely walk!"
The Baxia perched on his shoulder said leisurely, "See that? He's all skin and bones!"
Lan Hua exclaimed in surprise, "That shouldn't be the case! These Gold-Eating Beasts feed on Zhenyuan Gold, and this place is rich in Zhenyuan Gold. They shouldn't be starving to death!"
"Unless, the amount of Zhenyuan Gold has decreased!"
Lan Hua continued deeper into the area, filled with questions, and occasionally encountered the dying Gold-Eating Beasts.
The Gold-Eating Beast stood guard by a large pit, seemingly waiting for a miracle to happen.
Although it was his first time in the Gobi Desert, Chen Kun of the Fengyue Sect told him that the Gold-Eating Beast was extremely ferocious and would not easily allow outsiders to enter its territory.
The fact that the Gold-Eating Beasts don't even glance at Lan Hua now shows that something significant has happened in the Gobi Desert, affecting the survival of their race.
Deep in the Gobi Desert, there is a huge valley, guarded at the entrance by two gold-devouring beasts, who also look listless and weak.
Just as Lan Hua was about to force her way in, a gold-devouring beast rushed out of the valley, carrying something in its mouth that glittered under the blazing sun.
"Zhenyuan Gold!" Lan Hua exclaimed in surprise.
The two guards at the valley entrance saw Zhen Yuanjin and their eyes lit up. They rushed over together.
The three gold-devouring beasts began to tear at each other, their cries of agony echoing through the air.
Lan Hua shook her head, giving up the opportunity to seize the Zhenyuan Gold, and crossed the valley from one side.
Inside the valley, even more gold-devouring beasts lay on the ground.
At the center, a gold-devouring beast, over ten zhang in size, stood beside a giant golden iron tree.
It stared blankly at the iron tree, sighing repeatedly, a hint of despair in its eyes.
The iron tree was fifteen zhang tall, with many branches, indicating that it was once extremely lush.
But now, the trees are bare.
The enormous gold-devouring beast suddenly spoke: "Human, you've come?"
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