"How about... we ask her next time we see Rice Bucket Pearl?" Lu Shan suggested.
After thinking for a moment, Gu Liangce nodded: "That works. Next time we meet, we'll ask her if she made such a big fuss about finding Senior Sister Shi Xuan." That way, we can roughly judge from her expression whether she gained any advantage back then with Shi Xuan.
Coincidentally, not long after they finished speaking, the two groups of people met on a narrow road, and they actually ran into Fan Mingzhu!
Fan Mingzhu indeed had a long face, and her expression was very displeased.
Lu Shan didn't care about any of that and shouted loudly, "Hey, Shen Ding Sect, your sect leader's daughter openly led the way in framing my disciple Shi Xuan. What did she get in return? Tell us so everyone can know!"
Fan Mingzhu's face immediately darkened, and she said in a deep voice, "Don't make false accusations! I haven't seen Shi Xuan since I was chased by the demon beast! And to say that I openly framed her, it's clear that she tried to kill me on the very first day we met! I almost lost my life because of it!"
"Tsk tsk tsk! There are quite a few people here, let everyone hear the nonsense you're spouting! Many people here witnessed you openly framing my Zong Shixuan, but who witnessed you trying to kill Shixuan? Or do you have a recording stone? If you did, you would have taken it out long ago. I think you're the one who's spouting false accusations!"
Behind him, the disciples of the Lianfeng Sword Sect echoed his sentiments, and for a moment, the scene became chaotic.
Fan Mingzhu was speechless. What she said was clearly true, but no one believed her. Even the people from her own sect behind her looked at her with suspicion.
What's the most frustrating thing for a person? It's when something is clearly true, but no one believes it!
"I'm telling the truth!" Fan Mingzhu said angrily, "There were only the two of us present when she attacked me, and I didn't take out the recording stone at the time. A recording stone can only be used for two hours, and we're going to stay in this Silver Frost Secret Realm for a full twenty-eight days. Who can carry a recording stone around all day!"
"No matter what you say, you just don't have it!" Lu Shan shouted. "Brothers from all sects have seen it all! These scheming and despicable people from the Divine Cauldron Sect are not to be associated with!"
These words enraged the members of the Divine Cauldron Sect, who dared not utter a word of it. Without their masters present, if a full-blown brawl broke out, how could a pill cultivator possibly stand a chance against a sword cultivator?
Previously, because they were the main providers of pills in the entire Qian Yuan Western Region, most cultivators respected them greatly. However, with the rise of the Lianfeng Sword Sect's pill cultivators, they clearly felt that the respect they received had decreased.
If Lu Shan were to follow his own ideas, he should just go up and beat them up. But if he did that in front of everyone, he would definitely suffer the consequences. Judging from Fan Mingzhu's expression, she really couldn't find the person. She decided to wait until Senior Sister Shi Xuan appeared before making a move.
But no one says you can't have a good verbal sparring session. Lu Shan, along with his disciples Zhu Jingchen and a few others, ridiculed the Shen Ding Sect members to the extreme, thoroughly indulging in their verbal sparring before leaving triumphantly amidst their furious stares.
When had the disciples of the Divine Cauldron Sect ever suffered such humiliation? In that instant, they felt a bit resentful towards Fan Mingzhu, wondering why she had to provoke others and cause them all to suffer.
Fan Mingzhu gritted her teeth in hatred. Ever since she exchanged spiritual roots with Shi Xuan, it seemed as if Shi Xuan was clashing with her, and nothing good ever came of their encounters. Fan Mingzhu decided that once she left the secret realm, she would definitely tell her father that she would eliminate Shi Xuan by any means necessary to prevent future troubles.
*
Shi Xuan encountered some difficulties at the Body Gate. The first room required him to move a stone block from one side of the room to the other. The stone block was not large, but its weight was astonishing, and Shi Xuan simply could not move it.
In this situation, she had two choices: either train her strength here until she could move the stone block, or use a clever trick to get through the challenge.
Normally, Shi Xuan wouldn't mind cultivating for a few more days before moving, but time in the secret realm is limited, and the cultivation time required is too long for her to afford.
After thinking about it, she decided to give herself some blessings.
Shi Xuan took out the Heavenly Origin Pill Furnace, ignited the Earth Core Fire, and refined a batch of Giant Strength Pills for himself. This type of low-grade pill is not very common; its function is simply to increase strength. Because few people need it, it is rarely seen on the market.
After refining one batch of pills, the people in the secret realm once again saw the rosy glow of dawn in the northeast corner of the sky. The disciples of the Lianfeng Sword Sect breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Fan Mingzhu's little tricks would be no match for Shi Xuan.
The people from the Divine Cauldron Sect, however, all had complicated expressions upon seeing this.
These precious alchemical seals were commonplace for Shi Xuan, but their sect, the Divine Cauldron Sect, a sect renowned for its alchemical arts, paled in comparison to the radiant seal.
If I had known this would happen, why did I have to go to the Divine Cauldron Sect? If I had gone to the Gathering Edge Sword Sect, the treatment might have been better...
Fan Mingzhu was grinding her teeth to powder. She was clearly still there! But she just couldn't find her! Who knew which nook or cranny she was hiding in, always lurking around, coming to this secret realm only once a day, and still hiding there refining pills for days on end? What difference did it make whether she came or not!
In other people's minds, refining a batch of Dao Seal Pills must be an extremely difficult task. Someone as frequent as Shi Xuan must have been refining pills continuously, without ever stopping.
Shi Xuan was unaware of their thoughts, and even if he had, he would have simply laughed it off.
She took the Strength Pill, and sure enough, her strength doubled. She lifted the stone block and still felt powerful enough to move it from one side of the room to the other.
The stone block landed in the designated spot with a thud. The stone wall swayed, as if hesitating for a moment, but finally opened, revealing another door and a cultivation manual.
Shi Xuan took it down and flipped through it, only to find, with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, that the reward was something she already possessed—the first volume of the Sacred Bone Technique, which she was currently cultivating.
What her master gave her back then was a replica of a jade slip, but what she received here is a cultivation manual.
Putting away the repetitive technique, Shi Xuan suddenly thought, since the first level gave the first half of the technique, could the second level give the second half?
The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. With that in mind, she pushed open the door to the second room.
In the second room, four puppets stood imposingly in each of the four corners. Shi Xuan's lips twitched; this was clearly an invitation to attack.
The puppets in this room were unarmed, but their power was immense; each punch had the force to smash a person into the ground.
Shi Xuan's Sacred Bone Technique had already reflexively activated, and she was on high alert, prepared for a fierce battle with these four puppets. She had even prepared painkillers and rejuvenation pills; once the battle started, who knew how long it would last?
Unexpectedly, the four puppets stopped after only a few moves, staring at Shi Xuan with some confusion.
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