Xin Chenzi had just finished speaking when a young man by his side cut in; he was his junior brother Sui Yin, who also used to be a disciple of the Green Robe Ancestor.

Shi Feiyang, together with Ni Fangxian, had pacified Bai Man Mountain years ago, killing many in the process. At that time, they spared Sui Yin's life, who later, having nowhere else to turn, also became a disciple of the Red-haired Ancestor.

"They previously mentioned that the person who took their treasure swords had the last name Shi, but I don't know if it's the Shi of 'time' or the Shi of 'stone.' If it's the Shi of 'time,' could it be that person?"

After he said this, not only did Xin Chenzi's face change color, but so did the other two who had also narrowly escaped at Bai Man Mountain all those years ago.

To them, Shi Feiyang and Ni Fangxian were the source of their nightmares, casting the darkest shadows over their hearts.

For years during their cultivation, images of those two slaughtering left and right would surface in their minds, almost pushing them to the brink of deviation.

"It couldn't possibly be... could it?"

Looking at each other, they said, "If it is him, then we're in trouble!"

They were aware of the various legends that followed Shi Feiyang, even the Green Robe Ancestor was beaten so badly that he abandoned everything and fled to the Western region.

Over the years, each of their efforts had grown significantly. With the opening of Mingyu Immortal Market, they had obtained many resources and refined many powerful Magical Treasures.

But whenever they felt confident enough to seek revenge on Shi Feiyang and invite the Green Robe Ancestor back from the West, they would hear new tales of Shi Feiyang, each more terrifying than the last!

After some discussion, these individuals decided that regardless of who the other party was, they had to find the Five Elements Divine Fire Furnace first. This item was the Treasure of the Cave possessed by the Red-haired Ancestor, frequently used for Alchemy and Artifact refining, and absolutely could not be lost.

Ten people left the cave and flew off elsewhere in search of the treasure furnace.

After they had left, Shi Feiyang dispelled his Escape Skill and called the two youths over to him.

He asked Qiu Yuan in detail and checked the flow of Mana and True Yuan within his body. It was indeed the Six Yang Dissolution Great Technique, a technique used for desperate fighting among the off-path sects.

This skill was similar to the Demon Cult's Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Technique. Once activated, the head and limbs would detach cleanly from the torso.

All six parts, flesh, blood, and soul, would explode together. Once detonated, the shattered remnants would entangle with the enemy with extreme malice.

He explained the situation to Qiu Yuan, who was shocked after hearing it: "I thought that old gentleman seemed kind and gentle, with a good temper, and he was nice to me too. There was a scorpion that was going to sting him, and he kindly carried it by hand to a tree.

He said everything has a spirit and we shouldn't kill at will, especially small animals who don't know better. He'd rather get hurt himself than harm them, saying this was also a kind of cultivation for the mind, and doing more good deeds would prevent one from deviation."

Shi Feiyang didn't say much more, after all, Qiu Yuan met the old Zhu first and received Cultivation Techniques from him. Qiu Yuan didn't have the ability to judge whether the man was good or bad and even subconsciously thought that Zhu Rou was better and more trustworthy. Judging good from bad was something Qiu Yuan would need to see and judge for himself.

"But this Five Elements Divine Fire Furnace is really good," Shi Feiyang asked Qiu Yuan, "If I help you collect it, would you dare to take it?"

Qiu Yuan did not understand: "How do you collect such a big furnace? What exactly do you mean by dare or not dare to take?"

Shi Feiyang explained: "This is a treasure greatly relied upon by the Red-haired Ancestor for Alchemy and Artifact refining. Anyone who takes it into possession would have the Red-haired Ancestor fight them to the death. I can teach you a Technique for Artifact refining,

and shrink it down to be taken away and refined into a Magical Treasure. Not only can it be used for Alchemy and Sword Refining, but it can also be used to attack enemies and even for Demon Refinement. If you can acquire it, it will greatly benefit your future Cultivation, but it means you'll face revenge from the Red-haired Ancestor."

Qiu Yuan was very smart and realized that Shi Feiyang was testing his courage. He knew that the furnace belonged to the Ancestor of those people and must be powerful, but he didn't grasp how powerful exactly.

He also knew this was an opportunity, so he bowed to Shi Feiyang: "I am foolish and ignorant; I rely entirely on the arrangements of my senior."

Shi Feiyang's eyes brightened upon seeing this, feeling that the child was indeed quite exceptional, worthy of being the future Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect, not to mention his innate talents, this cleverness was also commendable.

He then passed on a Technique for Artifact refining to Qiu Yuan, instructing him to sit in front of the Five Elements Divine Fire Furnace to refine the treasure.

The Five Elements Divine Fire Furnace, which contained the Five Elements True Fire, was the treasure of the Red-haired Ancestor, and only he could shrink and collect it.

In recent years, the Red-haired Ancestor had acquired many treasures from overseas and had even refined a batch of Elixirs a few years back, after which he had been in closed-door Cultivation aiming for breakthroughs.

His disciples were already quite undisciplined, not much different from the former disciples of the Wutai Sect who were used to not heeding guidance. They secretly took out the treasure furnace and placed it here.

The furnace had many marvelous uses, capable of creating illusions and emitting a special kind of medicinal fragrance, attracting fully formed Plant Spirits into their snare.

They wanted to use this item to lure the Millennium Queen Mother Grass and capture it, refining it into medicine to consume and enhance their Dao Level.

Not being sufficiently powerful, Shi Feiyang infused Qiu Yuan's body with Five Elements Essence Qi and taught him how to generate the Five Elements True Fire, using the Five Elements' inter-promoting and counteracting properties to resonate with the Five Elements Divine Fire Furnace, erasing and replacing the connection with the Red-haired Ancestor with his own.

Qiu Yuan truly was clever; no matter what method was taught, he learned it immediately and applied it effectively. He even quickly mastered the subtle interactions of the inter-promoting and counteracting Five Elements. He was bold yet meticulous, neither timid nor rash, and each step he took in the refining process went smoothly.

During the sacrificial refinement, Shi Feiyang sealed the cave from the outside world to prevent the Red-haired Ancestor from becoming alarmed and remotely reclaiming the treasure.

Meanwhile, Hong Changbao, Xin Chenzi, and the others had gone in a large circle searching and met another group of people looking for the Queen Mother Grass. They fought them and killed them all.

When they returned, they were astonished to find that the cave was gone!

Where the cave used to be, there was now only a bare cliff.

"How is this possible? Could we have gone to the wrong place?"

Ten people flew up into the sky to look down, searched all around, and confirmed that the cave should be right here, yet the entrance was nowhere to be seen, as if it had never existed at all!

"Hmph, someone must be playing tricks with an illusion! It's fine to deceive others, but to try and dupe us, that's wishful thinking!"

They cast spells to search the area and unleashed flying knives and forks to attack the rock wall, causing stone chips to fly in all directions. After digging more than twenty feet deep and creating a pile of rubble, they confirmed that it was just an ordinary stone wall without any sign of a cave.

The ten people looked at each other in dismay, feeling this was even scarier than encountering ghosts!

"Could it be that what we experienced before was all an illusion?"

"Absolutely impossible! Ten of us—we can't all be under the influence of an illusion!"

Xin Chenzi released a swarm of extremely poisonous insects that flew around searching in every direction, automatically going westward, from south to north, but still found nothing.

At this moment, right in front of them, was the cave, which Shi Feiyang had concealed with a spell. The scene of them hacking at the wall and the stones rolling in chaos was the real illusion, yet because every grain of sand in the illusion seemed so real, they couldn't distinguish the true from the false.

Lei Xun squatted at the cave entrance, watching the ten people turn and return in front of him, and listening to their confused discussions. He was extremely astonished and turned to look at Shi Feiyang, who was teaching Qiu Yuan how to refine treasures, with a changed expression in his eyes.

He had never heard of, let alone seen, such incredible sorcery. He doubted even his Master's grandmother would know such a spell.

"Could this man's Daoist power really reach the level of my Master's grandmother? Or perhaps… even surpass her?"

As Shi Feiyang taught Qiu Yuan the Sacrificial Refinement of the Five Elements Divine Fire Furnace, he was working out a plan to find Mo Zhui and the others.

Although he could now sense the falling leaves and the flying insects and birds within thousands of miles, Mo Zhui had also been growing in Daoist power and skill over the years. Given his origin as a millennia-old Plant Spirit and relying on nearly a decade of accumulated merit from managing water and planting trees, he had quietly and safely passed the Demon Tribulation and attained his Nascent Soul, allowing him to hide among thousands of mountains far away, undetectable to Shi.

Silently, Shi Feiyang calculated a Gua Xiang and deduced that Mo Zhui and his group should be in the southeast direction.

It took him six days and nights to use the Five Elements Essence Qi to help Qiu Yuan refine the Five Elements Divine Fire Furnace.

Once the furnace was completed, it stood over ten meters tall, but after being refined with Immortal laws, it could be reduced to the size of a palm, exquisite and lovely.

Qiu Yuan could not believe that without having formally entered the Dao, he already possessed such a Magical Treasure that he could use as he wished, so versatile and transformative, and he was beyond happy.

He realized that Shi Feiyang was an exceptionally skilled senior True Immortal, with a refined and upright temperament, good-natured, and said that even True Master Jiang of the Qingcheng Sect had to call him brother...

In a moment of inspired awe, holding the treasure furnace, Qiu Yuan knelt sincerely and asked Shi Feiyang to take him as a disciple.

Shi Feiyang asked him, "Haven't you been learning with that old Zhu?"

Qiu Yuan replied, "The True Master intentionally taught me the Six Yang Dissolution Great Technique to harm me… I'm shallow in cultivation and weak in strength, dull and ignorant, unable to discern truth from falsehood, but I prefer to believe what the True Master said. That day I also pleaded to be accepted but Zhu… that Zhu True Master demanded I accomplish certain tasks for him before he would take me as a disciple. In the meantime, he gave me a Flying Sword and taught me the Sword Control Skill, but he made it clear that the sword was something he opportunistically acquired from a Demon Human and the Sword Control Skill was not a direct transmission from his sect, but something he chanced upon elsewhere."

"Indeed, the quality of your Flying Sword is subpar, and it does not match the style of the Zhushan Sect."

Qiu Yuan continued, "Regardless, I am not a disciple of Zhu True Master. The moment I saw Master Shi, I felt a deep affinity. You are my savior, who saved my life, healed my severe injuries that were due to leave me disabled, taught me Immortal Law, and helped me obtain an Immortal Magical Treasure. I am immensely grateful. I left home in search of my aunt and uncle, to seek the Dao and visit Immortals, but got lost in the big mountains, wandering in circles, ending up here, hearing that Qingcheng Mountain is still tens of thousands of miles away... I implore the True Master to take pity on my sincere heart for the Dao, to take me as a disciple, in order to serve in your cave day and night. That is all I wish for!"

He spoke with heartfelt sincerity, his eyes welling up as he spoke, bowing continuously, earnestly begging Shi Feiyang to accept him.

Shi Feiyang originally had no intention of taking a disciple and planned to introduce him to Qingcheng Mountain to study under Jiang Shu, but after spending a few days together, he had grown fond of the boy for his sensibility and intelligence, and he recognized his excellent intrinsic qualifications.

Why not take another Closed-door Disciple? After all, Ashu had many disciples already, and one more would make no difference.

In the original story, this boy was a disciple of Zhu Mei.

That shorty Zhu was infuriating. Before the ascension of the Heavenly King Ming He, he said there were no Daoist traditions left in the Human World and desired to leave a lineage. Jiang Shu had volunteered to wholeheartedly assist his brother in founding an Immortal Sect.

Zhu Mei, however, had vehemently claimed he was unsuitable, incapable, absolutely not...

When Jiang Shu offered to become the Sect Leader, Zhu Mei mocked and provoked him, leading to Jiang moving far to Fujian, not communicating with him for decades.

Later, when the Emei Sect was established, Zhu jumped out, claiming that everything he did was for Jiang's good, and thus the relationship was mended. The two brothers joined together to create the sect.

Then came the most disgusting part: Zhu Mei first became the Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect, and later took Qiu Yuan as a disciple, positioning him to become the next generation Sect Leader.

Turns out, the leaders of both generations of the Qingcheng Sect would ultimately belong to his lineage, and while Jiang Shu had many disciples and worked hard, in the end, he still ended up being just a foil!

Should he send Qiu Yuan to Jiang Shu to be a future Sect Leader? Or should he take him as his own Closed-door Disciple?

Shi Feiyang was torn for a few seconds. When Qiu Yuan saw him hesitating to accept, he struck his head on the ground earnestly, quickly bleeding from the forehead to show his sincerity.

Enough! Jiang Shu already had many disciples, including the likes of Red Flower Grandmother, who was already able to ascend. They weren't lacking in Sect Leader candidates.

He then told Qiu Yuan, "From now on, you are my disciple!"

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