Nie Hanchang did not say a word, but his frozen chopsticks were more than telling enough of his current state of mind.
Zhao Yunxiao naturally noticed this, and could not help but sigh in his heart.
Seeing such a reaction after hearing those words from Wen Guoping, even a fool would be able to guess what was going through Nie Hanchang's mind at the moment.
He did not know the full story between Nie Hanchang and Mu Manyu, but he probably should say something here. Otherwise, instead of catching a breath of fresh air, Nie Hanchang might just end up becoming more depressed after this trip!
"That's easier said than done," Gu Qiansi ended up speaking up before he did. "Sometimes, the greater circumstances make it nigh impossible to make decisions purely based on feelings."
"It might be tough, but it's definitely not impossible. One just has to believe!" Wen Guoping insisted.
"You know, I would have agreed if we were talking about other matters, but not when it comes to the affairs of the heart," Lu Zhiying disagreed. "Sometimes, one has to know their place. Time and place are important factors when it comes to the heart. Otherwise, inappropriately expressing one's love could end up burdening the other party and holding them back instead."
Again, Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi looked at Lu Zhiying in surprise, not expecting their free-spirited junior martial sister to hold such a strong view.
"And how is that a problem?" Wen Guoping shrugged. "Things like that are mere fleeting matters in the face of true love and friendship!"
"Eh? You are rather naive about the realities of th-!"
"Haha, to each their own, to each their own," Gu Qiansi hurriedly interjected by putting a hand over Lu Zhiying's mouth. "That said, I genuinely hope that things work out for the two of you in Demonfall. Don't you as well, Zhiying?"
With a hand over her mouth, Lu Zhiying could only nod in response.
"Haha, thank you. I do appreciate Lady Zhiying's blunt but important reminder, but I would like to believe that fate would bring us where we need to be," Wen Guoping chuckled. "That said, are the two of you headed to Demonfall City as well?"
"Not just the two of us," Gu Qiansi replied with a smile before looking over to their table where Zhao Yunxiao and Nie Hanchang had remained seated. "The four of us are headed to Demonfall to visit someone."
"I-I see," Wen Guoping felt the corners of his lips twitch when he saw Zhao Yunxiao and Nie Hanchang. "I thought that you two looked extraordinary. Seeing that you have your servants with you, you must come from rather important backgrounds."
"...They are our companions," Gu Qiansi said with a helpless sigh.
With how shabbily the two guys were dressed, it was no wonder that Wen Guoping would misunderstand!
And the grin that appeared on Zhao Yunxiao's face after hearing Wen Guoping's words only made it more infuriating!
"Oh! My apologies! I didn't think..." Wen Guoping hurriedly apologised.
"Don't worry about it. They are just strange people," Gu Qiansi rubbed her temples. "In any case, you must be really hungry, so I won't stand between you and your food any longer. Enjoy."
"Thank you once again," Wen Guoping nodded. "One last thing. Since we are all headed to Demonfall, would you like to head there together tomorrow?"
"This..." Gu Qiansi looked over at Zhao Yunxiao, who nodded after a short pause.
In any case, they were already extremely close to Demonfall City. Whether they continued on foot or on horseback, they would still be able to arrive before noon as long as they left at daybreak. In fact, travelling with the young couple could also help make their group look less conspicuous, which would help in any information-gathering activities, if needed.
"All right then, let's leave first thing at dawn tomorrow," Gu Qiansi agreed.
"Got it! We will definitely be down at dawn!"
With that, Gu Qiansi and Lu Zhiying left the young couple be, rejoining Zhao Yunxiao and Nie Hanchang at their table. Even then, the group did not remain in the dining area for long. After grabbing some light bites, the four of them returned to their respective rooms to retire for the night.
That night, Zhao Yunxiao set up some concealing arrays before bringing out the Heaven's Descent Bowl once again.
Previously, he had determined that this ancient treasure was capable of creating multiple replicas of the souls that it absorbed. But if his theory was correct, the Heaven's Descent Bowl likely required some time to recover if it were to create replicas of stronger souls.
The stronger the soul, the more time would be required in between.
That said, it had already been more than two months since he last created replicas of the avatars of the zodiac spirits, albeit accidentally so. Now that he had some time to spare and some privacy to himself, it was time to give it another try!
Zhao Yunxiao gently placed the ancient treasure on the floor with both hands before sitting cross-legged on the bed.
Summon the avat- no, create a replica of the avatar of the snake spirit!
Previously, he had created the replicas of all twelve avatars of the zodiac spirits at the same time. That had resulted in a massive energy consumption that far exceeded what he was capable of sustaining, forcing him to expend spirit stones as a supplement.
Having learnt from that experience, Zhao Yunxiao decided to aim for just one of the twelve this time – the avatar of the snake spirit. As long as he succeeded in doing so, that should be sufficient proof that he could recreate replicas of the other avatars as well.
A slight trembling of the treasure bowl followed, causing Zhao Yunxiao's heart to skip a beat in excitement.
The prints on the ceramic bowl started moving, with the blue waters forming a sea along the bottom and the blue clouds transforming into rain. Four water pillars rose from the blue sea, rising all the way up to the mouth of the bowl, reaching over it to flow into the bowl itself.
Within the Heaven's Descent Bowl, a blue liquid started to form.
It worked!
While he had expected it to succeed sooner or later, Zhao Yunxiao had not been as confident about when it would succeed. He had been more than ready to try again in another month or two. In fact, it would not have been too surprising even if it took a year or more, considering the incredible background of the zodiac spirits.
In the end, reality proved that he had been far too conservative with his estimate.
However, Zhao Yunxiao did not have time to celebrate.
The previous creation of the replicas of all twelve avatars of the zodiac spirits had required a ridiculous rate of consumption of energy. While he was careful enough to only create one this time, who knew if the consumption rate would truly decrease proportionally?
With a flick of his wrist, a few spirit stones appeared in Zhao Yunxiao's hands. However, he was simply keeping them ready as a backup. Unless there was an absolute need to do so, he did not intend to expend these precious resources.
Indeed, the Heaven's Descent Bowl immediately started to draw upon Zhao Yunxiao's essence energy to sustain its activation.
Zhao Yunxiao monitored the situation for a moment before finally letting out a satisfied smile.
This method worked. The rate of energy consumption was indeed no longer as crazy as before.
There was no need to expend any spirit stones as energy supplements!
With that out of the way, Zhao Yunxiao steadily supplied essence energy to the treasure bowl while watching it slowly fill to the brim. A stream of blue liquid then escaped from the bowl, moving through the air to form a huge blob on the ground.
Bit by bit, this blue blob slowly transformed into the shape of a humanoid... into a blue replica of the avatar of the snake spirit.
It stood there facing Zhao Yunxiao, looking at him with its hollow blue eyes.
Success!
Zhao Yunxiao suppressed his nervousness as he got to his feet, memories of his fight against the avatar of the snake spirit flashing through his mind.
Through his earlier experiments, the replicas of other souls had demonstrated abilities almost at the level of the originals. However, those observations had been limited to the physical capabilities of the replicas.
Now, it was time to test something beyond just that!
That was also the main reason why he had chosen the avatar of the snake spirit for this experiment.
His gaze quickly moved down the body of the replica of the avatar of the snake spirit, finally landing on its hands. But unlike the avatar of the snake spirit, which constantly excreted corrosive venom from its hands, nothing of such nature could be seen on the replica's hands.
Was it because the shell was different?
Zhao Yunxiao did not draw a conclusion immediately. Instead, he started to picture the avatar of the snake spirit that he had faced back on the Zodiac Tree, superimposing that mental image with the replica standing before him right now.
Use your corrosive poison!
The replica of the avatar of the snake spirit suddenly turned more translucent, which Zhao Yunxiao had learnt by now represented a significant expenditure of the replica's energy reserve. At the same time, the replica fully opened its palms as they started to excrete a strange blue liquid.
Zhao Yunxiao widened his eyes in surprise, but his astonishment did not hinder his reaction. He quickly retrieved two containers from his spatial pouch, placing them below each of the replica's hands to collect the liquid that was starting to drip off of them.
Back then, the avatar of the snake spirit's corrosive venom was capable of burning a small hole into the surface of the tree branch platform. Even if this replica were only able to create a venom with just ten percent of the original level of corrosiveness, that would still burn a hole straight through the wooden flooring of the inn if he simply let it be!
Sizzle-!
This dangerous sound that had resulted from the liquid hitting the bottom of the containers was like music to Zhao Yunxiao's ears.
But he still needed to confirm things.
He retrieved a small tea leaf and dropped it into one of the containers, only to see it rapidly melt away upon coming into contact with the blue liquid within.
With that, he confirmed that the replicas created by the Heaven's Descent Bowl did not only possess similar physical capabilities to the original, but were also capable of executing the same special techniques that the originals possessed.
That might not make much of a difference when summoning replicas of lesser souls, but it was a huge deal when it came to powerful souls like those of the avatars of the zodiac spirits!
Not just that, but he could essentially produce more and more of this corrosive venom by repeatedly creating replicas of the avatar of the snake spirit, essentially earning a free supply of potent venom for life!
Unfortunately, after expending the rest of the replica's energy reserves on producing more venom, Zhao Yunxiao's short-lived dream immediately came falling apart.
With the eventual disappearance of the replica of the avatar of the snake spirit, the corrosive venom that it had created similarly vanished from their containers.
Staring blankly at the empty containers, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but let out a deep sigh.
Life just could never be that easy, eh?