Translator: CinderTL
Song Wen turned and walked to a corner of the cave, summoning his flying sword.
With a few swift strokes, he carved out a square stone chamber thirty meters wide.
"Immortal Maiden, I will be entering seclusion for a time. Please do not venture out without good reason."
With that, Song Wen stepped into the stone chamber.
The scattered rubble on the ground rose into the air, sealing the entrance completely.
"Hmph!"
Ye Bing glared at the stone wall and snorted coldly, her eyes filled with resentment.
She straightened her slightly disheveled robes, flew onto the stone bed, sat cross-legged, and began to regulate her breathing.
Meanwhile, Song Wen immediately activated a concealment formation and let out a long sigh of relief.
He retrieved a meditation cushion and sat down on the ground.
With a flip of his hand, he produced four storage rings: those of Chi Qi, Jiang Lanruo, Hong Zhe, and Jiang Yushan.
He began by examining Hong Zhe's storage ring.
The spirit stones within were surprisingly few, totaling just over thirty thousand high-grade spirit stones.
What truly caught Song Wen's attention was a black Corpse Coffin.
The Corpse Coffin stretched several zhang long, housing a Giant Corpse ten zhang tall.
This was a late sixth-tier Profound Corpse.
Its entire body was a deep, bluish-black, resembling profound iron refined over ten thousand years, radiating a cold, metallic luster.
A nearly solidified corpse qi swirled around it, the miasma slowly flowing, exhaling and inhaling ceaselessly through its mouth and nostrils.
As Song Wen gazed at the Profound Corpse within the coffin, his fatigue vanished instantly. A faint smile curved his lips, and his eyes gleamed with excitement.
Instead of immediately refining the Profound Corpse, he continued rummaging through Hong Zhe's storage ring.
After unearthing a trove of secret arts related to Corpse Refinement and Hong Zhe's cultivation insights, Song Wen began studying them diligently.
Half a year later.
Watching the Profound Corpse move as effortlessly as an extension of his own arm, Song Wen nodded in satisfaction and stored it away.
He then picked up Chi Qi's storage ring and began cataloging its contents.
Chi Qi's storage ring contained even more spirit stones than Hong Zhe's, totaling nearly fifty thousand high-grade spirit stones.
After a thorough search, Song Wen suddenly found a longbow and a single arrow in his hand.
Song Wen was deeply drawn to this treasure. Not only did it possess formidable power, comparable to a mid-grade spirit treasure, but the arrows it fired were also incredibly swift, surpassing even the notoriously swift flying swords. Moreover, the arrows moved with unpredictable stealth, making them nearly impossible to defend against—a perfect weapon for ambushes.
Unfortunately, this was Chi Qi's natal magic treasure, and Song Wen couldn't directly refine it for his own use without severely diminishing its power.
To truly master this treasure, he would need to reforge it entirely.
However, Song Wen knew nothing of artifact crafting, leaving him no choice but to sigh in frustration.
With a flip of his hand, Song Wen produced a silver-white crystal the size of a human head—the Jade Marrow Stone.
If he could find a skilled artifact crafter to fuse the Jade Marrow Stone with the bow and arrow, he could not only refine it into a proper spirit treasure but also significantly enhance its power.
"Where can I find an artifact crafter?"
After pondering for a while without any leads, Song Wen put everything away.
Next, he examined Jiang Lanruo's storage ring.
Inside, he discovered two Sixth-Tier Formations:
A defensive formation called the Nine Heavens Spirit Guarding Formation, and a concealment formation called the Phantom Sea Traceless Formation.
Jiang Yushan's storage ring contained no treasures that piqued Song Wen's interest.
After sorting and storing all the treasures from the four storage rings, Song Wen began circulating his cultivation technique to refine his surging spiritual power.
Time flowed slowly, and a decade passed in the blink of an eye.
Having long since stabilized his cultivation, Song Wen took some time to refine medicinal pills for his Gu. The three Shadow Gu were showing signs of advancing to the fourth-tier.
The Witch Gu Dao Methods he had obtained from Xiao Ying detailed the methods for advancing Gu to the fourth and fifth-tiers, but Song Wen currently lacked the necessary spiritual materials, forcing him to postpone assisting the Shadow Gu's advancement.
After spending so long in the cramped secret chamber, Song Wen began to feel restless.
He deactivated the restriction formation, pushed down the stone wall, and stepped outside.
The sound of collapsing rubble naturally drew Ye Bing's attention. She turned to see Song Wen emerging from the swirling dust, her expression darkening with a hint of melancholy.
"Immortal Maiden, what's wrong? Why are you so downcast?" Song Wen asked.
Ye Bing gazed at him with mournful eyes.
"Have you grown tired of me?"
Song Wen's heart trembled. Ye Bing's deep affection felt like a burden.
In contrast, he preferred Lan Chen's approach—satisfying his desires and then silently departing, never clinging.
Though his mind raced with thoughts, his face remained impassive, feigning confusion.
"Immortal Maiden, what makes you say such a thing? Your beauty is peerless, your heart pure as orchids, and your devotion to me profound. To earn your favor is the greatest fortune of my life. How could I ever be so foolish as to grow weary of you?"
"Truly?" Ye Bing scrutinized him. "If it were merely a minor injury, why did you seclude yourself for a full decade? Weren't you deliberately avoiding me?"
Song Wen smiled faintly, his tone gentle and reassuring.
"Immortal Maiden, you worry too much. My feelings for you are as true as the heavens and earth. If there were even a shred of falsehood in my words, may my divine soul be utterly annihilated, and may I meet a wretched end."
"Don't say that..."
Ye Bing's expression panicked as she darted in front of Song Wen, her gaze fixed on his face, her eyes filled with remorse.
"I was wrong to doubt you. You've risked your life countless times to save mine, yet I still suspected you. It was my fault. From now on, I will never harbor any suspicion toward you again."
Song Wen gently took her hand and murmured, "With the Immortal Maiden's words, my heart is content."
"Mm." Feeling the warmth of Song Wen's breath, Ye Bing suddenly grew bashful. "You've been in seclusion for so long, you must be exhausted and restless. Let me help you relax your muscles."
With that, she took Song Wen's hand and led him step by step toward the stone bed.
Song Wen knew exactly what was about to happen. If he couldn't escape, he might as well enjoy it.
He wrapped his arm around Ye Bing's slender waist and leaped onto the stone bed in a single motion.
Half a month later, Song Wen, looking somewhat haggard, sat by a stone table, savoring a cup of Spirit Tea.
Ye Bing stood behind him, gently combing his slightly disheveled long hair.
"Gou Jun, we've been hiding here for ten years. Shouldn't we venture out for a while?" Song Wen asked.
"I was just thinking the same thing," Song Wen replied. "Let's go to Phoenix Feather City. We can purchase some spiritual materials for cultivation and find a new secluded place for retreat."
"Sounds wonderful!" Ye Bing responded with delight.
After preparing, the pair left the underwater cave and set off for Phoenix Feather City.
As the city came into view, a flicker of confusion crossed their eyes.
The distant city looked exactly as they remembered it, unchanged in the slightest.
"Gou Jun, you once predicted that Yun Xinghai, after obtaining the Devouring Soul Array, would launch a massive crackdown on cultivators practicing the Longevity Technique. You said this would inevitably provoke the Divine Blood Gate, bringing unwarranted disaster upon Jin Xiuqi and the Jin Family. But judging by what we see now, things don't seem to have unfolded as you predicted?" Ye Bing teased, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
Phoenix Feather City showed no signs of damage, not even the Jin Family's compound had suffered any harm. The two golden characters, "Jin Family," still hung prominently above the compound's main gate.
All this clearly indicated that the Jin Family had not faced any retribution from the Divine Blood Gate.
(End of the Chapter)