"Our Ancestor has found his footing among the beast race," Xing Xing reported. "With help from the Howling Moon Wolf clan's chief, he is slowly integrating. The newborn raccoon beasts in the clan are all healthy. It is too early to tell whether any have awakened innate gifts."
"Brother, are you planning to go to the beast territory?" Yue Liang asked, tail swishing.
Xing Xing flicked his own tail, thought a moment, then said, "Ancestor said they have only opened a small portion of the territory. They do not need many hands yet, so I am to remain at Heavenly Sword Sect for now."
"Ancestor must have his reasons. We follow arrangements," Yue Liang replied, her tail still swaying. Then she turned the question back on him. "When will you advance?"
"I just broke through to fifth rank. I may not advance again soon. I think you are about to break through again."
Yue Liang smiled with pride. "I am riding Zūnshàng's momentum. Her rapid advances have pulled me up with her. This time I will return to go into seclusion. Zūnshàng gave me a task to push for seventh rank as soon as possible."
"Good. Work hard."
After their reluctant farewell, Yue Liang returned to Tianyue Peak, stepped into the cultivation chamber she had prepared long ago, closed her eyes, and sank into sleep to cultivate.
Jian Dan checked Yue Liang's state, found no issues, laid down a restriction, and entered her space to continue refining her cubic trial spaces.
Every so often she would step out to teach her disciples, and now and then she visited the Children's Hall to guide little ones like Yu Jiajia and Zhao Yunhai. She adjusted their body-tempering decoctions as needed and accepted intelligence updates from the Law Enforcement Hall.
In three years, the Tongzhi's Hall disciples had mostly reached the late stages of Qi Refining, already high-level within that realm.
Seeing this, Jian Dan ran a surprise trial, drawing the children into a dreamscape to temper them. They suffered plenty, yet the gains were obvious. Their late-stage foundations were consolidated. With enough spiritual energy stored, they could push to the peak of Qi Refining.
This time Jian Dan set no hard targets. She only told them to know their limits and trial often so that future breakthroughs would be smooth.
Afterward, she put her focus on refining the magic-cube artifacts. One by one, twenty cubic spaces took shape. Each was harder than the last, because the array lines for high-level cultivators' dreamscapes grew ever more intricate and the drain on her divine sense more severe.
She could only slow down, aiming for each completed cube to succeed in one go. Three years were spent there.
During those three years, Tian Hong Zhēnzūn led Tian Yue Squad and finished the blood insect sweep. Aside from the unlucky Kong Xingkun, who exposed one blood insect, no third specimen was found within Heavenly Sword Sect's jurisdiction.
Bi Shu spent the whole journey with her heart in her throat and was finally escorted back to Heavenly Demon Palace by Tian Hong Zhēnzūn and Tianyue Squad.
Mo Su was careful the whole way and sent reports about the blood insects back to Heavenly Demon Palace. When Mo Lie received them, he scolded him for carelessness, then relaxed only after learning that Tian Hong Zhēnzūn had escorted them home.
There was a small incident before they reached Heavenly Demon Palace. Once they had left Heavenly Sword Sect's territory and had not yet entered Heavenly Demon Palace's lands, the two Unity cultivators who had crossed hands with Jian Dan earlier appeared again.
This time they struck to kill, planning to wipe out the Heavenly Demon Palace party and carry Bi Shu away. Jian Mao Zūnshàng blocked them head-on. When the fight grew fierce, the hidden Zhēnzūn behind those two tried the same trick, intervening from the shadows.
Tian Hong Zhēnzūn had been waiting for that exact moment. "Heaven-Splitting Thunder Slash." A violet sword shadow pierced the opponent's giant hand. A scream rang in everyone's ears. Realizing there was a Mahayana Zhēnzūn guarding the field, the two Unity cultivators chose to live. They took a thrust from Jian Mao to the shoulder, crushed Ten-Thousand Li Teleportation Talismans, and fled.
"Tsk. Fast runners," someone muttered.
Only after that clash did the group enter Heavenly Demon Palace's range safely. Tian Hong Zhēnzūn sent a message to Mo Yan Zhēnzūn, then led the Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators away for home.
Mo Su's gaze lingered on Jian Feng's hair, now a calm gray. His eyes were gentle, but he did not dare waste time. He spoke in a low voice. "Jian Feng, your depletion has recovered quite a bit, but not fully. You must continue the repairs once you are back."
He produced a verdant pearl the size of an infant's fist and handed it to Jian Feng. "This contains pure yin qi I extracted from myself. Draw from it according to your condition. It will hasten your recovery."
Jian Feng nodded, accepted the green pearl, tucked it into his storage ring, saluted Mo Su, and departed with the Heavenly Sword Sect party.
"Stop staring. Your eyes are about to stick to him," Mo Yi said dryly, standing beside Mo Su as they watched the figures vanish into the sky.
Mo Su ignored the jab. He beckoned to Mo One from the Black Cloak Guard's "Mo" Squad. "Take Bi Shu and begin sweeping Heavenly Demon Palace's grounds. I will return to the sect and request a Zhēnzūn's aid."
Then to Mo Yi and Mo Qi he said, "Senior Sister and Mo Yi, accompany them. I will ask our Ancestor to act."
"Alright," the two replied. They understood Mo Su was worried about a repeat of the Kong situation and wanted a Zhēnzūn involved quickly.
Once he had set everything in motion, Mo Su hurried back to Heavenly Demon Palace.
The unluckiest in those three years was Du Yanran.
After Jian Dan reclaimed the space pendant and shattered it before her eyes, Du Yanran nearly went mad. Using the beasts drawn in by the commotion, she tore through the Yin Yang Gate encirclement and escaped the Ziyu Mountain Range.
Bloodied, she hid in the courtyard she had rented earlier. She survived that crisis and disappeared again.
The Hua clan soon discovered that the mark they had planted on Du Yanran no longer faded for no reason. They could track her clearly.
Hua Lei brought this to his elder sister Hua Xi. She stroked her chin. "Seems the rumor about her having a life space was true."
"Then why is she not hiding inside it now?" Hua Lei asked.
"How would I know? Perhaps there is a condition to enter, or she has reached her limit. All the better. It makes her easier to track."
"Do we still leak her location?"
"Leak it. No need to dirty our hands."
"Understood, Sister. Let her heal first. Then I will pass her whereabouts to Yin Yang Gate."
"Tsk tsk. Little brother, you are a perfect wolf in lamb's clothing. You would make a fine Patriarch."
At that, Hua Lei changed the subject at once.
Because of a few words from the Hua siblings, Du Yanran's life turned into a panicked flight from place to place.
On Tianyue Peak at Heavenly Sword Sect, Jian Dan had her three disciples settled, Yue Liang had gone to seclusion, and the sect's defenses had been overhauled.
She threw herself into artifact refinement. Once all the cubes were done, she moved into assembly within her space. She first took out the central axle of the construct and used spiritual power to activate the array lines.
This time she poured in Primordial Chaos qi. As it entered, the lines on the six faces of the main shaft lit one after another.
The lines on each face began to interlock. Jian Dan did not stop the flow. She kept injecting Primordial Chaos qi, slow and steady. The patterns grew brighter and brighter. She poured in almost her entire cultivation. Only then did the main shaft finally come alive.