The little ones heard Jian Dan's words and realized their tiny schemes had been seen through. They could only grin sheepishly and agree.
With a wave, Jian Dan adjusted everyone's gravity rings to a level a fresh Foundation Establishment body could bear. While they hurried to stabilize their states, she flicked another sleeve and sent each of them a jade slip.
"These are decoction recipes for body tempering from Foundation Establishment up to Nascent Soul. Take them home to your elders. Have them adjust the dosages according to your progress."
"Zūnshàng, are you not going to teach us yourself?" Yu Jiajia, the quickest on the uptake, was first to ask.
"I might have to leave the sect at any time on assignment, so I prepared these in advance." Her gentle explanation let their anxious hearts settle. One by one, they tucked the jade slips carefully into their storage pouches. This concerned their future cultivation.
Just then, a guard entered to report. "Jian Lu Zūnshàng, Sect Master Jian Chong requests your presence in the main hall."
"How did he find me here? What is it?"
"The Grand Elder of the Artifact Sect seeks an audience. He wishes to meet the refiner of the Rubik's Cube Realm. The Sect Master couldn't refuse him and asked me to invite you over."
She didn't need to guess. Of course this visitor was here for the Rubik's Cube Realm.
"I'll be right there. Go report back."
"Yes."
After the guard left, Jian Dan said, "That's all for today. Copy the Tranquil Heart Scripture when you get back."
"Yes!"
She slipped from the lecture hall and appeared at the Heavenly Sword Peak's main hall, striding in at an unhurried pace.
Sect Master Jian Chong was exchanging pleasantries with the Artifact Sect's Grand Elder, Qi Hong Zūnshàng. The moment she stepped into the hall, both men turned toward her.
"Greetings, Jian Lu Zūnshàng," Jian Chong said first, bowing. Jian Dan nodded and took a seat.
"Jian Lu Zūnshàng, this is the Artifact Sect's Grand Elder, Qi Hong."
"Qi Daoyou," Jian Dan said with a mild smile. She offered courtesy due a veteran Unity cultivator who had made his name early.
Opposite her, Qi Hong Zūnshàng wore a fire-red robe. His features were delicate, even a touch androgynous, and his phoenix eyes shone with shifting light, pleasant at first glance.
"I've long admired Jian Lu Daoyou. Today I finally have the honor."
Though his looks were soft, his voice was deep and resonant, pleasing to the ear.
Jian Dan needed only a glance to know he wasn't simple. Otherwise, Jian Chong wouldn't have gone to the trouble of calling her in person.
Assessment complete, she went straight to the point. "Qi Daoyou flatters me. May I ask what service you require from me?"
He hadn't expected her to be so direct. He blinked, then smiled. "Not long ago, a certain artifact of your sect underwent a thunder tribulation. Did that artifact come from your hand?"
So he was here to ask the obvious. The entire continent had probably seen that day's tribulation. Ten bolts, breaking the extreme of nine, was certainly eye-catching. She kept her expression courteous. "I took on a sect commission from the Law Enforcement Hall and refined a trial artifact per their specifications. I didn't expect it to draw a tribulation. I was just as surprised."
"You, surprised your own artifact crossed tribulation?" he thought. Aloud, he maintained a look of astonishment.
"Then it must be extraordinary. As a fellow refiner, I'm very interested. Would you let me take a look?"
Jian Dan spread her hands. "I'm afraid that's not up to me. The artifact has already been handed to the sect."
Clear enough: not private property.
Qi Hong Zūnshàng turned his gaze to Sect Master Jian Chong.
"You said you were curious about its refinement," Jian Chong replied evenly. "That's why I invited Jian Lu Zūnshàng, the refiner. But it seems you wish to enter the Rubik's Cube Realm."
He looked a bit troubled and explained, "The realm is newly completed and currently open only to our disciples, to grant them a chance. So..."
"I know the request is presumptuous," Qi Hong said, smiling with unabashed candor. "But my hands itch. Could I trouble the Sect Master to ask for permission? Treat me as an ordinary trial-taker. If you require spirit stones or rare materials, just name your price."
A wealthy one, clearly.
Jian Dan felt this might be workable, but the compensation would require a decision from the Zhēnzūn. She smiled at Jian Chong. "Sect Master, since Qi Daoyou is so sincere, why not consult the Zhēnzūn?"
Qi Hong nodded, indicating he was content to wait. Taking Jian Dan's hint, Jian Chong inscribed a message into a jade slip, ready to seek approval.
Before he could depart, a figure swept in at the doors. Jin Liuli hurried into the hall, saluted, then came straight to Jian Dan.
"Zūnshàng, please come to Law Enforcement Peak. Hall Master Jian Li is waiting for you."
"Qi Daoyou, my apologies. I'll take my leave first."
After a brief farewell, Jian Dan lifted on a stream of light with Jin Liuli and headed for Law Enforcement Peak.
"Zūnshàng," Jin Liuli said as they flew, "please go straight to the Operations Hall to see my aunt. Her research has made progress, but the second blood insect Tian Hong Zhēnzūn captured is about to break through the thunder-forged spatial cage. Hall Master Jian Li has already gone ahead."
"That's not good."
Jian Dan increased her speed. In a few breaths, she landed before the Operations Hall on Law Enforcement Peak. Meng Congjian was waiting at the steps; as soon as he saw Jian Lu Zūnshàng descend, he stepped forward.
"Zūnshàng, the second blood insect is stronger than the first. When Tian Hong Zhēnzūn brought it back, he reinforced the cage with thunder, but there are signs it might break. I've already reported to Hall Master Jian Li, and he asked me to bring you as well."
Meng Hall Master spoke briskly, then led the way through the front hall into the back.
Jian Dan took in the sparse furnishings with a fresh appreciation of Meng Congjian's style. Aside from a single zitan chair on the dais, there wasn't even a proper desk. The benches below were plain ironwood. Very much a sword cultivator's taste.
Every initiate of the sect received an ironwood sword once they drew Qi into their bodies. The hall's austere layout fit Meng Congjian's name perfectly: everything from frugality.
He didn't notice her glance. Even if he had, he likely wouldn't have cared. He pressed the Operations Hall master token into a wall recess. Gears clattered, and the wall split to either side, revealing a hidden passage.
"A mechanism," Jian Dan murmured, arching a brow. Mechanisms weren't exactly secrets in the cultivation world, but she'd already noticed the wall was forged of spirit-null stone at the moment it opened. That neatly patched the usual weakness of such devices.
As long as no one destroyed the wall, they wouldn't discover the space beyond.
"Sharp eyes, Zūnshàng," Meng Congjian said with a proud smile. "This is the Operations Hall's inheritance, preserved to this day."
After several turns, he brought Jian Dan and Jin Liuli to a heavy stone door and waved it open.
"Junior Sister, you're here," came Jian Li's voice.
Inside the two-hundred-square-meter room, a high-grade trapping array hummed on the floor. At its center floated a cage woven of violet thunder, a spatial prison.
Jian Li greeted her, then fixed his expression on the thing inside the cage.
This blood insect was visibly stronger than the one Jian Dan and Jian Jing had captured. It was about twenty-five centimeters long, the second specimen she'd seen thus far.
Sensing newcomers, the blood insect turned its head toward Jian Dan, opened its maw, and emitted a thin, piercing screech.