Ye Wuji poured his Qi into the Mother Plant, restoring its vitality. The withered portion pulsed faintly, then regenerated, and from it, a new yellow petal grew once again.
Only once the Mother Plant was fully restored, he carefully placed the Mother Plant into his storage bag—not the storage ring, as he might need it again soon.
Next, he summoned Si Wei and Xue Sha.
As the two corpse soldiers appeared, he addressed them flatly, "I'll be returning to my world, and I need both of you with me. Get back into the Corpse Tower."
Without resistance, the two figures nodded and vanished as Ye Wuji tossed them back into the tower. He exhaled.
"Let's hope the array and base don't suffer any damage while I'm gone. There's no one left to guard it."
He took out the Black Lotus Artifact and channeled his Qi into it.
|>>======|✦|======<<|
Verdant Stone Realm, roughly one hundred miles northwest of Rootspire City.
Ye Wuji emerged from the concealed cave he'd previously taken from a now-headless bear, whom he had politely invited into the corpse earlier for a feast.
He stepped outside, already disguised, and retrieved his flying shuttle artifact, taking off into the skies and heading toward Rootspire City.
Within the hour, the silhouette of the city came into his view. But he didn't head straight to the meeting, as he and others had agreed to meet there the next day after a petal was destroyed—during sunset, in the only restaurant in the center of Rootspire's market.
Instead, he turned toward another building close to the restaurant.
"Golden Root Artifact Refinement Pavilion."
During the closed-door cultivation for the past few weeks in the Apocalyptic world, he finally managed to find some time and quickly skim through one of the treasures he managed to acquire in the Heaven Blood Sect's Main Hall.
It was the jade slip with an introduction to Spirit Artifact Refinement.
He hadn't studied it in depth, but even that quick read had broadened his understanding, and he even managed to grasp a few fundamentals of artifact refinement and, even more importantly, discovered a few artifact refinement blueprints.
Most of them weren't really suitable for him.
But one among them had caught his eye.
"Blood Reaver Chain."
The design was of a demonic artifact, and the crafting requirements were surprisingly manageable.
The core materials included black iron, the fang and marrow of a barbed serpent, and… human blood—liters of it.
The remaining secondary materials were all basic and incredibly easy to acquire.
"For others, the human blood would be the biggest problem," Ye Wuji mused as he stepped into the Golden Root Artifact Refinement Pavilion. "But for me... It's literally the easiest part."
He browsed through the pavilion's inventory, purchasing every necessary component except the blood. Black iron, serpent remains, stabilizers—he bought it all. The shopkeeper, pleased by his large order, even threw in a few extras for free, excluding the rarer core ingredients.
Ye Wuji smirked inwardly. If only the man knew he was selling to a demonic cultivator. He'd probably faint.
With his purchases complete, he turned toward the restaurant.
Still cautious, he didn't enter immediately. Instead, he scanned the area for traps or suspicious presences, and only then, he entered and rented a room on the upper floor of the restaurant.
|>>======|✦|======<<|
The next day.
Ye Wuji left early, donned his disguise, and entered the restaurant.
He sat at a corner table, ordering food and drinks—not because he needed or wanted them, but to avoid raising any suspicion. All the while, he observed the room carefully, his sharp gaze sweeping around everything.
Hours passed.
Eventually, he saw someone enter the restaurant and place a small spirit crystal on a table, then sit down and order a bowl of Mind-Soothing Tea and a green curry dish.
It has to be Bai Qi, as this was their code to meet each other.
But Ye Wuji didn't approach immediately. He finished his drink calmly, then exited the restaurant and entered a nearby alley. There, he slightly altered his disguise again, so that no one in the restaurant could recognize him as the person who sat there the entire day.
After waiting five minutes, he re-entered the restaurant, eyes scanning the room, his senses sharp and alert for any ambushes.
But nothing happened.
So, he slowly approached Bai Qi's table.
The young man sitting behind the table was visibly nervous. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his posture was stiff as he saw him approach rapidly, looking frantically around for any potential onlookers.
Ye Wuji sat down across from him and ordered another bowl of Mind-Soothing Tea.
"Senior brother," Bai Qi greeted with a forced smile.
Ye Wuji nodded slightly. "What news do you have?"
"I've got two updates in total—both of them relatively good for us," Bai Qi replied quickly. "One concerns the Crimson Phoenix Empire's four righteous sects, and the other is about our sect's surviving elders—Mo Sheng and Xue Mo."
Ye Wuji narrowed his eyes. "Start with the righteous sects."
Bai Qi gave a hesitant nod. "Actually, it overlaps with the matter about our elders, so I'll have to begin there."
"The, go on," Ye Wuji said simply.
"Well… the Heavenly Mountain Sect had dispatched three elders to hunt down our two sect's surviving elders already some time ago. But, according to my intel, which I received recently, they have finally located them—about ten days ago."
"And?" Ye Wuji pressed, sipping his tea.
"As expected of our sect's elders... Elders Mo Sheng and Xue Mo led them straight into a trap. They didn't managed to kill anyone this time, but they at least managed to seriously injure all three of them before their escape."
"That's not a small feat," Ye Wuji muttered.
"Exactly. And while that might not seem like a major blow to Heavenly Mountain Sect… it was a golden opportunity for others—specifically, White Cloud Sect and White Crane Sect."
Ye Wuji raised a brow. "They moved?"
"They did more than move. They entered into a temporary alliance and began gathering a large portion of their forces into the southern region, near their respective sect branches."
He lowered his voice.
"There are no direct confrontations yet… but everything points toward a war breaking out soon. Both sides are still gathering their strength—possibly stalling until they finish some preparations."