My bathroom leads to the celestial realm.

112 Please spare my life, senior!

Night falls in the rented room.

Master Cheng held the blood bead, looking at it from left to right, and after a while sighed: "My cultivation is limited and my knowledge is shallow. I can't recognize the origin of this bead."

He then looked at it under the light again, puzzled, and asked, "This bead is clearly orange, how can you say it's a blood bead?"

Xu Yan scratched his head: "I also find it strange. It was clearly blood-red before!"

Master Cheng returned the bead to Xu Yan: "This bead is definitely not an ordinary item. Put in more effort to refine it as soon as possible, and don't let the news leak out."

"Don't worry, Master." Xu Yan carefully put the blood beads away from his body.

Master Cheng said dejectedly, "Alas, your Uncle He is so knowledgeable; he'll surely be able to explain it clearly!"

Xu Yan laughed and said, "That's easy, I'll go find him later!"

"What are you looking for!" Master Cheng glared at his disciple. "He's in seclusion trying to break through to the Nascent Soul stage. It will take at least three to five years, and at most thirty to fifty years. If you can find him, then it's better not to try to break through to the Nascent Soul stage at all."

"I was just saying," Xu Yan quickly added, "By the way, Master, I'm planning to seriously study weapon crafting. Do you have any old friends or acquaintances who could help introduce me to a suitable sect?"

"Difficult!" Master Cheng shook his head. "I have been living in seclusion for a long time. As for my old friends from back then... let's not talk about them."

Xu Yan... his master's network of connections is really rather weak!

Master Cheng added, "You must learn weapon crafting, and you can't neglect talisman crafting either. No matter how much support the Special Security Bureau provides, it's not up to your own ability!"

Xu Yan quickly agreed, and his attitude was quite sincere.

But Master Cheng sighed and gave a long and earnest piece of advice.

With the Special Security Bureau backing him, this kid can just use a machine to process any talisman. How could he possibly settle down and seriously study talisman making?

He could already imagine that once Xu Yan got involved in weapon crafting, he would definitely come up with all sorts of underhanded tricks and would never follow the conventional path.

There is no room for falsehood in spiritual practice. Taking shortcuts for a short time is fine, but taking shortcuts in everything is just building castles in the air.

After a moment's thought, he said, "Mo Ting, now that you've reached the Foundation Establishment stage, there are some things I should tell you."

Xu Yan was taken aback, then immediately straightened his posture: "Master, please speak."

Master Cheng transmitted his voice, saying, "Our Shenxiao Sect's mountain gate is located in Leifeng Town, Tengyang Mountain. Find an opportunity to go back and take a look."

Xu Yan asked, puzzled, "Wasn't the mountain gate destroyed?"

"The mountain gate is destroyed, but the secret realm within still exists. Whether you can obtain the cultivation techniques beyond the Golden Core stage, as well as the sect's secret arts, depends on yourself."

Xu Yanli's eyes widened immediately. So, you have no human rights if you haven't reached the Foundation Establishment stage?

"Master, where exactly is the sect? Could you draw me a map...?"

Master Cheng handed Xu Yan a jade slip that he had prepared beforehand: "It's all inside, remember it carefully!"

Xu Yan pressed the jade slip to his forehead and immediately knew the location of the mountain gate: "Wait, Master, why didn't you mention where the secret realm is? And how can we open the secret realm?"

Master Cheng was quite embarrassed: "I only know that the secret realm is in the back mountain, but I don't know exactly where it is. As for how to open it... you'll find out when the time comes."

"Huh?" Xu Yan was completely taken aback. What time is it? Why are you still keeping me in suspense?

"What 'ah'? Just go!" Master Cheng puffed out his beard and glared. "When you get there, come back and call me!"

"Oh!" Xu Yan finally understood; so that's what they were waiting for him!

After finishing his business, seeing that it was still early, Xu Yan dialed home and received a series of instructions and complaints from his elderly mother.

The portal opened and closed, and Xu Yan returned to the world of cultivation.

He was a little disoriented as night turned into day.

The compressed divine sense suddenly burst forth, and immediately "saw" that in addition to Han Su Niang and her daughter, there were three unfamiliar cultivators in the outer cave.

One was tall and aloof, another was thin and sleazy, and the third had a mustache.

With a wicked grin on his face, the man with the mustache rubbed his hands together as he approached Han Suniang, who was hiding in the corner.

Han Suniang hugged her daughter tightly, crying out, "Don't come any closer!"

Xu Yan twitched the corner of his mouth... Such familiar lines!

The man with the mustache's smile grew even more unrestrained: "Be a good boy, you don't want to scare the children, do you?"

Han Suniang had nowhere to avoid it, and subconsciously closed her eyes.

Xu Yan looked up to the sky and sighed. How come he encountered such a classic scene as soon as he came back?

He flashed out of the inner cave, leaving the unfamiliar cultivators stunned.

I just checked, and the inner cave is clearly empty. Where did this person come from?

The three men drew their swords and pulled out talismans, their eyes fierce.

Xu Yan flicked his fingers, and several lightning arrows instantly felled the three men.

Hearing the thud of something heavy falling to the ground, Han Suniang looked up and exclaimed with great excitement, "My benefactor!"

Xu Yan asked in surprise, "What happened?"

Han Suniang composed herself and shook her head: "This servant doesn't know either."

Xu Yan felt a sudden toothache and kicked the man with the mustache awake.

The lightning arrows aren't that powerful; they can't even stun someone.

Before any questions could be asked, the man with the mustache begged for mercy repeatedly: "Senior, spare my life! Senior, spare my life!"

"Shut up!" Xu Yan flicked a thunderbolt at him, causing the man with the eight-character mustache to twitch all over.

The other two continued to play dead, not daring to make the slightest move.

The man with the mustache quickly shut his mouth, trembling with fear and not daring to raise his head.

"Tell me, who are you?" Xu Yan asked.

The man with the mustache dared not hide anything and immediately spilled the beans.

In short, they are a group of low-level cultivators who specialize in scavenging for bargains. They frequently appear in abandoned mines, battlefields, and various ruins, searching for all sorts of useful items.

Not long ago, they happened to hear that something had happened at Qianlu Xianfang, so they immediately gathered more than a dozen people and rushed over. They arrived at Qiandao four days ago and had already dug up the ground and turned it upside down.

Originally, none of them would have come to the back mountain, but unexpectedly, another group of people arrived early this morning.

At this point, the man with the eight-character mustache couldn't help but complain: "In our line of work, it's always first come, first served. Only those in front can enter. But those newcomers have no sense of martial ethics at all. They insisted that they were cultivators from Thousand Heron Island, and started attacking without saying a word... The three of us were hiding in the shadows, and when we saw things were going badly, we ran over here."

At this point, he weakly added, "There was a slight misunderstanding when I met this young lady."

"Misunderstanding?" Xu Yan sneered.

The man with the mustache felt a pang of anxiety: "No, no, no, I was bewitched! I deserve to die! Please spare my life, senior..."

"You've asked the wrong person." Xu Yan took out a pistol, loaded it with a bullet, held the barrel in reverse, and shoved it into Han Suniang's hand. He then pressed the muzzle against the man with the mustache. "This is no ordinary weapon. With just a flick of your finger, you can take his dog's life. Whether he lives or dies is up to you."

After saying that, he took two steps back and hugged A-Wu in his arms: "Cover your ears, don't look!"

A-Wu obediently covered her ears and buried her little head in Xu Yan's shoulder.

The man with the mustache pleaded repeatedly, "Grandma, spare my life! Grandma, spare my life..."

Han Su Niang gripped the gun handle tightly with trembling hands, her face so pale that even her lips were bloodless, but she did not back down. Instead, she gritted her teeth and pulled the trigger.