Chapter Forty-Seven: Investigation

“Whew—”

“It’s all because of those bandits who appeared on the road last time. I ended up revealing a bit of my strength by accident.”

“That’s why Su Yuer has been testing me ever since…”

Qin Feng returned to his ancestral home, a trace of helplessness on his face.

He walked all the way back to the study’s secret chamber.

His gaze was once again drawn to the Box World.

At this glance,

He discovered that the cultivators of the Dark Azure Palace had dispatched more than ten disciples, led by Xiang Yunqian, to a cave at the foot of a sprawling mountain range.

The group was moving with extreme caution, carefully probing their surroundings.

“What’s happened now?”

“Did something occur in the cave among the endless mountains while I was away?”

A look of curiosity appeared on Qin Feng’s face as he fixed his attention on the miniature figures from the Dark Azure Palace.

Under his scrutiny,

The entire scene within the Box World unfolded before his eyes.

Amid the towering mountains,

Xiang Yunqian, accompanied by a large number of cultivators, had blocked off the entrance to the Spirit Stalactite mine. Her expression was tense and grave.

“You say that you were all in the cave as usual, and suddenly fireflies appeared in your Sea of Consciousness?”

“And that Chen Yan, influenced by these fireflies, charged straight into the deepest part of the cave?”

Xiang Yunqian stood at the entrance, her gaze falling on a young man holding a longsword as she questioned him.

“Elder, that’s exactly what happened,” the young man replied, still visibly shaken. “We were all on guard duty when chaos broke out. None of us understood what was happening.”

“We only detected the fireflies in our Sea of Consciousness. Chen Yan was affected, his strength surged, and we couldn’t restrain him. He rushed straight to the cave’s deepest point.”

Xiang Yunqian frowned deeply at his words.

“This is strange. We’ve all been to this Spirit Stalactite mine before.”

“Apart from the Azure-Eyed Bats, there was nothing unusual inside.”

“How could something like this suddenly happen?”

As she spoke, her brow furrowed further and she muttered to herself, “Could it be that we destroyed the Blood Fiend Sect’s disciples and now they’re taking revenge?”

Hearing this,

The young man holding the longsword looked bewildered.

He asked instinctively,

“Elder Xiang, what do you mean by that?”

Xiang Yunqian sighed and explained slowly,

“Our Dark Azure Palace was attacked recently. After investigating for some time, we learned that those bandits were all from the Blood Fiend Sect!”

“The night we were ambushed, one of the attackers was even an envoy from the Blood Fiend Sect!”

She paused, then continued,

“For a while, nothing happened to our sect. I subconsciously thought the Blood Fiend Sect, wary of the Celestial Alliance’s presence, wouldn’t dare provoke us openly.”

“But now, it seems what’s happening in the cave is likely their doing!”

If the ruthless disciples of the Blood Fiend Sect had heard this, they would surely protest their innocence.

They knew about the death of their envoy.

Naturally, the sect had considered revenge.

But since the Dark Azure Palace was now under the Celestial Alliance’s protection, and their envoy had died suddenly, the Blood Fiend Sect suspected the Alliance had secretly dispatched a powerful cultivator to guard Dark Azure Palace.

So, they hadn’t dared cause trouble.

This was the blind spot in Xiang Yunqian’s reasoning.

The last time she’d come to this cave with Shangguan Yun and the others, she hadn’t detected the old man hiding deep within.

She’d assumed everything was normal, that the cave was merely home to Azure-Eyed Bats, never expecting that such a remote place would seal away a mysterious, withered elder.

So, her thoughts naturally turned to the Blood Fiend Sect’s ruthless disciples.

“Relax your spiritual defenses. I’ll check your condition…”

While speculating, Xiang Yunqian circulated her spiritual energy and thoroughly examined the young man with the longsword and the other three Dark Azure Palace disciples.

Under her spiritual probe,

The fireflies in the Sea of Consciousness of the four cultivators, sensing danger, began to buzz frantically.

“Shatter!”

Xiang Yunqian, a sixth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator, had a formidable spirit.

She was unaffected by the fireflies and instantly shattered them under her spiritual pressure.

In that moment,

All four disciples felt as if a heavy shroud had lifted from their minds—the sense of restraint suddenly vanished.

“These fireflies are a spiritual technique…”

“The perpetrator must be of high cultivation…”

Xiang Yunqian understood she had cleared the fireflies from their minds, but the effort had drained nearly half her spiritual power.

Soon, however,

She produced a porcelain vial.

Inside was a gift once bestowed by a Celestial Exile of the Ancient Heavenly Dao—Fountain of Life Elixir.

She drank it all in one go.

Immediately, her spirit was restored to full vitality.

“Form the array!”

“I want to see who’s been scheming in secret here!”

With her command, the surrounding disciples’ spiritual power surged. Each formed intricate hand seals, weaving profound lines of power around the cave.

In an instant, these lines became an array.

The shadow of an ancient mirror appeared above.

As Xiang Yunqian’s fingers formed seals, the entire array manifested a giant mirror, within which a clear scene played out.

It revealed what had taken place in the cave not long before.

There, as the young man with the longsword fled the cave,

A withered old man stepped out, carrying a burly man and quickly departing.

“This…”

“There was someone else in the cave…”

At this, everyone was stunned.

The young man with the longsword broke out in a cold sweat.

They had been on guard in the cave all this time, yet hadn’t discovered another presence within.

The very thought revealed just how high this old man’s cultivation must be—certainly not a mere practitioner of the Qi Refinement stage!

“This man’s condition is poor. His vitality is fading fast, his body emaciated, as if he’s been sealed for a very long time…”

“He took Chen Yan with him, likely intending to possess him…”

Xiang Yunqian studied the old man in the ancient mirror, analyzing his state.

“What! Sealed for a long time?”

“How could someone sealed appear in this cave all of a sudden?”

“Did he want to use the Spirit Stalactite inside to restore himself?”

The disciples of the Dark Azure Palace instinctively voiced their questions.

“No,” Xiang Yunqian shook her head. “Not a single drop of Spirit Stalactite is missing from the cave.”

“It’s likely he was sealed here long ago.”

“He must have used some bizarre method to evade our detection!”

Her words sent chills through everyone present.

After all, not long ago, even Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Dark Azure Palace had searched this cave.

To hide from a group of Foundation Establishment cultivators,

This old man’s cultivation must be extraordinary—

Certainly above the level of the Golden Core realm!