As he spoke up to here, Pi Junzi thought a little to himself.
'If the other party wants me dead, then sooner or later he will move against me. As soon as there's no longer any benefit in using me, I'm afraid that would be the time that he will strike.'
'Since he wants to go to the Bejeweled Nectar Conclave, why not give him a hand? I doubt he would dare to go alone. So long as he brings me along, I will have a chance to escape. Otherwise, if I were to continue suffering such torment, when would I ever be able to escape this predicament?'
Miao Yi gave a slight nod as he furrowed his brows. The other person had a point, he didn't have any Yao aura on him. Even if he were to go, he would be quickly exposed.
Who would have thought that Pi Junzi would suddenly correct himself, "We are not exactly out of ideas. Since the Great Immortal carries the token of Jade Stream Manor, I have no doubt that no one would dare look askance at the Great Immortal too deeply. Great Immortal simply needs to ensure there is some Yao aura on your body and this is bound to go off without a hitch."
"How do I do it?" Miao Yi's eyes brightened. Since the other person was suggesting such a thing, he was sure to have a way.
"I believe the Great Immortal has already taken the Inner Core of Madame Wu Hua. You just need to keep the Inner Core with you, and use your arts to activate the Inner Core to release a little Yao aura. They will be afraid of the Great Immortal's ident.i.ty within Jade Stream Manor, and are sure to allow the Great Immortal easy pa.s.sage!" Pi Junzi laughed.
Miao Yi smiled and nodded, "Alright! Then we will do as you say. If it really succeeds, I will spare your life. However, there are still two months ahead of us. We can't just beat the gra.s.s and startle the snake in these two months. Where should I stay?"
Needless to say, he obviously intended to go to Pi Junzi's cave.
After he was done eating, Miao Yi extinguished the bonfire. Then, leaped onto his horse, brandis.h.i.+ng his spear and opening his transcendence vision, staying vigilant against his surroundings.
Amidst the night sky speckled with glimmering stars, fireflies danced silently in the black of night.
The rattling of steel chains echoed at the fore from time to time. Pi Junzi was pale from all the pain. He had even been tossed around. With his hands bound behind his back, he was limping as he hurriedly ran to lead the way in front of Charcoal.
Pi Junzi's cave was not far from where they were; only a few li away. Very soon, he led Miao Yi into a mountain forest filled with many tall rocks. After circling around many oddly-shaped rocks, they stopped in front of a stone cavern.
It seemed the surrounding terrain made it so that unless the person was standing in front of the entrance. It would have been difficult for anyone to discover that there was actually a cave hiding here if they had looked from another angle.
The entrance to the cave was not very tall. Miao Yi would have hit his head if he had remained seated on his dragon steed. Instead, he got off his steed and followed behind Pi Junzi as they entered the dark cave.
Inside the cave, it was like a maze. If it wasn't for Pi Junzi leading the way, Miao Yi would undoubtedly have lost his way; truly a fitting place for a Rat Spirit to dwell. After making a few right and left turns, they finally reached the underground palace.
It was evident from the size of the underground palace, that it was a place that had seen its glory days. A stone seat was placed up high, clearly for the sake of being wors.h.i.+pped by subordinates.
According to Pi Junzi, he had about ten little demons as subordinates during his past glory days.
But ever since Madame Wu Hua had shown up, she had completely destroyed his blissful life.
His Fort Master had been furious that he had lost his territory, so all of his subordinates were called back. With him being a Rat Spirit that lived on land, it wasn't possible for him to follow Madame Wu Hua and stay under the sea for long periods of time. Neither could he gather a cult of little aquatic demons to keep him company on land for long. Thus, he had become all by himself, loved by no one despite having done nothing wrong.
There were many eternal lamps lit inside this abode of Immortals. Under the dim light, one could see many bones scattered around the floor. There were beast bones, as well as human skulls. Clearly, Pi Junzi had eaten people before.
The conditions in the cave were vastly different from the living environment of man. It gave people a creepy, foreboding feeling of a deep Yin aura. There was also a faint Yao aura that lingered in the air. It really did seem like a place where demons lived. Normal people would have been scared out of their wits if they had come in here.
But to one who has already entered the Boundless Secular World, killed men, exorcised ghosts, and butchered demons, Miao Yi was not the least bit afraid of an environment that was a little dark and foreboding.
After sizing up the place, he asked, "No one will disturb us here, right?"
Pi Junzi laughed bitterly, "Other than Madame Wu Hua, who would bother this humbled one. Now that even Madame Wu Hua is gone, this humbled one has really become all by himself."
"Then that's great!" Miao Yi extended his arm and patted him on the shoulder.
A little one had creeped out from Miao Yi's storage ring and crawled its way to his fingertip. Taking advantage of the opportunity when Miao Yi patted Pi Junzi's shoulder, a tiny sickle ferociously stabbed into the back of Pi Junzi's neck.
"Great Immortal….." Pi Junzi said in a low voice, before his eyes rolled back and he dropped to the ground.
A white glow flashed about his body. Once again, he turned into a two-meter long, giant gray rat with razor sharp fangs.
Miao Yi flicked his finger, and a little one landed on the body of the unconscious giant rat.
As he spread his fingers, the little ones flew out of the storage ring in droves, spreading out into every corner of the cavern; some flew over to the entrance and kept guard.
Miao Yi squinted at Pi Junzi's p.r.o.ne form lying on the ground. Then, he released the chains from Charcoal's body, and nailed them to a stone pillar at the side.
Turning around, he made his way up to the stone throne seated high above. Invoking his arts, he swept the seat clean before sitting cross-legged on it. He threw an Orb of Will into his mouth, and closed his eyes as he slowly began to refine it.
Since there were still two months until the Bejeweled Nectar Conclave, he was prepared to wait here for the next two months. He wasn't planning on heading out to beat the gra.s.s and alarm the snake during that time and naturally, it wouldn't do to let Pi Junzi have the chance to play any tricks as well.
He also wouldn't blindly wait for two months to pa.s.s. There was enough time for him to refine a low-grade Orb of Will, so he obviously wouldn't let this time go to waste.
Charcoal strolled about the cave, stomping about with his hooves as he smelled about here and there. He, for one, didn't have a care in the world.
Eventually, he came to rest beside Miao Yi's seat, flicking his serpentine tail around. He closed his eyes and slept.
No one could have imagined that Miao Yi would be hiding inside the treacherous Sea of Constellations and cultivating. Not even Miao Yi himself had ever thought that such a day would come.
The days began to pa.s.s. Miao Yi cultivated quietly in the cave and didn't step out even once. There was enough food for Charcoal and the little ones inside the storage ring.
It was also no problem if the little ones wanted to eat crystal coins. The Great Cave Master Miao was now rich. Even though it had been stolen from another, it was now rightfully his and he had the right to do with it as he pleased. He could casually sprinkle a large pile and let them eat as much as they wanted.
Pi Junzi was still the most unfortunate. Every few days, as soon as he slowly regained consciousness and groaned, the little one keeping guard on his body would immediately stab its tiny sickle in, making Pi Junzi fall back into a dazed state.
Two months later, Miao Yi finished refining the Orb of Will in his mouth and examined the art source inside his body.
To break through to White Lotus Fourth Grade, at most he would only need another eighteen low-grade Orbs of Will.
Although he had enough Orbs of Will to break through to the Fourth Grade now, he needed time. Refining another eighteen Orbs of Will would require thirty-six months; equal to three years worth of time.
He wasn't afraid that there would be a lack of time to cultivate; only that his...o...b.. of Will weren't enough. Since he was here at the Sea of Constellations, it was not the time for him to continue cultivating, but for him to come up with ideas to obtain more items that could be exchanged for Orbs of Will.
Miao Yi had been sitting cross-legged. Opening his eyes, he extended his palm. Over a hundred of the little ones immediately swarmed over from every nook and cranny of the abode of Immortals upon receiving their summons, and dived into the storage ring one after the other.
Walking down from the high seat, Miao Yi invoked his arts and dispelled half of the abysmal chill from Pi Junzi's body. Once again, he didn't dispel all of them for caution's sake.