A moment later.

“Taiping… Brother Taiping.”

Duan Xiaoyu, whose face was as pale as paper, approached Xu Taiping with some embarrassment. Her hands were constantly rubbing inside her sleeves, completely devoid of the courage she had shown earlier when she faced Murong Song’s group alone.

“Are you alright?”

Xu Taiping put away the communication token he had used with Oriole and then turned to look at Duan Xiaoyu.

“Yes, yes!”

Duan Xiaoyu nodded shyly, then turned her head to look around.

“Are you looking for this?”

Xu Taiping handed over a beautiful long saber with a red sandalwood scabbard and a handle wrapped in white sharkskin to Duan Xiaoyu.

“Yes!”

Duan Xiaoyu nodded vigorously, carefully taking the saber from Xu Taiping’s hands. She hugged it tightly, and the timid look on her face disappeared, replaced by a newfound determination that even made her delicate eyebrows appear more heroic.

“It’s called Rosefinch. My father forged the blade with his own hands, and my mother made the scabbard herself.”

She said with a touch of pride on her face.

“It’s a very beautiful saber.”

Xu Taiping nodded.

“It’s not just beautiful!”

Duan Xiaoyu seemed to dislike the word “beautiful.”

However, after saying this, she seemed to realize she had lost her composure and turned her head away in embarrassment.

Xu Taiping gave Duan Xiaoyu a deep look but said nothing. He simply stood up silently.

“Are you leaving?”

Duan Xiaoyu asked cautiously.

“Yes, I have something I need to do.”

Xu Taiping nodded and tied the Spring Tiger saber to his waist.

“What are your plans?”

After securing his saber, he turned to look at Duan Xiaoyu.

“I… I want to find Murong Song and avenge my brother.”

Duan Xiaoyu hesitated for a moment but finally spoke with determination in her eyes.

Xu Taiping was somewhat surprised by Duan Xiaoyu’s response.

“You probably think I want to cling to you, right?”

Sensitive as she was, Duan Xiaoyu noticed the surprise in Xu Taiping’s eyes.

“If you want to come with me, it’s not impossible.”

Xu Taiping nodded.

Hearing this, Duan Xiaoyu was stunned at first, then shook her head vigorously.

“Although following you, Brother Taiping, might be safer, I can’t always rely on you. In the end, I wouldn’t even have the courage to avenge my brother.”

Xu Taiping nodded at her words.

“Alright, then let’s part ways here.”

Duan Xiaoyu clearly didn’t expect Xu Taiping to agree so readily.

For a moment, she didn’t know how to respond.

“By the way, take this.”

Just as he was about to go downstairs, Xu Taiping suddenly stopped and threw a small porcelain bottle to Duan Xiaoyu.

“What’s this?”

Duan Xiaoyu looked at the rough little porcelain bottle with some confusion.

“There are three elixirs inside to restore True Qi.”

After saying this, Xu Taiping quickly walked downstairs without looking back.

“Thank you, Brother Taiping!”

It wasn’t until Xu Taiping reached the bottom of the stairs that Duan Xiaoyu reacted.

“Brother Taiping may seem cold, but he’s actually very warm-hearted.”

As she said this, she casually tossed an elixir into her mouth.

Her True Qi was almost completely depleted, so it was just right to take an elixir to replenish it.

Moreover, she wasn’t particularly short of elixirs, so she didn’t take Xu Taiping’s elixir too seriously, thinking it was just an ordinary True Qi replenishing elixir.

“Hmm?”

However, as soon as the elixir entered her stomach, she felt something was off.

Ordinary Qi-gathering elixirs mostly accelerate the recovery of True Essence, but this elixir seemed to directly infuse True Essence into her body.

More importantly, it doubled the True Qi within her body.

“I… I… I wasted a precious elixir!”

Duan Xiaoyu looked as if she was about to cry.

Using such a precious elixir to restore True Essence was simply a waste.

…

An hour later.

Pine Forest Valley.

“Click, click…”

With the sound of mechanical gears turning, a green beam of light shot up into the sky, tearing a hole in the dark sky, allowing sunlight to pour in.

But soon, rolling demonic energy surged in again, and the sky closed up once more, causing the green beam of light to dissipate.

Seeing this, Xu Taiping let out a long sigh of relief.

At this moment, he was standing in an abandoned well within an estate in Pine Forest Valley, his feet on a nearly illegible compass.

“The formation eye in Pine Forest Valley is open. Next are Dripping Emerald Cliff and Ice Crystal Cave.”

He picked up the communication token given by Nine Mansions and took another look.

On it was the last message from Oriole—

“Go separately to Pine Forest Valley, Dripping Emerald Cliff, and Ice Crystal Cave to open the teleportation array eyes hidden within. We can then enter the Immortal Gourd Cave from the outside without age or cultivation restrictions. The teleportation scrolls you hold can also be used within the Immortal Gourd Cave.”

“Additionally, a few Junior Brothers from the Carefree Sect are also trapped. If you encounter them, mention my name and look out for each other.”

Besides these two sentences, Oriole also sent detailed instructions on how to open the formation eyes, with very clear steps.

According to Oriole, if it weren’t a critical moment, Jade Green Scholar wouldn’t have revealed the locations of these formation eyes, let alone how to open them.

“This Nine Mansions sure has a lot of demands. I’ll have to ask for more money later.”

Xu Taiping muttered under his breath, putting away the communication token.

Fortunately, Pine Forest Valley wasn’t far from Starfall Lake, and he had gathered the herbs needed to refine Grass Returning Elixir and Gathering Qi Pills on the way, so not much time was wasted.

What troubled him greatly was that both Pine Forest Valley and the next destinations, Dripping Emerald Cliff and Ice Crystal Cave, had ancient fierce beasts sleeping beneath them.

Although fierce beasts weren’t as terrifying as wild beasts, encountering them would likely result in mutual destruction, according to Fairy Lingyue’s calculations.

So every step Xu Taiping took now felt like walking on a knife’s edge.

“Bang!…”

“Clang!”

Just as Xu Taiping was about to climb out, he suddenly heard the sounds of fighting outside the well.

Xu Taiping immediately became alert, taking out a piece of gray cloth from his green gourd. As he infused it with spiritual energy, the cloth quickly expanded.