“Qi Refining Stage, complete!”

Feeling the surging spiritual power within his body, Han Lie’s heart swelled with emotion. This meant that breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage was now just a matter of time.

“That female demon Ye Qingxuan is truly different from those common beauties like Zhuo Hongyi!”

The terrifying effects of the Dual Cultivation were truly astounding! Although he hadn’t successfully broken through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, the final result was already astonishing enough.

Next, he just needed to cultivate quietly, condense his Dao foundation within his body, and break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage. Then, he wouldn’t need to worry about time anymore.

Coming back to his senses, Han Lie looked up. He saw Ye Qingxuan standing gracefully and elegantly by the window, the sunlight from outside pouring onto her face, seemingly adding a layer of golden gauze to her already noble status.

You have to admit, from this angle, Ye Qingxuan was breathtakingly beautiful.

“Sect Leader, do you have any further instructions?”

The battle over, Han Lie regained his respectful attitude toward Ye Qingxuan.

Ye Qingxuan glanced at him lightly and said indifferently, “This Palace Mistress will be going out for a while. In one month, you need to clean the Violet Heaven Palace.”

“Also, during my absence, pay attention to who comes looking for me and who enters the Violet Heaven Palace. You must record all of these details meticulously. Understand?”

“Yes, I will remember,” Han Lie nodded solemnly.

“Just remembering is not enough. If you miss even one person, This Palace Mistress will hold you accountable!”

Upon hearing this, Han Lie immediately straightened up.

He suddenly realized a very serious problem. Could Ye Qingxuan be trying to catch a spy?

Whether she was or not didn’t matter for now. But one thing was certain: at least during Ye Qingxuan’s absence from the Violet Heaven Palace, within the vast Heavenly Void Sect, Han Lie would have no truly safe place!

If Bai Ling took this opportunity to eliminate him… Han Lie admitted that at least for now, he still had no power to resist in front of Bai Ling.

“Sect Leader, shouldn’t you give me some insurance then? What if…” Han Lie mustered his courage to speak.

“Hmm? What insurance?” Ye Qingxuan asked. “I’m just asking you to watch the door. I’m not asking you to confront those people, nor am I asking you to catch them.”

“You’re just a Servant Disciple; others won’t even care about you.”

“……”

Han Lie was momentarily speechless. He was considering whether he should tell Ye Qingxuan about Bai Ling’s matter, as it concerned his personal safety after all.

“Fine then,” Ye Qingxuan said after some thought. “This Palace Mistress will give you a saber art technique. Study and comprehend it on your own for now.”

“As for a suitable weapon, go buy one yourself from the Spirit Treasure Hall.”

After some consideration, Ye Qingxuan still left Han Lie with a tattered book. Han Lie picked up the book and looked; on the cover were several bold and flowing characters: Soul Devouring Saber Art.

“If you encounter a predicament you cannot handle, go to the Elder Council and find Chi Lian. She will deal with it.”

Han Lie suddenly looked up, but Ye Qingxuan’s graceful figure had already vanished, leaving only a lingering fragrance and her melodious voice echoing in his ears for a long time.

“She left really fast,” Han Lie curled his lip.

She said to seek Grand Elder Chi Lian if in trouble. But Han Lie estimated he probably couldn’t even enter the gates of the Elder Council. Even if he met Grand Elder Chi Lian, how could he get her to help him?

Regarding Grand Elder Chi Lian, Han Lie had heard some things. It was said that Grand Elder Chi Lian loved to tease people the most and was extremely cunning. Han Lie had no doubt that with his current means, Chi Lian could probably sell him off and he’d still happily count the money for her.

“I still have to rely on myself,” Han Lie sighed deeply. He then composed himself and left the Violet Heaven Palace.

Returning to his wooden hut, Han Lie opened the Soul Devouring Saber Art left by Ye Qingxuan.

The first form of the Soul Devouring Saber Art: Soul Hook.

Continuing to flip through, he found dense, obscure humanoid diagrams that seemed incomprehensible at first glance—likely the cultivation method for the first form, Soul Hook.

To his surprise, Han Lie discovered that these patterns, which would be extremely obscure and difficult for ordinary people to comprehend or grasp the secrets of, began playing automatically in his mind as soon as he laid eyes on them.

The cultivation secrets, key points, and precautions for “Soul Hook” all became crystal clear.

After flipping through a few pages, Han Lie immediately closed the book.

Without another word, he left the small wooden hut.

He needed to take advantage of this time right after Ye Qingxuan’s departure, before anyone knew, to go to the Spirit Treasure Hall’s market and buy a suitable magical weapon.

The sect’s trading market also sold magical weapons, but most of those were forged by disciples within the sect who practiced artifact refining, and their quality was generally poor.

Of course, there were exceptions; occasionally, some magical weapons obtained by sect disciples through fortuitous encounters during their travels would appear there.

But the probability of such things happening… Let’s just say it wasn’t frequent; it could be described as touchingly low. Probably about equivalent to winning five million in a lottery ticket.

Anyone with a bit of knowledge would either keep valuable and powerful magical weapons for themselves or sell them to the Spirit Treasure Hall.

Finding a hidden gem? Han Lie didn’t believe such clichéd plotlines from fantasy novels would happen to him.

So, it was safer to honestly go buy one from the Spirit Treasure Hall’s market.

Just like his first time going to the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, when an elderly Servant Disciple actually came to the Spirit Treasure Hall’s market, the disciple in charge of minding the shop immediately questioned Han Lie.

Now Han Lie finally understood why those clichéd scenes where protagonists get mocked always appeared in novels. Turns out inspiration comes from reality!

However, Han Lie could also understand. This was equivalent to an old scavenger going to look at cars in a 4S dealership—do you think salespeople would look at you properly?

Putting himself in their shoes, Han Lie felt he’d probably act similarly.

So he patiently said to the shop-minding disciple, “Fellow Daoist, This Senior has Spirit Stones and can afford it. Please show This Senior a few saber-type magical weapons.”

After speaking, Han Lie tossed out a storage ring containing one thousand Spirit Stones.

“Not bad! You Servant Disciples actually have this many Spirit Stones and can afford magical weapons? Alright, I misjudged you today; I apologize.”

After verifying Han Lie’s storage ring, the shop-minding disciple changed his attitude and then brought three saber-type magical weapons according to Han Lie’s request, placing them before him.

“These are all around one thousand Spirit Stones each. Take a look first.”

Han Lie nodded and began carefully examining the three saber-type magical weapons before him.

Tiger Soul Saber: Low-grade Spiritual-tier magical weapon; price: 1,000 Spirit Stones.

Flame Saber: Low-grade Spiritual-tier magical weapon; price: 950 Spirit Stones.

Earth Fiend Saber: Low-grade Spiritual-tier magical weapon; price: 1,000 Spirit Stones.

In Tianyuan Continent, magical weapons could roughly be divided into four tiers with sixteen grades: namely Spiritual (Ling), Heavenly (Tian), Imperial (Di), and Saint (Sheng) as the four major tiers, each further divided into Low (Xia), Medium (Zhong), High (Shang), and Supreme (Ji) grades.

But none of these three weapons particularly appealed to Han Lie.

Then his gaze shifted, and his attention fell on an entirely pitch-black long saber hanging on the wall behind the shop-minding disciple.

“Fellow Daoist, could This Senior take a look at that saber?”