As soon as Zhao Di pushed open the stone gate of the quiet room where You Lan was, he felt a strong gust of cold and gloomy wind.

  Even if it were a cultivator in the Qi Refining stage, they would likely be blown by this formless dark wind to have their limbs stiffened, their soul scattered and lost, and their life ended.

  At this time, the two women were sitting face to face with their eyes closed and their knees crossed. Both of them had their hands stretched out flat, with the four palms facing each other. A layer of grayish-black misty air was swirling around the bodies of the two women, making it look very eerie.

  The two women's exposed arms were initially smooth and delicate, but they appeared to be semi-transparent, sometimes visible and sometimes not. At first glance, it was clear that they were not ordinary human flesh. The two women's beautiful faces showed a serious and strained expression, with beads of sweat occasionally rolling down their foreheads, only to evaporate into thin air and disappear without a trace.

  Zhao Di saw this scene and immediately displayed the divine power of Hunyuan Yiqi, constantly moving around the two women, occasionally waving his palms, and using the purple gas to roll away the thick yin energy in the secret room towards the position where the two women were. Slowly, a thick layer of purple gas formed a circle about one zhang (a unit of length) in diameter, like a cocoon, wrapping up the dense dark yin energy and the two women inside.

  Zhao's purpose in doing so was to make the yin energy around the two women gather and not disperse, increasing its density. This would also be beneficial for breaking through the bottleneck, just like when he broke through the bottleneck, he often needed to use high-grade spirit stones and gathering spirit arrays to provide a higher density of spiritual energy.

  Zhao Di looked through Hunyuan Yiqi and saw the two women slowly absorbing the dark gray aura around them, his heart slightly relaxed.

  One night later, with Zhao Di's help, the two women absorbed a large amount of yin energy into their bodies and guided its circulation, finally breaking through to reach the late stage of foundation building.

  After several months, after the two women consolidated their cultivation, Zhao Di left the cave and arrived at a transmission array in Fangzhong Xian Island's city.

  Songzhutao Island is barely one of the larger islands affiliated with Fangzhang Island, and its size is less than a fifth of that of Xixing Island.

  There are more than ten mountain peaks on the island, forming the Songzhu Mountain Range. The mountains are named after the hundred-year-old green pines on the peaks and the large areas of emerald bamboo forests below.

  This Songzhu Mountain Range is also a high-quality spiritual vein. When the Qianji Gate was at its peak, there were dozens of large islands under its control, and Songzhu Island was just one of them. However, after the decline of the Qianji Gate, the sect moved to this island. Due to the scarcity of resources on the island and its remote location, although the Qianji Gate continued to decline over the past thousand years, it did not attract the attention of other sects, allowing the Qianji Gate to continue to exist in seclusion.

  In contrast to the situation on the Western Star Island, the mortals on this island of Songzhu are becoming more and more prosperous. The area of this island is much smaller than that of the Western Star Island, but the number of mortals is three times that of the Western Star Island. The mortals on this island are very satisfied with Qianji Gate and even adore it. Not only does Qianji Gate rarely increase taxes for mortals, but it also occasionally sends out some low-ranking disciples to help mortals solve difficulties that are easy for cultivators. At the same time, if a child with spiritual roots is born among the island's mortals, they will be sent to Qianji Gate for cultivation, supplementing Qianji Gate with a large number of low-ranking disciples. If it weren't for these numerous mortals, the number of Qianji Gate's low-ranking disciples would have to be greatly reduced.

  Of course, apart from the masters born on this island, Qianji Gate also recruits talents everywhere. After all, for a cultivation force, the cultivator himself is the most important thing. Because the reputation of the sect is getting smaller and smaller, those cultivators with better spiritual roots are not very willing to join Qianji Gate, but tend to join larger sects, so they may get more resources. Only cultivators with average qualifications can voluntarily join this gate, so Qianji Gate's requirements for new disciples are very loose.

  On the rugged mountain path leading to Songzhu Peak, the main peak of the Songzhu Mountains, a 23 or 24-year-old youth in purple clothes with a delicate appearance and a 16 or 17-year-old boy who was unusually tall were traveling together.

  This young man in purple clothes was Zhao Di. At this moment, he used the Nirvana technique to hide his cultivation and disguised himself as a low-ranking cultivator of the seventh layer of the Refining Qi stage, intending to mix into the low-ranking disciples of the Thousand Machines Gate.

  The young man beside him was a "senior disciple" of Qianji Gate, only in the eighth layer of Qi Refining stage, and had been in Qianji Gate for many years. He was quite familiar with everything in the gate, and Zhao Di took the opportunity to ask around and gather a lot of information.

  This young man wasn't someone he happened to meet, but rather someone he had been lying in wait for at the foot of the mountain on this necessary path for several days, before seeing a lone youth climb up the mountain. Zhao Di then made an excuse that he wanted to join the Qianji Sect and followed the youth to Songzhu Peak.

  He had originally planned to quietly knock the young man unconscious and then use You Lan and You Ruo to search his soul, grasping some information about the Qian Ji Men. This would allow him to plan his next move. However, this young man seemed to have no ulterior motives, and after a few casual questions, he revealed everything he knew, making it unnecessary for Zhao Di to use the soul-searching technique.

  After all, this spell is quite overbearing. Even with the help of You Lan and You Ruo, it's likely to more or less damage the young man's original memories. One careless move could turn him into an idiot or a fool, causing unnecessary trouble.

  From this young man, he learned that the Qianji Gate had not only two Dan-building elders, but they were both in seclusion and rarely appeared. In his more than a decade in the gate, he had never seen the two together at once. As for the foundation-building cultivators, there were over thirty, but most of their cultivation was only in the early stages of foundation building, with only three in the later stages.

  As for the Qi Refining stage disciples, there were many more, nearly a thousand people. However, half of them were below the eighth layer of the Qi Refining stage. Those who could cultivate to the eleventh layer or higher and had hopes of breaking through to the Foundation Building stage numbered only around a hundred or so.

  It seems that the Qianji Gate is indeed declining, and judging from the number and quality of low-level cultivators, it's likely to get even worse in the future, and it's uncertain whether there will be any more Nascent Soul stage cultivators emerging from the gate.

  By that time, even relying on the historical fame, it would not be possible to continue hanging in the Bai Zong Alliance, and eventually become a small school or be swallowed up by other sects and lose their heritage.

  "Jian Ge, you said you're good at refining equipment, isn't that just bragging?" The young man asked with a hint of skepticism when he mentioned that he liked refining equipment, especially puppets, and had come to join the Qianji Gate. It's not surprising that he was skeptical, as many of the Qianji Gate's masters who were skilled in refining equipment were quite old, and none were as young as this youth. After all, refining equipment required a great deal of experience, and it was extremely difficult for young people to excel in this field.

  "This, heh heh, my cultivation is too low, if I don't say some advantages, I'm afraid the master of Qianji Gate won't accept me as a disciple! Actually, I just refined a few batches of mineral raw materials and accumulated a little experience!" The young man said with a bit of embarrassment.

  "Refining the raw materials is not easy at all, it consumes a lot of spiritual energy, I simply can't do it! Jian Ge, you're really something, from now on I'll come to you for guidance, you must teach me!" The young man said with admiration.

  The young man smiled and said: "Of course! Brother Chi, you think I will be taken in by the sect leader?"

  "Of course, we'll take you in! Our sect is urgently short of manpower, let alone someone with talent like Brother Jian who can refine equipment! Don't worry, I'll bring you to meet the Sect Master, it's definitely no problem!" The young man patted his chest and guaranteed.

  "Haha, thank you, Brother Chi! The young man said with a smile: "I don't know how long it will take to teach the puppet's refining method after joining the sect. I dream of having my own puppet as soon as possible!"

  The young man was taken aback and said, "The method of refining puppets is not a problem, the hidden book pavilion in our sect has detailed introductions. But for us Qi-refining disciples to use puppets is very difficult! To use puppets, you must first place a strand of divided spirit inside the puppet, this divided spirit technique can only be used by seniors in the foundation-building period. Unless you can beg a senior in the foundation-building period to help you cast the divided spirit technique and drip your vital blood into the puppet to refine it, you can't control the puppet. However, it's said that puppets refined in this way are somewhat less agile."

  "So that's how it is! I don't even know a single senior from the foundation period, what can I do?" The young man furrowed his brow.

  "Hehe, don't worry! You may not know them, but I do!" The young man said with a pleased smile: "There are several masters in the sect who dote on me the most. I'll plead for you and it's absolutely no problem! However, after you learn to refine puppets, you have to help me refine one too!"

  "That's great! Absolutely!" The young man replied with great delight.

  Two people walked together, laughing and chatting, Zhao Di constantly searching for topics, step by step getting closer to the things he cared about most.

  "You said that if we each had a puppet with the strength of the foundation period, wouldn't that be an additional powerful helper! We wouldn't have to fear being bullied by cultivators from other sects!"

  "A puppet of the Foundation Establishment stage?" The young man's expression changed to one of great surprise, then he burst out laughing: "Brother Jian really dares to speak, not afraid of getting his tongue cut off! You should know that in our sect, there aren't many puppets at the Foundation Establishment stage. They are all treasures of the two Master Ancestors. How could we disciples at the Qi Refining stage possibly have one? Even among the senior and junior masters, only two or three people received a reward from the Master Ancestors and obtained such a puppet!"

  "Why are there so few foundation-building puppets?! Is it because the materials for refining them are too expensive or is the method just too difficult?!" The young man asked in puzzlement.

  The young man rubbed his head and said in a somewhat uncertain tone: "Both reasons are there! I'm not sure about this either. However, the method of refining puppets during the foundation period seems to be known only by two elders, and even those senior uncles and aunts don't understand it!"

  "Only the elder knows the way!" The young man heard this and his expression didn't change, but a wave of turmoil stirred in his heart.

  "Haha, so that's how it is! I'm too inexperienced and got it all wrong! I was also wondering, as long as we can cultivate a large batch of foundation-stage puppets in the Thousand Machine Gate, why wouldn't we be powerful?" The young man chuckled to himself.

  "What should we do, Master? Only the Cong Dan period elder knows the refining method. We must take action against the Cong Dan cultivator!" You Lan said worriedly.

  "Think of a way to lure out the elder from the initial stage of the Cong Dan, set up an array of traps in advance, and with our master's divine abilities, my sister and I will cooperate from the side, and we still have some confidence in capturing him alive! When the time comes, search that elder's soul, and our master will be able to obtain the refining method!" You Ruo proposed a plan that seemed to have some feasibility.

  Zhao Di continued to chat and laugh with the young man, while responding to the two women with his divine sense: "This matter is only from the mouth of a Qi-refining period disciple, and it's not necessarily accurate. Since we've come, let's just go with it, and ask around some more. Maybe some of the later-stage cultivators of the Qianji Gate have also been taught the refining method. If there's no other way, then we can only meet with the elder of the Dan-forming stage! I'm just worried that even if we capture the opponent alive, it will be difficult to find the refining method!"

  "The master's meaning is that the people of Qianji Gate, in order to prevent the secret arts from leaking out, have made arrangements on a spiritual level. Even if a cultivator of the Golden Elixir stage falls into enemy hands, the opponent will not be able to obtain the secrets of Qianji Gate through soul-searching techniques?" Yu Lan was slightly startled, and Zhao Di's concerns were indeed very likely! Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain how this small and weak sect has been able to preserve the high-level puppet-crafting technique for over a thousand years.

  "Not bad, this is a possibility! As for whether there are other twists and turns, I don't know! In any case, this matter will not be easily accomplished, we must make long-term preparations!" Zhao Di replied.

  The two women fell silent, both lost in thought.

  Not long after, under the young man's leadership, Zhao Di smoothly met the master of Qianji Gate, an old man in the middle of the foundation period with a bald head, small eyes and a collapsed nose. However, when this person smiled, it only made people feel sly and despicable, without any heroic spirit of a sect master! It made Zhao Di secretly shake his head.

  Youngster, as soon as he saw the old man, warmly approached and grabbed his sleeve, shaking it: "Seventh Uncle, I've brought someone to join our Qianji Gate again! This Jian brother is a genius at refining equipment! How about it, give me two more pieces of low-grade spirit stone next month!"

  The old man suppressed his smile and put on a fierce expression, pulling out the right hand that had been grabbed by the youth. He lightly tapped the youth's skull and scolded: "Last month you broke an excellent jade vase worth ten pieces of low-grade spirit stone! The sect leader hasn't even settled accounts with you yet, but you're thinking about getting more spirit stones? You only know how to go out and cause trouble, get back here and practice your skills!"

  The young man left with a shrug, but not before winking at Zhao and casting a sideways glance at the old man.

  Zhao Di was slightly surprised in his heart, this is quite different from the situation of Tai Xuan Men! In Tai Xuan Men, disciples in the Qi Refining stage would be timid and cautious when speaking in front of their master's uncles, who dared to be so presumptuous?! And yet, this old sect leader didn't have any airs about him at all, and was actually joking around with an 8th layer Qi Refining stage disciple, it was truly strange.

  After the young man left, the old man coughed lightly and put on a serious face, saying to Zhao Di: "You want to join Qianji Gate? You really have vision! Our Qianji Gate is one of the oldest and most famous sects in Xingchen Sea, shaking the inside and outside of Xingchen Sea for tens of thousands of years! In the past...

  Today I have translated 10,000 words already.

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