As time ticked away, Yan Sijing's alchemy process was swiftly approaching its end.

She activated the spell, ceasing the fire and opening the furnace.

The top of the azure pill furnace slowly opened, and a rich fragrance of medicine wafted out. Five crimson elixirs hovered within, emitting intense fluctuations of spiritual power, far surpassing those of Foundation Establishment stage elixirs.

"Could these be elixirs used in the Core Formation stage?" Yuan Ming was stunned.

The value of Core Formation stage elixirs was incomparable to those of the Foundation Establishment stage; the difficulty of refining them was also more than tenfold. If Yan Sijing could refine such elixirs, her alchemy level was far beyond his expectations.

A surge of joy immediately rose in Yuan Ming's heart. Perhaps it was because his Divine Soul had grown much stronger; although he had only perceived it once, he had basically mastered the refining process of these crimson elixirs and had also memorized the required spiritual materials.

Yuan Ming had a premonition that as long as he could find those materials, his success rate in refining the crimson elixirs would not be low, and if he had the chance to comprehend it a few more times, his proficiency in alchemy would greatly increase.

The possession soon ended, and his consciousness returned to his own body.

Yuan Ming didn't actually go looking for materials to refine elixirs, as the most important thing at the moment was the escort mission three days later.

He put away the Stealing Heaven Tripod and released his first soul to travel underground toward Hundred Pills Square.

...

Three days later, Yuan Ming arrived at Hundred Pills Square on time as agreed and saw a maid in green waiting at the door.

"Senior Yuan, please follow me, miss and the other seniors are already waiting upstairs."

Yuan Ming nodded and followed the maid upstairs. Along the way, he casually asked, "How many Fellow Daoists did your workshop invite to participate in the escort mission?"

"In addition to yourself, senior, there are two other seniors who have accepted the task. Including the tributor and elder of our workshop, there are five participants in total," the maid replied.

As they spoke, the maid led Yuan Ming to a private room on the second floor and opened the door for him.

Hearing the movement, the several people sitting inside all turned to look at the door.

Yuan Ming glanced around the room and saw Yan Sijing sitting in the seat of honor, giving him a slight nod of acknowledgment. To her right was a female cultivator in a green dress and a flower hairpin, with a beauty mark at the corner of her mouth, at the Late-stage Foundation Establishment.

To the left was an ordinary-looking middle-aged male cultivator, dressed in a plain gray robe, seemingly unremarkable, but his cultivation was at the Early-stage Core Formation, and his gaze toward Yuan Ming was full of scrutiny.

Apart from them, there were two more Foundation Establishment cultivators in the room, one particularly short, at least a head shorter than Yuan Ming, and the other fair and beardless, with the appearance of a scholar, gently waving a folding fan in his hand.

They too were of Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivation.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming's gaze sharpened slightly. Hundred Pills Square had not only offered the Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid as a reward for this escort mission, but they had also invited Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators and sent a Core Formation Elder to lead the mission, suggesting that the task was not as simple as Yan Sijing had previously mentioned.

However, Yuan Ming had already anticipated this, so he did not hesitate and entered the room confidently, finding a seat to sit down without concern.

Seeing Yuan Ming seated, Yan Sijing immediately smiled and introduced him,

"Fellow Daoist Yuan, you've arrived. Let me introduce you. The two beside me are Sacrificial Officer Ai and Elder Chai from our workshop, who are leading this mission. This is Fellow Daoist Gan from Hidden Hill Sect, whose mastery of Earth Magic is almost unparalleled among fellow cultivators at the same stage, and this is Mr. Bei Yan, whose Wind Manipulation Technique is incredibly refined, once forcing back three cultivators of the same stage single-handedly."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming gave everyone a polite fist salute and said, "I am Yuan Ming, it is an honor to meet you all."

Sacrificial Officer Ai and Mr. Bei Yan returned the gesture, while Elder Chai just nodded slightly. The short-statured Cultivator Gan looked Yuan Ming up and down before bluntly asking, "I'm quite familiar with the cultivators in Purple Thunder City, so how come I've never heard the name Fellow Daoist Yuan before?"

Yuan Ming replied with an indifferent smile, "I have been cultivating in another city, quite far from Purple Thunder City, beyond the reach of Fellow Daoist's attention."

At that remark, Mr. Bei Yan laughed softly while Cultivator Gan furrowed his brows, sensing something amiss in Yuan Ming's words but unable to pinpoint the issue immediately.

Yan Sijing, sitting at the head of the room, also picked up on the implication in Yuan Ming's words that Cultivator Gan had a narrow view, her lips curling at the edges, but she did not comment. Instead, she shifted the conversation,

"Well, now that everyone is here, let me further explain the details of the mission to you all."

At her words, everyone, including Yuan Ming, focused their attention on Yan Sijing.

Yan Sijing paused for a brief moment before continuing, "The caravan that all of you need to escort this time is headed for Black Moon City. Along the way, it will stop in Qianjun City and Oasis City for a few days to resupply. Apart from basic spiritual medicine and supplies, there is also a batch of precious elixirs ordered by Sha Ran Valley. This batch of elixirs is crucial to our workshop's reputation and must not encounter any mishap. Hence, we have made special arrangements."

As she spoke, she clapped her hands, and immediately several maids entered in file, each carrying a tray, and stood in front of the group.

On each tray, there was a gray storage bag, all sealed with forbidden spells and impossible to open casually.

"Among these five storage bags, only one contains the order for Sha Ran Valley. The rest are just decoys, but which one exactly contains the elixirs is unknown even to Elder Chai of our workshop. Therefore, I ask each of you to carry one, taking good care of the storage bag you are entrusted with. As long as it safely reaches Black Moon City in the end, the task is considered complete. Whether it is the actual bag or not, our workshop will present the agreed-upon remuneration with both hands," she explained.

Hearing this, Yuan Ming and the other two also dismissed the idea of probing further and directly accepted the storage bags.

Mr. Bei Yan suddenly asked, "Fellow Daoist Yan, the previous caravan from your workshop was robbed because it was transporting these goods, right? Have the identities of the bandits been investigated clearly?"

Yan Sijing's expression darkened slightly as she shook her head, "At present, we only know that they call themselves Feiyu and have a Core Formation Cultivator among them; the rest remains unknown."

Hearing this, Mr. Bei Yan snapped his folding fan shut on the palm of his other hand, sighed with heavy concern, and said, "Alas, although the Black Wind Desert has never been a place of peace, lately, major incidents are happening frequently. First was the inexplicable destruction of Earth River City, then the mining area of Guiyuan Sect was destroyed by something called the Nether Moon God, and now even Core Formation Cultivators have turned into sand pirates. If this continues, it's hard to say what else might happen."

"That's how it is. Where in the world is not in chaos? The small and large sects of the Northern Desert are constantly fighting, the Western Region and Qin Country have recently started disputes, and the Southern Border wiped out a well-known sect a few years ago. The East Sea is even more serious; news of the Three Immortals Island emerging has spread far and wide, drawing many cultivators there. Daily, countless conflicts arise and even the seemingly peaceful Central Plains has had many high-rankings sect members assassinated by an unidentified power in the past few years, with no results found to this day," said Cultivator Gan nonchalantly.

Mr. Bei Yan shook his head noncommittally, his face still showing concern, while Yuan Ming appeared indifferent, showing no emotion.

At that moment, someone from outside suddenly reported that the caravan was ready. Yan Sijing immediately stood up, said a few more words, and then had Elder Chai and Sacrificial Officer Ai lead everyone to the caravan's assembly point to set off.

...

Several days later, at dusk.

Taking advantage of the daylight before night fell, the Hundred Pills Square caravan, having traveled all day, set up camp on the spot, ready to rest.

However, Yuan Ming, who was among the convoy, gradually developed doubts.

Though the journey had been uneventful these past few days, and the soul crows he had sent to scout around had not seen any sand pirates or suspicious cultivators approaching, the incredibly slow pace of the Hundred Pills Square caravan was beyond what he expected.

Logically, since the goods were important and there was a potential encounter with sand pirates on the way, the Hundred Pills Square caravan should be rushing day and night, or at the very least hurrying as fast as possible. Their speed could not possibly be slower than the mortal caravan Yuan Ming had joined when he first came to the Black Wind Desert.

When Yuan Ming shared his doubts with Sacrificial Officer Ai, he received an unexpected answer.

"Please forgive us, Fellow Daoist Yuan. After the last robbery, our workshop suffered heavy losses. We lost several tributors, and many of the experienced merchants among the mortals were killed or injured. Even the carefully-selected camels meant for transporting the goods were also taken away. The reorganization of the caravan has been hurried and many are inexperienced, which has slowed down our pace," Sacrificial Officer Ai responded with a wry smile.

"If that is the case, why not let us, who are carrying the important elixirs, go ahead first, and later assign personnel to deliver the remaining goods?" Yuan Ming inquired further.

Sacrificial Officer Ai sighed, "After the caravan was robbed last time, the workshop owner reassigned a large number of people to deal with other matters. Now, even those who can accompany the caravan are..."

Yuan Ming then realized, Hundred Pills Square was in a difficult situation and naturally wanted to spend money on one task to accomplish two. That explained why they, the Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators, had taken on the job which should have been undertaken by Qi Refining cultivators.

Sacrificial Officer Ai gave the same explanation to Mr. Bei Yan and Cultivator Gan. Although they were somewhat dissatisfied, considering the remuneration, they ultimately had nothing more to say.

That night, Yuan Ming sat silently meditating in his tent, pondering over Sacrificial Officer Ai's explanation, yet he had a nagging feeling that something was not quite right.

Reassembling the personnel in a rush without understanding the origins of the sand pirates, even hiring several Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators for protection, still didn't seem safe enough.

Moreover, Hundred Pills Square was a large workshop, with Core Formation Cultivators in its ranks, capable of producing Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid of such grade. It was unlikely that it would fall into such decline simply because of one instance of being plundered.

As he was contemplating, the ground next to him loosened, and Hua Zhi suddenly burrowed up from below, arriving in front of Yuan Ming.

"Master, there are eight cultivators about dozens of miles to the northeast, rushing here using the Earth Tunneling Technique," Hua Zhi reported.

"What is their cultivation level?" Yuan Ming raised an eyebrow and asked.

"The one leading them seems to be a Core Formation Stage cultivator, going by the aura. I didn't dare get too close, for fear of being discovered," Hua Zhi replied.

Yuan Ming nodded and immediately got up, intending to inform the others in the caravan of the situation. However, as soon as he stepped out of the tent, he saw Elder Chai, dressed in a plain gray robe, standing not far from the tent, his hands clasped behind his back, gazing up at the stars in the sky.

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