“The Sky Thunder Talismans were personally drawn by the young master himself. Don’t worry, you can use them. It’ll only be a waste on us.” Cheng Qi insisted with a smile. He had intended to give the storage bag to Cheng Yu earlier, but with so many elders outside the secret realm, it was difficult for him to give it.

Cheng Yu looked surprised at Cheng Qi’s words. After a moment of consideration, he packed away the items, then took out another storage bag and handed it to Cheng Qi. “Here, this is for you.”

“Huh?” Cheng Qi looked curious as he opened the storage bag and discovered over a dozen jade boxes containing spiritual herbs.

“It’s the spiritual herbs I’ve gathered recently,” Cheng Yu explained, knowing both of them were adept at alchemy and would find these herbs valuable.

“In that case, I gladly accept.” Cheng Qi grinned mischievously and stowed away the storage bag. Cheng Yu couldn’t help but lift the corner of his mouth at the sight.

After Cheng Yu departed, Cheng Qi still felt uneasy. He handed a jade bottle containing three drops of blood essence to Tan Eyu, asking her to accompany Cheng Yu and protect him during his time in the secret realm.

Only after ensuring Tan Eyu was escorting Cheng Yu did Cheng Qi throw himself into Li Tianyan’s arms, exclaiming, “Young master, I miss you.”

“Did you dig out the honeycomb on your own? Are you hurt?” Li Tianyan lowered his head to look at him, concern etched on his face, though he scratched Cheng Qi’s nose in a fond gesture.

“Tan Eyu dug it out, so I just stood watch,” Cheng Qi replied with a smile, stepping back from Li Tianyan’s embrace. He held a delicate clay pot in his hands, from which he delicately broke off a piece of honeycomb.

Offering it to Li Tianyan like a treasure, Cheng Qi said, “Young master, please try it.”

Li Tianyan looked at the honey-dripping comb in his hand. After taking a bite, the initial sweetness was followed by a surge in his spiritual power. Surprised, he exclaimed, “This isn’t ordinary Emperor Bee’s Honey!”

“Yeah, it’s a special honey I took for you, young master. It comes from the hive of the Core Formation Emperor Honey Bee,” Cheng Qi said with a mischievous grin, clearly pleased with himself. He had negotiated extensively with Tan Eyu and even sent numerous True Yin Pills before Tan Eyu agreed to help him.

Li Tianyan was taken aback by this revelation. Looking at Cheng Qi’s delighted expression, warmth filled his heart.

.

“Young master, which direction are we heading?” Cheng Qi asked, pulling out a jade slip and examining it. Since he encountered Li Tianyan unexpectedly, they didn’t need to stick to their original meeting place.

“Let’s go here,” Li Tianyan replied, his spiritual power connecting with the jade slip and guiding Cheng Qi’s gaze toward a valley not far away.

“The Empty Valley?” Cheng Qi read aloud from the mark on the slip. True to its name, it was described as a valley devoid of any notable features.

Li Tianyan finished chewing the honeycomb, licked the remaining honey off his fingers, and explained, “I passed by there earlier and caught a whiff of spiritual herbs.”

Cheng Qi’s eyes lit up at the mention of spiritual herbs. He trusted Li Tianyan’s keen sense of smell implicitly; if he detected spiritual herbs, they must indeed be present in the valley. With their goal set, they directed the Bull Beast straight toward the Empty Valley.

.

Cheng Yu was taken aback when the female ghost in red suddenly appeared next to him. His thoughts immediately went to Xiao Qi. “Are you Xiao Qi’s ghost slave?”

“Yeah, that brat asked me to tag along with you for a while,” Tan Eyu replied nonchalantly, having shed her armor and returned to her original form.

“If you’re following me, what about Xiao Qi?” Cheng Yu stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.

“With that guy Li Tianyan around, there’s no need for me to stick with them,” Tan Eyu shrugged. The brat just wanted to get rid of her so he and Li Tianyan could have some time alone.

“Really?” Cheng Yu smiled faintly at her response. “Then you’ll have some work to do.”

.

After landing near the Empty Valley, Li Tianyan caught the rich scent of spiritual herbs and the two began searching. They spent most of the day without finding any trace of the herbs.

The farther they walked, the stranger Li Tianyan felt. The scent of the spiritual herbs seemed to be right in front of them, yet they couldn’t locate them.

“This is strange, it should be right here,” Li Tianyan muttered, turning around again but finding nothing.

“Maybe your nose is broken, because I don’t smell any spiritual herbs,” Tao Wu’s phantom remarked sarcastically, lying on Li Tianyan’s shoulder and licking its paws.

“Do you even have a sense of smell?” Li Tianyan shot a disgusted glance at the phantom.

Cheng Qi knelt down and inspected the soil closely. “Could it be that the spiritual herbs are growing underground, making them invisible?”

Suddenly, Li Tianyan had an idea. He took out two magic weapons resembling glass beads and released them into the air to scan the valley.

Observing Li Tianyan holding a light mirror, Cheng Qi couldn’t resist peering over his shoulder. The mirror reflected the valley’s scenery, precisely what Li Tianyan was seeing through the magic weapons.

“Young master, what is this?” Cheng Qi blinked in curiosity.

“It’s Chi Zhuo’s Spiritual Eye,” Li Tianyan replied, his gaze fixed on the light mirror as he meticulously examined every corner of the valley.

After some time, Li Tianyan finally noticed something. “It’s a Natural Mirror Phantom Formation, no wonder…”

There were various types of formations, the cultivator-made ones typically had discernible flaws that even Li Tianyan’s spiritual eyes could penetrate. However, naturally formed formations were different.

These formations were often created by the defensive instincts of spiritual creatures, combining with favorable environmental conditions. Once formed, they seamlessly blend with the surroundings, completely invisible to the naked eye.

Due to the presence of this illusory formation, their previous attempts to navigate the area had merely circled around the outer perimeter of the valley multiple times.

Note

Remember when Chi Zhuo could see the fetus inside Mother Cheng’s belly. He planted a spiritual eye, which he stole from some cultivator, into his own eyes. Li Tianyan probably harvested it and made it into a magic weapon.