The destruction of the Bingyu Sect did not result in many casualties.

The high-ranking members of the Bingyu Sect who accompanied Ling Qi-xuan to “tour the town” with Yin Feng-laoren were all annihilated by Lu Xing-zhou’s soul banner. These individuals were involved in the ambush, so this could be seen as retribution. As for the Bingyu Sect’s main gate, attacked by the combined forces of Si Han and Tianyao Holy Land, the fighting was light.

Si Han needed to capture people for his own use and was currently organizing and incorporating the captives.

However, he did not touch the Bingyu Sect’s storerooms, which were guarded by people from Tianyao Holy Land.

Lu Xing-zhou, accompanied by Dugu Qing-li and Jiang Yuan, went to the Bingyu Sect’s treasure vault to look for things. Throughout the journey, Jiang Yuan’s face was sullen. She trailed behind by half a step, silent.

No matter how muddled she was, she still retained her memories upon waking.

The experience of sensually pressing herself against a man, pouting her lips for a kiss only to end up kissing a sword, made Jiang Yuan want to die.

And that wasn’t all; at the time, she was also tearing at her clothes, saying she was hot.

Fortunately, it was a repaired magical robe. If it had been ordinary clothing, she probably would have torn it again and exposed herself.

In any case, Jiang Yuan had been dazed since waking up. She had witnessed Yuan Mu-yu’s domineering maneuvers, dancing before a Wuxiang-level entity, which only caused a slight flicker in Jiang Yuan’s peach blossom eyes, making her feel a bit impressed.

Then she lowered her head again and began to ruminate.

The hateful little white-haired one beside her kept glancing sideways, making her incredibly uncomfortable.

Am I the “other woman” for her to look at me like that? We have no relationship whatsoever!

Jiang Yuan felt dispirited and wanted to leave, not wanting to be with them, but she couldn’t bear to miss out on the Bingyu Sect’s treasure vault.

She couldn’t bring many items when she crossed over, primarily her family’s crucial mechanical puppets and personal items like daggers. Other things were mostly useful elixirs; she hadn’t even brought many spirit stones. That’s why Jiang Du-xu chose a sea merchant’s approach to establish himself, simply for basic necessities.

What was the point of all the effort to explore the secret cave? Wasn’t it to find good things from this world, so as not to be called a beggar?

In the end, there was nothing in the secret cave, only a bed strewn with lace lingerie, which Lu Xing-zhou rolled up in the sheets and discarded.

After a long, hard fight, many small wooden figures were consumed, and the large mechanical puppet was slightly damaged by the Xuan Nü, yet they gained nothing. Oh, what she gained was being molested by a man and being treated as the “other woman” by the white-haired one.

If she didn’t recover her losses from the Bingyu Sect’s treasury, Jiang Yuan would literally want to kill herself; even if she wanted to run away, she had to endure!

The treasury door opened, and the dazzling array of treasures made Jiang Yuan narrow her eyes slightly, a hint of surprise as she reached out to brush the shelves.

The Bingyu Sect’s treasury might even be of a higher caliber than Si Han’s treasury… Ling Qi-xuan had communicated with ice demons over the years, and although his gains were sporadic, the information he obtained far surpassed that of ordinary people. For example, the bone dragon was first discovered by Ling Qi-xuan and used in his schemes.

Dugu Qing-li didn’t bother to choose; she simply took down the topmost jade box. Inside was a piece of ice jade. The ice jade emitted a misty, somewhat hallucinatory and distorted aura, looking unreal, yet its icy essence was strong and pure.

Even the well-informed Tianyao Holy Maiden, Dugu Qing-li, couldn’t identify it: “What is this?”

Jiang Yuan leaned over for a look: “Ice Illusion Divine Jade! This treasure is extremely rare even in the ancient realms; how could the mere Bingyu Sect possess it!”

Lu Xing-zhou and Dugu Qing-li slanted their eyes at her, one on each side. You people from the ancient realms keep saying “the ancient realms don’t even have XXX” several times a day, and you still claim you’re not beggars.

However, her knowledge was impressive. Neither of them recognized this item, yet Jiang Yuan identified it instantly.

Lu Xing-zhou asked: “What does it do?”

“It’s a top-tier ice-element treasure that has touched a hint of法则 (fǎ zé, rule/law). It’s mainly used for refining and comprehending ice-element illusion techniques or mirroring techniques. If one can thoroughly grasp it, one’s cultivation should increase significantly. Hmm, wearing it can also grant immunity to other illusion techniques.”

“Ice element also has illusion techniques?”

“Why wouldn’t it? Ice has reflections. Isn’t this white-haired one known for ‘frosty skies, frozen moon reflecting cold rivers’? Where there’s a shadow, there’s illusion. If you don’t even know this, your ‘Frosty Skies, Frozen Moon’ doesn’t seem to be a good cultivation method.”

Dugu Qing-li: “…”

Was her line stolen?

“Besides,” Jiang Yuan scoffed, “when ice mist rises, reality and illusion are hard to distinguish; what else could it be but illusion?” She scorned, “Bumpkins.”

Lu Xing-zhou: “…”

Forget it, given how soft her body was, he’d endure it.

Dugu Qing-li didn’t say much. She took out the Ice Illusion Divine Jade, looked at it, and whispered, “My cultivation indeed lacks this kind of thing… It’s a very good supplement for my comprehension… Perhaps if I thoroughly grasp it, it will be my path to Huiyang.”

Lu Xing-zhou felt a bit relieved. The little white-haired one was severely injured this time but gained nothing, so having this spoils of war wasn’t a loss. The path to Huiyang was truly a rare opportunity.

Jiang Yuan pouted, but she had no intention of arguing with Dugu Qing-li over ice-related items, as they weren’t suitable for her.

Even if the Bingyu Sect specialized in ice-related items, it wouldn’t be entirely without other types of things.

She snapped open a few boxes, but the items inside weren’t very satisfying. Their quality was decent, but none were suitable for her, so Jiang Yuan simply cast them aside. Then she heard Lu Xing-zhou say, “You should keep them.”

Jiang Yuan replied expressionlessly, “I’m not a junk collector.”

Lu Xing-zhou said, “You might not need them yourself, but judging by your family’s situation, you probably didn’t bring many things down. These can serve as family reserves.”

Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then nodded, picking out a few pleasing items to keep.

Then she started to look more favorably at Lu Xing-zhou: “You don’t want any? I know you inherited the Huo family’s wealth and resources, and you have many soft… erm, a lot of external support. But the items here are also quite special and would be a good supplement for you.”

“You also said they are just a supplement for me; your family needs them more urgently. Anyway, take anything else you fancy directly, no need to discuss.” Lu Xing-zhou didn’t dwell on this, waving his hand and moving on to search for other good items.

He considered it a tip; he had to let her gain something, or the girl would cry.

However, these so-called family reserve items were ultimately no match for personally suitable ones. At this moment, Lu Xing-zhou would rather not find anything suitable for himself, hoping Jiang Yuan could find what she wanted.

“What kind of silk thread is this?” Lu Xing-zhou opened a box, looking at the ice-like threads inside: “Ice silkworm silk?”

Jiang Yuan leaned over again for a look: “It’s Yuji Ice Flower Silk, extracted and refined from Xuanyin Jade Marrow… just a pinch for me will do; the bulk should go to your white-haired one.”

Lu Xing-zhou glanced at her red dress: “Mending clothes again?”

Jiang Yuan held back her expression: “Magical robes can naturally have things added and be re-forged and upgraded at any time. But this item is most suitable for your white-haired one. It’s infuriating; why does it seem like this place was opened just for her…”

Dugu Qing-li remained silent, simply collecting items.

Actually, Lu Xing-zhou’s Dragon-Subduing Armor still had a hole in the back, which also needed mending. But as Jiang Yuan said, the items here seemed tailor-made for Dugu Qing-li. While there were items of other attributes, their quality was far inferior to the ice-attributed ones, making them largely useless.

Lu Xing-zhou was somewhat better off, as there were at least some very special ice-element medicinal herbs here, which were very important for a pill master’s alchemy reserves. Jiang Yuan, however, truly found nothing useful besides adding some items to her family’s reserves, which made her pretty face flush with anger.

This battle essentially amounted to her offering herself up for nothing.

Lu Xing-zhou said with some apology, “Miss Jiang, do you have any specific needs? Please let me know, and if I see anything, I’ll keep an eye out.”

Jiang Yuan looked at his expression with a bit of surprise: “It’s my bad luck that I didn’t find anything suitable; why are you apologizing? You never promised anything.”

“I owe you a tip…” Lu Xing-zhou said, “Miss Jiang made a great contribution in this battle, but gained nothing. I feel bad about it.”

Jiang Yuan sneered, “Then I want a drop of emperor’s blood. Can you find it for me?”

Lu Xing-zhou said, “You should have said so earlier. Gu Zhan-ting has already been burned to ashes, otherwise I’d get you a drop.”

“Why would I want his blood?” Jiang Yuan laughed angrily: “Emperor’s blood refers to the ancient realm’s Great Emperors. Our eight surnames are all descendants of their bloodline, but after generations, the bloodline has become diluted. If I could have the same bloodline concentration as my ancestors, Wuxiang would be within reach.”

“You? Wuxiang?”

Jiang Yuan was expressionless.

Lu Xing-zhou stroked his chin: “Alright, I’ll keep that information in mind.”

He paused, then suddenly asked, “Was part of the purpose of your Jiang family’s crossing over to see if there were any ancient emperor tombs left in the Human Realm?”

Jiang Yuan froze, then fell silent.

After a long time, she finally said, “There were indeed some factors that made us want to find things that the ancient realms didn’t have… It turns out that although most high-end items from the ancient realms aren’t here, there are indeed a small number of things here that the ancient realms lack.”

Lu Xing-zhou said, “I suddenly thought of a question…”

“Speak.”

“If people from this realm wanted to cross over to the ancient realms in reverse, would it be possible?”

Jiang Yuan was stunned.

She had never thought about this question… For this realm to go to the ancient realms, what would that be called? That would be called ‘ascension.’

Can ascension also be a ‘crossing over’?

But theoretically, since one can cross down, can one also cross up?

This question was beyond her scope; Jiang Yuan was bewildered and couldn’t answer.

Lu Xing-zhou then asked, “You know about Tianxun, right? Are the pursuers you’re fleeing Tianxun?”

“Yes.” Jiang Yuan’s face paled slightly, and she lowered her voice: “It’s best not to directly call their true names; it’s easy for them to sense.”

Lu Xing-zhou nodded. This sounded mystical but was actually easy to understand. Even ordinary people might have a sixth sense if someone nearby was quietly badmouthing them, instinctively looking over. When such perception is amplified a billionfold, it naturally becomes “knowing by reciting the true name,” not so mystical after all.

From the current situation, Tianxun should be the maintainers of order, and they are opposed to those who crossed over, like Mohe and the Jiang family.

However, order maintainers are not necessarily righteous… Regarding the tampering with the heavenly tribulation, did the order maintainers really not know for so many years? They must have been aware of the objective situation that no one had ascended to the upper realm for so many years, right? So, was the tampering with the heavenly tribulation perhaps done by Tianxun themselves?

There’s another question… From the King of Beihai’s words, Tianxun and Mohe were originally allies. Everyone regarded them as the righteous side, and Mohe was even seen as a revered monk and holy Buddha, fighting against ice demons and the like. But Beihai was eventually betrayed by Mohe, and the king wanted him to tell Tianxun.

Mohe had once been pursued, but the pursuers were all silenced, and Mohe returned… The current Gu Yi-heng is Mohe’s avatar, using a method similar to Xuan Nü’s manifestation to cross over, so his true body should still be in the ancient realms. This means Tianxun might not even know that Mohe has been crossing over all this time, and the two sides haven’t fallen out yet.

The issues in the ancient realms are quite complex… Lu Xing-zhou actually wanted to send a message to Tianxun to see if Tianxun and Mohe would get into a messy fight. But how to send this message? He couldn’t cross over, and even if he could, he wouldn’t dare.

“So, why exactly did the Jiang family cross over? What happened in the ancient realms? Can you tell me the full story?” Lu Xing-zhou finally asked.

Jiang Yuan’s small face was pale, and she shook her head vigorously: “We’re not that close.”

Next to them, Dugu Qing-li’s voice finally came: “You didn’t say that when you pouted and kissed him.”