With a thought, Ye Xuan directly took out the cushion.
The cushion was blood-red. Its material was peculiar—it felt like a mix of clay and plastic. He tried to squeeze it, but it wouldn’t budge at all. He simply sat on it. The cushion’s texture was surprisingly nice; it was soft and extremely comfortable to sit on.
The moment Ye Xuan sat down, the Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi within his body began to circulate automatically. And it was circulating with absolute frenzy! Golden flames instantly burst out from his body. Had he not quickly retracted the flames, the carriage would have absolutely been set ablaze.
Ye Xuan hastily stood up, staring at the cushion beneath him in shock. The cushion still looked perfectly ordinary. Nothing about it seemed special. "Why did my Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi become so frenzied the moment I sat on it?" he wondered. "Could it really be a treasure? But other than making my Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi turn frenzied, this thing doesn’t seem to have any other use."
He touched the cushion, intending to attach his Divine Sense to it. Although his Divine Sense couldn’t leave his body yet, he could barely manage to inspect an object through direct physical contact. The moment his Divine Sense covered the cushion, it vanished. It took him a long time to realize that the cushion had entered his Sea of Consciousness.
Bizarre! It was too bizarre.
The Sea of Consciousness couldn’t store physical items at all. No, it wasn’t that it couldn’t store anything—it could only store peerless treasures that contained inherent miraculous powers, like the Dragon Capturing Cauldron. Such treasures were not bound by the rules of the Sea of Consciousness.
After the cushion appeared, it acted exactly like a mat, settling directly beneath the Dragon Capturing Cauldron. But Ye Xuan absolutely refused to believe that this thing was just a simple mat. It was just that his current strength was too weak to uncover its true nature. Even the knowledge passed down from his ancestors had no information regarding it. Then again, his ancestors were still human, not omniscient prophets who knew everything.
Ye Xuan carefully inspected the cushion once more. Confirming he couldn’t find any anomalies, he decided not to bother with it anymore. "What if this cushion really is just meant to be a mat for the Dragon Capturing Cauldron?"
His Divine Sense exited his Sea of Consciousness and re-entered the Qiankun Bag. Ye Xuan sorted all the spoils he had obtained and placed them into a single bag.
From this battle, Ye Xuan had obtained sixteen Profound Level weapons of various grades. There were far more Yellow Level weapons, totaling over a hundred. There were also dozens of Yellow Level armor sets. As for Spirit Level gear, there wasn’t a single piece. It seemed that weapons and armor became increasingly precious at higher levels.
Additionally, there were Spirit Medicines of various grades. Yellow Level made up the vast majority, followed by Profound Level. Among these Spirit Medicines, the only ones useful to Ye Xuan were the Moonlight Grass and the Mortal Spirit Flower. Moonlight Grass, combined with other auxiliary medicinal herbs, could be used to refine the Strong Spirit Pill, which directly improved the cultivation of those in the Strong Spirit Realm. The Mortal Spirit Flower was used to refine the Mortal Spirit Pill, which enhanced the cultivation of those in the Mortal Spirit Realm.
Ye Xuan didn’t need these Elixirs, but they were of immense use to the Ye Family. Especially the Moonlight Grass—the more of this good stuff they had, the better. Unfortunately, the combined stash of the Ning Family Elders only yielded fifty-eight stalks of Moonlight Grass. He had no idea how many Elixirs that would produce. Fortunately, Moonlight Grass was a top-grade Yellow Level Spirit Medicine that contained massive amounts of energy. A single stalk could be divided and used multiple times.
Now, all preparations were in place. Once he returned, he would start learning Alchemy Technique. For now, it was time to crush the Twin Jade. Ye Xuan took out his Twin Jade and, with a smile on his face, forcefully crushed it.
At the same time, in a certain wilderness.
The Ye Family was still on the move. Although they didn’t know where to go or where to settle down, they all knew that the further away they got from Hongtu Town, the better.
"Dad, haven’t we been walking for three or four days? Why is there still no news from my brother?" Ye Ling’Er asked Ye Yizhou. Her face looked somewhat exhausted.
Ye Yizhou furrowed his brows and replied, "Ling’Er, don’t you believe in your brother? Then stop letting your imagination run wild."
"I know. It’s just that as the days go by, my heart grows more worried by the day."
"Ling’Er, it’s only been a few days. You need to relax a little. If you fall ill on the road from excessive worrying, what are we going to do?" Ye Yizhou’s expression grew stern. Throughout the journey, he had been worried about both Ye Xuan and Ye Ling’Er’s physical condition.
He turned to look in the direction of Hongtu Town, crying out in his heart. "Xuan’Er, if you really can stand against the Ning Family, please hurry up. I’m worried your sister won’t be able to hold on. Her complexion has been getting worse over the past two days; I fear she’s about to have another episode.
"Xuan’Er, crush the Twin Jade as soon as possible!"
As if hearing Ye Yizhou’s inner cry, Ye Zeyun, who had been marching forward, suddenly stopped. His pupils contracted rapidly as he hastily reached into his robe. In that instant, Ye Zeyun’s originally gloom-ridden face transformed into one of wild ecstasy. Perhaps due to the overwhelming surprise, his lips trembled.
"C-crushed... crushed..."
Ye Zeyun tried to speak but was so agitated he became incoherent.
Beside him, Ye Yiwei asked in confusion, "Dad, what’s wrong? Crushed? Crushed what? You have a crush on who?"
Ye Zeyun tried his best to calm down. Pulling the Twin Jade, which had fractured into two pieces, from his chest, he gathered Spiritual Qi in his throat and let out a low roar. "The Twin Jade is crushed!
"Crushed...
"Crushed..."
Ye Zeyun’s voice echoed continuously across the wilderness.
SWISH SWISH SWISH!
All the members of the Ye Family skidded to a halt, every single pair of eyes locking onto Ye Zeyun. At this moment, Ye Zeyun held up the shattered Twin Jade with both hands. Bathed in the sunlight, his figure looked like a monumental stele.
Silence. The surroundings fell into a brief silence.
After a good while, the Ye Family erupted into roars of disbelief.
"It really is crushed! Ye Xuan actually did it."
"Then what are we waiting for? Hurry, let’s go home!"
The Ye Family hadn’t been moving very fast initially, but at this moment, they all broke into a wild sprint. The wind whipped up by their running felt inexplicably refreshing.
Ye Ling’Er’s eyes reddened with tears as she ran.
"Brother, you really did it!
"Brother, I’m coming home."
Time passed, and by sunset, Ye Xuan had returned to Hongtu Town.
The people from the subordinate forces were in the midst of rebuilding the town walls.
"Patriarch Ye Xuan is back!"
"Lord of the Family, with you back, we finally have our backbone."
Some of the people from the subordinate forces had been slacking off, but the moment they saw Ye Xuan, they immediately sprang to work with renewed vigor.
Ye Xuan glanced at their town wall and shook his head. Compared to the town wall of the Ning Family’s Main Town, this wall was indeed far too low-grade and short. But there was nothing he could do about it. The height and durability of a town wall were determined by the Town Mayor’s strength. Previously, Hongtu Town was merely a subordinate of the Niu Family. Its wall couldn’t even surpass the Niu Family’s in height, much less the Ning Family’s.
Ignoring the chatter around him, Ye Xuan turned to Tang Long and said, "Tang Long, you all go inside first. Oh, right, here are a hundred Frenzy Soul Crystals—take them. With these, it’ll be much easier for you to advance to the Frenzy Spirit Realm. You should go into seclusion for now."
"Frenzy Soul Crystals!"
Tang Long’s eyes lit up. Although Ye Xuan had told him where the Small River Vein was located, having actual Frenzy Soul Crystals on hand was the most reliable option. Calming down, Tang Long asked, "Lord of the Family, aren’t you going inside?"
"No, I’ll wait right here for my family to return. While I’m at it, I’ll familiarize myself with the Fire Manipulation Technique."
As Ye Xuan spoke, a cluster of golden flames materialized in his palm. To practice Alchemy, one must first master Fire Manipulation Technique.
After Tang Long went inside, Ye Xuan stood in the open clearing and began to manipulate the flames. The fire shifted into various shapes within his hands.