From a country cook to a master chef

Before they were certain how the other party obtained the inner disciple token of the Yanxia Sect, Xu Gong and his senior brother would not easily make a move against the young man in front of them.

Even if they do make a move, they will try their best not to hurt the other party.

As stewards of the Yanxia Sect, they knew better than anyone the temperaments of the Core Formation elders in the inner sect; each one of them was an eccentric person who fiercely protected their own.

"Young friend, could you please tell me the origin of this token?"

Xu Gong took a deep breath and began to inquire in a friendly manner, his address becoming more polite.

Seeing Xu Gong bow his head, Lin Jue smiled inwardly. If he had known that Zhao Xiaoyao's token was so useful, he would have taken it out immediately. Why wait until the Zhao sisters were trapped before showing the token?

"Senior, why don't you release my two friends first?"

Lin Jue smiled slightly, carefully watching Xu Gong's expression. If anything seemed amiss, he would immediately use the talisman in his hand.

Upon hearing Lin Jue make this request, Xu Gong frowned and his expression became somewhat unnatural.

His reason for not following the agreement and bringing people here ahead of time to take over the Xingxiu Sect's Lingyunwu was entirely due to considerations of personal gain.

After weighing the pros and cons and pondering for a while, he finally sighed, released the Zhao sisters, and said in a gentle tone, "Everything before was a misunderstanding, young friend, please don't mind."

However, we are here today to take over Lingyunwu under orders. There is one thing we need the cooperation of these two young ladies; otherwise, I will absolutely not allow the three of you to leave Lingyunwu today.

Upon hearing Xu Gong's words, Lin Jue looked at the Zhao sisters with surprise, a vague suspicion forming in his mind.

"May I ask what you require my sisters to do for you, senior?" Zhao Shuhui asked with some doubt, a hint of worry flashing in her eyes.

He saw Xu Gong, the steward of the Yanxia Sect, call his two junior disciples to his side and whisper some arrangements. Even the fake core cultivator who had been observing everything from the sky without making a move had become serious.

It seems that what they are about to do is extremely important and cannot afford to make the slightest mistake.

Seeing this, Lin Jue silently walked to the two women's side and said in a low voice, "Miss Zhao, I think they are here for the ink crystals you have. If they want them, give them to them. Anyway, I have some extra here, enough to activate the ancient teleportation array."

Upon hearing this, both women showed surprise, but they were no ordinary people, and their expressions quickly returned to calm as they nodded slightly.

"Gentlemen, please put the items on the jade slip into this storage bag and hand it to us before you can leave."

At Xu Gong's instruction, the purple-robed youth walked out with a smile and tossed the storage bag and jade slip in his hand to the Zhao sisters.

Zhao Shuhui took the jade slip and saw that it was indeed as Lin Jue had said. These four people had somehow found out that they possessed black crystals, and even knew that they had four of them. That's why they came here early under the name of the Yanxia Sect, not at the agreed time, and their purpose was to obtain the black crystals.

To avoid angering the four, the Zhao sisters, though unwilling, obediently put the black crystal into their storage bags.

Upon seeing this, Xu Gong's heart stirred, and he immediately used his magic to snatch back the storage bag and inspect it. His expression immediately turned to ecstatic joy.

"Very well, considering that you are all quite sensible, we'll leave it at that for today. You have one day to leave Lingyunwu. Tomorrow, Yanxia Sect will officially take over this place."

Xu Gong chuckled, turned around and left with his two junior disciples. The pseudo-core cultivator who had been watching this place nodded in satisfaction and suddenly transformed into a streak of light and flew into the sky.

Seeing this, Lin Jue and the Zhao sisters both breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Zhao Shuhui seemed to have thought of something and quickly suggested, "Senior Brother Lin, these four people have ulterior motives. Their words cannot be trusted. Time is of the essence. Why don't we activate the teleportation array now and leave this place?"

"Yes, that's right. Let's set off immediately."

Lin Jue shared the same idea as Zhao Shuhui, and the three of them didn't even bother to pack their luggage, heading straight for the back mountain of the Xingxiu Sect.

……

On the other side, on a small hill more than ten miles away from Lingyunwu, Xu Gongzheng and his senior brother Xiong Kuo stood side by side, their gazes fixed on the location of the Xingxiu Sect.

"Senior Brother Xiong, why do you think there are black crystals near the Starry Sky Sect? Even the Ancestor is extremely envious of these things." Xu Gong directly stated his thoughts without beating around the bush.

He and Xiong Kuo were from the same hometown. They both entered the Yanxia Sect together and have been cultivating there for over a hundred years.

They were both very familiar with each other's habits; while they wouldn't say they knew each other inside and out, they were close enough.

"Ink crystal has many uses, but most of the time it is used to refine spatial magical artifacts and treasures."

To craft treasures with spatial attributes, the effect will be greatly reduced without ink crystals.

Upon hearing Xu Gong's words, Xiong Kuo was taken aback at first, but then slowly recounted what he knew.

While gemstones like morion may not be considered groundbreaking, their value lies in their extreme rarity.

Their purpose in doing so was precisely for these four ink crystals, but not for themselves. They intended to offer them to the patriarch of the Yanxia Sect in exchange for other treasures bestowed upon them by the patriarch.

In contrast, keeping the black crystal on them is not only useless, but may also bring some unnecessary trouble.

However, if it is handed over to the sect, the effects and benefits are self-evident.

After hearing his senior brother's reply, Xu Gong simply smiled faintly, then took out a piece of black crystal and examined it carefully. After pondering for a moment, he murmured, "I have heard people say that this thing has another important use besides refining weapons."

As the core of the formation, it constructs a teleportation array to enable long-distance spatial teleportation.

Upon hearing this, Xiong Kuo's expression changed, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Spatial teleportation!"

"I remember now, this item is indeed essential for spatial teleportation. I recall that within the entire Great Wu territory, there seem to be only two places with such spatial teleportation arrays: one is the Hengyue Sect of Haoran Prefecture, and the other is the Imperial City of Tiandu Prefecture."

Upon hearing his senior brother's words, Xu Gong immediately smiled and nodded, saying, "That's true. However, the space teleportation arrays in these two places can only connect the arrays of these two prefectures and cannot achieve the ultra-long-distance teleportation recorded in the ancient books."

After speaking, before Xiong Kuo could reply, Xu Gong calmly continued, "Senior Brother Xiong, do you still remember what the Xingxiu Sect was founded on?"

Xiong Kuo's expression froze, then he suddenly realized what was happening and exclaimed with delight, "Junior Brother Xu, do you mean to suspect that there is a teleportation array inside the Starry Constellation Sect?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Gong nodded noncommittally, then looked at the Xingxiu Sect not far away and sneered: "Back then, the Xingxiu Ancestor was a late-stage Core Formation cultivator and was famous in the Great Wu for his array formations. After that, he established the Xingxiu Sect in Lingyunwu."

The recent appearance of black crystals around Lingyunwu makes it hard not to think of something.

Upon seeing Xu Gong's expression, Xiong Kuo immediately understood what he was thinking and said in a half-joking tone, "In that case, why don't we sneak into Lingyunwu now and take a look? If there really is a teleportation array in the village, then we will have done a great service. In the future, let's see who will dare to look down on us in the outer sect."

"Hehe, Senior Brother Xiong really understands his junior brother. Those three juniors would never have dreamed that the two of us would personally launch a surprise attack on them." Xu Gong chuckled to himself.

"Wait, there's one more thing." Xiong Kuo suddenly remembered something, quickly put away his smile, grabbed his junior brother Xu Gong, and said seriously, "I seem to remember, the token on that mortal martial artist seems to belong to Elder Li of the inner sect."

Regardless of how he obtained it, Elder Li of the Inner Sect is the most protective of all the elders. We must not harm that kid in the slightest unless absolutely necessary.

"You mean Elder Li Xuanying of the Inner Sect?" Xu Gong could no longer maintain his composure and asked with considerable fear.

Speaking of Elder Li, apart from his disciples, a few elders, and the patriarch of the Yanxia Sect, he was a fearsome shrew that everyone trembled at the mere mention of his name.

Xu Gong was punished by being made to tend the fire in the outer sect's weapon-refining room for three years simply because he did not greet him on the way.

"That's right, it is Elder Li Xuanying." Xiong Kuo nodded with certainty.

Xu Gong's expression hardened, and he said in a low voice, "In that case, we will only conduct a search tonight, and try to avoid the three of them."

Xiong Kuo readily agreed, as he was unwilling to provoke Elder Li from the inner sect.

After discussing it further, the two immediately set off and flew towards Lingyunwu.