What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

The car door opened.

The first to arrive was Jin Wanliang.

He was wearing a suit today, his face was shiny with oil, but what didn't match his attire was that he was holding two strings of walnuts in his hands.

He looked like a nouveau riche who had just closed a deal worth hundreds of millions.

"Brother Chen! I've come to see you!"

As soon as Jin Wanliang saw me, his eyes narrowed into slits with laughter, and he stretched out his hands to greet me from afar.

I smiled and nodded, about to speak, when I saw the passenger door open as well.

A leg wearing faded jeans stepped down.

Next came a young man wearing a black windbreaker and carrying a long, rectangular black cloth bag.

He had a head of slightly messy, tousled hair, faint dark circles under his eyes, and was holding a handheld game console that he had just finished playing.

I was stunned for a moment, then the smile on my lips instantly widened.

Li Qing?!

This kid actually came back without saying a word.

After our affair with the Black Wind Immortal outside the Great Wall was resolved, he took the top-quality materials we had gathered outside the Great Wall and went alone to the Northwest to find his master in order to repair the Apricot Yellow Banner damaged in the battle with the Black Serpent Sect.

He was gone for more than a month, during which time he only sent a few sporadic messages to let people know he was safe.

"What? Don't you recognize me? It's only been a month, why are you looking at me like I'm a ghost?"

Li Qing put the handheld console in his pocket, casually took out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and then raised an eyebrow at me.

His voice was still as irritating as ever, carrying a lazy, cynical air.

"That's a bit unexpected."

I grinned and looked him up and down.

Although he looked travel-worn, like an unemployed bum who had just come out of an internet cafe after an all-nighter.

But I could keenly sense that his aura was much deeper than before he went to the Northwest.

Especially the long, rectangular cloth bag he carried, which faintly emitted a chilling aura.

Clearly, his apricot-yellow flag was not only repaired, but also more powerful than before.

"What's the surprise? The surprise that I didn't die in that godforsaken Gobi Desert in the Northwest?"

Li Qing pursed her lips, walked up to me, suddenly stopped, and sniffed hard twice.

His eyes, which were always somewhat sleepy, suddenly widened and stared at me intently, as if I were a monster.

"Holy crap..."

Li Qing's fingers, which were holding the cigarette, trembled slightly, and the ash fell to the ground.

"Old Chen, what kind of super tonic have you been taking this past month?"

"What's wrong with your physical body... and that abnormal, malevolent energy within you?"

As a successor of the geomancers, Li Qing has an extremely keen sense of aura.

He clearly sensed the terrifying, restrained energy within me after my Mountain-Shaking Strength had reached its peak, as well as the powerful, murderous aura within me that was about to condense into a pill.

"I went to southern Xinjiang and encountered some opportunities."

I said casually, turning to the side and pointing to the lounge.

"Don't stand outside, come in and have some tea."

Jin Wanliang laughed heartily beside him and patted Li Qing on the shoulder: "Li Qing, let me tell you, Brother Chen is now a guest of honor of the Lan family in Southern Xinjiang."

Those methods, tsk tsk, I witnessed them with my own eyes.

The three of them went into the lounge, and I sat down at the coffee table and poured a cup of hot tea for each of them.

"Southern Xinjiang? Why would you go to a place teeming with poisonous insects?"

Li Qing carefully placed the cloth bag on the table next to him, picked up the teacup and took a big gulp, grimacing from the heat.

"You'll have to ask our lovely boss, Mr. Jin, about that."

After glancing at Jin Wanliang, I briefly recounted the story of the Lan family.

Of course, I didn't go into detail about the extremely crucial secret of the grandfather's arrangement inside the Gu King's body.

It's just that I helped the Lan family solve a big problem and received some gifts in return.

After listening, Li Qing leaned back in his rattan chair and exhaled a long smoke ring.

"Your luck is absolutely incredible."

I spent a whole month eating sand in the Northwest and almost got buried by some clueless bastards.

"You've got it all figured out. You went on vacation to southern Xinjiang and came back thinking you're invincible."

Li Qing's tone seemed to carry a hint of sourness, but his eyes revealed genuine joy.

"Are you in trouble?"

I caught the message in his words and raised an eyebrow slightly.

Li Qing's master was a reclusive master. Logically speaking, he should not have been in any danger while practicing magic artifacts in the Northwest.

"Don't even mention it."

Li Qing waved his hand, seemingly unwilling to recall that experience.

"When the magic artifact was being cultivated to its most critical point, it stirred up the earth's energy, which resulted in attracting a group of evil cultivators who appeared out of nowhere."

Those guys have really weird methods, unlike anything from the traditions of the Central Plains or the sorcery of Southeast Asia.

"And then?"

Jin Wanliang also became interested and stepped forward to ask.

"What else can we do?"

The old man had a bad temper, so he set up a Nine Palaces Flying Stars killing formation, burying all those bastards alive under the Gobi Desert.

Li Qing said it casually.

But judging from the slight twitching in his eyes, the battle was definitely not as easy as he made it out to be.

"but……"

Li Qing suddenly sat up straight, his nonchalant expression vanishing, and his gaze became somewhat serious.

"I saw something among the belongings left behind by those people."

"What is it?" I paused slightly in my hand holding the teacup.

Li Qing looked at me and said, slowly and deliberately, "A wooden plaque. It has the ancient seal script character '鼎' (ding) engraved on it."

The air in the lounge instantly became quiet.

The guardian of the tripod.

This ancient force, lurking in the shadows of history and harboring grand ambitions, has disappeared for several months after being severely damaged by the General Administration in the battle of the Jiangcheng City God Temple.

Unexpectedly, Li Qing discovered their tracks again in the remote Gobi Desert of Northwest China.

"It seems these people's schemes have never stopped."

Jin Wanliang stroked his chin, his smile fading, his eyes flashing with the shrewdness and calculation of a businessman.

"The Northwest...that area has many relics of ancient dynasties."

I gently stroked the rim of the teacup, feeling the warmth emanating from my fingertips.

"They're stirring up trouble in Wuhan, and they're also active in the Northwest..."

I spoke calmly, the image of the terrifying General Zuo in the Jiangcheng underground palace and the guardian of the cauldron whose strength overwhelmed us flashing through my mind.

"Li Qing, what did your master say?"

"The old man looked at the wooden sign and his face turned very pale."

Li Qing sighed.

He only told me one sentence: "A great calamity is coming, and demons will run rampant."

"Tell me to fix the magic artifact and get back to Jiangcheng right away. Don't wander around outside aimlessly."

I nodded and didn't ask any further questions.

Since Li Qing's master has spoken, it means that Jiangcheng will remain peaceful for at least the time being.

However, even if the guardians attack again, I will not panic.

Feeling the surging murderous energy within me, I calmly said, "It's good that you're back."