Stepping out of room 164 to visit friends in other rooms.

Although a pack of vampires was now cooperating with the Heaven-Defying Palace, such a small number of people, compared to the entire continent, was no different than a single grain of rice tossed into a lake, hardly capable of causing a splash. Even though the searching capabilities of these non-humans rivaled radars, their cultivation level was a fatal flaw; unless every single one of them possessed a strength comparable to the Void-Transforming stage, it would be practically impossible to drag the person out.

After searching for some time, the insiders of the Luo family gradually realized that this matter was not so easy, so they temporarily shelved it and resumed their normal lives.

With the Second Palace Master of the Heaven-Defying Palace gone, the burden was shouldered by four trusted aides: Lu Qinghuo, Su Heng, Ciba, and Guizhao. They had once been dispatched by Luo Li to the mortal realm for a period of time to learn management experience. Although the conservative mindset deep in their bones was hard to change, their horizons had broadened considerably. After more than a decade of tempering, they had all accumulated a set of effective management strategies, cooperating with one another seamlessly.

In addition, the die-hard fans of the Heaven-Defying Palace had also grown up. Most of them had advanced to the Golden Core stage, with only a little over a hundred unpromising fellows still stuck at the peak of Foundation Establishment. These two thousand and some subordinates who had stepped into the Golden Core stage were gathered together. After undergoing a series of tests on loyalty and strength, two thousand were selected and incorporated into the Heaven-Defying Palace's new trump card, the "God-Slaying Hall," personally led by the First Palace Master Qin and brought back to the Li Palace for special training.

The remaining nearly one thousand Golden Core members were still assigned to the Xingtian, Genchen, Tanlang, and Queying Halls, responsible for the daily affairs within the Heaven-Defying Palace. A new task was also added: tutoring the newly produced little demons within the great formation. Thus, the wretched second-generation die-hard fans began to be tormented by their seniors right from birth.

Finally, subordinate halls were established beneath these four halls. Those unpromising fellows were promoted to hall masters, planted with restrictive loyalty seals in their bodies, and given a sum of funds before being dispatched to various cultivation towns on the ground. They were told to build branch halls independently, develop subordinates, and channel new blood into the Heaven-Defying Palace: spiritual roots and cultivation levels were all fleeting clouds; the key was that they must be loyal, dim-witted, and easy to brainwash. Such talents were truly abundant in the earthly cultivation realm.

If these hall masters performed well, they might receive the "Boundary-Breaking Pill" bestowed by the Palace Master (or Madame), a pill that possessed the efficacy of breaking through bottlenecks, though whether one could actually break through depended on luck. If taking it allowed them to enter the Golden Core stage, they could return to the headquarters of the Heaven-Defying Palace and continue enjoying the marvelous spirit-infusion grand ceremony.

As for the Hegemon-Instrument Chains, the earthly cultivation realm was supervised by Gong Jinqian with the cooperation of various branch halls; over on the continent, Luo Yu and Bai Wuhuo personally planned the operations. Not only was this business lucrative, but it could also serve as an intelligence network, so it must absolutely not be abandoned.

To temper the divine sense and control of their subordinates, Hegemon-Instrument has always pursued a low-end route, firmly refusing to sell items of the magical treasure tier, and its clients were mostly cultivators below the Foundation Establishment stage.

These cultivators lacked broad horizons and many were absolute fools. Sometimes they would bring materials they could not identify to exchange for spiritual coins. After receiving them, the employees of Hegemon-Instrument would uniformly take them to the professionals of the Heaven-Defying Palace for identification. Over time, they actually accumulated quite a few fine materials. Luo Yu put all of them together with the good materials and immortal stones and jades he had acquired in the Heavenly Court into "Chaos," storing them in his belly for maximum safety.

The affairs within the palace sounded simple, but were extremely tedious in practice. They had been busy for over half a year before getting the internal affairs of the palace back on track.

Now, every single Golden Core subordinate of the Heaven-Defying Palace could forge a dozen magical implements simultaneously. Although their proficiency was not much better than Luo Yu's and Qin Yue's when they were in the Foundation Establishment stage, it was still something ordinary cultivators could never hope to attain. However, compared to the entire Eastern Divine Kingdom, the output of such magical implements was still far too little.

Luo Yu was extremely conflicted: missing out on devouring such a massive market all by himself was so sorrowful! Little money bags were flying away right before his eyes into other people's cosmos sacks...

Yet, even with envy, this matter could not be rushed; it had to be developed slowly.

After finishing a pile of serious matters, Luo Yu and Qin Yue finally heaved a sigh of relief.

The two of them had not spent time alone together for a very long time, so they decided to ditch Bai Wuhuo and go out on a date for a stroll. What Langhai Plain actually looked like, they hadn't even had the chance to examine closely yet.

...

The evening glow was flushed and rosy, and the water mists drifted in curls; the spiritual islands stood gracefully, and the mountain shadows rippled shimmering light.

The young couple stepped on white clouds, drifting leisurely and skimming across the surface of the lake. The breeze brushing against their cheeks carried a trace of aquatic fishy scent, crisp, cool, and comfortably refreshing.

Pretty little boats constantly swept past the two of them, each one exquisite and translucent, resembling jade carvings. Their cabins were piled high with spiritual clams and various kinds of shrimps, crabs, and fish, presumably scooped up from the lake for dinner. These aquatic products were rich in spiritual energy; long-term consumption by cultivators would not only satisfy their palates, but also provide a boost to their cultivation.

The spiritual energy on the continent was abundant, and cultivators did not need to rush into closed-door seclusion racing against time as they did in the earthly realm. This fairyland possessed a bit more of the warmth of human fireworks.

Luo Yu kept his attention on those fishing boats: whenever one of them came to a halt while traveling, the cultivator aboard would open a small hatch at the stern of the boat, drop in a couple of spiritual coins, and then continue onward. Only a very few exquisite painted pleasure boats lacked this drawback—upon close inspection of the array patterns carved on them, they indeed seemed capable of absorbing spiritual energy.

Such array patterns carved onto magical implements to absorb spiritual energy were different from the array patterns that ordinary mountain-protecting formations used to absorb spiritual energy. The former were built on the foundation of tangible matter, whereas the latter, aside from the array disc used for activation, could be said to have no tangible matter as support; the realms between the two could not be mentioned in the same breath.

Array formations were Luo Yu's old trade, so he was naturally very interested. He enthusiastically incited Qin Yue: "Come on, let's go see how accomplished the array masters here are, and whether they are as formidable as your lord husband!"

With that, he dragged Qin Yue to fly over to a nearby spiritual island and began studying the other party's mountain-protecting formation.

This study by Luo Yu practically frightened the patrolling guards on the island out of their wits: these two looked like... the newly arrived phoenix divine beasts of Yaolai Island? That island was formidable, possessing not only several Nascent Soul experts, but also a Void-Transforming nine-tailed fox... What... what on earth were they trying to do?

Luo Yu was quick with his hands and feet, and within moments, he saw right through the great formation: a protective array with a single function, capable of withstanding about five attacks from a Void-Transforming cultivator, unable to absorb spiritual energy from the air, and relying entirely on energy crystals to maintain operation. The array had flaws exposed everywhere; if he wanted to make a move to break it, it would take him only five minutes to finish the job.

Having finished examining the array, the two of them dusted off their clothes and were just about to leave when a cultivator suddenly popped out from within the formation. He wore a white shirt with a black lining exposed around his wide sleeve cuffs, and an ink-green cross-collared long robe draped over the outside. Two strands of straight, long hair hung down from his temples to his chest, while the rest was loosely swept backward and let loose, pinned with a long ink-green hairpin.

This person had a handsome, refined facial expression and an extremely serene temperament. There were two small, round red dots just above his eyebrows, and he held a folding fan in his hand.

After making his appearance, he first calmly sized up the two of them, then bowed with cupped hands and said, "Welcome to Xizhou Island, honored guests. Xiu Qiandai apologizes for failing to greet you from afar. May I ask what advice these two neighbors have for my humble abode?"

Luo Yu felt a bit awkward: seeing that this person's complexion didn't look too good, could it be that he had misunderstood something?

"Ah, sorry, we don't have any particular business... We just thought the barrier around your place looked rather nice, so we came over to take a look."

Xiu Qiandai frowned. The barrier looked nice? Wasn't it just a very ordinary golden color?

He asked with suspicion, "Your esteemed residence possesses layers upon layers of array formations; how could you possibly look down upon this crude array of mine? If the two of you have any pointers, please speak frankly!"

Since that excuse didn't fool the man, and seeing that the other party looked as if he was about to flip out, Luo Yu had no choice but to say, "Well... actually, I just have a bit of interest in this sort of thing. Seeing that your array formation is quite magnificent, I couldn't help myself for a moment and wanted to study it. I have offended you, and I sincerely ask for your forgiveness!" Having said that, he made another bow with cupped hands.

Luo Yu's behavior truly counted as an offense in the cultivation realm: a cultivator's barrier was equivalent to the courtyard wall of an ordinary person's home. If someone were to sneak around and pull petty stunts outside someone else's wall, the master of the house upon discovering them would inevitably come out and shout a few words.

Luo Yu had rarely openly studied a barrier that belonged to someone else. The only time had been his experience of stealing immortal dew at Xiuzhu Courtyard, but that master was far too generous and hadn't bothered to bicker with him at all. This caused Luo Yu's mindset to remain unchanged for so many years, and this time he had boldly waltzed right up without even thinking of avoiding people.

Xiu Qiandai pondered for a moment and accepted his explanation: after all, if the other party had really wanted to tamper with the array, they would have at least tried to hide a bit. Although this youth was exceptionally beautiful, he was somewhat foolish and didn't look like someone with covert intentions. Moreover, their background seemed pretty good, and he had no old grudges or new grievances with them, so there was no reason for them to harbor any designs on his Xizhou Island.

Having thought it through, Xiu Qiandai finally revealed a slight smile on his face: "So that was it. It seems I was overly suspicious. Since the two of you have arrived on the island, why not step into my humble home for a brief moment and share a cup of spiritual tea?"

Neighbors inviting one another for tea made Luo Yu quite happy: neighboring residents ought to maintain good relations, after all!

"Alright then! Sorry to intrude!" Luo Yu answered readily, took Qin Yue's hand, and the young couple followed Xiu Qiandai through the barrier.

Xizhou Island was entirely planted with maple trees. For reasons unknown to them, although the temperature here was just like spring, the leaves were all fiery red, and a thick layer of fallen leaves covered the ground tightly, giving people the illusion of stepping into autumn. The pavilions and pagodas on the island were golden-yellow and extremely exquisite, all constructed from spiritual wood with very sophisticated materials. Along the stone steps leading up the mountain, two rows of half-man-high stone lanterns were neatly arranged, with orange flames floating inside them—presumably serving as street lamps.

Luo Yu and Qin Yue exchanged their names with their host, and the three of them drifted leisurely, quickly arriving at the summit of the mountain. Xiu Qiandai invited the two into the outer courtyard's central pavilion, had a young page serve spiritual tea, and then asked, "Since Immortal Luo is well-versed in array formations, what do you think of this mountain-protecting array of mine?"

Luo Yu thought for a moment and said, "The defensive power is pretty good, quite tenacious. Did you forge this array yourself?"

Xiu Qiandai shook his head. "My ancestors originally hailed from the Eastern Land of Japan, and were skilled in attack and sealing arrays. After moving to this place, I realized that my family's ancestral unique skills were nothing much, and an array of this magnitude simply could not be forged. This array is named the 'Nine Stars Sinking Abyss Array,' and was purchased by my ancestors from the Immortal Mystery Pavilion."

Luo Yu said, "Why didn't you buy one that can automatically absorb spiritual energy? This one must consume a lot of spiritual coins, right?" He had roughly estimated that just to keep this array running, changing the spiritual stones alone would make one's hands sore.

Xiu Qiandai remarked, "Listening to the implication of Immortal Luo's words, could it be that the array on your island is actually capable of self-absorbing spiritual energy?"

Luo Yu felt a bit doubtful in his heart: he had heard that there were mountain-protecting arrays on this continent capable of absorbing spiritual energy, so why was this guy so surprised?

"Well, uh, it can indeed absorb spiritual energy by itself... Is that, um, very rare?"

Xiu Qiandai sighed and said, "Immortal Luo possesses abundant wealth, how could someone like me compare? Even within this entire Langhai Plain, there are very few who can utilize spiritual-absorption arrays."

Luo Yu said sheepishly, "Then... how much are the spiritual coins worth for the array at my place? Do you know?"

Xiu Qiandai cast a strange look at him and said, "As far as I know, the art of array formations originated from the Tang Kingdom in the upper realm, but up to now, it has nearly been lost. Although this Nine Stars Sinking Abyss Array of mine is considered nothing much in the upper realm, it is already quite decent within our country, and its price was also by no means cheap... As for your array... if its defensive power can rival that of my family's array, it is something you can only encounter by chance rather than seek—how could it possibly have a price?"

After a round of questioning by Luo Yu, he finally learned the truth: back then, the people who migrated to the mainland were basically rogue cultivators, and their cultivation levels weren't particularly high either, making their attainments in all aspects very limited, and the art of array formations was no exception. In the past, there were still some who studied array formations more deeply and could cobble together something decent, but these cultivators spent their time on arrays and inevitably neglected their own cultivation. Over thousands of years, these array masters reached the end of their lifespans and passed away one after another. Their descendants learned only half-baked knowledge and felt that this stuff was too profound and brain-wracking, thinking it was better to just make money and buy a ready-made one... Consequently, this created a current situation where good array formations became increasingly hard to find.

Of course, there were still people nowadays who could create arrays that automatically absorbed spiritual energy. However, although such an array differed from one consuming spiritual stones by only a single function, the level of trouble involved was several times greater. Array masters who made such arrays were certainly unwilling to sell them cheaply; yet buyers believed that such arrays were several times more expensive than ordinary arrays and thus extremely cost-ineffective, so nobody bought them. As a result, the spiritual-absorption arrays crafted by array masters ended up remaining unsold in their hands, and they became unwilling to make them ever again.