The lowest level of *Snow Dragon Cave*---

*Puff puff---*

The scorching lava surface was bubbling incessantly.

A huge platform made of obsidian was suspended above the lava pool by iron chains as thick as a human being. In the center of the platform, there was a three-story alchemy furnace with blazing flames at the bottom and rising smoke above.

Around the alchemy furnace, six *Core Formation* cultivators sat cross-legged in six different directions. They concentrated their spiritual power to maintain the fire in the furnace. Behind each of these six cultivators, there were about ten *Foundation Building* cultivators assisting them by supplying spiritual power.

Wearing the Sword Sect outfit and covering his face with a scarf, Ye Anping was also sitting on the ground at this moment, with other *Foundation Building* cultivators around him. He focused all his attention on sending his spiritual power to the *Core Formation* cultivator sitting in front of him.

Feng Yu Die held his left hand and sat quietly by his side with her legs folded to one side.

After sneaking into the *Snow Dragon Cave*, Ye Anping was worried that her silver hair would be too conspicuous. So, he found a secluded place where no one was around and wrapped a few bandages around her head to make her look injured.

As for holding his hand, it was to use the jade talisman given by Si Xuanji to conceal their cultivation level and identity.

Feeling bored, as she couldn't speak freely with other people around, Feng Yu Die could only turn her head and look left and right.

Seeing that she couldn't sit still, Ye Anping glanced at the *Foundation Building* cultivator sitting on his right side and whispered, "Shuiting, if you're okay, wipe my sweat, please. Stop looking around, you're too conspicuous. Elder Zhuang will spot you at a glance when he arrives."

"..."

"Yu Shuiting..."

"Oh..."

Only when Ye Anping called her for the second time did Feng Yu Die suddenly realize she was now Yu Shuiting. Startled, she looked around at the others and carefully raised her right hand to wipe the sweat from Ye Anping's forehead.

However, after wiping for a while, Feng Yu Die paused. She suddenly brought her right sleeve, which was stained with Ye Anping's sweat, to her nose and sniffed.

*"Sniff-- sniff--"*

?

Ye Anping looked at her action in confusion."What are you doing?"

"Uh-huh~"

Feng Yu Die remembered that Ye Anping told her not to say a word when she came in, so she had to nod and shake her head to express herself.

After a series of head movements and eye signals, Ye Anping finally understood what she seemed to be saying: ---*I want to see if you have a manly scent now.*

"..."

Ye Anping was silent for a while before he remembered that Feng Yu Die seemed to associate "manly scent" with the smell of sweat. He didn't know how to react, so he raised his eyebrows and asked: ---*So, do I have it?*

Feng Yu Die frowned, sniffed again, and shook her head slightly: ---*Nope*.

Ye Anping rolled his eyes and didn't want to bother with her anymore. He turned his eyes toward the platform above, where several high-level cultivators supervised the alchemy process. They seemed to be a little tired now, and some of them yawned.

Seeing this, Ye Anping secretly changed the wood spiritual energy he was channeling forward to water spiritual energy.

The demonic pill refined in the furnace was a fire-type demonic pill.

It required 60% fire spiritual energy, 20% wood spiritual energy, and 10% earth spiritual energy. As for the remaining 10%, it was used to store excess water and metal spiritual energy.

After all, it was impossible for Zhuang Yan to find sixty cultivators with single spiritual roots to supply energy for this cauldron furnace, and cultivators with two and three spiritual roots could not accurately control the delivery of only one kind of spiritual energy into the furnace.

Once this excess exceeded a certain range, especially if there was too much water-type spiritual energy, it would contaminate the main fire-type energy inside the pill furnace and finally merge with it.

This would result in the explosion of the furnace.

Right now, in this furnace, there was a gathering of spiritual energy from six *Core Formation* cultivators and sixty *Foundation Building* cultivators.

Once the furnace blew up, a loud noise would be heard for hundreds of miles around.

At that time, except for the *Core Formation* cultivators present, the *Foundation Building* cultivators who couldn't react in time to protect themselves with spiritual energy would undoubtedly perish in the spiritual fire.

At the same time, the flames from this explosion could also provide a precise direction for Sister Pei and her group who would have reached the **Jade Snow Peak** but could not find the *Snow Dragon Cave*.

This was the primary escape plan of Ye Anping.

Although there were several backup routes available, without a doubt, exploding the furnace was the simplest and most effective one.

*Rumble---*

The sound of the stone door opening was heard, and Ye Anping immediately changed the water spiritual energy back to wood energy and turned his head to look at the entrance above.

With his hands behind his back, Zhuang Yan stepped through the stone door, jumped out from the edge of the stone cliff, and levitated to the platform.

Two disciples in the *Core Formation* stage, holding iron chains, led Yun Yiyi and Yun Jiujiu, whose feet and hands were shackled, and landed lightly on the platform.

Zhuang Yan walked to the alchemy furnace and looked through the hole on top at the black demonic pill condensing on a golden needle inside. Then, he frowned slightly before raising his right hand and waving his finger.

A ray of light shot out from his fingertip and hit the chest of a *Foundation Building* cultivator sitting beside Ye Anping.

"Cough--"

The person coughed violently and, still maintaining the cross-legged position, flew directly out of the platform, falling into the lava pool below.

"Ahhhhh---"

The screams echoed throughout the cave.

After silence fell again, Zhuang Yan frowned and scanned the people around him. "If this pill is not successfully refined, I will send all of you to take a bath down there!! Take it seriously. If I catch anyone mixing impure spiritual energy into the furnace again, that person will be an example, just like this one!"

Upon hearing these words, the seventy or so people around him immediately became 200% more energetic and straightened their backs.

"Yes, sir!!"

Ye Anping clicked his tongue; Zhuang Yan's eyes were quite sharp.

The person he threw down just now was a cultivator with the three spiritual roots of water, wood, and earth.

He had dozed off, causing him to lose control of his spiritual energy output for a split second, and was discovered by Zhuang Yan.

It seemed that his plan to secretly send water elemental energy into the furnace was not going to work.

In that case, he had to use an alternative plan -- find an opportunity for Feng Yu Die to use her sword technique to break the restrictions on the pill furnace and make a hole in it.

He had a pure water-based spiritual pearl in his bag. If he threw it in, the furnace would still explode as planned.

What a pity that this *Water Spirit Pearl* was originally intended to be given to his sister for training. It was quite expensive too, costing him almost two hundred thousand spirit stones. Plus, Liang Zhu also received a big commission...

*Clatter---*

Suddenly, the iron chain wrapped around Yun Jiujiu's wrist made a soft sound.

The next moment---

"Haaa---!"

With an angry shout, her cheeks turned red instantly. The cultivator who was holding her chain didn't even get to react and was thrown into the air with a snap of the chain on her wrist.

"What?"

The *Core Formation* cultivator's eyes opened wide, and he quickly tugged on the iron chain in his hand, only to find that Yun Jiujiu's strength was much greater than his.

Just like in a shot put, Yun Jiujiu used the chain on her wrist to circle around herself and directly threw that man toward the group of cultivators on Ye Anping's side.

Ye Anping stared at this scene in shock.

He really didn't expect Yun Jiujiu to be so reckless.

Seeing the cultivator precipitate toward him, Ye Anping hesitated for a moment, thinking that Zhuang Yan would definitely come to catch him, but then he saw Feng Yu Die giving him an excited look.

"Uh-huh uh-huh?"

It seemed that when she saw Yun Jiujiu, she also wanted some action.

You guys really match each other... Ye Anping turned around and glared at her, warning with his eyes: ---*Stay still! It's not time to take action yet!*

As Ye Anping expected, when the *Core Formation* cultivator was about to smash into him, Zhuang Yan, who was standing in front of the pill furnace, immediately flashed behind the cultivator propping his shoulder with his raised hand, and stopping him firmly.

Then, he grabbed the chain from the man's hand.

"Second Lady, you are so impatient."

With that said, Zhuang Yan tightened his grip and yanked hard, instantly pulling Yun Jiujiu off the ground and making her fly toward him.

Zhuang Yan raised his right hand, caught the flying Yun Jiujiu by the neck, and suspended her in mid-air.

"Cough--"

Yun Jiujiu coughed violently as she struggled and swung her legs to kick Zhuang Yan, but no matter how hard she tried, he remained unmoved like a mountain.

Seeing that her kicks had no effect, she suddenly heaved.

"Ptui--"

A mouthful of spit flew directly toward Zhuang Yan's face. He reacted quickly and turned his head to avoid it, but he happened to be standing right in front of Ye Anping and Feng Yu Die.

The spit drew a parabola in mid-air and landed accurately on Feng Yu Die's forehead, making her close her eyes.

Feng Yu Die wiped her face, her eye twitching. However, seeing the look in Ye Anping's eyes, she could only bear with it aggrievedly.

Yun Jiujiu angrily stared at Zhuang Yan's smiling old face, almost grinding her teeth as she cursed. "Old Man Zhuang!! What the hell..."

However, she didn't get to finish her words when...

*Swoosh---*

A touch of blood splattered out.

In Zhuang Yan's hand, suddenly, there was a sharp thorn, like a dagger, that pierced Yun Jiujiu's chest directly, but it did not run through her back.

Yun Jiujiu coughed up blood and stared with bloodshot eyes. "I... "

*Boom---*

Before she could finish speaking, Zhuang Yan grabbed her neck and forcefully threw her. Yun Jiujiu's back hit the ground, creating a pit on the obsidian platform, and slid to the other side at Yun Yiyi's feet.

Yun Yiyi slightly widened her eyes. Although her expression still appeared calm, she was shocked that Zhuang Yan would actually harm them.

That last strike pierced through Yun Jiujiu's heart, and with just that one strike, she only had a 20% chance of survival.

Yun Yiyi looked at Yun Jiujiu, lying at her feet, passed out with blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. She clenched her teeth and glared angrily at Zhuang Yan, but she did not speak.

"..."

Seeing this scene, Feng Yu Die widened her eyes and instinctively grabbed Ye Anping's shoulder, asking him with her eyes: ---*Aren't we going to do something?! Yun Jiujiu is...*

Ye Anping calmly shook his head: ---*Not yet.*

Feeling her fingers digging into his shoulder, it seemed that she was very anxious. He reassured her with his eyes: ---Trust me.

"..."

Looking at Ye Anping's eyes, Feng Yu Die pursed her lips and glanced again at Yun Yiyi and Yun Jiujiu. She took a deep breath and relaxed once again.

"Uhm..."