Chapter 40: A Strange Immortal Artifact

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The affairs of the Profound Heaven Sect were resolved far too quickly. Qiu Ci had not even anticipated that it would all be over without her having the slightest opportunity to make a move, rendering her completely useless for the subsequent cleanup work.
She deliberately visited her two little companions, Feng Ting and Zhen Yi, and discovered that over the past few months, not only had they tended to the back-mountain medicinal garden impeccably, but their own cultivation realms had not lagged behind either. Feng Ting was even on the verge of establishing her foundation, which immediately set her mind at ease.
Just as she was hesitating whether to return to the beast clan's side to continue laying bricks and building the city, Yu Xuan and Qi Hong hurried over in search of her.
"Senior Chu," the two of them bowed to her from afar, "thank you, Senior, for your benevolent assistance in helping our sect survive this calamity."
"Uh..." Could she tell them that she hadn't done a single thing? "Right, how are your injuries?" Recalling when she had just arrived, they had all been coughing up blood.
"Thanks to Senior's concern, with the heavenly treasures brought back by Jinghong, our injuries have already been stabilized. Once the medicinal pills are refined, we will recover completely." Mentioning this made their eyes shine even brighter, looking as though they were practically on the verge of kowtowing to her right on the spot.
"That's good then." Qiu Ci breathed a sigh of relief. "Is there anything else in the sect that needs help?" She always felt like she hadn't done a thing during this trip back, leaving her somewhat idle.
"There's no need to trouble Senior further. Those surrounding cultivators who survived have already been captured by our sect, and several Nascent Soul experts have also fallen. Currently, the Crimson Glow and Red Spirit sects no longer pose a threat," Qi Hong said with a hearty laugh, suddenly recalling something, and continued, "Oh, right, there is indeed an item we would like Senior to take a look at."
As they spoke, the two exchanged glances, and Yu Xuan cautiously pulled an item out, handing it over before her.
"What is this?" Qiu Ci froze for a moment. She saw that what the other party held was a pitch-black object that looked as though it had been scorched, resembling a cross-shaped magical artifact, yet devoid of the slightest trace of spiritual energy.
"This is the hilt of an immortal artifact," Yu Xuan explained. "Earlier, that person from the Immortal Alliance used this very item to summon that giant sword and shatter the mountain-guarding grand array set up by Senior."
"An immortal artifact hilt?" Qiu Ci took it and examined it closely. "How does this look nothing like a sword hilt, but rather like a... box?"
As she spoke, she instinctively pressed the protrusion in the center, and the next moment, a click was heard.
The cross-shaped object in her hand suddenly popped open from the middle, revealing a large expanse of red runes inside and a small piece of greenish—integrated circuitry?!
"This... really is a box!" Yu Xuan and Qi Hong were both startled. How could a mere box summon a giant sword?
Qiu Ci, however, was dumbfounded. Could this so-called immortal artifact also be a product of Blue Star?
[Master, Master! This is a spiritual aggregator! It's just that the version is a bit low; it should be an early experimental product. Look, right below the chip, there is a product serial number.]
She looked closely below that green chip, and sure enough, a line of tiny white characters was inscribed: A00087.
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[Still an archaic product from batch A00,] the good-for-nothing system remarked with utter disdain.
"Senior, although this magical artifact is already damaged, there is no guarantee that it cannot be repaired," Qi Hong said with a solemn expression. "The power of this item is truly astonishing, and immortal artifacts can only be driven by people of the Immortal Alliance. Therefore, we wish to destroy such a harmful object right here and now, lest—"
"Wait!" Qiu Ci interrupted him, saying, "Only the Immortal Alliance can use immortal artifacts?"
"Indeed," Qi Hong nodded. "Historically, only the Immortal Alliance knows the method to drive immortal artifacts. Others, even if they acquire an immortal artifact, are of no use."
"..." Qiu Ci felt even more baffled and began mentally calling out to the good-for-nothing system, "What is going on?"
[Impossible!] The system sprang up in agitation. [All products from Blue Star have extremely strict authority restrictions. Without your authorization as Master, others cannot use them at all, unless someone has stolen the authority.]
"Stolen the authority?" Qiu Ci frowned, looking closely at the chip in the center of the box once more. Was it her imagination? Why did she feel as though a faint red light was lingering around this chip?
She couldn't help reaching out to pry at it. To her surprise, the chip was lodged in quite perfunctorily; with a gentle touch, it fell right off, exposing a tiny droplet of red gem-like liquid behind it, which faintly carried a fishy stench.
This is...
Before she could think further, a sudden, urgent voice rang out, and a streak of white light darted forth.
"Young Master! It is the Young Master's aura; I sense the Young Master's aura!" Instantly, a translucent creature resembling a sheep with multiple tails shoved past Qi Hong and Yu Xuan, bounding before her and anxiously pawing the ground in circles.
No, where on earth did you pop out from?!
"Senior, who is this..." Yu Xuan and the other were also startled by the creature before them. The fact that they didn't launch an attack on the spot was already a testament to their trust in Qiu Ci.
"Feiyi!" Qiu Ci also wore a head full of black lines. "Didn't I tell you all to return to the beast city?" She had clearly closed the teleportation array.
"Exalted Immortal..." Feiyi lowered its head with a guilty conscience, its nine tails swaying back and forth, and said weakly, "This old man possesses merely a lingering soul and figured I wouldn't last much longer anyway, which is why I wished to remain by the Exalted Immortal's side to see if there was anything I could assist with. However... I truly did just sense the Young Master's aura!"
Qiu Ci frowned and looked down at the box in her hand once again. With a flick of spiritual energy from her fingertips, that mass of red liquid instantly floated into the air. "The aura you speak of—is it this?"
Feiyi's eyes widened. It leaned in to sense it closely for a moment, then nodded forcefully. "Indeed, this is True Dragon blood; it is undoubtedly the Young Master's."
"..." Qiu Ci's expression instantly darkened, and a grim premonition welled up in the depths of her heart.
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Stolen authority, True Dragon blood, and these immortal artifacts.
She finally seemed to understand why only members of the Immortal Alliance could wield immortal artifacts. So this was the method of theft they employed.
Then, what about the Azure Dragon...
"Feiyi, relying on this drop of blood, can you sense the location of your young master?" she asked directly.
Feiyi nodded vigorously. "I can try."
With that, it accepted the drop of blood, and brilliant white light erupted across its entire body. Layer upon layer of tracking arrays illuminated the space, yet as these arrays appeared, Feiyi's already translucent lingering soul grew even fainter, as if it would vanish in the very next moment.
Qiu Ci watched with a pounding heart and was forced to step forward to interrupt. "Alright, stop! If you push yourself like this, you won't have a soul left."
"But the Young Master is still..." Feiyi remained somewhat unwilling to give up.
"I will think of another way." She turned her gaze to the other two men. "Elder Yu, do you possess any techniques to nourish souls and fix spirits? Help it out."
"Ah? Yes, yes, I do!" Yu Xuan nodded repeatedly. "We can set up a soul-nourishing array for it; that's simple enough."
Saying this, he immediately began forming hand seals, and Qi Hong joined in as well. In an instant, an array formed, and Feiyi's fading lingering soul stabilized once more.
"Many thanks," she said, expressing her gratitude to the two of them, before leaping into the air.
"Senior, what are you..." Qi Hong, who was in the midst of setting up the array, paused in surprise.
"I'm heading to the Immortal Alliance!" Qiu Ci tossed out these words directly. "I have some matters to confirm, and it is high time I settled accounts with them." With that, her figure flashed, and she soared straight out of the sect.
"..."
Wait, you're going all by yourself?!
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