"Hmph…" Yuqi the Venerable One suddenly scoffed. "Brother Ling, how would you like Master Ou to help?"

"Brother Yu, don't worry. Since I've come, I won't make empty promises," Lingfeng the Venerable One quickly responded. He looked rather proud as he continued, "We've begun to act after we received the news, so we're almost done preparing all of the materials required to refine Eternal Pills."

Ou Yangming was slightly moved. Sure enough, huge sects had incredibly profound foundations such that they had records of the refinement method for Eternal Pills, which had vanished for years. Needless to say, most importantly, they could anyhow find materials for this type of pill.

The only thing was that Ou Yangming did not believe that they could prepare all of the materials.

Yuqi the Venerable One sneered. "Brother Ling, don't be so sure."

Lingfeng the Venerable One's face changed. "Brother Yu, what do you mean?"

"You said that you're almost done preparing all of the materials. Are you sure that you have all of them?" Yuqi the Venerable One chuckled.

Lingfeng the Venerable One opened his mouth but remained conservative after a moment of hesitation. "Indeed, we're lacking the base."

"Is it the Phoenix Fire Bamboo?"

Lingfeng the Venerable One's eyes turned bright. He looked deeply at Yuqi the Venerable One and came to a sudden realization. "Brother Yu, looks like you've begun to refine Eternal Pills. Heh, I'm in admiration."

Given that he was a Venerable One, he was a notable figure, hence he immediately guessed the truth.

Yuqi the Venerable One grinned and looked at Ou Yangming. "Master Ou, did you gain something from your trip this time?"

Ou Yangming nodded. Since Yuqi the Venerable One did not avoid Lingfeng the Venerable One on purpose, there was no need for him to be an evil person.

"Yes, I was lucky enough to have gotten a section of the Phoenix Fire Bamboo."

The eyes of the 2 Venerable Ones gleamed at the same time. Although Ou Yangming said that he had only gotten a section of the bamboo, if they succeeded in refining the pill, there would definitely be more than one of it."

"Master Ou, can you open my eyes and show me how the Phoenix Fire Bamboo looks like?" Lingfeng the Venerable One asked with a smile.

He was only giving an excuse about wanting to have his eyes opened; he intended to check the material's authenticity.

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming would not be calculative over this. He turned his wrist and retrieved the section of the Phoenix Fire Bamboo.

The Phoenix Fire Bamboo was blood-red in color, and it was covered in natural veined patterns. The veined patterns looked like a burning flame as a whole. If one stared at the bamboo for too long, one might have an illusion that it was being burned.

Even though the Venerable Ones were seeing the item for the first time, they could sense through their spiritual senses the enormous life force that it carried.

The energy was related to a Heavenly Phoenix Fire, and it even contained a hint of the Phoenixes' secret to be resurrected. The Venerable Ones could not perceive the power, but it did not stop them from experiencing its magnificence and toughness.

After a brief moment, they looked at each other and nodded. It was clear that they were surprised yet overjoyed.

Lingfeng the Venerable One sighed. "Master Ou, you previously left to look for this Phoenix Fire Bamboo, right?"

Ou Yangming chuckled. "I wasn't looking for it; I was breeding it."

"Oh, breeding it…" Lingfeng the Venerable One looked resentfully at Yuqi the Venerable One. "Brother Yu, you're not being a good friend."

Yuqi the Venerable One could not help but laugh. He did not feel guilty at all. "You didn't state your purpose of visit, so why would I tell you about Master Ou's whereabouts?" Nevertheless, while he explained, he thought, 'Even we didn't know where Master Ou went, so how could I have told you?'

Struck with a thought, Ou Yangming asked out of the blue, "Venerable Ones, have you heard of Blood Shadow?"

The Venerable Ones' faces changed. Yuqi the Venerable One asked in a deep voice, "Master Ou, why are you asking this?"

Ou Yangming answered honestly after some thought, "I encountered this powerhouse when I was outside this time, and he wanted to ambush me."

"What?"

As steady as the Venerable Ones were, they were appalled when they heard that.

"You… Master Ou, how did you get away?" Lingfeng the Venerable One asked with a strange look on his face.

Ou Yangming was only an Intermediate Spiritualist, after all, thus it was simply unbelievable for him to escape from Blood Shadow's ambush.

The young fellow looked at them with an unpredictable expression. "Did you forget who I am?"

Lingfeng the Venerable One and Yuqi the Venerable One were stunned before they came to a sudden realization. 'The Phoenixes' messenger! Looks like Feng Xiang must've given him some benefit before it left the Spiritual Realm. It won't be enough for him to dominate the realm, but he'll have no problem surviving here.'

In actuality, even if they racked their brains, they could not have guessed the real reason.

"Master Ou, have you heard of the Sky-devouring Devil God?" Yuqi the Venerable One asked in a deep voice.

Ou Yangming's eyes shone. "I've heard of it, but I've only read about it from ancient books, which only mention it roughly." Following that, he expressed sincerely, "Please enlighten me on the Devil God's origin."

Since Blood Shadow wanted to go against him, he would not let himself be seized just like that. It would be good for him to find out more about his opponent.

"The Sky-devouring Devil God's an extremely fearsome devil. Nobody knows its origin but when it appeared 10,000 years ago, it was already so formidable that almost nobody could resist it," Yuqi the Venerable One explained sternly. He sighed before he continued, "I've only heard a little about this matter. The Sky-devouring Devil God was said to have behaved brutally in the Spiritual Realm for years as though it wanted to devour the whole realm, which was why the Guardian was infuriated. Legend has it that the Guardian attacked and ended up being defeated and wounded together with the Devil God. The Devil God fell, but the Guardian was nowhere to be found."

Ou Yangming was taken aback. "The Spiritual Realm's Guardian? Who's that?"

"I have no idea," Yuqi the Venerable One answered right away, "If I'm able to surpass the Venerable One's boundary one day, I might be able to get in touch with such a powerhouse."

He sounded like he was looking forward to that day.

Ou Yangming fell silent at once. Given that the Venerable One thought so highly of that being, he figured that the being was not someone that he could provoke at the moment.

Yuqi the Venerable One kept quiet for a moment before he continued, "After the Sky-devouring Devil God fell, the force that it established was unanimously encircled. The force fell apart and disappeared since then but in the recent century, there were signs of it being revived again. Blood Shadow's the most famous follower of the Sky-devouring Devil God in Danzhou. Nobody knows his real cultivation base, but he has endless ever-changing tricks, making him difficult to be guarded against."

Once he was done talking, he looked deeply at Ou Yangming and remarked, "You were really lucky to have been able to flee from his ambush."

"Oh, how's Blood Shadow as compared to an insect Venerable One? Say… The 10,000-legged Venerable One," Ou Yangming asked curiously.

Yuqi the Venerable One replied to him after some thought, "I don't know, but if I get to choose, I'd rather be in a life-or-death fight with the 10,000-legged Venerable One than go against Blood Shadow."

It was then when Ou Yangming knew how frightening Blood Shadow's strength was to Yuqi the Venerable One.

Despite that, when Ou Yangming thought about the blood lines that were devoured by the giant head, he felt that Blood Shadow's power was only so-so. On the other hand, the 10,000-legged Venerable One was a tougher fight for him.

Lingfeng the Venerable One suggested, "Master Ou, Blood Shadow might be unusual, but Mount Wuzhi's secure and strictly protected, so it can't be easily entered by any living being. Hehe, why don't you come over to have our discussion?"

Yuqi the Venerable One was furious. "Brother Ling, what do you mean? Hmph, are you saying the Beast King Sect's accessible to anyone?"

Having said that, he did not know that while the Beast King Sect's defense was powerful, it was very flawed to Blood Shadow. Apart from the forbidden areas, the other spots could really be easily accessed.

Lingfeng the Venerable One cleared his throat hard. He smiled apologetically and said, "It was a slip of the tongue, it was a slip of the tongue. Brother Yu, please don't take it to heart."

He was not afraid of Yuqi the Venerable One, but he did not want to offend the Beast King Sect over such a trivial matter.

Yuqi the Venerable One scoffed. "Master Ou, since you've obtained the Phoenix Fire Bamboo, why don't we start refining the pills?"

Lingfeng the Venerable One's face changed. He quickly expressed, "Brother Yu, the refinement of Eternal Pills is an important matter, so why don't we collate and examine it carefully together?"

Ou Yangming was dumbfounded. He looked at the Venerable One in shock and thought, 'We're refining pills, so why do you want to collate and examine the process together?'

Yuqi the Venerable One fell silent for a while, then he said to Ou Yangming, "Master Ou, Brother Ling also has a certain level of attainment in alchemy. He's not as great as professional alchemists, but he's knowledgeable, so he should be able to help us in some way."

Lingfeng the Venerable One was naturally not on par with legitimate alchemists in terms of absolute alchemy. After all, he had only touched upon alchemy and did not specialize in it.

Even so, being a Venerable One, he was on a different level, hence he might sometimes give applaudable suggestions.

Ou Yangming would not reject the offer, so he smiled and said, "It's only right for us to work together." He hesitated for a while before he raised another question, "Venerable Ones, if we succeed in refining the pills, how should they be allotted?"

Yuqi the Venerable One quickly answered, "We're providing the materials while you'll be assisting the process by providing your Heavenly Phoenix Fire, Master Ou, so the first batch of pills should be split between us. That said…" He pondered for some time and added, "The powerhouse from Mount Wuzhi has a significant contribution toward the Humans in Danzhou, so I'm willing to present the first Eternal Pill if we succeed."

Lingfeng the Venerable One exhaled and bowed at Yuqi the Venerable One. "Brother Yu, thank you."

Yuqi the Venerable One shifted his body to avoid the salutation. "It's for the sake of the Humans, so you don't need to be so polite."

Ou Yangming raised his eyebrow and found it a little odd. 'What exactly did the being from Mount Wuzhi contribute for Yuqi the Venerable One to be willing to take a step back?'

Yuqi the Venerable One later cleared his throat and noted, "Master Ou, Gu Jiacheng has long prepared everything; he's only waiting for you and the Phoenix Fire Bamboo. Hehe, if you're not feeling tired, let's go and meet him now. As for Blood Shadow, what do you think about leaving the matter to us?"

Lingfeng the Venerable One had a cold look in his eyes too. "Yes, he's courting his death for having the guts to attack the Phoenixes' messenger. We'll notify all borders in Danzhou and will give you an explanation."