“It’s quite simple,” Elder Ouyang said with a wry smile, “Apart from the glacial Qi, there are other things in the Profound Jade Cave you must take note of. The pieces of Myriad Year Profound Jade may seem easy to extract, but in truth, every shard in the original vein is fused together using a grand ancient ability. In addition, the cave was further tempered through countless years of exposure to the glacial Qi. Even with particularly vicious treasures, they wouldn’t be able to do much harm. Why else would I leave such a large amount of Profound Jade here? If we are able to completely extract and refine them into treasures, our palace would receive a considerable boost in power, making us comparable to the likes of the High Zenith Sect and the Heavenly Devil Sect!"

“This Profound Jade can’t be acquired?” The old woman frowned in disbelief.

Master Arctic Dragon smiled and said, “If Madam Long have her doubts, please give it a try. You’ll find out for yourself.”

“Is it really true? I’ll have to give it a shot!” The old woman’s hair trembled and she raised her cane, pointing at a bean-sized piece of Profound Jade at the rocks in front of her.

A strand of yellow light was released from the top of the cane and struck the jade.

A muffled bang sounded, followed by a flash of light from the jade piece and little else.

The old woman’s expression faintly changed and her expression soon sank as hostile intent was made clear on her face. She flicked her sleeve, summoning a simple azure hammer into her hand.

She raised her hand in a blur and the hammer disappeared in a flicker.

A huge explosion sounded, followed by a flash of azure lightning against the jade. When the light faded, a cloud of white smoke was left behind.

The woman was dumbstruck by what she saw.

Arctic Dragon chuckled, “Fellow Daoist Long doesn’t need to be so startled. Even if you used more powerful treasures, you would only be able to destroy the piece of jade. You wouldn’t be able to extract it in its entirety.

The woman’s face grew unsightly, but she remained silent.

The grey-robed monk standing to the side then said, “Fellow Daoist Arctic Dragon, In that case, your sect can’t have much Profound Jade. I am somewhat puzzled by the generous reward you had offered us.”

Arctic Dragon momentary paused before breaking out into laughter, “Haha, you are quite observant Master Mojiu. Although my sect isn’t able to excavate the Profound Jade form this cave, our sect does have a method to mine some of it. Junior Martial Sister Bai, can you take out a few pieces for him to see?”

Bai Mengxin nodded and slapped her storage pouch, producing a small white bottle into her hand.

As the others closely watched, Bai Mengxin walked several steps towards a pile of rocks in front of her and nimbly opened the bottle, using her magic power to push out a drop of jet-black liquid.

As the drop flew to one of the pieces of profound jade, it left a trail of grey Qi in its midst.

When Han Li saw the liquid, his calm face changed expression for just a moment, but his eyes couldn't conceal his astonishment.

Fortunately for him, the others were entirely focused on the scene before them.

When the liquid made contact with the profound jade, it disappeared from sight.

In the blink of an eye, a layer of grey qi covered the profound jade, followed by a strange crack. The jade piece fell off and was picked up by Bai Mengxin.

The old woman, the monk, and Han Li all wore expressions of shock.

Arctic Dragon chuckled and explained, “This is a treasure that the palace founder had passed down. Every ten years, naturally occurring Yin Qi condenses into a single drop of Yin water, and it is only with this water that we are able to extract the jade from the cave intact. As such, we are only able to extract a small amount of Profound Jade every thousand years we open the cave.”

“So it was like that!” The monk exclaimed.

The old woman looked at the Myriad Year Profound Jade that was embedded in the cave all around her. A trace of resignation could be seen from her face.

On the other hand, Han Li’s heart was deeply shaken by what he saw.

“As for everything else, let’s talk about it inside the Great Yang Room!” Arctic Dragon then walked towards the red stone room.

The rest of the party followed suit after him.

When they drew closer to the room, they discovered that the stone was translucent and shined with red light. It emitted a broiling heat as if it were formed from fire spirit stones.

Han Li’s mind stirred, ‘Great Yang Essence Stone? I’ve never heard of this material before, but it sounded awfully close to Great Yang Flame Essence. Could the two have something in common?’

No matter how it was said, this was the first time he found a trace of the Great Yang Flame Essence. He had to indirectly bring up the topic and see if the North Night Palace cultivators knew anything.

When they entered the room, there was nothing there, but it was absent of devastating glacial Qi found on the outside.

With newground shelter, the cultivators relaxed, withdrew their glacial flames, and took a seat on the ground.

As soon as Han Li took a seat, the monk glanced at the side smiled, “I didn’t expect that in addition to the Myriad Year Profound Jade, there was also something as previous as Great Yang Essence Stone. To the best of my knowledge, this material is found in the depths of molten rocks. Additionally, it had to be refined specifically by Great Yang Flame Essence. How did your palace manage to find this much stone?”

Arctic Dragon dryly laughed, “I didn’t expect Master Mojiu to be so knowledgeable! However, we also have no idea how the palace’s earlier generations managed to acquire it. The following generations of the palace had only benefited from it. Now then, let’s talk about the other taboos in the Profound Jade Cave. After that, I’ll speak about the process to break my bottleneck in detail.”

The monk smiled in response and said nothing else.

When Han Li heard that the Great Yang Flame Essence mentioned, his interest was lit up, but his mood soon fell. He could only turn his attention to what Arctic Dragon was about to say.

...

Up above in a huge North Night Palace Building, there was a gorgeous middle-aged woman sitting gracefully in a wooden chair. There was a man and a woman sitting across from her, Bai Yaoyi and a grey-haired old man, the overseer elder. They were both looking at the woman with a stern expression.

“You mean the Grand Elder opened Spirit Void Hall and brought three outsiders with him?” The middle-aged woman calmly asked. Her voice was somewhat hoarse, but it had an allure that made it difficult to forget.

Bai Yaoyi slowly replied, “My Lady, it is true. However, he had already made arrangements in case of a contingency.”

The old man snorted and resentfully said, “What contingency plans? Why not do it as we always did? If they are too powerful and the grand formation isn’t enough to deal with them, we just hide away our elite disciples in Spirit Void Hall and have them conceal themselves in a dimensional pocket. As one of the Spirit Void Halls is occupied, we will only be able to save less than a third of our disciples.”

“Don’t say that,” the woman raised her brown and solemnly said, “If Senior Martial Brother Arctic Dragon succeeds, we will have nothing to worry about the demon invasion. But just in case, Junior Martial Brother Ye should follow the plans the Grand Elder left behind. I also heard that grade eight demon beasts have appeared on the island and that the patrolling disciples on the border have been killed.”

“That’s right,” the old man said with a serious expression, “Metamorphosed demon beasts have appeared. It seems they intend on wiping away our outskirts before invading the palace. This is mostly in line with their previous invasions, but there is one point that is different!”

“Oh? Junior Martial Brother Ye, please explain!” A bright glint lit up from the woman’s eyes.

With some hesitation, the old man feebly said, “According to my information, not only is the ice sea’s Ice Phoenix moving, but Myriad Demon Valley’s old Azureback Wolf has moved too. It seems Old Demon Che will also act as well.

“Old Demon Che? Impossible!” The woman’s calm expression turned grave in an instant.

“Senior Martial Sister Liu, I also find it impossible,” the old man sighed, “However, there are several reports from our spies that signs of the old demon taking action.”

Bai Yaoyi shook her head and doubtingly said, “Old Demon Che is a demon that existed since ancient times. It is unknown how long he has entered Deity Transformation-stage. If he truly wished to attack us, why would he wait until now?”

“That may be true, but perhaps this may have something to do with the events surrounding Kunwu Mountain,” the old man looked a Bai Yaoyi and said, “I heard that not only did an Elder Devil Ancestor appear, but even a demon from the spirit realm.”

“These were only rumors spread from the grand sects. Who knows if they are true,” Bai Yaoyi tensely frowned in thought, “Although I took part in the matter, I had to retreat early due to my injuries. Brother Han, however, should’ve stayed until the very end. He should know more about this.”

“The man you invited to the sect?” The middle-aged woman brightly asked.

“The one and the same!” Bai Yaoyi nodded.

In the blink of an eye, the woman regained her calm and indifferently said, “But regardless of what happened, it doesn’t change anything about the demon invasion. It should be impossible for Old Devil Che to leave the valley, so it should most likely be his incarnation taking part.”

Bai Yaoyi and the old man vaguely understood a few of the secrets behind Deity Transformation cultivators and were greatly relieved by the certainty of their Senior Martial Sister’s words.