Chapter 308: Leave it to XiaoLan
"Azhen, I will release XiaoLan and let her watch the surroundings while we recover our soul power." Jiang Yue said and immediately released XiaoLan.
"Master." XiaoLan called excitedly as soon as she was released.
She had also benefitted from the soul beast forest and her soul power had improved by leaps and bounds.
As a result, her illusions were more potent and weren’t inferior to Jiang Yue’s.
"XiaoLan, help us guard while we recover our soul power."
"Leave it to XiaoLan." The butterfly said and flew around excitedly.
She rarely had a chance to do things for her master and she couldn’t wait to prove her worth.
"Be careful and let us know if something changes." Yu Nianzhen reminded.
"XiaoLan understands."
After that, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue sat cross-legged and began to refine soul replenishing pills.
One hour later, their soul power recovered a little and they both woke up.
"That was terrible." Jiang Yue complained.
He hated the feeling of having no soul power and felt relieved when he recovered a little.
"XiaoLan, did anything happen?" He asked without waiting for Yu Nianzhen to reply.
"Nothing happened." XiaoLan said and looked guiltily at the small puddle of soul marrow.
’I only took a small sip. Master won’t mind.’ She thought and avoided her master’s eyes.
"What’s wrong?" Jiang Yue asked when he noticed XiaoLan’s shifty behaviour.
"Master, XiaoLan took a small sip." The butterfly said.
At the same time, she folded her wings and left a small gap to show that she only took a small sip.
"In the future, you will wait for me to agree before you take a sip." Jiang Yue admonished.
In fact, he didn’t begrudge a small sip.
However, he was XiaoLan’s master and he didn’t want her to develop bad habits.
"XiaoLan knows." The butterfly said and Jiang Yue didn’t continue to admonish.
"Let’s collect the soul marrow and then enter the ancient palace." Yu Nianzhen reminded and Jiang Yue nodded.
Now that their soul power had recovered a little, they could collect the soul marrow and soul beast core.
Afterwards, they would enter the ancient palace to replenish their soul power and refine the goods.
"I will collect the soul marrow while you deal with the soul beast." Jiang Yue said and Yu Nianzhen agreed.
Soon after, the two began their tasks while XiaoLan floated around to observe the surroundings.
The atmosphere was quite harmonious until a loud gasp disturbed the peace.
"What’s wrong?" Yu Nianzhen asked urgently.
He had just soaked the soul beast’s core in lightning liquid and he quickly stored the soul beast’s corpse before rushing to Jiang Yue.
"Azhen, look at this." Jiang Yue said and grabbed his husband’s arm.
At a loss, Yu Nianzhen looked at the small puddle of soul marrow and also let out a loud gasp.
"Is that...?" He started but Jiang Yue didn’t give him a chance to finish.
"It is. It is a soul condensing stone." The silver-haired beauty said excitedly.
Initially, he thought the soul marrow was the most precious treasure in the area.
However, after collecting the soul marrow, he discovered there was a soul condensing stone at the bottom of the puddle.
"Azhen, this thing is perfect for you. After you refine it, your soul sword technique will be even more perfect."
When Yu Nianzhen heard that, his heart ached and his eyes felt a little sour.
Without a doubt, the soul condensing stone was one of the nine core treasures in the soul beast forest.
However, Jiang Yue did not hesitate to give it to him.
This showed how much he valued his husband and Yu Nianzhen couldn’t help but pull him into his arms.
He hugged him for a long time and Jiang Yue allowed himself to be held.
"It is said that when a stone is thrown into a forest, the birds fly separately. However, you and I are one. We fly or fall together and I will never be unwilling." Jiang Yue said in a low voice.
It wasn’t that he didn’t need or want the soul condensing stone. He needed and wanted it but Yu Nianzhen needed it more.
In that case, Jiang Yue was not reluctant.
He willingly gave up the soul condensing stone because he knew that Yu Nianzhen would also do the same in a similar situation.
"XiaoYue..."
"Don’t say anything. I already know."
"Okay."
Without another word, Yu Nianzhen took the soul condensing stone and put it in his storage ring.
"How about we enter the ancient palace and let XiaoLan take it to find other treasures?"
"Is it okay?"
"XiaoLan can do it." The butterfly interjected excitedly.
"XiaoLan is already a peak level class three demonic beast. She should be able to escape even if she encounters a class four soul beast. It will save a lot of time if she takes the ancient palace to fly around."
"Okay." Yu Nianzhen agreed.
After that, Jiang Yue gave the ancient palace and treasure compass to XiaoLan.
"XiaoLan, master will save a few drops of soul marrow for you." Jiang Yue promised and the butterfly nodded excitedly.
It was also greedy for soul marrow and was happy to hear that her master would save some for her.
"Thank you, master."
"Remember to let me know when you come across a soul beast or treasure." Jiang Yue instructed.
"XiaoLan understands."
When all the arrangements were made, Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen entered the ancient palace.
[Should we divide some soul marrow to Hongzhu?] Jiang Yue asked as they climbed the stairs.
[Let’s do that.] Yu Nianzhen agreed.
Although Hongzhu did not hunt for soul beasts and treasures, she was responsible for refining soul replenishing pills and other elixirs.
Improving her soul power was beneficial to the team and Yu Nianzhen didn’t begrudge her a few drops.
[Good.] Jiang Yue agreed.
Without delay, the two found Hongzhu and gave her three drops before retreating to their room.
Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.
In that time, the two replenished their soul power, absorbed the soul beast core and refined sixteen drops of soul marrow.
Although the quality and quantity of soul marrow were better than the previous, it took sixteen drops to break through to the fourth level of soul refining.
After the breakthrough, only five drops remained and Jiang Yue couldn’t help but sigh.
"If we want to break through again, we will need more precious treasures." He said.
"Mmmm." Yu Nianzhen agreed.
However, he was not in a hurry.
Unlike Jiang Yue who could continue improving his soul endlessly, Yu Nianzhen couldn’t.
This was because his soul-refining technique was closely related to the transformation of his body and soul into a sword.
As such, he needed to maintain a certain balance between his soul and body. Otherwise, transforming himself would become too difficult.
"Azhen, why don’t you stay to refine the soul condensing stone?"
"There is no hurry. We only have a few months before we meet up with the rest. Let’s use them well."
"When we were mortals, one hundred years was the entirety of our lives. However, one hundred years now is barely enough to refine our origin treasures." Jiang Yue lamented as the two exited the ancient palace.
"It will be better when you can arrange a time formation." Yu Nianzhen said and the two sighed.
"Master, you have finally come out." XiaoLan interrupted the two.
"Did you find something?"
"I did." The butterfly said as she flew around them.
Her voice was filled with excitement and the two could tell that she must have discovered something good.
"What did you find?"
"XiaoLan will take you there." She said mysteriously.
Without waiting for her master to react, the butterfly led the way and the two followed behind.
"What do you think she found?" Jiang Yue asked and looked at Yu Nianzhen.
"There aren’t many soul treasures in the Cangxing world." Yu Nianzhen muttered and fell into thought.
As they explored the soul beast forest, he tried to compile a list of possible soul treasures at the core.
After many months, he narrowed down the list to thirteen soul treasures. As luck would have it, the soul condensing stone was among the possible treasures.
This gave him some confidence and he couldn’t help but hope they would find the soul raising tree.
If they found the soul raising tree, Jiang Yue would be one step closer to collecting all the materials needed to refine a natal weapon.
’Everything depends on fate.’ He thought and suppressed the expectation in his heart.
"XiaoLan, where are you taking us?" Jiang Yue asked expectantly.
"It’s right ahead." XiaoLan announced proudly and the two hurried ahead.
After walking past a dense bush of soul trees, they arrived in front of a small lake.
The lake had a diameter of five metres and was surrounded on all sides by dense bushes of soul trees.
However, what caught their eyes was that the lake was on fire.
