The Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character Captured the Villainous Demon Venerable - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: The Artifact Refining Immortal Sect.

At the main gate of the Scarlet Refining Immortal Sect, a Golden Core cultivator in a red robe was sweeping the ground with a broom.

Her Master had said that even with a Fire Spiritual Root, cultivation required a calm state of mind. If she couldn’t achieve it, she should sweep the entire Immortal Sect once.

As she was sweeping, a white-robed female cultivator suddenly flashed in front of her.

The newcomer was wearing a white robe with green edges, her long hair tied up high. She was heroic and stunningly beautiful, yet she carried an aggressive aura, like the sharp thorn of a rose, making people dare not speak to her but only admire her from afar.

The Golden Core cultivator stopped sweeping, staring blankly at the visitor. While she was still guessing the visitor’s identity, the visitor suddenly spoke urgently, asking her a question: “Fellow Daoist, do you know where the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect is?”

The Golden Core cultivator opened her mouth, about to answer, but before she could utter a sound, the visitor instantly vanished.

Golden Core cultivator: ?

Still confused, a powerful demonic qi descended from the sky. The Golden Core cultivator was so scared that she tossed the broom away, sat down on the ground with a thump, and lost control of her spiritual qi. Her hair burst into flames, turning into a bird’s nest.

However, after the demon landed, she didn’t even glance at her, flew up again, quickly skimmed over the Scarlet Refining Immortal Sect, and flew towards the distance.

The Golden Core cultivator sat trembling on the ground: “…What’s going on?”

Recovering her wits, she sighed, touching her bird’s nest hair.

Master, you are right. I must maintain a calm state of mind, otherwise, the path of cultivation is fraught with danger.

Above the peaks of the Benevolence Immortal Sect, a Nascent Soul cultivator in a green and white robe was hovering high in the sky, closing her eyes to comprehend her mental domain.

Suddenly, accompanied by a wave of spiritual qi, a female cultivator whose realm was higher than hers flashed in front of her.

The Nascent Soul cultivator opened her eyes in surprise. Before she could clearly see the other person’s appearance, she heard the person ask urgently: “Fellow Daoist, do you know where the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect is?”

The Nascent Soul cultivator instinctively pointed in a direction: “It’s at…”

Before she could utter a word, the visitor disappeared into thin air.

She stared in astonishment at the direction the visitor had vanished, about to exclaim at the remarkable escape technique, when a powerful demonic qi assaulted her face!

A demon!

The Nascent Soul cultivator jumped in fright and immediately summoned all the magic treasures on her body.

A black-robed demonic cultivator flew to her with incredible speed, glanced at her expressionlessly, and then flew off in the direction she had pointed.

The Nascent Soul cultivator survived the ordeal without doing anything. After a moment of shock, her spiritual qi suddenly surged: “I’ve comprehended!”

Wind passes by, rain falls next to me. Let the flowers bloom and wither as they will. Do not act rashly, do not force action. Everything will resolve itself naturally.

My mental domain is the Domain of Non-Action!

In the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets, an Integration stage cultivator was playing chess with the Mahayana stage Pavilion Master when she suddenly felt a ripple in the nearby space and was greatly alarmed: “Who is tearing space here?”

Looking back, those who could disrupt time and space were always extraordinary. Could a major event be happening?

Unexpectedly, the woman sitting opposite her smiled charmingly and said in a relaxed manner: “Just a pair of lovers playing around. It’s nothing important. Let’s continue the game.”

Mo Xun fled for three full days, asking cultivators along the way for the location of the “Artifact Refining Immortal Sect.” She finally got some leads.

The Artifact Refining Immortal Sect was where the original protagonist, Chu Jiuqu, had spent a long time after leaving the Shuiyue Immortal Sect.

According to the original plot, after Chu Jiuqu completed the trial of the Infernal Phoenix in the secret realm “Myriad Demon Lair,” transforming her Water Spiritual Root into the variant Dark Fire Spiritual Root, she could refine artifacts using Eight-Grade flames.

The Five-Grade protective artifact, the Evil Warding Barrier, shattered after blocking a fatal attack for the protagonist at a critical moment. The protagonist broke through to the Integration stage in desperation, counter-killed the artifact refiner, used the artifact refiner’s magic treasures to survive the Integration Tribulation, and then, guided by the Pavilion Master of Heavenly Secrets, joined the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect to learn artifact refining.

Mo Xun intended to find and join the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect. On one hand, she wanted to systematically learn artifact refining. On the other hand, she thought that if she was lucky enough to encounter the artifact refiner who wanted to use the Infernal Phoenix’s blood to refine artifacts, she could preemptively kill her.

However, to join the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect with peace of mind, she first had to find a way to escape Yun Wushang’s divine sense range and completely shake her off.

There were only two ways: one, further increase her movement speed; two, hinder the opponent’s steps to buy time to create distance.

Mo Xun’s own movement speed had already been pushed to the extreme, and it was impossible to increase it further in a short time. Given this, what she needed to do was clear.

While continuing to flee, Mo Xun raised her hand and formed a seal, condensing 16 seeds around her body using Wood spiritual qi.

Arriving at an uninhabited mountain peak, she buried the seeds, quickly unblocked all her spiritual meridians, and set up an array: “Entangling Cage Array!”

The Entangling Cage Array, a type of restriction, would automatically identify and capture nearby creatures, entangling them with vines and immobilizing them.

It was foolish to think of using an Integration stage restriction to trap a Mahayana stage cultivator. Once the restriction was forcefully broken, it would backfire on the person who set it up, causing severe injuries.

Mo Xun had spiritual qi for healing, so a momentary severe injury wouldn’t affect her actions. Therefore, she intended to endure the intense pain temporarily to stall Yun Wushang’s footsteps, for as long as possible.

Maybe after a few attempts, she could shake off her opponent!

However, moments later, the sensation of the restriction capturing someone clearly transmitted to Mo Xun’s fingertips, but the imagined severe pain never came.

Yun Wushang chased Mo Xun’s aura over the mountain peak. 16 vines suddenly sprung up from the ground, eagerly wrapping around her ankles and calves, pulling her to the ground, and then continuously winding, climbing, and tightening around her body.

The vines were smooth and extremely flexible, clinging to her skin as they moved upwards.

Yun Wushang instinctively released cold qi, intending to freeze the vines. However, just as the cold qi was about to reach the array core, she abruptly held back.

The cold qi dissipated. The vines paused for a moment, then continued to climb up her body. They wrapped around her legs a dozen times, clasped her waist, climbed over her chest, and pressed tightly against her neck. Finally, they did not strangle her neck but stopped at the back of her neck.

Although they tightly bound her whole body, leaving her immobile, they did not inflict any substantial harm on her.

Yun Wushang sneered: “Abusing benevolence.”

She finished speaking, but remained standing still, not moving.

Mo Xun fled several thousand li further. The distance was too great, and the restriction automatically dissolved.

After losing the perception and control over the restriction, she should have continued her escape but stopped instead.

She hovered high in the sky, her back to the direction she had come from, her lips pressed slightly together.

Realizing that Yun Wushang would rather be tripped up by the vines than have her suffer the backlash of the restriction, a dull pain swelled in her chest. Her throat felt clogged with something she couldn’t swallow or spit out.

However, after hovering for a moment, she ultimately flew towards the location of the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect.

She had to refine this artifact.

Not for Chu Jiuqu, but for herself.

Why should she give up what she wanted to do just to accommodate Yun Wushang’s feelings? Why should everything be decided by Yun Wushang?

Artifact refining neither harms others nor oneself. She truly didn’t understand why Yun Wushang forbade her from doing it.

She had only ever heard of people who fell to the Demonic Path having a great change in character, never of artifact refiners having one.

Whether she learned artifact refining or became an artifact refiner, she would still be herself. She wouldn’t become a heartless and gutless person just by refining an artifact.

Seven days later, Mo Xun arrived at the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect.

In these seven days, she hadn’t sensed Yun Wushang’s aura even once, suggesting she had successfully shaken her off.

She changed into coarse cloth clothes at the foot of the mountain, hid her identity as a Shuiyue Immortal Sect cultivator, and entered the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect.

Entering through the main gate, on the training ground paved with black wrought iron stone, an Integration stage cultivator was guiding outer sect disciples in artifact refining. Sensing Mo Xun’s aura, she suddenly looked up.

Mo Xun flew down and bowed respectfully to her: “Junior Mo Xun wishes to join this Immortal Sect to learn artifact refining. May I know what conditions must be met?”

The target of Mo Xun’s bow was the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect’s Outer Sect Elder, at the Mid-Integration stage. She presented herself in the image of a middle-aged woman, giving a sense of maturity and stability.

Her divine sense swept over Mo Xun, and she frowned slightly: “To join my Artifact Refining Immortal Sect, one must at least have a Fire Spiritual Root. You do not. How do you intend to learn artifact refining?”

“Reporting to Senior, I can control fire with spiritual qi,” Mo Xun said, raising a hand. A colorless flame suddenly ignited in her palm.

The Outer Sect Elder stared at the flame in her palm, her eyes wide with disbelief.

The Outer Sect Elder of the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect was clearly discerning. She was silently shocked for a moment, then suddenly spoke with an excited tone: “Spiritual qi fire control! Nine-Grade White Flame! The last person with this talent was Patriarch Xunji!”

Mo Xun was slightly taken aback, extinguished the flame, and curiously asked: “Who is Patriarch Xunji?”

She hadn’t expected the legend of Patriarch Xunji to be here as well.

The Outer Sect Elder answered without hesitation: “Patriarch Xunji is one of the founding patriarchs of the Benevolence Immortal Sect, one of the three great Immortal Sects. The Benevolence Immortal Sect has three founding patriarchs, and she is one of them. The Benevolence Immortal Sect has existed for over a thousand years; it’s normal that you don’t know her.

I heard that more than five hundred years ago, she joined the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect to learn artifact refining. Like you, she had Water and Wood Dual Spiritual Roots but could control fire with spiritual qi. Her flame grade reached Nine-Grade, and she only took a hundred years to refine a Nine-Grade magic treasure, making her famous throughout the entire cultivation world!”

At this point, the Outer Sect Elder suddenly sighed: “Since she left the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect to establish her own sect, the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect has gradually declined. Artifact refining requires not only technique but also tests one’s character. Disciples are already hard to recruit. After she left, a large number of talented and exceptional cultivators went to the Benevolence Immortal Sect to refine pills and practice medicine. Over time, the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect became the obscure place it is today.”

“But, it’s good that you’ve come!” The Outer Sect Elder suddenly raised her voice, looking at Mo Xun with expectation, “You can also control the Nine-Grade White Flame! You can definitely revitalize the Artifact Refining Immortal Sect!”

Mo Xun: “…”

Please don’t. I haven’t even touched a single artifact refining material yet…

“I will immediately order someone to prepare living quarters for you,” the Outer Sect Elder said, about to call someone, when another female cultivator suddenly flew down.

The newcomer’s soft, long hair was half tied into a bun and half naturally cascaded past her waist. She wore a coarse linen robe with a gray belt, and no accessories were visible anywhere on her body. Although plain, it did not diminish the stunning beauty of her face.

The Outer Sect Elder involuntarily stared, captivated. Mo Xun followed her gaze and froze instantly at the sight.

Who else could the newcomer be but Yun Wushang?

But at this moment, there was no trace of demonic qi on her body, only spiritual qi. Her cultivation was at the Late Nascent Soul stage.

She didn’t even look at Mo Xun. From a distance, she bowed respectfully toward the Outer Sect Elder: “Junior Yun Wushang wishes to join this sect to learn artifact refining. I ask for your guidance, Senior.”

Mo Xun: “…”