In Yunzhong, to put it bluntly, enemies were everywhere. After the Xuanwu incident, the entire cultivation world of Yunzhong had stood against them; finding someone without a grudge was nearly impossible.
"It was in the original Yunzhong," Qin Xi replied calmly. "After the Great Upheaval of Heaven and Earth, the Spirit Beast Sect sent people to investigate. It wasn't at the location described in the records, so Jing Xingzhi suspects the Great Upheaval changed the Qilin's location." He paused, then smiled. "But there's no rush. Even with a clue, it will take a long time to track down, especially one so vague. Jing Xingzhi also said that according to the Spirit Beast Sect's records, the place had a strong aura of a divine beast, but their sect's founder never saw the temple, so he couldn't confirm it was the Qilin Temple we're looking for."
Mo Tiange nodded. That made sense. If the Qilin Temple were so easy to find, it wouldn't have remained undiscovered for so many years.
"Did Jing Xingzhi say how to proceed with the investigation? Does he need our help?"
Qin Xi shook his head. "He said he'll handle it himself."
"Handle it himself?" Mo Tiange thought for a moment and chuckled. "Poor kid. He's probably never experienced the prestige of being a Nascent Soul Sword Venerable, has he?"
"Exactly," Qin Xi replied with a smile. "This is for the best. It gives us time to refine our Magical Treasure."
"Right," Mo Tiange agreed. "It would be best to complete the refinement before we find the Qilin Temple."
After that, the two devoted themselves entirely to refining the Magical Treasure. First, they sorted through all the collected clues, discarding the useless and keeping the useful. Then, they analyzed and experimented based on the opinions of several Nascent Soul Dao Lords.
This sounded easy but was incredibly difficult. The Chaos Qi and Spirit-Absorbing Powder were too profound and mysterious, making progress nearly impossible. Eventually, they had to abandon that approach and focus solely on comprehending the nature of the Chaos Crystal. This was the simplest yet most foolish method. The art of artifact refinement had developed many techniques for identifying materials; refiners typically used these methods and then began crafting. Comprehending the material's nature required not only sufficient enlightenment but also vast amounts of time. An ordinary material might take months to understand, while a rare one could take years.
The Chaos Crystal clearly belonged to the latter category. They had no choice; for this supreme-grade material, those conventional refinement techniques were completely useless.
Time flowed like water, passing swiftly. Nie Wushang recuperated from her injuries, Jing Xingzhi pursued the trail of the Qilin Temple, and Mo Tiange and Qin Xi refined their Magical Treasure. Each person focused on their own task.
Ten years later, the Immortal Alliance finally repelled the demonic cultivators and began to recuperate. Zhenyang, Miaoyi, and Xuanyin returned to their sects, leaving Jinghe and Huayan to guard Kunzhong City.
After that, some cultivated, others traveled. The Tianji Region was peaceful. This made Mo Tiange wonder if the prediction of the world descending into chaos was wrong.
Of course, deep down, she hoped it was. No one wanted an apocalypse where the human realm ended and humanity perished.
Over these years, the development speed of the Xuanqing Sect had shocked Tianji.
With sufficient pills, the number of Core Formation disciples surged. Every few decades, someone would form their Core. Now, the Xuanqing Sect had the highest number of Core Formation cultivators in Tianji, a lead difficult to surpass.
Under Mo Tiange and Qin Xi's tutelage, they had three Core Formation disciples: Ye Zhenji, Shui Linbo, and Sang Yushu. Ye Zhenji, despite his average spiritual roots, had good comprehension and had been taught by them since childhood. As long as he overcame his mental barriers, forming his Core with the aid of spirit medicines wasn't difficult. Shui Linbo's spiritual roots could be considered poor. Fortunately, her will was firm, allowing her to reach Foundation Establishment. Logically, her chances of forming her Core were almost nonexistent. Mo Tiange, acknowledging her diligent management of the cave abode over the years, used pills to forcefully push her into the Core Formation stage, fulfilling her and Ye Zhenji's relationship. As for Sang Yushu, aside from poor spiritual roots, he had no other shortcomings. With Qin Xi's guidance and years of accumulated foundation, his Core Formation came naturally. Qin Xi even believed he had a chance to step into the Nascent Soul stage.
As for others, Yi Wenxi and Su Su weren't truly Mo Tiange's disciples; their strengths weren't in cultivation, so they were left to develop naturally. Xie Zhengyi and Chi Yunshu had good conditions in all aspects, but they were still young. They would need at least a few more decades of tempering before forming their Cores.
If there was a rising star in the Xuanqing Sect over these years, it was the disciple Dao Lord Lingxi had taken in—Mo Xiaoliang, who had taken the surname 'Mo' out of gratitude for Mo Tiange's life-saving grace.
Thirty-some years after being accepted as Dao Lord Lingxi's disciple, at merely eighty years old, he formed his Golden Core. This age was only slightly later than Qin Xi's and even earlier than Mo Tiange's. For a time, Mo Xiaoliang became the new generation's genius of the Xuanqing Sect, often mentioned in the same breath as Mo Tiange and Qin Xi.
Mo Tiange felt this wasn't a good phenomenon. Cultivation that solely pursued speed was unsustainable. She specifically mentioned this to Qin Xi, who agreed wholeheartedly. Qin Xi found an opportunity to hint at it to Dao Lord Lingxi. How could Dao Lord Lingxi not know? He indicated he had already made preparations, so the two of them said no more. Regardless, Mo Xiaoliang was Dao Lord Lingxi's disciple; it wasn't appropriate for them to interfere too much. Besides, they had their own disciples. It was only because they had brought Mo Xiaoliang into the Xuanqing Sect, creating a karmic connection, that they cared a bit more.
More than thirty years passed. Nie Wushang's injuries were finally completely healed, with even the hidden dangers eradicated. Meanwhile, they had gained a preliminary understanding of the Chaos Crystal's nature and began refining the Magical Treasure.
At this time, Jing Xingzhi suddenly paid a visit.
Since returning from Yunzhong, Jing Xingzhi had gone back to the Ancient Sword Sect. Over these decades, Qin Xi had only encountered him once when visiting Kunzhong City; other times, they communicated via message talismans. Seeing Jing Xingzhi now, Mo Tiange felt quite unaccustomed.
Jing Xingzhi was dressed in the Ancient Sword Sect's blue sword robe of a Nascent Soul Sword Venerable, adorned with intricate patterns that exuded nobility. His hair was impeccably neat, tied up in a hair crown. Upon entering Taikang Mountain, he put on an act, greeting them formally: "Fellow Daoists, it's been many years. I trust you have been well?"
This version of Jing Xingzhi was almost too much for Mo Tiange to look at directly. Qin Xi remained calm, casually replying, "Fellow Daoist's elegance remains unchanged," and welcomed him into the cave abode.
Nie Wushang was taken aback upon seeing him and said bluntly, "Why are you so determined to make yourself miserable?"
Jing Xingzhi's face instantly darkened by half.
Suppressing a laugh, Mo Tiange smoothed things over: "Alright, alright. It's been so many years since we last met. Let's be amiable."
"You're the first one who wanted to laugh," Jing Xingzhi retorted, completely ungrateful, glaring at her fiercely.
Mo Tiange spread her hands, feigning innocence, though the corners of her mouth kept twitching upward.
Jing Xingzhi sighed mournfully. "I have no choice. Senior Uncle Yuanying doesn't say it, but he dislikes frivolous people. Ah, returning to the sect means no freedom."
"So you finally admit you're frivolous?" Nie Wushang added sarcastically from the side.
Seeing Jing Xingzhi's face about to turn completely black, Mo Tiange hurriedly said, "Enough, Wushang, don't provoke him. Fellow Daoist Jing, you didn't come here just to bicker, did you?"
"Of course not," Jing Xingzhi said seriously. "I came because I have definite news about the Qilin."
It had been over thirty years since the first clue about the Qilin was discovered. During this time, Jing Xingzhi had occasionally sent messages. Initially, he also sent people to Yunzhong to search, not for the temple itself, but to trace the footsteps of the Spirit Beast Sect's founder.
The Spirit Beast Sect's records stated that their founder had traveled the world and, upon passing a certain place, obtained a spirit beast resembling a Qilin. According to Hua Lingyun, this wasn't a true Qilin but a divine beast descendant with Qilin bloodline.
Ancient Sword Sect disciples delved deep into Yunzhong, inquiring about local legends. Combining this with the Spirit Beast Sect's records, they painstakingly sifted through the information to find useful clues, confirming that a certain place in Yunzhong once had a strong Qilin aura. That Qilin mount was born there.
However, this Qilin aura had gradually dissipated over the long years and completely vanished by the time of the Great Upheaval of Heaven and Earth. The trail went cold.
At a loss, Jing Xingzhi went to bribe Hua Lingyun again. This time, he only obtained some fragmented information. No matter how he pursued it, he couldn't find anything more. Sword Venerable Yuanying told him that the Qilin was the symbol of the Spirit Beast Sect. If it could be found, the Spirit Beast Sect would have found it long ago. Precisely because they couldn't find it, Hua Lingyun had been so straightforward in sharing the information. Upon hearing this, Jing Xingzhi almost grabbed his sword and went to cause trouble at the Spirit Beast Sect, barely managing to restrain himself.
"So what happened next? What else did you find?"
"This time, it wasn't found but deduced." Jing Xingzhi wore a smug expression. With a wave of his sleeve, a phantom image of maps of the various continents appeared before the four of them.
"Look. This shows the current positions of the continents. Let's mark the locations of the Four Divine Beast Temples among them." He flicked his finger. First, a golden dot and a black dot appeared at the westernmost Wind-Sand City and the northern part of Yunzhong. "These are the temple locations we can currently confirm: the White Tiger and the Xuanwu."
Another flick, and a cyan dot and a red dot lit up in the east of Tianji and the south of Yunzhong. "The Azure Dragon is in the East Sea, and the Vermilion Bird is in the Guixu Sea, correct?"
Everyone nodded, not understanding his point.
Jing Xingzhi smiled mysteriously. "But have you considered that the East Sea and the Guixu Sea might not have shifted with the continents?"
Everyone was taken aback.
Mo Tiange stared at the phantom map, looking at the positions of the East Sea and Guixu Sea, then suddenly stood up in surprise. "So that's it!"
Jing Xingzhi, holding his teacup, nodded smugly. "Exactly."
Mo Tiange swiped her finger. The red dot in southern Yunzhong slid downward, stopping at the current location of Yuanzhou. The green dot in eastern Tianji moved eastward.
The four dots settled. Though not perfectly symmetrical, they clearly occupied the four directions: east, south, west, and north.
"See?" Jing Xingzhi said. "East, south, west, north, and they precisely correspond to the Azure Dragon of the East, Vermilion Bird of the South, White Tiger of the West, and Xuanwu of the North."
Qin Xi's gaze shifted, lingering on the center.
"Since they all correspond, would the Qilin be an exception? Naturally, it would be in the center." A yellow dot slowly moved, finally stopping at the central position—Xiaoyang.
"After realizing this, I compared it with the map from before the Great Upheaval. Look again." Jing Xingzhi flipped his palm. A map with slightly different colors slowly overlapped with the phantom. The yellow dot representing the Qilin appeared in a location west of Yunzhong.
"See?" Jing Xingzhi said with a smile. "This is where the Spirit Beast Sect's founder obtained the Qilin."
"So that's how it is." Mo Tiange sat back down, calming her emotions. "So, the Qilin is in present-day Xiaoyang."
"Yes, and no." Jing Xingzhi withdrew the phantom map, slowly sipped his tea for a while, savoring the feeling of being an expert, then continued. "Look. The White Tiger and Xuanwu, located on the continents, shifted with the continents. The Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird didn't shift because they are actually in the sea. What about the Qilin? Looking at the map, it was clearly always on the continent."
"Why?" Nie Wushang thought for a moment and said, "The Spirit Beast Sect's founder never truly saw the Qilin; what he saw was merely the Qilin's aura. Perhaps the Qilin was never on the continent at all?"
"..." His attempt to play the expert had just been ruined by Nie Wushang. Jing Xingzhi said reluctantly, "Yes. I sent people to Xiaoyang. Indeed, they found no trace of the Qilin on the continent... until they ventured deep into the seabed..."