No matter how powerful the Myriad Venom Mysterious Casket was, it had no way of naming this newly produced honey-paste.

  "The honey produced by the Wood-Skeleton Wasps... then let it be called 'Chen Gensheng Spirit-Honey'."

  Chen Gensheng muttered to himself, settling on the name. He then raised a hand and made a grasping motion through the air; the Spirit-Honey manifested, hovering in his palm. It was only a drop about the size of a soybean. Half was emerald green and half was ink-black, the two colors swirling slowly within it, appearing profoundly mysterious.

  Just one sniff of this scent made Chen Gensheng feel a wave of comfort wash over his entire body. This was absolutely top-tier stuff! He consumed it, and a sweet, crisp coolness instantly exploded in his mouth.

  Gensheng’s entire frame jolted. He hurriedly sat cross-legged and began frantically circulating the Initial Scripture. After an unknown amount of time, he finally exhaled a mouthful of turbid qi.

  He had been just a hair’s breadth away from breaking through the bottleneck of the early Foundation Establishment stage right then and there. And that was from just one drop of honey!

  Chen Gensheng made up his mind. He paced over to the black coffin and tapped lightly on its lid.

  "Simin."

  "The Sect Master wants me to go to that Ascension Assembly. Tell me, should I go, or should I not?"

  "I think... it’s better to go." He pretended to continue talking to himself. "After all, it is a task personally assigned by the Sect Master. If I ostensibly obey while secretly defying her and provoke the old lady's wrath, I fear she might just crush me to death."

  "However, that place is a dragon’s pool and a tiger’s den. I must make thorough preparations. In my current state, I don’t even have a decent magical treasure; I absolutely cannot go in these tattered Taoist robes and disgrace the sect's face. Furthermore, these corpse-wasps lost some vitality during the recent battles; they need some spirit herbs to be nurtured back to full strength."

  Having finished his speech, he nodded, his expression growing firm. "You are quite right. For this journey, I truly should go out to purchase and prepare everything needed."

  "Simin, even though you are a corpse-puppet, I have grasped the meaning you conveyed."

  He then stood up as if ready to act, adding, "I shall go now to pay my respects to the Sect Master and inform her of this."

  He hoisted the black coffin onto his back and strode toward the main hall. But halfway there, he inexplicably stopped in his tracks. After a moment of thought, he changed direction and headed toward the mountain gate.

  When the gate-guarding disciple saw this "god of malice" coming again, his calves began to tremble once more.

  "Elder Chen!"

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "I am under orders from the Sect Master to prepare for the Ascension Assembly in two months; I need to go out and purchase some supplies." Chen Gensheng dropped these words expressionlessly and casually fished out a small bag of spirit stones, tossing it at the chore disciple’s feet. "This is tea money for you. During the time I am away, if anyone asks, just tell the truth."

  "Rest assured, Elder!" The disciple stepped on the bag of spirit stones and patted his chest firmly. "Go in peace. If anything happens in the sect, this little one will keep an eye on it for you!"

  Chen Gensheng ignored him and strode out of the dilapidated mountain gate. The moment he left the territory of the Heavenly Threshold True Sect, he could no longer suppress his desire to flee. He transformed into a streak of ink-black light and soared into the sky, heading in the opposite direction of the Star-Fall Gorge.

  The wind howled in his ears. The landscape beneath his feet changed from continuous mountain ranges to an endless, vast plain. Chen Gensheng flew dozens of miles in one breath.

  That "self-talk" back in the Spirit Plant Garden had not been for himself, nor for a corpse-puppet. He intended for the woman in the main hall to hear it. He didn't know exactly how far a Golden Core cultivator's divine sense could reach, but he knew his minor movements couldn't escape her discerning eyes. That woman’s words seemed lazy and casual, but every sentence was a probe. Both the matter of the Star-Fall Gorge and the Ascension Assembly were like ropes tightening around his neck.

  But what Chen Gensheng was completely unaware of was that by leaving now, all the follow-up arrangements his Senior Brother, Li Chan, had previously made for him were also completely severed from this point on. And he was still wallowing in the joy brought by the Juicy-Plump Tree, smug and self-satisfied.

  The main hall of the Heavenly Threshold True Sect returned to its former silence.

  Zhaoqing Yue walked back to the wide jade couch. She sat quietly now, her posture dignified, her face devoid of expression. The beautiful woman leaned forward slightly, and a scroll manifested in her hands.

  Painted upon it was a tall, thin young man with handsome features and a faint smile—he looked like a gentle person. Looking at the painting, her eyes turned slightly red. She reached out a finger to lightly caress the man's face in the portrait.

  "I tried everything to talk sense into him, gave him a face-saving way out, gave him a path to take, yet he refused to go, insisting on crashing headlong into that dead end." As she spoke, tears fell like a string of broken pearls, rolling down her cheeks and hitting the scroll, creating a small water stain.

  "That Ascension Assembly was the only way I could think of to save his life. Now that he has that Ethereal Dao-Body and the Heavenly Spirit Root aptitude, as long as he is willing to go, there will surely be one or two of the five great sects with discerning eyes who would be willing to protect him. Once he enters the gates of those great sects, even that Lu Zhaozhao wouldn't dare to openly pursue the matter."

  She was both angry and anxious. She lowered her head slightly, pressing her forehead against the cold paper of the scroll, her body trembling. "I’ve guarded this broken sect for so many years..."

  She couldn't finish the words; only the faint sobbing of a woman echoed in the hall. "Brother Chan, if you have knowledge in the afterlife, please protect this troublesome junior brother of yours!"

  On the scroll, the young man’s eyes were filled with a smile, his gentle aura unchanged. She gazed for a long time, becoming entranced, momentarily feeling as if the person in the painting would come to life in the next instant and call her "Dao Companion."

  But a painting is a painting, and the person had long been a withered bone in the earth.

  Right at that moment, the scroll inexplicably glowed with a layer of warm light. It was like a hand silently offering comfort, yet also carrying a hint of stubborn pleading.

  Zhaoqing Yue’s body stiffened. "Are you... blaming me?"

  Before her voice could fade, a ghostly blue flame appeared at her fingertips, and the temperature in the hall dropped several degrees. Then, she slowly moved the fire toward the scroll.

  The eyebrows and eyes of the young man in the painting were the first to turn to ash.