Walking into the small courtyard, Li An carefully examined Xu Qiuhui's array map.

This was a Tier Two array. Li An judged that it was likely used to support the Eight Trigrams Locking Array.

"Lord Xu, although I have reached Foundation Establishment, I have not yet broken through to the Tier Two level in the way of arrays…"

"I'm afraid I can't be of much help."

Li An sighed.

Xu Qiuhui stared at Li An and said, "Please, Fellow Daoist Wei, do your best to assist. This time, Qiu Hui is acting on behalf of White Tiger Mountain. If successful, White Tiger Mountain will owe Fellow Daoist Wei a favor."

"This is a token of respect from White Tiger Mountain. Once Fellow Daoist Wei succeeds, there will be even more generous gifts!"

She directly presented five thousand spirit stones!

Five thousand spirit stones could nearly buy a set of Tier Two arrays.

She was extremely courteous and polite, completely different from her previous attitude when asking Li An for help.

Li An, however, hesitated slightly, thinking that if he refused... that would naturally offend White Tiger Mountain?

"But my expertise indeed does not reach that level..." Li An was troubled.

"Please rest assured, Fellow Daoist Wei. You are not the only one I have sought to refine this array. Just do your best."

She hadn't put all her eggs in one basket; besides Li An, there were also two other Tier Two array masters helping out.

She had made a thorough search just to be on the safe side.

Knowing he couldn't decline, Li An reluctantly agreed, "Alright, I will give it my all."

Xu Qiu smiled at last, "Good, thank you, Fellow Daoist Wei."

"By the way, during this time, all the materials needed for refining the array will be provided, and I will also assign a disciple here to always follow Fellow Daoist Wei's instructions. Please feel at ease!"

Li An felt a thump in his heart.

Sending a disciple here... this wasn't about taking orders, it's supervision.

He originally wanted to casually agree and turn away.

This woman Xu Qiuhui was indeed no simple person.

"Alright."

"Regarding the materials needed for the array, my disciple Qin Yue will provide them for Fellow Daoist Wei."

Xu Qiuhui immediately rose and took her leave.

Outside the door, another pretty female disciple was already waiting respectfully on the side.

"Qin Yue, from today onwards, you must respectfully take care of Senior Wei's needs. Follow his every instruction, understood?"

Xu Qiuhui said lightly.

The female disciple respectfully acknowledged.

After Xu Qiuhui left, Qin Yue immediately followed Li An into the residence, took out a storage pouch, and said, "Senior Wei, these are the materials you need for refining the array."

"Okay, you can leave. I don't like being disturbed."

Li An picked up the materials and began pondering.

Qin Yue tactfully exited the residence but waited outside.

...

Li An slightly furrowed his brow.

It seemed that without refining the array for Xu Qiuhui, he wouldn't be able to leave.

The only apparent way now was to help her finish refining the array to gain freedom of action.

"In that case, don't blame me..."

Li An immediately started to refine the array.

For the first few days, he failed extensively, wasting many materials.

But Xu Qiuhui was wealthy, and materials kept coming in an endless supply.

Li An was unrestrained, helping Xu Qiuhui refine the array while embezzling a large number of array materials.

After all, Tier Two array materials were not cheap.

Of course, Qin Yue and Xu Qiuhui were certainly aware of this. But they knew well enough that not benefiting from this sort of thing would be abnormal, and they were prepared for it, not questioning him.

In a blink, ten days passed.

Li An finally completed one-third of the array needed by Xu Qiuhui.

"One is to meet Xu Qiuhui's demands, and secondly, to avoid being noticed by the Demon Sect..."

Li An refined with great care.

The array he was working on now had to deceive both Xu Qiuhui and the Demon Sect.

After all, the Demon Sect had insiders in White Tiger Mountain, and when the time comes, wouldn't Jiang Huan check the modules of each array?

If he discovered that the array refined by Li An did not adhere to their Demon Sect's requirements, allowing it to disrupt the Eight Trigrams Locking Array at a critical moment, the Demon Sect would immediately be on alert.

This wasn't enough; Li An meticulously left himself a "backdoor" inside the array.

This took considerable attention to detail and depth of experience!

Ordinary Tier Two array masters would find it impossible to create so many "virus"-like elements within an array.

All this was thanks to the inheritance and experience from his previous life.

...

In the blink of an eye, two months passed.

On this day, Li An finally completed the work!

A set of Tier Two arrays was thoroughly refined.

He notified Qin Yue, and soon Xu Qiuhui visited.

"Fellow Daoist Wei truly did not disappoint!"

Taking the array that Li An handed over and examining it carefully without finding any problems, Xu Qiuhui spoke with excitement. "Thank you, Fellow Daoist Wei. Here are three thousand spirit stones, please accept them!"

This single array earned Li An over eight thousand spirit stones in total.

Much higher than the market price.

Li An accepted them without hesitation, smiling with delight.

"By the way, Qin Yue informed me that during this time, two people wanted to visit. To avoid disturbing you, I had Qin Yue turn them away... You wouldn't mind, would you?"

Xu Qiuhui suddenly spoke.

Li An's heart instantly tightened; did Xu Qiuhui just refer to him as "Li Daoist"?

"Li Daoist?" Li An queried, puzzled.

Xu Qiuhui, discerning no useful information, smiled and said, "A slip of the tongue, please don't mind it, Fellow Daoist Wei."

"Those two have some past connections with me, Wang Dazhu and Chen Qingling, have you heard of them, Fellow Daoist Wei?"

Li An suddenly realized, "That Tier Two Artifact Refiner? I've heard a little."

"Hmm, Wang Dazhu is likely looking for Fellow Daoist Li to purchase a Foundation Establishment Pill."

Xu Qiuhui replied casually, but inside she sighed deeply.

Whenever she faced Li An, she had an inexplicable sense of unease.

After the last meeting at the Spirit Pill Shop, she had carefully searched for information and indeed found some clues.

For example, Gu Hong was captured by the Demon Sect back then but was inexplicably rescued. Who saved him remains unknown.

But during the time Gu Hong appeared, the area where the Demon Sect was more active was Qingyang Market!

At that time, the notorious Blackheart Talisman Master's name was spreading all over.

So she tried again today.

But still came up empty-handed.

Is it really just her overthinking things?

"As long as the price is right, a Foundation Establishment Pill can certainly be sold," Li An replied with a slight smile.

Xu Qiuhui said, "Okay, they should visit again soon."

"Qiu Hui won't disturb you any further, Fellow Daoist Wei, farewell!"

With that, she got up and left with Qin Yue.

After she left.

Li An was lost in thought.

It seemed this woman had discovered something again?

When Xu Qiuhui uttered "Li Daoist," he indeed had an urge to kill her right then!

This endless suspicion and probing were truly bothering him.

It's not the thief you should be afraid of, but the continuous attention from the thief.

"Before leaving, I must deal with this potential threat..."

The matter of White Tiger Mountain converting to Golden Core should still be a month away.

There was sufficient time.

Mainly, he couldn't have Xu Qiuhui continue her investigations; it was unsafe for him and Gu Hong.

A few days later, Li An took a trip outside White Tiger City.

Beyond White Tiger City, there were many wild mountains and hills, some of which always had rumors of bandits.

Li An disguised himself as a Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivator, passing through a bandit territory somewhere.

Sure enough, a group of bandits appeared, their leader was a Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivator!

Li An easily wiped out the bandits and even robbed them, but left that Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivator.

"What... what do you want to do?"

This Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivator named Zhao Yi was terrified of Li An.

Li An repeatedly checked Zhao Yi, confirming he didn't possess some secret technique like Divine Sense, then grabbed Zhao Yi's hand and activated the Blood and Flesh Melting Furnace Skill.

The Blood and Flesh Melting Furnace Skill didn't always require an intimate ritual like with Guo Xiaoxiao.

That was necessary because Guo Xiaoxiao's cultivation was lower than Li An's, requiring such a ritual to promote the merging of flesh and blood.

As a superior, Li An could directly control Zhao Yi's flesh and blood.

Soon after.

Zhao Yi walked out of the cave, his appearance completely transformed!

He had turned into… the semblance of "Li An."

He had become Li An's blood puppet, and furthermore, Li An had altered his appearance with Yin Yang Demonic Qi.

"Go to Zhao Family Town, show yourself, but don't get caught."

Li An gave him an instruction.

The blood puppet quickly set into motion, departing at once.

And Li An turned to head back to White Tiger City.

...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.