Wait a minute, where is my master?

The three young Taoists followed the landlady's method and gave it a try.

They discovered that what had been said was true.

The "Soul-hooking Soup" indeed deserved its reputation as a delicacy paired with buns, creating an extraordinary aroma that was incomparably delicious. Together, their flavors reached new heights.

Jin Xu and the others started eating voraciously, one spoonful of soup and one bite of bun at a time.

...

Outside of Shangjing City to the northwest.

Longevity Mountain.

At the bottom of a lake in front of a mountain spring, a newly excavated stone chamber existed.

Inside the stone chamber.

A woman in coarse hemp clothes, better known as Granny Tang, though calling her Granny Meng might be more fitting.

She stared expressionlessly at the person standing in front of a large jar, silently stirring.

After a long time, the soup in the jar gradually began to boil and emitted faint waves of Spiritual Power.

Seeing this, Granny Meng ceased her stirring actions, and a sinister smile suddenly spread across her kind face.

Then, she took out a piece of ink jade, about the length of a little finger, from her storage treasure. She held it carefully and held it above the jar.

"Hehe, young Taoist, just wait for your death,"

Granny Meng whispered to herself with a cold laugh, and her withered palm opened, letting the ink jade fall freely.

However, just as the ink jade passed over the jar, its surface suddenly emitted a soft glow.

Then, this small piece of ink jade actually began to float above the large jar.

"Demon Lord?"

Seeing this spectacle, Granny Tang involuntarily took a step back, tightly gripping the soup ladle in her other hand.

"Heh, don't mistake me for that disgraceful one."

An old voice came from the ink jade, identical to the voice that had previously incited the Great Elder of the Demon Sect to steal a fishing rod.

"Audacious, who are you to speak with such irreverence?"

Granny Meng scolded, yet the hand gripping the ladle gradually relaxed a bit.

Seeing this anomaly, her first thought was that the Demon Lord had left something inside it, and hearing the person's words sounding unrelated to the Demon Lord brought her some relief.

"Heh, stop pretending. If you truly respected the Demon Lord as you say, would you have brought out this Spirit Soup that has been prepared for breaking his seal for so many years?"

At these words, Granny Meng's grip on the ladle's handle tightened once more.

"Are you spying on me?!"

"Hahahaha, spying on you? I haven't stooped to such boredom. I've merely observed through this piece of ink jade occasionally over the centuries; you were always in that underground palace.

"Suddenly moving to such a crude place, with the surrounding stone walls appearing freshly hewn, I presume you and your Demon Sect must have had some kind of falling out."

Granny Meng's kind expression darkened, and a nameless chill crawled up her spine.

For centuries, someone had been observing her through a personal object without her knowledge...

"Who exactly are you?"

"Don't be nervous, old man, I've come here to present you a great opportunity. To show my sincerity, I'll first share some good news with you.

"That Great Elder of the Demon Sect you mentioned, named Yin, died a few days ago. So now, even if you secretly take this long-simmered Spirit Soup out, you won't have to worry about anyone from the Demon Sect bothering you anymore."

"The Great Elder died?!"

Granny Meng's previously gloomy and tense expression instantly turned to astonishment.

"Yes, he is indeed dead."

The voice from the ink jade turned from old to young and cheerfully confirmed.

After this statement, silence fell in the small stone chamber for a moment.

After a while.

Granny Meng suppressed the surprise and shock in her heart and spoke gravely to the half-glowing ink jade.

"Heh, whether he dies or not doesn't much concern an old woman like me who is already on her last legs. The opportunity you speak of, sir, doesn't interest a heartbroken old soul like me.

"You should offer this opportunity to someone else."

After the death of the man she loved, apart from killing Jin Xu and then following her loved one in death, she had already lost all worldly desires.

Besides, she was extremely skeptical about this mysteriously appearing being whose words were filled with seductive deceit.

In her younger days when she was still weak, she used to spread the teachings of the Demon Sect, and she had played her fair share of these ghostly tricks.

"Don't you want to hear what this opportunity actually is? What if it could be useful for what you're planning to do now?"

The voice inside the ink jade changed back to its aged tone.

He had originally planned to use a headline-worthy piece of news to shock her and, gradually, sweet-talk her into stealing the fishing rod for him.

But now ... this old crone was clearly displaying an "erath is not worthy" attitude.

How was he supposed to proceed from here?

"Heh, no need."

Granny Meng gave a dry laugh and with a hand that was holding a ladle, she suddenly struck the half piece of ink jade sharply like lightning!

"Shit, let's talk nicely, you crazy woman...."

The mysterious being behind the ink jade hadn't expected her to strike suddenly; his words were cut off as the ink jade was knocked into the pot of soup.

"I thought this mysterious being would be capable of something, but who knew it could be dealt with so easily,"

Seeing her successful strike, Granny Meng became even more convinced that this entity was just here to deceive her.

Her other hand moved swiftly and touched the side of the pot.

In an instant,

Countless patterns spread from the mouth of the pot towards the center, and a layer of a lid made of Spiritual Power was about to form.

However, just as the large pot was about to be sealed, the glowing piece of ink jade splashed out of the soup with a sound.

"Dammit, can't the people of your Demon Sect in the Lower Realm show some manners? I am still..."

Before he could finish, Granny Meng hit him with the ladle once more, knocking him back into the pot.

"Strange, this soup has been brewing for a long time, it should have quickly dissolved the outer shell of this piece of ink jade and merged its contained power into the soup. But how come it made a round in the soup and flew out again?"

Granny Meng pondered in her mind, yet her eyes were intently staring at the mouth of the pot.

Sure enough, the piece of ink jade burst out again, even ignoring the patterned Spiritual Power lid above.

"I can teach you the world's top Cultivation Technique, and in the Nine Provinces, I've casually laid out Formations teeming with cultivation resources. I can..."

The mysterious being spoke rapidly this time, however...

"Thud!"

Yet again, he couldn't escape the fate of being knocked into the pot.

Third time.

"I can grant you supreme authority, just if..."

"Thud!"

Fourth time.

"Teaching Demon Lord came from my heritage, I can enable you to possess the same Cultivation Strength as him, the same..."

"Thud!"

After striking the ink jade down again, Granny Meng, holding the ladle, scoffed and said.

"Heh, the same Cultivation Strength as the Demon Lord, and then get sealed for a thousand years and can't get out like he did, right?"

After speaking, she focused intently again, raising the long-handled ladle and keeping her gaze fixed on the pot of soup, still rippling.

However, this time...

That glowing piece of ink jade didn't leap out again.

...

At this moment, in the Upper Realm, at a place where the Four Symbols Power converged.