Since Li Ye had taken such a polite and respectful attitude, and Fan Yuanzhou had come seeking his help, he naturally wouldn't continue to dwell on the matter of Li Ye's delayed appearance.
The three of them sat down and began chatting over tea in place of wine. Before long, the atmosphere grew warm and pleasant, and they were getting along quite well.
Fan Yuanzhou then presented the pill recipe for the Chongyuan Pill, along with the main and supplementary ingredients he had painstakingly gathered.
Despite his burly and straightforward appearance, the bearded man now had a hint of caution and expectation on his face, eyes fixed on Li Ye, eagerly awaiting his response.
Li Ye examined the recipe in detail, then briefly inspected the spiritual herbs before nodding.
"The herbs are intact, and their spiritual potency is well preserved… Though the Chongyuan Pill is of rather high grade, I believe I have a fair chance of success."
"You two may rest here at Mount Pingyang for a while. I'll have the pills ready within ten days."
It was rare for Li Ye to give such a confident guarantee.
"Ten days?"
Fan Yuanzhou's excitement was evident as he cupped his fists again. "Then I'll trouble Alchemist Li with this task!"
"There's no need for such formality, Daoist Fan," Li Ye replied with a smile. "Since Brother Deng personally brought you here, I can't very well let down the trust and guarantee he's extended."
"Brother Li jests," Deng Tiancheng said, his smile growing even broader. "I was only able to make the introduction because your alchemical skill is truly exceptional."
Li Ye's repeated expressions of goodwill confirmed for Deng Tiancheng that his years of careful rapport-building hadn't been in vain even offering up rare items exclusive to Jiuding Valley to foster this relationship.
If the pill refinement went smoothly, then Fan Yuanzhou would owe him a significant favor. Once he broke through, Deng's influence within the sect would rise accordingly.
Even though Fan Yuanzhou hadn't formally joined Jiuding Valley, in this situation, an external contact free from sect restrictions might be more advantageous.
As they spoke, Li Ye took out a token and activated it with a spell.
Before long, Luo Feibai hurried over. Three years had passed, and this man's cultivation had now reached the peak of the Qi Refining stage!
Judging by his lifespan, he still had a real shot at attempting the Foundation Establishment breakthrough.
Seeing the three men in the room, Luo Feibai immediately bowed deeply.
"Greetings, Alliance Leader. Greetings, honored seniors!"
Li Ye said, "Please arrange appropriate cultivation quarters for Daoist Fan and Brother Deng. These two are honored guests see that they are well cared for."
"Yes, sir!"
Luo Feibai replied respectfully and immediately went off to handle the arrangements.
Not long after, everything was settled, and he returned to escort the now thoroughly pleased Fan Yuanzhou and Deng Tiancheng out.
Once they were gone and the room was empty, the smile on Li Ye's face vanished.
His expression turned cold and expressionless.
A flash of emerald-green spiritual light flickered and he instantly vanished from where he stood.
.......
Back in his cave dwelling, Li Ye fully activated all protective formations and restrictions.
With a wave of his hand, countless densely packed Gu insects flew out, projecting the recent changes in the Lava Palace around him.
Although some subtle details of the array restrictions were too faint to be fully recorded, the overall changes were still clearly presented before him.
He carefully examined everything the Gu insects had recorded during the time he hadn't gone down to explore, hoping to identify the cause behind the sudden chain reaction and widespread destabilization of the formations so that he could take further measures to mitigate the situation.
After all, the safe zones he had previously established had held up quite well.
Even after years of persistent scavenging around the underground palace, those intricate array restrictions had never caused any major incidents.
Although this time he had been caught off guard by the large-scale changes in the array formations of the Lava Palace...
When the warning mechanisms he had set up were triggered, he rushed there just in time and, relying on those safe zone formations, managed to temporarily stabilize the expanding arrays within the areas he had already explored.
Otherwise, even the entrance he had used for years might've now been swallowed up by the expanding restrictions, becoming part of the fire beasts' roaming territory!
But this solution could only hold for a while. Other regions beyond his reach were likely still undergoing drastic changes.
If he could find a way to halt the disturbance in the Lava Palace, that would be ideal. Even if it cost him significant effort and resources, it would be worth it as long as the place could remain secret and he could continue to explore it slowly.
If nothing could be done, then he would have no choice but to erase all traces of his presence and prepare for the turmoil that would inevitably erupt across the Chidi Mountains once the Lava Palace became known to the world.
Li Ye extended his divine sense already more than twice as powerful as others at his level and meticulously examined the details projected by the memory and sound-recording Gu insects.
As the playback progressed rapidly, the previously stable formations in the footage suddenly shifted.
Li Ye's expression changed instantly.
"That's..."
He instinctively commanded the image to rewind slightly, and upon watching again, his face grew even grimmer.
The worst-case scenario had come true!
In the footage, the core structure of the Lava Palace which had always stood as motionless and unchanging as a mountain since Li Ye first discovered it suddenly gave a slight tremble and emitted a faint glow.
Even though the disturbance seemed minor no powerful energy erupted, and it looked more like a person shivering slightly it was enough to make his heart sink.
Soon after, the Lava Palace settled down again, as if nothing had happened.
But immediately afterward, with it as the center, the scattered remains of ruined architectural islets that had collapsed from it began triggering a chain reaction among the chaotic array of formations that stretched throughout the underground lava world like a row of dominoes falling.
The formations in this place had always maintained a delicate balance amidst chaos. It probably never needed a strong force to break it just a small disturbance.
Now, the entire surrounding area of the Lava Palace began undergoing violent changes. The formations reacted in various ways some self-neutralizing, others expanding outward.
Ultimately, the expansive forces overwhelmed the self-neutralizing ones. With bursts of power of varying intensity, the formations surged forward like a long-contained flood finally released.
Countless fire beasts and fire puppets, like fish swimming in a river, were swept along in the surge, expanding their range of activity.
What followed, Li Ye had already experienced firsthand that there was no need to keep watching.
"No wonder such a violent shift happened without any warning…"
Retracting the Gu insects, Li Ye sighed with frustration.
"The core of all the formations the Lava Palace itself changing this... that's far beyond anything I could've foreseen or controlled."
Having never gotten close to the palace's core, he had no way of investigating the reason behind its sudden disturbance.
Whether it was merely a fluctuation in the array formations, or something deeper like some ancient entity awakening inside remained completely unknown.
"Forget it… the palace's core hasn't fully activated yet. Let's see if the array's explosive expansion can stabilize after this initial surge..."
Li Ye's expression was solemn.
"If it can calm down, I might be able to use formations to create new stabilizing nodes and buy more time."
"Who knows, maybe this disturbance will even reveal some valuable treasures hidden among the various island ruins. As long as I can maintain control, there's still a chance to profit!"
Crisis often comes with opportunity.
Now that things had come to this, and couldn't be stopped, Li Ye wasn't afraid of the Lava Palace making its debut anymore.
Worst case, he'd just dig in and play dumb pretend he knew nothing, and ride it out.
But if he could seize a chance at Core Formation from all this, then everything would've been worth it!
"Still, the priority now is to get Deng Tiancheng and Fan Yuanzhou out of here while things are still under wraps!"
"After all, they're disciples from a major Golden Core sect. Who knows what methods they might have to detect underground disturbances? It's too dangerous to let them stay…"
With that thought, Li Ye turned and headed straight toward the alchemy room.
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