After being reborn, the villain comes with a spoiler tag.

"what?"

As soon as the hybrid dragon entered the Hundred Soul Banner, it was surprised to find that the environment inside the banner was somewhat similar to the Nine Star Secret Realm.

Although the spiritual energy within the Soul Banner is thin, it is extremely similar to that in the Nine Star Secret Realm, with only slight differences, and can be completely absorbed by the hybrid grain dragon.

It even considered settling down there permanently.

Huo Yu rejected the mixed-race dragon's request without hesitation.

The spiritual energy within this soul banner was actually converted from his own spiritual energy, used to maintain the operation of the nine sets of twenty-seven formations within the banner. Of course, he wouldn't waste his spiritual energy to raise a hybrid grain dragon that was of little use to him.

Having received the order, the hybrid dragon dejectedly left the soul banner and returned to Huo Yu's left wrist.

Huo Yu stared at the Hundred Soul Banner in his hand, and a vague understanding dawned on him.

A week passed in the blink of an eye. Before Huo Yu received Yu Jue's message, he had already sensed that Long Yucheng had left the cave and was rushing over.

Long Yucheng was unaware that the half of the jade pendant Huo Yu gave him was actually a Xuan-rank magic treasure called the Tongxin Jue. Two of them made a pair, and in appearance, it looked like a complete round jade pendant that had been broken in half.

Huo Yu could no longer remember the origin of this love charm, and the reason he kept it in his storage bag was because of its special characteristics.

Both jade pendants are engraved with defensive formations. When combined, they are strong enough to withstand a full-force attack from a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. When used separately, they allow the two holders to communicate with each other over a distance of tens of thousands of miles.

Its name, Tongxin, seems to suggest that it is a medium used by two close friends to communicate with each other, but that is not the case.

The Tongxin Jue (a type of jade pendant) is divided into a child Jue and a mother Jue. As long as the two jades meet within a hundred miles, the holder of the mother Jue can clearly sense the location of the child Jue and can teleport the holder to the child Jue's side, or teleport the holder of the child Jue to the mother Jue's side.

Legend has it that this Love Heart Jade was originally crafted by a female cultivator with an extremely strong desire to control her Daoist partner. Unfortunately, this female cultivator eventually broke up with her partner, and their love turned into hatred, leading to a deadly feud.

These two love-themed jade pendants changed hands several times before finally ending up in Huo Yu's hands.

Huo Yu wasn't interested in the origin story of the love charms. When he decided to bring Long Yucheng under his control, he thought of these two jade charms.

Initially, Huo Yu considered implanting the Love Heart Jade directly into a location within Long Yucheng's body that couldn't be removed, such as his heart. Before entering the Nascent Soul stage, the heart is always a cultivator's greatest weakness.

However, he quickly rejected this plan, because once Long Yucheng discovered it, he could easily escape Huo Yu's control by simply possessing another body.

After rescuing Long Yucheng from the Green Wood Wolf Pack for the first time, Huo Yu quickly came up with another way to get Long Yucheng to willingly bind himself to the Love Ring:

In a way that Long Yucheng could trust, he openly and legitimately gifted the Tongxin Jue to him.

Instead of forcibly putting chains on Long Yucheng, it's better to let him put on the collar voluntarily.

As Huo Yu had predicted, Long Yucheng exchanged all his belongings for points in exchange for system resources, leaving behind not even the storage bag he had just received from the Yellow Springs Sect.

If the system hadn't refused to accept junk, he would have pawned all his clothes, but he kept only the Zhu Yan Sword and the Tong Xin Jue given to him by Huo Yu.

After being saved by the defensive formation on the Tongxin Jue (a jade pendant), Long Yucheng regarded it as a priceless treasure.

As for Huo Yu, the giver, Long Yucheng already regarded him as someone he wished to become sworn brothers with, and never suspected that Huo Yu had ulterior motives.

As Huo Yu stepped out of the cave, Long Yucheng flashed a bright smile, as radiant as the midday sun, and said:

"Senior Brother Huo, let's set off now!"

According to Long Yucheng, the cultivator's secluded residence was only about two hundred miles away from the Yellow Springs Sect.

At Huo Yu's speed, he could arrive in less than two hours.

However, when Long Yucheng was conscious, he showed great resistance to this mode of transportation, which involved being lifted by the back of his collar, and insisted on flying on his own sword.

Huo Yu wasn't in a hurry, so he followed Long Yucheng at a leisurely pace. By the time the two arrived, it was almost dark.

However, they did not go directly to the cultivator's former residence, but instead went to Tianhe City, which was not far away.

Tianhe City is the largest city for cultivators in the northern part of Izumo Kingdom.

In countries like Izumo, which are completely under the control of the demonic path, the order of the cultivation world is far inferior to that of countries controlled by the righteous path.

In such places, anyone who can establish a city for cultivators and maintain its order either has the backing of a powerful sect or the strength to intimidate all the surrounding sects.

The city lord of Tianhe City, Master Tianhe, is the latter.

This was Long Yucheng's first time visiting a city set up for cultivators. At the entrance, he reluctantly paid ten spirit stones in exchange for two seemingly ordinary iron waist tokens.

This waist tag functions similarly to the disciple's waist tag, but it has a time limit for use.

As long as you hold this waist tag, you can freely enter and exit Tianhe City for seven days. After seven days, the waist tag will expire and you will need to buy a new one.

Upon entering the city, Long Yucheng was dazzled by the rows of shops.

Unlike ordinary cities, most shops run by cultivators are open for twelve hours a day and will not close unless there is a reason. Therefore, even though it is late, Tianhe City is still brightly lit.

This wasn't Huo Yu's first time visiting a cultivation city, but it was indeed his first time in Tianhe City.

Although in his view, Tianhe City could only be considered a small city, and the items sold there were not particularly high-end.

However, he and Long Yucheng's trip was only to buy some of the star-sinking sand most commonly used by array masters, so they were not worried about returning empty-handed.

—That was Huo Yu's original thought.

However, the truth is that the two visited three stores in a row and were told that the agarwood was temporarily out of stock.

The owner of the last shop even suggested they try their luck at Tianhefang, the largest shop in Tianhe City.

Long Yucheng was also puzzled. The Heavenly Dao Assistant had clearly told him that the material, Stardust Sand, was too common to be worthy of being in the system shop. So how come he couldn't find a single grain of Stardust Sand in this vast Tianhe City?

The two eventually arrived at the entrance of Tianhefang.

The magnificent building before us stands majestically in the heart of Tianhe City's most bustling area. The entire building is ten stories high, resembling a monument that can be seen from afar from the moment one enters Tianhe City.

At this moment, it was completely dark, but the building was brightly lit. Under the illumination of the lights, the upturned eaves, carved beams and painted rafters of each floor were clearly visible.

As its name suggests, Tianhefang is directly under the jurisdiction of the city lord, Tianhe Shangren. Its scale and exquisite design are far superior to those of the small shops in the city.

The goods in the market are all-encompassing, but the prices are naturally much higher than in other places.

As soon as Long Yucheng stepped into Tianhefang, he was dazzled by the dazzling array of magical treasures displayed on the first floor. Touching his meager storage bag, he couldn't help but have second thoughts.

This storage bag was offered up by the cultivator surnamed Wang in order to save his life. Although there were no spiritual herbs or pills inside, there was a whole bunch of miscellaneous magical artifacts. I wonder how many outer disciples this cultivator surnamed Wang had robbed before he came to Longyu City.

Long Yucheng exchanged everything for points with the system, keeping only this storage bag and the nearly one hundred spirit stones inside for emergencies. However, these one hundred spirit stones probably wouldn't make a sound in Tianhefang.

Besides spirit stones, the storage bag contained only the Crimson Flame Sword and the Spirit Silver Sword that had nearly cost Long Yucheng his life.

Ever since the half of the jade pendant given to him by Huo Yu saved Long Yucheng's life at a critical moment, Long Yucheng had kept it carefully and securely close to his chest.

A female cultivator on duty on the first floor greeted the two warmly upon their arrival, her voice gentle and soothing:

"What brings you two fellow Daoists to my Tianhe Fang? May I ask what you require?"