Hammer in her left hand, sword in her right, the eldest sister is connected to both worlds.

As the golden crow cried out, a streak of azure light flew out from the black tower, passed through the restrictions, and disappeared into the horizon.

Xue Lan returned to the weapon-refining field and possessed the original body. She slowly woke up. The assessment on the stage was proceeding at a leisurely pace. Xue Lan rested her chin on her hand and looked at the stage, her eyes still sleepy, as if she hadn't slept well.

Xue Lan guessed that things were pretty much in chaos outside. Sure enough, a short while later, a disciple from the War Puppet Mansion rushed in and whispered a few words in the ear of the elder presiding over the assessment.

"Has something changed at the War Puppet Mansion?" Zhu Lingzhi asked with some curiosity.

Xue Lan thought to herself, "Don't pretend. You used your Vermilion Bird Flame to awaken the sleeping Golden Crow. I don't believe you even if you say you don't know about this."

A figure in cyan appeared in the weapon-refining area, just in time to be seen by Zhu Lingzhi as he turned his head. The girl transmitted her voice to the slightly disheveled Chu Yutian: "Did it work out?"

Chu Yutian shook his head slightly, his hands clenched into fists beneath his long blue sleeves, his nails digging into his palms.

“Impossible! With the Illusionary Spirit Robe that Father gave you, no one in the War Puppet Mansion could possibly notice,” Zhu Lingzhi retorted.

"The golden crow has awakened."

The remaining essence of the Golden Crow awakens, spreading its wings beneath the black tower and unleashing a golden sun; this is where the change begins.

Xue Lan didn't look at Chu Yutian, but instead looked at Lin Su on the stage. The young man was not affected by the surrounding atmosphere in the slightest. He was still focused on refining his spiritual weapon. Dozens of material crystals floated in the smelting furnace, slowly melting into a complete piece of material.

While looking at the stage, Xue Lan spoke to the system in her mind: "The War Puppet Mansion must have known about the Golden Crow Essence's unusual movements for a long time, which is why they set up that layer of restrictions outside the Black Tower, partly to prevent outsiders with ulterior motives from entering, and partly to prevent the pure Yang fire power inside from leaking out. But with my interference this time, the War Puppet Mansion won't be able to hide it for long."

Shouldn't you have secretly taken the Golden Crow Essence? Why did you have to make it known to everyone?

“Because it won’t recognize me.” Xue Lan slowly said, “Among the demon race, the blood ties are greater than those in the cultivation world. If the Golden Crow doesn’t wake up, it will definitely choose the Thunder Roc.”

Aren't you worried that this move is too big and will alert the War Puppet Bureau?

"The War Puppet Mansion wouldn't do that. With the Demon Clan attacking, the War Puppet Mansion wouldn't let the outside world know that something is wrong inside at this time."

As it turned out, Xue Lan's prediction was correct. Since Xue Lan awakened the Golden Crow, the War Puppet Mansion had only sent a disciple to inform the elder in charge of the assessment, and had not taken any other action.

Xue Lan, Yin Shishi, and the others continued to observe the weapon-refining assessment from the weapon-refining field, unaware that a great uproar had already taken place outside.

Inside the black tower that Xue Lan had previously entered, several tall, muscular elders of the War Puppet Mansion were gathered together, looking at the steps leading down in front of them.

The once pitch-black place had been illuminated. A huge totem appeared, a golden circle resembling a blazing sun, slowly rotating in the center, while a giant black bird circled the sun, emitting cries.

"If all else fails, we'll have to send the Feather Clan over," said an elder with a short beard.

“Look at that little princess of the Feather Clan, this matter is inextricably linked to Jidu.” An old man with a somewhat thin face spoke up: “The Vermilion Bird Fire and the Golden Crow share the same origin.”

"Sixth Elder, we understand the reasoning, but we have no evidence!" The first elder spoke up, and a group of old men sighed in unison.

"Lord of the Manor?" All the elders looked at the old man in the middle.

"Wait a moment." The old man was dressed in a dark martial arts uniform, with a dignified expression and piercing eyes.

"After the weapon-refining assessment is over, let the disciples of our sect try it one by one. The Golden Crow has awakened, and this opportunity may very well fall into the hands of our War Puppet Mansion."

The surrounding elders bowed in unison: "We leave the decision entirely to the Lord of the Prefecture."

Xue Lan stayed in the weapon-refining field for three days, accompanied by the unsuspecting Yin Shishi and two demons, each with their own thoughts.

Zhu Lingzhi had been somewhat anxious ever since she learned that the Golden Crow had awakened, but she didn't show it on her face, remaining poised and dignified, occasionally exchanging a few words with Xue Lan. However, Xue Lan didn't really want to talk to her right now.

Because she is sick.

When one cultivates to the Golden Core realm, one transcends the mundane world, and ordinary evil spirits cannot touch one in the slightest. The changing seasons are also unaffected by the alternation of hot and cold.

So when Yin Shishi noticed that the person next to her looked drowsy and sickly, she was quite surprised.

Yin Shishi's icy fingers touched Xue Lan's slightly flushed cheeks, and she said incredulously, "Did you go to the Nine Heavens Demon Realm to roll around without activating your protective aura?"

Xue Lan felt unwell from the fever and moved closer to Yin Shishi, following her cool hand. Yin Shishi then pressed her finger against her forehead.

"I'll find you some medicine."

So over the next three days, Xue Lan took a dozen or so pills here and there. Her forehead fever subsided temporarily, but she remained listless. She was completely different from usual, becoming unusually docile. She didn't speak or do anything reckless.

Yin Shishi thought it would be better to stay like this, as it would make her look well-behaved and prevent her from causing trouble.

Xue Lan was unaware of the terrifying thoughts of the chief disciple of Qingyu Peak. At present, she was in her sea of ​​consciousness, looking at the wooden door in front of her that was emanating demonic energy with the system.

"Your inner demons are becoming increasingly unruly." The system sighed.

[My host, you're not going to die, are you? If you're going to die, give me a heads-up.]

Xue Lan didn't want to pay it any attention, and looked thoughtfully at the dissipating demonic energy in front of her. Finally, she smiled slightly: "It's still an innate deficiency."

Before Xue Lan possessed this body, it was an abandoned infant, born with deficiencies and riddled with illnesses.

I've stumbled through several years of life in this world, rarely having a full meal or meeting many good people.

Until he died on a snowy winter night, before Xue Lan possessed his body, he was still thinking about whether he could eat a hot steamed bun.

A child abandoned at birth dares not yearn for love or dream of fine silks and satins. Even the warm steamed buns he longed for never existed.

For a long time after Xue Lan successfully possessed the body, she was tormented by its memories.

Extinguishing those useless thoughts from her was not easy for Xue Lan at the time. But in the end, she succeeded.

Xue Lan thought she had forgotten. But she hadn't.

The cold of the snowy night and the hardships she suffered in her childhood still flowed towards her from a soul that may have long since vanished.

After occupying this body for many years, Xue Lan felt for the first time clearly that she was no longer herself, with a powerful demon soul filling her frail body.

As the soul dissipates, the body also gradually decays.

She was neither a peerless demon lord from a thousand years ago, nor an abandoned orphan.

The demon lord's soul, combined with the child's body, resulted in Xue Lan, an illogical monster.

Everything seemed perfectly in place, but in reality, there were flaws and inconsistencies everywhere. The broken body was held together by a powerful demonic soul, and after being away for a short while, it broke down under the influence of demonic energy.

Xue Lan snapped out of her daze and looked at the assessment platform in front of her. Most of the disciples on it had already finished refining, and only three people remained, including Lin Su.

The young man had a very serious expression as he picked up a small bottle from the table.

The Snow Spirit Essence, prepared beforehand in the bottle, approached the longsword he had forged, and instantly, as if encountering the finest delicacy in the world, it adhered to it. Moments later, it embedded itself into the snow-white blade, leaving a trail of snow-white light on its surface.

A ball of azure flame appeared in Lin Su's left palm, wrapping around the long sword in front of him and tightly enveloping it. The icy power of the Snow Spirit Essence intertwined with the azure flame, causing the entire assessment platform to be shrouded in a white mist.

The elders on the side immediately used their magic to drive away the mist to prevent the weapons from affecting the other disciples.

The weapon dissipated, and Lin Su held a long sword in his hand, two fingers wide and three feet long, with a gleaming blade and a chilling aura emanating from it.

Lin Su glanced at Xue Lan and lightly flicked the long sword in his hand.

With a crisp "hum!" sound, a ball of snow-white light appeared on the surface of the longsword, flowing like a living thing.

The spirit infusion was successful!

Xue Lan smiled, knowing that this kid was showing off to her.

The two people beside Lin Su also stopped refining, and the assessment was considered to have come to a successful conclusion. Xue Lan stood up and bowed to Lin Su: "Congratulations, Junior Brother Lin, on becoming a Grandmaster."

To be able to forge a master-level spiritual weapon with only one arm is worthy of Xue Lan's congratulations.

Lin Su was a little embarrassed by Xue Lan's sincere congratulations, and upon closer inspection, two faint blushes appeared on his face.

He felt his face burning and his gaze darted away from Xue Lan. Finally mustering the courage to look at her, he found the man's eyes glued to his newly forged longsword.

His gaze was extremely greedy.

In that instant, Lin Su felt as if his emotions had been toyed with by the person in front of him, and he took several steps back while holding his long sword.

Lin Su: What are you doing?

The elder in charge of scoring this assessment looked displeased with Lin Su's expression.

"What are you doing? Bring the things up."

Lin Su offered the long sword in his hand, stealing glances at Xue Lan's reaction.

The elder in charge of scoring held a long sword and praised, "Excellent! Excellent! As expected of a disciple of the Weaponry School. With such strength, you are worthy of being promoted to Grandmaster."

Lin Su felt a surge of warmth in his heart upon hearing those few words. Because he had lost an arm and could not perform a proper bow, he could only bend over and bow to the elder before him.

Xue Lan saw him smiling happily, wondering if it was because of the evaluation that Ke Jin was a grandmaster, or because of the words "worthy of being a disciple of the Way of Weapons".

Looking at the man's empty sleeve, Xue Lan suddenly became interested in her junior brother Yan Chengxue, thinking that she would find out the story of his missing arm when she had time.

But right now, the matter of the Golden Crow's essence is more important.