Only three seconds? He's already the Lord of All Realms, so it doesn't matter.

The two began to talk louder, completely oblivious to the fact that they were being overheard.

Ye Xuan hid behind the sandalwood tree, completely concealing his presence, his breathing almost imperceptible.

The disciple carrying the black cloth bag became increasingly agitated, saying, "We are both at the peak of Foundation Establishment."

"After two years of hard work in the outer sect, I finally got this good job this year. If I don't work hard now, when will I ever be able to enter the inner sect?"

"Oh dear, there's no use panicking now. Why don't you jump down and fill in?"

The man carrying the cloth bag was silent for a moment, then his tone softened, "Never mind, never mind."

He walked to the very center of the sand, then opened the cloth bag and released the only two souls inside.

The other man carefully held up the bronze mirror; the harvest was too low today, and he dared not be careless.

Witnessing the two of them finish doing all this again, Ye Xuan suddenly recalled the information he had seen that morning—

About half a year ago, two formal disciples from the outer sect mysteriously disappeared while on a mission. Their appearance was basically the same as the two of them.

"They really won't stop doing good until they've squeezed every last drop of value out of everyone."

Ye Xuan followed them along the dark path, only to see the man holding the bronze mirror suddenly stop.

He glanced at the bronze mirror in his hand, which flickered for a moment, and wondered, "Has someone accepted a mission?"

"Strange... I didn't see anyone during the patrol."

"yes."

The two were immediately confused. The message from the bronze mirror said that the mission was to be accepted by a registered disciple this afternoon.

Where is she?

"Let's go back first."

The other person nodded in agreement, and neither of them took the matter to heart, continuing to walk deeper into the area.

After about half an hour's journey, we were nearing the edge of the back mountain when we saw a very well-hidden cave on the towering rock face ahead.

Only after they disappeared into the cave did Ye Xuan probe into it with his senses.

The cave was deep and dark, with slippery watermarks on the rock walls that gleamed with a dark hue under the faint glow of the fireflies. It was a natural passageway leading downwards, winding and turning, with a flickering firelight at its end.

The two disciples descended the steps with practiced ease, their footsteps echoing in the narrow space as they gradually faded into the distance.

Ye Xuan did not follow rashly. He retreated several feet away and found a hollow where sandalwood trees grew to hide, while extending his perception to the maximum range.

Deep inside the passageway, there was a spacious and clean stone chamber where two people were resting facing each other.

"There are only two this time, the steward is probably going to get angry."

"So what if I get angry? The registered disciples are getting smarter and smarter. No one's coming to their deaths, and we can't afford to feed the eliminated ones. There's nothing we can do."

"That's true, but speaking of which, did the guy who accepted the mission actually show up?"

"The bronze mirror shows that the call was made, but there's no sign of anyone... They probably got scared halfway there and ran back."

As he finished speaking, the man carrying the black cloth bag looked exhausted, stretched lazily, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Seeing that the two were about to fall asleep, Ye Xuan stopped hiding and quietly crept into the cave.

He took the silver token hanging from his waist and gripped it in his hand. "Since I'm already here, I can't leave empty-handed!"

Following the route he had just explored, Ye Xuan ventured deeper into the passageway until the door to the stone chamber came into view, at which point he stopped.

He raised his hand and released two beams of white light, which immediately penetrated the cracks in the stone door and entered it.

Just as the immortal seed entered the stone chamber and gradually approached the two people, one of them suddenly sat up straight, alert.

"who!"

The man carrying the black cloth bag suddenly opened his eyes, staring at the white light floating in mid-air, a sense of unease rising in his heart.

He already held a talisman in his hand, and the other person quickly stood up, raising the bronze mirror instantly, its surface emitting a faint blue light.

Ye Xuan pushed open the door and entered, his face completely hidden by the large Taoist robe he was wearing.

"The character 'Yi' (乙) is nine; investigate the strange movements of the spirits in the back mountain."

His voice was calm, echoing in the stone chamber. The two men exchanged a glance, their faces showing surprise and doubt.

The man holding the bronze mirror sized Ye Xuan up and down, his gaze lingering on the wooden plaque at his waist. "A registered disciple?"

"So you're the one who took on the mission? You've got guts, managing to find this place."

Ye Xuan did not answer, but slowly walked towards the center of the stone chamber. The two white lights that had stopped for a moment began to move again.

"Will I be able to claim my reward if I go back like this?"

He asked the question knowing the answer already, but the man holding the bronze mirror just kept sneering, "You'll find out soon enough!"

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly pressed the bronze mirror onto the stone table next to him. The mirror surface came into contact with the array patterns inside, and the entire stone chamber suddenly shook.

At the same time, the talisman in the hand of the man carrying the black bag was activated, turning into three jet-black claws that wrapped around Ye Xuan from three directions!

Ye Xuan stood still, his body emanating a subtle aura of blue and white. The chains instantly dissolved upon touching the aura, without uttering a sound...

"You're not a registered disciple?!"

The two quickly came to their senses and stared at the person in front of them again. The cultivation level emanating from his body was clearly beyond the Foundation Establishment stage.

Ye Xuan still did not answer, and then controlled the two white lights in mid-air to fly towards them.

Realizing the spell's formidable power, the two dared not underestimate it and each cast their own spells to resist.

Even though they tried their best, it was all in vain when they encountered the white light. They could only watch helplessly as the slightly murky white light got closer and closer to their foreheads.

Their chests heaved violently, their eyes filled with terror. "You...you can't kill us!"

"If they kill us, the sect elders will find out very quickly!"

"deacon?"

Ye Xuan crouched down and saw the bronze mirror hidden in their arms. He knew that the bronze mirror could only record things, and there was a process to transmit them...

"It's alright. If you're confident you can escape, I'll accept defeat."

Without wasting any more words with them, the immortal seed floated directly into their foreheads. After entering their bodies, there was no pain, nor any other sensations.

Their expressions only grew dimmer, until finally they vanished into nothingness...

A few breaths later, two emerald green willow saplings burst through their chests, taking root firmly in their flesh and blood, and gradually growing into two willow saplings over nine feet tall.

Ye Xuan went over, took the bronze mirrors off the two of them, smashed them, and then pulled them out of the cave, finding them a desolate place teeming with wandering ghosts.

Immediately, several ghosts, seemingly recognizing the two individuals, frantically rushed towards their corpses.

Before long, the two bodies were scattered in pieces, so indistinct that they were unrecognizable.

Finally, after removing the fallen willow seedlings, Ye Xuan stood up and straightened his crimson and white Taoist robe.

He gathered his aura to the fifth level of Foundation Establishment, and then stepped towards the outer edge of the dense forest.

With these two killed, Ye Xuan's trip wouldn't have been in vain.

The life force of the two Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivators greatly increased his own cultivation level, allowing him to reach the second level of the Golden Core stage.

In addition, the memories of the formal disciples contain even more information about the changes in the Short-Lived Realm—

The Holy Sect's internal understanding of the changes in the Short-Lived Realm far surpasses that of the outer disciples. They have repeatedly mentioned the existence of the "Willow Tree" and have strictly ordered disciples who have left the sect to be on the lookout for any unusual phenomena related to the Willow Tree...

"They were looking for me after all."

As expected, neither of them knew much about the details, so Ye Xuan simply stopped thinking about it and got up to walk towards the edge of the dense forest.

There were still a few hours until the time he had agreed to meet Fang Zhengge, so he decided to go back and get some sleep.