However, Li Yan reacted extremely quickly. In a flash of lightning, he made a judgment. Since the other party was asking him to repeat his story today, they must have obtained new information about him.
But whether it was Shan Yiyuan's small village or Mingdu City, they were all millions of li away.
Let alone a second-rate sect like Falling Star Valley, even a first-rate sect would find it difficult to extend its reach that far.
It was possible, however, that they had taken his portrait jade slip to Sacred Demon City. At this thought, Li Yan's expression changed, but he still said nothing.
"What, do you need this old man to perform a Soul-Search? Zhang Ming, seeing as you have shown kindness to my lineage, I'll give you one more chance. What is your true purpose in coming to Falling Star Valley?"
Seeing that Zhang Ming was still hesitant and unwilling to speak, Xing Ming's somewhat amiable face immediately turned gloomy.
A faint fluctuation of his aura began to ripple from his body. Zhang Ming indeed sensed that things were not good. He gritted his teeth.
"It's not that this junior is deliberately hiding it, but this involves my master's life. I know that Senior can obtain everything through a Soul-Search, but it concerns my master's life..."
Speaking to this point, Zhang Ming paused.
Xing Ming, however, remained silent, and the pressure emanating from his body began to intensify. Feeling the overwhelming pressure, Zhang Ming's face grew paler.
But in his heart, Xing Ming had already developed a slight fondness for Zhang Ming, simply because of the affection Zhang Ming showed for his master.
For so many years, Xing Ming had felt that he had been lacking in his duties to his few direct disciples. From the bottom of his heart, he had gained a deeper understanding of respecting one's master and valuing the Dao.
How could Zhang Ming withstand the pressure he was exerting? After only a moment, he finally spoke with a difficult expression.
"It is not that this junior is intentionally concealing things. I still hope that for the sake of us both being human cultivators, you will keep this secret for me! My master has an enemy. This person once needed to buy a 'Starfish Jasmine' at an auction, but in the end, my master won the bid. Because of this, he became my master's mortal enemy. He once plotted against my master, almost causing his death at the hands of the Black Demon Clan. This has led to an irreconcilable situation between us. Two years ago, my master finally found out that his enemy had entered Sacred Demon City. That person has fought with my master many times and is very familiar with my master's methods, so my master was not confident in dealing with him. But that person has never seen me, so my master sent me into Sacred Demon City to gather information on him..."
Li Yan quickly recounted the story, and finally, he explained the reason for entering Falling Star Valley, which was also very simple.
After he had gathered information in Sacred Demon City, his "master" planned to arrange for him to hide in a powerful sect to protect his life.
He himself would go alone to seek revenge. So, in the end, they chose Falling Star Valley.
As Xing Ming listened to Zhang Ming's account, he secretly cross-referenced it with the information he had recently gathered.
Rogue cultivators like Zhang Ming were the most difficult to verify their past. So, even with the capabilities of Falling Star Valley, they could only find a few clues.
When he sent people out with Li Yan's portrait jade slip to inquire, they finally got some clues about Zhang Ming in an inn in Sacred Demon City after spending a lot of Spirit Stones.
This person had stayed in Sacred Demon City for a few days at that time, leaving early and returning late every day, and was out for the whole day.
From Xing Ming's perspective, this was definitely what Zhang Ming meant by searching for his "master's" enemy in the city.
Afterward, after spending some more Spirit Stones, they also found out in some shops that Zhang Ming had once bought some artifact refining materials.
And when this person bought things, he would often ask about matters unrelated to the materials. In retrospect, it was clear that he was searching for someone's whereabouts everywhere.
"Your master's enemy is from the Sacred Demon Palace?"
Xing Ming suddenly asked.
'As expected, they still found out some key information!'
Li Yan sighed inwardly, but on the surface, he seemed to have relaxed a lot.
"Reporting to Senior, this junior only found out that the person had sent things to the Sacred Demon Palace a few times, so I went to the Sacred Demon Palace halfway up the mountain to try to find information, but I was driven down every time..."
Xing Ming listened with a blank expression, his Divine Sense constantly scanning the other party. After Li Yan finished his account, Xing Ming fell into a brief silence.
"I heard that you are going to refine a Natal Magical Treasure this time. I don't know your skill in artifact refining, but my Falling Star Valley is a sect of alchemy and artifact refining. Would you like me to find a master artifact refiner from the sect to help you? But you must pay for the Spirit Stones yourself. I imagine you are not short of those Spirit Stones."
Xing Ming suddenly changed the subject, which made Li Yan, who had just relaxed, become vigilant again. He didn't understand why the other party would suddenly offer to find someone to help him refine a Magical Treasure.
"Thank you, Senior. I had an agreement with the Grand Elder that as long as I completed the mission, the sect would provide the 'Shattered Star Chamber'. The main reason for this is that my Natal Magical Treasure needs my own Essence Blood to be integrated during the refining process. So even if I wanted to ask someone for help, it would be impossible."
A wry smile appeared on Li Yan's face. He answered cautiously as he thought. He didn't know what the other party wanted to do, but he guessed they probably weren't trying to set a trap.
In this situation, they would either find a reason not to let him use it—after all, they were strong and he was weak, so whatever they said went.
Or they would keep their promise. Or, while he was refining his Natal Magical Treasure, the other party would suddenly cause some problems with the "Shattered Star Chamber," causing his artifact refining to fail.
Li Yan could only take a gamble. Without strength, one had to fight for any hope.
After hearing Zhang Ming's words, Xing Ming just nodded. He was a grandmaster of artifact refining. If Zhang Ming could afford the price, he could even do it himself.
Because of this, he also knew the most important step in refining a Natal Magical Treasure: using one's own Essence Blood as a guide to condense the treasure.
This step varied among different sects and for different Magical Treasures. Some required the injection of Essence Blood during the initial melting of various raw materials, to be refined with a cultivation manual.
Others were refined after the Magical Treasure was finally completed, with the owner infusing it with Essence Blood.
Both of these refining methods could be done by an artifact refiner on behalf of others, as long as the owner of the Magical Treasure refined it either before or after.
In addition, there was another method where Essence Blood had to be injected immediately at several crucial nodes during the entire refining process.
The timing was very short and subtle. It was difficult for anyone other than the refiner to grasp the timing for injecting the Essence Blood. Therefore, this special refining method could only be done by the person themselves.
And the Natal Magical Treasure refined in this way was the easiest to attune with its owner, but it was also the most difficult to create.
Because he knew this, Xing Ming immediately knew that Zhang Ming was going to refine a fine Natal Magical Treasure.
But on second thought, it made sense. If it weren't for this refining method, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to enter the "Shattered Star Chamber." He could have just rented a refining room outside or found a decent artifact refining master to refine it for him.
"Then after you successfully refine your Natal Magical Treasure, what are your plans for the next step?"
The pressure from Xing Ming's body had already subsided, and his eyes flickered.
"Next step?"
Li Yan was truly caught off guard this time, not knowing what the other party meant by this.
"It's like this. You killed Fang Guangjun, and you performed exceptionally well in the great sect battle half a month ago. Through these two performances, although your origins are still not very clear, it can already be said that you truly have no ill intentions towards my Falling Star Valley. Also, during the last great battle, you could have found the enemy's Golden Core cultivator to remove the restriction in your body and kicked us while we were down. In view of the above situation, after discussing with the Grand Elder, we feel that with your strength, after you successfully refine your Natal Magical Treasure, you should have the ability to contend with ordinary Golden Core cultivators. Therefore, after you come out of the 'Shattered Star Chamber'... let's put it this way, regardless of whether you succeed in refining it or not, the sect wants you to become a Guest Elder of Falling Star Valley. If one day you can successfully form a core, you will become a true elder of Falling Star Valley. What do you think?"
Xing Ming finally stated his true purpose in one breath. Tianxingzi had already made these things clear to him before going into seclusion.
He had also asked several disciples for details about Zhang Ming's fight that day. In the end, he was truly shocked by the strength of this person's physical body, all of which was witnessed by Zhu Luomu.
Especially since Zhang Ming had somehow obtained some variant species of mosquitoes. With his own strength, he had unbelievably encircled and killed more than a hundred enemies, including fifteen Foundation Establishment cultivators.
This battle record, although he had heard Tianxingzi's account before, still made Xing Ming's eyes shine with a sharp light when he heard the details from Zhu Luomu upon his return.
To encircle and kill more than a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators—what kind of cultivator was this, hiding in the sect?
Therefore, Xing Ming had the idea of making him a Guest Elder, regardless of whether he succeeded in refining his Natal Magical Treasure or whether his strength increased again.
Just Zhang Ming's ability to command those strange insects was a great asset to Falling Star Valley.
As for these strange insects, Tianxingzi and Xing Ming had not considered killing him to seize his treasures. But when they learned from Zhu Luomu that one of these insects should be a king, they immediately dismissed the thought.
They already understood Zhang Ming's method of refining these strange insects: he only refined the king, and it was definitely the kind where both parties had formed a blood contract.
When he wanted to control the other mosquitoes, he would have the king insect use its divine soul to control each one, making them as easy to command as his own limbs.
If Zhang Ming died, the king insect would also die immediately, and all the insects might instantly explode and die, leaving them with nothing.
If they captured Zhang Ming's soul, although they could forcibly use this group of insects, their strength would be suppressed to a terrifying degree, which would defeat the purpose of seizing them.
This was the fundamental reason why true spirit beast masters were often not afraid of exposing the spirit beasts they carried. Otherwise, a spirit beast master would often be killed for their treasures.
However, none of this was absolute. If they encountered a cultivator with absolute suppressive strength, they could forcibly erase the blood contract between Zhang Ming and the strange insects in an instant.
Judging from the strength Zhang Ming had shown, this was definitely not something the currently heavily injured Tianxingzi could do, and Xing Ming was not very confident either.
Li Yan was stunned for a moment, then began to lower his head in silence.
Seeing that Zhang Ming's expression didn't change much after hearing his suggestion, and he didn't immediately agree but began to ponder, Xing Ming also nodded in his heart. This person's disposition was very much to his satisfaction.
At this moment, Li Yan's mind was racing. The suggestion the other party made was very abrupt. With his personality, he would naturally think of many possibilities.
But most of it was considering whether the other party was taking the opportunity to harm him. But after thinking it over, his current situation was clear for all to see. What else could happen?
'No wonder he said he could let a sect artifact refiner help me. The reason for giving me benefits is because he has this idea in mind.'
Thinking about it, it made sense. Everything he had shown from beginning to end, apart from hiding his strength and lying low, he had truly not wronged Falling Star Valley. On the contrary, he had repeatedly saved many of their people.