Cang Juezi and the others were eager to leave, so as soon as they heard Ying Chen's words, they immediately left.
They departed so decisively and swiftly, without any hesitation.
Returning to the main hall of the Shennong Sect, Min Ziqing and Professor Li breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Ying Chen return safely.
If anything had happened to Ying Chen, they would have been held accountable immediately.
"Brother-in-law, when are we returning to Jianghai?"
Min Ziqing's attitude had completely reversed.
He had previously denounced Ying Chen as a scumbag, but now he was directly calling him brother-in-law.
Ying Chen couldn't be bothered to correct him, merely glancing at him and saying, "No rush. The child has been found, and I have some matters to attend to, so I'll stay here for two days.
"Besides, your internal injuries require some medicinal herbs for treatment. It will be difficult to find those herbs once we leave Shennong Sect."
Min Ziqing then remembered that he was a dying man, with only three months left to live.
Since he had already swallowed his pride and called Ying Chen brother-in-law, he saw no point in acting coy. He immediately grabbed Ying Chen's leg and pleaded, "Brother-in-law, I am your brother-in-law! You can't abandon me!"
"I know your principle is to save one and kill one, but you've already killed two people today, so saving me doesn't violate your principle."
"I don't want to die young before I can attend your wedding with my sister!"
This rascal Min Ziqing had quite the twisted logic.
Was this how Ying Chen's "save one, kill one" principle was meant to be interpreted?
Furthermore, when had Ying Chen ever said he was going to marry Min Ziqiong?
Setting aside the fact that Nannan's parentage was still dubious and she had most likely only received Ying Chen's life mark, even if Nannan was truly related to Ying Chen by blood, Ying Chen would absolutely not marry Min Ziqiong!
It was because Ying Chen had never had any intimate relationship with Min Ziqiong, nor had he even met her before. Why should he be happy to be a father without having done anything?
Unless this issue was clarified, Ying Chen and Min Ziqiong would only be ordinary friends!
Further progress would be absolutely impossible!
Ying Chen looked at Min Ziqing with disdain, "You call yourself dying young?"
"Alright, stop embarrassing yourself and get up! While your internal injuries are serious, they are not incurable.
"You don't need me to help; Elder Guo can resolve it for you."
"I need to go into seclusion to ponder something. Do not disturb me before I emerge."
With that, Ying Chen walked directly towards a quiet room outside the hall.
Min Ziqing and Cang Juezi were left stunned.
Ying Chen was leaving just like that?
What about the crucial personnel appointments?
Who would preside over the operations of the Shennong Sect during Ying Chen's seclusion?
Who would succeed to the vacant position of Grand Elder?
Everyone instinctively looked at Aunt Tang.
They had thought Aunt Tang went to the back mountain for a love wrestling match with Ying Chen, but it turned out she was just leading him to pick flowers.
It was a pity she wasn't picking herself, otherwise the position of Grand Elder would have been hers.
Since that wasn't the case, the position of Grand Elder still held infinite possibilities.
Kings and generals are not born, everyone present had a chance!
The minds of those present became active again.
Only Cang Juezi wore a troubled expression.
He cursed inwardly, "A bunch of fools! At a time like this, they're still thinking about vying for power and profit? Don't they have any sense of crisis? That Profound Yin Gou Snake in the back mountain is clearly a ticking time bomb. Until it's dealt with, the Shennong Sect will never have peace. Forget about being Grand Elder; even becoming Sect Master would be useless! We'd all end up as the Gou Snake's breakfast sooner or later!"
Cang Juezi looked at the quiet room where Ying Chen had entered seclusion and sighed heavily.
He was not optimistic about Ying Chen finding a solution.
Firstly, the Profound Yin Gou Snake's power was truly terrifying. Cang Juezi estimated that he would barely have time to shout "Eighteen years later, a good man again!" before being swallowed by the Profound Yin Gou Snake.
Secondly, Ying Chen wanted too much. He wanted to kill the Profound Yin Gou Snake and preserve the flower field. This was akin to putting shackles on himself and then trying to win a boxing match.
With his hands and feet bound, how could he unleash any techniques? How could he win?
Did Ying Chen really think he was an Earthly Immortal, capable of dominating everything?
"If all else fails, I'll have to resort to the thirty-six stratagems."
"I don't have the guts to betray, but I can surely run away, right? With my cultivation, I can be a guest elder or an elder anywhere. Why should I insist on guarding a Gou Snake and waiting for it to come and snap me up one day?"
A look of determination flashed in Cang Juezi's eyes, and he began to consider his escape route.
Meanwhile, inside the quiet room.
Ying Chen sat cross-legged on the ground, countless plans flashing through his mind.
But none of them were perfect; all required the power of talismans and formations to suppress and kill the Profound Yin Gou Snake.
And the talisman formations would inevitably affect the flower field, even with extreme control, at least a third of the flower field would be damaged.
Ying Chen could not afford such a loss, nor did he want to bear it.
"Alas, it's a pity that this Xuanpin Lieque Sword is just a little bit short. Otherwise, one sword strike would be enough to decapitate it, and there would be no need for all this trouble!"
Ying Chen shook his head.
The next moment, Ying Chen suddenly seemed to have an idea, a flash of inspiration striking his mind.
"Since the Xuanpin Lieque Sword is just a little short, why don't I make up for that little bit?"
"Although I am not a master craftsman, my life-bound artifact, the Azure Sky with the Moon, was personally refined by me back then. That was a top-tier artifact ranked among the top two in the entire Xuanmen!"
"If I could refine such a top-tier artifact as the Azure Sky with the Moon, refining another artifact far inferior to it would be a piece of cake!"
Ying Chen's eyes flickered repeatedly.
"The Xuanpin Lieque Sword's power is actually quite decent. The reason it can't suppress the Profound Yin Gou Snake is because both are of Yin nature."
"And creatures of the flood dragon and snake type are inherently fond of water and are not afraid of Yin artifacts. In ancient times, to prevent flood dragons and snakes from causing floods and disasters, they would often hang a Dragon-Slaying Sword under bridges. Once a flood dragon or snake acted wildly and caused a flood, impacting the stone bridge, it would trigger the Dragon-Slaying Sword under the bridge, splitting it from head to tail."
"The reason the Dragon-Slaying Sword can suppress flood dragons and snakes is that after it is forged, it must be placed on a mountaintop to absorb the power of lightning and the scorching sun day and night. It can only be used after three years."
"If the Xuanpin Lieque Sword were refined in this manner for three years, it would likely be able to easily suppress and slay the Profound Yin Gou Snake."
"But where do I have three years!"
Ying Chen sighed.
He instinctively hugged himself.
However, his elbows suddenly felt a hard object, as if he had pressed down on something in his embrace.
The next moment, Ying Chen immediately jumped up from the ground, overjoyed.
"How could I forget about it?"
"It's a perfect match for the Xuanpin Lieque Sword!"
"With its help, the Xuanpin Lieque Sword would not need to absorb the power of lightning and the scorching sun for three years to possess an extremely Yang attribute of lightning!"
"At the same time, the Xuanpin Lieque Sword would leap to become a high-grade artifact, its destructive power greatly increased!"