Ye Tiancheng cautiously probed outside the cave, but for reasons unknown, whether it was caution or something else, he couldn't lure the creature out.
Ye Tiancheng could only sense that the entity was definitely not human, likely some kind of monster.
After trying for a long time without success in luring the monster out, Ye Tiancheng was at a loss. The fragment of the Fuxi Qin was indeed inside the cave, and he had to go in. It was a case of "nothing ventured, nothing gained." Despite knowing the danger lurking within, Ye Tiancheng stepped into the cave.
As expected, as he ventured deeper into the pitch-black, sightless cave, Ye Tiancheng inadvertently encountered a pair of glowing red eyes, like red light bulbs. Each eye was as large as Ye Tiancheng's two palms, with pupils dilated to an extreme, almost forming a perfect circle.
If approaching it earlier had only given Ye Tiancheng a sense of impending danger, then upon getting closer, the deterrent force of this monster pressed down like dark clouds, making it difficult to breathe. It was as if the ominous phrase "dark clouds pressing down on the city, threatening to destroy it" was an understatement.
It seemed a fight was unavoidable. Just seeing one eye was enough to know it was an entity with whom communication was impossible. Furthermore, even if the creature couldn't speak, Ye Tiancheng could sense that it had already marked him as prey and was preparing to hunt him. This battle was inevitable, and it had to be a fight to the death.
Ye Tiancheng clenched his fists tightly, gathering his true qi. If it were an evil spirit, he might have been more troubled. But when it came to direct combat, he was generally not afraid.
After channeling his cultivation into his fists, he charged forward. It took no more than ten minutes to deal with the monster. Fortunately, it seemed to be the only anomaly here.
Following this, Ye Tiancheng smoothly located the Fuxi Qin fragment and began to attempt to retrieve it.
Finally, a reminder from his phone alarm brought Ye Tiancheng back to reality, recalling that he still needed to return to make lunch for the little fox. He didn't continue any further.
However, with this experience, Ye Tiancheng could make a rough estimation. If he wanted to retrieve this piece of the Fuxi Qin fragment, based on the current progress, it would likely take three months.
Considering proficiency and adaptation, it might be faster in the later stages, but it would still take at least another two months.
Ye Tiancheng emerged from the cave and, following his memory, returned within the range of the illusion. The Nuwa Stone could finally contact Ye Tiancheng. Seeing Ye Tiancheng's tattered clothes, with quite a bit of bloodstains, it immediately became anxious.
"What happened? How did you get into this state? This shouldn't be happening. Even if collecting the fragment wasn't smooth, it shouldn't have injured you!"
The Nuwa Stone was indeed unaware of the monster. Ye Tiancheng had only been able to sense the monster's presence after approaching the cave. There was no way to blame the Nuwa Stone for this, and Ye Tiancheng didn't dwell on it.
"It's nothing serious. My clothes are just torn. I'm not actually injured. The blood is from something else."
Ye Tiancheng explained to the Nuwa Stone, "The Nuwa Stone is in a cave over there. Inside the cave, there's a huge lizard, incredibly large, with eyes as big as my two palms."
As he spoke, Ye Tiancheng raised his hands to gesture the size for the Nuwa Stone. "Its body is even more so. It probably sensed that the Fuxi Qin fragment was beneficial to it, which is why it was guarding the fragment. Then I clashed with it. While ordinary people might not be able to do anything to it, for me, its abilities weren't much of a threat."
"So, it didn't take me long to deal with it. The blood on me is also from it. The Fuxi Qin fragment is indeed in there; I've already seen it."
"However, it will take some time to obtain the Fuxi Qin fragment. I estimate it will take at least two months, perhaps around three months."
Out of concern, the Nuwa Stone even cast a healing spell on Ye Tiancheng. After confirming that Ye Tiancheng was indeed unharmed, it said, "This was my oversight. I will re-examine everything carefully later. I didn't expect such an incident to occur."
"However, collecting the Fuxi Qin fragment, at the pace you described, is already considered fast and quite smooth. Otherwise, it could have taken even longer."
Ye Tiancheng and the Nuwa Stone chatted as they headed home. Upon seeing his tattered, bloodstained clothes, the little fox was indeed startled. Fortunately, Ye Tiancheng was truly unharmed, and he didn't mind the concern from the Nuwa Stone and the little fox. He recounted everything to them to prevent them from feeling uneasy.
However, regarding this unexpected incident, Ye Tiancheng didn't feel as self-reproachful as the Nuwa Stone.
"If you ask me, Little Stone, I think similar incidents will likely happen in the future. They probably can't be avoided because that place is the connection point between the formation and the illusion, and you truly can't control it."
"Moreover, when the formation moves to the next location, who knows what the new place will be like? It might be even worse, or it might be fortunate and have nothing. These things are unpredictable, so you don't need to blame yourself."
"And if collecting Fuxi Qin fragments were that easy, would we have gone through so much trouble and ended up in such a mess before? Now, with the help of the formation, being able to directly locate these Fuxi Qin fragments is already very good. As for the rest, we'll just take things as they come."
Although the Nuwa Stone remained worried, in this situation, it had no better solution because it truly couldn't control the circumstances or what was happening there.
However, the Nuwa Stone secretly resolved in its heart that since other entities might be drawn in, it needed to pay more attention.
If those who accidentally entered posed no threat, or only lingered at the junction of the formation and illusion, that would be manageable. But if they broke into the illusion and threatened the safety of Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, that would be very bad.
Especially the little fox, whose self-preservation abilities were weaker. When Ye Tiancheng was not around, he would definitely entrust the little fox to its care. If anything were to happen to the little fox, the Nuwa Stone wouldn't know how to face Ye Tiancheng. It absolutely could not let such a thing happen.
The following days were relatively simple. Ye Tiancheng contacted Hou Mingzhu the next morning, asked her to withdraw her personnel, and informed her of the estimated time to retrieve the fragment here, which was about three to five months.
Although he didn't plan to return home at that time, he needed to provide an explanation to Hou Mingzhu.
Ye Tiancheng even added an extra month or two to the estimated time for collecting this Fuxi Qin fragment.
As for the other parts, he would explain them to Hou Mingzhu at a later time, which would appear better and less likely to arouse suspicion, seeming more normal.
The subsequent days were quite leisurely. Ye Tiancheng mainly collected fragments during the day, returned on time to cook for the little fox, called Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng every three to five days, and occasionally chatted with Fatty.
Fatty seemed to think it would have been better if he had come along. Ye Tiancheng didn't say much. He couldn't possibly say that he had intended to leave Fatty behind in the first place, which was why he did it. Regardless of whether Fatty wanted to come, he would have been left behind anyway.
However, if Fatty had come along, Ye Tiancheng would have arranged for the situation to develop such that when Fatty wanted to follow, he would discover that the formation had only absorbed Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, leaving him alone outside, and that the formation had been sealed, preventing those inside from leaving and him from entering.
Such an approach would have been too drastic and would have caused panic at the time. Therefore, unless he couldn't persuade Fatty, Ye Tiancheng had not considered bringing Fatty along from the beginning.
As for the reason for bringing the little fox, it was related to the formation, wasn't it? It was linked to the little fox's talent, talismans, and formations, so bringing him along was very reasonable.
During this period, Ye Tiancheng did go out several times. Although he didn't disguise his appearance, he had the little fox test his talismans, using a different type of breath-concealing talisman to hide his tracks.
Since he needed to interact with people, Ye Tiancheng couldn't simply be invisible. However, after putting on that type of talisman, unless Ye Tiancheng actively interacted with people, everyone would subconsciously ignore his presence. Even if Ye Tiancheng interacted with them, after the event, they would forget Ye Tiancheng's appearance.
They would likely only remember that they could recognize Ye Tiancheng the next time they saw him, but if they were asked to recall his specific appearance, they would completely fail to do so.
Ye Tiancheng's excursions were mainly to purchase necessities, such as home appliances. He had to ask the villagers in the fishing village to buy them for him in town and bring them back, and then he would transport them one by one. He asked people to buy appliances for cooking, including refrigerators, televisions, and computers.
He also bought young poultry and livestock, such as chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cattle, and sheep. Later, to find more things to accompany the little fox, Ye Tiancheng bought a puppy from an Alaskan Malamute from a fisherman's family, which the fisherman's son had bought to accompany his elderly father.
As more items were accumulated, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox rarely needed to leave the illusion.
The little fox, with the Alaskan Malamute puppy, was no longer excessively bored. He even had a television and a computer. However, the television could only play discs, while the computer could connect to the internet, but not too frequently, as they still had to be careful about certain issues.
For example, if they connected to the internet too often, it might be difficult for the Nuwa Stone to conceal their location, potentially allowing some people to detect their exact whereabouts. If anyone with sharp eyes discovered the Nuwa Stone's illusion and the formation here, it could bring trouble to Ye Tiancheng.
The main concern was that cultivators might think Ye Tiancheng was causing some significant event, hiding something, or discovering some secret treasure, and then come looking for trouble.
Trouble of this kind would be similar to people discovering that he had already taken the Nuwa Stone.
He had to be grateful that many times, the little fox was truly a child who caused little worry. He was not greedy for fun, loved to learn, had a good temper, and did not have a high need for social interaction. Strictly speaking, the little fox was even a bit reclusive.