Ed stared blankly at Li Ban and Zhu Yao, his gaze finally resting on Zhu Yao.
"Are you leaving?"
Li Ban rested a hand on Ed's shoulder. "We aren't leaving just yet, but Ed, when the time comes, do you want to come with us?"
Ed gripped the axe slung across his chest. "Battle!"
Li Ban nodded.
Perfect. The initial three-person squad was formed!
Since they had decided to set up camp elsewhere, they couldn't sell their spoils to the camp here.
"I'll hold onto the rye, the clean water, and the spiritual rhinoceros seeds. We can find a place to hide the rest of the stuff."
If they were going to hide things, they needed a safe, concealed location.
She smiled. "Did you forget that I have a Cubic Space too? You can leave the bulky items with me."
Li Ban really had almost forgotten.
Mainly because, ever since she got here, Zhu Yao had never used any spells, let alone revealed her Cubic Space. It made Li Ban completely forget that, as a Dark Moon Priest, she possessed an eight-cubic-meter Cubic Space.
"That gives us plenty of room!"
Li Ban simply handed most of the supplies over to Zhu Yao and took back the Miniature Reader.
Electricity didn't work in this world, rendering a high-tech device like the reader effectively garbage here.
He had originally planned to find a place to stash the machine.
However, the unstable environment could easily damage the Miniature Reader's chips. As long as they had enough space, keeping the machine in a Cubic Space was the safest option.
After dividing the supplies, the three hopped onto the Tricycle, loaded up with the Cottonwood Vine they had gathered from the Swing Forest, and rushed back to camp just before true darkness fell.
The same old man came out to receive the vehicle. He meticulously inspected it for damage while grumbling, "Why are you back so late? It's pitch black out here. How am I supposed to see anything?"
Zhu Yao crossed her arms and replied coldly, "We got delayed on the road."
Using the last faint traces of sunlight, the old man finally finished checking all the Tricycle's parts.
Although it had picked up a few extra scratches, any scratches that didn't affect performance wouldn't cost them anything.
"Alright, you pass."
He reluctantly handed Zhu Yao a slip of paper so she could turn in their mission to the plump lady at the mission desk.
"I'm going to turn this in. Are you coming?" Zhu Yao asked Li Ban, waving the slip.
"I won't go over. I'm going back to my room to rest."
"Alright." Zhu Yao paused for a moment, then added in a low voice, "I'll come find you tonight."
Li Ban nodded. He was just about to turn and head back into the cliff when he noticed the old man staring at him in astonishment.
"What is it?" Li Ban asked, confused.
The old man freed up a hand and gave Li Ban a thumbs-up.
"Impressive. I've been at this camp for years, and I've never seen Zhu Yao visit any man's room at night. Sure enough, you young lads are popular, especially the handsome ones."
Li Ban frowned, suddenly realizing what the old man meant.
He didn't deny it, however, and silently walked into the cave.
When Zhu Yao said she was coming over tonight, his only thought had been that they needed to discuss their future plans for setting up a camp.
But the oblivious old man assumed her nighttime visit was for something far more intimate.
He didn't deny it.
By saying "tonight" right in front of the old man, Zhu Yao had the exact same intention.
They wanted to create a misunderstanding for outsiders.
That way, Zhu Yao would have a legitimate excuse to visit him frequently without making people suspect they were constantly discussing something.
Not long after Li Ban returned to his room, Zhu Yao knocked on his door, having already turned in the mission.
Li Ban, who was continuing to familiarize himself with the World Without Me spell, went over to open the door.
"Where's Ed?"
"He went back to his room to rest."
He opened the door, closed it, and locked it.
Sitting in Li Ban's room to discuss matters for the first time, Zhu Yao felt inexplicably uncomfortable.
She quickly composed herself, however, and undid her already messy ponytail, letting her mid-length black hair fall naturally over her shoulders.
Back in the Wizard World, Priest Zhu Yao possessed hair long enough to reach her knees.
But here, fighting in the Recycling Station, she had cut it to shoulder length.
It didn't get in the way like truly long hair, nor did it require the frequent maintenance of short hair.
Her loose hair draped down, covering half of her face, but it also let her clearly see her current appearance.
Refocusing her attention, Zhu Yao looked up and said to Li Ban, "I thought about it. Given our current situation, we need to use our spiritual rhinoceros where it counts most. If the spells you know are limited, you often won't be able to solve problems efficiently. Starting tonight, I'll try to come over every day to teach you spells and mental cultivation. I'll do my best to pass on everything I know that you're capable of grasping right now."
"I was thinking the exact same thing."
Li Ban didn't stand on ceremony.
After their experiences today, he was even more eager to learn spells from her.
The Myriad Ancient Pagoda's previous rule dictated that every Priest had to learn spells corresponding to their tier, progressing from simple to complex, and strictly forbade taking on too much.
Moreover, aside from a few foundational spells, learning anything else required spending merit.
This included cooperating with other Priests in the Shattered Realm or fighting in the Unreturning Place.
But here in the Recycling Station, such a special place, the Myriad Ancient Pagoda's rules were invalid.
Here, the Myriad Ancient Pagoda didn't even exist as an organization.
Still, Li Ban wanted to double-check with Zhu Yao.
"Will teaching me these spells negatively affect you?"
"No." Zhu Yao smiled dismissively. "The Recycling Station is a world of the dead. The rules of the living don't govern the dead."
If—
If Li Ban could actually get out of here one day, and the Great Wizards of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda came looking to settle the score, they might even take her out to punish her.
But if Li Ban was like the rest of them, unable to leave, then even if he learned every spell she knew, it would ultimately just turn into dusty memories tucked away in his mind.
"That's good, then." Li Ban sat facing Zhu Yao, preparing to begin the night's lesson, when he suddenly remembered something.
"Right, I heard a piece of news back in the bandit lair, though I'm not sure if it's true or not." Li Ban relayed the conversation between Claude and his subordinate to Zhu Yao.
"—It was exactly because they targeted you that I decided to completely wipe out their gang, and unexpectedly, the harvest was quite rich. But do you know what Claude meant when he said a Divine Descendant Priest was divided up by the Great Wizards?"
Zhu Yao carefully mulled over his words. After a moment, she shook her head.
"I have no idea what it means for a Divine Descendant Priest to be divided up by the Great Wizards either. Even though I am a Dark Moon, Divine Descendant Priests are still an enigma to us. Aside from vaguely knowing their promotion requirements, we aren't too clear on their abilities. They almost never linger in the Nine Provinces of the Wizard World."
"Whenever you see a Divine Descendant Priest, it's usually when they are slaying mortal corpses in the Nine Heavens Sea. If they succeed, they become a Great Wizard and leave immediately. If they fail, they vanish to who knows where to accumulate their strength and try again."
Zhu Yao smiled helplessly. "So we have almost zero interaction with them. We probably wouldn't learn more about them until after being promoted to a Solar Priest."
"Solar Priests, huh? Are there any Solar Priests in the Recycling Station? If we sought their guidance, would they be willing to share information?"
Zhu Yao's smile gradually faded. "As far as I know—there aren't many left, and most of them probably..."
She looked at Li Ban. "You know how it is. The stronger someone is, the less willing they are to accept the reality of entering the Recycling Station. The less they accept it, the more stubbornly they insist on leaving. But those who insist on leaving are the ones most likely to die in the trials of the exit, becoming the true dead. Even if any are still alive, they probably do their best to stay in hiding."
It couldn't be helped. The hope of leaving the Recycling Station was far too slim, forcing these powerful Priests to put everything on the line.
And since no one had managed to escape to this day, it meant that everyone who gambled everything ultimately lost it all.
Li Ban sighed softly. "It looks like this information will remain a mystery for now."
"However, I've never heard of any Divine Descendant Priests existing in the Recycling Station, so Claude's news holds some truth. I just don't know if the 'divided' he mentioned means being split up and taken away by the Great Wizards, or something else."
Divided up? Devoured? Dismembered?
Zhu Yao clearly thought of some equally gruesome words.
"Let's hope it's something positive."
Their discussion concluded, the two began the spell lesson.
Zhu Yao listed out all the spells she knew that Li Ban could learn.
Then, Li Ban picked one to learn first.
Although he had decided to learn as many as possible, he still had to tackle them one by one.
Trying to simultaneously learn multiple complex spells would only lead to a muddled mind.
The Wizard World.
Yingzhou, Mist Valley.
Priest Hunyou of the Imperial Dynasty had just returned, only to see the Cat Girl waiting outside.
Sighing inwardly, he canceled the effects of the World Without Me spell and appeared before her.
"I thought you would need a few more days to consider."
Upon seeing Priest Hunyou, the Cat Girl gave a stiff bow, a cold glint in her eyes.
"Lord Priest, the truth is, I had already made up my mind when I came to see you yesterday."
'But it was only yesterday that I warned you about all the severe possible consequences,' Priest Hunyou thought to himself, stroking his white beard.
Looking at her expression, however, he knew that the news from the Myriad Ancient Pagoda yesterday had influenced her decision.
"Very well. I hope Li Ban's attack hasn't swayed you. You have to trust in the power of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda's Priests; they have already sent search parties."
The Cat Girl nodded. "I trust them."
She didn't mention that the one she actually trusted was Li Ban.
An organization as powerful as the Myriad Ancient Pagoda had actually been breached by just two people.
Though the Cat Girl didn't know the exact details of the enemy's strength, the failure still disappointed her.
So now, she could only place her faith in Li Ban.
"Alright, then follow me. I should warn you up front—that thing's condition hasn't stabilized yet. It might settle down in a few years, or it might never stabilize at all. But right now is indeed the only time integration is possible. Since you've made up your mind, let's not waste any time."