Treasure-hunting: Into the Unknown

The Xiao clan wasn't the only one who started to take action. In the Phoenix Hall, at the backyard of the Phoenix House, there seemed to be an important meeting that was happening. Holy Phoenix sat with her back ramrod straight, while Riley and several female warriors of Imperial Level were sitting on the two sides of the hall. There were also several female disciples of the Phoenix Pavilion that were standing by the door.

"Master, what did you and the leader of the Xiao Clan talk about with Master Katrina yesterday?" Riley asked curiously. She was inquiring about the time that Holy Phoenix and Jaxon talked with Katrina. She figured that it must have been important since all three of them stayed until late that night.

"Ugh, I don't want to talk about it. Master Katrina fooled Jaxon and me! She just led us in circles all night, but we didn't make any progress," Holy Phoenix answered with a pout.

"So, Master Katrina doesn't want us to enlist Harley?" Riley asked, although she already had an answer at the back of her mind. Katrina definitely didn't want Harley in their sect. That was the only explanation why she was standing in their way.

"It doesn't matter what she thinks. At most, she's just a master of Celestial College, so she doesn't have any power to decide for Harley. If he were to leave Celestial College just to join us, they couldn't do anything about it. The most important thing we need to do now is try every possible means to get close to Harley, so we can win him over. And we need to succeed before the Xiao Clan does," Holy Phoenix outlined with a shrewd smile. She made eye contact with every female warrior in the room, just so she could be certain that they all realized how important this plan was.

"You're right. But as far as I know, Harley won't be easily lured. He even has rare treasures like the Hatching Fluid. It won't be easy to entice him to join our ranks," Riley replied with the knowledge she got from dealing with Harley multiple times. Although they weren't close, she could at least tell how he would react, based on his previous actions that she had witnessed.

"Since ancient times, the hero's downfall had always been caused by beautiful women. He's so young and energetic, so I think he would be especially susceptible to this rule," Holy Phoenix said as she cast a meaningful look at Riley.

"You are right. When I saw him for the first time, he was with the daughter of the head of Qiu Clan." Riley agreed immediately.

"Oh, really? Why didn't you tell me? I didn't know that." Holy Phoenix suddenly turned serious at this piece of information. She narrowed her eyes at Riley because obviously, she didn't

ade the Shadow Pace, Flawless Illusion, and Ice Needle.

As for the weapons, his main weapon was the Holy Bone Bracer. Therefore, it should be the first weapon to be upgraded, and then the Illusory Dragon Spine. But it wasn't necessary to upgrade the treasure-hunting aid, so instead, he prepared to upgrade the Holy Bone Bracer and the Illusory Dragon Spine.

After he had won the championship in the weapon refining contest, he had been rewarded with many valuable treasures. Besides those, he had also received a lot of materials from Katrina. So now, he took some time to rearrange the Treasure-hunting Compass, classified all kinds of materials, and prepared the materials to upgrade the Holy Bone Bracer and Illusory Dragon Spine.

Once that was done, Zachary went to the Peach Blossom Forest to check on the three beasts. The Hundred-Treasure Beast had been successfully enrolled in the treasure beast system after he tamed it when he had suddenly broken through to the Imperial Level. It was in good terms with the Blazing Roc and Thunder Dragon Horse. But because the Hundred-Treasure Beast was a special treasure beast, and it specialized in producing refining materials but didn't have strong combat power, it didn't need any special training. He just needed to constantly improve its cultivation level. The higher its cultivation level, the better the refining materials it produced.

He fed the three beasts with some Growth-promoting Pills. Then he proceeded to the weapon refining room to upgrade the Holy Bone Bracer and the Illusory Dragon Spine. He also explored his self-made weapons since he was there already. All in all, it was a productive time for him, where he had surprisingly accomplished a lot, while he waited for the day of the strength contest to come.