After a long time, the collapse inside the cave finally ended.
A beam of light shone from behind the stone wall, illuminating the pitch-black cave as bright as day.
A ball of light was struggling constantly inside the stone wall, dazzling the eyes of both Cao Youqian and his companion. Cao Youqian pressed his fist against the light sphere, and the aura from his fist made the sphere instantly stop moving.
Staring at the ball of light, Cao Youqian muttered, "Iron essence has a spirit—Ancestor did not deceive me."
Hearing the word "Ancestor," Song Zhaoyi's eyes instantly lit up with joy. She timidly asked, "Overlord Fist brother, you're so powerful, so your Ancestor must be even stronger, right?"
Cao Youqian nodded, then shook his head. "The Ancestor is indeed very strong—just half a step away from the Half-Saint realm. But compared to my master, it seems he's still a bit weaker."
Song Zhaoyi was clearly stunned by these words. If even Overlord Fist brother's Ancestor, who was almost a Half-Saint, wasn't as strong as his master, then didn't that make him a disciple of a Half-Saint?
Her Song family did have a Half-Saint Ancestor too, but she never got to meet him. Even entering the Taixu Secret Realm this time was something she begged her father for.
Cao Youqian reached out with a big hand and directly pulled the Xuan Yin Cold Iron Essence out from the stone wall.
He then placed the Xuan Yin Cold Iron Essence into his storage ring. 'Now I finally have all the materials I need. But if I use only Xuan Yin Cold Iron Essence to forge a saint weapon, it would only be a low-grade saint weapon, maybe even just a half-saint weapon. I still need to find other materials to ensure I can forge a true saint weapon.'
Thinking this, he subconsciously glanced at Song Zhaoyi's chest.
Song Zhaoyi felt her scalp tingle under his gaze and instinctively covered her chest with her hands.
Caught off guard, the little white creature on her chest was pressed and immediately jumped out from her heart.
Cao Youqian casually grabbed the little white creature, focusing his attention on it.
Seeing this, Song Zhaoyi was dumbfounded. 'Am I less attractive than a mouse?'
"Xiao Bai, do you still want to eat this Xuan Yin Cold Iron?" Cao Youqian casually crushed a piece of ore and dangled it in front of Xiao Bai.
At first, Xiao Bai was very afraid of this man, but upon seeing the Xuan Yin Cold Iron, all its fear disappeared without a trace, and it nodded furiously.
"Then lead the way to find more ore. All the Xuan Yin Cold Iron along the way belongs to me. How about it?" Cao Youqian asked with a bright smile.
Xiao Bai immediately nodded. It used to starve for days following Song Zhaoyi around, but now someone was willing to let it eat its fill every day—only a fool would say no.
"Alright, then let's go look for more tasty things."
With that, Cao Youqian placed Xiao Bai on the ground.
Xiao Bai immediately ran outside the cave. Song Zhaoyi never expected that her little white pet, whom she had raised for so many years, would betray her so quickly.
Right now, there was only one thought in her mind: after leaving the Taixu Secret Realm, she would definitely skin and debone this little traitor.
Cao Youqian didn't notice Song Zhaoyi's expression. He was in a great mood. As long as he found enough materials and forged a saint weapon, he'd be even more confident in challenging his senior brother.
'No, I can't get carried away. That senior brother is a pervert. I absolutely can't celebrate with a drink until I win.'
…
Time flowed differently in the secret realm—it passed like a white steed galloping past a crevice.
More than three hundred days had already passed since the Taixu Secret Realm was opened.
But on the Xuantian Continent, only a month had gone by.
Inside a secret chamber of the Wendao Academy's palace, Chu Feng was cultivating in seclusion.
Not long ago, when Xiao Chen perfected both Ten Thousand Swords Return to Origin and the Taiji Sword Technique, he also brought his Sword Intent to perfection. After Chu Feng received the system reward, he immediately began a closed-door cultivation, using the Taiji Visualization Diagram in his mind to comprehend the Dao.
Now, among his four chief disciples, even the weakest, Wang Baole, had cultivated Blade Intent and Yin-Yang Taiji Hands to mastery, and his Taiji Fist Intent had reached initial success.
Qin Qin wasn't far behind either. Her cultivation had already reached the late stage of the True Fate Realm, her zither intent was perfected, and as her World Ending Eye reached mastery, she also comprehended the intent of annihilation.
Of course, what made Chu Feng happiest was that his cultivation had surpassed the thousand-year threshold, and his lifespan had also broken through the thousand-year barrier.
Although he didn't know how much cultivation would be needed for the next breakthrough in longevity, with so many outstanding disciples, the next breakthrough definitely wouldn't be far off.
During this seclusion, Chu Feng carefully reviewed his understanding of the sword path, fist path, and the profound truths of the Dao, and finally came to a conclusion.
Whether it was the sword path or the fist path, they were simply different branches of the Three Thousand Great Daos.
As the saying goes: "The Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, three gives birth to all things; myriad paths ultimately return to the same origin."
What he needed to do next was to merge the different Daos he'd mastered into a single path.
With this in mind, Chu Feng slowly opened his eyes and murmured, "It's decided. I, Chu Feng, will walk the path of All Things Return to One, the Primordial Dao."
However, the Dao truths he'd grasped so far were still not enough for him to fully deduce a complete Dao.
"The Dao is not yet complete. My disciples will need to keep working hard!"
After saying this, Chu Feng stood up and left the secret chamber. As soon as he emerged, everyone started speaking at once:
"Chief Chu, you missed a lot of excitement during your seclusion this time."
"That's right. In just a few days, quite a few Half-Saint forces have been thrown into chaos."
"..."
Seeing all the big shots looking so gleeful, Chu Feng's curiosity was instantly piqued.
"Seniors, quickly, tell me what happened."
King Hengjiang laughed and said, "I heard that several Half-Saint forces attached to the Dayan Holy Land have now been completely wiped out. Those guys are so furious they're jumping up and down, swearing to stay here until the secret realm opens, so they can avenge their juniors."
When Chu Feng heard the words "Dayan Holy Land," the smile vanished from his face. He asked, "What about Dayan Holy Land itself?"
"Xiaofeng, how did you know that Dayan Holy Land also suffered?" Marquis Yishan teased with a grin.
"What kind of loss did they suffer?" Chu Feng looked calm on the surface, but already had a good guess in his heart. It was probably all the work of Qin'er, but how did that girl manage to train and take down so many people at the same time?
King Hengjiang smiled and said, "It's said that Dayan Holy Land lost more than forty disciples. Since the Taixu Secret Realm opened, that's their biggest loss yet."
"Only a bit over forty?" As Chu Feng spoke, he thought to himself, 'Looks like the big one hasn't happened yet.'
'After the secret realm ends, will those guys from Taixu Holy Land go crazy? If they do, I can use the chance to test how strong I really am. There's no way I'm as weak as the system's "battle power five" rating.'
Everyone who heard Chu Feng's words turned to him with puzzled looks.
King Hengjiang said, "Xiaofeng, it's one thing for us to gloat in private, but don't go bragging about it outside."
Chu Feng nodded. "Don't worry, senior. I know what I'm doing. I definitely won't embarrass Wendao Academy when the time comes."
Everyone: ???
'Why does this kid talk so strangely? What does Dayan Holy Land's misfortune have to do with him, anyway?'
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