Not long after, Ye Chen, disguised, entered the royal capital and met with Li Yun. He imparted more advanced Spirit Refining Techniques and left behind some precious alchemy notes, causing Li Yun's eyes to widen in astonishment. They were all priceless, peerless texts; even the Alchemy Hall of the Tian Du Continent might not possess such high-level alchemy notes.
But thinking of the mysterious Sir Qian behind him, everything became understandable.
His proud disciple, Shuangshuang, had already left. According to Li Yun, she had gone to the central region to prepare for the Dragon Phoenix Alchemy Gathering.
Ye Chen felt a bit awkward. He had almost forgotten about this matter; he had even promised Li Yun to take good care of Shuangshuang at the Dragon Phoenix Alchemy Gathering.
After staying for half a day, Ye Chen left the royal capital. A hundred miles away, he mounted the demonic flood dragon and soared into the sky, heading for the central region, rushing towards Tian Du Academy.
During the journey, Ye Chen did not have Old Yan use the Shrinking the Earth to an Inch technique to quickly reach Tian Du Academy as he had on the return trip. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the back of the demonic flood dragon, beginning to contemplate and comprehend.
Around him, clusters of divine light floated and sank. They were all precious medicinal herbs, each at least thousands of years old—precisely the herbs obtained from Great Sage Hong Tian.
Back then, the herbs Ye Chen had given Great Sage Hong Tian were a mix for the Spirit Refining Pill and the Myriad Purification Pill. Therefore, Great Sage Hong Tian had already collected all the materials for refining the "Spirit Refining Pill" for Ye Chen, and they were all of the highest quality, with excellent medicinal age. The Spirit Refining Pill refined from them would be extraordinary.
However, Ye Chen did not immediately refine the Spirit Refining Pill because his cultivation was still somewhat weak. He could not refine the most perfect Spirit Refining Pill; there would be flaws. Even a single flaw could have a fatal impact on the efficacy of the entire pill.
He needed to raise his cultivation to at least the peak of the Martial God realm to have the confidence to refine a supreme-grade Spirit Refining Pill.
As for why he didn't borrow Old Yan's power—it ultimately wasn't his own strength and couldn't be used with perfect precision, easily leading to flaws. Moreover, Old Yan didn't understand alchemy, so all of this was temporarily set aside.
After putting away all the materials, Ye Chen began to ponder the issue of his own Dao techniques.
In truth, Ye Chen's cultivation method was simple: he followed the path of his previous life, focusing on the physical body with Dao techniques as secondary, only strengthening the Dao techniques in the later stages to progress alongside physical refinement.
Because he always firmly believed that a powerful physical body was the true path to invincibility—overcoming ten thousand techniques with sheer force, an eternal golden body.
But this also resulted in him being able to fight at the level of a super Martial God in close combat, incredibly powerful, yet his current mana cultivation remained at the peak of the Xiantian realm, heavily skewed towards physical refinement.
Naturally, his true realm was sufficiently high, but his energy was insufficient, mostly transferred to physical refinement, preventing the advancement of his Dao technique cultivation.
Perhaps it didn't seem like a problem now, but once he encountered a truly powerful expert, it would become troublesome. Dao techniques would become his weakness, an invisible restraint shackling him, limiting his future path to invincibility.
Clearly, this was because his physical body was not yet truly invincible, fearless of everything.
Ye Chen pondered this aspect of the cultivation path bitterly, remaining silent day and night. Even Old Yan did not disturb him.
Finally, after a day and night of deep thought, Ye Chen felt he needed to begin elevating his Dao technique cultivation, allowing Dao techniques and the physical body to cultivate side by side, achieving true invincibility in both form and spirit, rather than being confined to either aspect alone.
Whether it was physical refinement or Dao techniques, cultivating either to the extreme led to invincibility, reaching the same goal, albeit through different paths. It would be better to pursue both simultaneously; perhaps it could yield unexpectedly astonishing results.
The Tian Du Continent was vast and expansive, spanning hundreds of thousands, even millions of miles. It was an immense distance. Riding the demonic flood dragon, Ye Chen flew high in the sky, passing numerous kingdoms along the way, as well as mountains, forests, deserts, inland seas, ancient cities, and many other places, covering tens of thousands of miles each day in rapid flight.
During the journey, Ye Chen chose to fly through regions remote from those royal capitals, not wanting to be sensed by some powerful experts and invite unnecessary trouble.
On the eighth day, Ye Chen entered a vast, primeval mountain forest, stretching for thousands upon thousands of miles, filled with a rich, primeval aura. It was an ancient forest undisturbed by civilization, home to many demonic beasts, including great demons of the Martial God realm.
Here, there were no dense kingdoms or states, but the heaven and earth spiritual energy was even more abundant and concentrated. From afar, one could feel the vast spiritual energy filling the space between heaven and earth.
This aura was identical to what Ye Chen had felt over half a month ago. He knew he had arrived in the central region—this land of spiritual energy jointly ruled and divided by the three great empires, one great academy, and the Martial God Hall.
As time passed, the towns on the ground became increasingly numerous and larger in scale. The smallest could rival the expanded Luo Feng City in size. Some particularly large ancient cities could even compare to the royal capitals of kingdoms like Xia Feng Kingdom, housing populations in the millions. Moreover, the auras of powerful experts permeated the air, everything demonstrating the strength of this central region, far surpassing other regions.
Ye Chen checked the map and found he had stepped into the territory of the Tianqi Empire. He couldn't help but rub his nose.
Because he had enmity with the Tianqi Empire. The first prince he killed on the Trial Path was the Eighth Prince, Yang Jun. Later, he killed other princes and princesses, leaving only the Sixth Princess, Yang Miaoxue, with whom he had a somewhat ambiguous relationship. Even Yang Shaoqi had half his cultivation crippled and both arms severed by him.
Even the Ancient Talent, Yang Wushuang, had once been banished by him.
It could be said that he had thoroughly offended the entire younger generation of this super empire that ruled over the world. He somewhat suspected that if he were recognized within this vast territory, someone might come out to hunt him down.
Boom—
Ahead, a powerful fluctuation suddenly erupted, scattering the clouds. It was a Martial God-level fluctuation; Martial God experts were clashing and colliding.
"Yang Shen, you're despicable! This is the Heaven and Earth Treasure I found. Give it back to me!"
"Hmph, whoever gets their hands on it first owns it. There's no rule about who finds it first."
From afar, two figures could be seen constantly colliding in the void. They summoned strands of heaven and earth power, causing a great collision that completely scattered the clouds in that area, forming a vacuum.
If this were on the ground, it would likely shatter mountains within a radius of dozens of miles.
Two Martial Gods were fighting. One was a burly, tall man wielding a black hammer as large as a water vat. He directly enlarged it like a small mountain and pressed down, shouting, "Yang Shen, as a dignified Fifth Prince, you are so despicable. You simply disgrace the dignity of the Tianqi Imperial Family."
The other was a middle-aged man in luxurious robes, noble yet dignified—the Fifth Prince of the Tianqi Empire, Yang Shen. In his hand, he held a divine fruit shimmering with five-colored light, overflowing with surging spiritual energy. It was an extraordinary Heaven and Earth Treasure.
Facing the burly man's hammer strike, the Fifth Prince directly dodged the attack, retreating far away, and sneered, "I say, Liang Shi, if I call you a stone, you really are a stone. The treasure belongs to whoever gets it first. Obviously, this prince got it first. What does it have to do with you?"
"Despicable! I got it first. You ambushed me from behind and snatched it. How dare you say that?" Liang Shi was furious. He appeared quite honest and simple, and indeed, as he seemed, he was being bullied by Fifth Prince Yang Shen.
At this moment, he continuously swung the giant black hammer, rumbling as it pressed down, seemingly about to crush the entire void.
"Hmph, so what if that's the case? This prince wants it. If you want to snatch it back, rely on your true ability," Fifth Prince Yang Shen scoffed, stepping on the void and transforming into a streak of light as he shot forward. Liang Shi roared and chased after him, clearly unwilling to give up.
"This piece of latrine stone, he really dares to chase," the Fifth Prince glanced back, his expression displeased, but he also didn't want to entangle with the other. He deeply understood the prowess of this stubborn stone; it would be hard to shake off without considerable time and effort.
He accelerated again, shooting out like lightning to break free from Liang Shi's entanglement. But just then, he felt a darkness before his eyes as a massive shadow flashed into view. It directly swung a three-foot azure blade, slashing out a sharp sword light: "Scram! Don't block this prince's path."
The massive figure suddenly shuddered, directly shattering the sword light. It turned out to be a huge demonic flood dragon coiling in the air, stabilizing itself. Its cold pupils looked at the Fifth Prince, Yang Shen, who had attacked it, and let out a low roar, emitting a fearsome demonic aura.
"This is... a demonic flood dragon!?" Yang Shen was greatly shocked, clearly not expecting to encounter a demonic flood dragon. This was a beast with True Dragon bloodline, exceptionally powerful and not to be provoked lightly. Even super Martial Gods would find it a headache. He never thought he'd run into one.
But suddenly remembering something, he looked up and saw a young figure standing alone on the demonic flood dragon's head, black hair dancing wildly in the wind, handsome features carrying a sharp aura.
"Ye Chen!?"
The moment he saw the youth, Yang Shen was utterly stunned. He never expected to encounter this young great demon king from the Trial Path here, in the territory of the Tianqi Empire.
But the next moment, his expression relaxed, because he knew the other possessed the supreme divine object, the Great Dao Blood. Immediately, greed arose in his heart, and he licked his lips.
Boom—
Liang Shi caught up from behind, but Yang Shen clearly didn't want to entangle with him. Casually, he threw the five-colored divine fruit towards him, saying, "Liang Shi, this is the Heaven and Earth Treasure you wanted. This prince doesn't want to tangle with you any further. Leave."
Liang Shi looked at Yang Shen with surprise, clearly not expecting him to suddenly let go. But he casually caught it, scanned it with his divine sense, and relaxed upon finding nothing amiss. Looking up, he then noticed a demonic flood dragon coiling before him, its vast demonic aura making him tremble. What surprised him even more was the youth riding the demonic flood dragon—so young.
Just who was this youth?
But he obviously didn't want to get involved in other matters and quickly left.
At this moment, Fifth Prince Yang Shen looked at the youth and said, "You are Ye Chen, aren't you?"