Looking at the dazzling and resplendent cluster of palaces in the distance, everyone was greatly astonished.
That was because there were actually many people active within that complex of palaces!
A large group of daoist children walked about—some planting various herbs, feeding various divine beasts and mystical birds; some carrying water, tending fires; and others practicing martial arts or meditating in seated postures, breathing and circulating their energy.
From afar, it looked like the headquarters of a sect, and those daoist children appeared to be the disciples of this sect.
"But... I remember there was clearly nothing over in that direction just a moment ago. How could such a cluster of palaces suddenly appear?"
Someone voiced their confusion.
At that moment, the little daoist boy running over from the distance arrived before the members of the Zhan Family. Then, to everyone's amazement, the little boy crossed paths with the Zhan clansmen. Several of them had tried to dodge, but the little boy's movement speed was simply too fast; they couldn't react in time. The little daoist boy then passed right through the bodies of these Zhan clansmen as if he were an illusion or a stream of flowing water.
"This child isn't real! He's an illusion!"
Those Zhan Family members exclaimed in shock.
"Could it be... that everything we're seeing right now is an illusory image? Not real?"
Everyone was deeply bewildered.
By this time, the dozen or so Divine Deer and the little daoist boy had gone far away, disappearing beyond the distant horizon a moment later.
Within this world, everyone was unable to use Soul Force Energy to perceive, so very soon, they could no longer sense where those deer and the little boy had gone.
"Let's go! Let's go over there and take a look!"
Someone suddenly spoke, striding towards that dazzling cluster of palaces in the distance. "I feel that even if those palaces are illusions, there must be some mystery hidden within them!"
"Right, let's go check it out."
Others, unwilling to fall behind, followed suit.
Ye Yunfei, Meng Wu, and Lu Jun also mingled with the crowd and moved forward.
This world was permeated with strangeness from all sides, so everyone proceeded cautiously, observing their surroundings while walking.
Soon after, they arrived before the palace complex.
Before their eyes stretched range after range of splendid palaces of gold and jade, their divine radiance glittering, looking supremely sacred.
"Look! That little daoist boy over there seems to be practicing a very profound palm technique!"
Someone exclaimed in surprise.
Everyone hurriedly looked over.
Sure enough, they saw a little daoist boy practicing a set of palm techniques. Every movement, every stance, seemed profoundly mysterious.
This little boy looked very young, yet his strength was astonishing. Every palm strike seemed to smash the space ahead as easily as crumbling tofu.
Furthermore, each movement and stance seemed to resonate with the trends of certain Laws, producing rumbling echoes that shook the heavens.
"How strange. These images before my eyes are clearly illusions, so why do I vaguely sense the power of that little boy's palm strikes?"
A few people who were standing relatively close suddenly paled and backed away hurriedly.
"It's true! I can also feel his palm force!"
Others chimed in as well.
"But these little daoist boys are only illusory images! How can we possibly sense their palm force?"
An Advanced Heavenly Immortal walked over to another little daoist boy and reached out to touch him. His hand passed right through the boy's body as if touching transparent air. He then said in a puzzled tone, "I know! These people likely existed in ancient times. What we are seeing are the imprints they left upon this space-time."
An old man who was a Perfected Heavenly Immortal spoke up. "In other words, this little daoist boy truly practiced his palm techniques here in ancient times and left imprints that affect this region of space-time. That is why we can still perceive the energy of the palm technique even now."
"Ah, so that's how it is," someone said, suddenly enlightened.
However, there were still many others who didn't fully understand.
"If this is an ancient palm technique, then we should take this chance to learn it well!" someone shouted.
"Right!"
The others' hearts stirred. The palm technique that little daoist boy was practicing was bound to be extremely advanced. If they could obtain it, it would be a great harvest indeed.
Thus, everyone focused their attention on observing the palm technique the little boy practiced.
However, they soon discovered that although each movement and stance of the palm technique performed by the little boy before them looked clear and seemed full of profound principles, they simply couldn't comprehend the mysteries within.
It gave them a feeling of being completely unable to learn from it.
Even those Advanced Heavenly Immortals and Perfected Heavenly Immortals couldn't make sense of it!
"This palm technique is too advanced and profound. With my current level, I simply cannot understand it!"
"Right, I can't grasp it either!"
Soon, everyone sighed in admiration and resignation.
"Look over there! Another little child is cultivating a technique! It looks like it should be a very advanced cultivation method!"
Suddenly, someone pointed at a palace not far away. Inside, they could see a little daoist boy seated cross-legged, deep in cultivation. Mysterious runes continuously rose from his body, coiling around him before forming a glowing shield of densely interwoven runes that glittered with an extremely eye-catching radiance.
A grand and profound sound, like a Daoist chant, emanated from the little boy's body, resonating throughout that area of space.
Then, everyone saw three golden lotuses suddenly emerge from the top of the little boy's head. These three lotuses bloomed with rolling golden light, shining as dazzlingly as three small suns.
Next, those three golden lotuses transformed into thousands upon thousands of illusory golden flowers that spread out into the surrounding space, a truly mysterious sight.
The crowd knew this must be an extremely advanced cultivation technique.
However, cultivation techniques are even more difficult to learn and comprehend than martial skills!
The palm technique just now was already incomprehensible, and now this little boy's cultivation technique was even harder to fathom.
"Could it be that the opportunities in this world are these martial skills and cultivation techniques practiced by these little daoist children?" someone couldn't help but voice aloud. "Only those top-tier geniuses with exceptional talent who enter this world could possibly obtain these opportunities?"
"Look! There's a child over there concocting pills!"
At that moment, someone else pointed towards another palace and exclaimed in surprise. "The pills he refines actually transform into divine beasts! Could it be that he's refining the legendary Divine Pills?"
The gates of that palace were also open, allowing a clear view of a little daoist boy concocting pills inside. The little boy worked with astonishing speed. The pills he refined rushed out of the cauldron and immediately transformed into divine beasts of various shapes, roaming and flying about within the palace.
"Divine Pills!"
Everyone looked toward that palace, their gazes burning hotly as they watched the divine beasts, transformed from pills, moving inside.
"Alas, those Divine Pills are probably illusory as well. It would be wonderful if they were real!"
Someone sighed regretfully.
"Don't even think about it. Everything we're seeing before us is just illusory imagery—scenes from ancient times that were imprinted upon this space-time and are now replaying constantly. So, we can only look at these Divine Pills. There's no chance of obtaining them," someone lamented.
"Wasn't there a legend that treasures and opportunities left behind by the Xuwu God exist within the Xuwu Realm? Now that we've entered the Xuwu Realm, all we see are these illusory images before us. Could the legend be mistaken? Perhaps the Xuwu God left no treasures or opportunities in this world at all?"
Yet another person voiced doubts.
Right then, Ye Yunfei's expression suddenly changed.
"Just what is going on?" Ye Yunfei wondered inwardly.
That was because Ye Yunfei had suddenly discovered that a pill cauldron he carried on his person was trembling slightly, as if responding to something.
This pill cauldron was something Ye Yunfei had found after entering the Nihility Secret Realm, within an ancient city located in a desert region.
Ye Yunfei carried it with him but hadn't yet found the time to study it.
He never expected this cauldron would suddenly react now, trembling autonomously.
"The direction this pill cauldron is reacting towards is precisely the palace where that little daoist boy is concocting pills!"
Ye Yunfei quickly realized this.
Then, Ye Yunfei discovered something even stranger.
The pill cauldron used by that little daoist boy inside that palace was actually identical to the one he carried—even their auras were the same!
"This can't be... How is the pill cauldron I obtained identical to the one that little daoist boy is using?" Ye Yunfei was extremely shocked in his heart.
"Every time the pill cauldron used by that little daoist boy trembles, the cauldron I carry trembles along with it! Even the direction and frequency of the tremors are exactly the same! This is utterly bizarre!"
Discovering something even more astonishing, Ye Yunfei almost couldn't help but cry out loud.
"Could it be that the cauldron used by that little daoist boy is the very one I carry on me? The scene of that little daoist boy concocting pills before me is likely a scene from ancient times that was imprinted upon this space-time. And the cauldron I carry is the very same pill cauldron that little daoist boy used for his alchemy back then, which I later obtained by chance and have now brought back here."
A bold speculation suddenly arose in Ye Yunfei's mind.
"It's very likely exactly that!"
Ye Yunfei constantly compared the pill cauldron used by the little daoist boy with the one within his possession and ultimately confirmed that they were indeed one and the same cauldron!
"How wondrous the ways of the world are! To have me encounter something like this!"
Ye Yunfei couldn't help but marvel inwardly.
Inside that palace, the little daoist boy continued with his pill refining. The advanced alchemy techniques he displayed earned continuous praise from the onlookers.
"Truly magnificent! The alchemy techniques used by this child are the most advanced I have ever seen in my life! I suspect this little daoist boy might be a legendary Divine Pill Master! It is said that every pill refined by a Divine Pill Master qualifies as a Divine Pill! Forget ordinary living beings; even Deities yearn to obtain pills refined by a Divine Pill Master!"
Suddenly, an old man exclaimed in a shocked voice.
"Master Dan Yuanzi! I never expected you to have come as well!"
As soon as the old man spoke, quite a few people in the vicinity recognized his identity.
It was actually the famous Master Dan Yuanzi!
Master Dan Yuanzi was a renowned alchemy master within the Chaotic Void Sea. The various immortal pills he refined were of extremely high grade and coveted treasures for countless people.
"Master Dan Yuanzi, I never thought you would have entered this Xuwu Realm along with us! It is truly an honor to meet you today!"
After Master Dan Yuanzi's identity was revealed, many experts from major forces immediately stepped forward to greet him amiably.
However, Master Dan Yuanzi was intently observing the alchemy techniques of the little daoist boy within that palace and had no time to pay attention to those greeting him.
"Advanced! Truly extraordinary!"
Master Dan Yuanzi praised repeatedly.
"Even Master Dan Yuanzi sings such high praises, which proves that child's alchemy skill is indeed extraordinary! In truth, since that child can refine Divine Pills, there's no need to doubt his skill—it is undoubtedly supreme! I'm afraid even Master Dan Yuanzi cannot compare, after all, Master Dan Yuanzi is just an Immortal Pill Master."
The people around couldn't help but think to themselves upon hearing Master Dan Yuanzi's praise.
At that moment, the little daoist boy inside the palace seemed to have reached the most critical point in his pill refining. He danced about, his hands continuously forming seals as he fired one mysterious and divine hand seal after another into the pill cauldron.
Simultaneously, the little boy waved his sleeves repeatedly, tossing what appeared to be large quantities of extremely precious divine herbs, each shimmering with dazzling divine light, into the cauldron.
Throughout this process, the pill cauldron in front of the little daoist boy kept trembling, its trembling growing increasingly violent.
And the cauldron on Ye Yunfei's body trembled incessantly along with it!
"The essence of the Chaos Great Dao, enter my cauldron!"
Suddenly, the little daoist boy's refinement seemed to reach its most crucial step. He shouted loudly.
Boom…
With his shout, the vast expanse of space-time around him shook violently. Everyone then felt as if the various Laws and energies within the surrounding space-time converged like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea, pouring incessantly into the pill cauldron before the little boy. At the same time, it seemed that some sort of high-level will of the Dao also surged into that cauldron.
"Cauldron, rise!"
The little daoist boy shouted commandingly.
The pill cauldron before him suddenly soared into the air, then landed suspended and spinning above the palm of his outstretched hand.
Boom…
Something Ye Yunfei never expected happened. At the same moment, following the little daoist boy's shout, the pill cauldron within his body also rushed out autonomously, soaring out at an astonishing speed. It then landed above the little daoist boy's palm. The two pill cauldrons instantly fused into one, becoming a single entity!
"Oh no!"
Ye Yunfei watched helplessly as that pill cauldron left him and flew away. He was completely caught off guard and couldn't react in time.
This pill cauldron once belonged to a Deity. Ye Yunfei originally intended to take it back and study it thoroughly, hoping for some gains. He never expected it to be summoned away by that little daoist boy now.
"Could it be… that little daoist boy is the original master of this pill cauldron?" Ye Yunfei suddenly considered this point. "If that's the case, then this little daoist boy is a Deity?"
"Are all these little daoist boys before me Deities from ancient times?"
Looking at the numerous little daoist boys scattered throughout this palace complex, Ye Yunfei felt a sense of awe within his heart.