Ye Yunfei immersed himself in the Stone God Pool, feeling a continuous flow of peculiar energy surging into his physical body. Concentrating carefully, he perceived that this peculiar energy originated from countless tiny mysterious runes. These runes were smaller than ants, yet each contained immense power.
The mysterious runes converged from all directions within the pool water, merging into Ye Yunfei's body, where they imprinted themselves, seemingly becoming part of his flesh.
'So? Have you discovered the function of this Stone God Pool?' the remnant soul asked, seeing Ye Yunfei's actions.
'Yes, I have discovered the function of this Stone God Pool,' Ye Yunfei nodded, then explained its effect on the physical body to the remnant soul.
'I see! It seems this Stone God Pool truly might belong to the legendary Stone God of ancient times! The Stone God, as the name implies, is a deity whose physical strength was exceptionally formidable. Do you remember? The world where we discovered the Stone God Pool was littered with stone everywhere. I suspect that world was a cultivation grotto left behind by the Stone God. It is said ancient deities often employed great divine abilities to open up Small Worlds to serve as cultivation grottos. The world housing the Stone God Pool is most likely one opened by the Stone God,' the remnant soul exclaimed in surprise after hearing Ye Yunfei's words.
'The Stone God is a deity proficient in physical strength?' Ye Yunfei asked curiously.
'According to legends, indeed. This Stone God Pool is very likely a legacy of the Stone God. Your gains from entering the Void Secret Realm this time have been immense — you've obtained treasures left by several deities! You've had far better fortune than I did. Previously, when I ventured into the Void Secret Realm seeking treasures, my harvest was nothing compared to yours,' the remnant soul said.
'My fortune has indeed been quite good,' Ye Yunfei said with a smile.
From then on, Ye Yunfei remained immersed in the Stone God Pool, using its waters to temper his body. The mysterious runes contained within the pool seemed endless, continuously merging into his flesh. Gradually, Ye Yunfei found his physical strength beginning to increase rapidly, and the sturdiness of his body also started to improve constantly.
Unconsciously, another year passed within the Phantom Tower. After a year, Ye Yunfei finally noticed that the runes within the Stone God Pool seemed to be dwindling.
'It seems I've almost absorbed all the energy contained within this Stone God Pool,' Ye Yunfei thought to himself, sensing the increasingly scarce runes. 'I wonder what my current physical strength approximately is.'
In truth, Ye Yunfei hadn't cultivated physical strength for a long time. This was because the stronger physical strength became, the more difficult cultivation would be, and above the Immortal realm, cultivation methods and martial techniques focused on physical strength also became exceedingly rare. This time, by entering the Void Secret Realm, Ye Yunfei had inadvertently obtained the Stone God Pool, allowing his physical strength to advance.
Not long after, Ye Yunfei discovered he had finally absorbed and fused with all the runes within the Stone God Pool. The pool was now empty, devoid of anything.
With a flash, Ye Yunfei stepped out of the Stone God Pool. A light shake of his body produced roaring sounds of overwhelming power, causing the surrounding space to crack incessantly.
'My current physical strength should be around eighteen thousand flood dragon units!' Ye Yunfei was pleasantly surprised.
Previously, back in the Three Thousand Major Worlds, Ye Yunfei's physical strength had peaked at only thirty to forty thousand flood dragon units. This time, after absorbing the mysterious runes from the Stone God Pool, it had risen to around eighteen thousand! This was a tremendous improvement.
'Eighteen thousand flood dragon units of physical strength... With such physical strength, I should be able to contend against Advanced Heavenly Immortals, or even Perfected Heavenly Immortals, right?' Ye Yunfei said confidently.
The later stages of physical strength cultivation became increasingly difficult to improve, but once enhanced, the power would be truly terrifying. One could say that, in the later stages, the boost in combat power brought by improvements in physical strength far surpassed that brought by increases in immortal energy!
Ye Yunfei lightly clenched his fist. The physical strength within his body roared like thunder, deafeningly loud, causing the surrounding space to tremble and shake as if being sifted.
'Alright, this session of secluded cultivation shall end here for now. There are still many treasures I obtained in the Void Secret Realm. I'll properly take stock of the remaining ones when I have time later,' Ye Yunfei declared.
Among the treasures Ye Yunfei had obtained in the Void Secret Realm, some still hadn't been inventoried. However, the most valuable ones had already been checked once.
'Time to give Liu Laolao and the others an explanation,' Ye Yunfei thought. In a flash, he appeared before Liu Laolao and the others. Liu Laolao, the two Xiao sisters, and the two Peng siblings had still been in secluded cultivation within the Phantom Tower. They had also experienced adventures and gained treasures in the Void Secret Realm. Later, Ye Yunfei had gifted them Divine Crystals and a large number of treasures. They had been cultivating in seclusion within the Phantom Tower all this time.
'Young Master Ye, you've come,' Liu Laolao sensed Ye Yunfei's arrival, immediately stopped cultivating, stood up, and called out.
Then, the two Xiao sisters, the two Peng siblings, and a group of Xiao Family members gathered around.
'These treasures are for you. Everyone gets a share,' Ye Yunfei looked at the Xiao Family clansmen, took out a batch of treasures, and distributed them. These Xiao Family members were all Liu Laolao's trusted aides. Only for the sake of Liu Laolao and the two Xiao sisters did Ye Yunfei distribute some treasures to them. Receiving gifts from Ye Yunfei excited these Xiao Family clansmen immensely. After all, for these ordinary Golden Immortals of the Xiao Family, even casually selected treasures from Ye Yunfei held astonishing value.
'Elder, we have left the Void Secret Realm. Next, I plan to venture around the Chaotic Void Sea. I'm afraid we must part ways,' Ye Yunfei said to Liu Laolao.
'Young Master Ye, you're going to venture in the Chaotic Void Sea? That must be so much fun! I'll go with you!' Before Liu Laolao could reply, Xiao Yueyue rushed in front of Ye Yunfei and exclaimed. Her curvaceous, delicate teenage figure pressed close against Ye Yunfei, emanating a faint fragrance.
Hearing Xiao Yueyue's words, Ye Yunfei couldn't help but frown slightly. To be honest, he wasn't too keen on dragging along what he saw as baggage. Though he didn't dislike Xiao Yueyue.
'Yueyue, I don't oppose you following Young Master Ye to venture in the Chaotic Void Sea, but we must first return to the Xiao Family headquarters. We need to see your father and grandfather and properly handle our Xiao Family's internal affairs. Only after dealing with the family matters can you go venture with Young Master Ye,' Liu Laolao thought for a moment and said to Xiao Yueyue.
'Liu Laolao, it's mainly about the selection for this generation's Saintess, right? Honestly, I don't want to be the family's Saintess at all. Once you become Saintess, you have to follow a bunch of annoying rules and restrictions. It's not fun at all. I think venturing in the Chaotic Void Sea with Young Master Ye would be much more fun!' Xiao Yueyue pouted.
'Yueyue, don't talk nonsense! You can't be so selfish. If you two sisters can become this generation's Saintess, it would benefit your father and grandfather greatly. The status of your branch has been severely challenged within the family in recent years. You two sisters must do your part to help consolidate your branch's power,' Liu Laolao glared at the two Xiao sisters, scolding, then explained further.
'Yueyue, Liu Laolao is right. We two can't be too selfish; we must step up and help Father and Grandfather. Our gains in the Void Secret Realm this time were quite good — we even obtained Divine Crystals. After returning, we should immediately enter seclusion and cultivate diligently to compete for the position of Saintess of this generation. Xiao Qinglian has used every means, even colluding with Zhan Yuan, to deal with us two sisters in her pursuit of the Saintess position. The more she wants to become Saintess, the more we must prevent her from succeeding. Even if we ultimately cannot become Saintess ourselves, we must stop Xiao Qinglina from getting the position. Only then can we seek revenge!' Xiao Huanhuan spoke up with a serious expression.
'Huanhuan is right! Huanhuan, it seems you've matured a lot!' Liu Laolao was overjoyed hearing Xiao Huanhuan's words and praised her.
'Alright, Liu Laolao, Sister Huanhuan. I'll listen to you,' Xiao Yueyue finally nodded.
'Young Master Ye, how about you come back with us to the Xiao Family headquarters to have some fun? We have many fun places there. I'll definitely fulfill my duty as a host and entertain you properly!' Xiao Yueyue thought for a moment and suddenly spoke again.
'No. I plan to venture alone for now. Perhaps I'll visit your Xiao Family headquarters when I have time in the future,' Ye Yunfei replied.
'Yueyue, our Xiao Family headquarters will likely be quite turbulent in the coming period. Inviting Young Master Ye now would surely draw targeting from Xiao Qinglian's branch, which would likely spoil Young Master Ye's enjoyment. Let's invite Young Master Ye to visit after we've settled our family's internal affairs,' Liu Laolao could tell Xiao Yueyue genuinely didn't want to part with Ye Yunfei.
'It seems Yueyue is already developing feelings for Young Master Ye. Young Master Ye is a dragon among men. If Yueyue could be with him, it would naturally be a good thing,' Liu Laolao thought, glancing at Xiao Yueyue, then at Ye Yunfei. Having followed Ye Yunfei for this time, she had witnessed his strength and understood his character, and she actually approved of Xiao Yueyue and Ye Yunfei being together.
'Alright, when I have time, I will definitely visit your Xiao Family headquarters,' Ye Yunfei said.
'Good, Young Master Ye, it's settled then. Huanhuan, Yueyue, we should depart now,' Liu Laolao said to Ye Yunfei, then turned to Xiao Huanhuan and Xiao Yueyue.
'Young Master Ye, we are leaving...' The beautiful eyes of Xiao Huanhuan and Xiao Yueyue both turned to Ye Yunfei. Anyone could see the reluctance in their gazes.
Soon, Liu Laolao led the Xiao Family members away, disappearing into the distant spacetime moments later.
'Miss Peng, what about you? You must be preparing to return as well,' Ye Yunfei turned his gaze to the two Peng siblings and asked.
'We...' Peng Rou was momentarily stunned by Ye Yunfei's question, seemingly unsure how to answer for a moment.
'Young Master Ye, to be honest, we siblings originally entered the Void Secret Realm following elders from our family. Later, during treasure-seeking, we clashed with members of the Heavenly God Hall. Some of our clansmen were killed by them. Fortunately, you saved us two siblings. During this time, we have been using secret family-crafted communication jade slips to try and contact the other clansmen who entered the Void Secret Realm with us, but there has been no reply. I suspect that aside from us two siblings, all our Peng Family members who entered are already dead, and most likely killed by the Heavenly God Hall! Because during our conflict with them, we killed several Heavenly God Hall members. After an Immortal from the Heavenly God Hall recognized our Peng Family identity, he publicly declared he would wipe out every last one of our Peng Family members who entered the Void Secret Realm,' Peng Rou said in a trembling voice.
'I see,' Ye Yunfei nodded.
'Young Master Ye, we two siblings would still like to follow you for the time being. Because if the Heavenly God Hall truly killed all our Peng Family members, they will likely pursue our whereabouts. Given our strength, if we encounter Heavenly God Hall members, we will certainly die,' Peng Rou said in a pleading tone, looking nervously and pitifully at Ye Yunfei.
She had followed Ye Yunfei for some time now and had gained some initial understanding of his character, knowing he was more susceptible to softness than hardness and couldn't resist pleas.
'Is that so...' Ye Yunfei felt somewhat helpless. He had kindly taken them in initially, never thinking they would now want to follow him indefinitely. However, seeing Peng Rou's pitiful expression, he couldn't bear to chase her away. After all, they had spent some time together and were acquainted.
Peng Rou truly had a grasp of Ye Yunfei's character. Though ruthless and decisive toward enemies, he treated those close to him extremely well, helping whenever possible. Peng Rou might not count as 'his own people,' but they had ventured together in the Void Secret Realm for a time, forming some camaraderie. Moreover, the two Peng siblings were not deceitful; their characters were rather amiable and sincere, which is why Ye Yunfei regarded them favorably.
'Where is your hometown?' Ye Yunfei asked after some thought.
'Young Master Ye, our Peng Family headquarters are in the Tianyan World Cluster, relatively close to the Qiancang World Cluster,' Peng Rou answered.
'The Qiancang World Cluster is a Core World Cluster, if I recall,' Ye Yunfei remarked.
'Yes, the Qiancang World Cluster is a Core World Cluster. Our Tianyan World Cluster isn't far from it, but its overall strength is somewhat weaker,' Peng Rou replied.
'Hmm, then how about this? Since I am venturing in the Chaotic Void Sea without a fixed destination anyway, I'll escort you two back to the Tianyan World Cluster first,' Ye Yunfei thought for a moment and said.
'Really? That would be wonderful!' Peng Rou was overjoyed.
She knew that despite being only a Golden Immortal, Ye Yunfei's true combat prowess was formidable; he had no need to fear Heavenly Immortal experts. Having such a powerful guardian for an escort was something they could only hope for!