Then, Ye Yunfei began cultivating the Nine-Yang Ancient Scripture.
He had gifted four strands of True Phoenix Divine Fire to Cui Hong, leaving eleven for himself. During the cultivation process, Ye Yunfei slowly guided these eleven strands into his own meridians, one by one.
Under Ye Yunfei's guidance, the eleven strands of True Phoenix Divine Fire eventually all entered his body. Within his meridians, they began to circulate along with vast amounts of energy.
Afterwards, Ye Yunfei began guiding these eleven strands of fire slowly into his Dantian.
Before he started merging and refining the True Phoenix Divine Fire, Cui Hong had warned Ye Yunfei to be very careful because it was an immensely powerful flame. A loss of control could lead to unforeseen danger.
Therefore, Ye Yunfei was extremely cautious throughout the entire process. Both of his Soul Bodies and his more than twenty Soul Power planets remained constantly focused on those eleven strands of fire.
While Ye Yunfei fused the True Phoenix Divine Fire to cultivate the Nine-Yang Ancient Scripture, Cui Hong was also guiding his four strands of fire into his corpse.
Xiao Xiao found a flat piece of ground nearby to sit cross-legged, closing her eyes to rest quietly.
An unknown length of time passed.
"I've finally successfully refined these eleven strands of True Phoenix Divine Fire."
Ye Yunfei suddenly let out a sigh of relief, a smile appearing on his face.
At this moment, those eleven strands of True Phoenix Divine Fire were quietly suspended within his Dantian, now fully under his control.
"Next is the fourth layer of the Nine-Yang Ancient Scripture!"
With a thought, the eleven strands of True Phoenix Divine Fire within his body erupted with powerful fire-attribute energy. The energy within the meridians of his body also began to violently boil. This vast, torrential energy even overflowed from Ye Yunfei's body, forming whirlwinds of energy in the surrounding space that roared and howled.
"What formidable energy pressure! Even though he is only a peak Demigod, the intensity of energy he possesses now is very close to that of a Primary Void God."
Xiao Xiao, who was resting quietly not far away, felt the energy fluctuations emanating from Ye Yunfei and immediately opened her eyes to look over. Seeing the roaring energy whirlwinds swirling around Ye Yunfei, she couldn't help but reveal an astonished expression.
Xiao Xiao was a Primary Void God, but she discovered that the intensity of energy Ye Yunfei possessed wasn't much weaker than hers at all.
"He already possesses such strength while still only a peak Demigod. Once he breaks through to deityhood in the future, he will definitely become a powerhouse among his peers. He truly lives up to his reputation as a young genius who has shaken the entire Void Sea recently."
Xiao Xiao inwardly sighed with amazement.
"Young Master Ye's talent is indeed remarkable!"
Cui Hong, seeing this, also nodded secretly in approval.
"The fourth layer of the Nine-Yang Ancient Scripture is achieved!"
At that moment, with a soft shout from Ye Yunfei, a massive golden sphere of light erupted from his Dantian with a boom. Within this giant golden sphere, eleven vivid flames could be seen clearly, rising and falling within it and emitting astonishing fire-attribute energy.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!…*
Following that, three more massive golden spheres of light continuously rushed out from Ye Yunfei's Dantian one after another.
Four golden spheres in total slowly revolved above Ye Yunfei's head. An energy domain immediately formed around Ye Yunfei's body, and within this domain, Ye Yunfei was the master; everything was under his control.
"I've finally cultivated the fourth layer of the Nine-Yang Ancient Scripture to completion."
Ye Yunfei slowly opened his eyes and said to himself.
Each layer of the Nine-Yang Ancient Scripture required finding a treasure that was profoundly yang and rigid in nature, making the cultivation cost rather high. But once a layer was successfully cultivated, its power was also quite impressive.
Ye Yunfei stood up, feeling the energy emanating from the eleven giant golden spheres above his head, and nodded with satisfaction.
Having successfully cultivated the fourth layer, Ye Yunfei felt that the intensity of his energy had increased by another significant notch.
"My physical body's strength and quality seem to have improved quite a bit as well."
Ye Yunfei felt pleasantly surprised.
"Senior Cui Hong, are you finished as well?"
Ye Yunfei noticed Cui Hong standing not far away, smiling as he looked at him.
At this moment, Cui Hong's energy body and his corpse had already fused together. Ye Yunfei could see that atop Cui Hong's shoulders, above his head, and in the Dantian area of his abdomen, a strand of True Phoenix Divine Fire was suspended, gently swaying.
To Ye Yunfei's surprise, under the influence of these four strands of divine fire, Cui Hong's corpse emitted practically no corpse qi. Instead, it faintly gave off the feeling of possessing a trace of life force.
"Senior, it seems the True Phoenix Divine Fire is indeed very useful for you," Ye Yunfei couldn't help saying in astonishment.
"Yes, the True Phoenix Divine Fire can suppress the corpse qi of my body and nurture its vitality. Although it may not truly revive my corpse, it allows my corpse and energy body to combine better, enabling me to exert greater strength."
Cui Hong nodded and replied with a smile.
At this point, Cui Hong looked virtually indistinguishable from a living person.
"Senior, if I had known the True Phoenix Divine Fire would be so beneficial for you, I would have given you more," Ye Yunfei couldn't help saying.
"No, I only need four strands of True Phoenix Divine Fire to suppress the four critical positions on my corpse. Any more would actually be useless," Cui Hong replied.
"I see," Ye Yunfei replied, comprehension dawning on him.
"This state I'm in now can be considered neither human nor corpse. But still, it's better than turning into a stiff zombie," Cui Hong said with a laugh.
"Alright, now we can spend our time properly exploring this True Phoenix Tomb. However, this tomb is filled with dangers everywhere, and so many powerful beings have barged in. So we had best be careful. Safety first, treasure hunting second."
Cui Hong said.
"My deepest gratitude to you for the great kindness of gifting the divine fire."
Before leaving, Ye Yunfei turned and bowed deeply towards the red lake, respectfully speaking.
Only then did he follow Cui Hong and Xiao Xiao as they turned to leave.
The figure at the bottom of the lake remained completely motionless, offering no response at all. To him, Ye Yunfei was merely a passerby, a chance encounter.
Soon, Cui Hong led Ye Yunfei and Xiao Xiao away from this strange mountainous area.
"Haha! To think my corpse lay here for so long yet never obtained any True Phoenix Divine Fire. Instead, as soon as you arrived, I immediately benefited from your good fortune and received the divine fire. I count it as a worthwhile gain."
After leaving the mountain region, Cui Hong glanced back at the red lake deep within the mountains with some sentimentality and laughed loudly.
Although the True Phoenix Divine Fire hadn't allowed his corpse to regain vitality, it allowed his energy body—his remnant soul—to integrate more perfectly with his corpse, enabling him to unleash greater power. This, in a way, could be considered a sort of rebirth.
"I know there is a medicinal garden in one place. Let's first go and collect some divine herbs," Cui Hong said.
He had once explored within this True Phoenix Tomb long ago, so he had some understanding of the situation here.
Cui Hong led Ye Yunfei and Xiao Xiao, striding forward through the shattered cosmic space.
Not long after, Ye Yunfei suddenly looked at a nearby shattered star.
More than half of this star had been destroyed, its interior exposed. Within, one could see numerous gleaming golden specks of Star Mother Sand embedded.
"Young Master Ye, have your eyes been drawn to that Star Mother Sand? How about this, I will cover you while you go and collect it. This Star Mother Sand is indeed very beneficial for your physical body," Cui Hong said with a laugh.
"Senior, there should be Star Beasts around here, right?"
"There are, but not many. Only two. I should be able to handle them," Cui Hong replied, still smiling.
"Then, I'll trouble you to cover me, Senior."
Gazing at the Star Mother Sand, Ye Yunfei absolutely refused to give it up. He nodded and immediately headed towards the shattered star.
As soon as Ye Yunfei approached the shattered star, two angry roars immediately sounded. Then Ye Yunfei saw two fierce beasts radiating dazzling starlight emerge from space beside the star.
Both beasts had silver-white bodies. Their bulky forms somewhat resembled lions, but they had two long silver horns on their heads. Their four beastly legs were thick and powerful, trampling through space. With each step, the surrounding space shook and swayed, their imposing might undeniable.
"So these are the Star Beasts?" Ye Yunfei thought to himself, looking at these two beasts emitting billowing starlight.
"These Star Beasts truly excel in spatial energy. The spatial energy contained within their bodies is extremely potent, and invisible strands of spatial laws coil around their bodies, clearly indicating substantial cultivation in space techniques," Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm couldn't help remarking to Ye Yunfei.
The two Star Beasts, once they appeared, immediately charged towards Ye Yunfei, their killing intent palpable.
"Beasts, get lost!"
Cui Hong moved in a single step, arriving before the two Star Beasts. He swung his fists, throwing two punches that forced the beasts back.
As he attacked, Cui Hong's entire body burst into blazing flames. Astonishing fire-attribute energy swept out from his body—this physique was a fusion of his energy body and his corpse, and the strength it could unleash was quite considerable.
Ye Yunfei activated his movement technique and instantly arrived at the core of the shattered star. Looking around, he saw particles of Star Mother Sand distributed throughout, resembling a sky full of golden stars.
Seeing that Cui Hong could completely withstand the two Star Beasts, Ye Yunfei began to collect the Star Mother Sand.
Ye Yunfei's palm soon touched a single grain of Star Mother Sand. The physical power in his body poured forth, reinforcing his hand. He then gripped forcefully, taking the grain into his palm.
The next moment, Ye Yunfei felt his hand suddenly plunge downward. His entire body, affected, involuntarily lurched forward, causing his expression to shift slightly.
"These Star Mother Sands are incredibly heavy. Just a single grain has such weight," Ye Yunfei was utterly shocked.
Ye Yunfei placed this grain into a high-level spatial ring. Because spatial rings inherently possess spatial attributes, the interior of a high-level spatial ring was akin to a self-contained Small World. Therefore, although the Star Mother Sand was heavy, after being placed inside the ring, it didn't impose too great a burden on the ring itself.
"These Star Mother Sands are condensed from the essence of stars. In fact, they are a type of treasure containing earth-attribute energy. One of their characteristics is their extreme weight," Cui Hong explained to Ye Yunfei.
At this moment, Cui Hong was fighting very fiercely with the two Star Beasts, waving both fists. However, Ye Yunfei could tell that Cui Hong did not intend to harm the Star Beasts, only to block them.
Afterwards, Ye Yunfei continued collecting more Star Mother Sand.
"Look, isn't that Ye Yunfei?"
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out from a distance.
Ye Yunfei's gaze turned cold. He turned to look and saw five Deities rapidly approaching from afar.
"It's the people from the Guardian Faction," Ye Yunfei revealed a cold smile.
Among these five Deities of the Guardian Faction, four were Primary Void Gods, and one was an Intermediate Void God.
"That Intermediate Void God is quite strong. Be careful," Cui Hong immediately sent a mental message to Ye Yunfei.
"Senior, now that we've spotted these Guardian Faction guys, we don't need to be polite," Ye Yunfei replied.
"Yes, we'll wait for them to come over."
Cui Hong nodded. Xiao Xiao also immediately prepared to fight.
"That one should be Cui Hong of the Flame Race. They say Cui Hong only has an energy body and isn't a serious threat. However, that brat Ye Yunfei, although just a peak Demigod, has an extraordinarily strong physique and the strength to battle Primary Void Gods. We need to be careful.
Also, that little bitch beside him should be from the Flower Goddess Palace—a Primary Void God."
At this moment, the five Deities of the Guardian Faction stopped some distance away, not rushing over immediately. They were sizing up Ye Yunfei, Cui Hong, and Xiao Xiao.
"Should we send a message and wait for others to gather before taking action?"
One of the Primary Void Gods spoke up.
"No need. Cui Hong is just an energy body; he doesn't count as a true Deity. Ye Yunfei and that little bitch are only at the Primary Void God level. They are not worthy of such caution from us. We can just go over and deal with them directly."
That Intermediate Void God glanced at Ye Yunfei and Xiao Xiao, not placing either of them in his eyes.