"Brother Lu, you jest. The inner dan of the Three-Legged Golden Crow is of great use to me, otherwise, I wouldn't mind giving it to you,"
Ye Yunfei said with a smile.
"I'm very grateful for Brother Lu's assistance earlier, though. Consider these pills a small gift of greeting from me to you."
Ye Yunfei took out over a dozen jade bottles, each filled with Divine Pills.
"A gift for me?"
Lu Shi glanced at the jade bottles Ye Yunfei held out to him and immediately sent his Soul Power energy to sense inside.
"These are all Divine Pills! And half of them have body-tempering effects—perfect for me!"
In the next moment, Lu Shi's face broke into an expression of pleasant surprise.
Every single one of these Divine Pills gifted by Ye Yunfei was perfectly suited for him and immensely useful.
These Divine Pills had just been refined inside the Phantom Tower by Ye Yunfei's doppelgänger. Before refining them, Ye Yunfei had carefully sensed Lu Shi's energy aura, so they were specially crafted for him.
"Indeed, Brother Lu. These pills should benefit you. Please accept them," Ye Yunfei said with a smile.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony," Lu Shi said solemnly, nodding before storing all dozen-plus jade bottles away.
"We should have shaken off those guys, right?" Lu Shi looked back in the direction they'd come from.
"Those fellows are all quite strong, with exceptional perception. They might still be tracking us," Ye Yunfei shook his head.
Then, Ye Yunfei used stealth talismans to conceal both his and Lu Shi's auras. He found a remote spot and laid out a large batch of concealing formations and isolation formations, creating a small formation-space. Hu Miao personally set up several of her clan's illusion formations as well.
With these formations and the stealth talismans, the auras of Ye Yunfei and Lu Shi were perfectly hidden.
"Now they shouldn't be able to find us. We just need to stay here for a few hours, and they'll completely lose our trail. Besides, there are still many unexplored areas within this Yangming Secret Realm; they won't waste too much time on us," Ye Yunfei said with a smile to Lu Shi.
"Brother Ye, the Yangming Secret Realm is vast. We should also seize the time to seek out opportunities," Lu Shi said to Ye Yunfei.
"No. I need to go into seclusion to cultivate for a while," Ye Yunfei shook his head.
Having just obtained the inner dan of the Three-Legged Golden Crow, and with the two martial techniques bestowed by Yangming King, Ye Yunfei planned to first refine and fuse the inner dan to see if he could advance his mastery of the Nine-Yang Ancient Scripture.
If he could achieve a breakthrough in the Nine-Yang Ancient Scripture, his combat strength was bound to increase significantly.
"Oh? Brother Ye, you want to go into seclusion? I think we should take this chance to properly explore the Yangming Secret Realm and seek more opportunities. You can cultivate slowly later after we leave," Lu Shi was taken aback and tried to persuade him.
"No. I need to cultivate in seclusion for a time," Ye Yunfei shook his head.
"Brother Lu, why don't you go explore the Yangming Secret Realm first? If fate wills it, we may meet again," Ye Yunfei said.
"That's... well, then I'll also cultivate in seclusion for a while. Refining the pills you just gave me should improve my strength somewhat," Lu Shi thought for a moment and then said.
"Brother Lu, you don't need to delay your treasure-hunting on my account," Ye Yunfei said.
"It's fine. Refining those Divine Pills you gave me will boost my power. I'll have more confidence when I go exploring later. Besides, if I run into those fellows from earlier alone, I'm no match for them," Lu Shi said.
He was worried that acting alone and encountering those young elites again would mean certain defeat.
"In a way, it's me holding you back. Here, Brother Lu, I'll give you some more pills," Ye Yunfei waved his hand and took out another dozen or so bottles of pills, each containing high-quality Divine Pills greatly beneficial to Lu Shi.
"Brother Ye, how do you have so many Divine Pills? Could you be an alchemist?" Seeing Ye Yunfei produce yet another dozen bottles, Lu Shi was somewhat shocked.
The earlier dozen bottles Ye Yunfei gave him each held ten pills, totaling over a hundred. Now with another dozen-plus bottles, that was over a hundred more—essentially giving him over two hundred Divine Pills.
This was no small number; an ordinary young cultivator couldn't possibly produce so many Divine Pills.
Ye Yunfei just smiled in response to Lu Shi's question, not answering.
"Brother Ye, all these over two hundred Divine Pills you've given me are immensely useful to me. If I refine and absorb them all, my strength will definitely improve significantly. I might even break through a realm!" Lu Shi was rather excited.
He not only tempered his body but was also of no low cultivation level, already a Mid-level Void God. The next step would be an Advanced Void God.
His experience was already sufficient; he just hadn't managed to break through. Now, suddenly receiving over two hundred Divine Pills specially crafted for him, he might actually achieve that breakthrough.
"Brother Lu, since you also intend to cultivate for a while, why not enter my spatial treasure and cultivate together?" Ye Yunfei said to Lu Shi, then led him into the Phantom Tower.
"Huh? Brother Ye, there seems to be a time differential between your spatial treasure and the outside world," Lu Shi, as a Deity, naturally possessed strong perception of time and space. After entering the Phantom Tower for a moment, he discovered the temporal difference inside, with time flowing faster.
"Correct. Don't worry, Brother Lu. Time flows much faster inside my spatial treasure, so we'll have ample cultivation time," Ye Yunfei replied.
"Ah, I see. I was worried that cultivating for too long would make us miss opportunities elsewhere in the Yangming Secret Realm. With this temporal treasure of yours, that's no longer a concern," Lu Shi said happily.
Then, Ye Yunfei and Lu Shi each found spots within the Phantom Tower to begin their seclusion cultivation.
"I wonder if the inner dan of the Three-Legged Golden Crow will allow me to achieve the fifth layer of the Nine-Yang Ancient Scripture?" Ye Yunfei mused inwardly with anticipation.
In the next moment, a golden inner dan appeared before him, radiating dazzling divine light. Within it, a Three-Legged Golden Crow seemed to move, a truly wondrous sight.
Ye Yunfei took out a large amount of cultivation resources and placed them around himself, including a batch of Mid-grade Divine Crystals he had recently unearthed.
Then, Ye Yunfei directly activated the Nine-Yang Ancient Scripture. The eight chaotic divine veins within his body surged simultaneously, each churning with torrential divine energy, like eight vast rivers.
Next, Ye Yunfei cultivated the Nine-Yang Ancient Scripture while attempting to fuse with the inner dan of the Three-Legged Golden Crow.
"The cultivation effect of Mid-grade Divine Crystals is far superior to Low-grade ones," Ye Yunfei remarked, sighing, as this was his first time using Mid-grade Divine Crystals for cultivation.
"Both the quantity and quality of divine energy contained within Mid-grade Divine Crystals far surpass that of Low-grade ones."
"Damn it! Where did those two escape to?"
While Ye Yunfei and Lu Shi were cultivating in seclusion within the Phantom Tower, the young elites who had been pursuing them were growing increasingly agitated, for they had lost all trace of the duo.
"The inner dan of the Three-Legged Golden Crow is of great use to the Elders of our Gongsun Family, so I must obtain it. Brat, wherever you hide, I will find you," a purple-robed youth said through gritted teeth.
"Princess Taiping, rest assured. I've already given orders for our Sun Family disciples to mobilize all their resources to search for that young man. We will find him. I'll then convince him to give you that inner dan," Sun Yuruo walked alongside Princess Taiping, who wore a foul expression. He immediately offered consolation.
"And if he refuses to give it up?" Princess Taiping asked, frowning.
"If he truly refuses... then I'm afraid I'll have to resort to forceful methods," Sun Yuruo sighed.
"Pass down my order: all members of our Sima Family who entered the Yangming Secret Realm are to use all means and connections to search for the whereabouts of those two. Bringing the inner dan of the Three-Legged Golden Crow back to the family would be a great merit.
If our Sima Family sets its sights on something, we must obtain it at all costs," at another location, Sima Xuan spoke slowly with a gloomy expression. Sima Hao and Sima Jie stood beside him.
"Cousin, rest assured. I will immediately send out word to search for them," Sima Jie promptly said.
Simultaneously, in the Sixth Void, within a relatively remote world cluster, inside a grand, spacious palace...
"Report, Prison Lord. We've just received word that in the Eighth Void, the Guardian Faction has been annihilated. All its members have been slain. Currently, the strongest force in the Eighth Void is a superpower called the Alliance Army.
The leader of the Alliance Army is a man named Ye Yunfei, reputed to be the number one figure in the Eighth Void. However, according to the intelligence, this Ye Yunfei is merely a young cultivator."
At the center of the hall, a white-robed elder sat cross-legged on a high seat, meditating with his eyes closed. Around him stood over a dozen experts with auras as profound as the sea. A respectful middle-aged man knelt on one knee before the elder, reporting clearly.
"A young cultivator is the top figure of the Eighth Void? It seems the rumors are indeed true: the Eighth Void is far too weak.
Let the Guardian Factions of the other voids spare some time to deal with the Eighth Void's affairs. Our Sixth Void's Guardian Faction needs to concentrate its efforts these days on subduing the various major powers, aiming to truly rule this void and become its sovereigns sooner rather than later. In the future, we shall enslave all factions and all living beings within the Sixth Void. That is the true purpose of our Guardian Faction's existence," the white-robed elder said unhurriedly.
"Understood, Prison Lord," the middle-aged man quickly assented.