Entering the stone house, Ye Yunfei discovered it was actually a Small World, and within this Small World stood a large altar.
Ye Yunfei sensed it briefly and immediately discerned it was indeed an altar that could be used for communication.
"Young Master Ye, this altar is of very ancient vintage and has fallen into disrepair after many years," the village chief said as he led Ye Yunfei to the side of the altar.
"Let me study it and see if I can repair it." Ye Yunfei sat down cross-legged in front of the altar and began researching it.
After roughly ten days, Ye Yunfei suddenly stood up, then retrieved a batch of formation-materials and began repairing the altar.
This altar could be seen as a relatively high-level Formation. In fact, the principles behind altars and Formations were interconnected, only differing in the materials and methods used. Generally speaking, deploying a Formation first required refining numerous formation-flags, while setting up an altar involved utilizing various kinds of treasures.
Ye Yunfei was proficient in Formations, so after about ten days of research, he had gained some understanding of this altar's basic structure and principles.
"Young Master Ye's level of proficiency in Formations has progressed significantly," the village chief remarked in admiration as he stood beside him, watching Ye Yunfei continuously channel one treasure after another into the altar, which began to emit increasingly brilliant light.
About two hours later, Ye Yunfei stopped and said to the village chief, "Chief, I've repaired the altar."
"Excellent! I'll try to contact Mr. Liu immediately!" the village chief said excitedly.
He then sat cross-legged in front of the altar and inserted an old and worn-looking formation flag into it. With a low hum, the altar was activated, and the village chief began using it to send a message.
Ye Yunfei knew it wouldn't be easy for the village chief to establish contact with Mr. Liu using this altar; it would require prolonged attempts. So, instead of waiting around, Ye Yunfei returned to the Small World where his parents and clan members were in seclusion.
"Fei'er, you've finally returned to see us." Seeing Ye Yunfei return, Ye Tianpeng and Miao Ziqiong were extremely moved and immediately came forward, taking his hands.
"Any news of Xiao Fei?" Ye Yunfei asked.
"There's still no news of Xiao Fei. We don't know how she is now," Miao Ziqiong shook her head and sighed.
The clan members of the Ye Family, hearing of Ye Yunfei's return, all gathered around.
"It's about time the strength of our Ye Family was improved," Ye Yunfei said softly after sensing the cultivation levels of his clansmen.
For the next month, Ye Yunfei remained within this Small World, continually refining batch after batch of pills tailored to each Ye Family member's specific situation. Simultaneously, he also took out vast amounts of cultivation resources and magical artifacts, distributing them according to need to every Ye Family member.
This Small World was inherently a pocket dimension with high-grade energy and laws. Living here for prolonged periods meant the Ye Family members' realms and strength had been steadily increasing. In fact, the overall strength of the current Ye Family had improved tremendously compared to before. Among them, Miao Ziqiong's realm and power showed the most significant progress. She was now a Primary Void God. Furthermore, to Ye Yunfei's pleasant surprise, the foundation of her realm was exceptionally solid.
Ye Yunfei understood that his mother was originally one of the members of the Miao Clan with the purest bloodline, and she had also received the energy and legacy left behind by an ancient ancestor. Such cultivation progress was not strange at all.
The other Ye Family members had also produced a number of Half-Gods, especially the several Elders who were now all Half-Gods.
After receiving Ye Yunfei's pills and cultivation resources, everyone immediately began closed-door cultivation. The pills refined by a True God-level alchemist were naturally extremely effective. Combined with the various cultivation resources and treasures Ye Yunfei brought back, each one was priceless to the Ye Family clan members.
Not long after, lightning tribulations began appearing one after another in this Small World. Ye Family members continuously broke through their realms. Miao Ziqiong also broke through from Primary Void God to Intermediate Void God.
Moreover, two Elders and two other clan members of the Ye Family formally broke through to Godhood, bringing the total number of Void Gods in the Ye Family to five.
"It seems the bloodline of our Ye Family isn't bad either," Ye Yunfei thought to himself, inwardly startled as he watched the two Elders and two clansmen who had just broken through to Godhood.
The reason for Miao Ziqiong's rapid cultivation progress was that she was one of the Miao Clan's members with the purest bloodline and had also received the energy and legacy of a certain Miao Clan ancestor. The Miao Clan possessed the bloodline of the Divine Beast Vermilion Bird and had given birth to many Deities, even some with resounding reputations, making their bloodline very high-level. Thus, it wasn't strange for Miao Ziqiong, a genius of the Miao Clan, to cultivate a bit faster.
But the Ye Family was just a minor clan that had emerged from a Small World. They had now actually produced several Gods, indicating the Ye Family's bloodline wasn't bad either.
"Perhaps it's because I've always provided the clan with a large amount of various precious cultivation resources," Ye Yunfei thought to himself.
"Mother, your cultivation potential is still great. I feel it won't be long before you break through to True God," Ye Yunfei said to Miao Ziqiong.
"My cultivation isn't that important. My greatest wish is for you and Xiao Fei to be safe and sound. I don't like fighting and killing. What's the use of having such high cultivation?" Miao Ziqiong said indifferently.
"Having higher cultivation is always good. If you encounter danger in the future, you'll at least have the strength to protect yourself. Father's strength isn't as good as yours now; he still has to rely on your protection," Ye Yunfei said with a smile.
"He's a man. If he doesn't cultivate hard and ends up weaker than me, he has only himself to blame," Miao Ziqiong said tartly.
Ye Tianpeng could only give an awkward smile on the side and didn't dare reply.
After staying in the Small World for a period, Ye Yunfei ensured the overall strength of the Ye Family members had increased by at least tenfold.
"Hahaha... If this continues, there's hope for our Ye Family to develop into a powerful clan within this void. This is something we wouldn't have even dared to think about before!" The Ye Family Elders were all very excited seeing the clan's overall strength rise so much in such a short time.
"For our Ye Family at present, the most important thing is still for everyone to cultivate diligently and increase their strength, to possess the power to survive in this chaotic world," Ye Yunfei said to the Elders.
Ye Yunfei knew his battle with the Guardian Faction would continue, and it would only grow more intense from now on. It wouldn't be strange if one day the Ye Family became implicated. For the current Ye Family, having self-preservation capabilities was paramount.
"Fei'er, the Vermilion Bird King has sent someone," Miao Ziqiong suddenly said to Ye Yunfei at this moment.
Soon, a Miao Clan member hurried to Miao Ziqiong's side.
"Our Miao Clan's Ancestral Sacrificial Altar seems to have received some messages regarding Xiao Fei," this middle-aged Miao Clan member said immediately upon seeing Miao Ziqiong.
"What? Is there news of Xiao Fei?" Both Ye Tianpeng and his wife, as well as Ye Yunfei, perked up upon hearing this.
"Excellent! Let's go see immediately!" Miao Ziqiong said excitedly. She had always missed her daughter dearly.
"Alright, let's go now," Ye Yunfei nodded. He then teleported his parents and the Miao Clan member who had delivered the news into the Phantom Tower and used his movement technique, instantly leaving the Tianpo Realm.
Soon after, they arrived at the Vermilion Bird Realm. Ye Yunfei directly went to an altar within the Miao Clan ancestral grounds—precisely the Miao Clan's Ancestral Sacrificial Altar.
"Ye Yunfei, you've indeed returned." The Vermilion Bird King and a group of high-ranking Miao Clan members were already waiting there. Upon seeing Ye Yunfei, the Vermilion Bird King immediately stepped forward. He had already heard about Ye Yunfei's return to the Eighth Void.
"Is there really news of Xiao Fei?" Miao Ziqiong looked at the Ancestral Sacrificial Altar before her and asked anxiously.
"There is indeed news of Xiao Fei," a grey-robed elder sitting cross-legged in front of the altar answered with a nod. This elder was the oldest-ranking Elder of the Miao Clan, and his divination skills were the highest in the clan. He was respectfully addressed as the Grand Wizard within the Miao Clan.
Next, the Grand Wizard performed a series of mysterious hand-seals towards the ancient altar while chanting softly under his breath. Soon, the altar before him began to tremble faintly, radiating a brilliant light. Then, everyone saw image after image appearing above the altar. Within these images, many indistinct figures could be seen moving about.
"It really is Xiao Fei!" Ye Yunfei immediately recognized one of the blurry figures as his younger sister Xiao Fei and couldn't help but exclaim in delight.
"Yes, that is Xiao Fei. I can sense Xiao Fei's aura," Miao Ziqiong also said excitedly.
Although the figures in the images were rather blurry, they emitted faint auras. Thus, Ye Yunfei and Miao Ziqiong could quickly identify one figure as Xiao Fei.
"Yes, that is Xiao Fei. I recognize her too," Ye Tianpeng also cried out excitedly.
"I've been performing divinations before this altar this whole time. Just two days ago, I suddenly captured these fuzzy images and recognized one of the figures as Xiao Fei, so I notified you all to come," the Grand Wizard said to Miao Ziqiong.
"I think it's possible that the ancestors, worrying about your concern for Xiao Fei, specially transmitted back some images of Xiao Fei for you to see. From these images, we can see Xiao Fei is currently cultivating, tempering herself, and growing. So, you don't need to worry about Xiao Fei," the Grand Wizard added.
"Yes, Xiao Fei is currently cultivating and growing, and from the looks of it, her current strength is already quite good." Ye Yunfei had been staring intently at the figure of Xiao Fei within the images while also using the Primal Chaos Celestial Fortune Formula to perform divination. He discovered that Xiao Fei's current state was indeed very good.
"Father, Mother, rest assured. Xiao Fei should be in a void very far from us, cultivating and growing," Ye Yunfei said to his parents.
"It's good that Xiao Fei is safe. I just don't know how much longer we'll have to wait to see her," Miao Ziqiong sighed.
"I wonder exactly where Xiao Fei is currently located," Ye Yunfei thought to himself as he watched the blurry figures continuously moving on the altar.
"Besides being used for communication, I wonder if this altar can also be used for teleportation?" Ye Yunfei suddenly asked the Grand Wizard.
"I'm not sure about that either. Because our Miao Clan has experienced several calamities in ancient times, much was lost, including the detailed functions and usage methods of this Ancestral Sacrificial Altar. Regarding this altar, all I master now is how to use it to send a message towards the other end. I learned this method from an incomplete ancient tome of which only about one-tenth remains," the Grand Wizard shook his head and replied.