Chapter 334: Shrinking into a Shell for Three Years, Green and Yellow Come to Fruition (Ten-Thousand-Character Chapter)

"It seems True Monarch Huiqing truly did not anticipate the current situation; she was unable to make any proper or comprehensive arrangements, and could only pin her hopes on you."

As the dust settled, Du En quietly appeared before Lou Shuyue, looking down at her with her graying temples.

He remained calm, yet still aggressive, sharp and direct: "In any case, the essence of the two great codices has already been combined. As for the subsequent continuation, even if someone else were to take over, it could still proceed. You are, in fact, a dispensable existence; it wouldn't matter if you died."

"You, you..."

Listening to this merciless, venomous tongue, Lou Shuyue tremblingly raised her hands, wanting to maintain her previous posture and scold him loudly.

But in the end, she only covered her face with her hands, unable to stop the tears from falling, and prostrated herself to beg for mercy: "Don't kill me, don't kill this slave. This slave is already ruined. This slave, this slave... as long as you, you spare this slave's life, I will do whatever you wish!"

Her voice gradually grew hoarse, filled with sobbing, and when she looked up again, one could see through the gaps in her fingers that her beauty had not actually faded much.

After all, she had accumulated a great deal of longevity essence, and although her cultivation had scattered, it had not been completely exhausted.

At this moment, with her graying hair and tear-streaked face, she possessed a different kind of charm, one that only made people want to ravage her fiercely.

Facing this, there was only a gaze as calm as ever.

"Truly, truly, you have a heart of iron and stone!"

"What you say is actually not wrong."

"Ah?"

Lou Shuyue was stunned by his words, and Du En raised his hand to unleash a thunderous strike.

A burst of frenzied bombardment left no time for even a scream to arise.

By the time he stopped, there was not even a scrap left on the spot; only the nine-foot white silk in his hand, its precious light dimmed, could prove she had ever existed.

This magic treasure was also dissected after a while, and then destroyed on the spot without a shred of pity.

"Hmm, it seems True Monarch Huiqing was indeed in a rush this time; she didn't even leave any measures on her."

Du En's Glory-Prosperity Hard to Shift was gathering strength, thinking that if the True Monarch still had measures, he would not be able to run, so he had directly closed in to act.

However, in truth, she was indeed in a rush, having simply tossed out a dispensable pawn that also harbored a rebellious heart.

"But even so, my background has been exposed... Although the Supreme's intervention this time makes it impossible for her to spy again, she will certainly conclude that I did it, and from there, she will start considering how not to let me exploit the same loophole next time."

This is the helplessness of facing a True Monarch.

They have plenty of pawns, plenty of methods, and plenty of leeway to test and fail one by one. As long as the time is stretched out a little, they basically don't need to act personally; they only need to pay a small price to crush the small pawn they want to kill.

That is why Lou Shuyue dared not rebel, because she had absolutely no confidence in being able to withstand such targeting.

It was precisely because she clearly understood True Monarch Huiqing's character that she feared her all the more.

"But as a Son of Heaven and Emperor, one should not have this kind of submission and fear from the bottom of one's heart... Forget it, the person is dead, let's look at her assets."

Unlike the case with Lu Zhihong, where he bombarded everything into oblivion without leaving a trace, Du En still showed some mercy here.

Thus, a fourth-tier storage bag was seized.

Relying on the improvement of his current artifact-refining attainments and the experience gained from transforming his natal magic treasure into a storage bag, he directly picked the lock and dismantled it with technique.

Not to mention getting one hundred percent, at least he could obtain half of the items inside.

Compared to the previous twenty percent, this was already a doubling!

There were all kinds of fourth-tier medicinal pills, various fourth-tier spiritual materials, all sorts of fourth-tier talismans, and thousands upon thousands of top-grade spirit stones... dazzling and radiant with precious light.

"They are all still useful, not bad."

Du En was now well-informed and had handled a large pile of precious raw materials and finished products, so looking at these items now, he could say such words calmly and naturally, without any other extra feelings.

Immediately, he used spatial movement, his figure vanished, and he left this place.

After using Reflection of Life and Prosperity this time, the divine ability of Burying Death and Giving Birth entered a twenty-five-day cooldown period.

Clearly, this was because he had not used Glory-Prosperity Hard to Shift, the state of maximum output at present.

Compared to the ten-day cooldown for a full recovery, this twenty-five-day cooldown, along with the one-hundred-day cooldown period under full output, could generally reflect the output gap between the three different stages at present.

"The most critical thing now is to find another suitable place for cultivation..."

Du En's goal remained clear, but finding a suitable one was not a simple matter.

The battles in other places were still ongoing, and he had to consider their range of activity and other circumstances, and then, the conditions such as the leakage of spiritual Qi from the various partitioned spaces.

The previous location was a rare and ideal place; wanting to find something similar now was truly not an easy task.

"The main thing is that I still need to avoid the center."

Thinking this, Du En arrived before a water vortex node, and the Seeking Void Jade Cicada emitted a light and agile chirping sound in his mind.

Naturally, since it could discover bad space, it could also search for good space.

The situation corresponding to the melody, simply put, was the stable space corresponding to the spiritual Qi environments of the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh ranks.

The water vortex node currently in front of Du En led to a partitioned space corresponding to the fifth rank.

He did not hesitate in the slightest, maintained his Ice Soul Concealment, turned around, and left.

Because the entire Dragon Palace had rotted into such a state, having a stable fifth-rank spiritual Qi environment meant it was one hundred percent approaching, or even was, the center point and core hub.

Without being fully prepared and when the timing was not appropriate, he naturally had to avoid it.

Then, Du En crossed more than a dozen partitioned spaces in succession. Because the conditions here were indeed not very good and it was difficult to find anything more ideal, his thoughts had to shift, and he began to consider lowering his standards.

But even if...

Just as he was pondering and deliberating, he crossed another water vortex node, and then, from afar, he perceived a petite figure, sneaking about and acting suspiciously, digging a hole there.

"The conditions here, hmm, are barely acceptable. So, she thought of the same thing as me?"

Thinking this, Du En made a judgment and directly used a spatial movement to appear before this petite figure.

"Wua!"

Jiang Ying, who had been digging, only felt an anomaly appear in front of the ground. Alert like a groundhog, she pulled half her body out, and immediately saw a familiar, calm face, which scared her into a sudden retreat and collision.

Boom—!

The building, whose structure was still relatively intact and which could have been entered by digging away the surface ruins, immediately collapsed in large swaths, turning into a pile of ruins in the blink of an eye.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

"Why did you suddenly jump out to scare me!"

Jiang Ying ran out of the smoke and dust in a somewhat disheveled state, shook her body to scatter the miscellaneous ash, and was extremely dissatisfied with Du En's abruptness in scaring her; looking at the surrounding ruins, she couldn't help but become exasperated.

"Sorry, I didn't expect you to have such a big reaction."

"Cough!"

Jiang Ying, who had originally wanted to point at his nose and curse, suddenly retreated unnaturally, unable to hide her sense of guilt at all.

"So, you are here to..."

Du En asked, and meeting his seemingly pointed gaze, she immediately couldn't help but interrupt, making a defense she had long prepared: "I'm not trying to hide and do nothing, but rather thinking of mastering a Daoist technique first, and then going to fight people; that would be better, yes, that's right! That would be better!"

"There is no silver buried here" (a classic idiom meaning to give oneself away by protesting too much).

The more she emphasized her tone and stressed this point, the more it highlighted her mentality of avoiding battle.

Then, seeing Du En's seemingly unmoved gaze, she couldn't help but feel pitiful, hoping he wouldn't continue to harp on this.

"You don't want to fight, or rather, you don't like killing people."

Du En was blunt, pointing out this matter that he had long perceived and had long seen signs of.

Then, because it was too direct and lacked any tact, it made Jiang Ying, who was in a sensitive state, unable to help but give up on herself.

"Ahhh!"

"That's right! I'm not some battle-crazed killer!"

Before, after entering the Dragon Palace, she had originally subconsciously run around hitting and killing people, but as she fought, she suddenly thought, eh, if she were here, that scoundrel Bu Yi wouldn't be able to see or control her, so she immediately found a chance and slipped away!

Sneaking away from the battle group and running over here was just to find a place to hunker down and hide; even if discovered and questioned, she could still say she was practicing Daoist techniques.

Unfortunately, facing Du En, this stubborn, unyielding "stinking stone in a latrine," it simply wouldn't work.

No, it should be said that under normal circumstances, as long as one isn't a fool, this kind of excuse wouldn't work, right?

"Sigh~!"

Jiang Ying actually understood this too, so after giving up and admitting it, she only sighed and smiled bitterly, "Alright, I'll go back with you, that'll do, right? Really, at least let me rest for a day or two..."

Amidst this muttering, she turned around and walked a few steps, intending to return to the combat operations.

Then, she discovered that Du En was not moving.

With a sweep of her divine sense, she discovered that at this moment, he was looking over the little nest she had found, seemingly thinking about how to reuse it?

No, no, no!

How could he also be thinking about avoiding battle?

Doesn't this trip to the Dragon Palace mean that Meng Changqing is planning to stop whatever is breeding and developing inside?

Then, logically speaking, sweeping away the spoilers from other immortal sects first, and then engaging in internal strife, is the only thing that makes sense!

That's why he chased after her; after all, she is actually considered his enemy, and it's impossible for him to let her rest while they fight, giving her the chance to wait for them to tire themselves out.

Although thinking this way is quite frustrating and helpless...

With complex emotions, Jiang Ying turned around and asked: "Why aren't you moving? That defeated subordinate of Nangong is currently fighting the people from the other immortal sects in full swing!"

"I know, but I am currently looking for a place to cultivate."

Du En spoke directly and clearly, "Also, I don't intend to force you to go back and keep fighting."

"Eh? Really?!"

Jiang Ying felt it was very sudden, and was quite pleasantly surprised.

Then she began to have many self-indulgent thoughts to explain the current situation.

However, before these thoughts could fully unfold, her expression suddenly changed.

"Wait a minute! This is the nest I found!"

Seeing that Du En, who had just suddenly scared her, was now shamelessly about to "occupy the magpie's nest," removing the ruins and restructuring the space, Jiang Ying couldn't help but widen her eyes and was about to step forward to argue with him.

Everything must follow the principle of first come, first served!

This is what you said, and this place is clearly...

"Jiang Ying, you also don't want True Monarch Bu Yi to know your true thoughts, right?"

Du En suddenly turned his head and said this to her, causing her aggressive momentum to stop once again.

"What do you mean?!"

Jiang Ying's expression froze, and she subconsciously raised her hands, appearing very vigilant and nervous, because this sentence sounded strange no matter how she heard it, full of coercion, and thinking about it, it was somewhat unusual?

Subconsciously, she even thought this guy had some filthy, lewd, and evil intentions toward her!

After all, she was actually still a bit... regarding her own beauty.

"If you want me to help keep it a secret, then in the time ahead, help me dismantle houses and scrape the ground, collecting all kinds of spiritual objects so I can use them for artifact refining."

Du En's idea was just that simple.

It would be a waste not to use this free laborer; let this supreme physical body work for him for free, which just happens to complement the compromise model he thought of a moment ago.

—Since it's hard to find a place to one's liking, why not engage in guerrilla-style grinding!

Incidentally, he could also utilize all the materials in these Dragon Palace ruins; even if he couldn't finish refining them, he would scrape them all away and sell them back at full price to subsidize his faction, so that Meng Changqing, that penny-pinching boss, wouldn't be muttering about it all day long, openly or secretly.

Hearing that he didn't have any lewd thoughts, Jiang Ying's expression eased slightly, then tightened again as she realized the situation, feeling somewhat indignant.

Good fellow, not only did he occupy my nest, but he also wants me to put in the effort?

Truly, what can I, Jiang Ying, not endure!

"Fine, just don't go blabbering nonsense to that scoundrel Bu Yi."

A small impatience spoils a great plan; to avoid the worst-case scenario, she had no choice but to endure it now.

Of course, in her heart, she had already cursed Du En, that equally wicked scoundrel, to death.

She had originally thought he was a decent guy, but she didn't expect his heart to be so black and so annoying; he was actually just targeting her labor—it really infuriated this young lady!

Seeing that she wasn't very proactive in working for free and that her subsequent efficiency and performance would definitely not be high, and that she would only slack off and drag her feet, Du En naturally had his own methods.

And so, he immediately spoke again: "That said, if you really don't want to stay with True Monarch Buyi, you could actually defect to the Resolution side."

"Huh?"

Jiang Ying's expression changed instantly, looking greatly tempted.

But at this moment, the image of True Monarch Buyi's stone-faced expression surfaced in her heart, and she immediately felt fearful again; her interest retreated, and she appeared quite dejected.

She was about to shake her head, but Du En continued speaking.

"You must consider this carefully, because your little thoughts are truly too easy to guess; I fear they were exposed long ago, and after you go back this time, if True Monarch Buyi discovers you haven't made any progress, he will likely deal with you ruthlessly."

Simply put, it is applying pressure, pushing hard to apply pressure!

Without enough pressure to hone oneself, how could one possibly become a talent or build a foundation?!

Jiang Ying was immediately scared out of her wits: "Re-re-really, is it really that easy to guess? That shouldn't be; I clearly pretended very well!"

Speaking to this point, she began to count on her fingers, muttering to herself.

Things like how she obediently killed people in the North, how she obediently crossed borders, and during the Grand Competition, stupidly breaking the railings, fighting like a battle maniac when facing Lou Shuyue, and the death match against that guy Nangong Sheng without retreating...

"Setting aside the past in the North, the breaking of the railings during the Grand Competition clearly belonged to using a bit too much force, and then the duel with Lou Shuyue, that can only be called 'seeing a hunt and feeling delighted,' not to mention the death match with Nangong Sheng, which was ultimately shrouded in a sense of being driven by fear, not daring to lose."

Du En pointed out the various flaws in her actions directly: "Furthermore, you are clearly from the North; logically, being forced to kill constantly, you should have no time to learn, or rather, you shouldn't care about any techniques for controlling force, yet in fact, you can precisely pinch the death line, only beating people into a state of critical injury and near-death."

"Uh, couldn't it be that my control is meticulous?"

"Under normal circumstances, do you have the time to consider that?"

"……No."

Having practiced and started killing since she was a few years old, walking all the way under extreme high pressure, she is now the youngest among her peers and generation; it can be said that her entire life has been either killing or licking her wounds, with crisis and oppression maxed out the whole way.

Judging from the death match with Nangong Sheng, her normal combat state is to rely on her supreme physical body, wantonly venting without regard for anything, extremely bold and unconstrained.

So logically, under such a premise, she shouldn't have the ability to perform extreme micro-control, precise enough to beat an opponent until they are completely crippled and lose all combat capability, without actually killing them.

She could only control it to that degree.

First, limited by her own survival environment, it has already caused her to develop various subconscious habits that have deeply permeated her personality, ensuring the opponent's complete silence so they no longer pose a threat to her safety.

At the same time, subjectively worrying that showing obvious mercy would trigger True Monarch Buyi's suspicion, she could only ensure this line she considered the best.

Anyway, the opponents she faced during the Grand Competition were basically none of them truly innocent, so she actually didn't have much of a guilty conscience.

Because she knew their roots and bottom lines.

Also because she knew their roots and bottom lines, she didn't actually care too much about the deaths of those guys from the North.

They all wanted to come and kill her, so being killed by her in return was just a matter of course.

But...

"But conversely, facing the Zhijing Immortal Gate, which you don't know the roots and bottom lines of and which you took the initiative to attack, you have an obvious sense of guilt; this point is truly too obvious."

Du En finally pointed this out, making Jiang Ying immediately dejected.

"I didn't expect them to run over this time, and there's also that Rui Yi, cough!"

Realizing that she seemed to be truly exposed, Jiang Ying immediately clasped her hands in front of her, revealing a fawning, cute smile: "Um, Senior Brother Du~"

"Just speak normally."

"Cough, anyway, Senior Brother Du, that thing, is it really feasible for me to defect to your side?"

Jiang Ying actually had no confidence in this, but things had reached this point, so she could only brace herself and ask: "Will the Resolution Counselors accept and protect me? In the past, I killed so, so many people, I can't even count them myself!"

Regarding the fact that she was laden with blood debts, she appeared quite self-aware.

"This problem of yours doesn't count as big, because the Resolution side basically won't care about killing guys who deserve to die or whose deaths are not worth pitying; of course, specifically speaking, there will still be some differences in situation and degree, but generally speaking, it's about the same, in short, um, the problem is not big."

Du En spoke somewhat circuitously, but Jiang Ying listened very happily.

Because she had a flash of inspiration just now and suddenly thought, if she couldn't defect to Meng Changqing, it seemed she could defect to Du En!

In short, since that Buyi dog thief could basically detect that something was wrong with her, and would likely increase the pressure next, then even if she was scared to death, she had to jump ship and run, otherwise she might really die, or suffer a fate worse than death!

As long as she defects to Du En's side, then the Resolution Counselors definitely won't ignore it, and the result will be about the same; the pressure will still be carried by him!

Of course, to ensure everything is foolproof, she naturally has to show her value...

Hm?

Wait?

Did I just sell myself out?

Jiang Ying suddenly turned back to the correct point, looking at Du En, speechless.

He just looked at her calmly and pointed to the ruins on the side.

The meaning was self-evident.

If you want me to help, then get to work.

Feeling that she had just jumped from one pit into another, Jiang Ying had very complex and subtle feelings for a moment, but she still began to work hard to dismantle the buildings and scrape the ground, easily dismantling all the usable spiritual items.

This is the strength of a supreme physical body!

"Use your means to conceal your tracks as well; the commotion is a bit too big."

Du En gave supplementary advice for the situation.

Because although she was truly fast at dismantling, the commotion was also very big.

And she certainly possessed such means.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to sneak here alone, and would have long ago led and brought the front line to move and spread to this vicinity.

And so, she somewhat sullenly raised her hand and threw out the exotic treasure, the Smoke Gauze Curtain.

This was a treasure True Monarch Buyi had given her before, which could be used to conceal her tracks and movements, thereby successfully infiltrating the territory of the Zhijing Immortal Gate.

Of course, if the commotion was truly too big, it couldn't be concealed.

"Can't I use the Meteor Rock?"

"No, no, how kind-hearted do you think that dog thief is?"

Jiang Ying looked full of resentment regarding this, "When I first obtained it, I thought that dog thief had turned over a new leaf. Besides, logically speaking, that was sending me into the territory of a hostile immortal sect; no matter how I think about it, he shouldn't have given me a defective product, right?"

"And then, the first time I snuck in, the first time I used it, I wanted to rely on it to launch a sneak attack and win easily. But the result? I had only gathered fifty percent of the power in my fist, and before I even struck, it couldn't hide it anymore, causing me to be exposed right on the spot under the eyes of a group of Limit-stage cultivators..."

By the time she finished speaking, she was speechless and choked with silent frustration.

Ever since that encounter, she would never again have even the slightest expectation of True Monarch Buyi, nor would she dare to harbor even the slightest bit of wishful thinking!

Therefore, when Du En pointed out that she had already been exposed, and stated the situation where it was highly likely that the stakes would continue to be raised, she immediately became anxious. Even if it meant running to be a subordinate for Du En and working for free, she could barely accept it, as long as she could pull in a great Buddha to protect herself.

"That dog thief is not a human!"

Amidst this pouting and cursing, her actions of tearing down houses and scraping the ground became slightly rough, carrying a sense of venting.

Du En didn't say anything more, just silently adjusted his plan for grinding and practicing according to the situation.

The Meteor Rock Art could not be practiced; the commotion was truly too great. So, in the current situation, the most suitable one was the Myriad Control Art.

Previously, the reason for not practicing this top-grade spell was mainly because at the initial stage of entry, one could simultaneously control twenty thousand magic tools of the same rank.

The magic tools on her person actually hadn't filled the quota yet, so of course, there was no need to practice it.

And now that she could dare to start practicing and accumulate enough magic tools, she could naturally adapt to the situation and raise its proficiency first.

Thus, for the next part, they were tearing down houses and scraping the ground on one side, while diligently practicing and refining tools on the other, moving in a mobile, guerrilla, and sweeping manner.

One by one, the marginal partitioned spaces were emptied by them. Whether it was spiritual energy or spiritual objects, everything was scraped clean, not leaving behind even a single scrap of anything good.

Because Jiang Ying's speed of tearing and scraping was even faster, in the intervals, she could also go to guard the gate and keep watch, avoiding them accidentally bumping into a battle group during their actions.

At first, she only felt that Du En was truly unscrupulous, but slowly, she also began to adapt and accept it, and even found tearing, scraping, and keeping watch quite enjoyable.

Once her mood improved, she mentioned in their spare conversation the Daoist art chosen by the champion of the previous grand competition.

Among the four grades of Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow, the lowest Yellow-grade Daoist art: Vajra Tyrant Body!

Just by hearing the name, one knew it was a Daoist art that strengthened the physical body.

Choosing to strengthen what was already strong instead of filling in shortcomings was very much in line with her idea of actually not wanting to break through and suffer.

Considering that the divine soul Nascent Soul was indeed not her strong suit, if she really chose a Daoist art in other aspects, she might not be able to learn it even at the Nascent Soul stage, so it was better to just blindly strengthen her advantages.

Therefore, True Monarch Buyi had no extra comments regarding this choice.

"I said it, didn't I? I'd choose one that we could both use."

Jiang Ying stared at Du En, shaking her head and commenting, "That new spiritual body you cultivated..."

"Inexhaustible Azure Spiritual Body."

"Right, this Inexhaustible Azure Spiritual Body, although it's actually quite good, having absorbed the advantages of the Firm Spiritual Body and grown stronger, but to be honest, in terms of sheer tyrannical hard standards, among spiritual bodies of the same level, it counts at most as upper-middle level."

"I know, its advantage lies mainly in being inexhaustible and unceasing."

"That is top-tier among the same level, but still, it's not as good as me. This supreme physical body of mine can truly be called the pinnacle constitution!"

Jiang Ying was quite proud of this point; she didn't have any love-hate feelings about it.

Come on, this is the Falling Feather North Land! As long as one had a bit of spiritual root, one couldn't escape the persecution of that Buyi dog thief. Without this kind of constitution, she would have long ago been killed by some genius dug up from who knows where!

"So, this Daoist art applied to you and me: for me, it's strengthening the strong, the pinnacle on top of the pinnacle, while for you, it's clearly filling in your shortcomings!"

"It is indeed suitable for both."

Du En nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Jiang Ying was feeling smug, and seeing this scene, she couldn't help but be stunned.

Oh no!

Forgot he has no conscience!

So, could it be that next, he will use that old routine again to...

"Don't you dislike fighting?"

Du En calmly brought up the past again, and sure enough, he began to find an opening to enter.

"Uh, but, to have it taken away by you for nothing, I feel like I'm at a bit of a loss?"

"I have already thought of a whole set of words for you, which can allow your matter to pass safely without being additionally targeted by True Monarch Buyi..."

"Deal!"

Jiang Ying didn't say a second word and immediately answered, snatching the response.

As long as she wasn't at a loss, it was fine.

Just as she was feeling happy, she was suddenly stunned again.

Huh!

Wait, I helped him tear and scrape spiritual objects, didn't I already pay the price? Why do I have to give a Daoist art now?

"Before, I was only responsible for the introduction, not for pleading or lobbying; that must be left entirely to the resolution to judge and decide."

"Hmm???"

Jiang Ying looked at the expressionless Du En, who spoke as if it were only natural, and felt even more like she had jumped into another pit, immediately left speechless and dumbfounded.

But, this pit seemed to have already been jumped into; she had already worked for free for him for so many days, so, it seemed it could only be like this.

When one is under the eaves, one has to bow one's head!

She couldn't help but feel like crying without tears, while secretly deciding that this honorific of Senior Brother or whatever should really just be dropped; it could be used to express her dissatisfaction.

It should be fine, right?

Try it out, no problem, just like that.

Hmm!

Watching her eyes change, and seeing she ultimately didn't say anything, Du En calmly suppressed for the time being the words he had originally intended to say—about giving her some benefits now to prevent her from being unenthusiastic about working.

See how the situation goes first; if there's no problem, keep it as is.

That was his line of thinking.

Both sides thought about watching and waiting first, and so, amidst this watching and waiting, they continued their days of circling the battle zone, sweeping, tearing, scraping, and practicing.

Time passed quietly, and in the blink of an eye, it was late May, three years later.

Du En continued his grinding, and finally, on this day, he maxed out the proficiency of the Cyan-Yellow Dharma Canon, reaching the state of ultimate perfection.

The yellow earth and the clear blue sky were now completely obscured by lush, towering trees and vigorous, ground-covering grasses; no other colors remained.

Cyan was the only main tone, the only highlight!

Thus, a change quietly emerged: his mana achieved true ceaseless circulation, the Inexhaustible Cyan Spirit Body officially reached the perfection realm, his lifespan increased by a hundred years, and his divine sense advanced further, breaking through the genius limit of five hundred li to reach a range of six hundred li.

It could be said that he had begun to lift one foot, preparing to step onto the threshold of a heaven-gifted genius!

However, the gap between a heaven-gifted genius and a genius was even greater than the gap between a genius and the unranked; in the end, it was only to this extent, and he already lacked the follow-up strength to truly step across.

At the same time, Du En also noticed that the name "Inexhaustible Cyan Spirit Body" was somewhat of a misnomer.

Because it could not truly be self-inexhaustible!

Perhaps because it evolved from the Firm Spirit Body—which cultivated both body and dharma—the Firm Spirit Body had reached perfection where blood, Qi, and mana were almost one; subsequently, it naturally remained closely tied to his mana, so its "inexhaustibility" was, from beginning to end, actually driven by his mana from within.

In other words, only because his mana was ceaseless could it be inexhaustible.

And since only mana was ceaseless, it naturally could not be truly "ceaseless" in the absolute sense; it was merely a partial, one-sided manifestation of that principle.

"This doesn't come as a surprise; I fear that even if the body itself achieved ceaselessness, it would still be impossible to derive a divine ability, because that would require all-encompassing ceaselessness."

"Furthermore, even if one truly obtained ceaselessness, it actually has quite a few limitations..."

Even if a pool has infinite water, if the outlet is only as thick as a finger, it can only spray out with force; the power might be fierce, but the magnitude is ultimately insufficient.

Simply put, no matter how "ceaseless" it is, it can only manifest an output matching one's cultivation level.

Just like how Phoenix Remnant Hatred was limited by its vessel, allowing it to be imprisoned and subdued by Du En, a mere Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

"The limitations of high-grade cultivation methods are still too great and too many; as expected, I must look into supreme-grade cultivation methods..."

However, Du En was not in a hurry to switch; although after more than three years of pondering, he already had an inkling of how to switch, the current timing was not appropriate.

He took one last look at the panel.

【Age: 53/1433】

【Spirit Root: Low-grade】

【Cultivation: Nascent Soul Perfection (97/100)】

【Cultivation Method: Cyan-Yellow Dharma Canon (Ultimate Perfection)】

【Spells: Meteor Rock Technique (Mastery 199480/300000), Sandstorm Technique (Proficient 500/50000), Ice Soul Technique (Ultimate Perfection), Profound Armor Colossus (Proficient 500/50000), Myriad Control Technique (Mastery 69000/300000), Phoenix Crimson True Flame (Mastery 253/300), Vegetation Forest (Entry-level 9500/20000), Dharma-Devouring Spirit-Grafting (Entry-level 9500/20000)】

【Divine Ability: Burying Death, Flourishing Life (Mastery 0/300)】

【Hundred Arts: Appraisal (Grandmaster 0/500), Culinary Arts (Ultimate Perfection), Spirit Seeking (Mastery 0/300), Artifact Refining (Mastery 1/300)】

The perfection of the Cyan-Yellow Dharma Canon could drive and boost four concurrent spells, adding eight thousand points of proficiency to each, directly raising two of them by one rank.

It was just that its perfection could no longer drive the Meteor Rock Technique, because according to the surface-level rank conversion, the stage of the Meteor Rock Technique was now one rank higher than it.

"However... forget it, I can't confirm it for sure right now; I'll investigate it in detail later."

Du En was somewhat concerned about the current situation.

It involved the alignment issue between cultivation methods and spells.

Looking at the other spells, Phoenix Crimson True Flame was steadily advancing, and the Myriad Control Technique, which he had been focusing on during this period, had achieved a comeback through daily practice of two thousand repetitions, reaching the Mastery stage.

There were clear improvements in all aspects, but the most critical point was the ability to simultaneously control fifty thousand artifacts!

And what about Du En's current artifact reserves?

There were over sixty thousand of them, plus ten fifth-grade low-grade ones!

Even with such consumption, there was still a pile of spiritual items filling both of their storage bags!

The legacy treasures of the Dragon Palace were truly an exaggerated, massive amount; by the end of the dismantling, even Jiang Ying felt a pang of heartache, because those third-grade spiritual items with the lowest value could only be discarded in pain.

There were just too many!

They couldn't be fully dismantled, and they couldn't be fully packed!

At the same time, she had become addicted to dismantling!

"Du En, Du En, what should we do about these?"

Accompanied by a crisp, troubled voice, a mountain-like pile of various spiritual items was tossed a hundred zhang away in front of him, and Jiang Ying trotted over; her voice arrived before she did.

"Although you said we don't need to dismantle them anymore because we can't fit them, how should I put it? I just can't help myself when I look at them; look, they are all top-tier goods, and there's no lack of rare treasures..."

As she chattered on, she was draped in a large pile of pearls and jade, her whole person sparkling, and she simply couldn't bear to take them off.

"But there is truly no more room, unless you want to carry them on your back."

Du En said calmly, then changed the subject, "When it comes down to it, the refining method for storage bags is just too unique."

That's right, he couldn't refine them.

Or rather, he couldn't refine ones of the same grade.

The special materials, the special refining methods, the special artifact seals... all these circumstances combined meant that even with his Mastery-level attainments, he could not refine a storage bag of the corresponding grade.

To refine one, he would likely only be able to do so once he reached the Grandmaster level of artifact refining.

"What about third-grade ones? Didn't you say before that you could ponder it and it should be possible?"

"Is there any need to pack third-grade ones?"

"Why wouldn't there be?"

"Fine, since you like them, I'll refine some for you."

To tell the truth, leaving a pile of fourth-grade spiritual items on the ground to waste time packing third-grade ones was truly unnecessary.

However, he couldn't let her work for free all the time; giving her some appropriate sweetness was still necessary.

Thus, Du En went through the motions, and after half an hour, having completely organized his current status, he finally took out the third-grade storage bags he had already refined.

"Yay! Thank you!"

Jiang Ying was immediately overjoyed and ran off to pick and pack various sparkling third-grade spiritual items.

Seeing her so happy she didn't know north from south, showing not a hint of fatigue, Du En couldn't help but sigh; a supreme physical body is truly supreme, it is simply a holy body for hard labor, the best kind of workforce.

A moment later.

Jiang Ying couldn't help but feel dejected again, because she couldn't fit any more in.

She turned her head and looked at Du En.

He could only shake his head.

"There simply isn't much of the Mustard Space Jade and other such special spiritual materials used as main ingredients; it might be because the space here is chaotic and fragmented. In short, we've used them all up, and even if we wanted to refine more, we can't."

"……Sigh!"

Jiang Ying couldn't help but sigh, then, accepting this fact, she shook her head and regained the demeanor of the grand competition champion.

She stood up straight, shifted her focus, and said eagerly: "Seeing you stop work so early today, are we going to launch our operation?"

"Mm, it is indeed time to act."

Du En nodded calmly in affirmation.

The fact that he had actually had a full three years to grind his cultivation technique to the max without encountering any accidents or obstacles was actually quite beyond his expectations.

After all, logically speaking, people from other immortal sects would surely think that they had broken away from the main force to secretly pull off some scheme.

The Falling Feather Heavenly Scar above their heads was still there, lingering and not dissipating; although other supremes had entered the fray, it was still steadily expanding, now occupying one-third of the firmament, making people afraid to look directly at it.

Therefore, it seemed only natural that the two of them, being from the Falling Feather Immortal Sect, would know some key crux and be taking secret action.

But, no one had followed this logical line of reasoning to come and hinder them!

In other words, this change in the situation was actually quite subtle and did not align with Du En's predictions.

Regarding this situation, over these past three years, they had naturally taken time to observe the state of affairs, attempting to discern the source of these strange developments.

But perhaps because this observation was too superficial and did not deviate from their main objective, they hadn't gained any leads in the end, however...

"Although it has been dragging on, it can't be held back forever; even those still locked in fierce battle have sensed something, and are fighting their way toward the deep center of the Dragon Palace."

It was clear that no matter how much the situation was delayed, it was bound to officially enter the next stage.

"Then, let's make it intensify even further."

Since everything was ready here, Du En would become that gust of wind to push it forward.

He believed that as long as they left the periphery where they had been active and headed toward the center, it would be enough to trigger an escalation!

(End of chapter)