Chapter 111

After Ye Qingxuan's external manifestation left Ye Shixian City, it did not travel far.

Glancing back toward the Ye family's direction, Ye Qingxuan said with lingering fear, "I did not expect to encounter the family head. Fortunately, the aura of this external manifestation differs greatly from my true body; otherwise, I might not have been able to conceal it."

"From now on, I must be cautious, cautious, and even more cautious in my actions. Let this serve as a warning!"

However, what Ye Qingxuan did not know was that the extraordinary nature he revealed at Xuantian Sect, combined with the clues he inadvertently left today, had already made Ye Yuhong suspicious of him.

After all, how could a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator produce three hundred thousand spirit stones to contribute to the family without arousing suspicion? Cultivators undergo a comprehensive transformation and evolution of their bodies with every realm breakthrough.

The higher the realm, the sharper the mind; there are no truly dull fools among those who reach the end.

If it were not for the fact that Ye Qingxuan's external manifestation was formed using the primordial essence of the Qingxuan Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land to replace his future Nascent Soul primordial essence.

This caused the aura between Ye Qingxuan's external manifestation and his true body to differ too greatly.

Furthermore, since Ye Yuhong had not seen the current appearance of Ye Qingxuan's external manifestation, he could only harbor suspicion rather than confirm it directly.

Otherwise, Ye Qingxuan's rash actions this time would have directly exposed part of his secrets before Ye Yuhong.

After pondering for a moment, Ye Qingxuan did not plan to let the external manifestation continue its actions.

Finding a mountain range with thin spiritual energy and few human traces, Ye Qingxuan's external manifestation carved out a cave dwelling deep within the mountains to hide.

Previously, Ye Qingxuan had fallen into obsession, losing his necessary rationality.

Influenced by the obsession in his heart, he focused solely on breaking through to the Golden Core realm, condensing an external manifestation, and coming to Ye Shixian City to resolve his obsession.

This completely disrupted Ye Qingxuan's original plans.

According to Ye Qingxuan's original plan, after breaking through to the Golden Core realm, he would cultivate in seclusion for a period to condense the seed of the Minor Divine Ability: Clone.

He would then continue to condense the seeds for the Minor Divine Abilities: Deceive Heaven and Change Form, followed by selecting one defensive Minor Divine Ability and one offensive Minor Divine Ability to condense their corresponding seeds.

After enhancing the concealment capabilities and combat power of both his true body and external manifestation, he would prepare some trump cards for his external manifestation.

Only after making all these preparations would Ye Qingxuan send the external manifestation out of Xuantian Sect to begin his plans beyond the sect.

After all, once an external manifestation perishes, there will be no opportunity to condense another one for a short time, leaving no room for Ye Qingxuan to be anything but cautious.

Moreover, without condensing the seeds for the Minor Divine Abilities: Deceive Heaven and Change Form, there is a risk of exposing himself.

Although few people within Xuantian Sect have seen Ye Qingxuan, and very few know of his existence there.

One must guard against the unlikely, for if an acquaintance from Xuantian Sect outside the sect were to see the face of his external manifestation, he would no longer be able to hide.

The seed of the Minor Divine Ability: Clone allows Ye Qingxuan to multitask and control all his clones.

However, Ye Qingxuan has only one main consciousness; normally, his sub-consciousness supports the actions of the clones, allowing Ye Qingxuan to control all his clones with a single thought via the sub-consciousness.

Furthermore, Ye Qingxuan's main consciousness can also descend upon his clones at any time, ignoring space, distance, and time.

With the enhancement of the main consciousness's descent, the combat power of the clone receives a significant boost.

Previously, under the influence of Ye Qingxuan's obsession, it was Ye Qingxuan's main consciousness that personally descended to control his external manifestation.

Now, after settling his external manifestation, Ye Qingxuan's main consciousness returned to his true body to begin perceiving the changes within himself.

Falling into obsession is a calamity, but it is also a great opportunity.

With the Immortal Soul suppressing him, even if Ye Qingxuan cannot resolve the obsession on his own, he will eventually recover slowly.

However, doing so would require more time and yield no insights or gains.

The reason Ye Qingxuan could resolve the obsession so easily this time is inextricably linked to the Dao Heart he established when he entered the Immortal Path.

Because the Dao Heart Ye Qingxuan established upon stepping onto the Immortal Path, and his ultimate goal, became the direction and motivation for resolving the obsession this time.

This time, everything flowed naturally, and he successfully broke through the calamity; Ye Qingxuan felt as though he had escaped a cage, experiencing a great sense of freedom.

Since learning of the invasion of the Green Demon Realm into the Earthly Xuan Realm, although Ye Qingxuan maintained a calm exterior, he was actually unable to preserve his initial indifference.

He lost the state of mind that allowed him to reside quietly in one place behind the scenes, watching the winds and clouds of the outside world change.

Now, after resolving the obsession and restoring his true nature, Ye Qingxuan has shed all superficiality; his state of mind has ascended to a higher level, and the restlessness in his heart has slowly subsided.

The first to notice Ye Qingxuan's change were not outsiders.

It was the spiritual beast Green Dragon, along with Xiao Kong and Xiao Ling, who had been circling around Ye Qingxuan.

Among them, Xiao Kong and Xiao Ling sensed Ye Qingxuan's restored aura first, while the stupid Green Dragon was the last to notice the change in Ye Qingxuan.

Although they sensed Ye Qingxuan's restored aura, the three spiritual beasts still dared not approach him directly.

Not far from Ye Qingxuan, after some testing and hesitation, and finally under Ye Qingxuan's active gesture of beckoning.

Green Dragon, Xiao Kong, and Xiao Ling immediately excitedly darted to Ye Qingxuan's side, sniffing his aura which had become gentle again, and began frolicking freely.

Over thirty years have passed; Green Dragon has only grown to the peak of the Third Tier, while the cultivation of Xiao Kong and Xiao Ling has already reached the late stage of the Fourth Tier.

One can only say that even spiritual beasts cannot escape the dimensional strike brought by talent.

After soothing Green Dragon, Xiao Kong, and Xiao Ling one by one, Ye Qingxuan once again felt the changes within himself.

Besides the change in his state of mind.

His Immortal Soul seemed to have undergone another transformation; the entire Immortal Soul began to emit a faint golden halo, and his mental processing ability also received a significant boost.

After regaining control of himself and perceiving the gains from resolving the obsession, Ye Qingxuan returned to his initial composure.

The sense of indifference that appeared due to the demise of his parents had not completely vanished, but Ye Qingxuan could now automatically restrain it and would no longer be affected.

After regaining his rationality, Ye Qingxuan began to calculate his plans after condensing the external manifestation.

Although the period of obsession unexpectedly disrupted his initial plans, there is now an opportunity to correct them.

The seeds for the other Minor Divine Abilities can now begin to be condensed.

Even if the external manifestation is not by the true body's side, it can still utilize all other condensed seeds except for the Minor Divine Ability: Clone.

As for the trump cards and development resources prepared for his external manifestation, these are not difficult problems.

Even though Ye Qingxuan was previously trapped in obsession, he still had the external manifestation bring out a Realm Gate of the Qingxuan Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land. After advancing to the Second Tier, the Qingxuan Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land can condense two Realm Gates, and currently, one of them is with Ye Qingxuan's external manifestation.

Through this Realm Gate, Ye Qingxuan's external manifestation can completely exchange resources with the true body using the Qingxuan Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land outside of Xuantian Sect.

Talismans and various supplies can be purchased by the two brothers, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu.

What Ye Qingxuan needs to do now is condense other divine ability seeds, enhance his external manifestation's combat power and concealment capabilities, and prepare for the next step of his plans.

There is also the matter of elevating the realms of the four auxiliary paths: Alchemy, Artifact Crafting, Array Formation, and Talismanry.

After making his plans, Ye Qingxuan did not leave the Qingxuan Blessed Land. He transmitted a voice to Ye Zhaoheng, instructing him on the tasks to be handled.

Ye Qingxuan then began to contemplate the seeds of other divine abilities.

Besides the Minor Divine Ability: Deceiving Heaven and the Minor Divine Ability: Form Shifting, Ye Qingxuan selected three more seeds from the Earth Immortal inheritance—one for offense, one for defense, and one for speed—as his targets for contemplation.

These three Minor Divine Abilities for offense, defense, and speed were respectively: Minor Divine Ability: Small Five Elements Shield, Minor Divine Ability: Small Five Elements Millstone, and Minor Divine Ability: Spatial Leap.

The Small Five Elements Shield calls upon the power of the five elemental forces: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

By circulating and fusing the power of these five elements according to the principle of their mutual generation, a shield is formed through the five-element cycle, possessing a defense that is truly astonishing.

The Small Five Elements Millstone similarly calls upon the power of the five elemental forces: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

However, it circulates the power of the five elements in reverse, condensing a great millstone from the destructive force born of the five-element reversal to obliterate powerful enemies.

Spatial Leap calls upon the power of the spatial element, allowing for short-range spatial displacement.

The suppression of space in the Di Xuan Realm is extremely strong; without learning corresponding spells and divine abilities, only existences above the Soul Transformation realm can perform spatial leaps or traversals.

After the seed of the Minor Divine Ability: Spatial Leap was condensed.

It allowed Ye Qingxuan, at the Golden Core realm, to ignore obstacles and displace himself by roughly a hundred li within the Di Xuan Realm each time he cast Spatial Leap.

In the early stages, Spatial Leap served as an excellent divine technique for Ye Qingxuan's external avatar to walk outside the Xuantian Sect, perfectly evading the tracking and pursuit of others.

After selecting the divine ability seeds he needed to contemplate, Ye Qingxuan once again entered seclusion.

In the second year after Ye Qingxuan pierced through his obsession, he successfully condensed the seed of the Minor Divine Ability: Form Shifting first, while simultaneously elevating his Alchemy realm to the Fifth Stage.

Since the transformation of his Immortal Soul, Ye Qingxuan had vaguely felt that his comprehension had received a significant boost.

The speed at which he contemplated the second divine ability seed and broke through to the Fifth Stage of Alchemy confirmed his hypothesis.

Before the Immortal Soul transformation, Ye Qingxuan had to devote a full year of intense contemplation to barely condense a single divine ability seed.

Now, in the same span of one year, while condensing a divine ability seed, Ye Qingxuan also had the spare capacity to elevate his Alchemy cultivation.

After condensing the seed of the Minor Divine Ability: Form Shifting, Ye Qingxuan's external avatar immediately utilized the seed to alter his own appearance.

He changed Ye Qingxuan's originally handsome face into an utterly ordinary one, resolving a hidden future trouble for the external avatar.

After condensing the seed of the Minor Divine Ability: Form Shifting and elevating his Alchemy realm to the Fifth Stage, Ye Qingxuan did not continue to seclude himself to contemplate other divine ability seeds.

This was because the time to hand over the Pure Spirit Trees had arrived in the second year.

By the time Ye Qingxuan finished everything and emerged from the Qingxuan Blessed Land, Bai Zichun was already waiting outside the Stone Pavilion.

Looking at the emerging Ye Qingxuan, Bai Zichun was first stunned, then his eyes revealed a look of gratification.

Before Ye Qingxuan could speak, Bai Zichun could not help but laugh first: "Hehehe, I knew you would not disappoint me. You were able to break through your obsession on your own and walk out of it. Excellent! Truly excellent!"

Bai Zichun came to the Qingxuan Blessed Land every year to collect the Pure Spirit Trees, so he had almost watched Ye Qingxuan sink deeper and deeper into his obsession.

However, Bai Zichun himself was only a Manager at the Nascent Soul realm; even though he valued this junior Ye Qingxuan greatly, he could not help Ye Qingxuan much.

Now that he saw Ye Qingxuan able to pierce through his obsession on his own, Bai Zichun felt deeply gratified in his heart.

Hearing Bai Zichun's words, Ye Qingxuan stepped forward, performed a respectful bow, and said:

"These past years, I have caused you, Manager, to worry."

These past years, although Ye Qingxuan was trapped in his obsession, he could still feel the worried gaze Bai Zichun directed at him every time he came to the Qingxuan Blessed Land.

It could be said that Bai Zichun was one of the very few people Ye Qingxuan knew in the Xuantian Sect who would truly worry for him.

Bai Zichun shook his head slightly and smiled:

"It is nothing. As long as you have recovered, that is good. How about it? After going through this tribulation, you must have gained quite a lot, right? Hahaha!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Qingxuan did not speak immediately, but simply exchanged a smile with Bai Zichun.

Subsequently, at Ye Qingxuan's invitation, Bai Zichun and Ye Qingxuan sat in the Stone Pavilion, drinking tea and chatting idly for a long time.

As evening approached, Bai Zichun finally left the Stone Pavilion, satisfied, carrying one hundred First-Stage Pure Spirit Trees and a packet of Calming Tea belonging to Ye Qingxuan.

After Bai Zichun left, Ye Qingxuan did not rush back to the Qingxuan Blessed Land.

Instead, he looked toward the foot of the mountain and called out to the two brothers, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu: "Zhaoheng, Zhaoyu."

As soon as Ye Qingxuan finished speaking, the figures of the two brothers, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu, appeared before him.

Looking at the current Ye Qingxuan, Ye Zhaoheng exclaimed with joy: "Young Master, you have recovered?"

Ye Zhaoyu, standing nearby, wore a similarly joyful expression.

Looking at the two brothers, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu, Ye Qingxuan smiled and nodded. He took out four elixirs and said: "These are the Golden Core Elixir and the Jade Dew Elixir. They can help increase your success rate in breaking through to the Golden Core realm. Go into seclusion and attempt to break through to the Golden Core realm!"

The Golden Core Elixir and the Jade Dew Elixir were merely Fourth-Stage elixids, casually refined by Ye Qingxuan over the course of this year.

Hearing Ye Qingxuan's words, the two brothers, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu, looked at the elixirs in Ye Qingxuan's hand with burning eyes. Their faces once again showed joy, and they excitedly said in unison: "Thank you, Young Master, for bestowing the elixirs!"

To be able to further break through to the Golden Core realm, how could the two brothers not be excited? They knew that even the current Head of the Ye Family was only at the Golden Core realm.

At Ye Qingxuan's gesture, the two brothers, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu, each took the Golden Core Elixir and the Jade Dew Elixir, then returned to their own cave dwellings to enter seclusion.

As for Ye Qingxuan, he returned once more to the Qingxuan Blessed Land to condense the remaining divine ability seeds and elevate the realms of the three paths: Artifact Crafting, Array Formation, and Talismanry.

(End of this chapter)