Chapter 460: Anxious Waiting

Ye Liuyun hadn't expected the assassins to act so quickly.

Without his Golden Pupil, it would indeed be hard to spot these people's disguises.

Piao Yun ordered people to take away the corpse, then began to thoroughly investigate the hidden conspiracies within the Iron Eagle Sect.

Ye Liuyun gathered everyone around him and sent them back to the Dragon Palace to cultivate, lest similar incidents occur again.

Ye Liuyun himself entered the Xuan Kong Shi and asked the artifact spirit for the next stage cultivation technique, preparing to begin cultivation.

"Your cultivation of the Dùn Kōng Technique is indeed sufficient. I will give you the next cultivation method. But you must continue cultivating the Dùn Kōng Technique; don't stop," the artifact spirit instructed.

"Hmm, I know, there's still much room for improvement in the Void‑Evasion aspect," Ye Liuyun admitted. He can currently only hide for one hour within the Fourth Layer of space and cannot stay there continuously.

"The next stage technique is the Yǐn Kōng Technique. As the name suggests, it draws upon Spatial Power to attack opponents—by means such as spatial compression and spatial displacement, as I mentioned before, to annihilate foes. This stage bridges the initial contact with space to full mastery and utilization of Spatial Power; it's also the phase where you fully comprehend Spatial Power. You must lay a solid foundation," the artifact spirit explained patiently.

Ye Liuyun didn't find him nagging and listened patiently. Though it is merely a transitional phase, it is also a foundational process, which Ye Liuyun did not overlook.

Afterwards, the artifact spirit transmitted the technique to him via Divine Sense, then let him study and cultivate it on his own.

After receiving the technique, Ye Liuyun read through it once, familiarized himself, and then began analyzing how to cultivate it.

The technique claims to harness Spatial Power, but in reality it focuses more on sensing that Spatial Power; how to apply it depends on the cultivator's level of understanding and their own creativity.

Ye Liuyun's Soul simulated the technique within the Sea of Consciousness, then took out the Wukong Stone and Spatial Stone and began cultivating. With the aid of these two stones, his cultivation yielded twice the result with half the effort.

Moreover, having already sensed Spatial Power, under this technique's guidance his perception became even clearer.

He then picked up the meditation cushion before him and gave it a try.

He directly released a black hole from the Second Layer of space. The moment the black hole appeared, it instantly sucked the cushion in, and its radius expanded rapidly, nearly engulfing him as well.

Fortunately, he stopped in time, sent the black hole back, and avoided greater damage.

But in that instant, a huge crater appeared on the ground before Ye Liuyun; the entire floor was devoured by the black hole.

"Stop right now!" the Xuan Kong Shi's artifact spirit leapt out, forbidding him from further cultivation inside the Xuan Kong Shi. "If you keep this up, you'll destroy this place. From now on, cultivate Spatial Power outside! This spot can't endure so many Spatial Attacks."

Liu Yu, helpless, retreated to the Iron Eagle Sect's Grand Hall to continue cultivation.

"That black hole is incredible! With such power, even Martial Cultivators below the Tian Gang Liu Chong likely can't escape its grasp. For higher realms, it's uncertain," Ye Liuyun thought, and began trying other methods.

"Spatial compression and spatial displacement!" Ye Liuyun recalled the two methods mentioned by the Xuan Kong Shi's artifact spirit and tried them according to his own understanding.

He attempted to compress First Layer space using Third Layer space.

In his cultivation Grand Hall there were several stone pillars; Ye Liuyun immediately used one pillar to test spatial compression.

He first tried to draw Third Layer Spatial Power into his own space, but found it ineffective; he still couldn't summon that power.

So he directly merged Third Layer space with First Layer space. This time he opened his Golden Pupil and observed carefully. The Third Layer space compressed entirely, and everything it passed over was crushed into nothingness.

The pillar vanished piece by piece, and eventually the pillar and the surrounding space were entirely compressed away.

After Ye Liuyun stopped, he saw the space around the pillar slowly restoring, but everything within had already vanished completely, turned into nothingness.

When this space fully recovered, the pillar did not reappear.

"It seems completely gone! This power is stronger than the last time, just a bit slower; you need more practice, otherwise even strong cultivators of the Tian Gang Eight or Nine Layers could still break the spatial barrier and escape!"

Ye Liuyun then practiced a few more times and moved on to spatial displacement.

"Huh, this is fast!"

After trying it, he made a new discovery.

He took another stone pillar for testing, shifted half of it into Third Layer space, instantly splitting the pillar into two halves—one remaining in the current space, the other moving into Third Layer space.

"If it were a person, wouldn't it split in half instantly?"

Ye Liuyun was stunned for a moment, then couldn't stop exclaiming.

He then sliced the pillar horizontally and vertically many times, and then tried another pillar.

Suddenly, Boom—, the loss of several stone pillars caused a large portion of the roof in his cultivation Grand Hall to collapse. The booming sound attracted many people nearby.

Piao Yun, Jing Wudi and the others were on high alert, thinking another assassin had slipped in.

Ye Liuyun, covered in dust and grime, crawled out of the rubble and awkwardly said to Jing Wudi and Piao Yun, "Sorry! I collapsed the cultivation room while training!"

The arriving crowd exchanged puzzled glances. This cultivation room, which even Jing Wudi couldn't damage, had been destroyed by Ye Liuyun.

"Reinforce the cultivation room!" Jing Wudi, helplessly shaking his head, gave the order and dispersed the crowd.

Piao Yun took Ye Liuyun and found another cultivation room for him to train in temporarily.

Ye Liuyun ceased cultivating Spatial Power. If he destroyed another cultivation room, Jing Wudi would likely expel him.

"Better to wait for a chance later and cultivate outside," Ye Liuyun thought, handing the Wukong Stone to Wu Qingcheng, allowing her to lead the others in grasping Spatial Power.

He himself entered the Xuan Kong Shi and began absorbing the Primordial Power of the stars to advance his realm.

Thus, Ye Liuyun remained inside the Iron Eagle Sect, unable to leave. The sect's defenses were also reinforced.

Those outside who wished to kill him were helpless, and could only wait anxiously for Ye Liuyun to emerge.