Night fell.
The entire secret realm plunged into darkness. Yun Ze and Dan Chenyu stopped to rest, and Wei Lanshu, as if by tacit understanding, also stopped.
Even though the two were now less than a hundred miles apart, they still didn't continue their journey.
In the current environment, even a hundred miles was best not to rush. Resting in place was the wisest course of action!
Otherwise, if an accident were to occur, the losses would outweigh the gains.
After starting a fire, Yun Ze sat opposite Dan Chenyu and said, "You must be tired from traveling today. How about I keep watch, and you get some good rest?"
"No need. When I was studying with my master before, I often stayed up for very long periods without sleep. I'm used to it," Dan Chenyu refused with a smile, then lowered her head a little sheepishly, "But, Little Martial Uncle, I do have something to ask of you."
"Ah? What is it?" Yun Ze was a little surprised, not understanding why Dan Chenyu would suddenly say such a thing.
"It's... it's..." Dan Chenyu's pretty face flushed, and after a long hesitation, she finally said, "That spiritual liquid that solidified into ice, which you entrusted to me, can I buy it from you? I can use spirit stones or elixirs to pay!"
"Hah, it's just this matter." Yun Ze thought she was going to say something else. He waved his hand casually and said, "It's yours. Consider it my welcome gift to you, and thank you for saving me from the belly of that spiritual whale."
He was indeed greedy.
But if it weren't for Dan Chenyu, he wouldn't have been able to retrieve the spiritual liquid, and he might have been trapped there forever. Moreover, she called him Little Martial Uncle, so giving her the spiritual liquid was no big deal!
"No!" Dan Chenyu immediately refused. "Little Martial Uncle, you're only at Qi Refining seventh level. This spiritual liquid is also useful to you. I can't take advantage of you for nothing!"
"Right! I have a few Nine Revolutions Qi Casting Pills here. How about you take them to break through to Qi Sea eighth realm? That way, you can also gain an extra dan pattern!" Before Yun Ze could refuse, Dan Chenyu thrust a porcelain bottle into his hand.
"...Alright." Yun Ze hesitated for a few seconds before nodding in agreement.
He could break through to Qi Sea eighth realm, but Xiao Shu was still a little short. These Qi Casting Pills would be perfect for her.
He casually opened the jade bottle, wanting to see how many pills were inside.
But as soon as he removed the stopper, he was stunned!
A bottle full! This entire bottle was filled with Nine Revolutions Qi Casting Pills!
"This... how many Qi Casting Pills are there?" Yun Ze asked, somewhat dazed.
"About twenty or so, I haven't counted," Dan Chenyu replied casually, her smile not fading. She was still immersed in the joy of Yun Ze agreeing to the exchange. "Little Martial Uncle, I know these things aren't enough to exchange for that spiritual liquid. You're a sword cultivator, right? After we get out, I'll find you a third-grade spirit sword!"
"No... no need, it's enough." Yun Ze's mouth twitched.
Twenty or so? He never imagined that this way of describing things could be applied to Nine Revolutions Qi Casting Pills. Each Nine Revolutions Qi Casting Pill was worth fifty million spirit stones. Twenty or so... that's over a billion spirit stones! Were immortal cultivation families this wealthy? This quantity was enough for him to attempt to break through to Qi Sea ninth realm...
Yun Ze carefully placed the jade bottle into his Sumeru Ring and then asked curiously, "By the way, comrade, I wanted to ask before, what was that you chanted when you led us away from the spiritual lake last time?"
"You mean 'Words Manifested as Laws'?"
"Yes! That should be it!" Yun Ze's eyes lit up upon hearing the term. "Is 'Words Manifested as Laws' some kind of secret technique, or a type of cultivation method?"
Words Manifested as Laws! What a domineering name! It must be some kind of secret art, right?
"Little Martial Uncle, you don't know?" Dan Chenyu looked puzzled. "I primarily cultivate the Confucian path. All Confucian cultivators possess 'Words Manifested as Laws'. It's just that the effects vary with their cultivation realm. Currently, I am at the late stage of entering the Dao. I can use the power of 'Words Manifested as Laws' once a day. If one is at the Condensing Dao realm like my master, they can use it three times a day, and the effects are at least a hundred times more potent than mine!"
"Confucian path..." Yun Ze truly knew little about these Great Daos. In the Guishui Sword Sect, there was only the Way of the Sword. If he hadn't come out this time, he wouldn't have known about the existence of paths like Confucianism and Buddhism. He couldn't help but chuckle bitterly, maintaining the persona his senior sister had created for him. "My master rarely teaches me these things as he lives in seclusion. Usually, Senior Sister and Senior Brother Xiao teach me. I haven't been cultivating for long, and they haven't gotten to this point with me yet."
"That makes sense. After all, the Heaven Building Secret Realm, which opens only once a century, cannot be missed," Dan Chenyu agreed with a nod, then smiled. "Then let me make up for this lesson for you, Little Martial Uncle! Excluding the Immortal and Demonic paths, let's start with the nine most mainstream paths under the Nine Heavens!"
"Okay!"
...
One night passed.
Dan Chenyu had introduced almost all the Great Daos under the Nine Heavens. Not only was she not tired, but she became more energetic the more she spoke! She covered everything from the most mainstream paths of Confucianism, Buddhism, Body Cultivation, Alchemy, Formations, Artifacts, Sword, Saber, and Spear, to some more obscure ones like Ghost Cultivation, Beast Taming, Spiritual Cultivation, Talismans, Incense, Fist Arts, Archery, Zither, and Dance!
Yun Ze's head spun just from listening! Thinking of that clansman known as Master Yun, he felt a surge of admiration! Condensing a thousand Daos! To have mastered a thousand Great Daos to the Condensing Dao realm, no wonder he was called Master Yun by the world! Let alone her, even her disciple was monstrous to a despairing degree.
Dan Chenyu also spoke about herself while explaining. She primarily cultivated the Confucian path, but her auxiliary cultivation in Sword Dao, Alchemy Dao, and Zither Dao had all reached the late stage of entering the Dao. Even some of the more obscure paths like Incense Dao, Talisman Dao, and Spiritual Cultivation had reached the entering the Dao realm! And this wasn't the most important part... she was only sixteen years old, two years younger than Yun Ze. Calculating from when she started cultivating at the age of six, it had only been ten years!
Yun Ze finally realized what a gap was. He primarily cultivated the Sword Dao. Even with the assistance of Xiao Shu's sword qi and inheriting the Sword Seed, his Sword Dao had only reached the middle stage of entering the Dao. Was this the gap between him and the true prodigies of this era? It was somewhat despairing, but also completely understandable. After all, she was cultivated by a family with thousands of years of accumulation and possessed a triple-element heavenly spiritual root. With such talent, it would be strange if she couldn't achieve this level.
Yun Ze quickly came to terms with it. When dawn broke, he took Dan Chenyu and continued towards where Xiao Shu was.
However, less than an hour after they had been walking, Yun Ze sensed something was wrong! Xiao Shu... she had stopped moving! From dawn until now, nearly an hour had passed. Logically, she should have set off long ago. But Yun Ze now sensed that she was still in the same spot, not moving! This was not right!
"Xiao Yu, let's speed up. You carry me. We're heading southeast!" Since Yun Ze learned that Dan Chenyu was younger than him, he stopped calling her "comrade" and changed to this appellation. Of course, he also told her not to call him "comrade" anymore. The reason he gave was that Elder Brother Yu didn't want too many people to know about the affairs of the Pure World Society, and calling each other "comrade" might seem strange.
Dan Chenyu agreed without a second thought.
"Okay!" Dan Chenyu responded, taking Yun Ze's wrist again, and they dashed towards the southeast!
The two ran wildly, but soon stopped. It wasn't because they saw Wei Lanshu, but because they saw something else. It was... a pile of corpses! A pile of human corpses!