"Woodcutter?" Ye Bufan stepped forward and asked the woodcutter.
The other party looked up at Ye Bufan and smiled, saying, "You're finally here. You're much faster than I expected."
"You knew I was coming?" Ye Bufan asked the woodcutter, confused.
"It was only a few days ago that the Dragon Emperor Token suddenly showed signs of activity. I sensed that three Dragon Emperor Tokens had been gathered by someone," the woodcutter said. "I was curious who would gather the Dragon Emperor Tokens at this particular time. Now it seems you far exceed my imagination, young, and with such high cultivation."
After speaking, the woodcutter lowered his head and bent over, continuing to chop wood.
"It's only high cultivation below the Heavenly Seal," Ye Bufan chuckled. "Once the Heavenly Seal disappears, facing true powerhouses will mean only seeking death."
"Heavenly Seal! So many people are trapped by the Heavenly Seal their entire lives," the woodcutter said while chopping wood. "But it's not impossible to break through the limitations of the Heavenly Seal."
"Hmm?" Ye Bufan looked at the woodcutter. "Are you perhaps referring to converting the Nascent Soul cultivation into multiple inner cores?"
Upon hearing this, the woodcutter looked up at Ye Bufan with some surprise.
"This method is feasible, but the loss is too great. Unless your inner cores have been cultivated to dozens or even hundreds, the cultivation consumed would be enough for you to become a Nascent Soul once more," the woodcutter said casually.
Ye Bufan looked at the woodcutter and sent his spiritual power towards him, attempting to gauge his cultivation. From the moment he arrived until now, Ye Bufan had been unable to detect any fluctuations of true qi from the woodcutter.
The woodcutter seemed to feel nothing and continued his work with his head down.
"So you know the purpose of my visit," Ye Bufan said.
"I know," the woodcutter replied. "Over the years, many cultivators have come here. The most recent one was someone called a 'Living Yama.' I asked him his name, but he refused to tell me his real name."
"And how did he leave in the end?" Ye Bufan asked.
"He tried to snatch it. How could that be allowed? I sent him packing directly," the woodcutter said.
Ye Bufan paused for a moment. The woodcutter's words clearly implied that Ye Bufan should not resort to forceful means.
However, besides force, how could the woodcutter possibly hand over the Dragon Emperor Token? Ye Bufan took a deep breath and, inexplicably, asked, "Then how can I obtain the remaining Dragon Emperor Token from you?"
The woodcutter turned and looked at him, saying, "Young man, don't be so impatient. I'll tell you after I finish my work."
"Alright." Without a word, Ye Bufan summoned his Spirit Sacrifice Sword and, with a simple swing, cut the firewood in front of the woodcutter into the desired size and thickness.
The woodcutter stood up and looked at Ye Bufan, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. He then handed his axe to Ye Bufan.
"Try this," the woodcutter said.
Ye Bufan looked at the woodcutter, hesitated for half a second, and finally took the axe.
The axe felt much heavier than he expected. Ye Bufan tried to mobilize his true qi but found that after holding the axe, he couldn't mobilize any true qi at all.
Ye Bufan quickly let go. The woodcutter instantly caught the axe before it fell to the ground. As Ye Bufan's hands left the axe, his true qi immediately recovered.
"Can you do it?" the woodcutter asked.
"Let me try again." Without the augmentation of true qi, and not daring to hold the axe, it became extremely strenuous. However, Ye Bufan was quite skilled at such manual labor during his time in the mountains.
This time, after spending some time getting used to the weight of the axe, Ye Bufan began to rely on the momentum of swinging it to chop the woodcutter's firewood.
"Hmm—" the woodcutter's expression suddenly changed. He hadn't expected Ye Bufan to chop wood with the axe so much more easily than he had imagined.
The woodcutter reached into his hut and a chopping knife appeared in his hand. The two of them then bent their heads and continued chopping firewood.
Unknowingly, an entire morning passed.
Ye Bufan found that without mobilizing his true qi, he was already drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked, and he felt incredibly exhausted.
The woodcutter, however, remained unfazed, with only a slight sheen of sweat on his body.
"Dad, lunch is ready!"
The sun was high in the sky, and a voice came from the bamboo house. Ye Bufan immediately recognized it as the voice of the girl who had spoken up for Wang Xiaohu with him at the hotel.
"Let's go. I'll take you to get something to eat," the woodcutter said with a smile to Ye Bufan. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Junior Ye Bufan," Ye Bufan replied immediately.
"Ye Bufan, a good name. Born without return," the woodcutter said, leading Ye Bufan into the bamboo house.
"Why is it you!" Mingyue was surprised to see Ye Bufan.
Ye Bufan was also slightly taken aback. "Xiaohu said you were coming to Zhuangshan. I didn't expect you to be the woodcutter's daughter?"
"What? You two know each other?" the woodcutter chuckled, facing the situation.
"Dad! Didn't I tell you when I got back that I and a cultivator were helping a hotel waiter get justice? This is that cultivator," Mingyue explained to the woodcutter.
Ye Bufan saw three sets of bowls and chopsticks laid out on the table and was even more shocked.
"You knew I was coming long ago?" Ye Bufan asked.
"I didn't know. My dad said so," Mingyue said, pointing at the woodcutter.
Ye Bufan turned to look at the woodcutter. He was too mysterious, not just in terms of cultivation, but his entire being exuded an unknown aura. Ye Bufan even felt that this presence kept him in a state of mental tension, even unease.
"Sit down," the woodcutter said. "After lunch, accompany me to deliver firewood to the village."
Ye Bufan nodded. The woodcutter continued, "Then, I will tell you what you want to know."
"Ah?" Ye Bufan blinked, feeling as if he had been seen through by the woodcutter.
After lunch, Ye Bufan and the woodcutter carried the firewood to the village they had passed through when entering the mountains.
"Kid, what realm do you think I'm in?" the woodcutter asked first.
Ye Bufan shook his head blankly and replied, "Very high, so high that I can't sense it."
"This brings us back to the original topic. Apart from the method you know to break the Heavenly Seal, do you think the Heavenly Seal can truly limit one's cultivation?" the woodcutter asked.
Ye Bufan pondered for a moment, his eyes lit up. Fa Yuan and Ye Qingyi had both derived methods from the Dragon Emperor Token, which meant they could bypass the Heavenly Seal.
"Yes!" Ye Bufan said with certainty. "Is it related to the Dragon Emperor Token?"