Fang Qingxue slowly opened her eyes and lowered her head to stare at the Nine Dragons Stone in her hand, her face full of astonishment. Even with medicinal pills to assist her, her injuries should have taken at least a month to heal. Yet after merely an hour, aside from the damage to her vital energy, which would take some time to replenish, all her other injuries had completely recovered.
"Such a fine treasure."
She looked up at Fang Xuan and said, "Fang Xuan, it seems you have great secrets too!"
Fang Xuan handed half of the peeled honey tangerine to Fang Qingxue and said with a smile, "Who doesn't have a few secrets? Isn't it the same for you, Big Sister? You wielded power only found in the Mystic Divine Realm while still in the Body Tempering Realm. Beneath the Mystic Divine Realm, who could possibly defeat you?"
"Then what are your thoughts?" Fang Qingxue fixed her eyes on Fang Xuan as though she intended to see through his heart.
Fang Xuan peeled off a segment of tangerine and put it into his mouth. The juice was sweet, carrying a faint chill, and exquisitely delicious.
"My surname is Fang," Fang Xuan answered.
Fang Qingxue smiled as well. "That's right! We both bear the surname Fang."
From the moment Fang Xuan had been willing to take out the Nine Dragons Stone, Fang Qingxue had completely accepted him.
The fact that he had brought out such a treasure without hesitation showed his trust in her. Moreover, the two shared the same bloodline. With familial bonds intertwined with shared interests, only at this moment did they truly become family—siblings.
"Big Sister, the path to immortality is filled with hardships. Inner Demons and Outer Demons are countless. Only by slaying illusion can one seek one's true self. I hope that we siblings can support each other and pursue the Great Dao together," Fang Xuan said.
"Agreed."
The two looked at each other, then burst into hearty laughter, their voices brimming with carefree delight.
From this day onward, each had family to whom they could entrust their back. On the path to immortality, neither would be alone again.
Fang Xuan was delighted as well. He had found another powerful backer.
Though she was not as formidable as Fang Han's backer, she was still no slouch.
The Reincarnation of Lightning Mother possessed boundless mana and vast divine abilities. She was someone capable of breaking into the Gate of Eternal Life and even bringing out its artifact spirit. Her cultivation was simply outrageously powerful.
Now that he had firmly latched onto two powerful backers, even if his own cultivation failed, those two could still carry him to greatness.
What the hell was there to fear?
Fang Xuan took out the Essence Bloodstone and Pale Skeleton from his robes and placed them on the table. With a chuckle, he said, "Even brothers settle accounts clearly. It's time to divide the spoils. Big Sister, I need to keep this Spirit Item for a while. I have an important use for it."
Fang Qingxue shook her head. "Even if you hadn't said so, I wouldn't have taken it. If you had not killed the Flying Yaksha, there would be no Spirit Item to speak of. It is yours."
Fang Xuan smiled, picked up the Pale Skeleton, bit his finger, and began refining it with blood. "That's different. We're siblings—what's mine is yours. If I didn't truly need it, I would have given it directly to you, Big Sister. With my strength, beneath the Mystic Divine Realm, who can stand against me?"
Fang Qingxue nodded in agreement. Her little brother possessed freakish strength. He had actually beaten a Flying Yaksha to death with his bare fists. Had she not witnessed it herself, she would never have believed it.
Was he even human? He was clearly a divine beast!
As the Pale Skeleton was blood-refined, its mysterious veil faded beneath his spiritual senses. Formation after formation of mana was inscribed within the skull, allowing this Spirit Item to unleash terrifying destructive power. Dense black mist swirled within it, ready to be released to kill enemies with a single thought.
What a fine treasure. No wonder it could be exchanged for an entire city in the Mortal World. It truly was extraordinary.
"As for this Essence Bloodstone, you should take it, Big Sister. Absorb its power to raise your cultivation, then strive for a position as an Inner Sect Disciple," Fang Xuan said.
"No. Half each. Without you, we would never have seized this Essence Bloodstone," Fang Qingxue said, shaking her head.
"Listen to me, Big Sister. With my current strength, no one beneath the Mystic Divine Realm can defeat me. What I lack is merely Sect Contribution. Once your cultivation improves, the two of us can take on Sect Tasks and strive for the status of Inner Sect Disciples. The Essence Bloodstone may be good, but it has not fully matured and contains limited energy. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Rather than split it into two portions, we should focus on strengthening one person. That is how we maximize our benefit," Fang Xuan said.
Fang Xuan's persuasion left Fang Qingxue silent for a moment. In the end, she nodded. "All right."
After dividing the spoils, Fang Xuan did not linger and returned to his small courtyard.
Having reached the Divine Courage Realm, it was time to head to the next world.
Fang Xuan did not hurry. Instead, he recuperated for several days.
Within the small courtyard, Fang Xuan began practicing his fists again. The Pine Crane Longevity Fist, Flying Spirit Supple Bone Body, and Dragon Form Flying Tiger Step alternated, sometimes even operating simultaneously.
Compared to others at the same level, his nearly threefold greater vitality surged turbulently through his body.
Every movement and every stance transformed into streams of power within him. His tidal vitality rose toward his brain at Fang Xuan's will, seemingly becoming light that illuminated his mind.
Under Fang Xuan's perception, his brain had originally been nothing but darkness, impossible even to sense. Yet as he immersed himself in cultivation, the dark world inside his brain seemed to be illuminated by white, vital radiance, gradually dispersing the darkness.
As the darkness receded, deep in the distant recesses, he vaguely saw an ancient and heavy stone gate, neither round nor square.
The patterns upon the gate were full and delicate, each one resembling the furrows of a brain. The entire shape of the brain was actually a Gate of Mystic Divine?
"I possess nearly three times the vitality of an ordinary person. Could I break through the Gate of Mystic Divine and enter the Mystic Divine Realm?"
With a thought, Fang Xuan stirred the vitality of his entire body into white light that illuminated his mind, then fiercely slammed it toward the Gate of Mystic Divine.
"Pfft!"
A mouthful of blood sprayed out. Fang Xuan abruptly opened his eyes, then collapsed onto the ground, clutching his head with both hands as he cried out in agony.
His brain felt as though it were being pierced by countless needles. He wanted to faint, yet the pain kept him abnormally lucid.
Only after a long while did he slowly climb to his feet, gasping for breath, lingering fear evident in his eyes.
"My vitality is sufficient, but my spiritual power is lacking. No wonder the ninth level, Spirit Communication, and the Tenth Level, Divine Transformation, of the Body Tempering Realm both cultivate the spirit. They transform the primordial spirit through spiritual refinement. So that's how it is."
After resting for a full three hours, the pain in Fang Xuan's mind finally subsided completely.
He sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion and considered his path forward.
"It is fundamentally impossible to break through the Gate of Mystic Divine using the Outer Sect Three Basic Cultivation Methods. Only by becoming an Inner Sect Disciple and gaining access to methods of spiritual cultivation can I enter the final two levels of the Body Tempering Realm. But becoming an Inner Sect Disciple requires not only strength, but also Sect Contribution. It cannot be done in a short time.
There is another way: communicate with All Heavens and seek methods of spiritual cultivation in a Small World."
Before you continue