The Chan Sect immortals fled in disgrace like beaten dogs.
Qin Feng could not even be bothered to spare them another glance. He turned and walked back into White Bone Cave.
Inside the cave dwelling, Shi Ji was pacing anxiously back and forth, her pretty face full of worry.
The moment she saw Qin Feng, the heart she had been holding in suspense finally settled, and she hurried over to him.
"Qin Feng, are you all right? That pressure just now... was it Yuanshi Tianzun?"
Shi Ji's voice trembled slightly. The might of a Saint, even sensed from afar, was enough to make a Grand Unity Golden Immortal like her tremble in fear.
"Just an old bastard throwing his weight around. Don't mind him."
Qin Feng waved a hand, his tone as casual as if he were discussing something utterly insignificant.
He walked to the open space in the center of the cave dwelling and waved his hand.
Crash—
The next second, Shi Ji's eyes went wide.
Countless rare treasures radiating brilliant light and dense Innate Dao Rhyme poured from Qin Feng's sleeve like trash, piling into a small mountain of dazzling radiance on the ground.
Vermillion Fruits tens of thousands of years old burned like flames.
Fist-sized pieces of Star Essence Gold glittered with radiant starlight.
A piece of crystal-clear Jade Marrow seemed to contain the Three Thousand Great Daos.
There were also all sorts of Innate Materials that she had only seen in ancient texts, materials long extinct in the primordial world.
Any one of them would have been enough to make Grand Unity Golden Immortals fight until their heads bled, perhaps even drawing Quasi-Saints into a struggle for them.
Yet now, these legendary Divine Artifacts lay messily piled before her, forming a... mountain of garbage.
Shi Ji was utterly stunned.
She raised a jade-like finger and shakily pointed at the mountain of treasures. Her lips moved for a long time before she managed to force out a sentence.
"Th-these are..."
Her mind could barely process it. Had Qin Feng not gone out to fight just now, but instead gone on a free shopping spree at some Saint's Dojo?
"Oh, compensation from the Chan Sect."
Qin Feng clapped his hands and cast a disdainful glance at the gloomy stone walls around them.
"I also took the Fan Tian Seal while I was at it, but that thing has too much Killing Intent. I'll find a chance to refine it later and give it to you as a brick."
Com... compensation?
The Fan Tian Seal... as a brick?
Shi Ji felt as though her Primordial Spirit were buzzing, her entire understanding of the world shattered at that moment.
She looked at his calm face, as though he had merely gone out to buy a few things, while stormy waves churned within her heart.
Was this his strength?
He had forced a Saint to yield, then made the Chan Sect bankrupt themselves in compensation?
The shock was incomparable, battering her mind like a raging tide.
Yet at the end of that shock, a warm current quietly rose in her heart, turning into indescribable sweetness.
He had done all this to stand up for her.
"The name White Bone Cave is both ugly and unlucky."
Qin Feng looked around, curled his lip, and wore a thoroughly dissatisfied expression.
"How could a place to live be so shabby?"
Before his words had even faded, he took a step and appeared outside the cave dwelling, high above Skeleton Mountain.
Shi Ji hurriedly followed. Qin Feng stood in the air with his hands behind his back, his robes fluttering as though he were a divine being looking down upon the mortal world.
"Today, I will rebuild your dojo."
Qin Feng's voice was calm, yet it carried the supreme majesty of Words Manifested into Law.
His gaze swept over the mountain of treasures, and he flicked a finger.
Whoosh!
A piece of Nine Heavens Breathing Soil containing profound Earth Element Law shot into the sky, exploding instantly and transforming into countless streams of Mysterious Yellow Qi. Like a heavenly river pouring backward, they merged into the entire body of Skeleton Mountain.
Rumble—
The entire Skeleton Mountain began to shake violently. Its jagged rocks and sinister white bones melted away and reformed beneath the cleansing wash of Mysterious Yellow Qi.
The mountain rose at a visible speed, becoming magnificent, perilous, lush, and green.
"Spirit Attraction!"
Qin Feng softly uttered two words and reached toward the heavens with one hand.
Above the nine heavens, wind and clouds changed color. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth across hundreds of millions of miles seemed to have received the most supreme command, transforming into visible spiritual energy dragons that roared, churned, and frantically converged toward Skeleton Mountain.
The terrifying sight left Shi Ji stunned once again.
When ordinary immortals established a cave dwelling, they drew in spiritual energy with the utmost care, pulling it in strand by strand for fear of damaging the Earth Vein.
But Qin Feng's method—how was that Spirit Attraction?
He was clearly robbing it! And robbing it openly at that!
Tyrannical!
Unreasonable to the extreme!
Countless spiritual energy dragons gathered above Skeleton Mountain, forming an enormous vortex of spiritual energy that seemed ready to tear apart the sky itself.
Qin Feng held two fingers together like a sword and carved through the air toward the spiritual energy vortex.
One profoundly mysterious array pattern after another appeared from nothing, branding themselves into the void. They guided the vast spiritual energy and formed a super Spirit Gathering Great Array that covered the entire mountain range.
Hum—
The instant the great array took shape, spiritual energy so dense it could not be dispersed poured down like a sweet spring rain.
On the once-barren mountain, exotic flowers and precious grasses burst from the earth at a visible speed and grew wildly.
Clear streams appeared from nowhere, tinkling through the mountains before converging into lakes.
In the blink of an eye, the place had become a living paradise on earth, filled with birdsong, flowers, and vibrant life.
Shi Ji had gone numb.
She felt like some country girl who had never seen the world, watching Qin Feng display one heaven-reaching divine method after another. Other than standing there with her mouth open, she could no longer think of any words to describe it.
And he was not finished yet.
Qin Feng waved his hand again. Countless pieces of Innate Geng Metal radiating sharp auras, along with all kinds of Divine Iron Immortal Materials, flew out from the mountain of treasures.
Under his control, these top-grade forging materials melted, separated, and recombined on their own in midair.
In an instant, nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine immortal swords glittering with cold light took shape, their sword qi shooting into the heavens and slicing through the clouds.
"Go!"
Qin Feng gave a sharp shout.
The countless immortal swords let out clear sword cries and turned into streams of light, vanishing into nodes throughout the mountain range along some mysterious trajectory.
An incomparably fierce Mountain Protecting Sword Array, overflowing with Killing Intent, was quietly laid down.
Shi Ji was certain that once this sword array was activated, even a Quasi-Saint would have to shed a layer of skin if trapped within it.
Only after finishing all this did Qin Feng nod in satisfaction and drift down.
He looked at the brand-new immortal mountain before him, wreathed in spiritual energy and filled with the cries of immortal cranes, utterly unlike its former self, and pondered for a moment.
"From today onward, this place will no longer be called Skeleton Mountain."
He turned toward Shi Ji, who was still frozen in shock beside him, and a gentle smile curved his lips.
"It will be called Azure Stone Palace."
Azure Stone Palace...
Shi Ji's heart trembled. The name was like a warm current flowing through her heart in an instant.
Azure Stone was both his origin and a subtle echo of her name.
Was he telling her this was their shared home in this way?
For a moment, Shi Ji felt her eyes grow hot. An unprecedented sense of belonging and security wrapped around her completely.
The two entered the new palace side by side.
The interior was even more exquisitely crafted, every step presenting a new view. Every piece of furniture and decoration had been made from Innate Materials, luxurious beyond measure.
Like a king inspecting his territory, Qin Feng looked here and there, seemingly still considering what needed improvement.
He came to a corner, his gaze falling upon a stalk of immortal ganoderma flowing with nine-colored radiance among the mountain of treasures.
Qin Feng casually picked it up and walked beside the quiet chamber where Shi Ji usually cultivated.
He crouched down, casually dug a hole in the ground, and planted the Nine-Colored Immortal Ganoderma—enough to make even Grand Unity Golden Immortals jealous—as though he were planting an ordinary radish. He even patted the soil beside it.
Only then did he rise and turn to smile gently at Shi Ji.
"This will help calm your mind and focus your spirit. You'll be able to cultivate more peacefully from now on."
The distance between them seemed to shrink to almost nothing at that moment.
Shi Ji could clearly see her reflection in his dark eyes and smell the unique fresh scent on him, as though it came from the beginning of primordial chaos.
That aura was domineering yet gentle, making her feel safer than ever before.
Looking at his focused, gentle profile and listening to those calm words filled with concern.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Shi Ji's heartbeat uncontrollably sped up, as though it were about to leap out of her chest.
Heat rushed to her cheeks, and a captivating blush quietly spread across her smooth, jade-like face, all the way to her ears.
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