Ye Feng stood in the small courtyard, his figure flickering like a ghost.
Ye Feng had already mastered the Earth-grade high-tier movement technique, Shadow Chasing Step, to the point of effortless execution. Every step left behind a faint afterimage, and his speed was several times faster than before with Shadow Step.
This was one of the results of using the Millennium Time Limit to modify all non-sword and non-fist martial techniques.
Besides movement techniques, his palm and leg techniques had also broken through. Most of his Earth-grade low-tier martial techniques had been improved to Earth-grade high-tier, causing his overall combat strength to soar once again.
"Spending a month reading books in the Martial Pavilion was indeed worth it." Ye Feng stopped and sensed the True Qi coursing through his body and the artistic conception lingering around him, his heart filled with emotion.
Although Ye Feng's cultivation was only at the Condensation Realm Second Layer, with Million Jin Giant Strength, 80% Sword Intent, 70% Fist Intent, and Earth-grade high-tier martial techniques in multiple fields, his overall combat strength could probably contend with an Origin Embracing Realm expert.
Of course, Ye Feng also knew that he had never fought an Origin Embracing Realm expert before, so the other party's exact strength remained unknown. Everything still needed to be verified in actual combat.
After a brief rest, Ye Feng took a roll of tattered paper from his storage ring.
It was the unknown Damaged Scroll he had previously obtained from the mountain bandit First Boss.
Previously, Ye Feng had used the century time limit to modify it, but nothing had changed. Now that he had broken through to the Condensation Realm and unlocked the Millennium Time Limit, perhaps he would see a different result.
"System, modify the Damaged Scroll to a thousand years ago."
A pure-white light screen instantly enveloped the Damaged Scroll. Its radiance was gentle, yet carried an ancient aura.
After a moment, the light screen faded, and the originally tattered scroll had astonishingly become a yellowed painting.
The painting was covered in densely packed patterns outlined with ink lines. Clearly, it was a map.
Ye Feng unfolded the painting and began observing it carefully.
The map marked many regions. The familiar Yan Kingdom and the eight countries surrounding it occupied only an extremely tiny area, like a single grain of sand in the vast ocean.
Beyond the nine countries lay vast stretches of land without names marked on them, scattered with even more national markers of varying sizes.
"This definitely isn't a map of Yan Nan State. It's probably a map of a much larger area... the Azure Domain?" Ye Feng guessed inwardly.
He had never seen such a vast map before. The world beyond the nine countries far exceeded his understanding.
The appearance of this map had undoubtedly expanded the boundaries of his knowledge about the current world.
What concerned Ye Feng even more was that a region in the upper-right corner of the map had been circled in red cinnabar. Its location happened to lie in an unfamiliar region beyond the nine countries, and a treasure chest had been drawn inside the circled area.
"Looks like this isn't merely a map. It's also a Treasure Map." Ye Feng's heart stirred.
But when Ye Feng saw the distance between the red marking and the nine countries clearly, he couldn't help feeling somewhat helpless.
Even on the fastest flying boat, it would take several months to arrive.
And he didn't even have a flying boat at present. If he traveled on foot, it would probably take several years.
"I can only wait until I have a chance to explore it in the future." Ye Feng carefully rolled up the map, put it into his storage ring, and turned to the more important matters at hand.
Ye Feng then took another plant from his storage ring.
It was the colorless, odorless plant he had previously scavenged from the corpse of Yun Hai of the Baiyang Sect. It resembled a withered medicinal herb.
His previous attempt to modify it with the century time limit had yielded no results. This time, Ye Feng likewise wanted to test the effect of the Millennium Time Limit.
"System, modify this Withered Grass to a thousand years ago."
[ Ding! Beginning modification of target: Withered Grass ]
The system's voice rang out, and a white light screen appeared once more, enveloping the Withered Grass.
Yet when the light screen faded, Ye Feng froze.
The Withered Grass still retained its withered appearance. There wasn't the slightest change—not even the degree of withering differed from before.
"It was already withered a thousand years ago?" Ye Feng furrowed his brows slightly, then a hint of delight flashed through his eyes.
"It can remain preserved for a thousand years without decaying, and isn't affected by the system's time modification. This Withered Grass is definitely no ordinary object. It probably involves secrets from the ancient era!"
Although he temporarily couldn't unravel the secret of the Withered Grass, he understood that it was an extremely special treasure. He decided to wait until he broke through to the Origin Embracing Realm before finding a way to study it, then returned the Withered Grass to his storage ring as well.
After dealing with the two mysterious objects, Ye Feng turned his gaze toward his own cultivation.
Back when he had been in the Qi Gathering Realm, Ye Feng had used the system to modify his cultivation, soaring from the Third Layer to the Ninth Layer Peak.
Now that he had unlocked the Millennium Time Limit, Ye Feng couldn't help wondering whether he could break through directly to the Origin Embracing Realm.
"System, modify my cultivation to a thousand years later."
[ Ding! Beginning modification of host's cultivation! ]
The system's voice rang out again. White mist instantly enveloped Ye Feng's entire body, and he could clearly feel the True Qi within him beginning to grow wildly. His cultivation shot upward like a rocket.
Condensation Realm Third Layer, Fifth Layer, Seventh Layer, Ninth Layer...
His cultivation rose extremely quickly at first, and in just a short while, he broke through to the Condensation Realm Ninth Layer.
But upon reaching the Ninth Layer, the rate of improvement suddenly slowed. The growth of his True Qi became incomparably difficult.
In the end, when the white mist dispersed, Ye Feng's cultivation stopped at the True Condensation Realm Tenth Layer Peak.
He was only one step away from the Origin Embracing Realm, yet he still couldn't break through that bottleneck.
"Is my talent still insufficient?" Ye Feng looked inward at his Dantian and discovered that the True Qi within his body had already reached the limit of the Condensation Realm.
But reaching the Origin Embracing Realm required condensing True Qi into a vortex, allowing True Qi to flow endlessly.
His current Bone Root Talent simply couldn't support this qualitative transformation.
Ye Feng then felt relieved.
If he hadn't previously taken the Bone Tempering Flower to improve his talent, the Millennium Time Limit could probably only have raised him by three or four minor realms. Being able to reach the Tenth Layer Peak had already far exceeded his expectations.
What satisfied Ye Feng even more was that after a thousand years of accumulation, the quality of the True Qi within his body had become incomparably solid, far surpassing that of cultivators at the same realm.
Even without breaking through to the Origin Embracing Realm, his core combat strength had increased significantly.
"However, it's only been a month since I returned from the Secret Realm, and I've soared from the Condensation Realm Second Layer to the Tenth Layer Peak. That's far too outrageous and could easily arouse suspicion."
Ye Feng pondered for a moment, then circulated the Breath Concealment Art he had previously modified and mastered, concealing his apparent cultivation at the Condensation Realm Third Layer.
This realm was neither too conspicuous nor too weak, while still preserving a certain deterrent.
As for his 80% Sword Intent and 70% Fist Intent, Ye Feng chose not to conceal them.
For one thing, artistic conception was a core part of combat strength, so concealing it had little meaning.
For another, improvements in artistic conception were difficult to measure by common sense. Even if people noticed, he could explain them as having "extraordinary talent."
Ye Feng stood in the small courtyard, sorting through his gains.
His martial techniques in multiple fields had been perfected.
He had obtained a Treasure Map of the Azure Domain.
He had discovered an ancient Withered Grass.
His cultivation had risen to the True Condensation Realm Tenth Layer Peak.
Next, his foremost goal was to improve his Bone Root Talent and resolve the bottleneck preventing his breakthrough to the Origin Embracing Realm.
Second, he needed to find a way to obtain a flying boat and prepare for exploring the Treasure Map in the future.
As for the secret of the Withered Grass, he could only wait until he reached a higher realm before unraveling it.
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