Hundred Spirits Peach Tree, Achieving Half-Saint

[That same year, the Ye Family disciples scouting in Jingzhou returned to report to you. The matter of the "Minor Pure Spiritual Qi" obtained by Ganyang Palace was indeed true, but this Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi had already been taken by the Grand Elder of the Yin Yang Holy Land, a holy land from the neighboring Sui State. According to the intelligence gathered, this Grand Elder was quite reasonable and had given Ganyang Palace some decent Heaven Grade Treasures in return—it was a transaction between both parties. As for whether Ganyang Palace's high-level truly wanted to trade with him, that was likely not something Ganyang Palace's wishes could decide.]

[Although the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi had already been taken, you were still quite interested in this matter. In the end, you decided to send Ye Chen to Ganyang Palace to have a friendly discussion with their Grand Elder, to ascertain the location of the special large Secret Realm where this Minor Pure Spiritual Qi resided, and which direction within the Secret Realm it was found.]

[Soon, Ye Chen lived up to expectations. He had a cordial exchange with Ganyang Palace's Grand Elder, recorded the details, and handed them to you. You also noted this down in your own little booklet. This booklet had already been densely filled with dozens of pages, and you carried it with you at all times, pulling it out now and then to review it, so you wouldn't forget.]

[In the year 823, although your progress in painting over the centuries had been extremely slow, you never gave up. Through centuries of unbroken accumulation, you finally produced your first Earth Grade Low-Rank painting. This painting was a Pseudo Beast Painting, capable of summoning a Sub-dragon Species Demonic Beast whose attack power rivaled that of the Mid Void God Realm.]

[In the year 830, after Ye Chen consumed the Bloodline Essence you provided this time, his cultivation broke through to the Spirit Condensation Realm, making him the second strongest in the entire Ye Family. Ye Chen's cultivation speed was considered extremely fast even across the entire Jiang State. After all, a Spirit Condensation Realm Martial Artist has a lifespan of up to eight thousand years. At only eight hundred years old, Ye Chen absolutely had the talent to break through to the Infant God Realm, and even the Half-Saint Realm was not out of reach. Among your three children, Ye Chen was the most like you—the most diligent in cultivation. Although his talent in martial skills was not exceptionally outstanding, he inherited your love for martial skills. At over eight hundred years old, he still hadn't married, focusing entirely on cultivation, unlike his older siblings who already had grandchildren. Every time you brought up marriage with Ye Chen, he would change the subject. But after all, his legs were on his own body—you couldn't force this matter. He was already grown, and you needed to give him some freedom. Because you respected Ye Chen's decision on this, your wife Jiang Wen had spoken to you about it several times. Unlike you, she was very concerned about the children's marriages and often dragged Ye Chen to meet other families' daughters. But after centuries, not a single attempt succeeded. By now, even Jiang Wen felt somewhat helpless toward Ye Chen.]

[In the year 865, your son Ye Chen, during a large Secret Realm expedition, risked danger to obtain a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root. This Spiritual Root was the "Hundred Spirits Peach Tree" recorded in ancient texts—a Low-grade Heaven Grade spiritual plant. This peach tree bore fruit once every two thousand years, and the fruit could increase one's vitality. After a Martial Artist consumed and absorbed the fruit's essence, they could gain a slight boost in cultivation, making it quite a valuable treasure. However, transplanting this tree was not easy, and survival was uncertain. Fortunately, your daughter Ye Pingjing was very fond of spiritual plants and had read many books over the years. In the end, she managed to keep it alive. After that, the peach tree was entrusted to her care, and Ye Pingjing was very happy about it.]

[In the year 975, as your strength increased, your control over the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard became more and more adept. You could now utilize fifty percent of its power. That same year, using the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard to deduce, you foresaw that an event would occur today that would cause significant losses to the Ye Family—a Hidden Danger for the family. Following the direction of your deduction, you arrived outside a small town six hundred kilometers from Jiancheng. You concealed your spiritual pressure. Three nights later, a group of people in black robes appeared outside the town. They didn't intend to enter the town; they simply circled it, conducting some kind of detection. After finishing, they quickly began setting up something around the town. Watching them, you sensed a faint trace of Demonic Cultivator aura on them, but you didn't act immediately, because the real target had yet to appear. As the sky grew darker, it soon reached midnight. These people finished their setup quickly. After they were done, they seemed to have notified someone to come. Before long, a Red-cloaked Masked Figure rapidly approached them from afar. The group huddled together, seemingly speaking. Once you saw the Red-cloaked Masked Figure, you took out the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard to predict. Soon, you deduced that this Hidden Danger was caused by this very Red-cloaked Masked Figure. Without further delay, you launched the Dragon Clan Martial Skill "Soul Shock" at the group. After your attack, these people fell like dominoes, one after another. Then you took out a Fire Attribute Earth Grade Treasure and burned them all, leaving the town. The next morning, the townspeople discovered a large amount of black ash outside the town. They were puzzled, thinking someone had set a fire nearby. The town's mayor eventually learned of this and soon launched an investigation to find the arsonist, but in the end, nothing was uncovered.]

[In the year 1150, your accumulation at the Infant God Realm was complete. You decided not to linger any longer. After setting up the Half-Saint Grade Formation you had obtained earlier, you began preparing to break through. Because your Essence, Qi, and Spirit were exceptionally vast, the difficulty of your breakthrough increased somewhat. You took out the River Qi Stone and drew out the "River Qi" within it. Soon, with the aid of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, you successfully drew forth from Heaven and Earth that thread of Heaven and Earth Qi belonging to you—the very wisp of gas that had left your mother's womb at your birth. Once this thread of Heaven and Earth Qi merged into your spiritual platform, you could feel that the difficulty of fusing your Essence, Qi, and Spirit had eased considerably. With the help of Heaven and Earth Qi, you effortlessly merged the three into one. Three months later, your Essence, Qi, and Spirit were perfectly fused. Your cultivation broke through to the Half-Saint Realm, and your strength increased dramatically. After breaking through to the Half-Saint Realm, you sensed that you could now control a portion of the world's vital energy, and could even create a space unique to yourself. Within this space, your strength would receive a massive boost, while any enemy entering it would have their power reduced. You understood that this was the domain ability recorded in ancient texts. However, the domain you had created was still unstable and could not be maintained for long. Perhaps only when your cultivation accumulated to a certain level and you broke through to the true Saint Realm, transcending the mortal and becoming a true transcendent lifeform, would you be able to perfectly control this domain.]