Yang Ling looked sheepish. He could hardly explain that so many years had not actually passed. Strictly speaking, the two of them had only been apart for two or three months.
"Back then, Zhao Xun said Zhao De had been besieged and killed by powerful enemies while he was a Second Rank Human Immortal."
"Later, my junior brother in name, Zhao Chongxu, broke through to Land Immortal and slew the enemies himself in one fell swoop."
"Now Master is still alive and kicking. I strongly suspect he's far beyond the Second Rank Human Immortal realm. Otherwise, could someone with that cultivation work under the Five Venom Emperor Lord? The other party could tell whether anything he said was true or false. How could he hide it?"
"There's more to what happened back then..."
Yang Ling mused, then asked, "Master, how long do you intend to stay in the Abyssal Beast Cavern?"
"How long? As long as they don't drive me away, I intend to stay here indefinitely."
Zhao De said, "As for you, how much do you know about advancing to Fourth Rank?"
Yang Ling's expression shifted. "Isn't it similar to advancing to Fifth Rank? Just a little harder? A little more dangerous?"
He paused. "Does this disciple need to watch out for the illusions that arise during advancement?"
"So you know absolutely nothing about advancing to Fourth Rank."
Zhao De frowned. "When you advanced to Fifth Rank, your body transformed and developed flesh regeneration power.
"That process was relatively gentle, without much danger. You only needed to avoid being swayed by the illusions."
"How could advancing from Fifth Rank to Fourth Rank compare to that? During the advancement, your martial way kindling has to become a furnace!"
"At that instant, it needs sufficient reserves from you to nourish it.