Escape, Millennial Ice Soul Pearl, Advancement

Xu Yang was embedded into the cave wall, the greenish-black hue on his body rapidly fading. After coughing up two mouthfuls of blood in succession, he struggled to pull himself from the wall and drop to the ground. The self-detonation of a cultivator was truly terrifying; for it to have such power at merely the Qi Refining stage, the consequences of a self-detonation by a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm or higher were unimaginable.

Xu Yang looked up and scanned his surroundings, noticing that the cave ceiling was gradually collapsing. The place was about to cave in, so he dared not delay. He quickly produced the Lesser Return-to-Origin Talisman he had obtained from the mysterious woman, and a green light instantly enveloped him.

Xu Yang immediately felt his body surrounded by a vibrant, life-giving force; his fractured bones and damaged internal organs were rapidly mending. By the time the power of the Lesser Return-to-Origin Talisman was exhausted, Xu Yang had recovered by seven or eight parts, a result that left him quite astonished.

However, the situation was critical, and Xu Yang had no time for further thought. He immediately rushed toward Senior Brother Xu and the others to retrieve their Qiankun Bags. Since Junior Sister Zhao had already detonated herself, Xu Yang only managed to find her Indeterminate Ring.

Afterward, Xu Yang quickly turned back and ran toward the way he had come; as for the Mystic Ice Turtle spirit beasts, he could no longer concern himself with them. He soon reached the cave exit, and with the deafening roar of the collapse echoing behind him, he dared not be careless. He immediately drew his flying sword, mounted it, and flew out of the cave.

He had just flown out of the pit when it shook and collapsed inward. Standing on his flying sword, Xu Yang looked down to see the previously flat beach suddenly caving in, with dust billowing into the sky and blotting out the sun.

Xu Yang let out a long sigh of relief. Knowing the commotion here was too great to remain for long, he immediately flew away on his sword. Once he was far from the beach, Xu Yang landed, found a secluded spot, and began to circulate his energy to regulate his breathing and recover his state.

After he finished his cultivation, he was secretly amazed. He had not expected the Lesser Return-to-Origin Talisman to be so effective, healing more than half of his injuries; the remainder were of no great concern and would recover in a day or two.

He had been a bit too careless this time; he never expected that woman to be so ruthless as to choose self-detonation. Thinking of the power of that blast, Xu Yang felt a lingering sense of dread.

With his injuries no longer a major issue, Xu Yang immediately rose and headed toward the sect. This mission had been far too harrowing, and he needed to return and carefully reflect on the gains and losses of this operation.

After much traveling, Xu Yang returned to the sect. He first went to the External Affairs Hall to complete the mission and collect a Peiyuan Pill, then quickly returned to his pavilion. Inside the Lesser Spirit Gathering Array on the second floor, Xu Yang activated the restrictions around the pavilion to their maximum.

Only then did he take out his spoils of war. With four Qiankun Bags lined up before him, Xu Yang picked them up with excitement and examined them one by one. His expression turned somewhat helpless; there were no particularly good items in the bags, only some spirit stones, as the powerful treasures had all been used up during the fight.

Fortunately, the total amount of spirit stones and Peiyuan Pills was not insignificant, enough to sustain his cultivation for a period of time. His current cultivation level was still too low; he should focus on cultivating for a while before going to the External Affairs Hall to accept more missions.

With this in mind, Xu Yang placed the spirit stones and pills into his own Qiankun Bag. Immediately after, he took out the magical artifacts belonging to Senior Brother Xu and the others to examine them carefully.

These artifacts belonged to the five of them. There were four mid-grade artifacts: two flying swords, one Indeterminate Ring, and one small seal. One of the flying swords belonged to Senior Brother Xu, the seal belonged to Junior Brother Yin, and the other flying sword and the Indeterminate Ring belonged to Junior Sister Zhao.

The remaining two artifacts were a red silk ribbon and a flying knife, both low-grade artifacts. Their power was too weak, so Xu Yang naturally looked down on them. Casually tossing the two low-grade artifacts into his Qiankun Bag, Xu Yang focused his attention on the Indeterminate Ring and the small seal.

The Indeterminate Ring was a defensive mid-grade artifact, which was quite rare; its value was nearly equivalent to a high-grade offensive artifact. In the world of cultivation, defensive artifacts were always relatively rare, so they were generally more valuable than offensive ones.

Xu Yang naturally placed great importance on the Indeterminate Ring, and since he was currently lacking a defensive artifact, this ring could perfectly fill that gap. Xu Yang lifted the ring to examine it closely; it was entirely silver-white, with runes engraved along its band.

Xu Yang sent his divine sense into the ring, easily wiped away the existing imprint, and placed his own mark upon it. Then, with a thought, the Indeterminate Ring flew up and hovered above his head, casting a transparent curtain of light that shielded him within.

Xu Yang felt a stir of excitement and released his flying sword to try and pierce the light curtain, but it was immediately blocked. Xu Yang then increased his power, thrusting the sword with all his might, yet the light curtain remained motionless, its defensive power extremely formidable. Overjoyed, Xu Yang retrieved the Indeterminate Ring and began to play with it, unable to put it down.

After admiring it for a while, Xu Yang put the Indeterminate Ring away and turned his gaze to the small seal. The seal was pitch-black and square, with a spirit beast carved on the top and a smooth, flat surface on the bottom. After removing the imprint, Xu Yang channeled his internal energy into it, and the seal immediately began to grow, eventually reaching the size of a square table.

The pavilion was not a suitable place to test the power of the seal, so Xu Yang regretfully withdrew his energy, and the seal slowly returned to its original size. Xu Yang also examined the two remaining flying swords one by one, but he found that neither compared to the red flying sword his master, Qing Yuanzi, had given him, so he simply put them and the seal back into his Qiankun Bag.

Finally, with a look of anticipation, Xu Yang took out the azure pearl. The pearl had originally been massive, but after being collected, it had shrunk on its own and was now only the size of a fist. Once the pearl was taken out, a rich, refreshing fragrance immediately filled the air, and Xu Yang felt his spirits lift instantly.

After carefully inspecting the pearl, Xu Yang looked helpless; his knowledge was too shallow, and he knew nothing about it. He had no choice but to put it away and take out the Treasure Appraisal Catalog to search through it slowly.

After a while, Xu Yang stopped, his gaze falling upon a specific entry. A look of sudden realization dawned on him as he finally understood the origin of the azure pearl.

The Ice Soul Root was originally the root of an ordinary plant that had mutated. After the plant withered, the Ice Soul Root would not die but would continue to grow, absorbing vast amounts of spiritual energy and becoming increasingly thick. If it could grow for a thousand years, it would gestate a rare treasure of heaven and earth—the Millennial Ice Soul Pearl, which was the very azure pearl he held.

This Ice Soul Pearl had powerful effects. If obtained by an Ice Spirit Root cultivator at the Golden Core Realm or above, it could not only accelerate their cultivation speed but, with a little refinement, could become a powerful growth-type magical treasure that could continue to evolve, making it immensely valuable.

Seeing this, Xu Yang finally understood the function of the blue pearl. However, he felt quite depressed; he possessed the Void Spirit Root, so no matter how good this Ice Soul Pearl was, it was useless to him! If he were to send it to an auction, the risk would be too great; with his current strength, one wrong move and he would be killed for his treasure.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Xu Yang, which he caught immediately. A sharp glint appeared in his eyes as he took out the Millennial Ice Soul Pearl once more. Holding the pearl in his hand, Xu Yang carefully activated the Indestructible Golden Body Art, and a wisp of deep blue cold energy immediately flowed from the pearl into his arm.

A thick layer of ice instantly condensed on Xu Yang's arm and began to spread rapidly across his entire body. In the blink of an eye, Xu Yang was encased in solid ice.

After a moment, a series of cracking sounds echoed as the ice outside his body developed fissures and shattered with a bang. With a pale, purple-tinged face, Xu Yang muttered to himself, "What terrifying cold energy. A mere insignificant wisp nearly froze me to death; it is truly horrific. Fortunately, I was cautious and only absorbed a single wisp."

Shivering, Xu Yang stood up and quickly performed a set of boxing techniques to get his blood flowing. Once he had expelled the remaining cold energy, he picked up the Ice Soul Pearl with excitement and said, "With you, my Indestructible Golden Body Art can finally break through again."

It turned out that Xu Yang had suddenly realized that the Indestructible Golden Body Art had no elemental restrictions and should be able to refine the cold energy within the Ice Soul Pearl, using it as fuel for his physical breakthrough.

Just now, Xu Yang had been attempting to refine the cold energy from the Ice Soul Pearl, but he hadn't expected the energy to be so terrifying that it nearly froze him to death. However, that wisp of cold energy had indeed been refined, which proved his theory was viable, provided he was careful not to absorb too much at once.

Putting away the Ice Soul Pearl, Xu Yang returned to the Lesser Spirit Gathering Array and began to sit cross-legged, recovering from the minor frostbite inside his body. A night passed, and as dawn broke and the morning light appeared, Xu Yang finally opened his eyes. A sharp glint flashed through them, and his face looked radiant; his injuries had completely healed.

In the following days, Xu Yang went to the Internal Affairs Hall to purchase a large amount of food and returned to his pavilion to focus entirely on cultivation. With the aid of spirit stones and pills, his progress was rapid. At the same time, his physical body, tempered by the cold energy of the Ice Soul Pearl, improved even more terrifyingly, and his strength grew rapidly.

After about half a year of such cultivation, his spirit stones and pills were completely exhausted, and Xu Yang's cultivation had reached the peak of the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage, a breakthrough of two full levels. As for his physical strength, it had already reached the equivalent of the early seventh level of the Qi Refining stage, which was even more formidable than his internal energy cultivation.

Of course, this was all thanks to the help of the Ice Soul Pearl's cold energy; otherwise, his physical body could never have cultivated so quickly. Fortunately, his physical aura was very ordinary, so he didn't have to worry about anyone discovering the truth. Even after absorbing a large amount of cold energy, the Ice Soul Pearl remained undamaged, its inner power still bottomless. This showed that the Ice Soul Pearl was truly a rare treasure of heaven and earth.

With his resources depleted, Xu Yang's cultivation speed slowed to a crawl. Helpless, he had to stop his cultivation and step out of the pavilion. He intended to go to the External Affairs Hall to see if there were any good missions he could take to earn some spirit stones and pills to maintain his cultivation.

Arriving outside the External Affairs Hall, Xu Yang walked in slowly and immediately saw a group of Qi Refining disciples gathered in a circle, discussing something animatedly under the mission board. Seeing this, Xu Yang walked up to the mission board and looked up at the tasks listed above.