A little over a month later.
Xia Ping and Liu Rulan finally drew near the Soul Stone Mine. According to Liu Rulan, they would reach it in another day.
However, they found a cave and decided to rest there for the night. They might face a fierce battle once they reached the Soul Stone Mine, and having no strength left would be extremely dangerous.
At that moment, Xia Ping was sitting cross-legged in the cave, refining the Soul Stones one by one.
"As expected of Soul Stones. The soul energy they contain is incredibly pure."
With a sharp crack, a Soul Stone crumbled into powder. Xia Ping opened his eyes, and whirlpools seemed to swirl deep within his pupils, filled with astonishing, heart-stirring power.
Centered on his body, his divine sense spread out and distorted space, seemingly forming a Spiritual Domain. It covered an area several miles around him, and nothing—not even the slightest stir of wind or grass—could escape its perception.
Xia Ping hadn't spent this past month just traveling. He'd also been training, seizing every moment. He had devoured the seven or eight Soul Stones he'd obtained from the man in brocade robes and the others.
His cultivation had risen to the peak of the early As-You-Will Realm. He was only a step away from advancing to the middle stage. Without resources, an ordinary martial artist would need at least decades to cross this threshold.
"If I can get some more Soul Stones, I should be able to advance to the middle stage of the As-You-Will Realm—or even the late stage—with ease. It won't take long."
Xia Ping was determined to claim the Soul Stone Mine. For the sake of his cultivation, anyone who tried to stop him would be utterly destroyed without mercy.
"Slime!"
Suddenly, Xia Ping