Refining

Auspicious energy billowed from the Spirit Mountain, with rays of light spilling out like a meteor shower—gorgeous, beautiful, brilliant, and astonishing.

Little One sat cross-legged on a large boulder, his entire body glowing. Even though he kept his pores closed and covered his mouth and nose, the Supreme One True Water still transformed into radiance and surged out, dazzling the mountaintop.

"This is too wasteful." Bai Yixin shook his head and waved his hand, collecting the escaping Supreme One True Water.

Because the consciousness within the Supreme One True Water had already been refined and erased by Bai Yixin, these highly spiritual Divine Liquids could not escape his grasp and were all gathered up.

The two had heard that there was a ruin in the center of the Hundred-Broken Mountain Range; that ruin was one of the most important forbidden areas and most precious treasure grounds in the entire range.

Inside, various treasures—Sword Mountains, Beast Horns, Divine Rings, and more—flew about on their own, having long since gained sentience, with many of the most powerful geniuses contending within.

To ensure they possessed greater deterrent power inside, Bai Yixin decided to use the Supreme One True Water to strengthen himself once more.

Bai Yixin was mainly worried that Little One might accidentally overplay his hand before he could intervene, so he wanted to let Little One undergo another transformation. This way, after obtaining the Ghost Master's Broken Sword, he could rest easy wandering off on his own.

Furthermore, relying on the Supreme One True Water, Bai Yixin had already grasped the opportunity to break through to the Eighth Heaven.

The Grass Sword Art required Bai Yixin to cultivate his own body as a sword embryo, so using the Supreme One True Water to temper this sword embryo was perfectly logical.

With the rumbling of Dao sounds and the flickering of Runes, the process of Bai Yixin refining the Supreme One True Water into his flesh and blood entered a state of perfection.

Bai Yixin's body became crystalline and translucent, with sheets of Runes weaving through his flesh. One could see the Supreme One True Water fiercely resisting and pulling against them; amidst this struggle, his cells, tissues, and bones were all gradually growing stronger.

But rather than a fierce confrontation, it was more like a steady retreat; unable to put up any resistance, the Supreme One True Water was driven by the Fallen Heart Flame and his spiritual power to continuously circulate through the meridians of the Nine-Turn Heavenly Art. Under this constant scouring, it was gradually absorbed by his flesh and bones.

This process did not require much of Bai Yixin's attention, as it was already on the right track; he only needed to spare a sliver of focus to let the Fallen Heart Flame rhythmically drive the Supreme One True Water.

Once the supply was nearly exhausted, Bai Yixin would scoop some more Supreme One True Water from his cauldron to add into his meridians.

He did not need to drink ten pounds at once like Little One; Little One needed that bit of stimulation, but Bai Yixin did not.

The Supreme Bone was not such an incredible thing; in the Upper Realm, they were a dime a dozen—sometimes a bone, sometimes a head of hair, or perhaps a symbiotic spirit item. Someone like Little One was called a Progenitor in the Upper Realm, and they were as numerous as the hairs on an ox, not rare at all.

What was truly impressive was Shi Hao's ability to regenerate the Supreme Bone, and crucially, not just once.

The Supreme One True Water contained unimaginably vast and potent essence. The excess spiritual power refined from it was injected into his Dantian, and his Spirit Sea slowly began to rise and expand.

"Hoo—! That feels great!"

Bai Yixin felt as if he were receiving a full-body treatment; it was incredibly comfortable, and he was intoxicated as he felt his physical body growing stronger bit by bit.

He knew that once he finished consuming these hundred-odd pounds of Divine Liquid, his physical strength would increase by another large margin. This would be reflected not only in his bones and meridians but also in his internal organs, which would become incredibly tough, no less so than his flesh and bones.

Bai Yixin looked inward. At this moment, his flesh was translucent, his bones were pearly white, his organs were crystalline, and even his skin was clear and glowing. Even his black hair shimmered; he was spotless, from the inside out.

"Perhaps I can take the opportunity to break through to the Ninth Heaven," Bai Yixin thought to himself.

"Also, there is another matter: I must intensify my comprehension of the Original True Interpretation. Once I break through to the Tenth Heavenly Cave, I can try to integrate the Heavenly Caves into my Dantian when I go out..."

"Boom!"

Bai Yixin's body glowed, and an eighth "volcano" appeared beside him, spewing "magma" with astonishing, vast power.

Vaguely, the phantom of another Heavenly Cave appeared, but Bai Yixin suppressed it.

If Bai Yixin wanted to break through, he could have opened the Tenth Heavenly Cave long ago.

On one hand, he had been suppressing it to avoid being repelled by the small world due to having too high a cultivation level. On the other hand, to ensure the opened Heavenly Caves were larger, Bai Yixin was accustomed to suppressing them until he could no longer hold back, then breaking through naturally. This way, he would avoid any problems caused by advancing too quickly.

"Hm?" Bai Yixin sensed a peculiar aura.

Bai Yixin looked up and saw that on Little One's chest, there seemed to be a sun, brilliant and eye-catching. Within the Divine Sun, a crystalline infant seemed to be shrouded, sitting cross-legged. Strands of essence blood, as brilliant as a galaxy, were condensing toward that spot.

"Reincarnation... the power of time."

If the ability of Little One's second Supreme Bone remained unchanged, it was called Reincarnation, possessing the power to control the passage of time. It could make enemies younger or make them age; regardless of which, it was enough for Little One to instantly gain the upper hand.

Bai Yixin blinked. To be honest, he was a little envious.

Time is supreme, space is king. Time and space were the two most difficult powers to touch; anyone who knew even a little bit about them was incredibly formidable.

Once he had enough money, Bai Yixin would definitely buy a space or time divine ability. At the very least, he couldn't let himself be restricted by them.

Bai Yixin secretly made a note of it.

Not long after, Little One finished refining the Supreme One True Water and successfully broke through to the Eighth Heavenly Cave. With a flip of his hand, a giant boulder weighing three or four hundred thousand pounds was instantly lifted off the ground.

"Hehe, Brother Little White, take this!"

The boulder tore through the air, smashing toward Bai Yixin.

"Little One, you don't think that just because you broke through, you can contend with me, do you?" Bai Yixin's lips curled up. He kicked off the ground with force, shattering the rock and cracking the earth, with dozens or even hundreds of black fissures spreading out into the distance.

Bai Yixin smashed the boulder to pieces with a single punch and turned into a black shadow, pouncing toward Little One.

Boom, boom, boom! The two collided, and the clouds in the sky scattered. They were engaged in a fierce physical brawl, using neither Runes nor Treasure Techniques—pure, physical combat.

In less than ten rounds, the slippery Little One was pinned into a deep pit by Bai Yixin, unable to move.

"Little One, your strength is still a little bit worse than mine. You need to put in more effort," Bai Yixin said with a smile.

"Hmph ╯^╰, Brother Little White, just you wait! One day, I will pin you to the ground and spank your butt!" Little One said, looking unconvinced.

"Smack, smack, smack!!!"

Bai Yixin grabbed Little One and gave him a good spanking. As the saying goes, it is best to beat your younger brother early.

"So you want to spank my butt, huh? Smack, I'll be waiting! When we get back to Stone Village, I'm going to steal your milk, believe it or not!"

"Don't even think about it! Grandfather Chief will help me!" Little One said with a stubborn look on his face.

He didn't say he didn't believe it, because snatching milk to drink wasn't something that had happened just once or twice.

"Hehe, that's not up to you!"

"Yamero!" (Don't!)

Under the influence of Bai Yixin's constant tutelage, Little One had learned to mimic some rather strange, cheeky phrases quite convincingly.