Gathering Strength

The night in the Fourth Realm was pitch black.

Because the sun, moon, and stars were never seen throughout the year, there was no natural light source; once night fell in this realm, even the wild beasts refrained from hunting.

The group, exhausted from a long journey, decided to rest for the night and distanced themselves from that Phoenix Bone within the Insect Valley.

Since the remains of many Ouyang Family explorers were scattered around the Phoenix Bone, most people were not accustomed to having piles of dry bones for company in such a deep, dark night.

Pang Jian did not mind.

Without lighting a lamp or starting a fire, he sat cross-legged right next to the Phoenix Bone that pierced the honeycomb-like structure.

Luo Hongyan was tactful; she offered a soft smile and turned away with graceful poise.

This had become an unspoken understanding between the two of them recently.

Leaning against the Phoenix Bone, Pang Jian saw the people from the Su and He families lighting a fire and meditating at the other end of the Insect Valley.

In the darkness, everyone's vision was limited. Only when he felt that Su Yuntian and He Rong could no longer see him did he take down the bamboo basket from his back.

After taking a breath, he calmed his mind, cast aside distracting thoughts, and quickly entered a state of cultivation.

Upon entering meditation this time, he had a strange illusion that his perception had been significantly heightened.

He intuitively felt that his Dantian Spirit Sea, much like the world he was in, was divided into two layers.

Instead of rushing to use the spirit stones in his hand, he tried to absorb the chaotic heaven and earth spiritual energy of the Insect Valley, gradually feeling the spiritual energy drifting into his body settle in the upper layer of his Dantian Spirit Sea.

The spiritual energy in the upper layer resembled clusters of clouds and mist.

As he circulated the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art, he noticed a massive vortex suddenly emerge between the upper and lower layers.

The vortex, shaped like a funnel, connected the two layers of the Dantian Spirit Sea. It rotated gently, slowly drawing in the cloud-like spiritual energy from the upper layer.

As the vortex spun in circles, it continuously refined the spiritual energy, sinking it toward the bottom of the funnel until it was gradually extracted into... spiritual power.

In the lower layer of the Dantian Spirit Sea, wisps of spiritual power slowly gathered, gradually forming a small pool.

At this moment, Pang Jian's mind stirred, and he immediately understood the complete layout of his Dantian Spirit Sea. He also realized that this mysterious little world inside the human body seemed to have been two layers all along.

The reason it was called the Dantian Spirit Sea was that the upper part was the Dantian, while the lower part, where spiritual power gathered, was the Spirit Sea.

The Dantian and the Spirit Sea were connected by a funnel-shaped vortex. The Dantian would wash and purify the spiritual energy and other energies absorbed from the outside world, condensing them into spiritual power to flow into the Spirit Sea below.

With this realization, Pang Jian continued to absorb the chaotic spiritual energy of the Fourth Realm in the Insect Valley, carefully sensing the wonders of his Dantian Spirit Sea.

After a while, he suddenly felt as if many mosquitoes, insects, and bees were swarming toward him from all directions with a "buzzing" sound, as if to devour him.

Before he could be startled awake, he saw that those so-called mosquitoes and insects were actually strange forces hidden within the spiritual energy.

The tiny lives that had died in the Insect Valley due to the Phoenix Bone, their flesh and blood essence having been drained, had their residual souls and spirits integrated into the spiritual energy, which he had sucked into his body all at once via the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art.

When he used the vortex to wash and purify the spiritual energy in the Insect Valley, he had to grind away those mosquitoes and insects first.

This step, called "removing the dross," was surprisingly time-consuming, and the spiritual power refined from it was not substantial.

After a moment of hesitation, he took out the two spirit stones he had scavenged from Jin Yang, Xu Rui, and the masked man.

The two spirit stones were shaped like white jade; one had sporadic impurities, while the other was incomparably pure.

He tried absorbing the spirit stone with impurities and immediately felt that what he drew from it was spiritual power containing a small amount of filthy energy.

This was not the cloud-like "Qi," but rather spiritual power like flowing water, consistent with the energy inside his Spirit Sea.

However, the spiritual power within contained impurities that needed to be purified circle by circle through the vortex connecting the Dantian and the Spirit Sea; the impurities had to be ground away and dissolved.

Even so, the spiritual power he could gain from one such spirit stone far exceeded the so-called spiritual energy in the Insect Valley.

The efficiency was more than ten times faster.

Although both contained impurities and filth, spiritual energy and spiritual power were fundamentally different concepts; it seemed it took ten times the amount of spiritual energy to refine a single wisp of spiritual power.

The spiritual power in the spirit stones, however, was already present; it did not require repeated refining, only the removal of impurities.

In the darkness, Pang Jian opened his eyes slightly and looked at the spirit stone in his hand, which was covered in many spots.

He finally understood why Jin Yang and the others, aside from their usual tools, only carried these spirit stones from the Fourth Realm.

With these spirit stones, those few could recover their strength rapidly, far faster than by absorbing spiritual energy in the Cenji Mountains.

"What, then, would a pure spirit stone be like?"

Thinking this, he looked at the other, flawless spirit stone.

This spirit stone had come from Ning Yao's leather pouch and was a relic left behind by the Blood Moon expert on that "Indeterminate Ferry."

He tried absorbing the spiritual power within, and his eyes suddenly erupted with a sharp glint.

The spirit stone from the Third Realm contained not a single trace of impurity. Once he drew it into his upper Dantian, it slid directly down along the funnel-shaped vortex and merged into his Spirit Sea!

There was no need to temper or wash away impurities, no need for further refining; it immediately became a part of his Spirit Sea!

The efficiency and speed of this spiritual power enhancement were several times higher than cultivating with those impure spirit stones!

"No wonder she treated this item like a treasure after obtaining it on the Indeterminate Ferry."

Because of his heightened perception, Pang Jian could intuitively sense the state of his Dantian Spirit Sea during this cultivation session, understanding it far more thoroughly than he had back at the Blackwater Pool.

He finally understood just how valuable spirit stones were to a cultivator.

"With these pure spirit stones, I can condense the spirit power within my Spirit Sea much faster."

Pang Jian now understood that the Qi Refining Realm was primarily about the continuous refinement of spirit power, ultimately filling the Spirit Sea to the brim.

Since he had pure spirit stones at his disposal, he had no intention of being frugal and immediately let go, throwing himself into cultivation.

In the shadows.

Luo Hongyan, who was keeping a distance from him, sat cross-legged among the leaves out of habit, looking down at Pang Jian from her vantage point.

With her level of cultivation and the refinement of her soul, she could faintly perceive that as Pang Jian cultivated, the residual spirits and mental energy of many mosquitoes, flies, and insects were being swept into his dantian's Spirit Sea all at once.

Suddenly, a look of astonishment appeared in her eyes.

The "Spirit Sha," like Luo Meng, that were lurking in the darkness were actually being drawn in by Pang Jian's use of the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art, uncontrollably trying to drift into his dantian.

Startled, she hurriedly used her will to forcibly intervene, causing those "Spirit Sha" to retreat from the edge of the Insect Valley.

"What an overbearing spirit art. A cultivation technique of this caliber should not be a product of the Fourth Realm."

She became increasingly curious about the young man's past.

Time passed in a rush.

As the sky began to brighten, Pang Jian, who had unknowingly digested two pure spirit stones, was suddenly startled awake.

He instinctively gripped his Dragon-Patterned Spear and looked coldly at the approaching He Rong.

Seeing Pang Jian suddenly wake up, He Rong stopped in his tracks and said indifferently, "I want to know the details of how He Ziren was killed."

"If you have questions, you can ask Ning Yao, or you can wait until daybreak to ask me. Why be so sneaky?"

Pang Jian said, displeased.

"Because Ziren and she were once betrothed, and she has some grievances against our He Family. Her attitude has always been cold, and she would not be willing to cooperate with me," He Rong explained helplessly.

Pang Jian thought for a moment and said, "Among the Dark Ghost attackers, one person wore a golden mask; his status seemed somewhat special."

"Later, he died at the bottom of the Blackwater Pool, and his mask shattered. I saw that his entire face was covered in crisscrossing scars. It was he who killed that young master of your family."

What had left the deepest impression on Pang Jian was the face beneath the shattered mask, so he used that man as a shield.

He Rong's expression changed slightly after hearing this. He nodded, offered a word of thanks, and turned back.

In the distant leaves, Luo Hongyan, who had been watching He Rong the entire time, shifted from a sitting to a standing position. She only retracted the blade-like coldness in her eyes once he returned to Su Yuntian's side.

High in the darkness above Pang Jian's head, Hong Tai, who had been refined into a "Spirit Sha," floated like a ghost.

Once Hong Tai, who was at the Xisui Realm, had been refined into a "Spirit Sha" by her, he could not be detected by anyone present as long as he deliberately hid in the night.

—Including He Rong and Su Yuntian.

Luo Hongyan, staring at He Rong, saw that he had only asked about the cause of He Ziren's death before leaving with a drastically changed expression, so she did not secretly order the "Spirit Sha" to strike.

"It's Dong Qianfeng! Dong Qianfeng of the Dong Family actually defected to the Dark Ghosts!"

He Rong returned to Su Yuntian's side, his eyes filled with horror as he whispered, "It was also Dong Qianfeng who killed Ziren!"

"He was tortured by the Blazing Sun Sect back then, his face slashed a dozen times, leaving indelible scars, and he was subsequently expelled from the Blazing Sun Sect."

"It was he who wore the mask and colluded with the Dark Ghost's Hong Tai to hunt down members of our Seven Great Families in the Cenji Mountains!"

Su Yuntian could no longer sit still, exclaiming, "It was actually him!"

"Fortunately, he is already dead," He Rong added.

"Although Dong Qianfeng is dead, but..." Su Yuntian stroked his chin, his expression growing heavy as he said, "If Dong Qianfeng became a member of the Dark Ghosts, could his foster son, Dong Tianze, also have become one of them?"

He Rong was aghast: "That's impossible, right?"

"Father, what are you two whispering about in the middle of the night?"

Su Meng woke up groggily, and seeing the two of them whispering with ugly expressions, she couldn't help but ask.

"It's nothing."

Su Yuntian tried to smile and offer comfort, but found he couldn't manage it, so he said, "The sky is almost bright. You should get up, too; we need to prepare to hit the road again."

"Oh."

Su Meng rubbed her eyes and replied.

Hidden in the foliage, Luo Hongyan watched the two from afar, a coldness lingering on her pursed lips.

She had dug up many secrets about the Dark Ghosts from Hong Tai, so she naturally knew who the Dong Tianze that Su Yuntian and He Rong were talking about was.

She also knew that the man was indeed in the Cenji Mountains.