Say That Again

Yang Ling looked sheepish. He could hardly explain that it had not actually been that many years. Strictly speaking, the two of them had only been apart for two or three months.

Zhao Xun said Zhao De was besieged and killed by powerful enemies when he was a Second-Grade Human Immortal.

Later, my junior fellow disciple Zhao Chongxu became an Earthly Immortal and killed those enemies himself.

But Master is alive and kicking. I seriously doubt he was only a Second-Grade Human Immortal. How else could he work under the Five-Poison Emperor? At that level, the emperor could tell whether anything he said was true or false. How could he hide it?

There must be more to what happened back then...

Yang Ling considered this, then asked, "Master, how long do you plan to stay in the Abyssal Beast Grotto?"

"How long? As long as they don't drive me out, I plan to stay here for good."

Zhao De asked, "More importantly, how much do you know about advancing to the Fourth Grade?"

Yang Ling's expression shifted. "Isn't it much like advancing to the Fifth Grade, only harder and more dangerous?"

After a pause, he added, "Do I need to watch out for the illusions that appear during the advancement?"

"So you know nothing about advancing to the Fourth Grade."

Zhao De frowned. "When you advanced to the Fifth Grade, your body transformed and developed the power of Flesh Derivation.

"That process was relatively gentle. There was little danger as long as the illusions didn't lead you astray."

"Advancing from the Fifth Grade to the Fourth Grade is nothing like it. Your Martial Dao Fire Seed has to undergo Furnace Formation!"

"In that instant, you need enough reserves to nourish it. Otherwise, when it forms a furnace, you become its