All the Treasures in Hand

"What's wrong?"

Hearing his cry of pain, Jiang Mengyun's heart trembled. She hurriedly turned to look at Ye Fei beside her.

The tangled thoughts in her mind had already given way to worry for him.

"My head hurts so much."

Ye Fei clutched his head, crying out in pain.

"What happened?"

At a loss for what to do, Jiang Mengyun asked anxiously.

"My Sea of Consciousness has... has been filled to bursting."

Fighting through the pain, Ye Fei explained his condition.

By now, the mass of energy he had absorbed this time had occupied most of his Sea of Consciousness.

"Hurry and digest those insights."

Jiang Mengyun quickly reminded him.

In truth, Ye Fei had already realized what to do without her reminder.

Enduring the excruciating pain in his Sea of Consciousness, he separated out a strand of divine sense and sent it into the mass of energy.

As time passed, the mass of energy grew smaller and smaller.

The agonizing pain in Ye Fei's Sea of Consciousness gradually faded.

Five days later, when he opened his eyes, he had fully digested the mass of energy that had nearly burst his Sea of Consciousness.

"Damn it, I almost died this time."

Even now, Ye Fei felt a lingering fear when he recalled the agony of his soul being torn apart.

When he stood up, he discovered that Jiang Mengyun had already gone to the sixth floor.

After a brief hesitation, he gritted his teeth and went up as well.

The sixth floor was different from the floors below.

There was a round stone platform in each of the four cardinal directions: east, west, south, and north.

These platforms looked exactly like the stone platform he had seen in the valley when he arrived.

However, each of these four platforms held something.

On the eastern platform lay a Jade Slip.

On the western, southern, and northern platforms sat a green, red, and black disc, respectively.

Each of the four platforms was enclosed in a round, five-colored dome of light.

Clearly, this was a protective formation.

Ye Fei saw that Jiang Mengyun was not here. She must have gone outside.

A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes as he studied the four five-colored barriers.

Then, with a thought, he took out a Spirit Artifact Longsword.

"I'll start with you."

Ye Fei walked up to the eastern platform and murmured as he looked at the Jade Slip inside.

Then, sword in hand, he flicked his wrist repeatedly. In the blink of an eye, he had delivered a thrust at each of sixteen points on the barrier.

As his sword struck those points, the colors of the five-colored barrier began to fade.

When Ye Fei delivered his final thrust, the now-transparent barrier burst with a pop and vanished.

Just like that, Ye Fei had easily broken the protective formation guarding the Jade Slip.

After absorbing the insights from the fifth floor, Ye Fei had gained some proficiency in the art of formations.

"Is this the Array Canon?"

Ye Fei reached out and picked up the Jade Slip.

The moment he sent his divine sense inside, the words "Array Canon" appeared before his eyes.

Once he confirmed that it was the Array Canon, Ye Fei put the Jade Slip away without examining its contents further.

Then he repeated the process, breaking the other three formations and taking out the discs inside.

With all three discs in hand, he noticed tiny lettering at the center of each.

The green disc read "Defense," the red disc read "Attack," and the Black Disc read "Time."

These must have been the super formation discs Luo Ying had mentioned.

But there were three, not one.

"More than half the time is already gone. I'll study them after I get back."

After a moment's consideration, Ye Fei put all three formation discs away, turned, and descended the Array God Tower.

When he reached the first floor again, the tower door was already open.

Ye Fei walked out without hesitation.

To his surprise, the instant he stepped out of the Array God Tower, it rapidly shrank to the size of his palm and flew into his hand.

"Interesting."

After glancing at the little tower in his hand, Ye Fei merely smiled and stored it inside the Azure Dragon Sword.

"Where did Uncle-Master Jiang go?"

Ye Fei looked curiously at the surrounding pavilions.

Since the range of his divine sense was limited, he could not find Jiang Mengyun.

With no other choice, he picked a pavilion at random and walked over.

Only after drawing closer could he make out the words on its sign.

Treasure Repository Pavilion.

Standing at the entrance to the Treasure Repository Pavilion, Ye Fei swept his divine sense inside.

In the blink of an eye, the scene inside the Treasure Repository Pavilion appeared in his mind.

Although it was called the Treasure Repository Pavilion, there were no Magic Treasures inside.

Apart from a few tables, chairs, and benches, there was nothing.

Seeing nothing there, Ye Fei lost interest and headed toward another pavilion.

This pavilion was called the Cultivation Repository Pavilion. Like the Treasure Repository Pavilion, it was empty.

The Alchemy Pavilion had nothing.

The Artifact Refining Pavilion had nothing.

Ye Fei visited every pavilion in the valley without finding anything useful.

This left him thoroughly frustrated.

Even more frustrating was that he had searched the entire place without finding any sign of Jiang Mengyun.

What's going on? Could she have gone outside?

With that question in mind, Ye Fei headed back the way he had come.

Only when he reached the five-colored barrier did he spot Jiang Mengyun.

She was sitting cross-legged on the ground with her eyes closed.

"Uncle-Master Jiang, are we heading back now?"

After a moment's hesitation, Ye Fei finally asked.

Although several days had passed, Ye Fei still felt a little awkward upon seeing her again.

"Let's go."

Jiang Mengyun stood up and nodded.

Her expression was perfectly composed, as though what had happened before had never occurred.

"All right."

Ye Fei gave an awkward smile and took the lead.

After passing through the protective formation, the two retraced their path and returned to the sheer cliff where they had first entered.

"Where are we going next?"

Standing in the empty valley, Ye Fei asked.

"We'll gather some mortal-cleansing herb first to help cleanse your mortal body. Then we'll go to the Soul-Devouring Valley."

Jiang Mengyun spoke calmly.

With that, she took out a flying sword and hopped onto it.

Seeing this, Ye Fei followed her onto it without hesitation.

Once both of them were standing securely, Jiang Mengyun willed the flying sword forward, and it shot away like an arrow.

Ye Fei did not know where their destination was, nor did he want to ask.

He was standing behind Jiang Mengyun, lost in a daze.

He gazed at her exquisite figure from behind, breathing in the faint fragrance drifting from her.

For some reason, heat began to stir in Ye Fei's heart.

Recalling the softness he had felt beneath his hand a few days earlier, Ye Fei's breathing gradually quickened.

Of course, Jiang Mengyun, standing in front of him, was fully aware of the change in Ye Fei.

In truth, she was not much better off. Her face was faintly flushed, and her heart was beating considerably faster than usual.

"Ahem!"

However, she quickly regained her composure and gave a light cough.

Hearing that cough, Ye Fei, who had been struggling to control himself, suddenly came to his senses.

He quietly took a deep breath and pinched his thigh hard, calming his agitated heart. He no longer dared let his thoughts run wild.

An hour later, Jiang Mengyun brought the flying sword to a stop in a dense forest.

"There's some over there. Go gather it. I'll wait here."

"If possible, transplant some into the Azure Dragon Sword. If it survives, it will certainly be of great use in the future."

Jiang Mengyun pointed at a patch of silvery-white spirit herbs ahead as she spoke.

They were all mortal-cleansing herbs, a medicinal herb unique to the Divine Feather Secret Realm.

"All right!"

After answering, Ye Fei walked toward the patch of mortal-cleansing herbs.

He knew that once he took the mortal-cleansing herb, his advancement to Foundation Establishment would be only a matter of days.