Li Dao slowly withdrew his gaze and sat cross-legged with his eyes closed once more. Behind him, three Cave Heavens-one large and two small-radiated wondrous light.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-
With a thought, his Cave Heavens once again swallowed the world's vital essence like a whale gulping down the sea.
The Yin-Yang Pool beneath him began changing faster as well, yin and yang rising to form a taiji diagram beneath his body.
Seated cross-legged above the diagram, Li Dao freely absorbed the energy surging toward him from every direction.
One stalk of treasure medicine after another gradually dimmed before him, wisps of flowing light drifting from them into his body.
The remaining two Cave Heavens behind him also underwent three cycles of shattering and reconstruction.
This process took an entire month.
The further he progressed, the harder it became to shatter his Cave Heavens, and the more vital essence and energy he needed.
Only after draining everything within a hundred-li radius, along with an entire Yin-Yang Pool, did he barely manage to finish reconstructing them.
While Li Dao cultivated in seclusion within the secret realm...
Outside, Purple Snake and Fire Crow, the two Spirit Transformation Ferocious Beasts, had already waited so long that their eyes were nearly worn out from watching.
As they watched the light at the secret realm's entrance gradually dim, both Beast Kings began wondering whether Li Dao had died inside.
The many Ferocious Beasts behind them also grew increasingly restless as time passed.
Hiss-
The fury in Purple Snake's eyes had not diminished in the slightest. Instead, it had only intensified over the month-long wait.
It looked ready to pick someone out and devour them at any moment.
The oppressive aura emanating from its body left the many Ferocious Beasts behind it trembling in fear.
"Whew-"
Above the Yin-Yang Pool, Li Dao sat peacefully cross-legged in midair, his entire body emanating a reassuring presence.
Behind him hung three divine rings bright enough to rival Haori, lending him an air of sanctity.
The interiors of his Cave Heavens were empty voids, unfathomably deep and mysterious.
Li Dao slowly opened his eyes. The lotus marks upon his pupils flashed, as though they could dispel every falsehood in the world.
"After more than a month of arduous cultivation, I've finally reached three Cave Heavens."
"But the expenditure was simply enormous. Who knows how many resources I'll need to complete all ten Cave Heavens, let alone merge the ten into one?!"
Just thinking about it dampened much of Li Dao's joy at his breakthrough.
He had cultivated to what could be called a forbidden domain in the Blood Moving Realm, so he naturally had no intention of cutting corners in the Cave Heaven Realm.
Opening a flesh cave heaven would also be a way for him to advance further in cultivating his body.
"There's plenty of time ahead."
"I can gather resources bit by bit. Once I'm strong enough, where couldn't I find them?"
With that thought, he slowly rose, standing proudly in midair.
His robes snapped in the wind, and an aura of naked, cutting sharpness burst from him.
Feeling how much lighter his body had become, he gradually let his worries fade.
Clenching his right fist, he punched forward.
Bang-
Crack-
With a crisp shattering sound, a long, slender fissure appeared in space like a crack in a mirror, right where the force of his punch had struck.
Li Dao himself was startled by that punch. He had known his strength would soar after breaking through to the Cave Heaven Realm.
But he had never expected a single punch to nearly shatter space, even if that was partly because the Pocket World's space was fragile.
Even so, his punch was nothing to scoff at.
After testing his strength a little more, he turned his gaze to the Yin-Yang Pool beneath his feet.
He had not forgotten his earlier plan to explore its depths. Finding a bone fragment in it meant there had to be some sort of skeleton below.
Perhaps the remains of this place's owner lay at the bottom of the pool.
Although the water had become exceptionally clear, its depths remained profound. His eyes brimmed with eagerness as he looked down.
Before that, however, there was something else he needed to do.
His figure flashed, and he appeared in the air above the Medicine Field, looking down at its black medicinal soil.
Although he had stripped away all the treasure medicine growing there, the soil itself was still quite valuable.
Who knew how many stalks of treasure medicine had withered and grown upon it, falling to the ground and becoming mud that nourished the soil?
If Shi Hao were here, perhaps even this medicinal soil would have ended up in his stomach.
Li Dao chuckled and unleashed the power of the Cave Heavens behind him, releasing his divine power along with it.
He moved the entire Medicine Field straight into his own Cave Heaven.
A Cave Heaven was, by its very nature, a pot heaven-a world contained within a vessel. Using it for storage was naturally no trouble.
"Pluck feathers from passing geese, strip hides from passing beasts."
"I'm even scraping the ground three inches deep!"
Li Dao thought with a touch of self-mockery that poverty was to blame for everything!
He immediately returned to the Yin-Yang Pool, hoping there were still treasures below that could plump up his little private stash.
Divine light shone from his eyes as he looked toward the bottom, his gaze piercing straight through the clear water.
At the bottom of the pool, he saw a transparent membrane that blocked his gaze outright.
Without further hesitation, he enveloped himself in the protection of the Black-and-Yellow Furnace and plunged straight toward the bottom.
As he descended, Li Dao saw strange images engraved upon the surrounding stone walls.
"Could these be a record of this place's owner's entire life?"
Li Dao swept his divine sense over them. The further he descended, the more he learned.
The stone walls recorded how a Venerable Realm Yin-Yang Flood Dragon had created a Pocket World within the Taiyin River to escape capture by "immortals" from the Upper Realm.
Yet during another excursion, someone from the Upper Realm had still discovered it. Fortunately, it had only been grievously wounded and had managed to escape.
Its origin had been damaged, however, so it had prepared to forcibly ignite its divine flame within the Pocket World.
But with the lower realm's laws incomplete, how could igniting a divine flame be easy? It had simply perished in meditation.
Its flesh had returned to the Pocket World, becoming this Yin-Yang Pool.
Li Dao stopped descending and approached the engraving of the enemy who had wounded the Yin-Yang Flood Dragon.
The face was too indistinct to make out, but above the figure's head stood an ancient Bronze Immortal Palace radiating divine light.
"Could the person who wounded the Yin-Yang Flood Dragon have belonged to the Immortal Palace?"
He reached out to touch it. The next instant, a man resembling a Heavenly God abruptly appeared in the air above him.
Clad in Golden Battle Armor and holding a Three-Pointed Double-Edged Halberd, the man exuded lofty indifference.
His overwhelming presence could change the winds and clouds with a single movement.
Behind him stood an ancient bronze palace powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth.
As Li Dao looked over, a distant
voice drifted toward him.
"Ant of the lower realm, will you still not submit to execution?!"
Then the Bronze Immortal Palace descended. Li Dao felt as though everything before his eyes had been consumed by the ancient palace's phantom.
The next instant, he was back in the Yin-Yang Pool, but fine beads of sweat had unknowingly covered his back.
"Whew-"
"What a terrifying presence. It was only a phantom, yet it possessed such power."
"And judging by that Bronze Immortal Palace, he must have been someone from the Immortal Palace!"
"This Yin-Yang Flood Dragon really was unlucky. It escaped being harvested as blood food by a sect leader, only to run into a disciple of a great sect searching for opportunities in the lower realm."
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