In the tranquil space, a figure sat cross-legged, his body as still as a stubborn rock.
It has been an unknown amount of time since Xiao Yan absorbed and refined the Pill Qi into his body. All that is known is that the abundant Pill Qi within his body, limbs and bones, has been condensed several times and transformed into streams of special spiritual energy, which are being continuously absorbed and assimilated by the Soul Origin.
By now, Xiao Yan's remaining unabsorbed Pill Qi was nearly depleted, and his immense Soul Power was sealed within his body, constantly compressed and condensed. Yet, a wisp of it separated from the crown of his head, connecting with heaven and earth, subtly sensing the power of the universe to aid his attempt to break through to the Tier Eight Soul.
Xiao Yan's Spiritual Strength is now so strong that it has reached the perfect state of the seventh-level high stage, and he is only one step away from the Tier Eight Soul power. If he successfully breaks through to the Tier Eight Soul now, then Xiao Yan will naturally be more confident in competing for the championship in the subsequent competitions.
Countless hours passed quietly.
At a certain moment, Xiao Yan suddenly opened his half-closed eyes, his gaze flashing with a sharp light. At the same time, an extremely powerful Spiritual Strength suddenly burst forth from the top of his head, transforming into an invisible energy pillar that shot straight to the top of the illusionary space. The terrifying energy wave immediately raged within this space, reaching hundreds of feet away, before crashing heavily against the barrier of the space, causing the entire space to tremble incessantly.
Throughout this time, Xiao Yan clenched his teeth, his face always showing a solemn expression. After all, the perfection of his Spiritual Strength this time relied on external factors to increase, and he didn't have much confidence in successfully breaking through to the eighth rank. However, the current situation was restrictive, and the number of Tier Eight Alchemist participating in the Pill Gathering far exceeded his expectations. He had no choice but to try to break through. Fortunately, this illusionary space provided this opportunity; otherwise, even if he really wanted to break through, he probably wouldn't have had any chance.
As for whether this would affect the progress of the competition, Xiao Yan was not too worried. On that day, not only did they enter the illusionary realm before the alchemists who followed, but the illusory bodies formed by the Fragrance-Nurturing Pill in the illusionary realm were also quite troublesome. Among the alchemists participating in the Pill Gathering, he believed that apart from a few people who had the means to deal with the illusory bodies in a short time, the rest would not necessarily be able to deal with them easily.
Xiao Yan didn't spend too much time absorbing the Pill Qi, so it shouldn't be too late to take this opportunity to break through to the Tier Eight Soul. However, even so, to be on the safe side, Xiao Yan decided that regardless of the success or failure of this breakthrough, he would leave this Pill Sea Illusion Realm.
The astonishing phenomenon within the space lasted for most of the day before gradually weakening, and the result was exactly as Xiao Yan had initially guessed—ultimately ending in failure.
Xiao Yan didn't have many feelings about this. After all, he hadn't had much hope for consecutive breakthroughs from the beginning. The result was quite satisfactory. Moreover, his Soul Power didn't suffer any backlash during the process of retrieving his Spiritual Strength after the failed breakthrough, which was a great stroke of luck for Xiao Yan.
Furthermore, through this experience of breaking through to the eighth rank, Xiao Yan has gained a more accurate understanding of the barrier before the Tier Eight Soul. It is conceivable that if he were to break through again in the future, the situation would be much better than this time. At that time, it is possible that everything would go smoothly.
After resting for a while, Xiao Yan waved his hand lightly, and a stream of pink light shot out, stopping in the space about ten feet in front of him. It was the Fragrance-Nurturing Pill.
With his five fingers spread out, a Origin Qi was poured into the Fragrance-Nurturing Pill from his palm. As his palm slowly rotated, the light on the Fragrance-Nurturing Pill gradually intensified and also began to rotate. After a moment, the light condensed into a vortex about ten feet wide in front of Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan lightly lifted his foot, and with a flash, he disappeared into it.
Inside the venue of Fallen Immortal City.
At this moment, the numerous black cauldrons that were originally on the platform were moved to the edge of the platform, forming a huge ring that surrounds the platform.
There were many alchemists standing on the platform, including Xu Qinghe, Huoxun Mingcheng, and others. The old man surnamed Zhong also stood in a corner of the platform with a beaming smile, seemingly quite satisfied with his trip to the Pill Sea Illusion Realm.
Somewhere in the crowd, Xiao Siyu frowned slightly, her face filled with worry as she scanned back and forth between the remaining misty passages in the sky.
Two months have passed since she retrieved the pill and then ventured into the Pill Sea Illusion Realm. While this timeframe may seem insignificant to them, all the alchemists who entered the Pill Sea Illusion Realm Pills with Xiao Yan have already emerged. Even Xiao Siyu broke free half a month ago. Yet, there's still no sign of Xiao Yan's return. Even if the illusionary body is troublesome, surely it shouldn't have come to this?
On the dais.
Yuwen Zong glanced at the crowd on the platform below, then suddenly smiled at Chen Xuanling beside him:
"Old Chen, you seemed to have a high opinion of Xiao Yan before, but now the Pill Sea Illusion Realm has been open for more than two months, and Xiao Yan is still trapped. If we wait until we close the Illusionary Realm, he will be eliminated like the other trapped people."
Upon hearing this, Chen Xuanling frowned slightly, sighed softly, and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"Sigh, what can we do? Even I can't investigate the illusion Xiao Yan is in, so who knows what happened to that little guy? If he still can't break out after noon, then he can't blame anyone else."
At the end of his sentence, Chen Xuanling shook his head with a slight hint of regret, but his gaze involuntarily drifted to a certain spot on the stage, where Xiao Ming and Murong Qianqian were sitting. Judging from the girl's worried expression, she was clearly quite nervous about Xiao Yan's delayed appearance. However, Xiao Ming, sitting upright beside her, had his eyes half-closed, and his calm face showed no sign of worry, which surprised Chen Xuanling slightly.
Even though Xiao Ming is naturally indifferent, judging from their recent meetings, he clearly cares a great deal about these two younger members of the clan. However, the fact that Xiao Ming can still wait so calmly now surprised Chen Xuanling.
Could it be that Xiao Yan has some trump card that guarantees his escape from the illusion?
"Buzz!"
As Chen Xuanling frowned in deep thought, a buzzing sound suddenly came from a misty passage in the sky. Then, a bright light shone from the passage, and a black figure slowly walked out to greet the sunlight.
As the light faded, Xiao Siyu in the crowd below and several people on the platform simultaneously turned their gazes toward the man in black robes. Upon seeing his face clearly, they all couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief for him.
The person who escaped from the illusion was naturally Xiao Yan.