The Power of Foundation Establishment, No Trace of an Old Friend
"Call..."
Dongfang Yueming exhaled a long breath.
The aura was no longer ordinary white mist, but transformed into an extremely condensed white arrow of energy, which shot out and left a bottomless hole in a boulder a hundred feet away!
This is the power of Foundation Establishment!
He could clearly feel that he had undergone a fundamental transformation!
The spiritual power within his body had long since transformed into a more advanced and refined form of "magic power"! Its quality and quantity were more than a hundred times greater than when Innate Perfection!
Within his Sea of Consciousness, his Divine Sense transformed into a vast and boundless golden ocean! In the blink of an eye, it could cover an area of a hundred miles, discerning the smallest details, and capable of harming people with even the smallest flying flower or plucked leaf!
After undergoing the baptism of the "Heaven-Grade Dao Foundation," his physical body became as if cast from divine metal, indestructible! His lifespan also skyrocketed to an unbelievable level—five thousand years!
He simply floated silently in mid-air, as if he were in his own world, completely out of place with the rest of the world, yet... above it all!
Is this what Foundation Establishment is?
Dongfang Yueming clenched his fist, feeling the terrifying power within his body that seemed capable of destroying the world, yet his heart remained completely calm.
His entire focus was on only one thing.
[The Nine Nether Secret Realm...]
[Shi Qing...]
Without the slightest hesitation, he transformed into a golden streak of light, tearing through the sky and hurtling towards the direction Lin Bo'an had indicated at a terrifying speed more than ten times faster than before!
In less than half an hour.
Dongfang Yueming, they had already traversed tens of thousands of kilometers and arrived at the location of the "Nine Nether Secret Realm" marked on the map.
It was a vast, boundless, black wasteland.
The earth was a strange, scorched black, barren of all vegetation.
A faint, chilling aura of malevolence permeated the air.
However...
Dongfang Yueming hovered in mid-air, his powerful Divine Sense sweeping across the desolate wasteland below like an invisible giant net, again and again.
There was nothing there.
There was no entrance to the secret realm, no trace of spatial fluctuations, and not even the slightest hint of a living being!
The so-called "Nine Nether Secret Realm" vanished without a trace, as if it had evaporated from the face of the earth!
Dongfang Yueming's heart sank suddenly!
What happened?!
[Could it be... that Lin Bo'an is lying to me?!]
No... that's impossible.
He immediately dismissed the guess.
He believed that after witnessing his strength, the old man would never dare to deceive him with such a thing.
So... where exactly did things go wrong?
He forcibly suppressed his anxiety, pushed his Divine Sense to its limit, and explored in a more distant direction.
Soon, he discovered a temporary market town, a hundred miles away, where people were gathered.
Inside a tavern in the market town.
A core disciple dressed in the robes of the Heavenly Star Sect, whose cultivation had reached the Late-Stage Innate, was being surrounded by a group of rogue cultivators, who treated him like a star surrounded by the moon.
"Senior Brother Li! You are truly amazing! You actually managed to escape unscathed from that ' Nine Nether Secret Realm '!"
"Yes! Yes! I heard that over a hundred people entered the secret realm this time! In the end, less than one or two out of ten came out alive!"
Upon hearing this, Senior Brother Li revealed a smug smile. He picked up his wine cup, downed it in one gulp, and said with feigned profundity, "Hmph! What's so special about the mere Nine Nether Secret Realm? If it weren't for... some unexpected events, I would have already..."
Just as he was getting into his boasting...
A calm voice, without warning, rang in his ears.
Where is the Nine Nether Secret Realm?
Upon hearing this, Senior Brother Li frowned!
He was getting into the swing of things when he was interrupted, and a nameless anger suddenly rose in his heart!
He turned his head, about to lash out, but when he met those eyes, deep as the starry sky, all his words instantly caught in his throat!
An indescribable, terrifying pressure, powerful enough to freeze his very soul, descended with a deafening roar!
"S-Senior..." His voice was incredibly dry and hoarse from extreme fear, "You... you asked this..."
"Where is it?" Dongfang Yueming asked again.
"Reporting... Reporting to Senior!" Senior Brother Li dared not be negligent in the slightest and hurriedly replied in a trembling voice, "That... that secret realm... it... it suddenly disappeared three days ago!"
"What?!"
Dongfang Yueming's heart sank to the bottom!
He grabbed the other man by the collar and demanded sharply, "Disappeared?! What does that mean?!"
"Senior... Senior, spare my life!" Senior Brother Li was terrified and hurriedly explained, "Ancient secret realms like this are inherently unstable spatial fragments! They could collapse and disappear completely at any time due to energy depletion! No one can say for sure!"
Dongfang Yueming released her grip.
His gaze slowly swept over the other people in the tavern.
Everyone whose gaze fell upon him was terrified and lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes!
But their reactions have already said it all.
Dongfang Yueming slowly closed his eyes.
Involuntarily, the image of that stubborn yet aloof... beautiful woman appeared in his mind.
[Shi Qing...]
Are you... still alive?