Not Convinced?
"What?"
Upon hearing this news, Yi Xuan sat up abruptly in bed and asked incredulously, "What's going on? No. 2 Base deployed so many sentries around the valley, how could they have been discovered? And what's the point of the early warning system? How could it not even know it was under attack?"
It's no wonder Yi Xuan was angry. He only had three bases that he could be proud of. One of them was the earliest No. 1 Base. And because No. 1 Base was located within the territory of the Azure Cloud Sect, Yi Xuan did not plan too many guard and defense facilities.
On one hand, Yi Xuan believed in the strength of his sect; on the other hand, if they encountered an attack that even the sect couldn't withstand, Yi Xuan probably wouldn't have any good solutions.
In addition, No. 1 Base is located within the territory of the Azure Cloud Sect. Although the higher-ups of the Azure Cloud Sect are aware of some of what Yi Xuan has done, it is only the tip of the iceberg. Yi Xuan is worried that if he deploys too many defensive measures, it will cause unnecessary misunderstandings if the Azure Cloud Sect disciples discover it.
Another one is the Artifact Sect Ring on Yi Xuan's hand. After half a year of hard work, Yi Xuan has built a complete portable research center in it. In order to better control this research center, Yi Xuan even took one of the only two blank souls he had and remade a supercomputer equipped with the Primordial AI and put it in it.
The last one is Yi Xuan's No. 2 Base, which is the base below the valley where Shi Zhenghao went into seclusion.
The security and defense system there was something Yi Xuan had put a lot of effort into building, but he never expected it to become useless in the first attack.
"Boss, this explosion didn't come from outside, so it's understandable that the defense system didn't issue a warning!"
"What?"
Yi Xuan could hardly believe it. It wasn't from the outside? So someone had infiltrated them?
Before Yi Xuan could speak, No. 01 explained, "The mountain where your senior brother was in seclusion was blown open from the inside. This is what it looked like at the time!"
After he finished speaking, Yi Xuan's bracelet projected the scene from that moment in front of him.
It actually happened just over ten minutes ago.
The mountain range where Shi Zhenghao had been in seclusion was still very quiet, but suddenly the birds that lived on the mountain seemed to be frightened and flew away from the top of the mountain in flocks.
After that, the mountain became even more chaotic, with wild boars, deer, monkeys and other animals constantly coming down the mountain.
Then the commotion became even more exaggerated; the entire mountain range began to tremble, as if an earthquake had occurred. However, unlike an earthquake, only this one mountain range was trembling.
Not long after, there was a loud 'boom' and the cave where Shi Zhenghao was located collapsed completely.
However, Yi Xuan was not worried about his senior brother, because from what he had seen so far, Yi Xuan was certain that it was his dear senior brother who had caused all this commotion.
Then, as if to confirm Yi Xuan's guess, the mountain suddenly split open with a loud bang.
It's as if someone chopped it in half with an axe; what was originally a round, bulging hilltop has become two semi-circular hilltops, one on the left and one on the right.
A person enveloped in golden light was floating between the two mountain peaks.
No. 01 thoughtfully zoomed in, bringing Shi Zhenghao's face directly to Yi Xuan's view.
"No. 01, conduct a Spiritual Power test on my senior brother and tell me the final result!"
It was obvious that Shi Zhenghao had broken through to the Golden Core Realm, but just to be on the safe side, Yi Xuan still had No. No. 01 check him with a Spiritual Qi detector.
"Boss, after testing, Shi Zhenghao's Spiritual Power fluctuations have indeed reached the Golden Core Realm stage! However..."
"But what...? Where did you learn this bad habit of speaking in riddles? What's the problem? Just say it!"
Despite Yi Xuan's outward reprimand of No. 01, he was actually quite satisfied with No. 01's performance. The current No. 01 was completely different from what it was six months ago. On the one hand, its intelligence had improved significantly, and on the other hand, its way of speaking was exactly like that of a real human. You could even hear the emotions in its tone of voice.
Unfazed by Yi Xuan's reprimand, No. 01 continued to explain, "Boss, Shi Zhenghao's Spiritual Power fluctuations do indeed surpass those of the Golden Core Realm cultivator. It's just that he surpasses them by a considerable margin!"
"A lot? What do you mean? Did he skip the Early-stage Golden Core and go straight to the Mid-stage Golden Core?"
This situation does exist. There are many geniuses in the Cultivation Realm who, due to their profound accumulation in the previous realm, can skip the initial stage of that realm when breaking through to a higher realm. It seems that Shi Zhenghao is one such example.
"Boss, he might have jumped even more? He's at the Late-stage Golden Core!"
In any case, Yi Xuan could not have imagined that his senior brother could break through a major realm and then jump two minor realms in a row. This was no longer a matter of how deep his accumulation was. Yi Xuan even suspected that this guy might have actually advanced to the Golden Core Realm before, but later encountered an enemy and had his realm knocked down by the enemy.
Otherwise, how can we explain his leapfrogging through two minor realms?
Thinking of this, Yi Xuan lost all interest in resting. He left a note for Liang Shi and the other two, saying that he would return to the mountain gate that night and ask his senior brother, the sect leader, to drop the warrant for Qian Lei's arrest.
After that, Yi Xuan piloted the Firmament towards No. 2 Base.
The Xia Kingdom wasn't far from No. 2 Base, and Yi Xuan returned in just two hours.
When the Firmament flew into the valley, Shi Zhenghao was still floating motionless in mid-air above the split mountaintop, his eyes closed, looking like a hermit sage.
When Yi Xuan saw Shi Zhenghao like this, he knew that the guy's flamboyant side was kicking in again. He was standing still, clearly waiting for Yi Xuan to return so he could show off his charm Golden Core True Person.
Shi Zhenghao sensed his junior brother's presence, so he withdrew the golden light around him and slowly opened his eyes.
Unfortunately, what greeted him was not Yi Xuan himself, but the Firmament hovering in front of him.
Shi Zhenghao spotted Yi Xuan sitting inside through the glass of the Firmament and laughed, "Hahaha, junior brother, how's it going? I've advanced to the Golden Core stage! You can't hold me back anymore! My speed has increased by a million times, you'll never beat me again! Dare to have a contest?"
Yi Xuan hadn't expected that his victory over Shi Zhenghao with the Firmament last time would make Shi Zhenghao so bothered. Now, after breaking through his cultivation level, Shi Zhenghao was even more eager to compete with him.
Then Yi Xuan's voice came from the Firmament: "You're not convinced, are you? Today, your junior brother will make you admit defeat!"