However, Chu Bai simply looked up coldly, his Divine Thought stirring.
His three-thousand-foot Divine Thought, which had been spreading out like a spiderweb, now faintly exuded a tangible sense of pressure.
After several double-hours of high-intensity hunting, his Divine Thought, cultivated through the Guardian Scripture, was beginning to show signs of shifting toward Solidification.
The Divine Thought, sharp as a blade, twisted violently around the Floating Mother’s core.
’It’s still not strong enough to be projected outward to kill enemies. The power is lacking.’
’But it’s more than enough to stun their minds and catch them off guard.’
Immediately after, Chu Bai flicked his fingertips, sending out several Spirit Water Needles that precisely pierced the openings created when the creature was stunned by his Divine Thought.
The Floating Mother exploded, transforming into motes of cyan light. Chu Bai’s figure flashed. He caught the Cyan Nether Pearl it left behind in mid-air and slipped it into his sleeve, his movements as smooth as flowing water.
Along the way, he also handily dispatched several Headless Stone Warriors lurking in the shadows.
These stone warriors had bodies like iron, difficult to harm with ordinary Dharma Artifacts. But before Chu Bai’s Iron Bone Casting Body Technique—strong enough to block an Upper Grade Dharma Artifact head-on—and his Golden Eye Shattering Illusion, they were as fragile as clay pots.
At this moment, the Merit Seal at Chu Bai’s waist flickered again.
’The deeper I go, the stronger these abominations are, and the higher the probability of them dropping a Cyan Nether Pearl.’
Chu Bai was about to speed up when two intense fluctuations of Spiritual Pressure suddenly burst into his Divine Thought’s range.
Beside a collapsed medicinal garden, two cultivators at Qi Cultivation Perfection were fighting with bloodshot eyes.
"I found this Spirit Transformation Grass first! Liu the Third, you dare try to double-cross me in the Secret Realm!" a blue-robed cultivator roared, his Magic Sword creating a sky full of sword shadows.
"Bah! There are no laws in this Secret Realm! Finders keepers! This stalk contains Divine Dao Pure Qi. Refining it is worth ten points of Merit. It belongs to whoever can take it!" The skinny man opposite him held a long whip and laughed coldly.
In the outside world, such Celestial and Earthly Treasures are all controlled by the Government, and ordinary cultivators rarely get to see them.
Unless it was a place beyond the reach of the Law Net, but ordinary people rarely ventured into such territories.
Now that they were in this land without a master, the greed suppressed in their hearts burned like wildfire.
Chu Bai crouched in the shadow of a stone pillar over a thousand feet away, his expression cold and detached.
’Let them fight. There’s no hurry to get involved.’
Chu Bai directly used Fire Step Ascension, circling around from the other side of the shadows. His target was an unusually quiet place he had sensed with his Divine Thought.
A moment later, after passing through a patch of scorched woodland, the scene before him made him stop in his tracks.
It was an extremely dilapidated little temple.
The temple was situated at a crossroads in the ruins. It was only half a man’s height, its tiles long since shattered to dust. On the plaque above the door, he could faintly make out the two characters for "Land God."
In this massive Secret Realm filled with Evil Qi and monsters, the temple seemed completely out of place.
’There’s actually a Land God Temple?’
’This is a Secret Realm, but there are Divine Spirits being worshiped here?’
Chu Bai’s brow furrowed slightly.
Bearing the Golden Seal Decree, he could clearly feel a faint, ancient, and pure trace of divinity remaining deep within the dilapidated temple’s foundation.
The few Cyan Nether Pearls stored in his sleeve suddenly began to tremble in unison, resonating with it.
An idea sparked in Chu Bai’s mind. He took out a Cyan Nether Pearl and slowly walked toward the cracked clay statue of the Land God.
As he approached, a faint light, like a candle flickering in the wind, actually appeared in the clay statue’s dull eyes.
The Divine Dao Fragment inside the Cyan Nether Pearl seemed to be drawn by a magnet, slowly drifting toward the divine statue.
However, the light only flickered for three breaths before dimming again due to a lack of energy.
’It’s reacting.’
A stunning glint erupted in Chu Bai’s eyes.
’Its spirituality is lost, but it’s not dead.’
He looked back toward the deeper parts of the Secret Realm. The powerful auras roaring within the cyan mist were no longer threats in his eyes, but rather supplies waiting to be harvested.
’If I can collect enough Cyan Nether Pearls to continue making offerings and light up this statue, what will happen?’
’Since hunting Demon Beasts grants Merit, making offerings to a divine statue might be a shortcut.’
’I must seize the initiative to uncover the secrets here!’
Without the slightest hesitation, Chu Bai’s figure shot forward, and he charged headfirst into the densest part of the cyan mist, where the monsters were thickest.
Stepping out of the dilapidated Land God Temple, Chu Bai’s gaze was like a torch, and the aura around him changed abruptly.
If he had been exploring cautiously before, then after confirming the connection between the divine statue and the Cyan Nether Pearls, he had completely transformed into an efficient harvester.
His three-thousand-foot Divine Thought expanded wildly in all directions like a tidal wave.
Under the precise control of the Guardian Scripture, his Divine Thought bypassed the conflicts between cultivators with extremely strong Spiritual Power fluctuations, specifically targeting clusters of Evil Qi.
’Southeast. Twenty-six hundred feet. Ruined corridor.’
Chu Bai recited the location in his mind. His body flickered, and Fire Step Ascension erupted instantly.
He moved like a bolt of cyan lightning, weaving through the broken tiles and flickering shadows without even stirring the wind.
In the shadow of a collapsed palace wall up ahead, a pack of Nightmare Corpse Dogs was patrolling.
There were more than ten of these Exotic Beasts, each one as stout as a calf. Gray-cyan Evil Qi wove into armor over their fur, a clear sign of Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation.
They breathed out thick cyan smoke, their eyes gleaming with a hungry green light in the dense fog.
A pack of Exotic Beasts this large would be a headache even for the famous Qi Cultivation Perfection disciples from Dayuan Prefecture; they would need to use powerful treasures in coordination with an Array to take them down.
But Chu Bai merely snorted and stepped directly out of the shadows.
The lead Nightmare Corpse Dog keenly sensed the presence of a living person. It roared, and the dozen or so vicious dogs instantly erupted, transforming into over ten cold afterimages as they pounced on Chu Bai from all directions.
’Too slow.’
Chu Bai stood his ground, his calmness almost unnerving.
Formless Cloud Hand!
His hands moved as if parting the clouds to reveal the sun, creating a strange rhythm.
When the first vicious dog lunged for his chest, Chu Bai casually guided it aside. The force, strong enough to shatter a decorative rockery, was instantly neutralized, and the dog uncontrollably crashed into one of its packmates.
Immediately after, Chu Bai formed a sword-hand with his right hand, the blue light at his fingertips flaring.
Spirit Water Needle!
This time, it wasn’t a single shot. Dozens of Water Needles, as fine as ox hair and condensed like crystal, shot out in a fan shape.
Each needle seemed to have eyes of its own, bypassing the hard bones and shells to accurately pierce the dogs’ Evil Qi joints and core flames.
A series of dull pops echoed one after another.
The Nightmare Corpse Dogs leaping through the air suddenly stiffened. Then, like punctured balloons, the Evil Qi within them vented out wildly.
One particularly powerful Dog Monarch broke through the blockade of Water Needles, its sharp claws slashing viciously at Chu Bai’s shoulder.
CLANG!
A crisp sound of metal striking stone rang out.
Chu Bai’s cyan robe was slightly torn, revealing skin underneath that looked like it was cast from fine steel.
Empowered by his Perfection-level Iron Bone Casting Body Technique, an attack from a Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation beast couldn’t even break his skin.
Chu Bai grabbed back, seizing the Dog Monarch’s head and releasing a pulse of Spiritual Power.
BANG!
The Dog Monarch’s massive head exploded on cue.
In just a few dozen breaths, the entire patrol pack—strong enough to wipe out an ordinary trial team—had been reduced to a floor of cyan smoke.
As the Evil Qi dissipated, a collection of faint cyan lights fell to the ground with a series of CLINKs and CLANKs.
With a wave of his large sleeve, Chu Bai swept his Spiritual Power over them, and a total of thirteen Cyan Nether Pearls landed in his palm.
’Killing mobs like this raises my rank extremely quickly.’
Chu Bai weighed the pearls in his hand. They were warm to the touch and carried a trace of divinity.
The golden light flowing inside these thirteen pearls was much richer than the one from before. Clearly, this pack of vicious dogs had patrolled these ruins for years, devouring a great deal of the residual divine aura.
Without pausing, he turned and returned to the Land God Temple before the scent of blood could attract more trouble.
Standing before the clay statue of the Land God once again, Chu Bai took out all thirteen Cyan Nether Pearls at once.
’It only glowed faintly before. With over a dozen this time, let’s see what you can really do.’
He placed the pearls on the altar, circulated his Spiritual Power, and gave them a gentle push.
In that instant, the entire dilapidated little temple was enveloped in a faint, cyan-gold Spiritual Light.
The clay statue of the Land God emitted a groaning creak as if under a great burden. Its cracked outer layer began to peel away, revealing an inner substance that, though ancient, radiated a sacred aura.
At that moment, the Land God statue’s eyes finally lit up completely!

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