A faint stream of dark gold light flowed just beneath Chu Bai’s skin. The toxic slurry, potent enough to corrode an Upper Grade Dharma Artifact, could only leave a few white marks on his iron-tough body, failing to penetrate even an inch of his flesh.
"My turn."
Chu Bai snorted coldly. Like a heavy artillery shell, he shot forward, instantly closing the distance with one of the giant apes.
Seeing its Magic Technique was useless, the giant ape flew into a rage. It swung its millstone-sized fist, smashing down with the power to shatter mountains and crack stone.
Chu Bai didn’t use the Spirit Water Needle or summon the Fire Element Ring. Instead, he chose the most primitive, most ferocious method: a direct clash.
A large fist and a small one collided violently in mid-air.
The giant ape’s fist, nearly half the size of Chu Bai’s entire body, let out a sickening crack of bone upon impact.
Chu Bai’s Power, refined to the Microscopic level, surged from his iron fist into the ape’s body, instantly shattering the meridians throughout its entire arm.
As it roared in pain, Chu Bai pressed his advantage. He formed his right hand into a blade and precisely stabbed it into the ape’s thickly-furred throat.
Microscopic-level Power erupted!
The ape’s massive head shot into the air.
Seeing its companion’s brutal death, the other giant ape’s eyes turned blood-red. Its Essence Blood seemed to ignite, its aura surging violently as it clapped its arms together, trying to crush Chu Bai between them.
"Die!"
Chu Bai spun around and slammed his elbow into the giant ape’s sternum.
The powerful recoil made Chu Bai’s qi and blood churn, but in that moment, his tyrannical physique displayed its overwhelming advantage.
He withstood the giant ape’s crushing grip, then whipped his right hand around. His nails, like sharp blades, dug into the creature’s ribs.
Formless Cloud Hand: Tearing Sinews and Shattering Bones!
CRUNCH—!
The giant ape’s massive body was swung about in Chu Bai’s grip like a limp ragdoll before he smashed it into the nearby ruins of the Land Altar.
Dozens of breaths later, the final, shrill screech of the ape died out, and silence returned to the ruins.
Chu Bai calmed his ragged breaths. His clothes were torn, but the restrained killing intent about him had grown even more concentrated.
The two giant ape corpses on the ground dissolved into wisps of green smoke, leaving behind six Cyan Nether Pearls. Their color was richer than before, and they even held a faint purple hue.
’Two against one, and it took less than a hundred breaths.’
Chu Bai picked up the pearls, his gaze falling upon the glimmer of true Spiritual Light emanating from deep within the ancient well.
Before the Evil Qi from the two dissipated apes could even settle, Chu Bai leaped into a fissure in the ruins of the ancient well.
The fissure opened into a hidden grotto. Because the Earth Vein Spiritual Mechanism was sealed tight by the Land God’s divinity, the soil here had taken on a strange, dark purple color.
Nestled in the purple soil, over a dozen blood-red herbs with translucent, coral-like leaves swayed gently, emitting a life force that was both alluring and violent.
"Blood Spirit Grass."
A flicker of joy passed through Chu Bai’s eyes.
This Spirit Grass was extremely famous in the outside world due to its incredibly harsh growing conditions. It could only be nurtured in places where the Divine Dao had collapsed, and where Blood Evil and the Spiritual Mechanism intertwined.
To a Body Refining Cultivator, it was a divine medicine capable of completely reforging one’s body.
Chu Bai crouched down and, with skilled hands, plucked the Blood Spirit Grasses one by one, roots and all.
He counted them. There were fourteen in total.
Staring at the Spirit Grass in his hand, which pulsed with a rich Essence of Qi and Blood, Chu Bai hesitated for a moment. He then plucked the plumpest one and put it straight into his mouth, beginning to chew.
The moment the juice went down his throat, a searing heat, like molten lava, erupted in his esophagus.
Had it been anyone else, daring to so recklessly consume a Blood Spirit Grass that hadn’t been refined into a Pill, their meridians would have been instantly obliterated by the potent medicinal power, causing their body to explode.
However, on Chu Bai’s chest, the Nourishing and Exquisite Fate Chart suddenly flared with a brilliant, faint light.
Under the Fate Chart’s forceful suppression and conversion, the nearly berserk energy of qi and blood rapidly became docile, flowing into Chu Bai’s limbs and bones like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.
His Iron Bone Casting Body Technique, already at the Minor Achievement stage, greedily drank in the energy. The dark gold luster beneath his skin deepened.
The very moment the medicinal power was fully refined, the Merit Seal at Chu Bai’s waist trembled.
[Merit: +10]
’Killing a Late-stage Qi Cultivation Exotic Beast only grants a few points of Merit, but refining a single Spirit Grass gives me even more?’
Chu Bai opened his eyes, a hint of doubt in his gaze. ’The rules of this Celestial Examination... are rather unreasonable.’
It was said that refining the Spiritual Mechanism could stabilize one’s Destiny and increase Merit, but the amount was unexpected. It gave him an inexplicable sense of discord.
’A full ten points of Merit... Doesn’t that mean I’d have to go through the trouble of killing several fiends just to match the reward from this one Spirit Grass?’
"Hehehe..."
Suddenly, an old, hoarse chuckle came from the clay statue behind Chu Bai.
"You Travelers are all the same, every time you come. Seizing the world’s Spiritual Mechanism for your own use... so carefree, so happy!"
The Land God’s small, elderly voice was no longer muddled as before. Instead, it carried a desolate quality, as if it had seen through the ages.
Chu Bai’s heart leaped in shock. He ignored the power surging through his body and whipped his head around to look at the clay statue in his basket.
The clay statue’s eyes were not only bright but even held a lifelike sparkle. It sighed. "You rob, you seize, you consume it all. Then you dust yourselves off and leave, never to return... leaving this lonely little old me to wither away in this desolate tomb, waiting for the next hundred years."
His words were clear, his emotions complex—these were by no means the mad ramblings of a being that had lost its Spirituality!
"Land God, you... you’ve recovered your memories?"
Chu Bai’s pupils constricted. He lowered his voice and asked, "The ’Travelers’ you just mentioned... are you referring to Trial Takers like me, participating in the Celestial Examination? Has this Secret Realm been opened before?"
In response to Chu Bai’s question, it was as if the little clay man’s life force was suddenly cut off.
The light in its eyes quickly faded, returning to that dull, vacant look.
It opened its mouth, only to mechanically repeat, "Food... show way... yummy food... over there..."
It was as if that sharp, sarcastic tirade had just been Chu Bai’s illusion.
’Perhaps it has been opened before. That would be normal. After all, for a Secret Realm to be used repeatedly as an examination ground would be standard.’
’But the impact left by previous Cultivators might not have completely dissipated.’
’Could it be that someone made offerings in the past, allowing the Land God to receive Incense Fire Will Power, only for it to be abruptly cut off, breeding resentment...’
Chu Bai put away the remaining Blood Spirit Grass, his expression growing heavy.
"Way... way is over there..."
The clay Land God once again gave a muffled direction. A golden thread pointed deeper into the ruins, toward the shimmering silhouette of a palace shrouded in lightning.
Chu Bai took a deep breath, suppressing the countless thoughts racing through his mind.
Whatever the truth behind it all, for him at this stage, growing stronger was the only truth that mattered.
"Let’s go, old man."
The Cyan Netherworld mist was like a heavy lead curtain. As Chu Bai shot past, the force of his passage ripped a long gash in it, which then swiftly closed behind him.
Had it been any other trial taker, they likely would have been content to retreat after finding a treasure as great as fourteen stalks of Blood Spirit Grass.
After all, this Secret Realm was exceptionally dangerous; quitting while you were ahead was the sensible choice.
Even those with outstanding combat prowess wouldn’t linger in a dangerous area without solid intelligence, lest they attract even more terrifying evils.
But Chu Bai was different.
He tilted his head slightly, his peripheral vision glancing at the seemingly lifeless clay statue in his basket.
Within the vision of his Sea of Consciousness, enhanced by the Land God’s divinity, the faint golden threads of the Earth Vein had not dimmed when the Blood Spirit Grass was uprooted. Instead, as he ventured deeper, they gradually converged into a current as thick as a bowl, swirling like a golden dragon.
’The Blood Spirit Grass is merely a byproduct, nourished by a leak from the Earth Vein Spiritual Mechanism. The true source lies below, in the deepest part of the Underground Palace.’
’There should be a treasure there, but the terrain here...’
’It doesn’t look natural. There might be something else inside.’

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