Chapter 2247: Deep in the Mountain Stream

Scratching his head vigorously, he looked closely and only then noticed that the Kṣitigarbha spiritual liquid in his palm, along with the cracks appearing in the membrane, was constantly volatilizing outward, as if the membrane was meant to protect the power from dissipating, but now that it was damaged, it could no longer maintain the stability of the spiritual liquid.

"Where did all the spiritual energy scatter to?"

With a look of anxiety, he wanted to see if he could retrieve the dissipated spiritual energy, but as soon as he looked, he couldn't help but stagger.

He saw that both the membrane and the spiritual energy were being absorbed by the young man sitting not far away, not a trace left behind.

He himself couldn't absorb this spiritual energy, yet the other party absorbed it with ease... How was that possible?

Gnashing his teeth in anger, he found a jade box, placed the spiritual liquid, now only the size of a soybean, inside, set up a seal to stop the dissipation, and then glared angrily at the other: "Friend, I will remember the favor of giving me the pill, but... what do you mean by absorbing all the spiritual energy from the Kṣitigarbha spiritual liquid? How am I supposed to present it to the Divine Lord now?"

Though very grateful... but if you've absorbed everything, what are we all here for?

I promised benefits to everyone, fought desperately, almost died here, and yet you directly pluck the fruits of victory... Isn't that too much?

Seeing the other's anger, Zhang Xuan was startled for a moment, looked at the other's jade box, and only then noticed that the spiritual liquid was almost gone. He was stunned, looked down at his own body, and immediately froze: "My cultivation... broke through to King? When did that happen?"

Although it was only the early stage of King, his true qi had indeed broken through!

But... how did he not notice at all?

It must have been the soul avatar, focused on absorbing soul power, while his physical body had entered a self-cultivation mode of no-thought and no-ideation... inadvertently absorbing all the Kṣitigarbha spiritual liquid's spiritual energy that had dispersed into the air!

I really only came to absorb soul power; I didn't intend to absorb your spiritual liquid...

Knowing that if he said that, the other would probably kill him on the spot, Zhang Xuan was embarrassed for a moment, then said: "Well... let's talk about this after we get out. I'm afraid they can't hold on much longer..."

Ao Feng turned his head and indeed saw that the many divine kings outside the light membrane had nearly reached their limit, all about to collapse.

With the Kṣitigarbha spiritual liquid taken away, the illusion spirits outside became even more frenzied, attacking more fiercely. The eleven divine kings were almost all severely injured. If they didn't find a way to escape soon, they might all be annihilated.

"Hmph!"

Knowing that the other was right, Ao Feng realized that this was indeed not the time for questioning. Gritting his teeth, he leaped out, transformed back into a golden dragon, enveloped everyone, and quickly rushed outward.

Knowing that the young man inside the membrane had means far beyond imagination, he didn't bother to take him along.

"We'll wait for you outside..."

As the crowd left, a voice came through.

Zhang Xuan shook his head, said no more, and continued to absorb the pure soul power from the membrane.

Five minutes later, the membrane was completely absorbed. By then, his clone's strength had reached the peak of Divine King, and its combat power was not weaker than that of an ordinary Sealed Divine King.

Without the membrane's protection, countless illusion spirits surrounded him. Zhang Xuan held the Chixiao Sword in his palm, gently swung it, cut a path, and was about to walk out when he suddenly stopped.

"Let's see if there's more spiritual liquid in this mountain stream..."

Since he was already here, if there happened to be other spiritual liquid, it might allow his cultivation to break through to the peak of King!

With a flicker of his body, camouflage qi swirled around him, and in the next moment, his aura became indistinguishable from the surrounding illusion spirits.

At first, the illusion spirits continued to attack relentlessly, but after a while, they stopped and became somewhat confused.

Plants and spirits, untainted by human culture, possess only faint consciousness and lack the ability for active analysis. Zhang Xuan's camouflage was flawless, so even they couldn't tell the difference.

"This camouflage talisman is indeed powerful..." Seeing that it could even disguise him as an illusion spirit without being detected, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but sigh in admiration. With a flicker of his body, he flew straight toward the depths of the mountain stream.

This place, capable of producing something like the Kṣitigarbha spiritual liquid, must have conditions not found elsewhere.

As he descended, the number of illusion spirits gradually decreased. After advancing for a while, Zhang Xuan suddenly frowned and stopped.

The aura before him gave him a sense of familiarity.

It was somewhat similar to the deep pit beneath the Lingyuan Heaven back then, stirring with that power that erodes the true qi of the Heavenly Dao.

"Strange..."

Continuing downward, the deeper he went, the denser this aura became, reaching a level that even a Sealed Divine King would find hard to withstand.

He dispersed the Tian Ruo You Qing true qi around his body, only then remaining unaffected.

After flying for over ten minutes, he finally reached the very bottom of the mountain stream. Zhang Xuan looked down, and his heart suddenly leaped.

At the bottom of the mountain stream was a vast open space, covering tens of thousands of acres, with nothing growing on it except a huge, crisscrossing deep pit.

Standing inside the pit, one couldn't see much, but from a high vantage point, it was clearly visible—it was a massive... palm print!

"Left by a Divine Lord?"

He furrowed his brows.

The palm print before him was certainly beyond his own power to create, leaving only one possibility... it was left by a Divine Lord!

But... wasn't it impossible for a Divine Lord to come here?

Where did this palm print come from?

"Could the sky of the Divine Realm... have been caused by a battle?"

Seeing this giant palm print, a thought emerged.

The Tidal Sea looked like a missing piece of the Divine Realm's sky; the deep pit beneath Lingyuan City, upon careful thought, also resembled a handprint...

Could it be that it was left by a battle between two Divine Lords?

Ultimately leading to the little yellow chicken's fall, with its memory not yet fully restored?

But...

If the battle back then involved the little yellow chicken, with its strength, Luo Ruoxin should have been able to stop it easily, so why didn't she?

What exactly happened in the Divine Realm around forty to fifty years ago?

Why did the Heavenly Dao leave the Divine Realm, splitting into the Orderly Heavenly Dao and the Defective Heavenly Dao, and fall upon Confucius and himself?

A series of questions left Zhang Xuan more and more confused.

After flying around the palm print and finding no additional Kṣitigarbha spiritual liquid or anything special, Zhang Xuan had no choice but to fly out again.

Although this trip didn't bring his true qi to the peak of King, it did allow him to break through to the King level, and his soul became even stronger, not far from breaking through to Divine Lord.

All in all, the gains were substantial.

The only drawback was... how to face that Divine King Ao Feng.

Having inadvertently absorbed nine-tenths of the spiritual liquid he had been longing for was truly embarrassing.

"Forget it, if worst comes to worst... I'll take him as a disciple! Although he... doesn't seem very bright!"

After agonizing for a long time, Zhang Xuan thought to himself.

Although the other seemed to only know brute force, taking him as a disciple was the biggest concession he could make.