The Inner Qi contained within the dantian suddenly surged out, smoothly running along the cultivation route of the ninth layer of the Cold Ice Technique.

"Agitate..."

Upon reaching the Ninth Rank, Zhu Bufan discovered that cultivation was no longer as smooth as before; instead, it felt sluggish and painful. However, Zhu Bufan was not worried, as he had learned from Zheng Changde that this was a method of strengthening the most vulnerable parts of the body.

And this method is known as agitation.

At the same time, the peculiar fluctuations of Inner Qi generated a tangible energy wave that penetrated into the internal organs and bone marrow.

This degree of pain was really nothing to Zhu Bufan, and he directly dismissed it with his willpower.

"Hoo!" He exhaled a hot breath of foul air and slowly concluded his cultivation.

"Too slow!" Zhu Bufan was dissatisfied with his current cultivation speed. "Body refining techniques, could it be the Hanhai Tide Skill?"

"Yet, with my current strength, I've been lingering in the Second Layer of the Tuoba Realm. It should be considered a type of body refinement!" With this thought in mind, Zhu Bufan closed his eyes again.

Not long after, veins as thick as fingers appeared all over Zhu Bufan's body, rapidly expanding, twisting, and stretching under some mysterious force. Zhu Bufan's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, emitting a series of sounds.

Then, Zhu Bufan's skin slowly turned red, and steam began to rise from it, enveloping his entire body, soon filling the entire room with mist.

An hour later, the Cold Ice Internal Energy was almost entirely depleted, and his meridians had only lengthened by one percent, far from reaching the fifty percent requirement. Even so, Zhu Bufan collapsed onto the bed, feeling as if his muscles were being twisted and bones being stripped. His clothes stuck to his body, soaking wet, like they had been lifted out of water.

As soon as Zhu Bufan exhausted the last trace of Inner Qi and suddenly tensed his meridians, a sharp pain shot through his head. However, this pain, although intense, was very short-lived; Zhu Bufan hadn't even had time to pay attention before it disappeared.

"So tired, so uncomfortable!" Feeling weak and sore all over, and extremely thirsty, Zhu Bufan couldn't help but think. "But there's no choice; right now, what I need most is strength to face the difficulties ahead!"

"Hoo... fifteen years... what a long fifteen years..."

At this moment, an old voice entered Zhu Bufan's ears.

"Who?" Startled by the voice, Zhu Bufan was taken aback. It seemed to come from right in front of him, but he sensed nothing. As his gaze swept over the white mist around him, he saw no shadow.

"Young Master... you're currently depleted of Inner Qi and severely dehydrated. You should focus on recovering your Inner Qi first!" The voice sounded again, yet even with focused listening, Zhu Bufan couldn't detect its source.

Nevertheless, Zhu Bufan followed the instructions of the old voice and closed his eyes to begin recovering his Inner Qi, leaving everything until after his strength was restored.

A quarter of an hour later, Zhu Bufan opened his eyes again, picked up the kettle beside him, and drank the entire contents in one gulp.

"Are you... still there?" Zhu Bufan asked in a deep voice. Now that he had mostly recovered, he focused his energy so that he could sense any movement within ten meters.

"Here..." The old voice buzzed in Zhu Bufan's mind.

"Where are you?" Zhu Bufan felt a chill crawl up his spine, perceiving clearly that apart from himself, there was no other life presence in the room.

"Young Master, I am in your mind!" The old voice echoed again. Despite its hoarseness, it gave Zhu Bufan a strangely comforting feeling.

"Mind?" Zhu Bufan instinctively touched his head.

"Yes, right inside your head!" The raspy voice seemed to carry a hint of laughter, as if detecting Zhu Bufan's current expression.

"Who... who are you?" Having calmed down after the initial fright, Zhu Bufan quickly regained his composure and asked solemnly.

"Young Master, you will know shortly!"

As the deep voice faded, Zhu Bufan felt a violent dizziness wash over him. The scene before his eyes blurred and shifted, and amidst the spinning and swaying, Zhu Bufan found himself in a strange environment.

Before his eyes spread a vast blue ocean, seemingly limitless, like it reached the sky. In the ocean stood a massive mountain, its body sharp and steep like it was carved with a knife, rising straight up to the Ninth Layer Heaven. Looking up, there was no end in sight, and Zhu Bufan found himself at the foot of this mountain.

Yet, the surrounding environment gave Zhu Bufan a strange feeling.

"What a strange feeling, something seems off!" Zhu Bufan thought to himself.

Suddenly, Zhu Bufan seemed to realize something and focused his sharp gaze upon the serene, windless sea.

"Desolate, deathly silent!"

A regular ocean conveys a sense of vastness and grandeur, typically exuding vibrancy as they say the sea is the origin of life.

However, the ocean where Zhu Bufan found himself was equally grand and boundless, its waters sparklingly clear and blue, yet no waves or currents disturbed it. Scanning the area revealed not a single piece of seaweed or swimming fish.

More so, even the towering mountain seemed entirely black and gray, devoid of any grass or other colors, apart from scattered stones of various sizes.

"What is this place?" Zhu Bufan wondered aloud with a hint of doubt.

"This is Bihai Cave Heaven!" At this moment, the old voice sounded in front of Zhu Bufan, and to his astonishment, dense clouds rose from the blue surface of the sea, quickly gathering to form a humanoid figure before him.

Blue hair, blue eyes, blue beard, blue skin, blue robe... everything about it was blue.

Thud, thud, thud...

Witnessing such an eerie sight, even with Zhu Bufan's terrifying capacity for acceptance, he couldn't help but step back three paces, ready to release his Inner Qi at any moment.

Yet, Zhu Bufan remained rational, fully aware that his presence in this bizarre place must be the work of this blue-skinned old man. Someone with such power would leave him utterly defenseless if they meant him harm.

"Who exactly are you?" Hearing the familiar voice, Zhu Bufan couldn't help but shout in inquiry.

"Young Master, I am the Guardian here!" The blue old man bowed reverently to Zhu Bufan.

Zhu Bufan quickly stepped aside to avoid the bow, frowning as he asked, "What is going on here?"

"I shall answer the Young Master's questions!" The blue-skinned old man waved his sleeve, and in the still ocean, a distant mass of blue water was stirred by an inexplicable force, gushing upward to form a wide waterfall in mid-air.

This sight caused a barely noticeable ripple in Zhu Bufan's expression.

The technique displayed by this blue-skinned old man filled Zhu Bufan with awe. He couldn't detect any fluctuation of energy and had no idea what kind of energy supported the formation of the waterfall.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.