Red Ganoderma Island residence.

Yuan Ming closed his eyes and cultivated, absorbing Desire Power.

After a while, he opened his eyes, revealing a hint of joy.

Through his recent cultivation efforts, the Soul Power he'd lost while using the Soul Splitting and Soul Merging Technique had finally begun to recover.

He did not continue to cultivate; instead, he took out more than a dozen materials, all auxiliary to create the "Common Poppy" Spirit Incense.

The last two auxiliary spiritual materials required for the "Common Poppy" had also been procured by Yan Siyun, who had just delivered them.

Yuan Ming took out the Red Beautiful Flower, carefully parting the outer shell of the pistil, allowing a puff of pink mist to escape.

He swiftly moved his hands, a Green Light Shield enveloping the pink mist, preventing it from spreading.

The mist seemed to permeate mana, quickly penetrating the green light. Yuan's body heated up, as if flames had ignited in his lower abdomen, ascending desire. He couldn't help but recall some erotic books he'd seen when he was younger, as well as the intimate scenes between a man and a woman inside that Recording Artifact of the Bald Priest not long ago.

"This Red Beautiful Flower truly lives up to its reputation. Before even being made into Spirit Incense, it has such potent effects to enhance desire. If made into incense and activated by the Stealing Heaven Tripod, I fear even Nascent Soul cultivators would hardly escape its influence," Yuan Ming muttered to himself, pleasantly surprised.

Yuan Ming circulated the Nine Elements Technique through his body to suppress the internal heat and took out a gourd-shaped Magic Artifact that emitted a suction, capturing all of the pink mist.

He retrieved a set of high-quality Incense Making utensils and began crafting the Common Poppy.

The quality of the Common Poppy was far superior to Qingxuan Incense and Purple Mysterious Incense, and this was Yuan Ming's first attempt at making such high-grade Spirit Incense, so he was extremely cautious.

His Divine Sense was powerful and coupled with his previous experience in Incense Making, he managed not to make any mistakes and successfully produced three sticks of Common Poppy.

Yuan Ming stored the three sticks of Common Poppy and the Incense Making utensils and entered the Stealing Heaven Tripod Space, his Divine Sense following Xu Che's Desire Power anchor.

Xu Che was currently leading nearly a thousand Moon Sect believers on a giant boat, slowly sailing along a great river in Zhao Country towards Jin Country.

Xu Che only led a small fraction of believers. With a large investment of resources, the Moon Sect had now gathered nearly ten thousand loyal followers in the Black Wind Desert and had begun migrating southward.

After discussing with Yuan Ming, Xu Che decided to divide the followers into more than a dozen groups, some traveling by water, others by land, relocating to various places in Jin Country. Xu Che's group was the first.

As the conflict in the Black Wind Desert was about to erupt, many cultivators and mortals were moving southward. This group did not attract any special attention.

To Yuan Ming's delight, because the Wuyue Sect had re-emerged, the Loose Cultivators in the Black Wind Desert were in a panic. Taking advantage of this, Xu Che recruited an additional dozen or so Cultivator believers, one of them a somewhat renowned talismanic master.

To ensure these individuals were wholeheartedly devoted to the Moon Sect, Yuan Ming had not been sparing in resources. And the massive migration was coslty. Even though Xu Che had sold all of the ore from the villages north of Qiao Sai, there was still a considerable shortfall, so he had no choice but to ask Yuan Ming for help.

"These are the resources I've just gathered; take care of them," Yuan Ming spoke to Xu Che, producing a bulging Storage Bag and activating the Altar Formation, sending it through space to appear in front of Xu Che.

"Thank you, my lord," Xu Che bowed in thanks, feeling a twinge of guilt and rue, as if he could only keep asking for more.

His lord had entrusted the Black Wind Desert believers to him, yet he hadn't managed them well and still required his lord to provide resources for support.

"Is this the influence of the Soul Lowering Rune? Does it make one gradually forget oneself and plan solely for the devotees of their faith?" Yuan Ming noticed Xu Che's thoughts and sighed internally at the domineering nature of the Wuyue Sect's secret technique.

Yuan Ming's understanding of the Soul Lowering Rune was not profound. His attempts to mimic its use without deep knowledge meant he had no control over the rune's gradual erosion of the mind.

Even if Yuan Ming had the ability to change this, he chose not to intervene. Followers who have lost themselves to the Soul Lowering Rune are much easier to manage than regular followers—there's no need to worry about betrayal.

"Once all the followers are settled in, bring all the Cultivator believers to the East Sea," Yuan Ming instructed.

He planned to offer significant rewards to turn those followers into Soul Lowering followers.

If anyone was unwilling, Yuan Ming would not force them. After all, he had the Empty Gloves, which could simply erase their memories of coming to the East Sea, thus not exposing his position.

"Yes," Xu Che responded.

Yuan Ming offered Xu Che a few words of encouragement, withdrew his Divine Sense, and looked towards the Altar Formation.

He had been in close communication with Xu Che these past few days, sending items several times to win over those newly joined Cultivator believers.

The Silver Crystal Stone within the Altar Formation was now less luminous than before, with much of its Space Power depleted.

"It seems I need to be sparing with teleporting items; replenishing the Space Power in the Silver Crystal Stone comes at a great cost," Yuan Ming thought to himself, leaving the Stealing Heaven Tripod Space.

Just then, a knocking sound came from outside.

"Come in," Yuan Ming said, putting away the Stealing Heaven Tripod.

A female disciple of Red Ganoderma Island walked in, bowed to Yuan Ming and said, "Senior Yuan, the Island Master invites you to come over."

The girl was about eighteen or nineteen years old, with delicate features painted like a portrait, pure and charming, with watery, peach blossom eyes that captivated the soul. She wore a tight-fitting pink dress that perfectly articulated her curvaceous figure.

Since Yuan Ming's victory yesterday, Bi Shuirou had been extremely enthusiastic towards him, providing tea and Spirit Fruit to the highest standards, and had even reassigned this pink-dressed maiden to Yuan Ming's side to serve as his maid.

Yuan Ming vaguely remembered this girl; she seemed to be a direct disciple of Bi Shuirou, called Lian'er.

"What's the matter?" he asked indifferently, without so much as glancing at the pink-dressed maiden.

"Lian'er is not sure, but a messenger from Fusang Island came not long ago, so it probably has to do with the upcoming competition," the pink-dressed maiden said disappointedly, yet without showing it, speaking respectfully.

Yuan Ming's expression changed slightly, and he stood up and walked outside, quickly arriving at the living room.

Bi Shuirou and Xi Ying stood there.

"Fellow Daoist Yuan, Fusang Island has sent over the details of the next competition," Bi Shuirou said, handing over a red Jade Scroll with an unintentional hint of respect in her voice.

Yuan Ming took the Jade Scroll; his Divine Sense entered it, and his expression quickly darkened.

The content of the Jade Scroll was not much, mainly saying two things. The first was that the upcoming competition would only involve those who won in the third round, and no one else could replace them.

The second was that the sixteen contestants would no longer engage in platform battles, but would instead join forces to venture into a Secret Realm. Their ranking would be decided by what they obtained within the Secret Realm.

That Secret Realm was located in the depths of the East Sea, close to the Overseas World, and it was only accessible through Fusang Island's ancient Transmission Array.

Adventuring into the Secret Realm was not a problem, but one rule on the Jade Scroll greatly annoyed Yuan Ming: all of the top sixteen contestants must enter the Secret Realm, or they would be considered to have forfeited. Fusang Island would then take back the Red Mulberry Immortal Fruit and award different resources instead.

Yuan Ming had already made it into the top sixteen. He wasn't very interested in continuing, and if the upcoming competition was dangerous, he would just find a way to muddle through. After all, they only needed one Red Mulberry Immortal Fruit.

Now, with the rule change, not participating in the Secret Realm seemed out of the question.

"In previous Immortal Fruit Conferences, there have been similar mixed competitions, where the order is decided based on battle outcomes. Generally, they aren't dangerous," Bi Shuirou added in a soft voice upon seeing Yuan Ming's troubled expression.

Yuan Ming remained silent, as if he had heard nothing.

"After receiving the message, I immediately investigated. This Secret Realm has only recently emerged, but signs of it appeared a few years ago. It's quite vast. Fellow Daoist Yuan must have also heard the rumors about the emergence of the East Sea Three Immortal Islands. In fact, it was triggered by this Secret Realm," Bi Shuirou said again.

"Is Fellow Daoist Bishui trying to get me to participate in the Secret Realm competition? Red Ganoderma Island has already made it into the top sixteen, and all the fame and fortune that should be earned are already at hand. To covet more would be inviting disaster," Yuan Ming glanced at the graceful island master and said.

In these past few days, he had learned more about the Immortal Fruit Conference from Yan Siyun. Getting a good ranking at the Immortal Fruit Conference offered benefits beyond just a Red Mulberry Immortal Fruit.

Every Immortal Fruit Conference was an opportunity to showcase an island's strength and intimidate opponents.

Many participating islands were more interested in the latter.

Red Ganoderma Island's victory over a First-class Island and advancement into the top sixteen had greatly enhanced its reputation. Many Second-class Islands with only average relations were now fawning over them, while islands like Luoshan Island, which had enmity with Red Ganoderma Island, were terrified and treated the people of Red Ganoderma Island as if they were cats seeing mice.

If Yuan Ming could achieve more results in the Secret Realm competition, Red Ganoderma Island would gain even more.

Bi Shuirou indeed had such calculations in mind, and now that Yuan Ming had directly pointed them out, her face turned slightly awkward.

However, upon carefully considering Yuan Ming's words, especially the mention of inviting disaster, her heart, which had been somewhat elated by flattery over the past two days, gradually sobered up.

The achievements of Red Ganoderma Island were all thanks to the combat strength of Yuan Ming and Xi Ying.

Neither Yuan Ming nor Xi Ying were subordinates of Red Ganoderma Island. Although they were currently on good terms, they could leave at any moment, perhaps never to return to the East Sea.

In the short term it might be fine, but over time, other powers would surely discern the true state of Red Ganoderma Island. Why would they stop there? If so, the advantages Red Ganoderma Island had gained by then would have to be surrendered, and worse still, the island might even face a catastrophe that could lead to its extinction.

"Thank you for your advice, Fellow Daoist Yuan. I indeed got a little greedy. If Fellow Daoist Yuan is unwilling to participate, I will not force you," said Bi Shuirou, breaking out into a cold sweat and bowing politely.

Yuan Ming did not pay much attention to Bi Shuirou, lost in thought.

To break through to the Nascent Soul stage in the future, he had to obtain a Red Mulberry Immortal Fruit at all costs.

It was detestable that Fusang Island had unilaterally changed the rules, but after all, the Red Mulberry Immortal Fruit was theirs to give. They had no choice but to follow these rules, which meant the Secret Realm was a must-visit.

Yuan Ming looked towards Xi Ying, who seemed to be leisurely drinking tea as if this matter was of no concern to him.

With a wry smile, Yuan Ming turned to Bi Shuirou: "Fellow Daoist Bishui, you just mentioned that this Secret Realm is related to the tales of the Three Immortal Islands that have spread to the Central Plains?"

"The emergence of the Secret Realm was signaled by the ethereal shadows of three Spiritual Mountains, reminiscent of the East Sea Three Immortal Islands widely spoken of," Bi Shuirou explained.

"I've also heard some rough details of the East Sea Three Immortal Islands, but I'm not very familiar with the specifics. Could Fellow Daoist Bishui enlighten me further?" Yuan Ming inquired.

"Of course, the Three Immortal Islands are among the most widespread legends in the East Sea, namely Penglai Immortal Island, Lank Immortal Island, and Golden Sunflower Immortal Island. They are said to have been created by three Returning to Void high cultivators, each containing opportunities to breakthrough to the Returning to Void Stage," Bi Shuirou said eagerly.

"Opportunities to Return to Void," Yuan Ming muttered to himself.

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