At the same time, Yuan Ming suddenly stopped his steps on the street and looked around.

For a moment, he had a feeling that someone was watching him secretly.

"Is someone spying on me?" Yuan Ming immediately spread his Divine Sense, covering a radius of a hundred feet, but found nothing.

Yuan Ming did not continue searching but quickened his pace, soon arriving at the inn where Nan Shangfeng was staying.

He didn't go inside but stopped in a deserted alley nearby.

"You've been following me for so long, it's time to show yourself." Yuan Ming turned and looked behind him.

"Fellow Daoist, your Divine Skills are impressive. Even Dharma Phase Cultivators may not see through my earth escape invisibility." From the ground at the alley's entrance, a figure emerged, it was the woman in green clothing.

"Who are you? Following me for so long, don't you know that tracking others without reason is quite an offensive act?" Yuan Ming glanced the person over, confirming they hadn't met, a flash of hostility in his eyes.

"Hehe, Fellow Daoist, there's no need to be so fierce. I mean no harm. I've come today just to make a deal with you." The woman in green smiled as usual, with no concern for Yuan Ming's murderous intent.

"I have no interest in making deals with someone of unknown origin. I can pretend I didn't realize your surveillance just now, you should leave." Yuan Ming flatly refused and turned to leave.

"Fellow Daoist Yuan should not refuse so easily, it's beneficial for both of us." The woman in green lightly smiled.

The air in the alley condensed for a moment and then returned to normal.

"I think you've got the wrong person. I am Wan Tianren, not surnamed Yuan." Yuan Ming stopped, speaking calmly.

"Fellow Daoist Yuan's disguise is indeed exquisite, almost flawless, but unfortunately, you can only change your Mana aura, not disguise the Divine Soul aura. You still left a flaw." The woman in green said.

"Divine Soul aura... I never paid attention to that before. That you can discern a cultivator from Divine Soul aura shows you're not ordinary." Yuan Ming realized and stopped disguising, turning around.

"I'm just a nobody compared to the famous Yuan Mo." The woman in green smiled triumphantly and said.

"Are you provoking me? Do you think holding onto a little evidence gives you free rein?" Yuan Ming said coldly.

"How dare I, Fellow Daoist Yuan didn't leave, should I take it as you're agreeing to the deal?" The woman in green smiled charmingly, appearing to retreat but actually pressing forward step by step.

"As I said, I won't make deals with someone of unknown origin. If you want something from me, state your full name first." Yuan Ming said calmly.

"I apologize for my rudeness, I am Chu Zhixian." The woman in green hesitated briefly, then gave her name.

"I wonder what kind of deal Fellow Daoist Chu has in mind?" Yuan Ming asked.

"I'm very interested in Alchemy. I heard the Pill King Secret Manual from the Pill King Pavilion is in your possession, and I wish to take a look at it and will return it immediately after." A glint of uncontrollable greed flashed in Chu Zhixian's eyes.

"You want to see the Pill King Secret Manual? It's not impossible, but what does Fellow Daoist Chu offer in exchange?" Yuan Ming asked.

"How about exchanging it for your safety? That should suffice, right?" Chu Zhixian smiled sinisterly, her threat crystal clear.

"Using my life to exchange for my Pill King Secret Manual—Fellow Daoist is certainly good at business." Yuan Ming laughed instead of getting angry.

"Although I know I'm not your match, I can manage to resist for a while. This is East Extreme Island Square, with countless cultivators, and forces like Dongji Palace and White Emperor City are all watching for you. As soon as I shout, Fellow Daoist Yuan won't be able to leave here!" Chu Zhixian stepped back two steps. Meanwhile, she raised her right hand, and a Yellow Stone Shield appeared in front of her, enveloping her in a thick yellow light.

"If it were an ordinary cultivator, indeed so, but unfortunately I am not." Yuan Ming's tone turned chilling in an instant, his powerful Divine Sense erupting, enveloping only the alley.

He used the Nightmare Divine Ability, spreading an invisible wave.

Chu Zhixian's expression froze, her body limply collapsed on the ground, falling into sleep.

Yuan Ming flicked his sleeve, casting a yellow light to wrap around Chu Zhixian's body, drawing her into the Shura Palace, then turned to leave.

At this moment, his expression suddenly froze.

Inside the Shura Palace, Chu Zhixian's body suddenly turned into countless yellow spirit lights, dispersing like bubbles.

Her clothes and the shield Magic Treasure she used were the same.

"It's a clone condensed from Mana!" Yuan Ming realized.

No wonder this female cultivator, with her low cultivation, dared to extort him directly; she had sent a clone.

Yuan Ming's expression was extremely stern, immediately flying out of the island.

His actions were exposed, he had to leave before others arrived.

The only consolation was that due to the Ten Thousand Treasure Auction, the islands of the Dongji Islands had not activated their defense arrays.

However, Yuan Ming had only flown a short distance before stopping again, landing in the deserted alley, waving his hand.

An Illusion Array was instantly set up, covering the entire alley.

From the outside, there was nothing unusual in the alley, as quiet and empty as ever, and Yuan Ming's figure vanished from within.

Yuan Ming took out the silver token and opened a silver spherical barrier, completely blocking any external probing.

He didn't stop and then summoned the Shura Palace, entering the Medicine Garden Cave Mansion within it.

After doing all this, Yuan Ming finally sat cross-legged and summoned the Stealing Heaven Tripod.

He took out a stick of black incense that could control the host, lit it, and possessed Chu Zhixian.

In a private room of a teahouse three blocks away, Chu Zhixian suddenly stood up, her right hand tightly gripping the Da Ji Ancient Mirror, her face full of anger.

"Well, Yuan Ming, since you're courting death, don't blame me!" Chu Zhixian gritted her teeth and said, taking out a communication talisman, ready to activate it.

However, recalling the Pill King Secret Manual, especially the Dharma Manifestation Pill Recipe on it, she hesitated for a moment.

At that moment, Chu Zhixian's consciousness suddenly plunged into endless darkness, the light in her eyes completely vanished, and the next instant, she regained her composure.

Yuan Ming's consciousness successfully controlled her body, and upon seeing the unactivated communication talisman in her hand, his expression relaxed.

He released his divine sense, confirmed there were no issues in the area, and manipulated her to leave the teahouse, quickly entering a deserted alley and walking into an illusion array.

A moment later, Chu Zhixian appeared inside the Shura Palace, unconscious.

The mana fluctuations on her body had also completely disappeared, seemingly sealed.

Yuan Ming raised his hand and placed it on Chu Zhixian's head, using the Soul Searching Divine Ability, quickly understanding everything.

"I see, everything about the auction was orchestrated by Chu Zhixian and Qin Meiniang," Yuan Ming realized.

The woman in the red dress was Qin Meiniang, the most capable disciple of the Su Nu Sect's Sect Leader, unexpectedly her cultivation had reached the Dharma manifestation stage, and it was unclear how she compared with Yun Luo Fairy in terms of strength.

As for Chu Zhixian's extortion of him, it had nothing to do with the Su Nu Sect, it was purely due to her greed, and no one else knew about it at this moment.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming let out a small sigh, placed another sealing on Chu Zhixian to put her into a deep sleep, and then left Shura Palace.

Although his identity wasn't exposed, he couldn't stay longer on East Extreme Island.

Yuan Ming returned to the inn, instructing Nan Shangfeng to leave.

Nan Shangfeng, at this moment, followed Yuan Ming's words without question, didn't ask the reason, sent a message to Zhu Yu, and then led his subordinates and concubines to leave East Extreme Island on a flying boat.

Feeling the flying boat leave East Extreme Island, Yuan Ming finally felt relieved and re-entered the Shura Palace's Medicine Garden.

His body whirled, transforming into the form of an Undying Tree, expanding its branches, swaying within the Medicine Garden.

On the black trunk, a palm-sized cyan-grey spot remained conspicuously visible.

Yuan Ming glanced at the bark of the World Tree, then with a flick of the vines, took out all the high-level spirit wood acquired from the auction and just bought from Gu Xingdong.

In the instant these spirit woods appeared, they all floated in mid-air, establishing a natural connection with the World Tree that was indescribable.

Without Yuan Ming's manipulation, each piece of spirit wood began to tremble slightly, with a layer of indistinctly colored halo appearing on the surface, then transformed into streams of light flowing towards the palm-sized cyan-grey bark.

As dots of light merged into that cyan bark, Yuan Ming felt the origin power of the Undying Tree replenished, though it felt slightly different from before, exactly how he couldn't quite say.

The cyan bark within emitted a bright glow, turning the original cyan-grey color to a transparent jade, and upon closer inspection, specks of firefly-like light pulsed within, exuding an indescribable life force, precisely the power of Ten Thousand Wood Origin.

At this moment, a streak of green light suddenly appeared within the bark of the World Tree, emanating bursts of the aura of Ten Thousand Wood Origin.

Unlike the other Ten Thousand Wood Origin within the bark, this green light moved slowly within, ready to be drawn out at any moment.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming was delighted.

His previous speculation was correct; as long as the World Tree absorbed enough high-level spirit wood, it could harness the Ten Thousand Wood Origin's power within, refining mana through the physical body.

At this moment, a series of changes again occurred within the bark of the World Tree.

Beneath the jade-like bark, a thin green vein extended, wrapping around to the other side of the tree body. After lingering there, a mass of emerald green light spread out like ink.

Soon the area of the green bark expanded several times.

The trunk of the Undying Tree beneath the bark also began to transform, turning the same emerald green as the bark.

Yuan Ming, joyful, through absorbing the spiritual power of these high-level spirit woods, the bark of the World Tree continued to expand, and if the whole Undying Tree transformed into the World Tree in the future, it wouldn't be impossible.

He suppressed the excitement in his heart, continuing to absorb the remaining spiritual power from the spirit woods.

A moment later, the bark of the World Tree expanded significantly, and a second streak of green light from the Ten Thousand Wood Origin emerged.

Yuan Ming was extremely satisfied with this, but he wasn't yet in a safe place to cultivate, so he didn't immediately use the two green lights of Ten Thousand Wood Origin to refine his body.

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