After Yuan Ming arranged all this, he came to the Medicine Garden Cave Mansion, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, calmed his mind, and restored his Mana.

Half a day later, when he opened his eyes again, they were shining brightly, and his Mana and Soul Power had returned to their peak state.

He immediately employed the Ju Mang Spirit Technique, channeling a wisp of Ten Thousand Wood Origin from the World Tree, merging it into his body.

Bang!

The Ten Thousand Wood Origin Power rapidly circulated within him, causing his Mana and Qi-Blood to boil once more, becoming quickly purified.

At this moment, Yuan Ming did not undergo the transformation of the Undying Tree, so he absorbed most of this Ten Thousand Wood Origin himself.

The effect of purifying Qi-Blood was secondary. As his Mana became increasingly refined, the turbulence in the Mana vortex within his Dantian quickly diminished.

Moments later, the Ten Thousand Wood Origin Power was completely absorbed, greatly purifying Yuan Ming's Mana, calming the chaotic situation in his Dantian considerably.

Without hesitation, Yuan Ming drew another wisp of Ten Thousand Wood Origin Power to cleanse himself.

His Mana and Qi-Blood Power were further purified, the Mana vortex calmed once again, nearly coming to a stop.

Yuan Ming felt secretly delighted, estimating that at this rate, after absorbing once or twice more of the Ten Thousand Wood Origin, the Mana vortex would stabilize completely, allowing him to start the impact on the Dharma manifestation Stage.

He did not stop then, and summoned the Shura Stone Tablet, moving to a burning mountain range in the Extreme Fire Realm, where he threw the Array sealing the Profound Sun Earth Fire.

Yuan Ming found a flat area within the mountains to place the Profound Sun Earth Fire, and set up another Array around it, the Eight-direction Fierce Fire Formation.

This Array could absorb the Earth veins' heat to preserve True Fire.

The two Arrays resonated, and the Sealing Crystal around the Profound Sun Earth Fire quickly decomposed, completely disappearing within a few breaths, leaving the Profound Sun Earth Fire suspended in the center of the two Arrays, burning fiercely.

Hei Lian could appear again at any time, and although the Tree Man form could resist ordinary Dharma manifestations, facing Hei Lian might lead to defeat in just a few rounds.

Feeling it troublesome even in the Dongji Sea Area, not to mention a place like the Central Continent.

Yuan Ming entered the Array, activated the spell, inducing the Profound Sun Earth Fire into his body, and began refining his Physical Body.

His skin turned charred, and fire light shot out from his eyes, nose, and mouth, seemingly burning from the inside out, causing intense pain throughout his body.

With Yuan Ming's current state of mind, such pain naturally didn't cause much impact. He remained calm and focused, operating the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill, collaborating with the Profound Sun Earth Fire to refine his Physical Body.

Thin strands of black gas continuously emerged from his pores, followed by the Profound Sun Earth Fire turning to ashes, which were the impurities within his body.

In his early years, Yuan Ming absorbed Blood Origin Power and quickly improved his body cultivation, accumulating many impurities within his flesh. Though he had absorbed the Power of the Sun to cultivate over these years, and tried to refine hidden dangers within his body, the effect hadn't been good. Unexpectedly, the Profound Sun Earth Fire could refine so many impurities.

He increased the absorption of the Profound Sun Earth Fire, continuing to refine his body.

...

Three more days passed.

In the back sea area, a black tunneling light descended, revealing the figure of Hei Lian.

She had donned the Black Robe again, with a black veil over her face, slightly panting.

Over the past few days, Hei Lian had been chasing relentlessly, but couldn't catch up with Lei Yu.

With hatred in her eyes, she gazed forward, where Yuan Ming and Nan Shangfeng were located, obviously having a way to lock onto their position.

Hei Lian's heart was filled with resentment, which turned into a cold snort.

Instantly, the sea under her feet exploded, the seabed was fully exposed, and countless fish, shrimp, and sea beasts were pulverized with just a snort.

The displaced seawater gathered into giant waves roaring away, transpiring into clouds, turning into continuous light rain falling onto the exposed seabed.

After venting her anger, Hei Lian quickly calmed down, bowing her head in thought.

"Since you think you can run fast, let's see if you can outrun this!" she sneered, then flicked her sleeve to take out an item, none other than the Evil Curse Altar that had been bought at a high price during the auction.

With a pinch of the spell, the Evil Curse Altar soared into the air, slowly spinning, with clusters of blood-colored spirit light trailing a tail flame emerging at its center, spiraling and dancing around.

Staring at the Evil Curse Altar, Hei Lian raised her hand again, taking out a porcelain bottle covered with talismans from her Storage Ring, casually tearing open the talisman seal at its mouth. Her right hand pinched a spell and flicked, causing the stored blood energy inside to slither into the Evil Curse Altar like a snake.

The altar flashed with Blood Light, a corrupt and decaying aura instantly filled the air, causing the Protective Spiritual Light on Hei Lian's body to flare up, as if corroded by something, smoking and sizzling continuously.

Hei Lian's expression became much more serious, and she dared not delay too much, promptly pointing a finger at her glabella, prompting a pitch-black Dao Seal to fly out from her Dantian, while countless black shadows flew in the void, merging into a black and white brush in her hand.

Immediately afterwards, she swiftly raised her brush, sketching furiously. Despite lacking ink, one black character after another appeared in the air - exactly the name and birthdate of Nan Shangfeng.

On the Evil Curse Altar, the blood aura filled by Hei Lian rose again, transforming into countless fine blood threads in mid-air, climbing onto the black characters written by Hei Lian.

In an instant, the whole world was polluted by the foul smell of blood, and the seawater under Hei Lian's feet, which had just been recomposed, also began to blacken and rot, as if piled with countless decomposing corpses, inducing nausea.

After doing all this, Hei Lian took out a small cloth bag and opened it, revealing several strands of hair inside.

These hairs were precisely Nan Shangfeng's, which she found on the wrecked Flying Boat and from Nan Shangfeng's concubines.

"Go!"

Hei Lian lightly tapped her brush, and the blood characters in front of her, along with the strands of hair, flew into the Evil Curse Altar, disappearing completely.

But soon, black mist emerged from the Evil Curse Altar, revealing Nan Shangfeng's twisted face inside, brimming with resentment, hatred, anger, and all kinds of negative emotions.

Hei Lian's eyes revealed a grave look as her fingers shot a black Light Pillar mixed with Blood Light and Soul Power into the Evil Curse Altar.

The aura on Hei Lian's body rapidly declined, the black mist grew denser, and Nan Shangfeng's twisted face slowly became lifelike.

After nearly half a quarter of an hour, Nan Shangfeng's face looked as real as life, gazing forward as if confirming a target.

Subsequently, Nan Shangfeng's face exploded with a "bang," transforming into tiny black lights and merging into the void.

All the filth and blood aura on the altar disappeared completely, and the blood-colored spirit light also vanished into the void.

Hei Lian almost collapsed, hurriedly taking out a medicine bottle, pouring all the elixirs inside into her mouth without caring for the quantity.

After a while, her complexion slightly improved.

"You can't escape." Hei Lian gently said, then put away the altar and continued to fly escape forward.

...

On the other side, Nan Shangfeng sat quietly on Lei Yu.

Yuan Ming had also completed the True Fire Body Refining, emerging from the Shura Palace, sitting on Lei Yu's neck.

After all this time, they still couldn't detect any sign of Hei Lian pursuing them, his urgency and tension slightly eased.

"It seems that Hei Lian should not be able to catch up, Xuankong Island seems to be right ahead. This island is a major commercial island with many cultivators coming and going. I will have Lei Yu drop you off later, from there you are on your own." Yuan Ming looked at Nan Shangfeng, his tone calm and indifferent.

"Fellow Daoist Wan, there's truly no room for negotiation regarding escorting me to Wuliang City?" Nan Shangfeng said with a bitter smile.

"Fellow Daoist Nan has plenty of Spirit Stones; why worry about finding a guard? There should be no shortage of late-stage Returning Void cultivators on Xuankong Island, choose a few to escort you quickly." Yuan Ming said.

As he spoke, a large island appeared in the front, packed with structures, with tunneling lights continuously rising and falling on it, exactly Xuankong Island.

Yuan Ming signaled Lei Yu to throw Nan Shangfeng down.

"Wait, Fellow Daoist Wan, I am willing to change my destination. You only need to send me to the Central Continent, and Nan will offer a piece of Innate Bitter Bamboo Leaf as a reward." Nan Shangfeng hurriedly said.

"Innate Bitter Bamboo!" Yuan Ming's eyes shifted.

He had read records of this item in the classics; the Innate Bitter Bamboo, also known as the Six Clean Bamboo, is an ancient celestial bamboo, with which one can attain a state of extreme calm, impervious to desires or disturbances even when struck by Thunder.

In this state, whether cultivating techniques or comprehending divine skills, the efficiency is ten times that of ordinary people.

"I don't have the bamboo leaf on me at the moment; it is stored with a friend in the Ten Thousand Demon Mountain Range. As long as Fellow Daoist Wan brings me to the Central Continent, I will obtain it for you immediately." Nan Shangfeng said.

"No need." Yuan Ming shook his head and refused.

"Fellow Daoist Wan might not know that besides calming the mind, the Innate Bitter Bamboo is very useful in overcoming bottlenecks. While the Bamboo Leaf is far inferior to the spirit bamboo itself, I had a master refine it into something similar to a talisman, usable only three times yet able to exert half the effect of the spirit bamboo. I see Fellow Daoist Wan is about to break through to the Dharma manifestation Stage, you will definitely find it useful." Nan Shangfeng hurriedly said.

"The Innate Bitter Bamboo Leaf is indeed good, but as a Loose Cultivator, rashly getting involved in the Daluo Sect's power struggle would risk losing my life." Yuan Ming's tone remained steady.

"Well..." Nan Shangfeng was anxious, scratching his cheek, trying to persuade further.

"Moreover, Fellow Daoist Nan's troubles are not just about competing for the Daluo Sect Master's position, right? You requested my assistance while concealing many things; I have no interest in getting involved in any disputes." Yuan Ming interrupted Nan Shangfeng's words.

"What do you mean, Fellow Daoist Wan?" Nan Shangfeng showed a surprised expression.

"I sensed something unusual earlier while performing Soul Search on you. Despite your soul power being weak, it is unexpectedly agile; what I probed from your memories seemed normal but was actually incomplete. For instance, I didn't see Qin Meiniang in your memories; you must have hidden this part. You are also a Soul Cultivator, aren't you?" Yuan Ming's voice gradually rose.

Nan Shangfeng blinked and laughed, "Indeed, nothing can be hidden from Fellow Daoist Wan. Yes, Nan is indeed a Soul Cultivator, but this shouldn't pose any trouble for you, right?"

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