He embarked on his return journey, one destined to be filled with hardships and dangers, with the possibility of encountering unforeseen accidents along the way.

Therefore, after some consideration, he decided to send the jade scroll in advance, to avoid any lingering regrets in the end.

Bi Jie, burdened with a heavy responsibility, didn't even bother setting up a stall, apologized to Zhao Sheng, and immediately returned to the sect.

Zhao Sheng chuckled slightly at this and soon started strolling along the street, sometimes stopping at a stall to exchange for a treasure or two.

However, by now his vision had become much higher, and ordinary treasures were hardly appealing to him. Only some unknown and strange items, high-level heaven and earth spiritual objects, principle crystals, treasures carrying Dao... along with space-time treasures, could capture his interest.

Of course, if there were high-level cultivation techniques for sale, like true scriptures that could directly lead to Returning to Void Realm or higher, Zhao Sheng would also be highly interested. But their appearance probability was shockingly low, and even if one or two similar true scriptures appeared, there was over a ninety percent chance they were counterfeit.

About four hours later, Bi Jie's figure reappeared in the workshop.

He soon found Zhao Sheng, who was leisurely strolling, and quietly handed over a jade scroll.

Zhao Sheng took a look, then tucked the jade scroll under his sleeve and rewarded him with a top-grade spirit stone.

After sending Bi Jie away, he intentionally lingered in the workshop for a while, but was never summoned by the Immortal Monarch, nor did he see any other divine beast disciples.

Seeing this, Zhao Sheng seemed to have understood something, smiled, and his figure disappeared from the workshop.

…

Canglang Cave Heaven, Golden Wind Jade Dew Valley.

In the depths of the cave mansion, a secret chamber was shrouded in a layer of seven-colored barrier, the radiance from the barrier illuminating the tranquil room.

Suddenly, a figure appeared out of thin air, quietly landing on the floor of the secret chamber.

As Zhao Sheng gazed at the surrounding barrier, his eyes suddenly filled with fatigue. In a span of up to only a year, he had narrowly escaped death several times. Now, returning to the present world, it was truly full of sighs.

Boom,

At this moment, a roar suddenly erupted within him, and his limbs and bones were suddenly flooded with streams of pure nature's spiritual energy. Surprisingly, there were strands of high-grade source qi mixed in, which rather caught him by surprise.

As his divine thought swept over his body, countless nature's spiritual energies transformed into droplets of "mana" of Returning to Void, which then integrated into all parts of his body. More than half of the mana also flowed into the core energy sea, gradually increasing his cultivation.

The high-grade source qi then transformed into more origin "mana", like rain soaking into parched land, merging deeply into billions of primordial cells.

This refining process continued non-stop for nine days and nights. Upon completion, Zhao Sheng's cultivation unexpectedly reached the late stage of the first level of Returning to Void Realm, saving him a full thirty years of arduous cultivation.

After ascending to Returning to Void, a cultivator's cultivation became increasingly slow and arduous, often stuck in the same realm for hundreds or thousands of years, sometimes even ending their lives trapped there, which was not peculiar at all.

Because once reaching Returning to Void Realm, the abundance of external spiritual energy no longer mattered. What truly mattered was the cultivator's understanding of the Taoist law and their harmony with it.

If the comprehension and harmony were insufficient, one's cultivation would remain perpetually stagnant at the current realm, after all, the Returning to Void Realm is the second step of the Nine Steps of Tao, which imposes tenfold stricter requirements on cultivators.

Based on his personal understanding, since entering the Returning to Void Realm, every major realm breakthrough is akin to "Break and Rebuild".

The so-called "Break and Rebuild" does not refer to specific cultivation, but to a new and deeper understanding of Taoist law.

Since his journey in cultivation, Zhao Sheng had long formed his unique cultivation style; he transformed his "Break and Rebuild" in Taoism into a gradual transformation of the Thunder Dao True Text.

Since ancient times, there is only one great Tao, yet countless daoist texts!

From comprehending the first Thunder Taoist text until now, this "Thunder" text had undergone "transformation" five times consecutively.

In other words, Zhao Sheng fully grasped five "Thunder" Tao True Texts. Each was different but all belonged to a manifestation of the Thunder Dao Principle.

It could be said that now, as long as there was enough high-grade source qi, Zhao Sheng could instantly elevate his cultivation to the fifth layer of Returning to Void.

However, due to the short period since breaking through to Returning to Void, he was unwilling to be too "conspicuous", so he was in no hurry to increase his cultivation.

Once he embarked on the return journey, it wouldn't be too late to accelerate his cultivation speed.

Moreover, the golden skin and jade bones, a symbol of mana materialization, were also important markers of cultivation for a Half-immortal of the Void. Each evolution signified significant progress in one's Taoism.

Zhao Sheng's cultivation had only just reached the first layer of Returning to Void, his golden skin and jade bones body had only begun to take shape, with not much extraordinariness visible yet. Only the brilliance of his will was seven or eight times brighter than during the Divinity Transformation Realm.

…

Roar~

Three years later, a dull roar suddenly echoed from the secret chamber, the void rippled with layers of "ripples", followed by a surge of powerful and violent energy erupting instantaneously, causing the surrounding barrier to vibrate and flicker intensely as if it might collapse at any moment.

Amidst the cracking sound of the floor, an enormous violent ape, covered in golden hair, with sinewy and bulging muscles and dazzling eyes, stood proudly in the center of the secret chamber, pounding its fists vigorously against its chest, producing a booming drum-like sound, its roar reverberating like thunder.

The violent ape was surrounded by thousand beams of thunder light, with each swing of its fists, infinite power burst forth, and the nearby void was actually torn open with densely packed space rifts.

This golden-haired violent ape was one of the transformed forms of Zhao Sheng, its bloodline originating from one of the Ten Great Divine Apes of the universe, the Sun and Moon Divine Ape.

It stood equally famous alongside the Spiritual Divine Ape, Six-Eared Macaque, Snow Mountain Divine Ape... and the Red Bottomed Horse Monkey among others.

Although Zhao Sheng's Divine Ape bloodline was quite thin within him, it was still enough to demonstrate a trace of the miraculousness of his ancestors.

More importantly, the Sun and Moon Divine Ape bloodline had unexpectedly great benefits for cultivating the "Big and Small Ruyi Immortal Skill", after transformation the speed of cultivating this immortal skill was astonishingly fast, like traveling a thousand miles in a day.

Thinking back, the Golden Crane Great Saint Yuan Hong was actually a pure blood Red Bottomed Horse Monkey.

He then understood why the cultivation of the immortal skill was rapid.

"...You only need to fulfill three tasks for this Great Saint! For each one completed, I will teach you an immortal skill... The first task is to go to the Innate Divine Continent of the Taiching Spirit Realm... upon completion, I will teach you the 'Infinite Heaven Traveling Skill'..."

"...The second task, you must find the bloodline descendants of the Ten Great Divine Apes, preferably of the Pure-blooded Ape Clan, at least a second generation mixed blood. If you find any of the Ten Great Divine Apes, seek to let its soul roam this world. Upon completion, I will impart to you Qingtian Great Saint's 'Heaven-Supporting Unity Technique'..."

"...This third task is the easiest... establish a temple to pass on incense... I will preemptively teach you the 'Big and Small Ruyi Immortal Skill'..."

Roar roar!

The roars continued to resonate in the secret chamber, with the outside of the cave mansion visibly vibrating nonstop, a tremendously oppressive aura quickly enveloped the entire mansion, alarming Dai Yiping, who guarded the cave mansion, and several white-haired elders, all rushing out of seclusion to check on the master's secluded chamber, expressing anxious looks.

However, the roaring gradually subsided, the cave mansion restored to quietness, and the oppressive atmosphere quietly dissipated.

At this moment, a white cloud appeared from the sky, atop which stood an elder with a celestial and earthly presence.

The white cloud swiftly descended upon the open grounds in front of the host's cave mansion.

The elder adjusted his attire and descended slowly from the cloud, stepping out and arriving instantly at the mansion gate, calling loudly, "Junior Yan Cangzai, here to pay respect at the residence today. I hope to meet with Martial Uncle."

As his words fell, the stone gate opened without a breeze, and stepping out from within was a plain-looking elder with a jade crown, none other than Dai Yiping.

Upon seeing the visitor, Dai Yiping was secretly surprised and immediately bowed with a smile, "Taoist Yan, as expected you have come again. Apologies, my master is still in closed-door cultivation, and it's inconvenient for him to see guests now."

The elder with the celestially dignified appearance was not bothered, remaining courteous, "If that's the case, I'll visit again next time. By the way, here is a token of my regard, I hope Brother Dai will accept it."

Upon seeing the visitor, Dai Yiping was secretly surprised and immediately bowed with a smile, "Taoist Yan, as expected you have come again. Apologies, my master is still in closed-door cultivation, and it's inconvenient for him to see guests now."

The elder with the celestially dignified appearance was not bothered, remaining courteous, "If that's the case, I'll visit again next time. By the way, here is a token of my regard, I hope Brother Dai will accept it."

Saying this, he took a bottle of Spirit Pill from his sleeve and earnestly placed it into Dai Yiping's hands.

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