In the thousand years Xiao Fei spent as a trader, even with the space's time flowing at a hundred times the normal rate, over a hundred thousand years had passed.
Everyone who had remained in the space to cultivate in seclusion had been released by him, finding places to live anonymously in the demon realm.
Otherwise, after experiencing such a long period in the space, they would have long since exhausted their lifespans and died.
His second sister, Huangfu Xuan, and Fei Xin, among others, due to their close relationship with Xiao Fei, could easily become a breakthrough point for others investigating the Jade of Creation. They could not easily show themselves now.
Xiao Fei felt deeply apologetic about this, all because he had implicated everyone.
There was no other way; they were all in the same boat now, sharing in each other's prosperity and ruin.
Without strength, they could only remain like this for the time being.
However, this situation was difficult for the two hulking figures, Han Yi and Han Er.
Their physiques were too immense; apart from the Giant Realm, no other world had creatures of such size.
The Giant Realm had already been destroyed. Even if they were to send the two of them back, it would be easy for those with ill intentions to discover clues.
Now, they could only be hidden in the demon realm.
And it was very difficult to hide them. No matter where they were placed, even if they remained perfectly still, they would be conspicuous.
For this reason, Xiao Fei had to resort to a drastic measure: he dug a super-large pit and buried the two of them, leaving a passage for food. He fed them periodically.
From then on, Han Yi and Han Er spent their days lying down, eating what was provided, living a life of high-level paraplegia that countless people envied.
The space had undergone tremendous changes over these past hundred thousand years.
The 36 million mu of land in his space had been planted with all sorts of spiritual plants, but he couldn't use so much.
Now, these spiritual plants had filled every corner of the space. Two or three thousand years old, even hundred thousand year old spiritual herbs, were found everywhere.
The immortal grass he had planted on the mountaintop had also reproduced many offspring over the years.
To maximize profits, Xiao Fei had planted this immortal grass all over the mountaintop.
Not to mention anything else, just the ability to extract immortal energy from this immortal grass was worth doing so.
He had also tried using the law of gathering and dispersing to condense the extracted immortal energy, and had actually managed to artificially create a piece of immortal stone.
This creation and discovery had once delighted Xiao Fei immensely.
However, in the past 100,000 years in the space, besides the growth of spiritual plants, the Tongtian Jianmu had also grown considerably, now reaching over twenty zhang in height.
This Jianmu remained smooth and straight, appearing difficult to climb.
However, a slender branch had finally grown at the treetop.
Since this small branch had appeared, the spiritual energy absorbed by the Jianmu daily had also increased exponentially.
Xiao Fei sometimes flew to the treetop branch to inspect it. At the end of this tender, delicate branch, a fruit the size of a mung bean was developing.
The extra spiritual energy absorbed by the Jianmu was all being consumed by this tiny fruit. He had no idea what this thing was.
Given the Jianmu's nature, it was estimated that this fruit would not mature for several hundred thousand years.
To avoid the agonizing wait, he could only forget about it for the time being.
Fortunately, apart from the Jianmu, there was another rather peculiar spiritual plant in the space.
It was the vine that had grown out of the space on its own.
This vine had borne a gourd. Over these past hundred thousand years, it had grown from the size of an egg to the size of a rice bowl, and its color had changed from verdant green to golden yellow.
Xiao Fei, as the veteran farmer of the space, judging by his hundred thousand years of farming experience, determined that the gourd was ripe.
He pinched the gourd with his fingernail; it was very hard, and his nail couldn't penetrate it at all.
It seemed it couldn't be eaten!
Xiao Fei picked the gourd. He had originally intended to keep the vine, to see if it could continue to grow and bear another gourd.
However, after picking the gourd, the leaves on the vine also began to wither and fall off. It seemed beyond saving!
He could only reluctantly pull out the vine as well.
With a gourd and a vine in his hands, since they couldn't be eaten, Xiao Fei could only think of ways to refine them into artifacts.
Having followed Xiao Hei and received his personal guidance for so long, Xiao Fei's skills in all aspects were now far beyond what they used to be.
To refine an artifact, one must first study the properties of the materials.
Xiao Fei held the yellow-skinned gourd, examining it from every angle for three years before beginning the artifact refinement.
Then, it took him another nine years, and finally, the artifact was completed.
Xiao Fei held a yellow-skinned gourd in his hand, feeling a mix of amusement and exasperation.
To refine this gourd, he had spent three years studying it, and then another nine years focusing on its refinement, a total of 12 years.
However, after 12 years, there had been no progress, and it was completely useless.
He tried everything he could think of on the gourd, whether it was burning it with fire, soaking it in water, or chopping it with a knife...
He had exhausted all methods he could conceive of, yet he could not harm this gourd.
The gourd remained the same gourd, unchanged in the slightest.
Seeing this gourd, in a fit of anger, he drew a knife and slashed at his own arm. This cut severed several major tendons and was deep enough to expose bone.
He had heard before that to refine certain special treasures, blood was needed as a guide, and sometimes the artifact refiner had to sacrifice their life to achieve it.
As things stood, he wanted to try. His blood gushed out like a spring, flowing onto the yellow-skinned gourd.
Indeed, as Xiao Fei's blood landed on the gourd, it was all absorbed.
Moreover, the gourd began to absorb blood faster and faster. Eventually, the vital essence in Xiao Fei's body was drawn towards the gourd uncontrollably.
In the end, Xiao Fei was sucked dry by the gourd, his physical body dying a death from which there was no return. Only then did the gourd stop absorbing, and it began to change.
Mysterious runes appeared all over the gourd, and the interior, unseen, was undergoing earth-shattering transformations.
The moment this yellow-skinned gourd was successfully refined, an invisible wave emanated, spreading throughout all the heavens and myriad worlds.
Xiao Hei, through his extraordinary tracking abilities, had entered the demon realm over these years.
He had even discovered the whereabouts of the group of students he had taught.
However, to prevent Xiao Fei and the others from being exposed by him, he did not approach them actively.
On this very day, Xiao Hei suddenly sensed a terrifying fluctuation, a fluctuation that made him tremble all over, as if facing a life-or-death crisis.
Xiao Hei was not the only one experiencing such a sense of immense danger.
Almost all the Earth Immortal level powerhouses who had entered the lower realm, regardless of where they were, sensed a great crisis, just like Xiao Hei.
...
On a small island in the middle of a lake, Zhu Yu was playing a zither, while the seemingly tender Shui Ling'er respectfully served him from behind.
At this moment, Shui Ling'er suddenly frowned, sensing the powerful and inexplicably originating energy fluctuation.
However, Zhu Yu, sitting in front of her and looking rather flamboyant, showed a look of pleasant surprise upon sensing this energy fluctuation.
"This is the aura of a congenital spiritual treasure. It seems a congenital spiritual treasure has appeared."
A congenital spiritual treasure, as the name suggests, is a supreme treasure naturally conceived between heaven and earth. It requires no refinement, only a drop of blood to recognize its master.