Xiao Fei finally defeated the formidable enemy. Although he didn't manage to kill it, his victory this time guaranteed his success in slaying it next time.
With a casual wave, he picked up the massive wolf corpse left by the Heavenly Demon Guard and stored it in his storage pouch.
The body of a Heavenly Immortal was incredibly valuable. Just its wolf hide and the fur on its back could fetch a considerable amount of immortal stones.
Furthermore, its vital blood, flesh, and bones also held great worth.
This Heavenly Demon Guard had brought Xiao Fei a feast of valuable resources.
Leveraging his victory over the Heavenly Demon Guard, Xiao Fei's subsequent treasure hunt proceeded with exceptional smoothness, as no one dared to disturb him further.
Following the map provided by Zhu Yu, he found several more locations and reaped substantial rewards from each.
His haul this time was incredibly rich, akin to inheriting a significant portion of the Hao Yu Sacred Land's legacy. He also owed Zhu Yu a great debt of gratitude.
After Xiao Fei departed the ruins of the Hao Yu Sacred Land, news of him, a mere True Immortal, defeating a Heavenly Demon Guard of the Qing Qiu Sacred Land by employing the Five Elements and Spatial Laws, swiftly spread throughout the Immortal Realm.
"Is that true?"
"Whose disciple is this?"
"How can someone be so powerful!"
"With such strength, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him the number one genius in the Immortal Realm!"
In an instant, the news about the unassuming man became the talk of the town.
Everyone knew of this plain-looking prodigy capable of defeating a Heavenly Demon Guard despite his lower cultivation.
It was common knowledge that Heavenly Demon Guards were renowned figures throughout the Immortal Realm, considered among the strongest of their Heavenly Immortal peers.
The fact that he was defeated by a junior True Immortal demonstrated the immense capability of this True Immortal.
The Heavenly Demon Guard thus became Xiao Fei's stepping stone. Whenever he was discussed, the Heavenly Demon Guard was invariably brought up and ridiculed.
As a result, after escaping and recovering from his injuries, the Heavenly Demon Guard was too ashamed to show his face for a long time.
Even the cultivators of the entire Qing Qiu Sacred Land felt a sense of disgrace.
After obtaining the treasures and leaving, Xiao Fei did not reveal himself further. Instead, he returned to the mud loach cave outside Dao City, where he had previously resided, and temporarily went into hiding.
Within his spatial dimension, he had already planted all the items he had acquired this time that were suitable for cultivation.
The entire abandoned vein of Immortal Stone Marrow that he had collected using his spatial immortal artifact had now been moved into his dimension.
After some time, it had successfully integrated with his spatial dimension.
The giant stone pillar at the top of the secret chamber, after being moved into the dimension, began to seep a small amount of white liquid.
It appeared the transplantation was successful; this liquid would now be produced once every ten thousand years.
This substance could assist True Immortals in breaking through to the Heavenly Immortal realm.
Furthermore, the Earth Dragon Immortal Root, which Huang Feifei had treated, had also been moved into the dimension and had begun to sprout new shoots.
All the other immortal herbs had also been successfully planted and had regained their vitality.
Only the nameless withered tree, which had required considerable effort from Huang Feifei, had only shown a slight increase in vitality at its roots.
After being transplanted into his dimension, its vitality growth remained slow, appearing half-dead.
Beside the Enlightenment Spring in his dimension, Xiao Fei's clone let out a long sigh.
After such a long period of recuperation, his complexion had finally returned to normal.
The injuries sustained from his forced breakthrough had finally healed completely.
He prepared himself, gathered a large quantity of items, and brought along the bottle of Immortal Stone Marrow liquid before heading to the mountaintop once more.
Since it would take some time for these immortal herbs to mature, he planned to attempt a breakthrough first using the Immortal Stone Marrow liquid he possessed.
If he failed, he would wait for the immortal herbs to fully mature before trying again.
Xiao Fei's clone sat atop the mountain, first meditating and recuperating for ten years. His body, from the inside out, was in its most perfect state.
His cultivation had once again reached the peak of the True Immortal realm.
Only then did he take out the jade bottle containing the Immortal Stone Marrow liquid and drink it down in one gulp…
……………………
On the coast of a certain world, Zhu Yu sat by the sea, fishing. Behind him, a fair-skinned, tender little fairy was preparing tea for him.
At that moment, Zhu Yu's hair stood on end, and a powerful sense of crisis enveloped his heart.
It had been many years since he had felt such an intense premonition.
Without hesitation, he stood up, and with a sweep of his wide sleeve, he scooped up the fair-skinned, tender fairy behind him and ascended into the air.
From the distant sea horizon, a massive mouth suddenly appeared, its upper jaw connecting to the heavens and its lower jaw to the sea level.
The mouth opened and closed, and a vast expanse of the sea vanished, replaced by a chaotic void.
"Not good! It's a Dao Worm again!"
This Dao Worm was far more powerful than the one he and Xiao Fei had jointly slain before.
However, Zhu Yu was no longer the same as he was in the past; his strength had increased manifold.
Just as he was about to flee this world with the tender fairy, he discovered that the approaching Dao Worm didn't seem particularly formidable, possessing little power.
"Fiend! How dare you be so presumptuous!"
Zhu Yu roared and charged towards the Dao Worm.
"Seal!"
A sealing rune flew out and landed on the Dao Worm's head. The Dao Worm immediately lost its ability to move, only able to struggle desperately in place but unable to break free.
"Slash!"
With another roar from Zhu Yu, a saber light appeared in the air, and the Dao Worm was cleaved in two.
This was not the end. The saber light flashed again and again, determined to mince the Dao Worm into pieces.
Dao Worms possessed extremely tenacious vitality. Killing them once or twice was useless; even if chopped into dust, they could regenerate.
"Annihilate!"
With another soft command from Zhu Yu, the scattered fragments of the Dao Worm were directly annihilated, turning into nothingness.
A Dao Worm capable of destroying worlds was on the verge of being eliminated by Zhu Yu.
At that very moment, on the distant sea horizon, another massive mouth, connecting heaven and earth, reappeared.
"There's another one!"
Before Zhu Yu could even express his surprise, another massive mouth materialized from a different direction.
"There are two…"
"And three…"
"Why are there so many Dao Worms?"
The Dao Worm pinned by Zhu Yu had not yet been completely destroyed, and in a short span, over ten more Dao Worms had appeared.
With so many Dao Worms appearing simultaneously, even Zhu Yu's strength was insufficient to cope.
Zhu Yu immediately tore open a rift in this world with a casual rip, and then, taking the tender woman with him, he flew into the opening.
After Zhu Yu and the woman escaped that world, they stood in a void of chaos.
They happened to see a large swarm of Dao Worms gnawing at that world.
Like a group of silkworms devouring mulberry leaves, the world rapidly shrank under their consumption, and countless beings were devoured along with it.
"Immortal Lord, what should we do?"
"To have so many Dao Worms appear at once means their total number is already considerable, exceeding my capacity to handle. Let the higher realms worry about this!"
As Zhu Yu spoke, he used a recording stone to capture all the Dao Worms before him. Then, with a casual toss, the recording stone flew away, heading towards the upper realms.