The others, seeing this, followed with grim expressions on their faces.

It was not until they had gone a considerable distance that the Blood Realm Venerable, steeling himself, asked from behind, "Big brother, what exactly happened here?"

"I had refined two Blood God's Sons, and just now, I lost one of them," Yuan Wuji responded without turning back.

"What, lost one of the Blood God's Sons?" Bing Li exclaimed in shock.

"It seems that the Nether Moon God is indeed unfathomable. Fortunately, it appears he had reservations and did not truly aim to deal with me. This time, it was my miscalculation," Yuan Wuji sighed and said slowly.

His mood at the moment was quite complex. This incident had confirmed the Nether Moon God's formidable strength, which was a good thing for dealing with the threat of the Undying Tree in the future. However, he had lost a Blood God's Son for nothing, suffering a great loss.

On the other hand, as a servant of the Nether Moon God, Hua Zhi pacified Queen Ming Kong and several others before leaving to return to the Stealing Heaven Tripod Space.

The battle had cost her a significant amount of power, and she needed to recover properly before she could fully heal.

Yuan Ming, through the recent events, had learned about some of the divine skills of the Blood God's Son, which could be considered as not wasting Hua Zhi's efforts.

But the biggest gain was deterring the Tide-rider Alliance members. He believed that those fellows, having learned their lesson, would be quiet for a while.

As a result of this incident, the Tide-rider Alliance indeed no longer provoked them; the various factions coexisted peacefully. They occasionally held exchange meetings, and when the Tide-rider Alliance needed items from the outside world, they asked for help from the Nether Moon God with much more respect. Harmony the likes of which had never been seen before began to emerge within the secret realm.

...

In the blink of an eye, twenty years had passed.

Within the Stealing Heaven Tripod, the White Jade Lotus Platform shone with golden light as always.

Next to the altar, the Gathering Spirit Tree ceaselessly harnessed spiritual energy, enveloped in a faint glow that resembled fireflies, mystical and splendid.

However, inside the Stealing Heaven Tripod now, it was not the only ancient tree growing in solitude.

In the nearby spirit field, the Five Elements Creation Tree had grown to about ten feet tall, its branches and leaves displaying five colors, seemingly chaotic but in fact orderly.

Xi Ying was currently seated cross-legged under the tree, with five-colored light swirling up from her body like dragons and snakes, heading towards the Five Elements Creation Tree and melding with it. From the tree's roots, five-colored spiritual light also poured into Xi Ying's body. This cycle of Circulation kept improving the progress of her Ju Mang Spirit Technique.

However, as an Ancient Spiritual Wood, the growth of the Five Elements Creation Tree was incredibly difficult. Its stature of just about ten feet was the result of Xi Ying's careful cultivation over the past twenty years. Yet even so, her Ju Mang Spirit Technique was still revolving within the First Level.

Xi Ying was already on the verge a breakthrough before, and the improvement in aptitude brought about by reaching the First Level of the Ju Mang Spirit Technique had indeed helped her break through the Heavenly Barrier and smoothly enter the Nascent Soul Stage.

After the breakthrough, Xi Ying continued to practice the Ju Mang Spirit Technique diligently, with no intention of giving up.

With the aid of the Ju Mang Spirit Technique and the Five Elements Creation Tree, her mana had become much more refined, and she was not far from the peak of the Nascent Soul Early Stage.

Xi Ying also didn't spend all her time on the Ju Mang Spirit Technique and occasionally took time to practice other secret techniques and Cultivation Techniques.

The five-colored light on her body rapidly dissipated, replaced instead by an extremely rich earthy-yellow spirit light that slowly lifted her body.

At this moment, Xi Ying was practicing the Taiyin Refining Spleen Technique.

Unlike Yuan Ming, she was not lacking an Earth Spirit Root, and practicing this technique was indeed complementary. Ever since she had broken through to the Nascent Soul and received this technique from Yuan Ming, she enthusiastically began to practice it, and by now had achieved a very profound level of mastery.

In these twenty years, Yuan Ming's gains were also tremendous.

The once small Undying Tree had now grown into a towering black tree of several dozen feet high, with spread branches and leaves.

As it grew, it had emerged from Yuan Ming's body and taken root within the Stealing Heaven Tripod, occupying a considerable space inside.

Compared to the Five Elements Creation Tree, the growth of the Undying Tree could only be described as rapid. Thanks to this, Yuan Ming's Ju Mang Spirit Technique made leaps and bounds, reaching the Third Realm.

But since the Undying Tree had grown from within Yuan Ming, half his body was fused with the tree, making it difficult to distinguish himself from it.

Yuan Ming's face bore a wry smile—he had indeed been thoroughly duped by the Ju Mang Spirit Technique and Xi Ying.

The Undying Tree had taken root in his body and fused deeply. Even if he perfected the Ju Mang Spirit Technique or gave it up, whether he could separate from this peculiar tree remained uncertain.

One misstep and he might have to stay forever with this black Undying Tree.

However, merging with the black tree was not without its benefits. The Undying Tree could autonomously absorb nature's spiritual energy, so now Yuan Ming had an additional source of spiritual energy, making his mana recovery speed far exceed that of other cultivators; naturally, his stamina increased significantly.

In these past twenty years, he had not slackened in his cultivation of the Nine Elements Technique.

Outside Three Immortals Island, Yan Si Jing had refined all the demon elixir and spirit grass he had given her into pills and sent them back to him.

With the power of the elixirs, Yuan Ming's mana rapidly increased, and he had now reached the late-stage Core Formation.

Apart from being a Magic Practitioner, Yuan Ming had also made progress in Soul Cultivation and Body Cultivation.

He had already broken through to the Innate Body Realm ten years ago, and he was now at the middle stage of the Innate Body Realm. The inner breath he refined was as red as fresh blood, and it also possessed the refining effectiveness of the Shura Blood Devouring Map.

The main reason the Body Cultivation Realm's advancement slowed down was because of the black great tree.

To complete the Ju Mang Spirit Technique as soon as possible, Yuan Ming prioritized supplying the abundant Blood Origin Power from within the Shura Blood Devouring Map to the growth of the Undying Tree. The demon beasts delivered by Huan Ling Zi and others were also thrown to the black great tree for absorption.

As the Undying Tree grew larger, its demand for Qi Blood Power increased, and the Blood Origin Power within the Shura Blood Devouring Map was quickly drained. It was also not easy for Huan Ling Zi and the others to capture demon beasts outside, which is why the advancement in the Body Cultivation Realm relatively slowed down.

In terms of Soul Cultivation, the Ju Mang Spirit Technique did not bring about any constraints. With the Will Power supplied by Yun Jiuxiao and others, Yuan Ming's Divine Soul had also reached the peak of being a love witch fifteen years ago, just half a step away from the Sleeping Witch Realm.

Originally, Yuan Ming prepared to breakthrough to the Sleeping Witch Realm in one go. However, at this time, Xi Ying told him to wait and not rush the breakthrough, and she even asked him to temporarily stop absorbing Desire Power.

Yuan Ming was puzzled and wanted to ask for the reason, but Xi Ying, going against her usual behavior, did not give a direct answer. She only told him that she would explain when the time came and that before this, she hoped Yuan Ming would temporarily forget about breaking through to the Sleeping Witch Realm.

Although Yuan Ming did not understand, he still did as told, and he had his first soul absorb the excess Desire Power, which now was not the least inferior to the original in terms of Soul Power.

Twenty years have passed, and Yuan Ming indeed began to forget about the breakthrough to the Sleeping Witch Realm. Perhaps it was due to his integration with the tree, but his temperament had become more stable and he favored quietness over action.

Half a year passed in this manner, and one day, as Yuan Ming was meditating, Xi Ying's voice woke him:

"Now, you should be able to try breaking through to the Sleeping Witch Realm."

Yuan Ming nodded, inspected his Divine Soul, and voiced his doubt, "After all these years, there has been almost no change in my Divine Soul. Why was I not able to try for a breakthrough before, and now I can?"

"Because at that time, you had absorbed too much Desire Power. You must know that Desire Power contains a large number of miscellaneous thoughts of living beings. The presence of these thoughts would greatly increase the difficulty of breaking through to the Sleeping Witch Realm. Therefore, to break through, you must temporarily cease absorbing Desire Power," Xi Ying answered.

"But I have already used the Heart Cleansing Technique to refine away the miscellaneous thoughts in the Desire Power. Moreover, after the transformation through the Stealing Heaven Tripod, it's all purely refined Desire Power without miscellaneous thoughts that can be directly absorbed. It shouldn't affect the breakthrough," Yuan Ming said, growing more puzzled.

"The refinement of the Heart Cleansing Technique isn't perfect. Desire Power is born inseparable from miscellaneous thoughts, and even if they are removed later through various means, while it may not affect daily practice, it will still have an influence on the Heavenly Tribulation that descends during the breakthrough to the Sleeping Witch Realm. This is the law of nature, and no one can change it," Xi Ying shook her head.

"How then did those Sleeping Witches of the Wu Yue Sect manage to breakthrough?" Yuan Ming asked, curious.

"The sect uses various secret techniques to reduce this impact, and the most effective one is for the Wu Yue God herself to personally assist in the breakthrough. It's said that only those who have accomplished great things for the Wu Yue Sect and caught the eye of the Wu Yue God as chosen children can receive such treatment," Xi Ying explained.

Yuan Ming suddenly understood, recalling the scene when Xi Ying had broken through to the Nascent Soul Stage. He asked further, "You just mentioned the Heavenly Tribulation that comes with breaking through to the Sleeping Witch Realm. Are you referring to thunder tribulation?"

"There's no such thing as thunder tribulation when breaking through to the Sleeping Witch Realm. After all, Soul Cultivators refine their Divine Souls, and if they faced calamities like thunder, I fear no one could break through," Xi Ying shook her head.

"Then, it must be the Heart Demon Tribulation," Yuan Ming realized.

"Correct. Soul Cultivators advancing to the Sleeping Witch Realm will undoubtedly face the test of the Heart Demon Tribulation. This barrier is extremely difficult to overcome. There are many love witches within the Wu Yue Sect, but very few Sleeping Witches, and this is because of the Heart Demon Tribulation," Xi Ying said.

Yuan Ming's expression turned serious, and he asked, "It seems this tribulation is no trivial matter. Do you know what exactly the Heart Demon Tribulation is like, and are there any tricks to resolve it?"

"The Heart Demon Tribulation manifests differently for different people. The method I used may not suit you, and talking about it now might even mislead you," Xi Ying shook her head.

"Does that mean I can only leave it to fate?" Yuan Ming furrowed his brows.

"Not necessarily. While I can't tell you the specific method of resolution, the general approach is always eight words—'adhere to oneself, never forget one's initial resolve.'"

As she spoke, Xi Ying suddenly handed a Jade Scroll over to Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming took the Jade Scroll, which outlined a technique called "Three Souls and Nine Refinements."

"Before entering Three Immortals Island, I didn't expect you would attempt to break through to the Sleeping Witch Realm here, and didn't prepare supporting elixirs in time. Now, this secret technique is the only thing that can help refine your Divine Soul to its ultimate, thereby increasing the chances of your breakthrough. You must concentrate on understanding and practicing this technique until you've completely mastered it before attempting to breakthrough," Xi Ying instructed, concern flickering in her eyes.

Seeing her like this, Yuan Ming was not very anxious, "Don't worry, I've already experienced the power of the Sleeping Witch Realm in advance through the Stealing Heaven Tripod. Now making an actual breakthrough shouldn't pose any problems."

Xi Ying merely nodded slightly, hiding her worries deep within her heart, not saying anything further.

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