Chapter 2273: Mountain Stream Depths

Scratching his head vigorously, he looked closely and realized that the Ksitigarbha spirit liquid in his palm was continuously volatilizing as cracks appeared in the film. It seemed the membrane was meant to protect the liquid's power from dissipating, but now that it was damaged, it could no longer maintain the spirit liquid's stability.

"Where has all the spiritual energy gone?"

Anxious, he wanted to see if he could collect the scattered spiritual energy. Upon seeing it, he couldn't help but stumble.

He saw that both the membrane and the spiritual energy were being absorbed by the young man sitting not far away; not a single trace was spared.

He couldn't even absorb this spiritual energy, yet the other person absorbed it so easily... How did he do it?

Gritting his teeth in anger, he found a jade box, placed the spirit liquid, which was now only the size of a soybean, inside, and set up a seal to stop its dissipation. He then angrily glared at the other person: "My friend, I will always remember your kindness in giving me the pill, but... what do you mean by absorbing all the spiritual energy from the Ksitigarbha spirit liquid? How am I supposed to present it to the Divine Emperor now?"

Although I'm grateful... you've absorbed everything. What did we even come here for?

I promised benefits to everyone and nearly died fighting here, but you've directly taken the fruits of victory... That's not right!

Seeing the other person's anger, Zhang Xuan was stunned. He looked at the jade box and saw that less than one-tenth of the spirit liquid remained. He was completely taken aback. He then looked down at his own body and immediately froze: "My cultivation... I've broken through to Conferred King? When did this happen?"

Although it was only the initial stage of Conferred King, his true qi had indeed made a breakthrough!

But... how did I not notice it at all?

It must have been his Sorcerer Soul, which was too busy absorbing soul power, while his physical body had entered a state of thoughtless and unconscious self-cultivation... unintentionally absorbing all the spiritual energy from the Ksitigarbha spirit liquid that had diffused into the air!

I really just came here to absorb soul power; I didn't intend to absorb your spirit liquid...

Knowing that saying so would likely lead to the other person beating him to death on the spot, Zhang Xuan awkwardly paused for a moment, then said, "Well... let's go out first. I'm afraid they can't endure it any longer..."

Ao Feng turned his head and indeed saw that the many Divine Kings outside the light barrier were almost at their limit and could no longer hold on.

With the Ksitigarbha spirit liquid gone, the illusions outside became even more frenzied and aggressive. All eleven Divine Kings were severely injured. If they didn't find a way to escape soon, they might be completely wiped out.

"Hmph!"

Knowing that the other person was right, Ao Feng understood that it was indeed not the time for questions. Gritting his teeth, he leaped out, transforming back into a golden giant dragon. He enveloped everyone and quickly rushed outwards.

Knowing that the young man within the barrier possessed methods far beyond imagination, he didn't bother taking him along.

"We'll wait for you outside..."

As the others left, their voices drifted back.

Zhang Xuan shook his head, said nothing more, and continued to absorb the pure soul power from within the barrier.

Five minutes later, the entire barrier was completely absorbed. His clone's strength had now reached the peak of the Divine King realm, and its combat power was no weaker, possibly even stronger, than that of an ordinary Conferred Divine King.

Without the barrier's protection, countless illusions swarmed around him. Zhang Xuan held the Chixiao Sword in his palm, gently waved it, and cut a path. Just as he was about to follow it out, he suddenly stopped.

"I'll go check this mountain gorge to see if there's more spirit liquid..."

Since he was already here, if there happened to be other spirit liquid, it might allow his cultivation to break through to the peak of the Conferred King realm in one go!

His body swayed, shrouded in a disguise aura. The next moment, his presence became indistinguishable from the surrounding illusions.

At first, the illusions continued to besiege him, but after a while, they stopped, appearing somewhat bewildered.

As spirits of flora, they lacked the refinement of human culture and possessed only faint consciousness, without the ability for active analysis. Zhang Xuan's disguise was flawless, making it impossible even for them to distinguish him.

"This disguise token is indeed powerful..." Seeing that he could even disguise himself from illusions and remain undetected, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but sigh with emotion. His body flickered, and he flew straight into the depths of the mountain gorge.

A place capable of giving birth to something like Ksitigarbha spirit liquid must possess conditions not found elsewhere.

As he continued downwards, the number of illusions gradually decreased. After a while, Zhang Xuan suddenly frowned and stopped.

The aura before him gave him a sense of familiarity.

It was somewhat similar to the deep underground pit beneath the Spirit Origin Heaven, emanating a power that could erode Heavenly Dao True Qi.

"Strange..."

As he went deeper, the aura became increasingly concentrated, reaching a point where even Conferred Divine Kings would find it difficult to resist.

He diffused the Heavenly Dao's Benevolent True Qi around his body, which prevented him from being affected.

After flying for over ten minutes, he finally reached the very bottom of the mountain gorge. Zhang Xuan looked down, and his heart gave a sudden leap.

At the bottom of the gorge was a vast open space, tens of thousands of mu in area, devoid of any vegetation. Only a massive, crisscrossing deep pit was present.

Nothing could be seen from inside the pit, but from a higher vantage point, it was clearly visible: a gigantic... palm print!

"Left by a Divine Emperor expert?"

His brows furrowed.

He definitely couldn't have made the palm print before him with his own power, so there was only one possibility... it was left by a Divine Emperor!

But... weren't Divine Emperors unable to come here?

Where did the palm print come from?

"Could the sky of the Divine Realm... have been formed by a great battle?"

Seeing this colossal palm print before him, an idea sprang to mind.

The Tidal Sea looked like a missing piece from the Divine Realm's sky, and the deep pit beneath Spirit Origin City, upon closer inspection, also resembled a handprint...

Could they have been left by a battle between two Divine Emperors?

Which ultimately led to the little yellow chick's demise, its memory still not fully recovered to this day?

But...

If the little yellow chick was involved in that battle, Luo Ruoxi, with her strength, should have been able to easily stop it. Why didn't she?

What exactly happened in the Divine Realm around forty to fifty years ago?

Why did the Heavenly Dao leave the Divine Realm and split into the complete Heavenly Dao and the incomplete Heavenly Dao, falling upon Master Kong and himself?

A series of questions left Zhang Xuan increasingly bewildered.

He flew a circle along the palm print but found no extra Ksitigarbha spirit liquid nor any other special features. Zhang Xuan could only fly out reluctantly.

Although his true qi didn't reach the peak of the Conferred King realm during this visit, he still broke through to the Conferred King level, and his soul became even stronger, not far from breaking through to the Divine Emperor realm.

All in all, the harvest was plentiful.

The only flaw was... how to face Divine King Ao Feng.

He had unintentionally absorbed nine-tenths of the spirit liquid that the other person greatly valued, which was truly embarrassing.

"Forget it. If it comes to it... I'll just take him as a disciple! Even though he... doesn't seem very clever!"

After much internal debate, Zhang Xuan thought to himself.

Although the other person seemed to only rely on brute force, taking him as a disciple would be the biggest concession he could make.

(Recommending a friend's book, "Stellar God Lord". Those looking for a good read can check it out.)