Cube-like Supernatural Powers: Longevity Begins with Qi Refining

Chapter 31 The path back is blocked.

"ha......"

"ha......"

Looking at the ten-thousand-foot-tall divine corpse that had turned to ashes and finally vanished into nothingness before him, Xiong Zhou held his heavy sword in both hands and gasped for breath.

At this moment, strands of earth vein energy transformed into small, bright yellow-orange orbs of light, rising into the underground cavity and illuminating the surrounding area.

Looking into the distance, the deep darkness had completely subsided; there were no more roars, no more enormous outlines appearing.

The place he was in was covered with sword marks and dents, and traces of the laws of heaven and earth remained everywhere.

"It took thirty-six days, more than a month, to finally clean it up."

Exhaustion filled Xiong Zhou's eyes. More than a month of high-intensity fighting had given him an urge to lie down on the ground and fall asleep immediately, regardless of the consequences.

The Qi of Heaven and Earth in the inner world was still abundant, but the solidified consciousness showed a slightly listless state.

"call....."

Xiong Zhou leaned on his heavy sword, his back straight, and took deep breaths, letting the Qi of Heaven and Earth flow through his body. He slowly exhaled wisps of turbid Qi from his mouth.

After a long while, the weariness that had been clinging to his consciousness, almost making him want to lie down on the spot, finally dissipated slightly.

Looking around, Xiong Zhou grinned a few times, a hint of smugness in his eyes.

He is the one in the best condition within the Mountain and River Squad.

Wu Kang, Li Tianqing, Zi Xuan, and Duanmu Ning, these two senior brothers and two senior sisters, relied on the thick stone wall and formation to take turns to recuperate, and their condition was not as good as his at the moment.

Most importantly, he had not rested for the past thirty-six days, constantly fighting against the surging, towering divine corpses with both hands wielding his sword.

Li Tianqing leaned against the stone wall, his clothes now extremely disheveled, no longer resembling the image of a wealthy young master.

He slightly raised his head, looked at the sturdy figure not far away, and complained, "Junior Brother Xiong Zhou, you are really amazing. This speed of Qi recovery and this ability to recover are simply inhuman and beyond the realm of common sense."

"What bloodline do you have?"

Xiong Zhou possesses a bloodline and cultivates its power; any normal Tai Li disciple could guess that.

At around fifteen years old, he was already about 1.94 meters tall and so robust. This would be difficult to achieve without the power inherited from his bloodline, especially since he did not specialize in physical cultivation.

However, the enhancement granted by this bloodline actually exceeded the limits of a special physique, something Li Tianqing had never imagined before witnessing it firsthand.

Li Tianqing turned her head to look at Wu Kang, who was lying on the ground and had started snoring, and then looked at Xiong Zhou, who seemed to have regained some energy and put away the earthen armor and earthen sword. She clicked her tongue a few times.

"Junior Brother Xiong Zhou, I underestimated you at the teleportation altar."

"Although you don't have a special physique, the blessing from your bloodline already surpasses some people who are born with special physiques."

"Junior Sister Duanmu is right. You, the newly promoted true disciple, are really amazing. No wonder you were able to become a true disciple through the back door of the sect elders with just one innate divine ability."

Zi Xuan waved the Earth Array Flag, slightly adjusting the array, generating rays of light with purifying and nourishing effects, which radiated to all members of the Mountain and River Squad.

She looked at Xiong Zhou, who stretched and then unconsciously shook his body, and smiled, "Regardless of the bloodline, having this kind of recovery ability at the first level of Qi Refining is enough to show that the upper limit of the power of this bloodline is extremely high. Perhaps it can also provide some enhancement at the sixth level of Qi Refining."

"However, this behavior seems to originate from some powerful demon?"

As Duanmu Ning placed a pill under her tongue, she sprinkled medicinal mist to complement the restorative effects of the Earth Vein Array.

She slightly raised one finger and teased, "First of all, Junior Brother Xiong Zhou's talent and the opportunities he has had are already quite extraordinary."

The second finger was raised. "Then, Junior Brother Xiong Zhou also possesses the bloodline of a demon. He fought continuously for thirty-six days without rest, and killed at least 300,000 corpses that had undergone zombie transformation."

"Calling Junior Brother Xiong Zhou a prodigy seems reasonable from all perspectives, doesn't it?"

Duanmu Ning blinked. "So, if we want to address Junior Brother Xiong Zhou in a more affectionate way, should we call him 'Demon Man' or 'Man-Demon'?"

Xiong Zhou took out a large flatbread from his storage bag and started taking a bite.

He rolled his eyes as he ate.

What kind of monster?

What kind of monster?

Even ladyboys are appearing...

After devouring more than fifty large flatbreads, Xiong Zhou took out a water gourd and drank dozens of mouthfuls before letting out a slow, satisfied burp.

He rubbed his belly with a strong voice and said, "Senior brothers and sisters, please stop teasing me. I'm just an ordinary dog ​​demon with a bit of auspicious beast status, and maybe a little bit of divine favor."

"Now, let's think about how to complete the third stage of the quest."

Relying on its impenetrable defense, Xiong Zhou used the Earth and Wood Heavy Sword to hack at more than 300,000 ten-thousand-foot-tall divine corpses that possessed the essence of the fourth level of Qi Refining.

The fact that the third stage of the task is still not completed is definitely not normal.

At this moment, Wu Kang stopped snoring, opened his eyes, circulated the Qi of Heaven and Earth throughout his body to relieve fatigue, slowly exhaled a breath of mixed Qi, and looked at Zi Xuan.

Immediately afterwards, the rest of the Mountain and River Squad members also looked at Zi Xuan, their eyes filled with questions.

Clearly, they were waiting for her to use her innate supernatural powers to deduce the truth, or to directly peek into the secrets of heaven.

Zi Xuan shook her head slightly and said, "We can't ask about the secrets of heaven. The death energy and corpse energy here are too heavy, which has affected the resonance between the inner vision and the laws of heaven and earth."

She subtly calculated with her fingers and said, "However, there are only a few possibilities."

"First, our initial assumptions about the mission were incorrect."

"This place, which the celestial deacons have named 'Yin Land,' is not for us to kill these Qi Refining Level 4 corpses. Rather, they want us to infiltrate and investigate in a clandestine manner."

"We may have skipped some crucial steps in the mission due to some unforeseen event."

Zi Xuan's gaze fell on Xiong Zhou, who looked honest.

Wu Kang, Duanmu Ning, and Li Tianqing also slowly turned their gazes to their junior brother, who seemed a little embarrassed and revealed a simple and honest smile.

Secondly, our mission objective lies even deeper within the "underworld".

"Our actions of killing corpses may not be wrong, but we still need to delve into that deep darkness to obtain and summarize some special information, or see certain things, in order to complete the third stage of the mission."

"There are even more terrifying things inside that we need to face."

As he listened to Zixuan's analysis, Xiong Zhou's eyelids twitched.

He complained, "No, I've already slain over 300,000 ten-thousand-foot-tall divine corpses, and you've all wiped out over 600,000. That's almost a million Qi Refining Level 4 beings combined, and yet there's something even more terrifying. This mission is just too inhuman."

"Honestly, even if it's just hacking at these corpses that don't feel pain and don't have much consciousness, I'm starting to feel nauseous from all this killing."

Although Xiong Zhou personally felt that the tutoring over the past thirty-six days had been very effective, it had honed him from a near-novice in combat, at the Bronze level, to the Silver level.

If converted into a martial art specializing in killing, it might reach the level of [Lv.2].

"How about we go back to the surface and recover for a while before making any further plans?"

"Staying here underground all the time, filled with death energy and corpse energy, makes me feel a bit unwell."

Zi Xuan looked at Duanmu Ning and asked, "Junior Sister Duanmu, as the true disciple of our team specializing in alchemy and medicine, what is your opinion?"

"Given our current state, is it possible for us to continue exploring deeper into the shadowy realm and complete the mission directly?"

A wisp of his own innate fire rose from Duanmu Ning's hand, transforming into a vibrant green flame of life, which scorched the death energy and corpse energy swirling in the air.

Then, he ran his hand across his eyes, unleashing a pupil technique to examine his own condition and that of the other team members.

After a moment's thought, Duanmu Ning said, "Normally speaking, I think there's no problem continuing the mission."

"Thanks to Junior Brother Xiong Zhou's presence, our overall consumption and the loss of our reserves were more than half less than expected."

"However, due to the influence of Junior Brother Xiong Zhou, the difficulty of the mission has become significantly skewed, and I'm a little unsure."

"Now, besides Junior Brother Xiong Zhou, we've accumulated those special toxins that have been integrated with the Qi of Heaven and Earth in our bodies. In this underground cavern filled with death Qi and corpse Qi, it's difficult for me to completely eliminate them despite all the negative effects."

After weighing the options, Zi Xuan used her innate supernatural powers to make a rough calculation based on the current information.

She said, "Let's go back to the surface first, cleanse our bodies of the toxins, and then explore this dark place."

"When the task difficulty has increased significantly, and we still have a chance to get a higher rating, it's better to play it safe."

Xiong Zhou had no objections; he felt it was acceptable whether to continue the mission or return to rest.

His storage bag was still fully stocked, and even if he ran out of supplies, he still had the [Gate to Another World] to send some resources from the Mountain and Sea Realm to provide support.

Wu Kang and Li Tianqing seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, as if the pressure had eased somewhat.

As the team's main offensive force and as the team's main supporting force, they are indeed under a lot of pressure.

Duanmu Ning possessed a small world with incomplete laws and principles, while Zi Xuan had the ability to mobilize the abundant Qi of the earth's veins. Over the past thirty-six days, they had used up all the Qi of heaven and earth within their inner worlds again and again without stopping.

Xiong Zhou waved and walked towards the rock wall and stone steps he remembered, saying, "Then let's hurry up and go up."

"To be honest, after staying here for a while, I also feel a bit uncomfortable. Those senior brothers in charge of the outer realms were right in naming it. This place is really 'yin'. The death energy and corpse energy are too strong."

However, before he could take more than a few steps forward, Xiong Zhou stopped and immediately summoned his heavy armor. With a clanging sound, he quickly put on the armor.

Li Tianqing looked at Xiong Zhou, who was full of vigilance, with some surprise and asked, "Junior Brother Xiong Zhou, what's wrong?"

"I don't see any danger here?"

Zi Xuan frowned and activated her innate supernatural powers, but to no avail.

She asked in a low voice, "I haven't sensed any danger here either, Junior Brother Xiong Zhou, what did you discover?"

Xiong Zhou's expression was solemn.

His voice was somewhat heavy: "We've been gone for thirty-six days since we descended from the surface to this 'dark place,' haven't we?"

Duanmu Ning replied, "That's right. I have a small space that can pinpoint relative time coordinates. Thirty-six days have passed so far, so there's no problem with that."

Xiong Zhou's tone grew heavier as he said, "But why is it that the timeline of those rock blocks I sculpted and pieced together doesn't seem to match up?"

"I can't seem to sense their presence, or rather, because they are no longer in their original 'location,' they are beyond the limits of my perception."

"Also, I remember that Senior Sister Zixuan seemed to have used the earth's vein energy to create a rock staircase, but now that staircase is gone."

Xiong Zhou reached out and pointed ahead to the spot where, in his memory, there were stone steps.

Zi Xuan, Wu Kang, Duanmu Ning, and Li Tianqing, the four true disciples, were stunned and stood frozen in place.

Xiong Zhou immediately noticed their unusual behavior, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "What did you discover too?"

Zi Xuan took a deep breath, her eyes filled with shock, and said in a low voice, "That staircase, which was shaped by the earth's vein energy, contains traces of my laws. If it is destroyed, I will definitely know."

"But now, it's gone, and I don't feel it at all."

Wu Kang said in disbelief, "I left marks related to the Tenglong Bow in a hidden corner of that tunnel."

"Now that these marks are gone, the Dragon Bow doesn't react at all, as if I never left any marks in the first place."

"When Junior Brother Xiong Zhou brought it up, I had no feeling at all, as if I had never done it at all."

Li Tianqing narrowed her eyes slightly and said softly, "I used the Ink Landscape Fan to create a wisp of breeze that carries the power of the void. If there is no interference, it can stay for at least three years."

"Now, that gentle breeze is gone, and I didn't even notice it, or realize it was gone."

Duanmu Ning's face turned pale. She murmured, "I didn't leave any marks like my senior brothers and sisters, nor did I leave any sense of large objects like Junior Brother Xiong Zhou."

"But now, my little world, which is incomplete in its laws of nature, is warning me that there is a strange law of nature here that is exerting an unknown influence on me."

"Before Junior Brother Xiong Zhou reminded me, I seemed to have completely ignored the warning from my little world."

The five Tai Li disciples present at that moment guessed what danger the Shanhe Squad had encountered.

Xiong Zhou looked at the four true disciples beside him and sighed softly, "Your understanding has been distorted."

"But my exploration experience was not enough, and I was not aware of the problem until I suggested returning to the surface, at which point I realized the situation."

"As expected of a 'yin place,' it's truly yin!"

Xiong Zhou turned around and looked into the depths of the underground cavern.

Their way back was cut off.

Now, the only option is to keep moving forward.