Chapter 2867: Chapter 2867
With his external avatar rushing to reinforce the Dragon Maiden and the others, he wasn’t overly concerned about their safety.
Trapped in this unknown space and unwilling to leave recklessly, Ye Liuyun had no choice but to settle his mind and focus on cultivation.
The Demon Vine had already broken through to the Unity Realm, but it showed no interest in the natural energy of this place. To avoid accidentally leaving it behind when the time came to depart, Ye Liuyun withdrew it into his spatial world.
He then immediately extended his divine sense to attune himself to the natural energy surrounding him. The energy here was so dense that he could perceive it clearly without even needing to enter a deep meditative state.
By continuously sensing and channeling this energy, he steadily strengthened his own power. His Primordial Spirit Art proved immensely helpful in deepening his comprehension of the natural forces around him.
Applying the same techniques he used to manipulate spiritual energy, he gradually improved his control over the ambient natural energy, achieving increasingly effective results.
Once fully immersed in his cultivation, Ye Liuyun noticed that the Divine Command Token was also absorbing the surrounding energy.
"Could it be that the Divine Command Token is the reason I was brought here? Otherwise, why was I the only one taken?" he wondered inwardly.
To his astonishment, the Divine Command Token within his sea of consciousness flickered twice with a golden light, as if responding to his thoughts.
This was the first time the token had ever reacted to him. Yet, when he tried asking further questions, it fell silent again.
Ye Liuyun then thought of the Book Demon and decided to seek his insight.
The Book Demon had no idea where they were either, but he confirmed that the Divine Command Token had emitted certain fluctuations, which in turn provoked the natural energy of this space to act upon Ye Liuyun.
"Regardless, the Divine Command Token means you no harm. Besides, this place is beneficial to your cultivation, so why not train here peacefully? And there’s no need to worry about time—the flow of time here is extremely slow. One month here is equivalent to just one day in the outside world."
The Book Demon’s mastery over temporal power far surpassed Ye Liuyun’s, allowing him to perceive the time differential here with great clarity.
Ye Liuyun hadn’t paid attention to this earlier, but upon hearing this, he immediately focused his own temporal senses and confirmed that time indeed passed much more slowly in this space.
"Alright then, I’ll focus on cultivation for now!" Ye Liuyun immediately pushed aside his doubts and resumed attuning himself to the primordial energy of the realm.
He began channeling the ambient energy to practice various combat techniques, while simultaneously drawing it into his core to refine the quality of his profound essence. However, integrating this external energy seamlessly into his own reserves—ready to be wielded effortlessly in battle—proved far more challenging.
Previously, he had only managed to fuse trace amounts of primordial energy with his profound essence, and even that required conscious effort during combat. Now, surrounded by such dense energy, he made gradual progress, though the process remained painstakingly slow.
Driven by his desire to escape this place sooner, Ye Liuyun spared no effort in his training. As he absorbed the ambient energy, he also shaped it into the form of a fierce beast to spar against. Restricting himself solely to the primordial energy stored within his core, he engaged in relentless combat with this construct.
At first, his control over the energy was feeble, but through constant expenditure and replenishment, his absorption rate steadily accelerated. By chance, Ye Liuyun had stumbled upon a method to hasten his mastery of primordial energy—and he threw himself into the practice with fervor.
After a month of rigorous training, his absorption speed rivaled the rate at which he once drew in spiritual energy at the Core Formation realm. The beast he conjured grew increasingly formidable, ceaselessly battling him to deplete the primordial energy stored in his core.
Over the next five months, Ye Liuyun’s absorption rate soared until it finally matched the speed at which he could draw upon his innate source power. By this point, he could contend with opponents at the seventh level of the Dominator realm using primordial energy alone.
Though the ambient energy in the space had thinned considerably, Ye Liuyun could now manipulate it with fluid ease. All the while, the Divine Command Token he carried had been steadily absorbing energy at a constant rate—until suddenly, it began drawing it in more rapidly.
Ye Liuyun spent one final month intensifying his cycle of absorption, expenditure, and replenishment. Only when he felt his absorption rate had peaked and could improve no further did he temporarily halt his cultivation.
The ambient energy within the space had now become indistinguishable from that of the outside world. Yet, Ye Liuyun could still perceive even the faintest trace of it with perfect clarity.
He knew that remaining here would no longer yield any further improvement. However, the space itself was sealed—there was no exit. He had no choice but to retrieve the Black Teleportation Tower and use it to transport himself just outside the herb garden guarded by the ape tribe.
This was the last location he had recorded in the tower, originally intended for when he returned to harvest the herbs. Fortunately, it wasn’t too far from his doppelganger and the others.
The moment Ye Liuyun emerged, his doppelganger sensed his presence. Their souls instantly synchronized once more.
While the doppelganger informed the others that Ye Liuyun was safe and had returned, it also began absorbing his newfound insights into harnessing ambient energy.
The rest of the group immediately ceased their cultivation and hurried to the mouth of the canyon to welcome him back.
Along the way, Ye Liuyun encountered several feral beast. With a single punch infused with ambient energy—without even channeling a trace of his profound energy—he effortlessly obliterated a beast at the seventh level of the Dominator Realm. Against beasts at the eighth or ninth level, he combined his profound energy with lightning and flames, achieving the same lethal result.
Eager to test his newfound power, Ye Liuyun looked forward to reuniting with the group and finding a Unity Realm martial artist to challenge.
It wasn’t until they saw Ye Liuyun return completely unharmed that everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. The women in the group rushed to his side, vowing never to be separated from him again—even if it meant passing up future opportunities.
“It’s not that serious,” Ye Liuyun reassured them with a light laugh. “You all know what I’m capable of. I’m not so easy to kill!”
He then recounted his recent experiences and demonstrated his control over ambient energy. Meanwhile, his doppelganger had already returned to the spatial realm to refine a bloodline pearl before beginning its own training in harnessing ambient energy.
After days of rigorous body tempering, the doppelganger had finally reached the center of the canyon. Though its physical strength still lagged slightly behind Ye Liuyun’s, it was now resilient enough to withstand attacks from a first-level Unity Realm expert without issue.
After absorbing a bit more of the power of bloodline, he would be nearly identical to Ye Liuyun’s main body. Therefore, he had to seize the time to elevate his control over the natural energies as well.
His insights were synchronized with Ye Liuyun’s, so his current task was to swiftly absorb the natural energies into his core, aligning his cultivation level with that of his avatar.
Otherwise, their energy-storing stones would be incompatible, hindering their combat effectiveness when it mattered most.
After meeting with Ye Liuyun, the Purple Kylin Snake, Thunder Roar, Nine-Headed Demon Dragon, and White Tiger felt reassured and returned to their cultivation.
Without delay, Ye Liuyun led the group deeper into the heart of the secret realm.
