The clamor finally stopped. Once the blazing fire disappeared in a peculiar way, the other people began to look at Ou Yangming strangely.

A light breeze blew gently, carrying a burnt smell in the air, but nobody paid attention to it.

Not knowing who started it, a row of people in a certain direction had already kneeled on the ground.

It was as though the movement was contagious because more people began to kneel.

The people who lived in this area were mostly ordinary people who relied on Elder Universe. On the other hand, powerhouses who cultivated martial arts dared not stay here for a long time.

Based on Elder Universe's character, he would never oppress ordinary people with extreme measures. Instead, he took good care of them.

Therefore, when these people, who had never experienced many hardships in their lives, were suddenly attacked by fire from heaven and witnessed the God of fire's birth, the fear that they felt was indescribable.

When one of them kneeled, it caused a chain effect and everyone else began falling on their knees too.

Ou Yangming was stunned, and he finally shifted his attention away from the dancing flame.

He came to a sudden realization when he glanced at the people kneeling around him.

Power. The sensation and the treatment were results of extraordinary power.

Perhaps the ordinary people had already regarded him as something like a God.

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming's mental state shook in an instant as he became clear-headed. 'This is Elder Universe's territory. God knows what the elder will think if I try to act cool here.'

Although Ou Yangming had fathomed the right way to use his mental power, there was a huge limit to it. He was still not confident about going against a Supreme Great Ancestor, not to mention the unpredictable Elder Universe.

He shook his wrist, then the fire in his palm instantly vanished.

Ou Yangming immediately noticed Elder Universe's gloomy face when he turned to look. He twitched his mouth when he looked at the mess around him, then he said, "Senior, I told you, the flame is a bit too powerful…"

Elder Universe cursed. 'This is a bit too powerful? It's extremely powerful, okay?'

Nevertheless, when he glanced at the terrified Ou Yangming, he sighed even though he knew the young fellow was likely pretending. "All of you may disperse."

He did not speak loudly, but his voice extended far and wide as though he spoke right next to the people.

Those people were ordinary people who had been relying on Elder Universe to survive, after all, hence they dared not disobey him despite being fearful of Ou Yangming.

After a brief moment, Ou Yangming, Ni Yinghong, and Elder Universe were the only people left.

Elder Universe had a strange look on his face when he scanned Ou Yangming from head to toe. In particular, his seemingly bottomless eyes glowed with a mysterious luster.

Ou Yangming tensed up because he thought about the elder's identity.

'He's the acknowledged chief appraiser in the prefecture. Could he have noticed something?'

Elder Universe closed his eyes after a while, and his eyes no longer shone with an unusual light when he opened them again. He sighed and remarked, "Apprentice, your friend is gifted indeed. His mental power is… Much more powerful than yours!"

Ni Yinghong curled her lips into a bright smile. The mightier Ou Yangming was, the happier she was.

She asked when a thought crossed her mind, "Master, how is he compared to you?"

Elder Universe was stunned. He let out two dry coughs, which was obvious he wanted to avoid the topic. "His mental power is great, but the way he uses it is laughable, hehe."

Ni Yinghong's eyes lit up. She was only prompted by a sudden impulse to raise the question earlier, but Elder Universe reacted oddly.

She had a flash of thought, 'Could his mental power be so powerful that he's able to stand up to Master as an equal?'

Ni Yinghong thought about the big fireball, which gave her an unparalleled threatening pressure, and the thought grew like weeds being blown by the spring breeze.

'But how is that possible?'

Ou Yangming sighed a breath of relief. 'Judging from the elder's look, he doesn't seem like he took offense.'

"Senior, I acted too rashly. Please punish me."

"Punish? Hmph, how should I punish you? Young fella, you used such a huge technique during your first visit. Were you trying to destroy the medicinal farm that I've been maintaining for decades?" Elder Universe glared at Ou Yangming.

"I dare not, I dare not," Ou Yangming responded in fear.

Ni Yinghong's eyes wandered about, and she commented, "Master, he has already apologized, so please forgive him. Besides, you were the one who asked him to attempt it…"

Elder Universe stared at her and regretted his decision of accepting her as his apprentice. That said, he quickly forgot about the regret.

"Young fella, I taught you the way to use mental power, but the secret technique has an incredibly high fatality rate, so you mustn't perform it before you truly grasped it. If not, before you're able to hurt an enemy with the art, you would've injured yourself first," Elder Universe instructed seriously.

Ou Yangming's face changed, and he quickly replied to the elder, "Yes, I'll remember it well."

He was fully immersed in the process when he used his mental power earlier. The fireball was mighty, but if Ou Yangming was in a standoff with his enemy, his enemy could have already killed him a few times before he could form the ball.

Elder Universe reached out his hand once more, then a light breeze flowed on his hand. "It's crucial to practice step by step, and you can try to multitask. It'll be more difficult, but if you succeed, it'll benefit you greatly in the future."

Ou Yangming nodded and clenched his fists because he was itching to practice right away.

"If you'd like to practice, go home and practice it yourself. Don't even think about doing it here!" Elder Universe scoffed with a dark face.

"Yes," Ou Yangming immediately answered as he was taken aback.

He knew very well that the elder was still holding a grudge against him for the damage that he had done just now.

"Listen well," Elder Universe said sternly, "There are two things you need to do to improve your secret technique's might. One, temper your mental power for it to constantly grow because the stronger it is, the greater the might released from your secret technique; two, study appraisal art more by bearing in mind that the ultimate aim is the study of nature, and the more you know, the more penetrating your grasp in it, the greater the tremendous power of nature absorbed."

Ou Yangming was moved. He looked like he gained some understanding as he appreciated the words.

Elder Universe placed his palms up, then an Appraisal Light appeared. Instead of shooting somewhere else, the light simply stayed in the void.

"Try it."

Ni Yinghong opened her mouth as she wanted to voice out.

Releasing the Appraisal Light and maintaining the light were two entirely different things of dissimilar difficulties. She had been cultivating under the elder's guidance for years, but the skill was still unattainable for her.

However, when Ni Yinghong thought about Ou Yangming's performance earlier, she held back from wanting to stop him.

Perhaps any sort of miracle would be unsurprising if Ou Yangming was the one who created it.

Ou Yangming watched the light for some time, then he reached out his palm too and slowly released his mental power.

A hint of light was emitted from his palm, then it stretched longer bit by bit. When the light first appeared, it was unstable and looked like it was going to disintegrate at any time, but it slowly became settled and formed a stable light source.

Elder Universe flashed a smile and asked, "What do you feel now?"

Ou Yangming closed his eyes, then an intense and indescribable feeling kept gushing from the light source into his consciousness.

He felt it—the world that he knew underwent a drastic change.

Everything he saw at the moment was different from what he remembered.

He felt as if he entered a different world, where he was watching everything through a veil.

Inside the world, which was enveloped by countless veils, some unnoticeable things seemed to be floating. They formed the greatest obstacle, disallowing Ou Yangming from perceiving them.

Without him knowing, Ou Yangming began to look ill at ease.

"Screech!"

A shout penetrated Ou Yangming consciousness like a sharp needle, and he quivered as a result. When he opened his eyes, the Appraisal Light in his hands was instantly gone.

"Senior, what's this?" He subconsciously questioned.

Elder Universe answered with a deep voice, "That's your comprehension of nature."

Ou Yangming's face took on a weird expression. "But everything I saw was… Different. They're different from before."

"Everyone's understanding of nature is different, so I can't teach you. You'll have to rely on yourself to apprehend everything," Elder Universe explained, then added after a pause, "But I've looked into ancient books, so I do have some understanding of nature."

He looked meaningfully at Ni Yinghong then said, "Here are three sentences for you: it's a mountain, it's water; it's not a mountain, it's not water; it's still a mountain, it's still water."

Ou Yangming's eyelids twitched as he vaguely caught something.

On the other hand, Ni Yinghong asked without any hesitation, "Master, what does that mean?"

Elder Universe responded snappily, "Perceive it yourself! Don't always rely on me!"

Ni Yinghong looked adorable as she stuck out her tongue playfully.

Elder Universe sighed a breath of relief and thought, 'I saw those sentences in an ancient book, but I haven't actually figured out the meaning behind it, so how can I explain it to you? Hmm, but this is the best thing to use to fool someone, especially this genius. Hehe…'

All of a sudden, Ni Yinghong recalled something. She retrieved the peculiar stone and said, "Master, we found a type of strange ore, and we can't figure out its background. Come take a look at it."