Vast energies gushed into Ou Yangming's body and into his sea of consciousness, where they were converted into the most ordinary mental power.

Ou Yangming's heart was pounding. Although he vaguely understood that the conversion was certainly unordinary, given the substantial benefit and the quick improvement of his strength, he naturally cast aside his concerns.

Needless to say, he was still on guard. If anything felt inappropriate to him, he would forcefully cut off the process.

Nonetheless, it was soon proven that his worries were baseless.

When Ou Yangming finished digesting the flesh and blood, he opened his eyes, which gleamed for a split second.

He hesitated for a while before he rubbed his hands to release the Appraisal Light on himself.

[Race: Human]

[Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Human, Yang Grade, Class Five]

[Power: 15]

[Agility: 15]

[Physique: 19 (15+4)]

[Mental Power: 55 (53+2]

[Skills: Martial art skills, Military Fire Smithing Art, appraisal art, Precious Stone Embedding Art, Blood Flight, Substitution (Passive), Runes Formation, Space Slicing, small fireball]

[State: Integration of Heaven and man, thoroughly meticulous]

Ou Yangming was surprised and overjoyed. Putting aside the other properties, what truly moved him was that his mental power had increased by 2 points.

In actual fact, after absorbing energies from a bag of flesh and blood, Ou Yangming's mental power increased by 1 point only. The other point was what he gained from cultivating attentively for several months, making an improvement in martial arts, performing the Simulated Spiritual Fist, as well as smithing magic tools.

Nevertheless, this was exactly the reason Ou Yangming was elated.

The fact that months of hard work was equivalent to absorbing energies from a bag of flesh and blood was so tempting that it was indescribable.

Ou Yangming trembled a little because he finally understood why the big yellow dog was so keen on the Earthly Dragon Beast's flesh and blood. It turned out that they were extremely advantageous.

The young fellow looked up and immediately saw the big yellow dog doing its best to absorb its portion of Earthly Dragon Beast flesh and blood with the Devouring ability. He quietly observed for some time and finally confirmed that the energies would not give the dog negative effects like how those from ordinary flesh and blood would.

Even though Ou Yangming could not understand it, he would be foolish to not utilize this discovery.

Therefore, in the ravine, the human and the dog kept stabbing their weapons into the Earthly Dragon Beast's flesh and blood to absorb their energies. Ou Yangming turned the energies into his mental power, but he did not know what the big yellow dog turned them into.

It took half a day for them to finish the bags brought by Ou Yangming.

Big Yellow cultivated for half a day, but it did not look exhausted at all. Instead, it was in high spirits. The big yellow dog barked excitedly at Ou Yangming as it could not hide its happiness, whereas the young fellow simply nodded. His mental power foundation was so solid that he surpassed the 60-points mark and achieved a total of 63 points, if he took into account his Blood Flight waist sash's Unique Attribute, which gave a 5% mental power increment.

The actual mental power increment for Ou Yangming from the bags was at least 8 points, which was an unbelievable amount.

It was worth noting that as one's cultivation increased, one's physique and mental power would slowly approach a limit. The closer they were to it, the harder it would be to upgrade them, which was why there were several times more Force Grade cultivators in this world than there were Supreme Great Ancestors.

A martial artist's cultivation was always in the form of a pyramid.

Despite that, Ou Yangming did not sense the limit when he converted the Earthly Dragon Beast's energies.

In other words, the benefits from the dragon beast had not arrived at a limit because the flesh and blood had greater benefits to be uncovered.

Ou Yangming curbed his thought and stuffed the bags into his interspatial bag. He later retrieved some specially-made powder and sprinkled them in the air to mask and neutralize the bloody smell in the air.

He pondered for a while and vaguely realized that while Earthly Dragon Beast flesh and blood had endless wonderful uses, he could not enjoy the benefits without equipment attached with the Devouring attribute.

Moreover, given that there were no negative effects and limitations when he absorbed the flesh and blood, he figured that it was because of their source.

'What exactly is the upper realm like?' Ou Yangming was incredibly curious.

He patted the big yellow dog's head, and the dog wagged its tail obediently. After receiving some perks from the young fellow, it became truly loyal to him.

"Big Yellow, don't be in such a hurry. I have more flesh and blood, so I'll bring them again and we can absorb them together," Ou Yangming noted with a smile.

The big yellow dog stared at Ou Yangming and kept sniffing his body as if it wanted to find his secret storage. The young fellow pushed it away snappily and said, "Stop playing around; they're not with me. Quickly bring me to go meet Elder Sister Ying."

Big Yellow glanced at Ou Yangming's interspatial bag reluctantly, but it turned around in the end. Instead of leading the way, it shook its body.

Ou Yangming was stunned for a while before he jumped onto the big yellow dog's back. He asked in shock, "Big Yellow, why have you grown fatter? Shouldn't you lose some weight?"

The big yellow dog turned to glare at him furiously. Just as Ou Yangming wondered if the fellow would throw him to the ground, the big dog "swooshed" away and turned into a yellow light as it entered the Chaos Cave.

After absorbing plenty of the Earthly Dragon Beast's flesh and blood, Ou Yangming's mental power went past the 60-points mark, whereas the big yellow dog grew slightly bigger again.

That said, the big yellow dog was not small in the first place, it's size could be compared with large carnivorous creatures. Hence, even if it grew slightly bigger, it would not seem too abrupt.

Riding on Big Yellow, Ou Yangming could sense that it had not only grown bigger but had also become faster.

Having a huge physique and being nimble had always been contradictory. Even so, it was perfectly resolved for the big yellow dog because its speed and agility did not seem to have reduced because of its size. In fact, its maximum speed actually seemed to have improved.

Before long, when the big yellow dog stopped, they had already entered the Ni family's secret realm.

Ou Yangming looked around and lamented. As compared to when he first came, he and the big yellow dog had undergone enormous changes.

He fixed his gaze on the cottage at once because he could sense that the graceful figure, whom he had worried deeply about, was inside.

The big yellow dog barked proudly as though it was proud of its speed, but Ou Yangming could not be bothered about it at the moment. He jumped off the dog and swiftly approached the cottage, then he turned around and instructed softly, "Big Yellow, go on and play on your own. Don't disturb us."

Before his voice died away, he had entered the cottage and closed the door conveniently.

Big Yellow stared at the cottage dumbfoundedly and gritted its teeth for some time. It made a few rounds on the spot before its eyes lit up, then it discreetly made its way to one of the cottage's corners. Over there, the big yellow dog pricked up its ears and listened carefully.

※※※※

Ou Yangming seemed fast as he hurried into the cottage, but he moved so gently that he did not make a sound at all.

Inside the cottage, Ni Yinghong was seen sitting quietly on the bed. She wore a loose white robe, and a faint blush was seen on her beautiful face. A peculiar aura kept lingering around her, so much so that she was wrapped in thin, white mist, making her look like a celestial being.

The young fellow curled his lips into a smile. He sat beside Ni Yinghong and watched quietly.

He calmed himself down at the sight of her charming face, to the extent that his mental power, which was previously upgraded in his sea of consciousness, became tame as well.

Time seemed to have stopped completely at this moment, as if he could stay like this forever.

After an unknown period, Ni Yinghong, who was sitting quietly, twitched her little nose as though she sensed Ou Yangming looking at him. She slowly curbed the white mist around her by drawing it back into her body, then she opened her eyes.

She was instantly greeted by a familiar face, one that had been imprinted on her mind.

Ni Yinghong's vision went blurry. She kept blinking her eyes, afraid that she was only seeing an illusion, which would disappear at any time.

Ou Yangming felt sorry for her. He gently leaned forward to embrace her.

A big tear slowly rolled down Ni Yinghong's face, and it later fell onto Ou Yangming's shoulder, leaving a damped patch on his clothes.

"It's… So good to see you!"

When the beast tide surrounded the city and the spirit beast vaguely showed itself, Ni Yinghong was greatly affected even when she was in the secret realm. She even received a message from her great ancestor to be ready to leave the realm, so she could join hands with He Liangce to kill the culprit behind everything.

From the day she entered the secret realm to cultivate, she was already aware of her fate.

She did not resist it because it was her responsibility as a child of the Ni family.

After all, she received unimaginable resources as compared to ordinary people, thus she would not back away if her clan needed her to make a sacrifice.

Nonetheless, Ni Yinghong had a wish.

She wanted to see him again, even if it would only be once.

Now, she realized that her wish was fulfilled.

Ni Yinghong lay quietly in Ou Yangming's arms, where she got a whiff of the familiar body scent. She no longer had any regrets.

Ou Yangming stroked her silky hair. Their minds were in sync, and the young fellow's eyes were hollow and unpredictable.

"Elder Sister Ying, I'm here." He uttered with power and confidence like never before, "Don't be afraid, you have me."