"Boom…"

An intense and indescribably enormous power suddenly spread upward from the handprint, such that it zoomed against the current toward the treetop.

The power was so forceful as though all of the powers in the entire small world gathered here at this instant. As the surging aura filled the air, Big Yellow and the 2 spirit beasts immediately collapsed to the ground as if an extremely fearsome thing above them was suppressing them.

As the unparalleled power soared into the sky, especially at the treetop, a giant mushroom-shaped cloud rose and rushed into the sky too. It later dispersed in mid-air, causing destructive heatwaves to be released.

Nonetheless, the heatwaves did not really spread. When they reached the borders of the oasis, they were subdued and became orderly as if they were constrained by a certain power, hence they sank bit by bit. Moreover, once the heatwaves, which were hot enough to burn spirit beasts, swept down, they halted halfway. This was because they could not penetrate the dense leaves, so they could only slowly disperse in mid-air.

After experiencing this unforeseen change, Big Yellow and the 2 other spirit beasts looked at Ou Yangming in confusion.

In particular, Big Yellow widened its eyes and wondered, 'When did Lil' Ming possess such a tremendous power…'

Ou Yangming was also bright-eyed at the moment. He slowly retracted his hand in disbelief.

He looked up after some time and exhaled before he remarked, "You exaggerated it."

The fiery momentum was shocking indeed, but Ou Yangming knew it was not his power as he could not have released such power in an instant.

In actuality, the huge and destructive power was let out by the Wutong Tree after the imprinting succeeded. It was a power that had been repressed for over 10,000 years.

Needless to say, Ou Yangming did not waste his time throughout the 2 months as he benefited very much too.

The time he spent on burning the bark was equivalent to a never-ending cultivation. If it was someone else or on a different occasion, even Ou Yangming could not have done this.

Humans must recuperate. Besides, Ou Yangming was continuously burning without stinting on releasing his power. Even if he was an iron man, he could not have held on.

Nevertheless, the Wutong Tree was evidently well-prepared. Every time Ou Yangming consumed a third of his power and vigor, it would retrieve a fruit for him. The fruit was unbelievably mighty, and it was simply similar to the concentrated immortal liquid introduced by the lazy turtle as it had an unequaled effect. It got rid of the young fellow's accumulated exhaustion at once, and it helped him regain spiritual power so that he would be full of energy again.

Given that a powerful being was taking care of the logistics, Ou Yangming could cast his worries aside. After burning continuously for 2 months, he finally burned past the layer of the ridiculously tough bark.

Furthermore, Ou Yangming gained notable advantages too.

After being constantly used and replenished, his sea of consciousness somehow expanded to twice its original size. When he sensed his power and the one released by the Wutong Tree into the air, it was also an incredibly mysterious experience.

Not only did his pure mental power reach a Spiritualist's middle-rank standard, but most importantly, he attained a stronger comprehension in controlling this power.

The face on the bark appeared again but this time, apart from expressing its immense joy, it also looked at Ou Yangming with special respect.

"Master, I was too elated, but I couldn't hold it back because you're finally here after I waited for over 10,000 years."

Ou Yangming nodded. After leaving a mark on the Wutong Tree, there was indeed a mysterious connection between them, and it allowed him to understand its emotions. He even had a feeling that he could even easily look through the tree's plentiful memories if he was willing to. Even so, the young fellow did not act rashly. After all, the memories were collected over several 10,000 years. Based on his cultivation base and boundary at the moment, the gushing memories would likely make him explode if he touched them carelessly.

He looked deeply at the contour on the bark and asked, "You don't regret this?"

"Regret?" The tree person chuckled and answered, "Master, you're thinking too much. It took me so long to stumble upon this opportunity, so why would I regret this?"

"Heh, I can't help you much given my abilities now, whereas an adult phoenix can burn you with a fire that can even burn the sky, and it'll somewhat give you a new lease of life."

Once the mark connected them, Ou Yangming vaguely understood the reason the tree person wanted to do this; it was a mysterious appreciation of feelings after a kind of communication.

The Wutong Tree sighed and responded, "Master, you're really overthinking this. Putting aside the fact that Wutong Trees like me don't get to choose, even if I could, God knows how long it'll take for me to meet an adult phoenix." It paused for a while before it expressed honestly, "I've been waiting for several 10,000 years, and I really can't wait any longer."

Ou Yangming grinned and said, "As long as you don't regret it."

Although he had not found the little red bird yet, in actual fact, even the little bird would be a better candidate to leave a mark on the Wutong Tree.

The young fellow noted after some thought, "Continue to cultivate here while I go outside to gain more experiences."

"Yes, Master. I hope that you'll succeed soon and return to build your nest," the Wutong Tree replied to him loudly.

Ou Yangming's face twitched hard because that was indeed the Wutong Tree's biggest wish. It would not be an issue if a real phoenix was present, but the words sounded unusually odd and ear-piercing to a human like him.

He later looked at Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard.

The 2 spirit beasts instantly kowtowed at him with respect.

"Greetings, sir." They were both quivering a little.

Before this, they only regarded Ou Yangming as a particularly gifted human but after what happened, even a fool could guess his "real identity". When the spirit beasts thought about his identity, they found it hard to uphold their unyielding characters in front of him.

Ou Yangming smiled bitterly and cursed internally, 'My real identity isn't what you think it is; I'm a legitimate human.'

Despite that, it was best not to say that in front of the Wutong Tree.

"The 2 of you can stay here." Ou Yangming pondered for a while before he continued, "The cultivation environment and resources should be 100 times better than what's available on the 10,000 Beasts Ridge. Strive to advance as soon as you can, and you might still be of help to me in the future."

Even though the 2 spirit beasts were low-rank spirit beasts, they would be considered top-notch beings in the lower realm. On the contrary, they seemed to be not quite useful in the Spiritual Realm, and they might even be burdens to Ou Yangming if they stayed by his side. Therefore, ever since the young fellow found this safe place, he wanted to settle them down here. Additionally, he did not want his "real identity" to be exposed, thus making them stay here would unquestionably be the best choice.

Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Antelope looked at each other. They uttered carefully, "As you wish, sir."

They were already satisfied with being able to be acquainted with Ou Yangming. In any case, they also dared not have the rebellious thought of disobeying his order.

Ou Yangming nodded. "Wutong, I'll leave them under your good care."

"Yes, Master, please don't worry. I'll provide them with cultivation resources so that they'll advance as soon as possible and won't embarrass you." The Wutong Tree hesitated for a moment before it added, "Master, I actually have tons of cultivation resources here, so can slowly cultivate here."

Ou Yangming chuckled and rejoined, "Nothing can compare to going on a journey on my own. Besides, there's something outside that I'm still worried about, so I can't cultivate in isolation here for now."

The Wutong Tree dared not persuade him anything, so it suggested, "Yes, Master. Since you're not willing to stay here, take some items with you."

Ou Yangming could not help but laugh. "I've taken enough items, and I feel at ease leaving the rest of them here with you." He waved at Big Yellow and said to the Wutong Tree, "Send us out."

The Wutong Tree responded to him with respect. Following that, 2 willow twigs coiled around the young fellow and the big yellow dog.

At the spur of the moment, a peculiar energy fluctuation appeared around them, then the view in front of them changed unimaginably.

Having said that, none of those affected Ou Yangming and Big Yellow. With the Wutong Tree's full protection, the fluctuation in the space could not have an impact on them at all.

"Woosh…"

In the blink of an eye, by the time Ou Yangming and Big Yellow calmed down, they realized that they had left the oasis and crossed the plain and were directly brought back to the secret realm's entrance.

The human and the dog looked at each other and were shocked.

It was worth noting that the Wutong Tree's ability to control space was unbelievably mighty.

"Lil Ming, we can actually stay here to cultivate." Big Yellow was rather reluctant to leave the realm. "The Spiritual Realm is quite dangerous."

Ou Yangming smiled bitterly. "Big Yellow, they probably came to the Spiritual Realm too, but there's no news about them at all. How can I not worry?"

"Yes, they probably entered the Spiritual Realm too, but why don't the Nine Great Sects know anything about it?" Big Yellow was puzzled.

The young fellow spread out his hands and responded, "I have no idea, but I'll definitely get to the bottom of it."

He sounded determined. 'Multi-armed King Kong and the others couldn't have mysteriously disappeared, right? If that's really the case, I'll surely find the little red bird and ask what it has been doing.'

With that, they flashed and finally left the secret realm.

Behind them, the massive oasis was gently swaying according to a fixed frequency. And the Wutong Tree's proud voice filled the whole secret realm.

"Finally, finally, finally, haha…"