Gentle, cold breezes were blowing by the small lake in the Wang residence.

Wang Haobin put his fishing rod in place and walked on the long corridor for some time before he chuckled and said, "I asked you to come because I need you to do something. It's not too hard, but it won't be too easy either."

"You want me to look into Yu Tianrui?" Wang Fu's wrinkles on his face squeezed together as he asked softly.

"Yes. The Wang family should've been in first place this time, but we ended up being pushed down. You won't believe me if I say that I'm not resentful. A loss is a loss, and I have nothing to say about it, but I can't take it if I don't even know my opponent's background," Wang Haobin expressed while he walked in front. He looked into the distance, but his eyes did not seem focused. Nobody knew where his mind had wandered off to.

Wang Fu nodded and raised another question, "Is this your idea, Young Master, or Patriarch's?"

"It's my idea," Wang Haobin answered without any hesitation. Following that, he returned to the small lake and held his fishing rod tightly. The young master sat by the lake for a day and a night but did not catch any fish because he neither used bait nor a hook.

※※※※

Ou Yangming knew he would cause a sensation and would draw attention if he finished first at the Hunting Meet, but he did not care about them.

In the morning, when he stared ahead, a snow mountain was reflected in his eyes. A penetrating chill spread in all directions, so much so that the air's temperature plummeted. By visualizing the snow mountain every day, he benefited greatly in terms of how he used the spiritual Qi inside his dantian.

Ou Yangming furrowed his eyebrows. In actuality, he had built a solid foundation for himself. He became an Intermediate Spiritualist before he was pursued by Li Xin, and he managed a narrow escape. Afterward, the young fellow witnessed Multi-armed King Kong overcome the Heavenly Thunderbolts and comprehended something as well. Throughout his long journey this time, he then perceived the Big Avalanche and visualized a snow mountain inside his spiritual world. In terms of foundation alone, his was probably much more solid than that of when a Venerable One was still an Intermediate Spiritualist. If the fellow wanted to break through to become an Advanced Spiritualist, he could do so at any time.

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming did not break through even after such a long time. Firstly, he felt that it would be better to have a more solid foundation. Secondly, he had a vague feeling that he seemed to be lacking something important. Therefore, he forced himself to remain as an Intermediate Spiritualist for the time being.

He stopped cultivating after he breathed out some murky air.

At this moment, the Wu family sent a maid to deliver Ou Yangming's meal to him. After washing up and having some food, the young fellow fiddled with the mutated blood crystal that he obtained from the Forest of Death. A black centipede was engraved on the blood crystal, and it had a total of 64 pairs of legs that gave off a cold intent.

Ou Yangming weighed the blood crystal on his palm and thought, 'It feels cold, but the power that it contains is somewhat odd.'

After closing the door and windows, Ou Yangming released his mental power to make sure that nobody was near him, then he withdrew a part of his mental power and probed the blood crystal. It was not that he did not trust the Wu family, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, if Li Xin or the Sky-devouring Evil Remnants knew the young fellow was hiding in Huixun City, he would not be able to get away even if he wanted to.

As soon as Ou Yangming's mental power entered the blood crystal, a red world appeared in front of him.

Countless red mists drifted inside the world. If he had to describe it, he could say that a drop of blood had covered each of his eyes.

Concurrently, Ou Yangming also noticed that his mental power consumption slowed down the moment it entered the red world.

Ou Yangming withdrew his mental power. A pop was heard coming from his wrist, and by the time he lowered his hand, a blood crystal each from low-rank, middle-rank, high-rank, and top-grade appeared in his hand. He rolled his eyes and inspected the low-rank blood crystal with his mental power. In a flash, the young fellow felt like his eyes were covered by a layer of a red veil, but there was only a slight change to his mental power consumption. He bit his lower lip and found a fine writing paper to record the change.

Quickly after, he looked into the middle-rank blood crystal with his mental power.

This time, the red that appeared in front of his eyes was much thicker, and his mental power was being consumed at a much slower speed as compared to when he checked the low-rank blood crystal.

Ou Yangming did not exit the state in a hurry. After apprehending it closely for a brief moment, he noted down the speed at which his mental power was being consumed. He even added a big question mark at the end of his sentence.

He sat with his legs crossed and only started the next round of testing when his mental power recovered to its peak state.

It was not that Ou Yangming's mental power was completely exhausted, but he wanted to make sure that the number that he wrote on the paper was accurate every time.

Ou Yangming had a vague feeling that there was a huge secret behind the blood crystals. If he could crack the code, it would benefit his cultivation in the future unimaginably. As such, he continued to be meticulous and attentive until the end.

His eyes flickered as he channeled his mental power into the top-grade blood crystal.

A shrill roar of a beast instantly reverberated. It was such a mournful roar that one with a weak mentality would have passed out from fear right away. Even so, instead of looking afraid, Ou Yangming grinned. He withdrew 90% of the mental power around his room and channeled them into the blood crystal. Consequently, his mental power consumption reduced significantly as though it was replenished.

He opened his eyes and curled his lips into a playful smile.

Ou Yangming did not believe that this was the blood crystal's only effect. Without any hesitation, he inspected the top-grade blood crystal with his mental power. He noticed that his mental power's recovery speed with this was 3 to 4 times that of the high-rank blood crystal but similar to that of the mutated high-rank blood crystal. On this day, the young fellow kept probing but did not find the blood crystals' other functions. Nevertheless, instead of giving up, he put in more effort into this. He believed that the more mysterious the technique, as long as he could crack it, the more he would benefit from it.

It was evening in the blink of an eye, and a maid sent him lots of food for dinner.

Ou Yangming devoured the dishes and ate happily.

※※※※

A small isolated courtyard in the Wu residence was surrounded by bamboo trees and was elegantly decorated. It vaguely coincided with the universe's maxim.

Darkness had engulfed the world. Xue Boren flashed to the door and knocked.

Before long, the door was opened by Xue Yan himself.

Once they entered the residence, the patriarch asked softly, "What did you gain this time?"

Xue Boren lowered his voice and answered, "This time, as long as we have Yu Tianrui, it'll surely be an opportunity for our clan. Donglin City's setup is too small; Huixun City's the Xue family's universe."

"Why do you say that?" Xue Yan tapped the table gently and asked in a deep voice.

"He's not only loyal and cherishes relationships, but he also learned various skills. His cultivation base in formations is unequaled and superior to that of his peers, and his martial art cultivation base is also notable as he killed an Advanced Spiritualist head-on. Moreover, according to what the young fella said, he also learned the path of smithing, but I haven't found out how exactly skilled he is in that aspect," Xue Boren explained.

Xue Yan widened his eyes and struck his chest. "Slow down and let me catch my breath!"

It was such shocking news that it accidentally triggered his wounds that had not fully recovered.

Martial arts, formations, and smithing art were painstaking works that needed to be learned and mastered over long periods. Now that a young fellow in his twenties was adept in all of them, how could it not be shocking news?

After some time, Xue Yan asked, "How's his martial art as compared to yours?"

Xue Boren flushed and was hesitant to reply to the patriarch, but he sighed in the end and answered, "I'm afraid that I won't be able to make more than 10 moves against him." He was deeply in awe when he recalled how Ou Yangming beheaded Deng Chengfeng.

As steady as Xue Yan was as a top-grade Spiritualist, he could not help but gasp.

Nobody knew Xue Boren's martial art cultivation base better than he did in the Xue family, but Xue Boren admitted that he could not make more than 10 moves against Ou Yangming. One could imagine how potent the young fellow was in martial arts.

The room instantly fell silent. Dim candlelights were swaying with the wind.

Xue Boren's face changed after a while, and he asked probingly, "Did Yu Tianrui hide his age on purpose? I heard that many people look young but are actually old freaks."

The patriarch immediately shook his head and patted the elder's shoulder. "A tree would have a new growth ring every year. It's the same for a human, and it's not something that can be faked. Moreover, his breath of life is so rich that it's the first I've seen in my whole life, so I'm sure his age is real. As for why he has been hiding his cultivation base, it's something worth deliberating. That said, judging from his character, I believe that he won't do anything that'll offend our clan."

Subsequently, he had a solemn look on his face like never before as he added, "We'll spare no effort in befriending him regardless of the costs."

Xue Boren nodded hard. He had expected this, but he was still shocked by what he heard.

※※※※

At night, the cold moonlight shone brightly on the ground. It made Huixun City look slightly mysterious.

Ou Yangming withdrew his mental power from the blood crystal. He looked more puzzled than before as he gently brushed his fingers across the blood crystal and mumbled, "Do the blood crystals have no other functions?"

He then shook his head and said, "It can't be. The Beyond Heaven Pavilion's an influential force that has over 10,000 years of inheritance. Why would they sustain losses? Business people value profits very much."

The young fellow looked at the records that he made in the morning and furrowed his eyebrows.

His lips parted as he exhaled some white vapor, and he thought, 'Always do things step by step without rushing them. The more I want to achieve something, the more I'll want to grab hold onto it, but I'll get the opposite of what I desire instead, similar to 2 parallel lines that'll never meet.' As soon as the thought crossed Ou Yangming's mind, he calmed down and disregarded all favors and humiliations.

Without forcing it and with a flash of thought, Ou Yangming had unknowingly channeled all of his mental power into the mutated high-rank blood crystal.

The universe instantly overturned as Ou Yangming entered a red world. This time, unlike his previous attempts, the sky, the ground, and the hills were all red.

Ou Yangming's face changed as he looked into the distance. 'Why does that forest over there look similar to the Forest of Death?'

As soon as he had that thought, he arrived above the forest. An intense roar instantly caused a rumble that surged from the sky. It became more intense, such that the redness inside the spiritual space eventually gushed. Soon enough, a Black-winged Centipede that had shrunken countless times emerged out of the blue.

A strange look could be seen in Ou Yangming's eyes. He chuckled and said, "I see!"