Top Grade Pure Beauty CEO

"Yuanmu Zi's wooden core? What is that?" Zhu Guo, he knew; Yuanmu Zi, he knew too—that's the giant tree growing from the depths of the sea. But, what exactly is a wooden core?

"The wooden core, also known as the Spirit of Vegetation, is the essence of Yuanmu Zi. If you split open the main trunk of Yuanmu Zi, you can obtain the wooden core."

Li Xiaoyao exclaimed in surprise, "Wouldn't Yuanmu Zi die if its wooden core is taken?"

Yi Yi spoke indifferently, "If it dies, it dies. Yuanmu Zi bears fruit only once in its lifetime. Now that all the Zhu Fruits have been picked, keeping it serves no purpose. If Master were still here, he wouldn't let you consume such low-level Spirit Fruits as Zhu Fruits. He'd go straight to Zhen Yuanzi, the Great Immortal, and ask for two Ginseng fruits, which would enable you to ascend to the heavens and transcend tribulation in one step."

"Zhen Yuanzi, the Great Immortal!" Li Xiaoyao really wanted to ask whether this Zhen Yuanzi was the same as the legendary founder of the Earth Immortals, but he was afraid of being looked down upon and given a white-eyed glance by little apprentice sister Yi Yi, so he hesitated for a long time and still didn't ask.

Seeing he had something to say yet remained silent, Yi Yi seemed distressed and said, "Just say what you have to say, don't beat around the bush."

Li Xiaoyao, feeling somewhat embarrassed with a blushing face, said, "I just wanted to know if Zhen Yuanzi is really the founder of the Earth Immortals?"

"It's him."

"Wasn't his Ginseng Fruit Tree destroyed by the Great Saint? Could it really have been revived by Guanyin?" Li Xiaoyao was very curious about how much truth was in these myths and legends.

Yi Yi looked at Li Xiaoyao with a hint of surprise, "I did not expect you to know so much."

"Indeed, the stinking monkey did smash Zhen Yuanzi's Ginseng Fruit Tree, and it was indeed revived, but not by Guanyin. It was Master who revived the Ginseng Fruit Tree," Yi Yi said with a bit of pride as she lifted her delicate chin.

"Master!" Li Xiaoyao was startled. The legend, it seems, was flawed after all—at least Emperor of Humanity, the powerful immortal, was not recorded in it.

Victors become kings, while losers are branded as bandits, it's probably because Emperor of Humanity was killed that he didn't leave a more vivid and intense mark in the myths and legends.

"Once you leave, remember to act cautiously. Unless it's something important, do not come back here," Yi Yi instructed. "After you leave, this place will close."

Li Xiaoyao seemed to sense something was amiss, and with a flash of shock crossing his mind, he asked, "Aren't you going to leave with me, apprentice sister?"

Yi Yi shook her head and said, "In that battle years ago, I was seriously injured and have yet to fully recover. I will stay here until you return at the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, then we will leave this world and seek revenge for Master."

Li Xiaoyao clenched his fists. He had known Yi Yi for only a few hours and had become her disciple in that time too. To tell the truth, he did not have strong feelings for Emperor of Humanity, but he certainly respected him.

However, he felt quite fond of Yi Yi, the outwardly fiery but adorable young girl. Perhaps it was because of Yi Yi's beauty, but more so, Li Xiaoyao felt it was probably due to her concern for him.

Yi Yi took out a jade pendant she wore close to her body and handed it to Li Xiaoyao, "This jade pendant was crafted by me. Keep it on you, and if you encounter any troubles you can't solve, I will sense it."

Li Xiaoyao received the jade pendant and seemed to clearly feel the residual warmth on it, along with a hint of body fragrance, which caused him to reflexively lift and smell it, blurting out, "It smells so good."

Yi Yi's cheeks flushed in an instant, and she glared at him with some annoyance. Li Xiaoyao scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Remember, practice hard and try to stay out of trouble," Yi Yi admonished him again.

Li Xiaoyao said nonchalantly and confidently, "With my current level of cultivation, who in this world can stop me?"

Yi Yi shook her head and said, "You must not think like that. Even though this is the Mortal Realm, I sense many powerful presences. With your current level of cultivation, if you encounter them, you too will have only one path to death."

Li Xiaoyao immediately felt dejected. He had thought that after assimilating the broken finger, his cultivation level in this world would be among the top, but Yi Yi had mercilessly burst his bubble.

"Take good care of this ring," Yi Yi suddenly said.

"Ring? What ring?" Li Xiaoyao asked, completely baffled.

Yi Yi pointed at the black Storage Ring on his left hand. Li Xiaoyao lifted his hand to look and exclaimed in surprise, "This Storage Ring was left by my Li Family ancestors..."

He stopped mid-sentence and then abruptly paused, following up with, "This... this..."

Yi Yi smiled slightly and said, "Could his name be Li Changfeng?"

Li Xiaoyao nodded repeatedly, now having a guess in his heart.

Yi Yi's indifferent voice rose, "He once received the teachings, but because his talent was limited, he did not join our sect. This ring was forged by me using a secret technique. Inside, it forms its own space, capable of preserving living things. It has some use in cultivation as well."

"Alright, leave now." Yi Yi stretched out a finger, fair as jade, from within her sleeves and deftly traced a line in the space before her, effortlessly tearing open a spatial portal.

"Go in."

Li Xiaoyao, holding Li Chengfeng, kicked the other unconscious cultivators into the spatial portal and then set Li Chengfeng down on the ground. Before Yi Yi could react, he stepped forward, bent down, and hugged her tightly, saying, "Senior sister, wait for me to return!"

Yi Yi was stunned; she had not expected that Li Xiaoyao would give her a hug before leaving.

Yi Yi felt her heart, sealed for thousands of years, suddenly start to thaw, looking at the handsome yet resolute face before her, her heart involuntarily softened.

"I will wait for you." Yi Yi revealed a smile, like the radiance of spring melting everything.

Picking up Li Chengfeng once more, Li Xiaoyao turned for one last look at her, then stepped into the spatial portal.

As Li Xiaoyao disappeared into the spatial portal, Yi Yi softly sighed and said, "Don't let me down."

...

Outside the Secret Realm.

Cultivators always harbored an illusion; they believed that in the modern world, the number of demon beasts was absolutely inferior to that of cultivators.

Yet, this assumption was hugely mistaken.

Leaving other things aside, the sheer number of sea demon beasts alone almost surpasses the total number of cultivators in this world. If you include the demon beasts from the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and some unexplored deep forests, their total number is almost several times that of cultivators.

The numerical superiority of demon beasts was fully evident in the Hui Country Secret Realm.

Tens of thousands of demon beasts occupied seventy percent of the space in the secret realm's marine realm, both deep under the sea and in the skies above. Especially underwater, almost all creatures were demon beasts. Human cultivators dared not venture into the sea lightly.

Above the sky covered by the spirits of plants and trees, cultivators were on the left, and demon beasts were on the right. The two sides did not interfere with each other and coexisted harmoniously.

"I think this secret realm might only have this one spirit of plants and trees. Besides that, there doesn't seem to be any treasure."

"There are treasures, but it's all about luck."

"I've heard that deep under the sea, there's a small hillock, and within that hillock, there's a treasure trove, like a small mountain of riches. Only thing is, all those treasures have been snatched away by Li Xiaoyao."

"Li Xiaoyao's luck is really heaven-defying."

"His luck good? A load of crap!" Someone suddenly sneered and cursed, "His luck was so good that he still hasn't come out of the secret realm? In my opinion, that kid is already dead in there, and those treasures will never see the light of day again!"

"That makes sense."

"I agree."

"Even those seniors in the Nascent Soul Realm almost couldn't make it out from the seafloor, Li Xiaoyao seems to be just a Golden Core Realm cultivator, right? Even less likely he could have survived."

The crowd buzzed with discussion, and the topics of conversation were nothing but the events that had taken place in the secret realm during this period.

Li Xiaoyao, who had once shown extraordinary prowess in the secret realm and robbed treasures from the seafloor, naturally became a topic of casual conversation among the people.

"Buzz~~"

The sea surface, which should have been calm, suddenly rippled with waves emanating outwards.

This change caught the attention of both cultivators and demon beasts.

Countless gazes were fixed on the water, and the cacophony of voices at that moment went completely silent, leaving the secret realm eerily quiet.