After refining the Heavenly Heart Flame, Chu Zheng's cultivation in the Immortal Path had advanced further, entering the late stages of the Spirit Spring Realm.
Even for those with high-quality Immortal Bones, reaching this stage would normally require at least a few years of devoted cultivation.
For someone like Fu Quanliang with lower-quality Immortal Bones, if there were no elixirs to consume and one were to follow the orthodox path of cultivation, reaching this stage would take at least a century.
In just less than a few months, having refined Divine Fire twice in succession, Chu Zheng's cultivation had seen astonishing progress.
Such rapid advancement actually came with significant risks.
Refining Divine Fire was an extremely dangerous task, but under the repaired panel, these risks were forcibly smoothed over.
Just in the process of refining the Heavenly Heart Flame alone, Chu Zheng's body was dried out hundreds of times, nearly exhausted of its oil and burnt to the wick.
Conventional cultivators, excluding those born with a Fire Spirit Body, even with monstrous talent and without numerous prepared methods along with cold-related spiritual materials to balance the power of the Divine Fire, would not have survived.
After settling the energy within his body, Chu Zheng slowly opened his eyes, his pupils flashing with divine light.
The growth in his cultivation of the Immortal Path had invisibly strengthened his spirit soul considerably, nearing the evolution of a Divine Sense.
The bones at the back of his head that had previously been crushed were already regrown completely through multiple repairs.
Having no choice, Chu Zheng had to experience the pain of shattered bones again; next time when repairing, he would need to be more careful, allowing the remnant bone at the back of his head to gradually become an old wound, so that he could be convincing at a critical moment.
Apart from external injuries concerning the divine soul, Chu Zheng also had to create a layer of disguise. With his current ability, he could not alter his own memories, but he had ways to circumvent.
However, this required him to enter the Jade Bone Realm before he could start attempting it.
Entering the Jade Bone Realm would truly open the doors to becoming a Qi Cultivator, enabling him to try practicing some peculiariar divine skills.
For example, draping a layer of falsehood over his own divine soul to deceive others.
Even if it only blocked one probing attempt, it would be enough.
After adapting to the surging mana within his body, Chu Zheng stood up and went to where the Great Grandmasters were.
They were situated extremely far from where Ye Yulou's remains were; in a Small World without seasons or weather changes, simply setting up a few wooden huts and straw shelters was enough to live in.
Now, most of their energy was spent on cultivation.
In the mundane world, most of those who could reach the realm of Great Grandmaster were devoted to the Martial Path, now seeing that there were further prospects in martial arts, naturally they did not dare to slack off, hoping to reach Qi Condensing Aura Completion as soon as possible.
Song Lingxue was the same, having recently been pondering over the Xuan Tian Seal Third Form that Chu Zheng had taught her.
This was a complete Martial Dao Divine Ability. After she received the partial route map to perform the techniques within, she had an epiphany.
Her talent in martial arts was indeed chillingly impressive, rare in the world, and with a push from Chu Zheng, she was walking at the forefront of the world's martial path.
Compared to her talents, Bai Nian seemed quite ordinary on the Martial Path; even with the support of elixirs, he was still a considerable distance away from Qi Condensing Great Completion.
His interests were very similar to Chu Zheng's, with a great liking for reading. Unfortunately, no matter how much one read in this current world, the applications were quite limited.
As he thought back to his initial arrival in this realm, Chu Zheng could not help but sigh; he thought of Song Yun.
Preparing for the future, soon after settling in the Imperial Capital, Song Tonghai had already sent Song Yun ahead to explore Giant Marsh and he might still be on his way there.
Chu Zheng wondered if there would still be a chance to encounter him.
After pondering for a moment, Chu Zheng, without alerting anyone, walked out of the Small World and began traveling alone.
Once outside the Great Zhou, it was a completely different territory, less populated, making actions more convenient.
The only thing to be wary of was his own safety; if Chu Zheng perished outside, the people inside the Small World would hardly have a chance to survive.
Even if the Condensing Space Bracelet remained undiscovered, these people would still inevitably follow in Ye Yulou's footsteps, trapped in this realm until their lifespans exhausted.
Capital of the Great Zhou.
Three figures stood together in the clouds.
The person in the center wore a white robe, under thirty years old, with handsome features, a rosy complexion, temples cut sharp as a blade, and his feet enshrouded by a layer of auspicious clouds, reflecting the light of seven-colored glaze, embodying an ethereal aura beyond the mundane.
Tai Xu Holy Land, in the eyes of the people, had only one apparent Pseudo-Immortal, Zhou Zili, known as 'Immortal Master Zili,' renowned throughout the Southern Region.
The other two figures, one of medium build wearing black clothes, over forty years with traces of hardship on his face, had a broad back and a square face.
The other, with black hair cascading down their back, casually spread behind, had a beautiful appearance that defied gender, eyes soft and clear like water.
Both of them were also long famous, each only a step away from reaching the Tongxuan Secret Realm, apex powerhouses.
"Ling Qi had unfolded the Divine Infant here, leaving traces of its aura," said Zhou Zili as he extracted a strand of silver light from the void. The silver light twisted and changed in his palm, forming a slightly ethereal Silver Leopard.
Observing the Divine Infant in his palm, Zhou Zili couldn't help but reveal a trace of confusion, "There are no traces of others here. He did not stay long, lingered for just a moment, then left straight for the Holy Land, only to be slain midway."
"Ling Qi was tasked to search for that Heretic Cultivator and rushed back to the Holy Land in such haste. It must be that he had found something significant," mused the man in black robes.
"Senior Brother Wen speaks correctly, it's even possible that Ling Qi had captured the Heretic Cultivator and was about to report back to the Holy Land when he was ambushed and killed en route."