CHAPTER 288: PROGRESS 2

"Ayuan..." Shen Xu started but suddenly stopped.

Less than a breath later, he pulled Zhen Yuan and jumped to the side.

At the same time, Zhen Yuan waved his hand and a stack of talismans flew all over the room, forming a talisman formation.

"This fellow Daoist, what do you mean?" Shen Xu asked, glaring at a make cultivator.

"What else can I mean?" The male cultivator sneered and swung his sword to attack Zhen Yuan and Shen Xu.

Unfortunately, what Zhen Yuan arranged was a rebound talisman formation.

As soon as the sword attack touched the formation, it was amplified and rebounded back to the male cultivator.

Seeing this, the male cultivator was horrified but he was quick to react.

In the blink of an eye, he defended with a level five shield and rolled to the side, barely escaping with his life.

"Give me your storage rings and I will let you keep your lives." The male cultivator demanded, his voice filled with disdain.

’Is this person insane?’ Shen Xu wondered and turned a questioning gaze at Zhen Yuan.

[Have you forgotten? We have suppressed our cultivation to the peak of level five.] Zhen Yuan reminded.

Before leaving the secret realm, the two suppressed their cultivation.

First, their cultivation realm was too high for people of their age.

Although they weren’t afraid of trouble, they didn’t want to court it either.

Second, they wanted to play a pig to eat a tiger.

In the next two hundred years, Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan planned to conquer the eight towers and several forbidden areas in the Tianqi continent.

However, they couldn’t do it in the open.

After all, such chaos would attract the entire continent and may even unearth some old monsters.

Considering that, they planned to change identities and cultivation levels when conquering different towers.

That way, even if someone suspected something, they wouldn’t be able to find them easily.

Unfortunately, just when they began to play a pig, a tiger cub bared its fangs.

At this time, Shen Xu sighed and looked around.

Including himself and Zhen Yuan, ten cultivators entered the Yunshan secret realm.

However, only four returned.

Excluding himself, Zhen Yuan and the male cultivator who was threatening them, the last was a female cultivator.

At a glance, she had also advanced to the void refining realm, but her cultivation was relatively unstable.

Sensing Shen Xu’s look, the female nodded and stepped back.

"I am leaving." She said, and without waiting for a reply, she opened the door and left.

"Are you sure you want our space rings?" Shen Xu asked the male cultivator.

"Stop talking nonsense and give me your space rings." The man threatened.

"There is a door to heaven but you insist on breaking into hell." Shen Xu said, releasing his qi pressure.

Feeling the pressure, the male cultivator gasped and his eyes widened.

"You..., you...., you are also a void refining realm cultivator?" He asked in a fearful voice.

From the pressure, he knew the double’s cultivation was higher than his.

Unfortunately, his realisation came too late.

Before the man could escape or beg for his life, Shen Xu attacked with a soul sword, directly killing the person.

"Annoying." He muttered, looking at the dead body.

After collecting the person’s belongings, Shen Xu burned the body before he and Zhen Yuan teleported away.

They teleported three times and finally arrived at the edge of a forest.

"I can’t believe we ran into trouble as soon as we got out." Shen Xu said.

"It’s not unexpected." Zhen Yuan said.

After confirming they were the only ones around, they released Yang Shi, Feng Xue, and Li Wenqiang.

"The aura is so thin." Feng Xue stated as soon as she was out.

"What do you expect from a mid-level continent?" Yang Shi asked and subconsciously rolled his eyes.

"We need to leave as soon as possible."

Hearing that, Shen Xu raised an eyebrow and removed a communication jade from his space ring.

’I don’t know if Dongfang Jing and Chen Yi are okay.’ He wondered and hastily messaged them.

Thirty breaths later, the jade chimed and Shen Xu looked at the messages.

"Dongfang Jing advanced to the void refining realm. They are both okay." He said after reading the message.

"Master, what’s the plan?" Yang Shi asked, looking at Shen Xu.

"Seclusion." The double answered without hesitation.

Their cultivation was stable and they all had adequate resources.

Although it was a little boring to retreat right after exiting the secret realm, it was the most suitable decision.

On one hand, they would improve their cultivation and on the other, they would avoid the limelight.

After all, the secret realm had just closed and the Tianqi continent would be a little chaotic for the next few decades.

"We will travel around after coming out of seclusion." Shen Xu assured.

After that, the five entered the forest and found a cave.

The cave was small and damp.

However, it was well hidden and even if other cultivators found it, they would be unlikely to stay in it.

After arranging an isolation and other formations to hide and protect the cave, the five entered the space.

Soon, everyone separated and went to their training area.

"I will miss you." Shen Xu said, staring at Zhen Yuan.

"I will also miss you." Zhen Yuan said, pulling the double into his arms.

After several rounds of double cultivation, the two entered the same training room but sat on opposite sides.

Shen Xu was not in a hurry to meditate.

Instead, he adjusted his condition and when he achieved the optimal state of mind, he began refining drops of clarity.

One drop, two drops, ..., five hundred drops.

With each drop, the double felt his comprehension ability improve.

At the same time, his understanding of his cultivation technique, martial arts, alchemy, weapon refining, cooking, brewing, and other things became more profound.

Problems that had previously plagued him suddenly cleared up, and new ideas emerged from his accumulated knowledge.

However, he soon uncovered a problem.