Yu Ziqing looked at the village chief's current appearance. His hair was still white, but the wrinkles on his face had significantly reduced.

Even after his Qi-Blood had stabilized and he still looked like an old man, his spirit and energy were completely different.

With such external manifestations, without even asking, Yu Ziqing knew that the village chief had reached the Rebirth Realm.

Body Cultivation Fifth Tier, Rebirth Realm.

Counting the time, it was less than two months per tier.

Glancing at Er Han, although he hadn't reached the Fourth Tier yet, he probably had more activated orifices than himself. Plus, his innate physical condition and talent were terrifyingly good. The fact that he survived in the hands of the village chief, who lacked restraint, meant that probably no ordinary cultivator of the Fourth Tier Body Cultivation could do the same.

Yu Ziqing silently clicked his tongue, feeling that his initial decision to have the whole village practice body cultivation was definitely a transgression.

This matter absolutely couldn't be known by outsiders.

Initially, the thought was that if the whole village took up body cultivation, the survival rate might increase a bit, but he never considered that within a hundred years, this place would become significant.

Now it seemed that in less than three years, there would be a Body Cultivator of at least the Seventh Tier emerging from the village.

Within ten years, there would be several dozen cultivators of the Sixth Tier in the village.

If a hundred years were to pass, those who started body cultivation with the whole village would surely be cursed behind their backs by outsiders.

The Forbidden Land of Jinlan Mountain, by then, not considering the King of the Hungry Ghosts, would also live up to its reputation.

The village chief crushed the stone ball and immediately skillfully took out two iron balls, continuing to spin them in his palms, occasionally producing a painful screeching noise from the friction between the balls.

Yang sighed beside him.

"You should start with iron balls first. When you can spin the two iron balls together without making any sound… never mind, when the iron balls no longer deform, then switch to stone balls."

Advancing too fast, strength increasing too quickly, naturally led to issues with fine control over his power.

Otherwise, he would not have almost killed Er Han with his unrestrained power.

Last time, the village chief had a slight problem controlling his strength, breaking both of Er Han's arms and eight ribs with a single punch.

If it weren't for Er Han being such a monstrous freak with incredibly good innate conditions, he would probably still be lying down.

The village chief was also aware of his own situation and voluntarily kept a distance of at least ten feet from everyone, truly afraid he might accidentally bump into someone.

Returning to the village, a routine grand communal meal was of course indispensable.

Yu Ziqing brought back a variety of food items, with the most being edible goods - various meats, tea, grains, and fruits and vegetables that wouldn't freeze. Although there were many items, on the Wilderness that only had winter left, these things wouldn't spoil in the short term.

Low-tier Spiritual Medicine and nourishing Spirit Pills, Yu Ziqing also brought back plenty. Money that could be used and resources that couldn't, were all exchanged for useful resources.

The Jinlan Mushrooms hadn't yet been cultivated, the village needed these things.

After the barbecue feast ended, the village returned to tranquility, everyone resumed their own tasks.

Yu Ziqing spoke briefly with Yang and the village chief about affairs outside and then went home, without any concealment left.

He talked about being ambushed and how, after spending months investigating and tracking down the hidden White Sun Holy Mother, he managed to kill her.

As the village chief listened to Yu Ziqing's story, he crushed three pairs of iron balls in his hands.

Yu Ziqing was the only person in the entire village whom he was reluctant to strike, everyone else, including the kitchen auntie, had suffered hits from the village chief's staff.

It was unexpected that Yu Ziqing would face such an assault outside; only after hearing that the person who assaulted him was already dead, did the village chief's fists relax.

"Well done. Whoever bullies you, just hammer them to death so they'll never have the chance to hammer you again," he said.

Yang had sighed who knows how many times; the village chief's temper, like his strength, had risen a bit fast.

Once their discussion was about over, Yang quickly told the village chief to go back to practicing control over his strength. Then he kept Yu Ziqing back, saying he had something to teach.

That's what he said, but he waited until he was sure that the village chief was far away before Yang said.

"This time you've humiliated the White Sun Holy Mother so severely, he definitely won't let it go. The next time he descends, he will certainly seek frenzied revenge against you."

"I know," Yu Ziqing replied calmly. "I'm afraid he has the patience to wait until his cultivation advances to the Eighth or Ninth Tier before coming after me. That's why I did not only provoke him, trying to make him lose his cool, but also gave him an extra reason not to be able to."

Yu Ziqing did not say why he was so confident; he dared not reveal it because Yang had taught him.

Once said, the same method might not work the next time.

Yang fell silent for a moment, seeing the look on Yu Ziqing's face, he understood that Yu Ziqing wasn't acting rashly.

"You did right in not bringing him back. You can't let him know the situation in the village. If he finds out, he will definitely take a shot at this place next time.

This is our foundation; it cannot afford to have problems, at least not right now. This place cannot withstand too great of an impact.

The future is promising but not now."

"As for the re-cultivation of Jinlan Mushrooms, I've also started to figure it out.

The special Jinlan Mushrooms here, besides needing the local Jinlan Mine, are also related to the Jade Tomb and require the flow of Earth Fire Magma underground.

Otherwise, even if they grow again, they will no longer be the same as before."

"You don't need to concern yourself with these matters; I'll handle them."

"For the next while, don't go out either. Just earnestly practice your cultivation in the village."

"When you've advanced to the Blood Sea Realm and your Refining God has reached the Yin God Realm, we can discuss other matters."

"As for the Secret Technique..."

"I need a protective Secret Technique," Yu Ziqing immediately added.

With Er Han serving as a living example, Yu Ziqing was growing increasingly fond of stacking armor.

Each of the seven hundred and twenty orifices surely had its own purpose. The more there were, the higher the resistance, and judging by Er Han's situation, the recovery power seemed to be higher as well.

After all, Er Han's terrifying recovery power couldn't simply be explained by innate physical strength.

It didn't matter if his progression was slow; if he stacked armor until it was higher than people two realms above his own, they wouldn't be able to kill him.

After finishing his conversation with Yang, Yu Ziqing stepped out the door and saw Cece waiting. That was when he suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, right, Yang, there's something else I need your help with."

"Cece."

Cece immediately unfolded the Despair Abyss, enveloping both Yu Ziqing and Yang within.

In a corner of the Despair Abyss, there was a huge pile of miscellaneous items, including unopened Storage Bags.

"These things were left behind by the cultivator from the Seventh Floor who ambushed me and died after. They've been stored here with Cece to be continuously cleansed.

But I'm thinking, since that person was a Sixth Tier Refining God cultivator, there might be some special secret techniques that we are unable to detect and cleanse.

His belongings have been piled here all this time because I never dared to take them out."

Yang approached, picked up a Storage Bag, and saw that the imprint on it had been completely cleansed away, leaving nothing. With a casual probe, all the items inside were thrown out.

Cece immediately summoned a light rain, continuously washing over the items.

There were many Spirit Pills and medicines inside, various materials, Magical Treasures too, as well as Jade Scrolls, bamboo rolls, books, iron books, and then Spirit Jade—everything you could think of.

Yang inspected each one carefully and eventually extracted four items.

A bamboo slip, a Jade Scroll, a ring, and a bottle of Spirit Pills.

"This bamboo slip appears to be a Dharma Method for training the Yin God, but it's actually nonsense, likely a disguise for other content. You said that guy was a high-ranking member of the Seventh Floor.

So, what this bamboo slip records could very likely be a roster of the people below him.

The reason the Seventh Floor remains hidden and so deeply concealed is because all of their members are in single-line contact.

Some of them have been captured from time to time, but they don't really know too much."

Having said that, Yang pointed to the Jade Scroll.

"It records a Dharma Method for Refining God, covering the first six tiers, but this Dharma Method has been subtly altered by someone, turning it into a trap.

Whoever practices it will have bad luck. The deeper one cultivates it, the closer to death they get. The person who cultivates the correct Dharma Method can easily control the one who practices this flawed version."

As he spoke, Yang took out a new Jade Scroll and spent some time inscribing something on it with swift motions.

"This is the correct Dharma Method. Don't practice it, but you can have a look and use it as a reference."

"As for this bottle, which seems to contain nourishing pills, it's actually poison, meant to be used in conjunction with that flawed Dharma Method."

Having said this, Yang looked at the last remaining item, the ring.

It looked like a simple band, with a triangular face and one gemstone.

"As for this ring, I'm a bit puzzled by it. The material is exceptionally good; it must be Ninth Tier Falling Star Purple Gold and had to be luckily collected from above the nine heavens."

He extended a hoof and touched the ring. Instantly, the gemstone on the ring vanished, the triangular face began to change and morphed into a miniature Seven-floor Tower. On the first floor of the tower, a vortex appeared.

Yang's gaze slightly intensified as he sensed it for a moment, then lifted his hoof, and the ring returned to its original form.

"I think I'm starting to understand what this thing is."

"Is it a treasure?"

"To some, it'd be considered a priceless treasure.

The material for this object was gathered initially and then refined into several parts. There's a natural connection between each part, so there should be several more such rings out there.

There are two Great Divine Powers solidified onto it.

One can catalyze that natural connection, creating a space inside the Seven-floor Tower where the owners of the two rings can communicate.

The second Great Divine Power, considering the shape of this Seven-floor Tower and some of the runes inscribed on it, it seems like the long-lost True Word Treasure Technique, and it's the Seven-layered Truth-telling Treasure Technique at its highest level of cultivation.

The one who made this ring must have at least Ninth Tier cultivation, practiced the True Word Treasure Technique to its highest seventh layer, and was also a top master in runes and Artifact Refining.

Plus, given the variations of these runes and how little they differ from those of the present, upon contemplation, the only one who fits the profile would have been someone from eight thousand years ago."