Chapter 171: Emerging from Seclusion

Feng Ke'er tidied herself up slightly, preparing to go outside to look for Hu Li.

However, inadvertently, she discovered a very special strand of divine consciousness within her sea of consciousness.

Because this strand of divine consciousness was already extremely weak, and her emotions had been in violent turmoil with an unstable sea of consciousness after receiving the inheritance of the Supreme Manual, it had gone unnoticed until now.

Now that her sea of consciousness had stabilized, this weak strand of divine consciousness was completely exposed beneath her own powerful divine consciousness.

"Who are you?" Feng Ke'er knitted her brows and demanded. Although this strand of divine consciousness felt harmless, and she naturally felt an urge to draw close to it, any cultivator would find it hard to accept discovering a stranger's divine consciousness inexplicably residing in their sea of consciousness, unable to suppress the impulse to fly into a rage.

That strand of divine consciousness flickered. "Lass, you're awake."

This voice was very familiar—the Master of Tongtian, long time no see!

Cold sweat beaded on Feng Ke'er's forehead. "Master, why is your divine consciousness inside my sea of consciousness?" True, she and the old man had some history, but surely they weren't close enough for this level of intimacy?

The Master of Tongtian hummed. "You think I wanted this? This strand of divine consciousness of mine was originally attached to the Supreme Manual. When you accepted the manual's inheritance, it naturally entered your sea of consciousness along with it."

So that was how it was. Feng Ke'er chuckled. "Your strand of divine consciousness looks like it's about to dissipate." She had only been asleep for a brief moment, yet her cultivation level had soared by a full two tiers. She had long harbored deep suspicions about this: there must have been a benefactor assisting her. Seeing the Master of Tongtian's strand of divine consciousness weakened to this extent, she naturally found her answer.

Sure enough, the Master of Tongtian let out a cold snort. "And whose fault do you think that is? Only thirty percent of the heaven and earth spiritual energy gathered by the heavenly tribulation turned into tribulation lightning. The rest entirely transformed into purple spiritual rain. Purple spiritual rain is an absolute treasure for those who successfully survive a tribulation, capable of healing all sorts of injuries. However, because it contains immense energy, and those who have just undergone such a severe tribulation are physically weak and depleted, one must never be greedy and absorb too much. But look at you, lass. Not only did you accept the entire spiritual rain, you even absorbed every last bit of the primordial Qi within the rain. If my strand of divine consciousness left behind in the manual hadn't protected you, I'm afraid you would have already been blasted into fragments by the surging primordial Qi."

The consequences had been that severe? Feng Ke'er clicked her tongue in amazement and couldn't help asking, "Primordial Qi? What primordial Qi?" In her impression, there had only been purple spiritual energy.

"It's that purple gas you saw." The Master of Tongtian's voice was already extremely faint. "Lass, because the Divine Realm has long closed itself off, your realm has never produced a new generation of figures capable of connecting with the higher realms. If not for some residual divine consciousness of mine remaining in the manual, I wouldn't have been able to reach you either. After helping you this once, my divine consciousness has been completely exhausted and is about to dissipate. Lass, I am truly glad to have found you again. I know you are deeply puzzled about your origins. In fact, I know your origins, and I am the only one who knows them. I originally thought I could use this strand of divine consciousness to protect you all the way until you ascended, allowing me to tell you your origins face to face. But lass, you are far too restless, constantly getting into situations. In no time at all, this strand of divine consciousness of mine has been depleted to the very end. Therefore, I can no longer protect you on the path ahead. The path of cultivation is unpredictable; lass, you must remember to be extremely careful in all things."

After finishing this long speech, that strand of divine consciousness flickered violently and then completely vanished.

Yet the voice of the Master of Tongtian lingered for a long time in Feng Ke'er's ears:

"Lass, I am truly glad to have found you again."

"In fact, I know your origins, and I am the only one who knows them."

"I originally thought I could use this strand of divine consciousness to protect you all the way..."

...

What on earth!

Feng Ke'er came back to her senses and shivered twice in succession. Unfortunately, the Master of Tongtian's strand of divine consciousness had scattered into nothingness; otherwise, she would have forced him to give her a thorough explanation of the "hidden truth" behind this.

This feeling of the other shoe dropping was truly unpleasant.

Any lingering good mood from advancing two tiers in a row was entirely gone. She forced herself to gather her spirits and stepped out of the spatial ball—that stubborn old man, the Master of Tongtian, had dropped his parting words: *My dear, want to know your origins? Fine, ascend and come find me!*

In other words, if she failed to achieve full merit and ascend as a primary deity of the higher realm, she would never, ever know her true origins!

Upon stepping out of the spatial ball, Feng Ke'er received a massive shock.

Goodness gracious, had the fox's cavern dwelling been struck by a once-in-a-century tsunami or hit by a magnitude ten earthquake?

The cavern dwelling, originally spacious, bright, and densely saturated with spiritual energy, was now a scene of utter devastation, transformed into a paradise of rubble and dust.

Feng Ke'er excavated Hu Li from beneath the rubble under the west wall.

His limbs were icy cold, and he was completely unconscious.

The silver robe on his body was shredded into strips. The dried dark red bloodstains upon it proved that he had been unconscious for quite some time.

What had happened? Feng Ke'er checked his pulse and was instantly terrified: Hu Li was heavily injured, with every meridian in his body completely severed. If not for a contract talisman protecting the breath of genuine primordial spirit guarding his heart, he would have perished long ago. Moreover, even this breath of primordial spirit was currently extremely weak and on the verge of dissipation.

That was too close! If she had arrived even a moment later... Feng Ke'er shook her head, banishing those messy thoughts from her mind, and hurriedly pinched a hand seal, casting the Spring Return Technique.

She cupped her right hand over Hu Li's crown chakra and channeled her cultivation technique. In an instant, five-colored spiritual light burst forth from her right palm. A thin line of purple spiritual energy followed the light, slowly pouring into Hu Li's crown chakra.

Why had her own spiritual energy turned purple? Feng Ke'er was stunned.

And that purple spiritual energy healed injuries wherever it went. Wherever it passed, his meridians smoothed open, and his icy flesh gradually warmed back to life.

Never mind what color it was! As long as the therapeutic effect was good, that was all that mattered. Feng Ke'er's heart gradually settled as she continued to pour spiritual energy into him.

When her spiritual energy completed one full circulation through Hu Li's body, the shredded silver robe on him was restored to its pristine condition. He let out a soft groan and slightly twitched the five fingers of his right hand.

"Fox, wake up." Feng Ke'er stopped the healing, supported him, and called out softly.

She called out like this three times in succession.

Only then did Hu Li slowly regain consciousness.

However, at that moment, a dazzling silver light flashed from the center of his brow.

The poor fellow was blinded by the glare, let out an "ouch," and fell straight backward, stiff as a board.

"Fox!" Thanks to Feng Ke'er's sharp eyes and quick reflexes, she grabbed him and held him up.

Hu Li opened his eyes once more, staring in disbelief into her eyes: "Mas... ter, are you a True Immortal now?" Perhaps because he had just recovered from severe injuries, his voice was dry, hoarse, and extremely stiff.

Feng Ke'er had not expected that this fellow had just walked the razor's edge between life and death, yet his very first words would be to ask about this. She froze slightly, but quickly came to terms with it. Just as the Master of Tongtian had said, the path of cultivation is unpredictable. Hu Li had lived for over thirty thousand years; this certainly wasn't the first time he had experienced life and death. If he were the type to dwell on it, he would have let go long ago.

With a beaming smile, she nodded. "I didn't expect the heavenly tribulation to possess such divine power. As the saying goes, the number of the Great Expansion is fifty, and its functional use is forty-nine. In other words, the heavenly Dao lacks one. Who would have thought that missing one represents a sliver of life. They say Heaven has a profound virtue of cherishing life, and indeed those words do not deceive."

"The number of the Great Expansion is fifty, and its functional use is forty-nine..." Hu Li muttered under his breath, his eyes turning into swirling spirals. *Sigh, never heard of it, don't understand a word.*

Feng Ke'er sweated profusely as well: those were the original words from the *Book of Changes*. In this time and place, what *Book of Changes* was there to speak of?

Should she explain the concepts of Great Expansion and Taiji to Hu Li in advance? Forget it. She had no obsession with preemptively registering intellectual property rights.

"Ah, the center of your brow!" She exaggeratedly pointed to the space between his brows, forcibly changing the subject.

Hu Li actually cared a great deal about his appearance. With a panicked expression, he reached out to touch the center of his brow. "What's wrong with the center of my brow?"

"The contract mark has turned silver." When putting on a performance, one had to commit to the full act. She continued to make a fuss.

Hu Li visibly let out a sigh of relief. "When the master is above the False Immortal stage and below the Golden Immortal stage, the contract mark of the natal guardian beast is always silver. Since you are now a True Immortal of the first tier, the mark naturally turned silver."

Feng Ke'er chuckled, scratched her head, and looked around. "Fox, what happened here? How did it end up looking like this?"

Hu Li seemed to only just notice the state of the cavern dwelling, pausing blankly for a moment. However, a moment later, he smiled with an expression of sudden realization. "It must have been the commotion caused when you advanced, Master." Whenever his master advanced, the commotion was always massive. Previously in the aerial courtyard of Joyful Valley and at the Heart of the Barrier Sea, every single breakthrough had been like an earthquake. Moreover, his master possessed a spatial magic treasure with accelerated time flow, so her cultivation advanced very rapidly. They had been in the Spirit Realm for some time now, so it made sense that she would advance again. He only blamed himself for being careless and failing to take defensive precautions, which had nearly cost him his little life.

Feng Ke'er felt rather embarrassed and uttered an "oh." "You're heavily injured; stay in the cave. I'll go outside and see what time it is." Everything destroyable in the cavern dwelling had been destroyed, leaving them both completely in the dark about how much time had passed.

Unexpectedly, Hu Li lifted his front robe and stood up. "I'm already fine. Although there's no one nearby, let me still go out first to scout out the situation."

Her reminder made her realize immediately: as everyone knew, this was a fox cave.

People in the Spirit Realm were full of schemes. A completely unfamiliar True Immortal suddenly crawling out of a secluded fox cave—Hu Li's caution was entirely justified.

"Alright, then off you go." Feng Ke'er consciously stayed behind to clean up the cavern dwelling. The place was littered with rubble everywhere, leaving not even a patch of ground to step on. Furthermore, the defensive arrays, restrictions, and gathering arrays needed to be re-laid; there was plenty of work to be done.

Of course, this wasn't even her own cavern dwelling. She could completely turn a blind eye, wipe her hands clean of it, and retreat back into the spatial ball. However, she was the one who had wrecked someone else's home. Besides, it wasn't heavy labor; it only required a flick of her fingers. She could just consider it a good stretch for her muscles.

Her movements were swift, and Hu Li's actions were no slower.

Just as she finished clearing away the rubble and dust using the Dust-Washing Technique, Hu Li returned.

"Master, we've been in seclusion for three years and eight months."