A life of leisure is worse than a life of flowers and splendour

Du Shuangshuang took a huge risk to achieve her own Golden Core, but once you've reached that level, can you keep suppressing it? If you miss this opportunity, you don't know if you'll ever encounter one again. As the saying goes, fortune and honor are sought in danger. Although the final result, the Golden Core, is a little small, it should grow larger with continued cultivation, right? Forget it, it's already like this.

After eating and drinking her fill, Du Shuangshuang took out the beauty couch and lay down on it. "Oh, this place is so beautiful. I finally have some time for myself. I was so busy before that it seemed like I had no time for myself. Now I really want to put on some music, but it's a pity that this isn't modern."

Unconsciously, Du Shuangshuang fell asleep again. It had been a long time since she had a good night's sleep. The previous journey to the desert, especially the great escape afterward, and completing the Core Formation on her own had all been very stressful. Now that she was relaxed, sleepiness came over her unconsciously.

Du Shuangshuang didn't know how long she had slept, but she saw a handsome man appear in front of her. Both the scene and the man were beautiful, and the picture of the handsome man coming out of the bath was full of temptation.

A figure stood faintly in the steamy hot spring pool, two slender, powerful legs treading the water as they stepped forward. He casually reached out to ruffle his hair, sending water droplets splattering. Droplets streamed down his cheeks, across his fair neck, and onto his bulging chest muscles. For a moment, they seemed to shift, then slid down to his toned waist and eight-pack abs. The water continued to flow downward, into the bath towel, which shielded his most important features. Du Shuangshuang's drool was almost flowing, and her breathing became heavier. A pair of fox-like eyes, as black as a deep pool, seemed to flash with a hint of clarity, confusion, and a fleeting wickedness. A faint smile played on the man's lips, and the moment his entire face came into view, Du Shuangshuang suddenly woke up, startled.

Du Shuangshuang was so frightened that her face turned pale. What kind of dream was this? Was it the sequelae of the previous dream? Du Shuangshuang wanted to cry. It was too scary. How could she dream of that monster? In Du Shuangshuang's eyes, it was a monster. This monster was the leader of the monsters that invaded Tianyuan Continent in her dreams in the secret realm. She probably would never forget that face in her life.

At that moment, beneath the cavern, a figure, seemingly at the end of his strength, was trapped within a barrier, spewing blood, veins bulging. It was the figure from Du Shuangshuang's dream. He was puzzled. What had happened? Was there something wrong with his dream? He had just begun to seduce, yet it suddenly backfired. His cultivation, that of a Daluo Jinxian, had been thwarted in this tiny place, imprisoned for hundreds of thousands of years. He could not draw energy here, and even the energy within him was draining away with every moment. Even if he were severely injured, if it weren't for this strange formation, how could such a small realm, not yet fully developed into a true immortal realm, have any power over him?

Finally, he encountered someone who had successfully arrived here. His attempt to control their newly formed Jindan with his dream technique backfired, causing them to vomit blood. He could once have held out for a hundred or eighty years, but now he feared he wouldn't last even a year. As the backlash raged, he felt his life force rapidly draining away. The formation's pressure on him intensified, like a house leaking in a continuous rain. He was trying to figure out how to lure them here to help him dismantle the formation. He had sensed the loosening of the formation, and with the cooperation of a Jindan cultivator, he could surely break it. But now, he feared that even if someone arrived, he wouldn't be able to break it.

Hundreds of thousands of years have passed. Sometimes I almost lose track of how many years have passed. For ages, I've been steadily weakening. Finally, two years ago, the formation began to show signs of weakening. Even after this group arrived, I'd felt it begin to falter, but now it's suddenly become unbreakable again. These humans are cunning, making even the so-called formation seem strange and bizarre. If I hadn't coveted this soon-to-be-formed Heart of the Earth, I wouldn't have died here. Ultimately, I've become their food.

He suddenly wondered why he had been so forceful in digging out the Heart of the Earth. If he had simply quietly integrated himself into the world and slowly progressed, wouldn't he have ended up in such a tragic situation? He simply hadn't taken this small, yet undeveloped realm seriously. No matter how much he regretted it, his previously youthful appearance was rapidly fading, his aura rapidly withering. His eyes were wide, a look of disbelief on his face. The previously invisible energy drain was now visible as strands of golden energy continuously emanating from his body.

At that moment, the cultivators felt a surge of energy flowing into their bodies. It didn't feel like pure energy, but rather remarkably similar to the energy from the cactus. They'd experienced this in their spiritual energy before, but it wasn't as pronounced. Because they'd always used the cactus, they'd assumed it was just residual energy. This time, they felt the actual, massive surge of energy. The energy even began to burn, but their meridians, bones, flesh, and skin were all immensely strengthened. The Du family's soldiers were all too familiar with this sensation; it felt like the physical reaction to consuming the flesh of the demon beasts here. Their bodies, bones, and flesh had been immensely strengthened, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to survive this long in this desert. They appeared frail, especially their faces, which looked as if they'd been scraped clean of flesh. But beneath their clothes, they were muscular and strong. In the mortal world, they could easily have killed a tiger with a single punch. Facing the wild beasts in the desert, it would be very difficult to kill them if they were not strong enough, especially when there were only about a hundred of them left. If they still had their previous physical condition, they could be killed by a single swing of the monster's tail. But now it was just a minor injury for them, and they could get up and continue fighting.

Another year passed, and the man at the bottom of the cave had disappeared, leaving behind only a crystal core. The crystal core was a little dilapidated, but it was still releasing energy. After a month, it completely turned into smoke and dust and dissipated between heaven and earth.

There was no energy or spiritual energy being injected into the cave, and the concentration of spiritual energy gradually decreased. After nearly half a year, the spiritual energy inside gradually became thinner and became similar to that in the secret realm outside, and everyone also withdrew from the state of cultivation.

At this time, Du Shuangshuang had just broken through to the middle stage of the Jindan stage, his second uncle also successfully formed the Jindan stage, his cousin had reached the great perfection of the foundation building stage, his second aunt and cousin also succeeded in the foundation building stage, and Jinxiu had even reached the middle stage of the foundation building stage.

Lu Xiuyuan was at the ninth level of Qi Refining, while the rest were generally between the fourth and sixth levels. Under the same conditions, the difference in spiritual root aptitudes led to a significant difference in advancement speed, and the gap seemed to widen the further one progressed.

Du Shuangshuang hadn't noticed that her ID card had dimmed, the patterns and words on it gone, leaving only an ordinary wooden sign. The others' ID cards had also gradually turned into wooden signs, but everyone was so focused on their cultivation that no one paid attention to the signs.

They had spent over a month in the cactus forest, but they had continued in the same direction as before, only slowing down due to the cactus harvest. They had wasted nearly two years here, and the others should have left the desert long ago. She had heard that the journey in the desert would take about ten months. Alas, no one would care where they were. If they had, they would have found them long ago. She still remembered what Master Yunshang had said about using this ID card to find them. She was sure that if anyone had come looking, they would have found them long ago.

During the night raid, as they hurriedly fled, she clearly saw Chu Yue running with a girl, never once looking back in their direction. To say she loved that person was pure nonsense, but the thought of the person she had decided to spend her life with running away with someone else when disaster struck, leaving her completely uncaring, made her feel a little uncomfortable. She was afraid she couldn't hold onto that thigh, Du Shuangshuang sighed helplessly.

Now, Du Shuangshuang's meridians and dantian were enveloped in a layer of golden energy. Her bones, flesh, and skin seemed forged, giving her a sense of steel and iron. This was the result of the sect's body-building exercises. Du Shuangshuang was the first to discover this, and everyone followed suit. Even though it was now abandoned, no one said the sect's exercises were useless.

Unbeknownst to Du Shuangshuang, their forced march, due to the fire ants, had brought them out of the desert more than three months early. Once out of the desert, True Lord Xuancheng instructed the other two True Lords to take their disciples to Kunlun Sect to borrow the teleportation array as planned, while he stayed behind to search for the Du family. Chu Yue also stayed behind.

Here, True Lord Xuancheng produced a recording jade slip and cast a spell outside to track the identification badges issued to them by the sect. Initially, he was pleased to be able to track everyone, as they were all heading in the same direction. He would have certainly tried to track them if possible, but they had missed it in the desert, and even using their spiritual power, they couldn't cast a tracking spell. So, leading Chu Yue, they continued searching in that direction. After more than six months of trekking through the desert, they found nothing. Finally, they left the desert and cast another spell to track them. However, Du Shuangshuang's identification badge had shattered in the secret realm, rendering it useless. Du Shuangshuang was the only one missing, and True Lord Xuancheng's heart began to panic.

At the time, their family was so large that if she were alone, she would have to stay under his watch. Although she would face more danger ahead, he would still be able to protect her. Alas, even if he met with an accident, it wouldn't matter. There were still others. However, the disciple cards they were given were temporary, valid for only three years. Time was running out, and he had to find them quickly in the remaining time, otherwise the identity cards would expire and even he would be unable to track them.

I won't go into detail about how they searched; ultimately, they couldn't find the person. After repeated attempts, they finally pinpointed an area and discovered they had remained there, unmoved. Even after most of their ID cards expired, the only one still valid remained. Master Xuancheng speculated that the group was trapped and likely dead. If they were alive, they would have moved, but they hadn't. With their search fruitless, they could only withdraw and leave.

Luo Bing Zhenjun and Su Yichen from the other team had also left the desert. When they stepped out of the junction, Su Yichen refused to leave no matter what and stayed there to guard.