Only three seconds? He's already the Lord of All Realms, so it doesn't matter.

"My lord, my cultivation has broken through to the second level of Qi Refining!"

Chen Qinghe quickly got up, ran to Ye Xuan, and released his spiritual power to show the Immortal Venerable the joy of his breakthrough.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked at the excited young man in front of him and saw that his foundation was solid, much more so than that of ordinary cultivators who had just entered the second level of Qi Refining.

"Not bad." Ye Xuan nodded slightly.

"Your ability to calmly break through to the next level while on the road shows that your mind is already stable. However, the second level of Qi Refining is just the beginning; you must not be complacent."

"Yes, sir!"

Chen Qinghe nodded vigorously, his excitement fading and turning serious.

As he was about to break through, a small bud sprouted within his body, absorbing all the remaining power. After thinking for a moment, Chen Qinghe finally asked:

"My lord, are we going to the capital to spread immortal magic?"

He followed Ye Xuan to Pingyuan County and witnessed firsthand the ruthless methods of this Immortal Venerable. Naturally, he knew that the worshippers also benefited the growth of the Immortal Willow.

Ye Xuan did not deny it, but simply said:

"Now that you have witnessed the events in Pingyuan County, you should know that the road ahead is not smooth."

Both the royal ancestral hall and the imperial court regard us as enemies. We fear a fierce battle awaits us upon our arrival in Jiangning County tomorrow.

Upon hearing this, Chen Qinghe showed no fear on his face; instead, he clenched his fists.

"I'm not afraid! Besides, there are adults here. I don't think those people from the ancestral hall and the dynasty are that powerful."

Seeing the determination in the boy's eyes, Ye Xuan's lips unconsciously curved into a smile. He raised his hand and directly condensed a wisp of pure cyan spiritual energy, which he lightly touched on Chen Qinghe's brow.

The spiritual energy entered his body, circulated through his meridians in a regular cycle, and finally returned to his dantian.

"This method is called 'Health Preservation Exercise'. If a person with the aptitude practices it, they can use spiritual power to cultivate their body and mind, which will greatly benefit their future cultivation."

As Ye Xuan said, while practicing health cultivation exercises has many benefits, it also tests the practitioner's comprehension.

The difficulty lies in whether one can accurately control the spiritual energy within the body and make it flow according to complex patterns...

Chen Qinghe tried it out, but despite his Qi cultivation, he couldn't quite control the spiritual energy in his body, and almost got a stroke during the practice.

After Ye Xuan helped him clarify the flow of energy within his body, he said:

"This method cannot be rushed. Once you get to the basics, you can develop a habit and use it freely."

Chen Qinghe silently memorized it, using the time he could have spent resting to practice this "Health Preservation Exercise"...

Ye Xuan then extended his senses once more, not to explore the capital, but to carefully scan the surrounding area within a hundred miles.

As he expected, residual spiritual energy fluctuations were found on several main roads leading to Jiangning County, indicating that a few cultivators were secretly heading to Jiangning County.

"Thirty-six counties have gathered as protectors?"

He immediately recalled the arrangements he had heard from the high priest in the royal shrine, and a cold glint, along with a hint of disdain, flashed in his eyes.

"Perfect, I'll crush all your orthodoxy in one fell swoop, saving me the trouble of cleaning up the way."

He found a big tree and sat down, not disturbing Chen Qinghe's cultivation, but quietly guarding him while cultivating, while also diverting a wisp of his mind.

Consciousness and perception connected with the fairy willow far away in Shuitian Village, instantly making him feel integrated into nature, as if the surrounding world was peacefully flowing through time with himself as the origin.

"..."

The next morning, just as dawn broke, the two set off again.

The closer they got to Jiangning County, the more obvious the residual spiritual energy became, suggesting that they had gotten there before them.

Just after noon, a city gate gradually came into view.

The city gates of Jiangning County were wide open, and several officials were seen escorting an elderly man dressed in more formal attire, waiting quietly in front of the gates.

Ye Xuan had used his senses to investigate beforehand and learned that this person was Lu Yun, the magistrate of Jiangning County.

At this moment, Lu Yun held a token in his hand. When he saw Ye Xuan and his companion approaching the city gate, he led the officials beside him to greet them.

"Ah, I've long admired your esteemed name, Immortal Venerable! Meeting you today, I can see you are truly extraordinary!"

He showered Ye Xuan with flattery while presenting him with a jade token, which represented the identity of the magistrate of Jiangning County.

As the saying goes, something unusual must be a sign of trouble. Just last night, Lu Yun met thirty-six ritual masters who had come from the capital.

As instructed by the high priest of the royal shrine—

"As long as you lure that fake immortal into the city, you can sit comfortably in the county government, and you will be credited with a great achievement afterward."

Lu Yun's mind was now filled with images of his own promotion and wealth, as well as the inescapable trap set up by the thirty-six religious figures in the city.

"Oh? You all have so readily abandoned darkness for light?"

Ye Xuan looked puzzled, his raised hand hovering in mid-air, hesitating to take the jade pendant.

Lu Yun panicked immediately, his smile vanished, and realizing he might have overreacted, he quickly offered a compliment:

"My lord, I am aware of your actions in Changning County. I have a clear understanding of the situation and dare not resist rashly!"

"I humbly beseech Your Majesty, to also enlighten and dispel the doubts of the people in my city..."

Lu Yun lowered his head to his chest, no longer daring to look directly into Ye Xuan's eyes, afraid of giving himself away again.

Ye Xuan also felt that teasing him was pointless, so he took the jade token from his hand and led Chen Qinghe into the city in a swaggering manner.

Upon entering the city, one sees few pedestrians on the streets, most of whom are in a hurry, and the occasional carriages and horses that are encountered also speed through without daring to stop.

"My lord, something very strange is happening in this city..."

Chen Qinghe looked around, but saw that the doors of the houses in the city were tightly closed, and there were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the street. Moreover, when they saw them, it was as if they had seen a plague god, and they did not dare to look at them for more than a second.

Just as the boy was wondering what was going on, more than a dozen dark figures suddenly darted out from the eaves of houses all over the street.

The leader was a tall, thin, fair-skinned, beardless middle-aged Taoist priest. He wore a blue-gold ritual robe, held a whisk, and his aura was roughly at the sixth level of the Foundation Establishment stage.

He stared coldly at the two figures that gradually appeared at the end of the street, especially the young man in the Taoist robe walking in front.

The rest of the ancestral hall rituals were performed by people whose cultivation levels were all at the second or third level of the Foundation Establishment stage.

Chen Qinghe, who was only at the second level of Qi Refining, was so frightened by the scene that he was speechless, and panic appeared on his face.

Seeing Ye Xuan and his companion getting closer, the green-robed priest shouted:

"No need to spare their lives, kill them both immediately!"

Dozens of cultivators responded in unison, their spiritual power erupting, and countless transformed attacks of various shapes followed one after another, all flying towards the two of them.

With Chen Qinghe in tow, Ye Xuan used his mysterious footwork to create openings even amidst the intense attacks.

He leaped forward, accelerating out of the center of the explosion of spiritual energy, his gaze landing on the leading blue-robed priest.

"Why didn't you resist?"

Seeing that the two were at a loss for what to do, the monk in the green robe spoke with a mocking tone.

Although he prides himself on his upright conduct and dislikes bullying the weak, he would normally engage in a fair one-on-one duel with someone of equal strength. But now, he is facing the death of the High Priest.

When it's a matter of life and death, who's going to play one-on-one with you?

Ye Xuan ignored the man and brought Chen Qinghe along. It didn't affect him much. However, things were different now than in Shuitian Village. Without the blessing of the Immortal Willow, it would be difficult for him to deal with more than ten Foundation Establishment cultivators by himself.