The two streams of energy formed from the Heavenly Dao Fruit split—one entered Ian Song’s sea of consciousness, beginning to reshape his soul.
The other surged into his body, rapidly transforming his meridians, bones, muscles, and internal organs.
Both streams were incredibly gentle and pure, making Ian feel as if he were soaking in a hot spring. Especially the soul transformation—it was so pleasant he nearly felt like ascending to immortality.
Boom!
Suddenly, the true essence in Ian’s dantian surged out of control, racing through his body and absorbing part of the Heavenly Dao Fruit’s power to strengthen itself.
After a full circulation, when the true essence returned to the dantian, its purity had doubled and its quantity increased severalfold, packing his dantian to the brim.
Innate Third Layer peak!
Then, with a thought, Ian seized control of his true essence and began breaking through to the Fourth Layer.
One acupoint after another opened up rapidly, and soon, the meridian network for the Innate Fourth Layer was fully formed within his body.
After another full circulation, Ian’s realm directly broke through to the Innate Fourth Layer. His dantian expanded to three times its previous size, and even so, his dense true essence still filled half of it.
Feeling this, Ian was overjoyed.
Because he knew that both the purity and quantity of his true essence now surpassed Grace Jing’s Innate Fifth Layer by at least double.
He wasn’t at the Fifth Layer, yet he was stronger than most who were. In fact, even the refined qi of typical Innate Sixth Layer martial artists couldn’t match the purity of his true essence.
Finally, after ten minutes—
The two streams of energy from the Heavenly Dao Fruit were completely exhausted.
“What a pity! Because the spiritual qi here is so thin, this Heavenly Dao Fruit’s effect isn’t even one ten-thousandth of a real one!” Meow-Meow sighed with regret.
“You have to know when to be satisfied. I’m already more than happy!” Ian Song replied with a laugh.
Just then, the system notification chimed, announcing his level had risen to 5, and he’d earned a free lottery draw.
With a thought, Ian pulled up the system interface and focused on his physical and mental stats.
His physical power, originally at 2000, had now shot up to 2800.
His mental strength, originally 323, had now reached 498—just 2 points away from another upgrade.
After checking his physical and mental stats, Ian started the lottery draw.
Level-up lottery draws almost never yield divine abilities, and this time was no exception. He won the 'Gun Master' skill.
As the skill fused, Ian’s mind was instantly filled with comprehensive knowledge about firearms and artillery.
Closing the system interface, Ian began heading back.
Soon, he regrouped with Grace Jing and the others.
"Did you catch that Spirit Medicine?" As soon as Ian appeared, Lilian Yue asked urgently.
"Nope!" Ian shook his head. "That Spirit Medicine must have turned sentient. It ran way too fast— even if an Innate Ninth Layer expert came, they wouldn’t be able to catch it!"
"You didn’t swallow it yourself, did you?" Lilian Yue eyed Ian suspiciously.
"Lilian, mind your manners!" Grace Jing snapped coldly.
Lilian Yue stuck out her tongue. "Master, I was just joking with him."
"Alright, let’s get moving again!" Ian said nonchalantly.
After another two hours of trekking, the group finally arrived at the area marked on the map.
"Young Master Song, what should we do next?" Grace Jing asked Ian.
"Let’s eat first. After we finish, we’ll split up to search for the tomb!" Ian decided after a moment’s thought.
"Alright!"
After a quick meal, the group split into three teams, each searching in a different direction for the tomb.
Ian went alone, Grace Jing and Queenie formed one team, and Lilian Yue led three outer-sect disciples in another.
With Clairvoyant Vision and the traces left behind by Tony Zhang, Ian was confident the tomb would be easy to find.
Twenty minutes later.
Ian Song discovered a sheer cliff, and about twenty meters up the rock face, there was actually a cave.
With a thought, he activated Clairvoyant Vision and peered into the cave.
The cave was only five or six meters deep, narrow at the entrance but spacious inside, and had been carved out into three stone rooms.
After a brief inspection, Ian was certain the cave wasn’t natural—it had been dug out by hand, and the rock seemed to be solid granite.
So he guessed this stone cave must have been created by a cultivator. Ordinary people couldn’t possibly carve out a cave in such hard rock.
Of the three stone rooms, only one had a stone bed with a skeleton sitting cross-legged atop it. The rest were empty.
Judging from the footprints inside, Ian was sure all five items Tony Zhang sold came from this cave.
For a moment, he felt disappointed.
So he let out a long howl.
It was the prearranged signal he’d agreed on with Grace Jing and the others.
Soon, Grace Jing, Lilian Yue, and the rest arrived.
"Did you find the tomb?" Lilian Yue asked excitedly.
"Look, there’s a cave up there!" Ian pointed at the rock wall.
"Should we go up and check it out? Maybe it’s the cave-dwelling of some senior expert!" Lilian Yue said, her excitement mounting.
"Let’s all go up together!"
Ian suggested.
Except for the three outer-sect disciples, even Queenie had late-Acquired strength, so climbing the twenty-meter cliff wasn’t difficult.
Soon, Ian and the other three reached the cave entrance.
They switched on their flashlights.
"Wow, there are stone rooms inside! This must be the cave-dwelling of a senior expert!" Lilian Yue shouted excitedly as soon as she entered.
But after checking all three stone rooms, the excitement vanished from Lilian Yue’s face.
Because aside from a skeleton, there was nothing else to be found.
"If I’m not mistaken, all those items Tony Zhang had came from here!" Ian said.
Grace Jing nodded in agreement. "There are footprints inside, and they’re shallow—looks like they’ve been here for months. It must’ve been Tony Zhang!"
"So we came all this way for nothing!" Lilian Yue said, utterly dejected. "I don’t believe it. I’m going to search again!"
Unwilling to give up, Lilian dragged Queenie to search the stone rooms again, but of course, they found nothing. Ian, meanwhile, approached the skeleton.
The owner of the skeleton must’ve died over a thousand years ago, yet the bones still glimmered faintly with a crystalline sheen.
Ian reached out and pinched a bone, finding it hard as steel—maybe even harder.
Clearly, this person had been a powerful cultivator before death, at least at the Foundation Establishment stage.
"Let’s go."
Leaving the stone room, Ian spoke to the others.
As everyone exited the cave, just as they were about to head back, a shadow flickered—suddenly, a man appeared atop a round boulder ten meters away.
The newcomer looked to be in his thirties, dressed plainly, his expression numb, but his eyes held a deep, ancient weariness.
"Who are you?"
Ian stared at him and asked.
"I’m here to kill you." The man’s voice was hoarse and flat, utterly devoid of emotion.