After Li Yuan sent Xiao Huo and Xia Qianyue away, he looked at the pills inside his storage ring.
"It's time to break through the Qi Condensing Realm.", he thought.
Surprisingly, over the past few days, Li Yuan had managed to reach the peak of the Body Forging Realm.
He didn't know whether it was because the Great Destiny Technique was suitable for him, because the Dark Mirror Forest had dense spiritual energy or because he had extraordinary qualifications.
He guessed that it was probably a mixture of all the reasons above.
'System, deduce the Qi Condensing chapter of the Great Destiny Technique.'
[Qi Condensing Chapter of Great Destiny Technique. Price: 200.000 HS Points.]
Li Yuan looked at his balance of 2.000.000 HS Points and didn't hesitate to exchange for it.
His HS Points decreased rapidly, but the Qi Condensing chapter of the Great Destiny Technique appeared inside his mind.
In essence, the cultivation of the Qi Condensing Realm consists of absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy and storing it inside your body.
The Qi Condensing realm is also the realm where cultivators can start casting spells.
"This is the first step towards completing my dream of killing people from thousands of kilometers away."
Li Yuan thought.
In Li Yuan's mind, fighting against equally powerful cultivators is not only meaningless, but also stupid.
True cultivators should be able to one-shot their enemies from kilometers away, before their enemies could even find them.
With some excitement, Li Yuan stepped into the hut and started practicing, wanting to break through as quickly as possible and realize his dream.
***
While Li Yuan was daydreaming, at this time, the Dark Mirror Forest welcomed many uninvited visitors.
Most of these people were in the Foundation Building Realm, with a few of them reaching the Core Formation Realm.
These were all cultivators from the Sun Empire.
Just like the Royal family, the rest of the Sun Empire's forces also decided to send their disciples into the Dark Mirror Forest, hoping to obtain some opportunities.
Since Emperor Wu ascended to the throne hundreds of years ago, the Royal family and the Snow Phoenix Sect had always been in conflict.
The reason why the two forces didn't go to war was simply because their strength was similar and a war would only hurt both sides.
Now, the appearance of the mysterious map seemed to be able to break this delicate balance.
Sensing this, these forces were willing to take risks in order to strengthen themselves and gain the ability to survive during the future conflict.
When cultivators are paired with the existence of precious treasures, it is almost certain that there will be conflicts.
Inside a dark cave near the center of the Dark Mirror Forest, a young man wearing a golden robe that had been soaked in blood was standing, with a calm expression on his face.
He had short golden hair and golden eyes that were filled with confidence.
From his appearance, it was easy to guess that he was a member of the Royal family.
The ground around the man was filled with corpses and broken pieces of magic weapons.
Obviously, this young man was the final winner of the battle.
When he looked towards the center of the cave, the young man turned fiery.
An arrow was floating there, red in color, with various veins on its body.
Judging from its aura, the arrow was at least a Divine Weapon.
Thinking of this, the young man's eyes were filled with excitement.
Only Nascent Soul cultivators could possess such precious treasures.
He didn't expect that one day he would be lucky enough to obtain one.
Thinking of this, the young man stepped forward and stretched his hand to pick it up but his actions suddenly stopped.
Lowering his head, the young man found that a dagger had unknowingly pierced through his chest.
Before he could analyze the situation, blood flowed out of his lips and he fell to the ground.
Behind him, a middle-aged man dressed in black appeared, holding the dagger in his hand.
Seeing the young man dying, the middle-aged man kicked his corpse with some annoyance, seemingly wanting to vent his anger.
"Damn it. It took you so long just to kill a few weaklings."
"If it weren't for you, I would have been able to obtain this treasure long ago."
"Sure enough the righteous forces are as inefficient as ever."
The middle aged man cursed the man out for a bit while continuing to kick the corpse.
After a while, when the man calmed down, he stepped forward and picked up the red arrow.
Holding it in his hand, his eyes trembled with excitement and he stroked the arrow's surface gently.
"Thankfully, all the wait was worth it."
This middle-aged man was Ruan Ling, a disciple of the Holy Devil Cult.
The Holy Devil Cult is a force composed of evil cultivators and as an evil force, it is constantly targeted by the other forces in the Sun Empire.
Originally, Ruan Ling happened to be around the Dark Mirror Forest, when he noticed many cultivators entering it.
His intuition told him that there was a secret, so he secretly followed them from behind.
What he didn't expect was that following those cultivators would lead him to find such a precious treasure.
"Thankfully, my technique is suitable for assassinations, otherwise I would have been found out.", Ruan Ling thought.
Feeling the Qi inside his body which had almost been depleted, Ruan Ling didn't hesitate any longer.
He quickly rummaged through the corpses and picked any useful items, then hurriedly left the cave.
Next, he was ready to find a safe place to recover his Qi.
In this dangerous environment, not being able to use his full strength might prove to be fatal.
Spotting a tall tree, he started flying towards its top very carefully, afraid that someone would notice his flying figure.
With his Foundation Building Realm, before long, he easily reached the top of the tree and started looking around.
But what he saw next stunned him.
On the horizon, a majestic, two-story golden pagoda was standing, completely out of tune with the dangerous environment around it.
As an experienced assassin, Ruan Ling should have tried to escape when facing something unknown, but his interest was piqued.
Moreover, his recent experience of easily obtaining the red arrow made him a little greedy, clouding his judgment.
What if this golden pagoda was also a treasure?
Countless thoughts went through his mind and Ruan Ling jumped down from the tree and walked towards the golden pagoda with quiet steps.
As he got closer, he finally saw that a wooden sign was hanging above the pagoda's entrance.
Surprisingly, even though he couldn't understand the words on the sign, their meaning immediately appeared inside his mind.
Heaven's Secret Pavilion.