Chapter 81: Mastah~?
For the rest of the day, Shen wandered around the Hundred Miles City. He couldn't find Shi Qingzhuang, nor did he find Feng Wuxi.
The Feng Clan was situated on the nearest city of Hundred Miles City, Phoenix Setting City. Yet, the Feng Clan had a good amount of influence on Hundred Miles City. It was not because the Feng Clan had powerful experts but rather because of their exceptional Clan Head.
After collecting information, he found whereabouts about both Shi Qingzhuang and Feng Wuxi. Every nine years there the nine nearby cities held a competition called Tournament of the Nine Cities.
Thinking about it, Shen remembered Yu Ruyan mentioning it, but at that time he left in hurry and promised to talk later. Now he didn't know what Ruyan wanted to talk about but he hoped she won't at least mention anything like participating in the competition.
Only those from 16 to 22 years old were allowed to participate in this competition and the nearby cities were all "very weak", at least from his standards. Let alone young generations, he can fight off a few clans as long as he didn't encounter any secluded clans.
And Ruyan already knew he was a Xiantian before leaving the city and after returning his strength equaled to a Martial King. Him participating in such low-level strength competition would be crushing an ant with elephants strength!
Shaking those thoughts, he entered the Immortal Realm. He had small spiral of energy building inside him due to using the Duo Technique while teasing the girls and spending quality time with Wushuang.
He had a fresh mind due to spending time with his girls and taking things easy. These were the times he liked most. Taking things easy once a while can clear your mind and relax your body too but for him, even during the peaceful time he must cultivate. He had the Immortal Realm and not utilizing to its best potential would be a grave sin.
Thinking about the realm's best potential Shen remembered that the Immortal Realm remained stagnant on the fourth layer. Unlocking every layer from now will only get harder and slower. He must think about alternatives for leveling up the realm. As for the Mortal Realm, he had no idea how to unlock the next layers but it didn't seem to be connected with the Immortal Realm.
While he was pondering, he felt a presence on top of his head. He didn't turn his head up and exasperatedly said, "Kitty, what's your progress on the Palace?"
Kaidi jumped down from his head and changed to her humanoid form. "After entering the main door I couldn't open any other doors. Are you sure you unlocked all doors and traps?"
"I'm 100% sure. How about this, after today's cultivating here I will join you inside. I have free time now."
"Yes! Let's go," Kaidi excitedly grabbed his arm and walked forward.
"Wait, wait. Didn't I just said after cultivating?"
"Eh~ you are gonna take a long time~"
"Why not take Kawa to the Mortal Realm and check the perimeters. I don't know how to unlock the next layers. So, you might find something there."
Kaidi seemed unwilling. During the three weeks of journey from Greencloud Capital to Hundred Miles City, they hardly spent any time together. Evidently, she felt lonely. "Just don't keep me waiting, hmph!"
She pouted and left Shen alone. Taking Kawa she entered Mortal Realm.
After having a time of peace Shen checked everything inside the Immortal Realm. The Absolute Chaos Tree bore another fruit but it will still take a few months for it to be suitable for plucking.
There was no change on the Holy Branch he kept with the Absolute Chaos Tree but it certainly looked shinier. He had yet to find any specific use for this item but he had a feeling this branch was no ordinary item.
The big pond was now filled with fishes. Unlike how empty it looked after becoming bigger, now it was filled with exotic fishes and with its clear water, everything was visible to the naked eyes. It looked great but he felt the pond lacked water plant and grasses which should be solved when the next layer of the realm unlocks. At least, he expected that to happen.
As for the land, most of it was filled with various colors of herbs, leaving only a limited amount of space for his beasts and himself. He already ran out of Purple Leaf Flower hence he couldn't refine any Spirit Concentrating Pills. He had a few hundred pills refined and stored properly for his use. Besides, given another month he will have the next batch of Purple Leaf Flower ready for harvesting.
Taking another pill and upgrading it, Shen started cultivating. He reached the peak of fifth grade Martial King during the three weeks of his journey. It was mostly because of the pill which increased his cultivation speed and with the energy from Dual Cultivation Technique he surpassed the breakpoint of the 56 qi strands, becoming sixth grade Martial King!
He used another full day inside the Immortal Realm only focusing on cultivating. He used the rest of his time to practice Absolute Vision and Absolute Existence, which remained stagnant for a long time. Even after training the whole time, he couldn't achieve the next layer of the techniques. It was evident that his cultivation realm didn't reach the requirement.
After using the full time of the Immortal Realm, Shen washed his sweat-drenched body and clothes on the lake and left the Immortal Realm. He didn't find Kawa or Kaidi inside the Mortal and commanded them to meet them in front of the Heavenly Emperor Palace.
He soon saw them coming out of the small mountains. Much to his surprise they followed his orders and didn't slack off!
"Alright. Let's get in," Shen clapped his hands and went with his feeling, to create a teleportation circle below. It was the same circle Zhu Ling created that day.
Before Kaidi knew what was going on, the scenery before her eyes changed and she found herself inside the palace, just behind her was the Palace gate which she was familiar with. The sudden change of scenery caught her by surprise, "W-what happened-nya?!"
"Nya?"
Kaidi suddenly sealed her mouth with both of her hands and blood rushed on her pale white cheeks. She looked so cute that Shen wanted to hug her tightly.
Kaidi didn't pay heed to Shen and asked her question again. This time, however, she uttered words by words, "What happened? We were just outside."
"You said nya, right? You did, didn't you?"
Kaidi completely ignored Shen and walked to her left. While she was curious to know how Shen did that, obviously she didn't want to answer him. But who was Shen? He kept pestering her! "Hey, Kitty, say it again. Say Nya~!"
This went on until they encountered another gate on their path. Kaidi touched the gate pushed with all of her strength, "See, all of these doors are closed. No matter how much I push they won't open."
"Let's see," She stood in front of the door and gazed for any abnormalities, "Open!"
Without any sound, the door slid inside the wall as if nothing existed there in the first place. In fact, this place was the outer layer that surrounded the whole palace. There shouldn't be any doors but here it was.
Kaidi felt it was unfair when she saw the door "disappearing". She tried so hard and it didn't budge little and now it disappeared just from his order. Unfortunate for her, she had yet to know what was about to come.
"Strange though. Even if there was any gate here, everything should be opened as per my order," mused Shen as he looked for any abnormalities.
"Maybe there's some problem with the palace?"
"No, it's a palace and a treasure, not cheap items which will go bad after sitting around a while..." he convinced himself but still added in his mind, "yeah, even if it's millions of years old."
"Can't we go to the treasury similar to how we entered the palace?"
"Good question, let me see."
It's not as if Shen didn't think that but wanted to check why the doors were still locked. It didn't matter how far he was from the palace, as long as he could feel its presence his order should be carried out.
The similar circle formed below them as Shen found himself in a different space but it wasn't definitely the treasury. Before Shen could ascertain his position he noticed that Kaidi wasn't by his side and something rushed at his direction. Before he could react a sudden force sent him back first on the floor.
"Mastah~"