"The people living around here are all geniuses from the Western Court. You'd better not provoke any of them. Everyone who can stay here has connections," Xiao Yu warned them with lingering concern. "Just settle down and cultivate in peace."
Nie Li looked up. Xiao Yu's courtyard had two buildings. He and Lu Piao would be staying in one of them, right next to Xiao Yu's own room.
"Don't go wandering off without my guidance. And you're not allowed to come into my room." Xiao Yu looked at Nie Li as she said this — in comparison, she trusted him even less.
"Sure." Nie Li shrugged, not taking a single word of Xiao Yu's warnings to heart.
Nie Li and Lu Piao took a look around. The courtyard was quite pleasant — birdsong, fragrant flowers, little bridges over streams, ornamental rockeries. Xiao Yu really was living in style. It must have cost a small fortune.
"Here are two Spirit Stones for you. Start cultivating." Xiao Yu handed the stones to Nie Li and Lu Piao. "I need to head out for a bit to register you."
After bidding farewell to Nie Li and Lu Piao, Xiao Yu left.
Nie Li picked up one of the Spirit Stones and sat cross-legged, ready to begin cultivating, when Goddess
"I'm suffocating in there!" Goddess Yu Yan grumbled. Since arriving in the Dragon Ruins Domain, she had been hiding inside Nie Li's sleeve the entire time. Although she knew it couldn't truly go unnoticed, it hadn't attracted too much attention — many students at the Heavenly Spirit Court brought all manner of demon beasts and spirit pets. The people of the Dragon Ruins Domain probably assumed she was just one of Nie Li's demon pets.
As for the Golden Egg, Nie Li had tucked it into a cloth pouch before entering. The little creature seemed to have fallen into hibernation, shrinking smaller and smaller until it was only about the size of a fist — unnoticeable to carry around.
For the time being, Nie Li still hadn't figured out a good solution for the little thing. With it hibernating, at least he could put his mind at ease.
"There really are a lot of powerful people in this Dragon Ruins Domain," Goddess Yu Yan remarked with emotion. Along the way she had sensed countless powerful auras, each one shocking her to the core. Nearly every person in the Dragon Ruins Domain was a supreme expert!
"Of course — the Small Exquisite World was nothing more than a tiny pocket world within the Dragon Ruins Domain." Nie Li smiled. Goddess Yu Yan had spent her entire life inside the Small Exquisite World, so she naturally knew nothing about the Dragon Ruins Domain.
A pressing sense of urgency gripped Goddess Yu Yan. Back in the Small Exquisite World, even though she hadn't been as strong as a Spirit God at their peak, she had still been at Legendary peak — more than capable of handling ordinary opponents. But here in the Dragon Ruins Domain, she was nobody at all.
Nie Li wanted to teach Goddess Yu Yan some cultivation techniques, but because her life form was fundamentally different, there was nothing he could do. He could only let her figure things out on her own. However, Nie Li sensed that Goddess Yu Yan's innate flame was extraordinarily powerful — her body likely harbored some kind of secret, meaning her cultivation path was destined to be unlike anyone else's.
"Nie Li, I need to focus on my cultivation. The energy in this Dragon Ruins Domain is completely different from the Small Exquisite World. I don't even know whether I'll be able to absorb and refine it."
Goddess Yu Yan hovered in the air and began cultivating quietly, tongues of flame spiraling around her body. Her eyes were closed tight, as though she had sunk into some profound state.
Nie Li took out the Spirit Stone. He needed to get cultivating quickly too — to push toward the Fate Realm.
Activating his Soul Sea, Nie Li slowly extracted the power from the Spirit Stone, drawing it into his body and refining it. A vast surge of power churned within him. He had been trapped inside the Small Exquisite World for so long, and now he could finally absorb and refine the power of the Heavenly Dao.
Nie Li activated the Heavenly Dao Divine Art. He felt threads of Heavenly Dao power slowly flowing through his meridians, nourishing every part of his body. Every pore felt wonderfully comfortable.
Just when he was starting to get into it and hadn't had nearly enough, the Heavenly Dao power contained in a single Spirit Stone had already been completely drained.
Sensing the empty stone in his hand, Nie Li let out a wry smile. After cultivating the Heavenly Dao Divine Art, his Soul Sea's capacity had become astonishingly vast — a single Spirit Stone was nowhere near enough. It was like trying to fill his stomach, only to have the food cut off before he'd even begun.
"I need to get my hands on a lot more Spirit Stones," Nie Li thought to himself. As long as he had enough Spirit Stones, combined with his eighth-grade Heavenly Spirit Root talent in this life and his own understanding of cultivation, he could absolutely advance to the Fate Realm at incredible speed.
Now that he had arrived in the Dragon Ruins Domain, he was determined to surpass the
Just as Nie Li and Lu Piao were cultivating, a knock sounded at the door.
"Brother Xiao Yu, are you in there?" It was a crisp, sweet feminine voice. Just hearing it made one's bones feel like they were about to melt.
Hearing the voice outside, Lu Piao's eyes snapped open with a mischievous grin as he looked at Nie Li and asked, "Nie Li, don't tell me Xiao Yu's little sweetheart has come to visit?"