Not long after leaving the ruins of the 49th Palace, Qin Shi's face turned red, and he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood uncontrollably.
The evil spirit was taken aback. "Little fellow, how are you?"
Qin Shi raised his hand, indicating for the evil spirit not to stop. "Continue. Hurry back to the Qin Palace."
The evil spirit frowned, but it immediately understood what Qin Shi meant. Right now, the Qin Palace was at its weakest. Although Ming Xuan had admitted defeat on the surface, based on Qin Shi's understanding of Team Bi, Team Bi would not give up until they achieved their goals. Team Bi had suffered a great loss at the hands of Qin Shi, and they would not give up easily.
Very quickly, they returned to the Qin Palace. It was not much better off than the 49th Palace. It was just as desolate and dilapidated.
Fortunately, Qin Shi had not used the Reincarnation Stone Statue in the Qin Palace. It was not like the Nightmare Palace, where they had to change an area. The original 49th Palace would probably be barren in less than a hundred years, and all life would be lost.
The Qin Palace had only been damaged in some buildings. Given some time, they could be repaired quickly.
Seeing that Qin Shi had returned to the Qin Palace in one piece, the disciples of the Qin Palace were in an uproar.
The commotion that Qin Shi had caused in the 49th Palace had spread like a virus throughout the 7,000 Sea Palaces, and even the sea regions outside the 7,000 Sea Palaces.
This time, the commotion had almost toppled the 7,000 Sea Palaces, and it had also caused those who had doubts about Qin Shi to completely give up. The strength that Qin Shi had displayed this time was far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
At the same time, the reputation of the Qin Palace in the 7,000 Sea Palaces had increased exponentially.
Of course, Qin Shi did not have the heart to care about all of this. The few great battles this time around had caused Qin Shi to sink into unprecedented heavy injuries. His physical body had practically shattered, and his insides had been corroded by the demonic blood to the point that it was too horrible to look at. His organs could be described as having thousands of holes.
Earlier, the reason why Qin Shi was so calm in the forty-ninth palace was because he didn't want to reveal how serious his injuries were. This was also the reason why he urged the evil devils to hurry back to the Qin Palace. Only he himself knew how serious his injuries were.
After returning to the Qin Palace, Qin Shi entered seclusion.
Before he went into seclusion, Qin Shi reminded Longxu several times to keep a close eye on the Nightmare Palace. Qin Shi was sure that the Nightmare Group was hiding some earth-shattering conspiracy in the 7,000 Sea Palaces.
After reminding the evil spirit a few more times, he went into seclusion with peace of mind.
In a quiet secret room, Qin Shi sat cross-legged. For three whole months, Qin Shi's body could be said to be gloomy. There was not the slightest fluctuation of Spiritual Qi in Qin Shi's body. If people who did not know Qin Shi saw this scene, they would definitely think that Qin Shi was a mortal who had never cultivated.
This time, his injuries were so severe that he had almost exhausted all of the spiritual power in Qin Shi's body. He was exhausted like never before.
Inside his dantian, it was like a dry riverbed. Only after three months did a tiny amount of spiritual energy circulate after inhaling and exhaling. In the end, it gathered on Qin Shi's dantian like a water droplet. However, as soon as the droplet landed on the riverbed, it was immediately evaporated by the large dry spiritual veins above.
Qin Shi looked at this scene and could not help but shake his head. "What a wretched state."
This time, Qin Shi dared to say that this was the most serious injury he had suffered in the 15 years since he had stepped into the cultivation world.
"In the end, it was all thanks to the Seal Mark. Otherwise, if the Demonic Blood had continued to devour me for another hour, I'm afraid I would have been completely crippled," Qin Shi said with lingering fear.
No one had expected that Qin Shi's recovery this time would take half a year in the blink of an eye.
In this half a year, there was still no movement from Qin Shi. But in this half a year, the 7,000 Sea Palace was not peaceful. In this half a year, the Nightmare Palace and the 49 palaces were relocated and rebuilt. The destruction of the Qin Sect was also activated again. At the borders of the 7,000 Sea Palace, the two sides fought continuously.
The Nightmare Palace harassed the Qin Palace almost every day. But strangely, the Nightmare Palace did not seem to want to destroy the Qin Palace. Or perhaps Ming Xuan knew that the Nightmare Palace could not destroy the Qin Palace. It was a complete guerrilla warfare. If they took advantage of the situation, they would immediately retreat. This caused the Qin Palace to be very passive.
Fortunately, in this half a year, the Qin Palace did not suffer too many losses.
In this period of time, there were a few large-scale battles. In the end, both Long Xu and Ming Xuan took action. Only then did the two sides stop fighting.
The stalemate continued for another half a year.
In this year, there was still no movement from Qin Shi. This caused many of the core members of the Qin Palace to be very worried.
During this one year, Chen Yan and Long Qi had practically stood guard in front of the secluded cave day and night. Chen Yan's intelligent phoenix eyes were filled with worry, while her little hands were tightly clenched together. A year had passed, but there was still a dazzling bloody scar on Chen Yan's fair neck. That bloody scar seemed to have eroded into Chen Yan's skin, appearing like a small snake that was coiling around her, giving off a peculiar sense of beauty.
"It's been a year. Why hasn't he woken up yet?" Chen Yan asked worriedly.
"It's fine. He will definitely wake up."
Long Qi patted Chen Yan's shoulder in regret. If there was one person that Long Qi had to admire in regards to Qin Shi, and he had to concede defeat, it would definitely be Chen Yan. Chen Yan's love for Qin Shi was so deep that it reached the dust, so deep that it reached the bones. Qin Shi was Chen Yan's entire world.
Li Shu looked at Chen Yan, who was growing thinner by the day, and let out a long sigh. If he hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, he would truly not dare to believe that the vixen Chen Yan, who had shaken the outer circle back then, who possessed a bewitching aura that caused countless men to willingly prostrate themselves before her, and who had never looked anyone in the eye, was actually so lowly in front of Qin Shi.
During this period of time, Mu Xiaoyi had also come to visit Qin Shi a few times. Every time she saw Chen Yan, she would involuntarily lower her head.
"Back then, I clearly had a better chance of approaching him than she did …" Mu Xiaoyi's eyes flickered with pain.
Mu Xiaoyan softly said, "Sis, it's still not too late. Don't make yourself regret it."
Mu Xiaoyi shook her head in a self-mocking manner. "There's no chance. I'm different from Chen Yan, and I will never be able to love and hate like her. I will never be able to give up everything to love him. There's no chance between us."
Mu Xiaoyi smiled faintly and said, "Being able to stay in the Qin Palace is already the greatest blessing the heavens have for our Mu Clan."
Mu Xiaoyi faintly smiled. Indeed, Chen Yan's love was not something that just anyone could give.
Ling Zhu had also come a few times, but she mostly came to visit Chen Yan. She doted on Chen Yan, and truly treated her as a younger sister.
Ling Zhu helplessly gazed at the tightly shut cave door and said, "He still hasn't woken up?"
Chen Yan nodded. "Yes, he hasn't. I wonder how he's doing right now."
Ling Zhu shook her head at Chen Yan's daydreaming appearance. "Don't worry, that kid won't die. His life is even tougher than a cockroach's. He managed to survive back then in the Deep Sea Origin reservoir, let alone now. It's been hard on you to watch over him for a year."
Chen Yan smiled haggardly. "It's not hard on me. He'll make it up to me when he wakes up."
"Silly girl." Ling Zhu hugged Chen Yan with a pained expression.
Rumble!
At this moment, the cave that had been quiet for a year suddenly stirred up a violent whirlpool. The surrounding spiritual energy ferociously poured into the cave as if a dam had been opened.
Joy flashed in Chen Yan's eyes when she sensed the violent ripples in the cave. She no longer cared about Ling Zhu as she gracefully leapt into the cave.
Behind her, Ling Zhu couldn't help but shake her head in self-mockery when she saw Chen Yan's anxious appearance. "If it were me, would I really be able to do it?"
Qin Shi had spent an entire year healing in the stone cave. This was something he hadn't expected. However, it wasn't like he hadn't made any progress during this year. When the Spiritual Qi once again entered his body, it caused his Dantian, which had been empty for a long time, to rapidly absorb the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth. That world continued to fill up, becoming rich and abundant.
Qin Shi's eyes suddenly snapped open like a cheetah's. His world uncontrollably surged out at this moment. 300,000, 500,000, 800,000.
Qin Shi's world broke through 800,000 in one go. Golden dragons coiled around the nine meridians below his dantian that had turned into pillars that supported the heavens. The shackles of the greater success stage of the World Stage were formed, and Qin Shi successfully broke through.
Qin Shi forcefully clenched his fist as he felt his body brimming with power. It was as if all the power in his 800,000 meter world was gathering in his palm. He couldn't help but reveal a satisfied smile.
"This breakthrough should be the most successful one."
The nefarious devil nodded. "Indeed. Although your five viscera and six bowels were heavily injured due to the demonic blood's backlash, it actually helped the Fallen Star Hegemon Body Art. To a certain extent, it made your physical body even more powerful. Adding on the fact that you've redirected the deficient spiritual energy, you've managed to achieve a perfect fusion in both spiritual energy and physical body."
Qin Shi clenched his fist and struck the air. A huge palm imprint was left on the extremely hard rock in the cave.
Looking at the huge palm imprint, Qin Shi said excitedly, "With my current strength, even without the help of the demonic blood, I should be able to face the palace masters who have their cultivation suppressed to the World Stage."
The Nefarious Demon bitterly smiled and shook its head. "Stop dreaming, kid. Among the Twelve Palaces, only the last six palaces suppress their cultivation to the World Stage in order to avoid the Immortal Mansion. But now, in your hands, they'll either die or be injured. But with your current strength, even if you encounter the first six palaces, you should still be able to put up a fight. If you can't beat them, you can run.
No one should be able to stop you. "Qin Shi nodded. With his current strength, he didn't dare to challenge the Transcendent Realm. But if he fought with them, it wouldn't be as easy as before for them to kill him.
The Transcendent Realm was no longer unattainable.
At this moment, Qin Shi frowned. From outside the cave came the sound of hurried footsteps, followed by a faint fragrance that intoxicated Qin Shi.
Qin Shi knew that Chen Yan had come. A trace of sadness and self-blame flashed in his eyes.