Chapter 253: Chapter 253: The Last Chance for Longevity

Xu Yunfan saw it all and naturally understood what the other man was thinking.

A faint smile touched his lips. Acting as if he hadn’t noticed a thing, he said, "To think I would meet Brother Su in this place. Truly, life is full of unexpected encounters."

Su Zhenhe froze for a moment. The complex emotions on his face vanished as he began to mull over the words.

After a moment, he looked up and said in admiration, "Brother Xu, you are truly a man of exceptional talent. That was an excellent turn of phrase, a sudden awakening. Truly brilliant."

He brushed the dry grass from his clothes, walked up to Xu Yunfan, and cupped his hands.

"Brother Xu, what brings you here?"

Xu Yunfan was taken aback, not expecting a single casual remark to completely dispel the killing intent in Su Zhenhe’s heart.

"I accidentally fell in from another entrance to the Secret Realm."

He offered this casual explanation, then, before Su Zhenhe could press for details, Xu Yunfan took the initiative to ask, "Brother Su, do you know anything about that palace down there?"

Su Zhenhe fell silent for a moment. His gaze shifted from Xu Yunfan to the White Jade Palace, which radiated a pure, cold light.

His fingers unconsciously toyed with the Profound Daoist Sect Token hanging at his waist, as if weighing whether he should reveal what he knew.

Just then, Su Zhenhe suddenly recalled Xu Yunfan’s phantom-like, silent movements from moments before. His pupils couldn’t help but contract. When Xu Yunfan had approached him, it was as if a ghost had drawn near—utterly silent. Even a True Disciple of the Profound Daoist Sect like himself had failed to sense a thing.

His Adam’s apple bobbed. Forcibly suppressing the horror in his heart, he asked in a strained voice, "Brother Xu, what is your current Martial Dao Realm?"

"The Seventh Realm of the Martial Dao: Bone Marrow Cleansing."

Xu Yunfan said it casually, but those few words struck Su Zhenhe like a thunderclap, leaving his mind reeling.

His expression changed drastically. He subconsciously took half a step back, his back pressing against the wall as his voice cracked, "How is that possible?!"

The man before him was only in his early twenties. Even if he’d started his Cultivation in the womb, it was impossible to reach the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm at such a young age. This was a Realm that even Elders of the Profound Daoist Sect had to struggle for decades to have a chance of reaching!

The slightest misstep meant stagnating for a lifetime, never advancing another inch.

Hearing Su Zhenhe’s cry of disbelief, Xu Yunfan let out a soft chuckle. Without a word, he flicked his finger. In that instant, a strand of Powerful Qi, so condensed it was almost solid, erupted forth. It tore through the air like a sharp arrow and violently blasted apart the hard stone wall just three inches from Su Zhenhe’s ear. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

As stone fragments flew, the Powerful Qi’s momentum carried it forward, punching a three-inch-deep hole into the rock wall beyond. The edges of the hole were as smooth as if sliced by a sword.

Su Zhenhe stood frozen to the spot, cold sweat beading on his temples. ’If that finger had been off by even half an inch...’

"Marrow Force that nears divinity... Lifting Light as Heavy... Transforming Force into Gang..."

Su Zhenhe’s expression was one of pure shock. ’This is unprecedented! No one has ever set foot in the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm at such a young age. Even the founder of the Great Zhou Empire, from the Li family eight hundred years ago, was a full thirty years old before he reached the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm.’

"Since you’ve asked, Brother Xu..."

Su Zhenhe finally spoke, his voice low. "I have indeed seen records of it in the Profound Daoist Sect’s *Cyan Mountain Anomaly Record*. It’s said that this White Jade Palace is not of this world. Two thousand years ago, just as the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was about to scatter, it plummeted from beyond the sky. It crashed through two separate planes, tearing open a passage to this Secret Realm before falling into it."

As he said this, Su Zhenhe turned to look down at the White Jade Palace, which was constantly radiating its cold light. His expression was tinged with an almost unbelievable fanaticism.

"Your Celestial Craft Cave’s history is too short. Too much happened two thousand years ago—events that led to the complete dissipation of the Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirit. This White Jade Palace appeared in the aftermath of a great war from that era."

’A great war?’

Xu Yunfan’s brow twitched. Beneath his Dragon Scale Armor, his muscles tensed involuntarily.

He could feel the Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace on his back vibrating faintly, as if reacting to the palace.

’There must be a great secret hidden within the truth of that war from two thousand years ago.’

Seeing Xu Yunfan’s questioning gaze, Su Zhenhe didn’t hesitate and explained, "It was about the path to Longevity. The battle was started by those who had reached the absolute peak of Cultivation—what the Mortal World refers to as the Land Immortal Realm. They were fighting for the last chance at Longevity as the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was fading away."

"Even when one’s Martial Dao Cultivation reaches its apex, granting the power to shatter mountains and part rivers, one’s lifespan doesn’t increase by much. Even a Nine Realms Qi Cultivation Supreme Grandmaster, using all manner of Secret Techniques and sustained by Spiritual Elixirs and Treasure Medicines, can live no longer than three hundred years."

"It is a universally acknowledged truth that the three-hundred-year threshold is an impassable chasm. To this day, no one has ever lived beyond it."

At this thought, something stirred in Xu Yunfan’s mind. He suddenly recalled the mysterious woman in white from the Extreme Dao Relic Shell. She had mentioned that in two thousand years, she had met no more than two or three people like him.

’She was most likely an Extreme Daoist from that era. But how could she have survived for over two thousand years?’

’By hibernating within the Ancient Jade Pendant?’

"Interesting."

Xu Yunfan grinned, revealing a set of stark white teeth. "Keep talking."

Su Zhenhe glanced at Xu Yunfan’s Dragon Scale Armor, which glinted with a faint, dark-gold luster. His fingers clenched unconsciously. The pressure emanating from the other man was overwhelming, like being in the presence of a great, slumbering demon, making it hard to breathe.

’No matter how much of a genius I am,’ Su Zhenhe thought, ’I’m facing a Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster. It doesn’t matter what I do. Even if I possess a Divine Weapon, his own armaments are clearly just as formidable. And that visually stunning Dragon Scale Armor... it expands and contracts with his every breath, as if it were alive.’

"...The archives record that seven great Sects sent their elites to investigate. Among them were three Supreme Elders from my Profound Daoist Sect, Pei Wujiu—the Celestial Sword of the Sword Pavilion—and the Vajra Master of Mituo Temple..."

"Get to the point. What happened to the ones who went inside?"

"No one ever came out."

Su Zhenhe’s voice grew even quieter. "Everyone who entered the palace vanished without a trace. Afterward, the Sects worked together to suppress the news. The White Jade Palace sank back into the mountain on its own, disappearing from sight, and that Chapter of history was gradually forgotten... I never thought it would reappear today..."

He glanced at Xu Yunfan, a faint suspicion forming in his mind.

’According to my sect’s records, the flows of qi within the Little Heaven and Earth Secret Realm are all interconnected. A single disturbance can affect the entire system. This Secret Realm was supposed to be restricted to Martial Artists at the Outer Three Harmonies Realm, yet now a Grandmaster Level expert from the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm has appeared out of nowhere. Heaven knows what kind of incredible opportunity he must have stumbled upon.’

Su Zhenhe finally couldn’t hold back his question. "B-Brother Xu, did you break through to the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm inside this Secret Realm?"

"Of course. The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi here is rich, making the environment for a breakthrough far better than the outside world. If it weren’t for all the Demon Fiends, I’d consider settling down here."

’Although I’ve been completely absorbed in my Cultivation these past few days, Demon Fiends still keep charging in. It also seems like after a month in the same location, the ferocity of the Demon Fiends I encounter has ramped up by several notches.’

’And he wants to settle down here.’

Su Zhenhe gave a dry laugh but didn’t reply. ’If anyone could actually live here long-term, the Six Great Sects would have already built all over this Little Heaven and Earth Secret Realm.’

Suddenly, Xu Yunfan turned and walked to the edge of the precipice.

He squinted toward the eastern side of the White Jade Palace. Seven figures were rapidly ascending the dilapidated stone steps. The Strength erupting from the leader’s feet was so powerful it seared scorch marks into the moss.