"Is that all?"

Zhen Pin looked at the three cultivation manuals in his hand.

These three were not the originals, but copies transcribed by Chen Yi.

Zhen Pin gave them a quick glance.

The content was extremely profound, and the handwriting was utterly atrocious.

Just reading through them once would probably be a monumental pain in the ass.

To be honest, Chen Yi didn't mind giving Zhen Pin some spirit crystals, elixirs, spirit artifacts, or the like.

But with Zhen Pin's peculiar constitution, the more resources he got, the slower his cultivation would actually become.

Couldn't do that to him.

"Of course that's not all. In another fifty or sixty years, I'll come find you again, and I'll help you break through to the Martial King Realm then!"

The corner of Zhen Pin's mouth twitched.

Even if you have the lifespan to draw that pie, I might not have the lifespan to eat it!

"Senior, I noticed that water just now seemed quite miraculous. Perhaps you could share some..."

"I have a meeting to attend, so I'll take my leave first. Remember my words, practice diligently, and improve every day."

Zhen Pin watched as Chen Yi flew away, holding three handwritten copies of manuals with scribbly handwriting, standing there rooted to the spot, utterly bewildered in the wind.

As the saying goes, what goes around comes around.

The first time they met, Chen Yi was tricked by Zhen Pin.

Now the tables had turned.

"You never thought you, this scheming bald donkey, would have a day like this, did you? Haha..."

Only after flying a great distance did Chen Yi finally burst out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer.

The Demon Refining Pot chimed in.

"Hahaha! Too hilarious!"

The Ten Thousand Souls Banner mocked the Demon Refining Pot.

"Do you even understand what this kid is busy with all day? You just follow along laughing like an idiot!"

The Demon Refining Pot declared righteously.

"When the Master is happy, I'm happy! When the Master is sad, I'm sad! I grieve before the Master grieves, and I rejoice after the Master rejoices! That is the proper bearing an Immortal Artifact like myself should have!"

"Demon Refining Pot, oh Demon Refining Pot, can't you straighten your spine a bit!"

"I am a pot! What spine do I have!"

"Damn! Don't use such a passionate and stirring tone to say such spineless words!"

As the two artifacts bickered, Chen Yi's laughter abruptly stopped.

"Enough!"

It was exactly like his elder brother Chen Jing, crying one second and stopping the next.

Because by now, Chen Yi had already flown over Hanfeng Temple.

Just like the other Dragon-Man tribe outposts, there was a dense concentration of fresh Dragon-Man aura here.

This Hanfeng Temple was located in a remote area, with not a single proper town or village within a hundred miles.

Only twenty or thirty monks practiced asceticism here, farming and providing for themselves.

Xiliang already had a low profile among the Five Regions.

This Hanfeng Temple's profile within Xiliang was also rock bottom.

Coupled with its location at the extreme western edge of the continent, powerful martial artists rarely visited this place.

It was indeed an excellent spot for an alien race to infiltrate and establish an intelligence outpost.

"Old unlucky egg Yu Qian does have some skills, quite good at picking locations."

Thinking about it, Yu Qian dying early had its benefits.

If such a professional race-traitor continued living, the assistance he could provide to the Dragon-Man tribe would be immense.

With his death, the Dragon-Man tribe's preparations would inevitably take much longer, which was a great advantage for Chen Yi.

His divine sense enveloped Cold Maple Temple, precisely scanning every corner.

The Dragon-Man tribe outpost here was similar to the one in the Great Shi Kingdom.

There was a Demon Bridge Formation for teleportation.

There were mature "laboratories," "archives," "intelligence rooms," and so on.

And there were a full six Dragon-Man tribe members working here.

They were all in soul form, but they would frequently possess the monks of Hanfeng Temple, just like how Hu Chacha of the Chixin Sect had attached himself to Yin Rui.

Through this "possession," they could control these monks' bodies to make records and refine certain things.

After all, soul forms couldn't directly interact with physical objects. While there were indirect methods, they certainly weren't as easy as direct possession.

Their Demon Bridge Formation was brazenly placed in the backyard of Cold Maple Temple, visible directly from a high-altitude aerial view.

There were no means to block detection at all.

This was actually a clever approach.

A small, nearly defunct sect, yet having a detection-blocking barrier in a certain area inside—what could they possibly have worth hiding?

A passing individual with divine sense might not have paid any attention to Hanfeng Temple at all.

Adding a divine sense barrier would instead draw attention.

"Black Wind, this round will let you eat your fill!"

Chen Yi charged into Cold Maple Temple, fists first, then kicks. Three punches shattered Dragon-Man souls, your daddy is a Little Dragon-Man.

Chen Yi didn't trouble the ascetic monks within Cold Maple Temple, only killing the Dragon-Man tribe members.

These monks, like Yu Qian, mistook the Dragon-Man tribe for the Demon Tribe.

And the benefit they got from cooperating with the Dragon-Man tribe was actually just three square meals a day.

These martial arts-practicing monks really were living a pitifully meager existence.

Still, it wasn't a crime beyond redemption.

After dismantling the Dragon-Man tribe's Demon Bridge Formation and confiscating all their materials, Chen Yi leaped into the air and soared away, returning to the Central Plains amidst the sonic booms of breaking the sound barrier.

"BOOM!!"

The monks of Cold Maple Temple lay prostrate on the ground, trembling.

"M-M-Martial King..."

[Simulation Task Progress: Destroy Dragon-Man Tribe Outposts (5/6)]

On the return journey, Chen Yi had Black Wind consume all six Dragon-Man Pearls obtained from Hanfeng Temple.

After digestion was complete, Black Wind's four hooves underwent a change.

Previously, his hooves were horse hooves.

Now, they showed a tendency to transition towards dragon claws.

A ring of dragon scales grew on the horse legs above the claws, as if he were wearing four dragon-claw boots.

"Boss, I feel I've become much stronger."

Chen Yi suppressed his own combat power and sparred with Black Wind.

He discovered that Black Wind now possessed combat power comparable to a human Soul Tempering Realm martial artist.

However, this combat power was somewhat difficult to calculate.

Because Black Wind didn't have much offensive capability, focusing mainly on defense and movement.

He ran incredibly fast, faster than a Golden Body Realm martial artist moving at full speed with their Golden Body active.

"It seems the awakening is still incomplete. How exactly are these supposed to counter the Dragon-Man tribe?"

At this point in reality, even if Chen Yi ran all over the place chasing Dragon-Man auras, the number of Dragon-Man tribe members he could catch was still small.

They were in the early stages of infiltration, so there were few of them here to begin with.

For Black Wind to fully awaken, the required number of Dragon-Man tribe members was certainly not low. They'd have to wait until the Dragon-Man tribe appeared on a large scale.

...

On the way back to Baiyun County Town from Xiliang, Chen Yi made a detour to visit the Northern Frontier.

He went to check on his elder brother.

However, he only looked, not interfering in any matters.

He wanted to avoid the butterfly effect causing his brother, who had finally risen to power after a life of walking on thin ice, to fall into an ice hole.

The process from Great Khan's adopted son to the new generation Great Khan was absolutely not comfortable for his elder brother.

But it could temper him into a ruler of a region and also provide sufficient resources to improve his cultivation level. From the result, it was worth it.

"Over this past year or so, I've traveled through the Central Plains, Eastern Wastes, Southern Borderlands, Xiliang, Northern Frontier, and even the Great Wastes. Thank goodness Martial Kings can fly through the air, otherwise my legs would have run off."

Loosely speaking, except for the Starry Domains and Overseas, Chen Yi had been to all the major land regions on the continent.

The Starry Domains—now he had to go there too.

Rather than wandering around the Five Regions and the Great Wastes like a headless fly, searching for Dragon-Man auras like looking for a needle in a haystack.

It was better to go to the Starry Domains, where Dragon-Man tribe infiltration was almost certain, to complete the final part of the simulation task.

Actually, if he didn't do the task and just let the simulation cool down on its own, there was only a little over a year left.

But that would mean losing a wave of task rewards, which Chen Yi always felt was a bit of a raw deal.

After resting for a few days and treating Third Sister's family to several lavish meals, Chen Yi set off towards the brilliant starry sky on a dark and windy night.

"Starry Domains, here I come!"