After circling around the city and not discovering Nie Longhu''s figure, Chu Zheng did not wait in ce but returned to the mountain range where the patrol ship was hidden.


    The longer he stayed in the city, the greater the possibility of attracting karmic ties, which could lead to unnecessary trouble.


    For this Star, he was but a passerby, with no need to intervene too much.


    People''s feelings are not the same; if he interfered forcefully, these believers would only see him as a demon disrupting their peaceful lives.


    Several dayster, Nie Longhu finally returned to the valley.


    In these days, he had roughly traveled around the entire Star and gained a lot of information.


    This Star had only one kingdom, with a poption of more than three billion, from the monarch to civilians, who were mostly devotees of Deity.


    The temples on the entire Star totaled ny-nine, with countless divine shrines and altars, many of which were worshipped inmon people''s homes.


    "The strongest on this Star is merely equivalent to a cultivator at the Dao Embryo Realm; they pose no threat to us," Nie Longhu said with a slightly serious expression. "After all, this is and for a Deity''s spiritual nourishment; it''s not appropriate to stay for long. We should collect the Star Origin Liquid and leave this ce as soon as possible."


    With the power on this Star, and two Fifth Order armors on their bodies, the two did not have to worry about any threat and could practice cultivation with peace of mind for a while. Your next journey awaits at empire


    But the problem was that this Star had an owner, and extracting the Star Origin Liquid from an owned Star was entirely different.


    It was akin to provoking a Deity''s bottom line, no different from breaking into someone''s abode to plunder wantonly, the act of a bandit.


    "I appreciate your help, Fellow Daoist Nie," Chu Zheng nodded in agreement, as he did not know the method to extract the Star Origin Liquid and needed Nie Longhu to exert some effort.


    Nie Longhu grabbed Chu Zheng and activated an earth-escaping technique, sinking into the ground.


    The thick rock walls continuously split apart and then sealed again, and the two moved through them as fluidly as fish in water, quickly descending to the''s core.


    Rich Essence Qi of the Fire Element enveloped them, and as far as the eye could see, there were seas of magma.


    The temperature here was frighteningly high, difficult for ordinary cultivators to bear, and mortals would turn to ash upon contact.


    Nie Longhu didn''t pause at all, he sliced his fingertip and began drawing talismanic patterns in the air, swiftly condensing them into an array.


    Chu Zheng watched intently; these patterns were not hard to understand and could be easily remembered after just one nce.


    This array had some simrities with the Method of Qi Absorption, but with some subtle differences.


    Thud—


    The boiling magma cracked open, creating a noticeable gap from which a stream of pale golden unknown Spiritual Liquid gushed forth.


    As the Spiritual Liquid entered the array, it circted for several Hours, shrinking a hundredfold, condensing into a wisp of colorless Essence Qi, with extremely dense Yuan Qi vibrations.


    Nie Longhu had a faint sweat on his forehead and slowly raised his hand, pushing this wisp of Essence Qi in front of Chu Zheng.


    [Star Origin Liquid (Fourth Order): Refined from the essence of lower-grade Life Stars, exquisitely crafted with high purity, can significantly speed up the cultivation rate of beings of the Fourth Order and below.]


    "Fellow Daoist Nie, how are Stars ssified in the universe?"


    Looking at the words ''Lower Grade Stars'', Chu Zheng was somewhat puzzled.


    He had been curious about the ssification of Stars for a long time, and the Fragment of an Immortal Pill he had fortuitously obtained before, the Hundred Stars Elixir, was made with the cores of a hundred Lower Grade Stars as the main ingredient.


    Nie Longhu was no longer surprised at Chu Zheng''s asional questions that were almost consideredmon knowledge; after all, he had no mentor to guide him and was naturally ignorant of many things.


    "Within the Great Universe, Stars are basically divided into upper, middle, and lower grades."


    "Above the upper-grade Stars, there is another category of supreme Stars. However, strictly speaking, supreme Stars should not be considered Stars but should be called Small Thousand Worlds. They possessplete Heaven and Earth Laws, and the Heavenly Dao True Spirit has certainbat capabilities."


    "Combat capabilities?"


    Chu Zheng immediately thought of the Cangyun Realm, where a Heavenly Dao True Spirit in the Cangyun Secret Realm had to be suppressed personally by an Immortal King, suggesting its power was also extraordinary.


    "Your Cultivation is still shallow, and you can''t yete into contact with the Heavenly Dao Laws."


    Seeing Chu Zheng looking puzzled, Nie Longhu patiently exined:


    "Wind, fire, lightning, tide of Spiritual Energy; all these are manifestations of the Heavenly Dao''s power. Once your body returns to the Void and merges with the Path, you will naturally be able to connect with these Laws."


    "Creatures'' cultivation is reliant on the Heaven and Earth Laws, indeed at the cost of damaging the heavens for one''s own benefit, hence no matter what Taoist Orthodoxy, there will be Tribtion Qi visiting one''s body, only the manifestations differ."


    As soon as he spoke, Chu Zheng seemed to have an epiphany; Nie Longhu had already seen through his level of understanding and simply hadn''t pointed it out directly.


    "Above the Small Thousand World is the Middle Thousand World, where the Heavenly Dao Laws are moreplete, possessing a clearer sense of self-awareness."


    "Generally speaking, the Middle Thousand World already has a very strong instinct to reject outsiders, and when faced with an invasion from beyond its realm, it will produce a violent resistance."


    "Further up, the Great Thousand World, where the power of the Heavenly Dao has fundamentally changed, producing extraordinary beings who can rival a Golden Immortal and, with a single thought, suppress a Mysterious Immortal."


    "If a creature is born in this Heaven and Earth, the suppression it faces will be even greater. For example, in the Immortal Alliance''s Great Immortal Realm, those Immortal Kings and Immortal Venerables have no chance to fight back against the Heavenly Dao Judgment."


    Speaking up to this point, Nie Longhu assessed Chu Zheng''s reaction and then felt a slight surprise in his heart.


    On Chu Zheng''s face, there was no doubt, it was evident he was not unfamiliar with the Immortal Alliance, and he had even heard of the Great Immortal Realm.


    This was very intriguing; while many people knew of the Immortal Alliance, few had ever heard of the ''Great Immortal Realm.''


    Having no understanding of the cosmos yet knowing of the Immortal Alliance and even the Great Immortal Realm, it was very likely that Chu Zheng originally came from a region under the Immortal Alliance''s jurisdiction.


    At this thought, Nie Longhu''s brow twitched slightly, and he gestured the Array he had justid out:


    "Daoist Chu, I can teach you the method to extract the Star Origin Liquid, but just this alone, you must never mention this matter to anyone else in the future."


    "You and I meet by chance; after this tribtion, I will not recognize you, and you have not seen me, and please erase the name Nie Longhu from your mind."


    To avoid trouble in the future, Nie Longhu made his intentions clear upfront.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Qi Cultivators generally disliked getting involved in other people''s karma because it was uncontroble. A small mistake could trigger one''s own Tribtion Qi and easily lead to a big problem, light as a setback in one''s path, heavy as a risk to one''s life.


    A considerable number of Qi Cultivators, even after epting disciples, when the disciples leave to gain experience, would repeatedly instruct them not to mention their lineage outside, lest they bring disaster upon themselves.


    This was a double-edged sword; the lineage having enemies might bring unnecessary trouble to the disciple, on the other hand, they also worry that the disciple might provoke a truly fearsome opponent, leading to root and branch elimination, and possibly the cmity of lineage extinction.


    If the lineage still exists, there is a possibility of revenge in the future, but if the lineage is broken, then everythinges to an end.


    Now that Chu Zheng''s background was unclear, yet he had ties to the Immortal Alliance, it was too dangerous. As a Qi Cultivator, how he managed to survive in the Immortal Alliance''s territory was hard for Nie Longhu to imagine, but he had no interest in probing further.


    Because he had a hunch that Chu Zheng might be one of those old monsters from within the Immortal Alliance, sent specifically to test the Method of Qi Refining.


    In this way, Chu Zheng''s cultivation, which hadn''t reached the Golden Core Realm, was able to endure tribtions, which made sense; with an Immortal King''s protection, crossing the starry sky was not difficult.


    Faced with Nie Longhu''s sudden move to clearly draw a boundary, Chu Zheng was momentarily puzzled, and after a slight hesitation, he did not ask further but nodded:


    "Thank you for the reminder, Fellow Daoist Nie, I''ve taken note."


    It was merely a chance encounter, and after this tribtion, it was unlikely he would cross paths with Nie Longhu again in his lifetime.


    ...


    ...


    In the blink of an eye, several months had passed.


    Deep within the heart of the earth, Chu Zheng was sweating profusely, continuously extracting Star Origin Liquid without rest.


    He needed to gather enough Star Origin Liquid as soon as possible to leave this ce.


    Stepping into the Golden Core and having not seen any activity from the Tribtion Qi for a long time, it now seemed to show signs of revival.


    Drip-drip—


    An irritating, light sound came through, and Chu Zheng''s movements froze. He quickly realized that this was an rm from the battleship.


    There was a problem with that battleship that was parked in space.


    Chu Zheng immediately stopped what he was doing, and after a short while, returned to the surface.


    That battleship was extremely important to his current stage and could not be lost.


    No sooner had he stepped onto the surface than a tumultuous roaring filled the skies above him. Huge shadows swept across the sky, patrolling the heavens and the earth.


    Watching the warships filling the skies, Chu Zheng''s pupils slightly dted, staring at the stream of information from the Tianyao Federation that emerged before him, he was momentarily stunned.