"Although some were wasted, it's still better than being found with evidence, right? By that time, it wouldn't just be the spiritual objects being confiscated; our lives might be at stake too!"

A hint of disdain flashed in Hu Shen Hui's eyes. In this situation, he's still considering such matters, unable to distinguish between the important and trivial?

"This issue, the two fellow Daoists should think over carefully. I'll make my move first and hurry to refine the spiritual objects."

With that said, without waiting for the two to react, he flew away without hesitation.

The spiritual objects had already been acquired, so there was no need for him to stay with these two any longer, lest their foolishness implicate him.

As for whether these two would betray him later? Hu Shen Hui wasn't very concerned, not only because they had made a Dao oath, prohibiting them from revealing this matter to others, otherwise, their cultivation would halt with no progress.

Of course, the restriction of a Dao oath is somewhat weaker in the face of life and death. After all, even if they break the oath, they could still live well, just unable to advance their cultivation.

The reason he was so confident was that the identity of 'Hu Shen Hui' was fake!

He wasn't even called by this name, nor did he look like this!

Anyway, after the news of the Mysterious Secret Realm spreads, there would be an unknown number of cultivators gathering here, making identity and background very easy to disguise and falsify.

The reason he chose these two as his accomplices was mainly due to their expertise in divine powers. One was proficient in escape skills, disappearing without a trace, which could help them escape; the other excelled in illusion techniques, imperceptible to ordinary Earth Immortals, assisting them in collecting spiritual objects opportunely.

From this, it was evident that this mysteriously identified Earth Immortal initially speculated that a great battle would break out at the core spirit field of the Secret Realm, and he had contacted Liu Rongyuan and Huang Xuanjiang early on, persuading them to cooperate with him.

Now that the goal was achieved, he didn't want to stay with the two any longer, to avoid disaster for himself.

Leaving Liu Rongyuan and Huang Xuanjiang staring at each other blankly, not knowing what to do.

"Taoist Liu, what do you plan to do?"

"Let's wait and see, and you?"

"I don't know either." Huang Xuanjiang shook his head and quickly bid farewell and left.

"Hmph! I didn't expect you all to be so timid." Liu Rongyuan let out a disdainful snort, seemingly not intending to take that approach.

...

Time passed day by day, and the spiritual objects in the Secret Realm were also decreasing.

What might have been once seen everywhere were now hard to find.

In this situation, the killings and battles among cultivators became more frequent, no longer as peaceful as before.

However, none of this had anything to do with Li Zhirui and Fu Chengguang. They both still resided in that valley—a place where one was comprehending the cultivation system of the Ten Thousand Rivers Realm, while the other was studying innate arrays, mutually uninfluenced.

"The cultivation methods of this world are quite commendable."

From the high-grade cultivation techniques he had acquired so far, the methods focus more on the strength of the spiritual soul, thus benefiting the comprehension of laws and relatively easily enhancing the realm.

However, it wasn't without drawbacks, as the strengthening of the spiritual soul somewhat neglected the body's fortification.

With Li Zhirui's current vision and capability, he could entirely extract the essence of these techniques and attempt to incorporate them into his own cultivation technique.

As for the downside? With his Chaos God Demon Dao Body, even if there were some neglect, he did not need to worry about the body's strength.

"Given the chance, I should collect more methods of this realm."

These days, Li Zhirui had read all the codices and methods he had on hand, gaining a deeper understanding and knowledge of the Ten Thousand Rivers Realm.

Indeed, every Great Thousand World has its unique aspects, whether it's the civilization it nurtures or the simplest and most direct spiritual objects.

Therefore, during this period, he learned a lot and had a certain degree of improvement in his path.

And this is merely one of the world's shallowest principles and laws; Li Zhirui hasn't, or rather he can't, delve deeply yet.

Otherwise, the gains he would have now would be even richer.

Compared to the spiritual objects he had obtained before, which was more significant, he deemed both equally important.

The essence of civilization could directly act on Li Zhirui's realm, exerting a positive effect on his path.

And those spiritual objects could allow him to make more pills, many of which would be exclusive, bringing substantial profits.

While many cultivators like to differentiate the importance of methods, wealth, companions, and places, in his view, all four are equally important.

In the following days, Li Zhirui began trying to incorporate the methods of this realm into his own cultivation technique. Initially, it was naturally not very smooth, even causing some conflicts.

However, before he could explore further, Fu Chengguang awoke from his study of formations.

"Thank you, fellow Daoist, for waiting these days, sorry for wasting a lot of your time."

Li Zhirui shook his head with a smile, "No matter, I wasn't idle these days, and the gains were quite significant."

"That's good then." Fu Chengguang also breathed a sigh of relief. His biggest worry was delaying others because of himself, thankfully that didn't happen.

"Oh, by the way!"

He suddenly recalled something, immediately taking out a Jade Slip, inscribing something within it briefly using his divine sense before passing it to Li Zhirui.

"What is this, fellow Daoist?"

"You'll know once you look at it." Fu Chengguang mysteriously said, leaving him to check it himself.

Li Zhirui had no choice but to take the Jade Slip, and upon probing it with his divine sense, discovered a restriction inside, yet was unclear about its effect. "What is this?"

"This is a restriction I extracted from that innate array, and its main function is to preserve spiritual objects, causing the spiritual essence to dissipate at a very slow rate. I'm not exactly sure how long it can preserve them, but within five hundred years, I suppose there's no worry about the effectiveness weakening."

As for that innate formation, it doesn't only have this one effect; it has other functions, such as concealing aura. But most importantly, it can induce mutations in spiritual objects!

And just the last effect skyrockets the formation's value!

Of course, this mutation is entirely random; whether it is beneficial or detrimental to the spiritual objects depends entirely on luck, and the higher the spiritual item rank, the stricter the time, auxiliary spiritual items, and other conditions necessary for mutation become.

About this, Fu Chengguang didn't hide it from Li Zhirui, but instead told him directly and said, "I'll find an opportunity to refine a set of the Ten Thousand Spirits Transformation Array for you and impart the formation knowledge to you, so even if problems arise with the formation later, you can either repair it yourself or attempt to set it up."

Although he hadn't studied formations, it wasn't that he couldn't learn, but rather he didn't choose to!

With Li Zhirui's current realm, learning other skills might not reach as high a level as Alchemy Dao but certainly won't lag too much.

Therefore, such a formation would be learnable for him as long as he invested some time.

"Thank you, fellow Daoist!"

He first expressed his gratitude, then continued, "With these formation and restriction methods, fellow Daoist need not seek another spiritual object for me."

Referring to the previous promise Fu Chengguang made to compensate Li Zhirui with a spiritual object of equivalent rank when he took that spirit plant.

"How could that be!" Fu Chengguang immediately expressed his opposition without hesitation.

These formation and restriction methods weren't something he discovered alone; they were originally part of Li Zhirui's acquisition, and he had a rightful share of the harvest.

How could he use something that originally belonged to someone else to repay their friendship?!

"If it weren't for you, fellow Daoist, how could I have possibly obtained these two methods with my skills?"

Li Zhirui sincerely said, "And fellow Daoist knows, as an alchemist, how vital spiritual objects are to me. If I master a formation capable of inducing spiritual object mutation, it represents an endless stream of wealth for me!"