Only three seconds? He's already the Lord of All Realms, so it doesn't matter.

"Me? Of course I won't compete with my fellow disciples."

Tang Zhao was in excruciating pain at that moment, his lips twitching uncontrollably. He really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.

For an experienced person like him, taking off a piece of wood would be a simple matter, but since he had already spoken, he had no choice but to swallow his anger.

Tang Zhao remained silent, and the surrounding disciples exchanged glances, none daring to step forward for a moment.

There stood a piece of Thunder Sandalwood, which Ye Xuan had chosen as the source of the last core. At this moment, the thunder patterns on the surface of the trunk were flickering, and the residual thunder energy was still crackling in the air, making it obviously more violent than the previous ones.

"What, nobody dares to try?"

Ye Xuan stood with his arms crossed, his gaze sweeping over the crowd. "Fellow disciples, were you merely exaggerating just now?"

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; if you miss it, you'll never have another chance.

After a brief silence, a tall, thin disciple gritted his teeth and stepped forward.

"Zhao Wu, aren't you being a bit too arrogant? Let me give you a try!"

He walked up to the sandalwood tree, took out a short dagger from his storage bag. The dagger glowed with a pale blue spiritual light, indicating that he had come prepared.

"It's Senior Brother Wang! He used to work at the Spirit Plant Garden; perhaps he really does have a solution..."

Whispers arose around them; though they had the desire but not the courage, they didn't want to see Ye Xuan acting so arrogantly.

We're both outer sect disciples, but if you steal all the limelight, won't we become a laughing stock?

The disciple surnamed Wang had the same idea. He took a deep breath, placed his palm against the tree trunk, and slowly poured in spiritual energy.

His technique was indeed more skillful than that of ordinary disciples. His spiritual energy seeped in along the bark's texture like a thin stream, attempting to bypass those volatile lightning veins.

"Look at Senior Brother Wang, he's so confident, unlike Zhao Wu, who's so frivolous."

"Yes, once Senior Brother retrieves the wooden core, let Zhao Wu squat by the roadside and cry!"

However, just as his spiritual power touched the internal spiritual network...

"boom!"

The tree trunk trembled violently, and three arcs of lightning as thick as bowls exploded out, one of which struck the disciple surnamed Wang directly in the chest.

Before he could dodge, he was sent flying backward, crashing into two small trees before landing heavily on the ground. His chest was charred black, and blood was flowing from his mouth and nose. He was already unconscious.

Several disciples who knew him well rushed forward to help, and after feeding him medicine, they were able to stabilize his injuries.

This scene completely dispelled the disciples' initial enthusiasm.

"Who else wants to try?"

Ye Xuan asked again, but no one answered.

Tang Zhao's expression shifted between light and shadow. He stared at Ye Xuan, then suddenly laughed:

"Junior Brother Zhao, you have quite the skill, but... you took nine wooden cores, your spiritual energy consumption must have been considerable, right?"

Can we really take the last one so easily?

Seeing that Tang Zhao was still not giving up, Ye Xuan turned to look at the sandalwood tree.

He could indeed sense that the root system of this tree was exceptionally complex, and the accumulation of lightning energy far exceeded that of the previous trees. The disciple who was only at the seventh level of the Foundation Establishment stage was lucky to have survived being directly blasted to death.

But this was not a difficult task for Ye Xuan.

He pressed his palms back onto the tree trunk, and as the blue and white energies continued to permeate it, the lightning patterns on the surface of the tree trunk instantly shone brightly, and dozens of lightning arcs danced wildly like snakes, illuminating the surroundings in a blazing white light.

The onlookers were so shocked that they backed away one after another, but Tang Zhao squinted and stared intently at Ye Xuan's hand.

The bluish-white wisps of energy surged and crashed inside the tree trunk, attempting to forcefully tear apart the entanglement of the spiritual vein network and rush straight towards the fist-sized ball of bluish-purple light at the center.

Seeing Ye Xuan suddenly change his approach, Tang Zhao was now certain that he would fail this time!

"Click."

With a soft sound, the tenth core of the tree burst forth and landed steadily in Ye Xuan's palm.

Its radiance flowed, and its inner thunderous aura was even more refined than the previous nine.

"Don't look at me, senior brother. If you want to learn, I will teach you in the future."

Tang Zhao stared at the ten wooden cores, forcing himself to calm down, and said:

"Junior Brother Zhao is indeed exceptionally talented... I'll go to the Star-Picking Hall to report this right away."

He turned to leave, but Ye Xuan called him back, still waving the wooden plaque in his hand.

"Senior brother, are you confused?"

"Um?"

"No need to trouble you, Senior Brother. I'll go to the Star-Picking Hall to hand in the mission myself."

Having said that, he ignored Tang Zhao's gloomy gaze and walked straight towards the edge of the dense forest.

The disciples in the crowd automatically made way for him, and their gazes toward him changed from initial sympathy and mockery to deep fear and incomprehension.

Is this only at the fifth level of Foundation Establishment? Just a nominal disciple?

Tang Zhao stood there, watching Ye Xuan's departing figure, his fist slowly clenching in his sleeve. The humiliation he had suffered in the past two days was unprecedented in his life.

"Damn it, Zhao Wu, you just wait!"

In contrast, Ye Xuan straightened his Daoist robe, suppressed his aura back to the fifth level of Foundation Establishment, and headed straight for the Star-Picking Hall.

At noon, the Star-Picking Hall was bustling with activity as many disciples rushed to hand over their tasks before the deadline.

Ye Xuan walked through the crowd and headed straight for the task handover area unique to Class B. The same rigid deacon who was on duty yesterday was still there.

"The character '乙' is eleven, and there are ten pieces of sandalwood heartwood."

The ten wooden cores were placed on the counter, and the steward counted them and nodded to record the information.

"Ten complete, 150 merit points. Your current total is... 265 points."

Ye Xuan had no doubt about the number, "Thirty-five points are still needed."

The deacon looked up at him, intentionally reminding him:

"Fang Zhengge's debt is due in two days."

"I know."

Ye Xuan put away the wooden plaque and turned around. His gaze inadvertently swept over a corner of the hall. Tang Zhao had followed him and was standing in the shadows, talking quietly with a disciple dressed in inner sect attire.

The two people's gazes seemed to drift towards him intentionally or unintentionally, but Ye Xuan acted as if he didn't notice and quickly walked out of the Star-Picking Hall.

He didn't go straight back, but instead went around to the sect's market. This place was mostly where disciples sold their surplus items. The prices were lower than those sold in the various pavilions of the sect, but the quality varied.

Disciples can trade using merit points or barter... Of course, you can't really find bargains or good stuff here.

Ye Xuan exchanged five merit points for a stack of blank talisman paper and a bottle of low-grade cinnabar.

Back in the cave, they closed and locked the door.

He laid the talisman paper on the stone table, dipped his fingertips in cinnabar, and began to draw a simple talisman called the "concealment talisman".

He was not proficient in the art of talismans; he had only tried it during his spare time in the Short Life Realm.

However, Zhao Wu and Fang Zhengge had done some research on this subject before their deaths, and their experience helped Ye Xuan a lot, enabling him to quickly get the hang of it.

With a keen sense of observation, it's enough to imitate something to a degree of resemblance.

He drew twelve pictures in a row, and selected the six best ones to paste around the cave.

The talisman was activated, and a very thin layer of mist enveloped the stone house, preventing outsiders from peeping in.

After doing all this, Ye Xuan sat down on the couch, took out the skeleton of Yu Chenzi, and a faint blue light flowed on the skeleton. The tiny characters seemed to come alive and rearrange themselves in his mind.

"The key to the fusion of the Nine Heavenly Suns and the Immortal Willow of Longevity is not the path, but rather the balance."

He closed his eyes to meditate, and the spiritual energy within his body slowly circulated along the routes recorded in his skeleton.

This time, he did not rashly devour it, but tried to form a subtle cycle between the two forces in his dantian.

Whenever he encountered an obstacle, he would use the blue and white energy from his Taoist robe to resolve it, and the three forces would gradually form a tripartite balance...

Although progress has been slow, it has been steady and solid, and there is no longer any risk of a fundamental clash like before.

"If Yu Chenzi had been able to comprehend this earlier... but that's normal, after all, not everyone has superpowers."

Ye Xuan put away the skeleton and looked at the chaotic aura spreading in the room. Fortunately, there were those few talismans, so they wouldn't attract attention.