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

After completing the plan in Changning County, Ye Xuan returned to Shuitian Village with the less talented worshippers.

The group of more than thirty people saw a towering willow tree rooted in the lake behind the mountain village.

Around that willow tree, a number of basic buildings were also constructed, such as several small courtyards.

A strange, sweet fragrance permeated the air nearby, seemingly emanating from that willow tree.

The crowd saw that under the shade of the willow tree, there were more than a hundred people sitting, mostly villagers from Shuitian Village, and about thirty people from Lan Town.

Some people sat cross-legged in meditation, others whispered their experiences, and still others curiously observed the new worshippers.

"My lords, you're back."

Chen Hong and Li Laosi walked out of the crowd. Ye Xuan glanced at their cultivation levels. Li Laosi had made greater progress and had reached the stage of Qi Refining.

He handed over the worshippers from Changning County to the two men, then stepped over the crowd under the shade of the tree and found Chen Qinghe, who was closest to the willow tree.

Upon seeing Lord Xianliu return, Chen Qinghe's originally calm face immediately showed a hint of joy.

She quickly stood up, bowed, and said, "My lord!"

Ye Xuan touched his forehead and probed into his body with a bit of his perception, discovering that the child's cultivation progress was faster than he had imagined.

He had only recently broken through the Qi Refining stage when he reached the bottleneck of the first level, surpassing even his father Chen Hong in talent.

"Indeed, your cultivation has improved considerably. How about we try it out?"

"A trial?"

Chen Qinghe's full, healthy face was full of confusion, but Ye Xuan led him to the lakeside and said:

"Although the treasure within this lake has been exhausted, those piranhas are still incredibly ferocious."

You may leap into the lake and go as far as you can to the bottom. If you can touch the precious pearl, you will have succeeded.

Chen Qinghe understood. Just as he took off his shirt and was about to jump into the lake, Li Laosi, who was standing next to him, looked worried.

He nudged Chen Hong with his elbow, "Remember how much effort it took for the two of us to deal with that big fish?"

"Qinghe is so thin and weak, and the adults won't let him use my secret bait. Aren't you worried?"

Chen Hong waved his hand, showing no sign of worry. He was overjoyed that his son's talent surpassed his own.

"With adults here, what's there to be afraid of?"

He spoke softly, his eyes filled with relief and anticipation for Chen Qinghe.

Just as Li Laosi said, when the two of them dived into the lake to retrieve the pearl, they went through a lot of trouble, even using that secret bait, but they still didn't dare to confront the big fish in the lake head-on.

What level of achievement does he expect his son to reach?

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Chen Qinghe used a special breath-holding technique to close his mouth and then jumped into the lake.

The child's entry into the water immediately created ripples on the lake's surface, which soon returned to calm.

As they watched the lake gradually calm down, several more worshippers, unable to resist their curiosity, rushed to the lakeside to observe.

In the blink of an eye, a quarter of an hour had passed, and seeing that the lake was still calm, the group couldn't help but start discussing it amongst themselves.

"This lake is very deep. I hope Qinghe won't have any accidents."

"If you ask me, with your foul mouth, how much more advanced is Qinghe's cultivation than ours? You should worry about your own breakthrough."

The two people who were talking disagreed and started arguing. The others, unable to see the situation below through the azure lake, could only make wild guesses.

Only Ye Xuan, standing on the shore, could see everything clearly through his senses.

As Chen Qinghe approached the center of the lake, he naturally encountered the large fish that was staying near the pearl.

This was the first time he had ever seen such a large fish; its size was estimated to be four or five times his own combined...

When the big fish saw someone intruding into its territory, as if it had given a command, a group of normal-shaped piranhas immediately surrounded it.

Chen Qinghe remained calm and composed. Faced with the encirclement that appeared before him, he released his spiritual power to protect himself, which prevented the small fish from getting close.

He found a gap in the school of fish, swam quickly through the encirclement, and faced the large fish that was over two meters long.

As if sensing that it was being slighted, the big fish swam its tail fin and charged towards Chen Qinghe.

Faced with a significant speed difference, Chen Qinghe found himself struggling to cope, forced to constantly dodge and losing his earlier composure.

He immediately realized that this was not a solution, so he seized the opportunity when the big fish opened its blood-red mouth and lunged at him, and a flame of light gathered in his palm.

The blue flames intensified, causing the surrounding lake water to evaporate violently.

Chen Qinghe then used his free hand to divide his spiritual power in two, using one half to continue condensing flames and the other half to envelop the condensed flames.

He made all the necessary preparations and was just waiting for the big fish to arrive!

coming!

Chen Qinghe silently shouted in his heart, and the flames wrapped in Lin Li in his palm were flung out with the movement of his body, drifting straight towards the bloody mouth of the big fish.

However, his plan did not work.

Just as the giant fish was about to swallow the flames, it suddenly closed its mouth. Chen Qinghe's spiritual power struck its solid scales, rendering it ineffective.

It swung its tail fin and swept its massive body across, instantly knocking Chen Qinghe, who was stuck in place, away.

Ye Xuan released two streams of spiritual energy from his fingertips. One stream caught Chen Qinghe as he flew out, while the other struck the chasing fish, causing it to wince in pain and stop its pursuit...

Chen Qinghe swam back to shore in a disheveled state, his head drooping and his lips slightly pale.

"My lord, I am still not strong enough, and I have failed to complete it..."

Just as Chen Qing was muttering something, a deafening roar echoed from the distant back mountain!

The sound penetrated the entire lake and reached everyone's ears clearly, causing a buzzing sound in their ears.

Ye Xuan immediately probed the source of the sound with his senses and saw a middle-aged man dressed in a purple Taoist robe flying out of the mountains and forests.

"Who is that?"

Several worshippers with better eyesight saw the face of the man in the purple Taoist robe clearly, and they also saw him forming talismans in his hands, which caused several beams of light, materialized from qi, to shoot towards the people of Shuitian Village...

run!

For those who have just embarked on the path of cultivation, they can already roughly sense the existence of spiritual energy, and the light sword floating in mid-air is terrifying indeed.

If this beam of light were to hit a person, it would probably split a living person in two without any obstruction.

Ye Xuan looked at the purple-robed cultivator in mid-air and immediately recognized that the robe he was wearing was the same as the one he had seen in the ritual at the Dynasty Shrine that day.

This person's cultivation level should be at the seventh level of Foundation Establishment.

After confirming that the opponent's strength was still within the Foundation Establishment stage, Ye Xuan decisively withdrew his senses and stepped onto the calm lake surface without even disturbing a ripple.

The distance between the two continued to close, but the purple-robed mage was somewhat surprised by Ye Xuan's appearance.

He never expected that in this godforsaken Shuitian Village, besides the arrival of the immortal willow, there would actually be someone who could reach the Foundation Establishment cultivation level.

"You don't like to talk?"

Even when the distance between the two was only a few feet, Ye Xuan did not hear the ritual performer speak. He just floated in mid-air with a confident expression.