Celestial Taoist

In a corner of the Heavenly Punishment Legion's recruit camp in the Heavenly Punishment World, Li Mofan was playing with a metal cube-shaped object. This was a mission reward issued by the Heavenly Punishment System based on his data.

Considering the high difficulty of this mission, the system has given the top reward for a level 5 mission—an adaptive armor piece worth 1500 Tianfa coins. This armor piece would cost around 2000 Tianfa coins in the store.

With a thought, Li Mofan's personal terminal connected to the armor.

[Whether to bind]

[Binding successful]

[Adem 3 Armor]

The metal cube in his palm suddenly hummed and vibrated, its surface shimmering with a faint silver-gray light.

The cube rose into the air on its own, instantly deconstructing and expanding into countless fine metal fragments and flowing light components, which swirled around Li Mofan as if they were alive.

The tiny metal parts were spliced ​​together in an instant, rapidly covering his body from top to bottom, forming his neck, shoulder armor, chest, abdomen, waist, hips, and limbs in sequence, perfectly conforming to his body contours.

In the blink of an eye, he had donned a set of sharp-lined silver-gray full-body armor. After a brief test, he folded the armor back into a metal cube. This armor could withstand an external force of about 500 units, making it a handy piece of equipment.

After checking his harvest, Li Mofan headed towards the small training room at the back of the barracks. Su Qingyao had already sent him a notification through the system, telling him to go to the training room after completing his task.

Sensing his presence, the alloy door of the cultivation room slid open silently, revealing soft lighting and a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy in the air. Su Qingyao sat upright on a futon in the center of the cultivation array, her light-colored, narrow-waisted dress accentuating her tall and straight figure. Her long hair was tied up, and a faint glow of spiritual energy surrounded her, clearly indicating that she had entered a state of cultivation.

Hearing the noise, Su Qingyao slowly opened her eyes, her gaze falling on Li Mofan. A faint smile appeared on her lips, and her voice was clear and gentle: "You completed the mission well? Judging from your steady breathing, you didn't encounter too much trouble."

Li Mofan nodded, his tone calm: "It went fairly smoothly, and the system's rewards were quite useful." He hadn't encountered any setbacks during the mission, and turned his gaze to Su Qingyao, "Captain, why did you summon me?"

Upon hearing this, Su Qingyao lightly raised her fingertips, and a wisp of shimmering white spiritual energy slowly overflowed, her expression becoming more serious: "Naturally, it's for cultivating the Exchange Technique. A few days ago, we reached the crucial point of spiritual energy resonance in our cultivation. We should have continued our cultivation every day, but it was interrupted because you took on a mission temporarily. Now that the mission is over, it's a good time to continue our cultivation."

Li Mofan suddenly understood, and quickly walked to the futon on the other side of the cultivation array and sat down. Without saying anything more, he closed his eyes and calmed his mind. His Dao foundation quietly circulated within his body, and a wisp of golden spiritual power slowly rose from his palm, echoing Su Qingyao's wisp of spiritual power from afar.

The two needed no words; they had already reached a tacit understanding. Two strands of spiritual energy, one golden and one shimmering white, slowly approached each other, intertwining and nourishing one another like twining vines. The cultivation array also lit up with a soft glow, and rich spiritual energy surged within its patterns, slowly flowing into the two's bodies and dissolving the stagnation in the flow of spiritual energy.

Li Mofan could clearly sense the flow of spiritual energy within Su Qingyao's body. It was delicate and continuous, like a gentle stream, and the spiritual energy of the two flowed slowly within each other's bodies.

Su Qingyao's voice, carrying a slight tremor of spiritual energy, entered his ears: "There's no need to deliberately control spiritual energy; let it blend naturally, and you can truly comprehend the essence of spiritual resonance."

Li Mofan did as instructed, allowing his spiritual power to deeply merge with Su Qingyao's. As their spiritual power resonated continuously, their auras gradually became more and more synchronized, indistinguishable from each other.

"You've formed your Dao Foundation?!" Su Qingyao's voice was somewhat abrupt, filled with undisguised surprise, and the previously flowing, shimmering white spiritual energy paused slightly.

Li Mofan didn't open his eyes, but his Dao Foundation trembled slightly due to the sudden fluctuation. An invisible sense, along with a thumb-thick wisp of omnipotent energy, came from Su Qingyao through the interwoven spiritual energy. At this moment, he felt a vague and ethereal sensation—like a ripple in the void, fleeting and ephemeral.

Su Qingyao's ethereal emotions left him somewhat bewildered. The golden spiritual power within his body remained tightly intertwined with the shimmering white spiritual power, without interruption.

He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze falling on Su Qingyao's face. Seeing that the surprise in her eyes had not yet faded, but had become more complicated, he nodded softly: "By chance, I obtained some opportunities during the mission and was fortunate enough to form a Dao Foundation." As he spoke, he deliberately slowed down the operation of the Dao Foundation, but still quietly sensed her emotions. That ethereal fluctuation still lingered faintly.

It seems that although he has formed a foundation, the gap between him and Su Qingyao is still very large. He could not sense Su Qingyao's cultivation level from the flow of spiritual energy, but she immediately sensed that he had broken through.

"Now that you have established your Dao foundation, you can create your own team. You no longer need to join my Qinglan Team," Su Qingyao said coldly. Immediately, the bright white spiritual light receded back into her body, and the surprise on her face faded away, leaving only indifference. Even her gaze towards Li Mofan became more distant.

Li Mofan's heart sank suddenly, the golden spiritual energy at his fingertips instinctively faltered for a moment, and the composure on his face faded slightly. He stared at Su Qingyao's indifferent profile, his mind churning with complex thoughts: What did she mean by that? Did she really think that now that he had a Dao Foundation, he no longer needed to stay under her command? But he had no intention of publicizing the fact that he had formed his Dao Foundation in just a few days.

Her cold, hard tone and distant attitude seemed somewhat deliberate, as if she were deliberately pushing him away.

Li Mofan suppressed his doubts and did not immediately respond. He circulated his Dao Foundation, trying to capture a trace of real emotion from the void, but Su Qingyao kept her eyes lowered, making it difficult to see through her. He pondered for a moment, his tone showing no sign of backing down, but rather a bit more firm: "Captain, although I have formed my Dao Foundation, I have never thought of leaving the Qinglan Squad."

As soon as she finished speaking, Su Qingyao raised her eyes, her expression still cold, but her tone softened slightly: "Once you have established your Dao Foundation, you will have the ability to stand on your own. Staying in the Qinglan Squad will only hinder your growth. You don't need to be stubborn."

Li Mofan softened his tone, his eyes showing a hint of sincerity: "I know the captain is thinking of me, but to me the captain is not just a superior. What you said last time was sincere. Since I entered the Heavenly Conquest World, the captain is the only person who has been truly good to me. Besides, I have not yet mastered the Spirit Exchange Technique. If I leave, all my previous cultivation will be in vain."

He deliberately mentioned the Spiritual Exchange Technique, his gaze fixed on Su Qingyao's exquisite profile. He noticed that her aloof aura had faded somewhat, but she still refused to budge: "As for cultivation, you can find someone else to partner with; it's not like I'm indispensable." Despite her words, her voice was no longer as cold and hard as before.

Li Mofan said sincerely, "No matter how good he is, he can't match the tacit understanding with the captain. Besides, I only want to stay in the Qinglan Squad, stay by the captain's side, continue to cultivate, and continue to work with the captain."