Qi Cultivation Starting from the Repair Panel

He Yu glanced at Ji Xiao, a sigh evident in her gaze, and without saying more, she left with several Tai Xu True Transmission disciples.

After the group had left, Chu Zheng immediately began to check the storage space at the top of the Flowing Cloud Umbrella.

An inheritance from a True Monarch should bring him a considerable harvest.

However, after a thorough inspection, Chu Zheng couldn't help but feel disappointed; there were plenty of spirit stones, but most of them were spent, clearly absorbed by the Flowing Cloud Umbrella.

Only a few bottles of elixirs remained, with no trace of magic treasures, leaving behind only some cultivation techniques, inheritances, and scrolls of ancient books.

Quickly skimming through them, Chu Zheng concluded that this True Lord of Flowing Clouds was not from a major force, but a Loose Cultivator.

Crafting such a spiritual treasure as the Flowing Cloud Umbrella had exhausted his foundations. He harbored no small ambition, hoping to ascend to immortality together with the umbrella, hence the materials he had prepared were of excellent quality, with tremendous potential for growth.

What surprised Chu Zheng the most was an ancient book, recording a segment of ancient history from millions of years ago.

Millions of years ago, the landscape of the Cangyun Realm was not as it is now, divided into six domains and four seas, where just one domain was several times larger than the current total of four domains of the Cangyun Realm.

Back then, the Immortal Path wasn't the sole power, but within its ranks, Celestial Lords would often appear. Apart from them, the Martial Path also had Saints, and the two paths coexisted peacefully.

As equilibrium had been reached amongst the native forces, neither the Immortal Alliance nor the Martial Hall found any reason to interfere in this Great Realm, despite recognizing its existence.

Later, with the opening of an Outer Domain Pathway, evil demons invaded. Many beings and cultivators were corrupted by the demonic aura, undergoing drastic changes in nature, leading to much unrest.

Faced with former friends, family, disciples, and elders, not everyone could bear to act decisively. Most sought to capture them alive and then find a way to expel the evil.

This was especially true among the smaller Taoist orthodoxies; the fewer the disciples, the deeper their bonds, making it all the harder to cut ties. With no one forcibly intervening from above, turmoil often erupted.

Out of necessity, the strongest of the Second-fold Immortal Martial joined forces to suppress the Outer Domain Pathway and then branded the remaining orthodoxies with the name of evil demons, expelling them from the Cangyun Realm.

However, things were far from concluded. The Heavenly Dao had been contaminated by the demonic aura, and the world began to produce many bizarre phenomena, even giving birth to Innate Evil Demons.

With no other choice, the Immortal Path powerhouses left the Cangyun Realm seeking aid from the Immortal Alliance.

Soon, a Heavenly Judge, whose cultivation had reached above that of an Immortal King, descended to Cangyun and cut away two-thirds of the realm.

This stroke banished the heavenly fate of all paths, save for the Second-fold Immortal Martial.

The ancient book ended abruptly, but Chu Zheng already had a rough idea of the subsequent development.

A long strife for heavenly fate ensued between the Second-fold Immortal Martial, with the Immortal Path emerging victorious, resulting in today's Cangyun Realm.

However, the exact origin of the Cangyun Secret Realm remained a mystery.

After a long while, Chu Zheng put away the ancient book with a soft sigh.

Throughout the ages, the Cangyun Realm had witnessed too many events, far more than could be explained in one or two ancient books.

Even the history of the past five thousand years unearthed by later generations was just the tip of the iceberg.

In this world, there were numerous beings who had lived longer than five thousand years, making the ancient history millions of years ago all the more elusive.

Chu Zheng did not dwell on this and after searching through the storage bags of several Tai Xu True Transmission disciples, he retrieved a Cangyun Secret Realm Map.

After comparison, Chu Zheng smiled with satisfaction.

The Cangyun Secret Realm Map from the Tai Xu Holy Land was more than twice the size of the one from the Taixuan Holy Land. Although some areas overlapped, there was also a safe region more than ten million miles wide, which was extremely beneficial to him.

In his search for the Star Trace Tower fragments, he could now be less cautious, as the Cangyun Secret Realm was not absolutely safe.

Having completed all this, Chu Zheng turned to look at Ji Xiao nearby.

[Ji Xiao (Third Order): The tendons and bones all smashed, the internal organs ruptured, the Dantian damaged, heavily wounded by your strike, can be repaired.]

Chu Zheng reached out to seal her Dantian, then repaired half of her injuries.

After a few breaths, Ji Xiao slowly opened her eyes and upon seeing Chu Zheng, an involuntary fear manifested in her expression.

In an instant, she had lost consciousness, completely powerless to resist, narrowly escaping death by his hand.

Chu Zheng's strength was even more terrifying than the rumors suggested.

"Your Tai Yuan Dragon Sword Dance is really poorly executed. If it were stronger, I'd have to exert more effort to capture you," Chu Zheng remarked, recalling Ji Xiao's earlier performance.

The Tai Yuan Dragon Sword Dance, a Divine Skill of Eighth Order, was mysterious, and he had only scratched the surface of its secrets. However, in his eyes, Ji Xiao's execution was far worse, not even reaching the threshold of initiation.

"Scoundrel! You're a Saint Heir, after all. If I am no match for you, you could just kill me instead; why humiliate me with words?"

Upon hearing those words, Ji Xiao's voice trembled as she spoke, her eyes brimming with resentment and determination, "If I were to beg for mercy, it would be a disgrace to the Tai Xu True Transmission."

Among the various true transmissions, her Tai Yuan Dragon Sword Dance was already of high caliber, and even the Holy Master had personally praised it. She naturally felt extreme humiliation from Chu Zheng's words at the moment.

Chu Zheng shook his head slightly, his fingertips producing a sword flower that danced like a roaming dragon, disappearing in an instant, "Water has no constant shape, you can't even properly dissipate force, and you forcefully took my palm strike. You're lucky to be alive; it's a stroke of great fortune."

Ji Xiao stared blankly at Chu Zheng's fingertips, lost in a trance, because it was her mastery of the Tai Yuan Dragon Sword Dance that allowed her to understand the exquisiteness of Chu Zheng's earlier move.

This kind of subtle control was something that, within the Holy Land, aside from the Tongxuan Pseudo-Immortals, only a handful of the Divine Transformation Realm Elders could achieve so effortlessly.

How long had Chu Zheng practiced the Tai Yuan Dragon Sword Dance? At most, it wouldn't have been more than a year, while she had practiced for a total of fifty-four years and seven months.

Before Ji Xiao could collect her thoughts, Chu Zheng sealed her mouth and said softly:

"I'm waiting for your fellow disciples to come and redeem you, just wait quietly."

...

...

A few days later, the panel signaled an anomaly.

[Repair Master: Fourth Order (2000/2000)]

The experience of a Fourth Order Repair Master was full. However, Chu Zheng's cultivation was still a considerable distance from reaching the Divine Infant or Golden Core, and it would not be possible for him to advance to a Fifth Order Repair Master in the short term.

Having acquired the Tai Xu Holy Land's secret realm map, he quickly began the search for the fragments of the Star Trace Tower.

According to the direction of the energy, the Star Trace Tower was broken into three parts.

The second fragment was buried within a lake and Chu Zheng efficiently retrieved it.

The area where the remaining fragment lay was shrouded in fog on both maps, a region yet to be explored.

After some thought, Chu Zheng decided to investigate it.

With the Spiritual Eye in his possession, and his ability to discern evil energies, Chu Zheng encountered no terrifying dangers on this journey and smoothly acquired the third fragment.

After tens of thousands of years, the Star Trace Tower was once again united in Chu Zheng's hands, albeit currently no different from scrap metal, but one day, it would surely shine anew under his touch.

Calculating the time, Chu Zheng did not continue his exploration and returned to the place where he had captured Ji Xiao.

Three months was an extremely short period; the area he could explore was actually very limited, not even one-tenth or one-twentieth of the entire secret realm.

But as the return date approached, it was time to stop lingering and wrap things up.

...

...

The remaining time passed in the blink of an eye, and the day had come when Chu Zheng entered the secret realm for the eighty-ninth day.

Above the shattered land, Chu Zheng sat cross-legged in mid-air, with no one else in the void before him.

He took out the Hidden Dragon List and after sensing for a moment, he couldn't help shaking his head.

The auras of the few remaining were far away, millions of miles distant. Even at his speed, it would be very difficult to catch up now.

"It seems... your life is not as important to your fellow disciples as an immortal fate."

Ji Xiao's eyes dimmed slightly, but her voice showed no sign of softening as she coldly said:

"Evildoer, you will eventually suffer heavenly punishment."

"Heavenly punishment?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Zheng let out a light laugh:

"Heaven has wanted to punish me for a long time, yet I'm still alive. Both now and in the future."

Before the words were finished, he raised his hand and released the seal on Ji Xiao, gesturing with his hand:

"Go then."

"You're not killing me?" Ji Xiao looked slightly surprised.

"What use is there in killing you?"

Chu Zheng said with profound meaning, "You being alive is more interesting than being dead."