The Xuan Gui Shell in his hand was not large, barely fitting half a palm, and what was even more surprising was the total lack of any overwhelming aura emanating from it.

In truth, powerful divine artifacts like the Five Elements Ring and the Nine Dragon Furnace were equally unassuming before divine power was infused; yet, compared to them, this Xuan Gui Shell was utterly unremarkable, possessing a subtle quality as if it had melted into the very space around it.

As the consciousness body withdrew from the space within the Xuan Gui Shell, He Yiming’s brow began to furrow deeply, for he suddenly realized that the miraculous state he had just experienced had vanished without a trace upon leaving the shell.

He calmly extended both hands, weaving them into an exceptionally profound hand seal.

With the appearance of this seal, a flash of purple light instantly sliced through the air.

This was the pinnacle form of water-element power—the Ice Form. Under this manifestation, even the formidable Golden Monster was completely frozen solid.

However, He Yiming was decidedly dissatisfied with the degree of power this attack yielded.

He had just deeply comprehended the formidable rune power within the Xuan Gui Shell. The instant his consciousness body merged with the shell’s unique primary spirit, he felt an intuitive control over every miraculous rune inscribed upon it, as if he could unleash those arcane symbols with a mere flick of his hand.

But that sensation was incredibly fleeting. The moment his consciousness detached from the Xuan Gui’s primary spirit, he immediately reverted from that state of omnipotence back to his normal self.

Of course, this experience was not without gain. What left the deepest impression on He Yiming was undoubtedly that set of seven distinct, interwoven rune combinations. Their ultimate realized form was, in fact, the tripartite expression of water-elemental power as seen in the Seven-Colored Palace.

By his estimation, utilizing the runes via the hand seal technique should have amplified the ice-elemental effect to be at least superior to what he achieved previously.

But the result was deeply disappointing. Sensing the chill surrounding him, He Yiming knew clearly that the power he generated by channeling runes through the Five Elements Ring had not only failed to increase in might but had actually been significantly diminished.

In his fight against the Golden Monster, when he leveraged the amplification of the Five Elements Ring to project water power in its frozen state, he had inexplicably manifested an Ice Domain spanning hundreds of feet.

Though He Yiming did not fully grasp its significance, he understood that the sheer power of that manifestation was unimaginable. It was precisely due to the existence of that marvelous Ice Domain that he could ultimately successfully unleash the technique of Ice and Fire Duality, severely wounding those Golden Monsters.

Yet now, when He Yiming activated the purple ice-elemental power using the hand seal runes, the amplification factor of the Five Elements Ring weakened drastically, increasing the output by barely a factor of two. Consequently, the overall efficacy declined instead of rising.

Muttering softly, He Yiming replayed every step of his execution, yet to his frustration, he could not locate a single error in his process.

It seemed there was some intangible, inexplicable barrier between the runes residing within the Xuan Gui Shell and the amplification mechanism of the Five Elements Ring, causing their combined forces not to multiply, but rather to weaken considerably.

Gazing at the small shell in his hand, juxtaposed with the Five Elements Ring spinning above his head, He Yiming could only offer a wry, internal chuckle.

With a sudden shift in thought, He Yiming recalled a specific event: within the Nine Dragon Furnace, the divine lights of these two artifacts had once converged. Since their divine lights could merge, it logically implied that their power systems were not inherently contradictory; so why did this inverse result occur?

After deep contemplation, He Yiming sighed and finally abandoned the line of reasoning.

Though he loathed admitting it, he knew that while his martial cultivation was immensely powerful, it had been achieved through leaps and bounds. As for the most fundamental concepts, his knowledge and understanding remained incomplete. This deficit made it difficult, when encountering certain complex problems, to achieve intuitive understanding or sudden breakthroughs.

After all, accumulating depth before releasing power—Hòujī ér bó fā—was the true path of cultivation. While a rapid, stepwise ascent might proceed smoothly without issue, encountering a bottleneck would inevitably expose the weakness of an unstable foundation, making resolution difficult.

His ears twitched slightly as He Yiming caught the voices of Liu Mu, Di Shitian, Bing Xiaotian, and others. He knew these Divine Dao experts must have repelled the onslaught of the death creatures and were returning safely.

After pondering for a while, He Yiming finally reached a decision.

He retracted his wrist; the Xuan Gui Shell and the Five Elements Ring flew simultaneously into his body, and the potent consciousness barrier enveloping the sand house was completely withdrawn.

Silence descended outside the sand house. Most of the assembled group consisted of those who were either well-disposed toward He Yiming or bore him no significant enmity.

Upon their return, they had immediately noticed the anomaly of the sand house, and the current change could no longer be concealed from these Divine Dao powerhouses; they recognized with a single glance that He Yiming must have emerged from seclusion.

Indeed, the sand door opened, and He Yiming stepped out composedly, his Divine Dao Puppet following him with measured steps.

He Yiming would naturally refrain from parading this companion before the Divine Dragon. However, now that the artifact had been forged, and with some time still remaining before he could fulfill the Dragon’s mandate, it was time to keep the puppet close once more.

Exchanging greetings with the assembly, He Yiming keenly perceived a subtle shift in their demeanor toward him, most pronounced in Bao Yanzhu and Zi Duli from the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

Upon inquiring, He Yiming learned that despite their superior numbers, the protracted time it took them to repel the monster horde was due to having only a single Pseudo-God Realm expert among them.

His gaze swept over the assembly, which was dominated by Void God Realm experts, and He Yiming gained a complete understanding of the status and immense power wielded by those in the Pseudo-God Realm.

It could be said that when dealing with the death creatures, the Pseudo-God experts were the true main force, while the Void God Realm cultivators served only auxiliary roles.

Though these observations might sting the ears, they reflected the stark reality of this world.

With a soft sigh, He Yiming recounted the successful forging of the divine artifact with the Divine Dragon’s assistance. He then drew Di Shitian into the sand house, sincerely seeking counsel on the fundamental aspects of the martial path.

Di Shitian, naturally, had no reason to refuse such a simple request from He Yiming. Consequently, over the following month, the two of them spent most of their time within the sand house discussing martial knowledge.

Of course, in the vast majority of these sessions, Di Shitian spoke voluminously while He Yiming listened attentively.

This scenario prompted gasps of wonder from those observing nearby.

If ordinary people witnessed this scene, they would certainly assume Di Shitian was guiding a junior disciple in cultivation, like an elder instructing a younger one. But those watching knew that if these two were forced to fight right then, the sole outcome would be Di Shitian fleeing in utter defeat.

Even before the Five Elements Ring was forged into a divine artifact, He Yiming had managed to overpower the Pseudo-God Realm expert Wei Jinshun in a fair contest. Now, wielding the Transcendent Divine Weapon, the Five Elements Ring, defeating a mere Void God was never in doubt.

Yet, He Yiming’s conduct truly mirrored that of Di Shitian’s disciple. He committed everything Di Shitian taught to memory. Although he could not integrate it all instantly, given his current martial attainment, memorizing it all was no difficult feat.

A full month and a half passed, bringing He Yiming unparalleled, immense gains.

What he lacked most was not high-level martial techniques; conversely, the most foundational martial knowledge was his greatest weakness.

Had anyone else advanced through such rapid leaps, they would long since have suffered a backlash from their own divine power. Fortunately, He Yiming possessed the Chaos Dantian, preventing such an exaggerated consequence; however, reaching the final stages of his progress left him perilously susceptible to hitting a bottleneck.

But by grasping the foundational knowledge he had previously missed, He Yiming’s mind cleared instantly, bringing a sense of revelation, as if clouds had parted to reveal the sky.

He possessed a strong premonition: as long as he continued to study diligently and integrate the basic principles Di Shitian had imparted, he would certainly resolve the discord between the hand seal runes and the Five Elements Ring.

During this month and a half, the numbers of the death creatures steadily increased, and the frequency of their incursions toward this location rose proportionately. Yet, all of this seemed to have no bearing on He Yiming and Di Shitian; they remained sequestered in the sand house, seemingly oblivious to the violent explosions rumbling from the outside world.

Liu Mu and the others understood the critical importance of this time for He Yiming. Therefore, when guarding this sector, they exerted every effort, striving to ensure those damnable creatures did not disturb He Yiming’s current efforts.

One and a half months passed under these conditions, and finally, He Yiming and Di Shitian emerged side-by-side from the sand house.

When Liu Mu and the others saw He Yiming again, waves of astonishment involuntarily washed over them.

If the He Yiming who had just advanced to the Divine Dao was a razor-sharp blade—one capable of drawing blood even from a Pseudo-God expert who dared to touch it—then the present He Yiming was a divine weapon already sheathed. No trace of impetuousness could be sensed from him anymore. Yet, precisely because of this tranquility, everyone's assessment of him grew higher.

In merely a few months, not even a full year elapsed, and he had already cast off the identity of a novice Void God, solidified that entire realm, and taken a significant stride forward.

This speed of cultivation indeed left everyone else feeling inadequate.

As He Yiming concluded his greetings after emerging, a thunderous roar, like that of the Divine Dragon, echoed from the sky.

“He Yiming, are you prepared?”

He Yiming’s eyes were calm as water; he smiled faintly. “Lord Divine Dragon, this junior is prepared…”

“In that case, come here.”

He Yiming turned, offered a brief smile to the gathered crowd, and strode away.