Caw caw! (I’ve done it! Caw caw!)”
When Yaya’s extraordinary form burst through the black eggshell and bathed in the sunlight, the golden patterns on its feathers emitted a dazzling brilliance.
The violent scorching solar energy now obediently surrounded Yaya like attendants, placing it at the center.
The golden-red flame mark on Yaya’s forehead had become even more resplendent.
The most significant change was Yaya’s size, which had grown again. Its wingspan now appeared even larger than a person’s.
Its aura, needless to say, had completely stabilized at the second tier, with terrifying pressure emanating from its entire body.
After adapting to its new strength in the sky for a while, Yaya landed in front of Qi Ping.
“Caw caw. (Boss! I’ve successfully advanced! Hehe)”
“Excellent! You must have successfully awakened the Solar Body too, right?” Qi Ping asked with a smile.
He was in a very good mood at this moment. His animal companion finally possessed a Foundation Establishment level combat power, and it was a Solar Fire Crow that had awakened the Solar Body at that!
“Caw caw. (It’s all thanks to your nurturing, Boss! I’ve awakened it successfully!)”
“Caw caw. (Now I can not only absorb more solar energy to strengthen my body, but when fighting under the sun, my combat power, endurance, and recovery ability can all increase by around thirty to forty percent!)”
“Caw caw. (Boss, I haven’t finished digesting my inherited memories yet. I need to take advantage of this period of active bloodline to comprehend them. I’ll give you the details later!)”
“Alright, go ahead!”
Qi Ping naturally had no objections. Such opportunities were rare, and it was indeed important to seize them.
To avoid any disturbances during Yaya’s breakthrough, Qi Ping had chosen a very secluded spot deep within the Misty Cloud Mountains for this breakthrough.
Therefore, it took Qi Ping quite some time to return to the mountain peak.
Upon returning to the peak, Qi Ping was in an excellent mood.
Yaya had smoothly broken through to the second tier and awakened the Solar Body. As a rare spirit beast, its combat power far surpassed that of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators.
“Now, with Yaya at the second tier, a swarm of ten thousand bees, and the little flower sprite’s Hundred-Pupil Demon Realm, the three of them working together should be more than enough to easily kill an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator…”
In that case, there weren’t many in Qing Stone County who could pose any real threat to Qi Ping.
As long as he didn’t actively provoke powerful Foundation Establishment cultivators or attract Golden Core cultivators, his safety was essentially guaranteed.
And given Qi Ping’s current status, the likelihood of attracting even late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators wasn’t very high.
So, the combat scenarios Qi Ping might face could be like this:
Enemy (Qi Refinement seventh layer): “A mere early-stage Qi Refinement cultivator, quickly hand over your storage bag with both hands! And then tell me everything you know in detail!”
Qi Ping (releases the Foundation Establishment-level Yaya from the spirit beast bag): “Why so quiet all of a sudden?”
Enemy (!!!???): “Spare me, my lord!”
Qi Ping: “Spare you? Dream on! Yaya, incinerate him to ashes!”
This was the kind of combat mode Qi Ping preferred most.
However, Qi Ping also knew that the possibility of attracting a Foundation Establishment cultivator wasn’t nonexistent.
Because his earlier large expenditures of spirit stones in Qing Stone Market had likely been exposed. Now he was renting two spiritual lands in District B, and his various behaviors contained many unusual aspects.
Especially against the backdrop of numerous rogue cultivators dying or fleeing, his continued safe presence here made him even more conspicuous. Qi Ping even suspected that the senior brother and junior sister who had come knocking last time, later killed by Lin Qingshu, might have come because of him, not because of Lin Qingshu.
Qi Ping didn’t have many solutions for this. Within the world of cultivation, wanting to obtain techniques and resources would inevitably leave many traces. Many things were unavoidable.
What Qi Ping could do was try to leave only traces within his ability to handle.
Moreover, it’s likely no one would imagine that Qi Ping now possessed the strength to kill ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. This was his real source of confidence.
As long as his trump cards remained hidden, Qi Ping was essentially safe.
However, as fewer and fewer people remained in Qing Stone County, he would eventually be exposed and might be targeted at any time.
Especially after the disciples sent to Qing Stone County by the Qing Yuan Sect’s hostility sects were killed by either Meng Yan or Qi Ping himself, Qing Stone County had likely become a potential battleground for Foundation Establishment cultivators.
If Qi Ping were to be implicated and targeted then, it might not be just a matter of dealing with one Foundation Establishment cultivator.
If several Foundation Establishment cultivators or elite disciples from those major sects were involved, their combined combat power could definitely cause Qi Ping significant losses.
“So, it’s best to research the first-tier intermediate illusion array and concealment array as soon as possible!”
Once the secret base was built, he could just leave some scouts and defensive forces on the mountain peak. Except when he needed to acquire techniques or precious spiritual herbs, he could stay hidden on his own territory, cultivating and farming in peace.
Under this pressure, Qi Ping had to accelerate his research on illusion and concealment arrays.
Roughly two weeks later…
“Success! The first-tier low-level basic illusion array, ‘Illusion of Reality Array’!”
[Illusion of Reality Array: First-tier low-level array. Capable of simulating the surrounding environment to a degree of appearing genuine. The higher the grade of the simulated object, the higher the degree of distortion.]
At this moment, Qi Ping was looking with satisfaction at the small hillock in front of him, where he had just set up an Illusion of Reality Array. From the outside, there was no difference.
Qi Ping even had a few small sparrows fly over there. Upon touching the illusion array, they began circling at its edge, while they themselves thought they were flying normally as usual.
When they flew back to Qi Ping, they curiously chirped about why he had them fly there.
Even sparrows farther away from the array saw a normal scene, unable to detect any abnormality.
To Qi Ping’s naked eye, there weren’t many issues either. Only when he covered his eyes with spiritual energy for careful observation or used his spiritual sense did he notice the anomaly there.
“Looks pretty good. It’s just that the first-tier low-level illusion array is still a bit crude. A first-tier intermediate one should be much better!”
After testing, Qi Ping dove back into researching illusion arrays.
If other array masters knew Qi Ping had independently researched an illusion array in such a short time, they’d likely be astounded. The difficulty of setting up illusion arrays was several levels higher than that of ordinary five-element attribute arrays.
The reason Qi Ping could research the illusion array so quickly naturally benefited from the two innate abilities, [Immortal-Bewildering Divine Seal] and [Hundred-Pupil Demon Realm], as well as the assistance of the little spirit fox.
Within the second tier, few could match the Illusionary Spirit Fox in illusions. With such an illusion expert by his side, Qi Ping’s research into basic illusion arrays became much easier.
With this successful case, Qi Ping knew that the day of building his exclusive territory wasn’t far off.
