First achieve immortality, then cultivate immortality.

"That's enough, let's rest first. We'll talk again after Senior Sister Yuan has recovered," Ye Chen said in a deep voice.

After a moment of silence, Liu Yan and Lu Yonglin went to the side to calm down.

Xu Xing sighed, feeling conflicted as he couldn't support either side.

Support Liu Yan; he feels he doesn't really have the ability.

Support Lu Yonglin. He can't just say he's giving up, so maybe if he grits his teeth, he can still give it a shot.

Once you reach the Foundation Establishment stage, regardless of your strength, you gain 200 years of lifespan and will be respectfully addressed as a superior being. Only then can you be considered to have made a name for yourself in the cultivation world. How could you not strive for it?

But reality is what we face: the obstacles in the secret realm are like a trial given by the Dao. How far we can go determines how high our realm can be.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, let's speak in private."

Ye Chen, as the team leader, was the first to find Xu Mu.

Xu Mu raised an eyebrow and followed him to a distance away.

Ye Chen stopped and said, "Fellow Daoist Xu, it seems you've been holding back your strength all along?"

He looked at Xu Mu calmly, his expression revealing nothing.

Xu Mu stroked his beard and said with a faint smile, "Brother Ye, that's a strange thing to say. Does that mean I didn't play a role in the battle, which displeased you?"

Ye Chen sighed and said, "I can understand your desire to conserve your strength, but as you can see from the current situation, if we can't work together, I'm afraid we'll really have to stop here."

Xu Mu also sighed: "As a rogue cultivator, I naturally have some means of self-preservation, but I can't use them in this kind of situation."

I am capable of following Brother Ye to delve deeper, but they are struggling; their weaknesses are too obvious.

Seeing that he was being evasive, Ye Chen could only say seriously, "Fellow Daoist Xu, there's no need to belittle yourself. I can see that you are still quite capable in the battle. If you could put in a little more effort, the six of us could definitely make it further ahead."

Xu Mu shook his head: "You overestimate me. These six flying swords are the result of decades of cultivation. Haven't they done enough—killing enemies, trapping enemies, rescuing people? How can you expect me to lead them deep into the secret realm?"

Seeing that he didn't give anything away, Ye Chen couldn't find any evidence.

Ultimately, he just felt that Xu Mu still had energy left, because Xu Mu had done so much but remained unharmed, which was obviously not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

This surprised him, yet it also seemed reasonable. After all, how could someone dare to come to the secret realm alone if they didn't have some skill?

But now Xu Mu himself doesn't admit it, so what can he do?

"Oh well. I'll go talk to Senior Brother Lu and the others again. As long as we work together, we'll definitely have a chance." He could only sigh.

"I think so too," Xu Mu nodded.

Thus the conversation ended, and Ye Chen walked towards Lu Yonglin.

Xu Mu remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was rolling his eyes.

If you want him to put in more effort, why don't you give him a larger share of the resources when allocating them?

This collaboration has already been somewhat of a failure.

"Sigh, I have to make my own plans. Should I go that way...?" He gazed at the dark clouds on the horizon.

The lightning flashing over there indicates that this is definitely the harshest environment in this secret realm, and it's not easy to go deep into it.

Now that someone is holding them back, and all five of them are only superficially on his side, continuing to follow them doesn't seem like a good option.

The best approach would be to collaborate with truly capable individuals.

Every major sect has its geniuses and mediocre talents. Geniuses are unwilling to be held back by mediocre talents, so they will eventually leave the group and cooperate with other geniuses. Therefore, there is no need to worry about not having partners.

Although Xu Mu is not a genius, he is an old monster who is over 250 years old.

Over the years, he has improved his cultivation level in Medicine God Valley and studied those few techniques. While he wouldn't dare say he has reached a state of perfection, he can still be considered to have achieved some success.

Just take the moment he drew his sword; it had been 68 years since he last used it, and since then he had been sharpening it every day.

Although the power of this sword strike was not infinitely cumulative, and there was a clear sense of hitting a bottleneck later on, he was confident that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator standing in front of him might not be able to withstand this sword strike.

This is his biggest trump card right now.

Secondly, there is the combination of "Red Sun Nine Luminaries" and "Samadhi True Fire Technique".

He has been practicing these two techniques continuously, constantly improving, and has even vaguely touched upon the essence of fire.

The Crimson Sun Nine Luminaries is no longer just for creating fireballs, but can be used for long-term combat, in conjunction with the Six Harmonies Imprisoning Dragon Sword Formation.

What's even more terrifying is his efficiency in using spiritual energy; in layman's terms, his skills consume very little mana, possibly the highest among those in the Qi Refining stage.

After this set of moves, most Qi Refining stage cultivators are no match for it.

If you add Earth Escape Technique and Thousand Miles of Clouds and Mist Technique to the mix, he thinks he should be able to go toe-to-toe with a true genius.

Given time to accumulate experience and develop, he too can become a genius capable of challenging opponents of higher levels!

After much deliberation, he decided to observe the situation further and wait for an opportunity to leave the group.

……

After staying for five days, Yuan Xiangqin recovered from her injuries.

With Ye Chen's mediation, the group finally decided to continue.

There are less than ten days left before the secret realm is destroyed.

"Gentlemen, let us work together to overcome this difficult time!"

It must be said that Ye Chen has quite the demeanor of a leader.

If he had a better personality and was more respectful and polite to Xu Mu, Xu Mu really wouldn't mind working together with them.

Unfortunately, we can no longer be of one mind, let alone work together.

Xu Mu could only offer them a partial guarantee, ensuring they didn't die unexpectedly; that would already be more than enough.

Several days later, we finally managed to reach the stormy, cloud-covered area.

From a distance, the dark clouds already covered the sky; upon closer inspection, the scene of lightning, thunder, and torrential rain was even more awe-inspiring.

The entire area spans hundreds of miles, and not only is the space chaotic, making it impossible to travel in a straight line, but one must also defend against mirage beasts and lightning.

"There's no way we can get into a place like this," Lu Yonglin lamented.

Even Liu Yan pursed her lips, unable to speak.

The area ahead is no longer a place for mediocre people.

Apart from Ye Chen and Xu Mu, everyone else on their team was injured to varying degrees.

"It seems this is truly the limit," Yuan Xiangqin sighed, looking exhausted.

Xu Xing nodded, completely losing the courage to take the risk.

Although everyone wants to reach the Foundation Establishment stage, no one is willing to risk their life for it. It is not easy to cultivate to the ninth level of Qi Refining.

"In the end, does desperately venturing into the heart of the secret realm guarantee that one can establish a foundation? I think this is enough." Lu Yonglin said, looking at Liu Yan.

Liu Yan remained silent, her gaze fixed on Ye Chen.

After a moment of silence, Ye Chen suggested, "Let's take a detour and see what happens."

No one objected to this statement; they could still find resources nearby.

However, people are gathering from all directions now, so resources are probably gone. The main thing is to see if there's any way to break through this thunderstorm area.

The others thought the same way, so as they went around, the others followed.

Soon, a large group of people gathered ahead to discuss countermeasures.