The next morning, after breakfast, Li Mingfu returned to his room.
For the past few days, he had been constantly running around—training his servants, visiting peaks, commissioning weapons, and planning his next moves.
Although the Peak Master had given him a large number of resources, he had barely taken the time to properly examine them.
Today, he finally had free time.
Li Mingfu sat cross-legged on the floor and waved his hand.
Several items appeared before him.
Spirit stones, strange herbs, sealed pouches, and neatly folded instruction scrolls.
His eyes immediately locked onto one item.
A top-grade spirit stone.
He picked it up slowly.
The moment it touched his palm, a dense and pure wave of Qi seeped into his body.
Li Mingfu's eyes narrowed slightly.
"This…"
"It's completely different from low-grade spirit stones."
The Qi within it was not only denser, but also purer and smoother. The stone flowed naturally into his meridians without resistance, like water returning to the sea.
He took a deep breath, savoring the sensation.
"With this… my cultivation speed will skyrocket."
Reluctantly, he put the stone away.
Then he reached for another one.
A Dark Qi spirit stone.
The moment he held it, his expression changed.
His perception sharpened.
Inside the stone… was chaos.
Not disorder, but had many different kinds of Qi.
"I can feel it…"
"Corpse Qi… Death Qi… Shadow Qi…"
"So many types of Yin Qi are mixed."
It was like holding a condensed fragment of darkness itself.
A faint grin appeared on Li Mingfu's face.
"I really want to try forming another Shadow Qi thread…"
"But…"
He slowly shook his head.
"I should wait until night."
"That would be more efficient."
"And I won't waste any of this Dark Qi."
After spending some time looking at the stone, he stored it away.
Next, Li Mingfu turned his attention to the medical bath ingredients.
There were multiple pouches, each labeled carefully, along with a scroll of instructions.
He opened the scroll and began reading.
At first, everything seemed normal.
Herb preparation.
Temperature control.
Soaking duration and when to put in each herb.
But as he continued reading, something felt… familiar.
His brows slowly furrowed, and he kept thinking while reading.
"Why do these instructions seem familiar…"
"I know I have read these words before... but where..."
Then he reached the end, a warning section.
"During the process, the cultivator will feel intense pain within the bones. Cracking, restructuring, and reconstruction are normal. Do not panic."
Li Mingfu froze.
His eyes widened as he muttered.
"The bones…"
"The reconstruction…"
"Pain..."
Suddenly, it clicked.
"This is for the Black Top-grade Body Refinement Technique… Bone Forging Art!"
"Holy crap!"
Li Mingfu stood up abruptly, losing all composure.
"The Peak Master is really going all out."
He looked back at the ingredients with a new understanding.
"This medical bath alone costs a fortune…"
"And the earlier the skeleton is reforged…"
"The stronger the foundation, the stronger my body will become."
After pacing back and forth, he finally calmed himself down.
Li Mingfu slowly sat back down and was deep in thought.
"If I go through this now…"
"My body will reach a completely different level."
But then another thought appeared.
Little Flower.
Little Moon.
Li Mingfu's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I need more of these ingredients."
"They can't be left behind."
"If they could also go through the Bone Forging Art..."
"Their futures will also be promising!"
He clenched his fist.
"I have to earn enough in the Secret Realm."
"Points, resources, whatever it takes."
"I'll get enough for all of us."
After understanding the Bone Forging Art and the whole process.
He noticed that he still had some time before lunch.
Li Mingfu took out the top-grade spirit stone again.
"This is the perfect time."
He closed his eyes and began cultivating.
Qi surged.
The difference was immediate.
His threads absorbed Qi faster than ever before.
The density, the speed, the efficiency—
Everything was on another level.
Hours passed like minutes.
When he finally opened his eyes, a faint glow flashed across them.
He exhaled slowly.
"Twenty-six threads…"
A smile spread across his face.
"This feels amazing."
"With this cave and these spirit stones…"
"I can reach Stage 3 within weeks."
He stood up, feeling refreshed and energized.
Headed downstairs for lunch.
Little Flower and Little Moon were already waiting.
The three sat together and began eating.
As they talked, Li Mingfu casually took out two top-grade spirit stones and placed them on the table.
"Take these. One for each of you."
Both girls froze.
They stared at the stones in disbelief.
They could feel the dense Qi coming from the spirit stones.
With their experience, they recognized that it was not a low-grade spirit stone.
Which meant it was at least a medium-grade spirit stone or higher.
After a long silence, Little Flower spoke hesitantly.
"Young Master… you should keep these."
"Our cultivation speed is already improving here."
Little Moon nodded quickly.
"Yes… We don't need them."
Li Mingfu laughed.
"These spirit stones are top-grade spirit stones. I don't need them right now."
"You two need them more than me."
He continued eating and said.
"Once you reach ten threads… and I teach you my secret…"
"You'll understand."
His tone changed.
"If you still refuse to accept these spirit stones... I'll send you back to the servant area."
The atmosphere instantly froze.
The two girls had never seen him this serious before.
Without another word, they quickly took the spirit stones.
"Thank you, Young Master."
Li Mingfu relaxed and smiled again, as if nothing had happened.
"Good."
They continued eating, and the two servants were talking with excitement.
They had never touched a medium-grade spirit stone before, and now they had a top-grade spirit stone to use for cultivation.
After a while, Li Mingfu took out the medical bath instructions and handed them to Little Flower.
"After dinner tonight, prepare this for me."
"Make sure to fully understand it."
"In the future, both of you will also go through the process."
He paused.
"It will be painful."
"Very painful."
Even he didn't sound enthusiastic about it.
"But for strength… we will have to endure it."
The two girls nodded seriously.
After lunch, Li Mingfu returned to his room once more.
This time, he took out the book about the secret realm.
Fallen Emperor Secret Realm.
He opened it slowly.
The first line alone made his eyes sharpen.
"Millions of years ago, a powerful cultivator fell. His broken world condensed into a secret realm…"
Li Mingfu's lips curled slightly.
"A fallen world… Interesting."
As he continued reading, his expression gradually shifted.
"This realm… originated from the upper world?"
He looked up at the ceiling and muttered.
"Upper world… so this world isn't even the peak."
"This must be the lower world."
He suddenly laughed.
"Hahaha! The cultivation world is huge."
"I like it."
Excitement burned in his eyes.
"I really can't wait."
He continued reading carefully.
Only Qi Refinement Perfection and below could enter.
Only magical weapons allowed.
Only those ten years old or younger can enter.
Opens every twenty years.
Li Mingfu nodded.
"So far, everything matches what the Peak Master said."
Next, it talked about the qualifications to enter.
Major sects—100 tokens.
Smaller sects like theirs—10 tokens.
Rogue cultivators and families could also enter if they obtained a token. Each token lost in the secret realm will appear randomly in the world.
Li Mingfu's eyes focused.
"That means… Thousands of people will be in this secret realm."
A grin slowly spread across his face.
"Hehe… That's a lot of targets."
He paused for a moment.
"Wait."
"Witnesses."
"If I kill someone important, it could cause trouble."
"I need a backup plan, maybe a second identity?"
"Let's not rush. I will think about it later."
He turned the page.
Outer Region.
The starting point.
Herbs, weak beasts, spirit mines.
Main danger?
Other cultivators.
Li Mingfu chuckled.
"So the real danger is people."
Shadow Forest.
A massive forest where sunlight barely reached.
Yin herbs.
Poison materials.
Known stealth-type beasts were:
Shadow Panthers.
Ghost Mantis.
Silent Night Owls.
Li Mingfu's eyes lit up.
"This place is perfect for me."
He tapped the book lightly.
"Should I farm kills here or rush ahead?"
He paused.
"I'll decide later, but this forest might become my hunting ground or retreating spot."
Inner Region.
Ruined cities.
Ancient remnants of a lost civilization.
Treasures that could be found were weapons.
Pills.
Manuals.
Storage rings.
But also—
Undead cultivators.
Corpse puppets.
Li Mingfu nodded slowly.
"High risk."
"High reward."
Core Region.
The Fallen Emperor's palace.
A trial will open in the last fourteen days of the secret realm.
Only those who enter the palace could participate in the trial.
After passing the trial, the prizes were.
Rare fruits and ancient inheritances.
All protected by powerful beasts.
Lastly, the best treasure of the whole realm.
The Heavenly Root Tree.
Bearing the legendary—
Heaven Ascension Fruit.
Eating the fruit raises the spiritual root to Earth-grade.
Only one exists every time the realm opens.
But there were also other fruits called Heavenly Fruits.
Capable of raising spiritual roots to Top-grade.
Li Mingfu went silent and started to laugh like a madman.
"Top-grade isn't the limit!"
"If Earth-grade exists… and maybe there is a Heaven-grade or higher."
He exhaled slowly to calm himself down.
"This realm will be a bloodbath."
His eyes gleamed dangerously.
"Everyone will fight for the Heaven Ascension Fruit, and I'll take the Heavenly Fruits first."
He closed the book gently.
"I thought this would be easy."
"But now, it has become very interesting."
Li Mingfu stood up as excitement surged through his veins.
"I need to get stronger."
"Much stronger."
Night was approaching.
And with it—
The perfect time to cultivate Shadow Qi.
A dangerous smile appeared on his face, and he whispered.
"Less than three years left... I can't wait!"