72: Chapter 72 Ring Anomaly

"Hmm?!" Ye Tian's heart jolted as he suddenly remembered something!

"It's those two rings!"

He quickly walked to the wall and listened intently. The buzzing sound was indeed coming from the crack in the wall, and it faintly resonated with the vibrations of the chaos bead in his chest!

He hesitated for a moment, then reached out to carefully clear away the dirt from the crack in the wall, taking out the small bundle wrapped in thick cloth that was hidden inside.

As the cloth bundle touched his hand, he could still feel a faint tremor.

Ye Tian took a deep breath and opened it.

Inside lay two rings quietly.

One had a relatively lighter color, showing a warm, pale green hue; it was the one he had picked up in the dense forest outside the Ye Family's mountain hollow.

At this moment, this Pale Green Ring was emitting an extremely faint light, and the buzzing sound originated from it!

Moreover, Ye Tian could clearly feel that the vibration of the chaos bead in his chest was perfectly synchronized with the frequency of the ring's buzzing!

The other one was deep, ancient, and dull in color, obtained from the remains of Master Xuan Gui; it showed no reaction at this moment.

"There really is something strange!" A glint flashed in Ye Tian's eyes.

He picked up the Pale Green Ring that was reacting and examined it carefully in his palm.

The material of the ring was neither metal nor jade, feeling warm and cool to the touch; other than that, there was nothing special about it.

He tried to inject a trace of True Qi, but the ring did not react at all.

He then probed it with his Divine Sense, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea, blocked by an invisible barrier.

"It seems the key still lies with the chaos bead!"

Ye Tian recalled that when he first discovered this ring, it was also the aura of the chaos bead that had inadvertently triggered it.

He no longer hesitated. Concentrating his mind, he carefully guided a trace of aura from the chaos bead in his chest, slowly probing toward the ring in his palm.

At the very moment that trace of aura touched the surface of the ring!

The Pale Green Ring suddenly erupted with a massive surge of Spiritual Qi!

Fortunately, Ye Tian was well-prepared this time, and his cultivation was now at the Peak of the Ninth Level of Qi Gathering Realm, far beyond what it once was!

He immediately circulated the Nine Revolutions Purple Heart Art with all his might, his Dantian's Qi Sea frantically absorbing this surge of Spiritual Qi!

What surprised Ye Tian even more was that this Spiritual Qi was not only massive in quantity but also of extremely high quality!

As the Spiritual Qi flooded into his body, wherever it passed, the subtle internal injuries and blocked Meridians left over from the great battle with Yan She felt incredibly comfortable and were rapidly repaired and nourished!

"Such pure Spiritual Qi! It's even purer than absorbing Spirit Stones!"

Ye Tian was ecstatic. Not daring to delay for a moment, he immediately sat cross-legged and entered a state of cultivation!

He guided this vast amount of pure Spiritual Qi, circulating it rapidly along the path of the Nine Revolutions Purple Heart Art, continuously absorbing it!

His Bottleneck at the Peak of the Ninth Level of Qi Gathering Realm, which had already reached saturation, began to vibrate violently under the impact of this power!

After an unknown amount of time, when less than half of the Spiritual Qi erupted from the ring had been absorbed by Ye Tian.

Ye Tian's aura suddenly surged!

A pressure several times stronger than before spread out!

His strength had undergone a qualitative leap!

Tenth Level of Qi Gathering Realm!

Feeling the change in his power, Ye Tian's heart was filled with excitement!

In his palm, the light of the Pale Green Ring had dimmed, and he could no longer feel any Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

"This ring... actually contains such a massive amount of Spiritual Qi?!"

Ye Tian carefully put the ring away, his heart filled with shock.

Unfortunately, the information he had now was still too little to unlock the secrets of the ring and the chaos bead.

But he firmly believed that with the improvement of his strength, he would one day be able to find something out!

Including the origin of Master Xuan Gui, the identity of the traitor "Black Fiend," and the chaos bead!

"Tenth Level of Qi Gathering... only one step away from the Ningyuan Realm!"

The joy of breaking through to the Tenth Level of Qi Gathering did not last long, and Ye Tian quickly calmed down.

Inspecting his Dantian internally, he could clearly feel that the vast Spiritual Qi he had refined during his Breakthrough was only a small part of it.

The vast majority of the Spiritual Qi was still entrenched deep within his Dantian's Qi Sea.

"This Spiritual Qi is too massive."

Even with a Mind-Cultivation Technique like the Nine Revolutions Purple Heart Art and the assistance of the chaos bead, it would be no easy task to completely refine and absorb all this Spiritual Qi in a short time.

This would require sufficient time.

At the Tenth Level of Qi Gathering, combined with the fourth layer of his Dragon Elephant Art Physical Body and True Qi far more robust than those of the same level, Ye Tian was confident that if he faced a Half-step Condensation Realm expert like Grand Elder Great Elder Ye Zhengyuan again, he would be fully capable of defeating him!

He wouldn't even need to rely on that mysterious Martial Dao Will.

However, if he faced a Ningyuan Realm expert, he would likely only be able to flee.

Qi Gathering and Ningyuan—a single word's difference, yet worlds apart!

There were multiple factors why he could contend with and even gain the upper hand against Yan She that day.

First was Yan She's initial carelessness and underestimation of the enemy.

Second was his own extraordinary display of Martial Dao Will, which caught him off guard.

Third was that Yan She, unable to win after a long attack, became irritable and lost his rhythm.

If it happened again, facing a fully alert Ningyuan Realm expert, Ye Tian knew very well that he would have no chance of winning.

Although Martial Dao Will was strong, it was ultimately limited by his own cultivation Foundation.

In the face of an absolute difference in power, the role that skill and will could play was limited.

At that time, he would likely only be able to rely on his movement techniques and trump cards to do his best to contend or find an opportunity to escape.

"Ultimately, my cultivation is still not enough!" Ye Tian sighed softly.

Among the younger generation, he was indeed a standout.

But looking at the entire martial world, the Ningyuan Realm was merely the beginning.

True experts could even influence the power of heaven and earth with a simple gesture!

And right now, the most pressing crisis was the Chief of the Black Cloud Stronghold, who Yan She mentioned was in seclusion to break through to the Ningyuan Realm Third Stage!

"Time... is running out."

Ye Tian felt a great sense of urgency.

Once that Chief successfully emerged from seclusion, with his terrifying Ningyuan Realm Third Stage strength, no one in the entire Ye Family would be able to stop him!

At that time, there would surely be a bloody massacre; the destruction of the Family was imminent!

He could never allow such a thing to happen!

"I must refine the remaining Spiritual Qi as quickly as possible and charge toward the Ningyuan Realm!"

Ye Tian clenched his fists, a raging fire burning in his eyes.

As long as he stepped into the Ningyuan Realm, with his many trump cards, even if he couldn't defeat the Chief of the Black Cloud Stronghold, he could at least help the Clan Chief and secure a chance of survival for the Family!

At the same time, he also turned his gaze toward that book, the Mystic Tortoise True Explanation.

"The fifth layer of the Dragon Elephant Art... if I can master it, my physical strength will surely reach another level, and my blood-qi power will surge, which will be a great help for me to break through to the Ningyuan Realm and engage with Ningyuan Realm experts in the future!"

Although the fifth layer was difficult to Cultivate, now that his cultivation had broken through to the Tenth Level of Qi Gathering, his blood-qi and True Qi were even more robust; perhaps he could try to touch the threshold.

More strength meant more security.

Ye Tian did not dare to be slack in the slightest.

He took a deep breath, suppressed the stray thoughts in his heart, and sat cross-legged once again.

The priority was to race against time and fully refine the massive amount of residual Spiritual Qi in his Dantian!

Inside the quiet room, the aura around Ye Tian's body circulated as he began to frantically devour and refine that massive Spiritual Qi.

Every minute and every second, his strength grew at a rate visible to the naked eye.