“Since the misunderstanding is cleared up, withdraw that Buddha-light already and go cultivate inside. We’ll leave each other in peace.” The demon soul who had spoken first pleaded with Ye Liuyun again.

“Fine. But if you attack us again, we’ll wipe you out without hesitation,” Ye Liuyun agreed, yet gave a warning to avoid future trouble.

“No chance of that. We were resting just fine—coming out once costs us plenty! If that damned monkey hadn’t screamed, we wouldn’t have shown ourselves at all!” the demon soul answered at once.

Ye Liuyun and his clone immediately halted their incantations.

The two demon souls instantly slipped back into their stone pillars, reining in their auras and falling silent. The burst of Buddha-light had already drained them; they had to recuperate right away.

Ye Liuyun relaxed. He’d truly feared those two might fight to the death. Judging by their strength, they were likely experts of the Taixu realm. If they went all-out, he and his clone would each have to burn a soul to annihilate them completely.

The spirit-demon cursed inwardly: *Cowards! All bluster when they talked to me, and now they’re too scared to show their faces!*

After venting, it calmed down. It didn’t dare provoke the demon souls again, terrified they’d storm out and slaughter every living thing in the secret realm.

Ye Liuyun and his clone stepped strode into the stone forest, examining the pillars one by one. The unconscious He family disciples and guards were ignored; they could recover on their own.

Each pillar bore an elemental sigil revealing its intended concept. A carved human figure stood atop every column, though Ye Liuyun had no idea what it signified.

With keen perception, both Ye Liuyun and his clone could faintly sense the concept within. They could even feel the pillars’ sentience studying them, gauging the powers they carried.

Soon Ye Liuyun spotted a pillar marked with a lightning rune. Below the sigil stood a man wielding a hammer.

As Ye Liuyun approached, the pillar sensed the lightning force in him. From the stone emerged the same figure as the statue, great hammer in hand.

Without preamble, the man declared, “Feel the lightning concept I release!”

He raised the hammer and unleashed a torrent of lightning.

The savage power made Ye Liuyun’s heart skip. Violet lightning, blood lightning, black lightning, and five-colored heavenly tribulation all raged together.

Ye Liuyun immersed himself in the sensation. After a moment he asked, “Destruction?”

That was the intent he perceived—far more violent and annihilative than his own lightning.

The man nodded in approval. “Elevate your lightning concept.”

Ye Liuyun said nothing more. He summoned his own lightning source and began refining his power under the man’s guidance.

Since clone and original shared one mind, whatever Ye Liuyun learned, the clone instantly grasped. They could thus study different forces separately. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The clone moved on and soon encountered flame. This time a woman wreathed in fire appeared to demonstrate.

The flame concept, too, was destruction—remarkably akin to lightning. The clone paused and began comprehending it on the spot.

While grasping the concepts, both bodies continuously condensed and strengthened their lightning and flame.

Days passed. The He family disciple and guard had long since awakened, entered the forest, and found pillars suited to them, studying alongside.

Whenever Ye Liuyun’s comprehension rose a notch, the guiding figure intensified the demonstration, leading him higher step by step.

Never before had anyone tutored Ye Liuyun so patiently. He lost all sense of time, utterly absorbed.

The lightning and flame concepts erupting from him grew ever more terrifying; their world-destroying might made onlookers shudder.

The two demon souls at the gate exchanged whispers:

“That boy’s powers counter us perfectly.”

“Yeah. Damn my luck—he vaporized one of my arms and drained half my strength the moment we met.”

Neither of them entertained any thought of revenge at that moment. Their duty was to guard this place; unless someone deliberately caused trouble, they had no right to emerge.

A few more days passed. The demonstrator’s realm-force had already peaked, while Ye Liuyun’s own erupting realm was climbing just as fast, quickly catching up.

Only then did Ye Liuyun realize that the lightning intent he now displayed could truly be called Apocalyptic Thunder Tribulation. Savage bolts burst from the Thunder Spirit, their annihilating power turning everything around him into nothingness.

He hadn’t expected he could unleash such force. Compared to this, every previous use of lightning had been almost gentle.

The same was true for his clone. Flames wrapped his entire body; the Golden-Crow Fire Spirit had fully left him, its scarlet-gold blaze dyeing the surrounding space red.

At last the Golden Crow released its Heaven-Scorching might. A single cry burned the surrounding void into nothingness, letting the clone taste the creature’s true power.

Both he and his clone sensed that the forces they now unleashed could probably not be withstood even by a Ninth Heaven Returning-One expert; the strength was simply world-destroying.

Only after Ye Liuyun and the clone matched the realm demonstrated by the two guardians did those two withdraw their power, their souls sinking back into the stone pillars and falling silent once more.

Ye Liuyun bowed in gratitude before continuing to seek other intents he wished to comprehend. At first they encountered only natural-attribute powers; soon Ye Liuyun came upon the force of extreme ice and immediately halted to cultivate it.

Though ice was not his main path, he would not let the opportunity slip; he would raise it at least a little.

The clone finished advancing his flame intent half a day later and moved on. Beyond the zone of natural attributes, the first thing they met was sword intent, followed by saber intent.