Seven days later.

Yuan Ming paused his cultivation and ignited the Black Incense to possess Su Yingxue.

"So Su Yingxue is actually a Returning to Void Cultivator." The moment the possession took place, he sensed Su Yingxue's cultivation level, which was almost the same as Blood Demon Ancestor, likely in the mid-stage of Returning Void.

There were also restrictions in Su Yingxue's body that imprisoned her Divine Soul and Mana, but clearluy, these restrictions were much slacker than those on Luo Zhu and others. It allowed the release of some Soul Power and Mana.

Yuan Ming wasn't surprised by this. In Nihility Prison, some prisoners who possessed special skills, such as Alchemy and refining treasures, had better conditions than ordinary prisoners and were allowed to retain some of their cultivation to facilitate their work for Nihility Prison.

Su Yingxue was obviously one of such individuals.

This time, Yuan Ming used ordinary Black Incense that couldn't control one's actions, and at this moment, Su Yingxue was leaning over, designing a formation, the same Defensive Magic Array as before.

Lots of deductions and calculations related to the array started to spin complexly and mysteriously in Su Yingxue's consciousness.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming was naturally overjoyed and quickly tried to understand this array knowledge.

However, after a short while, he stopped his contemplation.

The formations deduced in Su Yingxue's consciousness were too profound for him to fully understand, let alone improve his own Array Formation Cultivation.

"I didn't expect that with my level of Array Formation Cultivation, I couldn't even comprehend Su Yingxue's consciousness," Yuan Ming felt somewhat unwilling. He steadied his spirit and focused more intensely on his comprehension.

However, no matter how hard Yuan Ming tried, he was still unable to grasp the profound array knowledge swirling in Su Yingxue's consciousness. It seemed as if there was a huge divide between them, too far to bridge.

By this point, Yuan Ming could only reluctantly accept this fact.

He couldn't help but lament that the Yunhuang Continent was truly as its name suggested, barren and fierce, incomparable to the world outside.

However, having taken the trouble to possess Su Yingxue, Yuan Ming didn't waste any time and stretched out his Divine Sense to scan the surroundings.

Because the possession last time was rushed, he hadn't taken a close look. Only now did he clearly see the interior of the cell.

Apart from tables and chairs, Su Yingxue's cell also contained two large bookshelves, holding nearly a hundred books and several Jade Scrolls.

Under Yuan Ming's Divine Sense scanning, he found that these books and Jade Scrolls were all Array Formation Manuals with handwriting identical to what Su Yingxue had written before, probably authored by her. L^o!v$e this. s+t#ory? Sho^w# s#u-ppo.r%t at *-.

Especially those Jade Scrolls; each one recorded an array along with many key points to note during the array setup and even included some insights she had during her contemplations, explained in great detail.

Yuan Ming was inevitably excited. He couldn't understand the array knowledge in Su Yingxue's mind, but the content in these Jade Scrolls was simple yet detailed and could possibly help him comprehend something.

He immediately focused his attention without further thoughts and memorized the content firmly.

"The world outside is truly incomparable to Yunhuang Continent, seeing how meticulously they classify arrays," Yuan Ming muttered to himself.

According to these classics, most of the arrays he had encountered before were third-level arrays. The Red Blood Sand Formation and the Life Creation Array set up by Wu Yue Sect during the battle in the East Sea were considered fourth-level arrays, while Chang Chun Temple's Sect Protection Array and the Demon Thunder Array used by the Demon Clan to resist the Cloud Desolate Alliance barely qualified as fifth-level arrays.

However, the Defensive Great Array that Su Yingxue was currently designing was of a higher tier, a sixth-level Magic Array.

There were also strict requirements for Array Masters; one must independently design an array to earn a corresponding Array Master title.

If Su Yingxue could independently design a sixth-level array, she was at least a Level 6 Array Master.

"Although I have made some achievements in Array Cultivation, they are merely theoretical, I don't even qualify as a fourth-level Array Master. No wonder I can't keep up with Su Yingxue," Yuan Ming assessed himself.

He was not discouraged, instead, a sense of unprecedented determination surged within him.

He was quite insightful about arrays, and with the support of Stealing Heaven Tripod, he might catch up to Su Yingxue one day. Her achievements in array cultivation also gave him a clearer understanding of the path in array cultivation he aimed to pursue in the future.

"Ah, this is a Communication Array!" Yuan Ming's Divine Sense paused on a particular Jade Scroll.

Inside the scroll, a fourth-level Communication Array called "Void Communication Array" was recorded. This array's efficacy far surpassed that of the Green Spirit Communication Talisman, capable of enabling communication across tens of thousands of miles.

The materials required for setting up this array were extremely demanding, needing materials with strong sensing effects.

Moreover, the better the materials used for the array, the farther the communication distance would be. If top-grade sensing materials could be obtained, it was even possible to communicate across different domains.

Yuan Ming naturally had a great interest in this array.

The distance between him and Xi Ying was too great, and having Lei Yu act as a messenger every time was somewhat troublesome. Having such a Communication Array would be much more convenient.

He didn't hope to achieve cross-domain communication; being able to communicate from the East Sea to the Northern Desert would suffice.

Yuan Ming immediately focused all his attention on memorizing the array, and he successfully noted down all the contents before the possession by the Black Incense ended.

After his consciousness returned to his main body, Yuan Ming took out several blank jade scrolls and recorded everything he had seen during the possession, especially the Void Communication Array.

...

Time passed leisurely, and in the blink of an eye, twenty years had passed.

In a spirit-energy-rich island near the Overseas World, groups of Heavy Mountain Elephants roamed the dense forests, while giant blue-feathered birds with wingspans of hundreds of Zhang flew overhead.

At a distant lake, enormous serpent-fish leaped out of the water, creating huge waves, filling the entire island with an extremely rich nature's spiritual energy.

In the middle of this island that seemed like a paradise for spirit beasts and giant demons, atop a towering ancient tree more than a hundred Zhang tall, sat a young man in a blue robe, Yuan Ming.

His figure seemed to float at the top of the tree, as if he were sitting on the treetop or floating in midair, emanating waves of Divine Soul fluctuations like ripples of water, not very intense, yet flowing continuously like river water.

After his parents left, Yuan Ming had no reason to stay on Bikong Island, so he moved to this outer sea island, along with the Gathering Spirit Tree.

The nature's spiritual energy here far surpassed that of Bikong Island, which was more beneficial for his cultivation.

After twenty years of arduous cultivation, his mana had broken through to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, his Mixed Hole Secret Technique had also made great progress, and even his Dantian had expanded by thirty percent.

Moreover, the mixed Soul Power he had hastily swallowed to break through to the Word Witch Realm had now been completely refined, purified of impurities, and became immaculate.

However, he hadn't risked enhancing his Soul Cultivation Realm by devouring living souls again, instead, he heeded Xia Jie's warning and spent these years absorbing the power of moonlight for cultivation.

His Soul Power had improved, but the process was much slower, and he was still a considerable distance from the mid-stage Word Witch Realm.

Nevertheless, Yuan Ming was not in a hurry, only seeking stable progress.

Over the years, he mostly cut off all contacts with the outside world, focusing solely on solitary cultivation, only reaching out to Xi Ying, the Yan sisters, and Xu Che during the intervals between his secluded meditations.

Through them, he also learned of the many changes in the Yunhuang Continent since his departure.

Because of his prominent role in the war against the Wu Yue Sect, Yuan Ming's fame surged, and the name of the Nether Moon God was almost known throughout the entire Yunhuang Continent. With the continued efforts of Xu Che and others, the Moon Sect's development was quite smooth.

Almost all the islands in the East Sea had cultivators who believed in the Nether Moon God, and most mortals also became believers, even many regions and sects in the Southern Border started having followers of the Moon Sect.

Among them, the followers from the islands of Red Ganoderma Island, Thousand Dragon Island, Red Leaf Island, Wanhua Island, and Yuzhu Island were the most devout and steadfast, thus receiving significant support from the Moon Sect.

The islands occasionally experienced minor frictions between each other, but being under the protection of the Moon Sect, no major conflicts arose.

Meanwhile, about two years ago, Wan Tianren, in an effort to strengthen the interests of Fusang Island, took a risk to try and lay siege to the Returning to Void Stage but failed and, although he didn't die, it led to a great decline in his cultivation level.

Xi Ying also sent news from the Northern Desert that after years of development, the Xi Yue Sect had completely stabilized its foundation. It had not only absorbed all the power of the Wu Yue Sect and controlled the entire Northern Desert but had now begun expanding towards the Western Region.

However, both the Xi Yue Sect and the Moon Sect had slow development in the Central Plains.

There were too many ancient cultivation sects in the Central Plains Region with overly complex powers, and competing for territory was not easy.

Additionally, the Chang Chun Temple, originally severely weakened by the invasion of the Wu Yue Sect, experienced a resurgence under Temple Master Tian Jizi who, unknown what chance had come his way, had broken through to the Returning Void Realm. The temple not only rapidly regained its strength but its prestige also exceeded the past.

With these two factors, although the Moon Sect had a good reputation in the Central Plains Region, its strength still fell far short.

Atop a giant tree, Yuan Ming's eyes were slightly closed, but beneath his eyelids, his eyeballs quickly rolled a few times.

A smile appeared on his lips, unable to contain his amusement.

At that moment, in the Stealing Heaven Tripod held against his chest, within the space of the White Jade Lotus Platform, a Vow Power Vortex was continuously collapsing and condensing, gradually forming a sparkling and translucent white bead, the Pure Will Power transformed into a Vow Power Pill.

"Senior Kong, this Vow Power Pill is mine now," Yuan Ming's main soul had entered the Stealing Heaven Tripod and floated above the space of the White Jade Lotus Platform, speaking toward the depths of the space.

There was no sound from the depths of the space, utterly still and quiet.

With a wave of his hand, Yuan Ming's main soul enveloped the Vow Power Pill with Divine Soul Power.

In these twenty years, he managed to condense a Vow Power Pill almost every year, but ninety percent of them had been taken by Artifact Spirit Kong. Initially, Yuan Ming couldn't believe that Kong was the artifact spirit of the Stealing Heaven Tripod, but no matter how much he resisted, he couldn't outcompete the second split soul controlled by Kong, reluctantly accepting that Kong was indeed the artifact spirit of the Stealing Heaven Tripod.

Just as expected, without any incidents, the Vow Power Pill smoothly flew to the vicinity of the main soul.

Yuan Ming breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes gleaming with joy.

This Vow Power Pill was the second one he had obtained over these years.