Chen Xia firmly held the position of the leader among the preparatory disciples.
For him, it wasn't necessarily a good thing since he was somewhat ostentatious, but when he received gifts, it was hard not to do something in return.
He planned to go back later and carefully count the gifts because he really needed to put in some effort now.
Moreover, Chen Xia had some rough ideas about his future cultivation path. First was the Turtle Breathing Technique, and second was the Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method.
Both of these techniques had room for further development.
As for the True Dragon Qi and attribute points, he couldn't rush their progress; he could only wait for the accumulation of time to improve them.
Currently, Chen Xia's focus was on optimizing the Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method. Coincidentally, he had gained some new insights into the Time Dao, which happened to align with the core of the Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method.
Furthermore, Chen Xia possessed infinite life, so he didn't have to worry about exchanging his life for progress.
The Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method was incredibly powerful, and therefore, there were many limitations to its optimization. The current best approach should be to remove the five-year cooldown.
This way, Chen Xia could directly cast the technique without cooldown, turning all the saints and emperors into old men and then slowly drain their life force.
This optimization direction was the strongest but also the most difficult. It involved matters related to the will of heaven and earth, and solely relying on the Time Dao might not be enough to achieve it.
The second optimization route was to remove the restriction on not being able to drain the life force of old men.
Chen Xia could transition from draining life force to becoming a professional assassin of the elderly.
If he could truly succeed, Chen Xia had already planned his future path. He would join some notorious sects and become a disciple of the elder masters within them.
Then, he would mercilessly exploit their pension funds, fast-forwarding directly to tearfully inheriting their legacies.
After doing this a few times, he should accumulate a significant amount of wealth.
However, removing these two limitations could be said to be exceptionally difficult since they were things forbidden by the will of heaven and earth.
They even reached the level of taboos.
With Chen Xia's current strength, trying to change these taboos would be like a fool's dream. Therefore, he changed his mindset and aimed to improve the efficiency of life force exchange, which would be equivalent to reducing the time restriction.
For example, instead of exchanging twenty years of life for one hundred years, he could optimize it to exchange thirty years of life.
But although it sounded easy, actually doing it was quite a laborious task that needed to be experimented with slowly.
Fortunately, Chen Xia had unlimited opportunities for trial and error, so there was no need to be afraid.
Apart from this matter, there was one more thing that Chen Xia had been preparing to do all along, which was to take the Observing the Profound Elixir.
This half pill was refined by his own luck, and its effect was the ability to observe the Great Profound Capital and the thirty thousand Dao Laws outside of it.
However, this version of the Great Profound Capital was not the real one but rather the one seen through the eyes of a quasi-emperor.
It felt like a nesting doll, but that's the essence of it.
That's why the Observing the Profound Elixir was merely a medicinal pill. Otherwise, if it contained thirty thousand Dao Laws, it would be a supreme elixir.
Chen Xia sat in his cave dwelling and summoned Big Yellow Dog and Chi Yu, the two henchmen responsible for guarding. He also gave them instructions.
"If anything happens to me, use the Great Awakening Talisman to wake me up immediately."
Big Yellow Dog hesitated and extended its dog paw, saying, "This... isn't it inappropriate?"
Chi Yu stood beside with a serious expression, nodding. "Hmm."
Not to mention Chen Xia, he would even dare to slap his own father.
The prominent theme was righteous vengeance.
"There's nothing inappropriate about it. Waking me up is the most crucial part," Chen Xia replied. He was somewhat worried because this was only a half dose of the Observing the Profound Elixir. If something unexpected happened, he would have to rely on Big Yellow Dog and Chi Yu to wake him up.
"If, and I mean if," Chen Xia's tone became serious, "if neither of you can wake me up, then go and fetch my master."
Big Yellow Dog quickly nodded, realizing the seriousness of the situation. He immediately stopped fooling around, straightened up, and his face became solemn.
Chi Yu crossed his arms, bowing his head, still contemplating how to wake up Chen Xia.
Should he deliver a powerful slap from above or from the side?
A bit indecisive.
Chen Xia exhaled a breath, ignoring the banter of these two comrades, and held the half dose of Observing the Profound Elixir in his hand, consuming it in one gulp.
His thoughts instantly expanded, as if he were traversing the starry cosmos, spanning millions of years of temporal barriers, standing amidst the stars and gazing toward the boundless sea.
One star resembled grass, while ten thousand stars converged to form a world, flowing together to become a starry river.
Lost in the starry river, Chen Xia traversed the cosmos, crossing through realms, reaching out to the stars, treading upon nothingness.
He was like the greatest giant between heaven and earth, spanning an entire star domain.
Without purpose.
Then, the stars extinguished, the starry river burst, and the realms shattered.
Chen Xia seemed to merge with the stars, and from a distance, he saw a mysterious inverted bronze tower.
The bronze tower was not within this star domain; it could only be observed through the cracks caused by the shattering of realms.
Chen Xia rushed toward the crack, witnessing numerous stars breaking apart and reassembling.
Inside the cave, Chi Yu and Big Yellow Dog remained on high alert, constantly observing Chen Xia's changes.
Especially Big Yellow Dog, its paws were already extended, ready to strike at any moment.
During the first year after consuming the Observing the Profound Elixir, Chen Xia not only emitted starlight but also scattered some on the ground.
Big Yellow Dog watched in astonishment and even licked it with its tongue, exclaiming how crunchy and inviting it was, urging Chi Yu to have a taste as well.
Chi Yu's train of thought was obviously not as peculiar as Big Yellow Dog's, so he only took a small bite.
The second year.
Chen Xia not only emitted starlight but also had star brilliance, illuminating the entire dim cave!
"Damn, that's amazing!" Big Yellow Dog exclaimed sincerely, thinking it was really cool. It even wanted to eat the whole elixir.
Are there really any males who can resist such temptations?
Interrupting this warm atmosphere was the sudden visit of Zhang DaoMing. Seeing the big yellow dog and Chi Yu at the door, he was momentarily stunned before explaining his purpose.
"I came here to communicate with Chen Xia and see if there's a possibility of cooperation."
"Chen Xia is busy," Chi Yu shook his head.
"He's about to turn into light!" Big Yellow Dog excitedly shouted.
Zhang DaoMing frowned, feeling that this bird and dog duo were not reliable. He wanted to go in and take a look.
"No, we need to guard the door. Chen Xia has taken the elixir, so we must not disturb him," Big Yellow Dog firmly refused.
"Yes," Chi Yu replied indifferently, showing no room for negotiation.
"What kind of elixir did he consume?" Zhang DaoMing asked, feeling puzzled because usually elixirs didn't require someone to guard the person taking them.
"I don't know, but it seems like he only took half of the elixir," Big Yellow Dog responded.
"It must be the Observing the Profound Elixir," Zhang DaoMing understood. It wasn't surprising since the Observing the Profound Elixir indeed carried significant risks, necessitating someone to guard the person taking it.
"Then he should come out in a few days, and I'll come back then," Zhang DaoMing said.
Big Yellow Dog shook its head. "I don't know about that. After all, Chen Xia has been inactive for two years."
"Two years!" Zhang DaoMing's tone was filled with astonishment. "Normally, even if a bit of the powder is used for medicinal purposes, it would only induce half a month of sleep!"
"Powder?" Big Yellow Dog frowned. "He directly consumed half a pill."
"Damn it," Zhang DaoMing couldn't help but curse.
"This guy must be high as a kite!"