Chapter 348: Yun Ming's Opportunity
Shrek Academy
Sea God Island
Yun Ming stood before the Demon Gate, his essence, energy, and spirit merging into it to further stabilize this spatial channel.
During this process, he allocated a portion of his focus to sense the conditions of the Demon Plane on the other side, cooperating with the power of the Golden Ancient Tree to transform the environment around Shrek's base.
Xu Yuan's contributions there were all well-known to Yun Ming.
As for his disciple, Yun Ming had always been satisfied.
Even before taking him as a disciple, he was already highly impressed.
After all, when he took in Na'er as his disciple, it was due to the faint thread of fate between them. However, he later discovered that Na'er possessed astonishing talent—her weapon quality couldn't just be described as approaching divine artifacts; strictly speaking, it was at the level of divine artifacts!
Such a martial soul was truly unprecedented on the continent.
Thus, an excited Yun Ming immediately declared Na'er as his final disciple.
Unfortunately, this statement was later proven wrong by Xu Yuan.
The Na'er he taught couldn't match up to Xu Yuan, and the gap between them was slowly widening.
That alone might have been acceptable, but the key issue was that Xu Yuan inherited something Na'er did not—the legacy of the Seven Forbidden Techniques!
Xu Yuan also possessed a spear-type martial soul, exceptional talent in essence, energy, and spirit, and even surpassed Yun Ming's understanding of the Seven Forbidden Techniques in terms of cultivation progress!
During the three years of Xu Yuan's six assessments, Yun Ming himself had set the difficulty levels. When Yun Ming thought Xu Yuan's limit was reaching a certain mastery of the Seven Forbidden Techniques, Xu Yuan always surprised him.
Therefore, Yun Ming broke his own declaration about having a "final disciple." After observing for three years, he gladly accepted Xu Yuan as his disciple and passed on his entire body of supreme techniques.
During the subsequent personal teaching process, Yun Ming truly grasped Xu Yuan's learning ability and speed.
It was simply terrifying.
From start to finish, every aspect of Xu Yuan's performance and progress left Yun Ming in awe.
He felt inferior.
Although Yun Ming allocated some effort to cooperate with the Golden Ancient Tree in transforming the environment on the other side, the energy he expended wasn't much.
At this moment, the majority of Yun Ming's strength was still focused on comprehending spatial power.
Yes, comprehending spatial power.
By immersing his essence, energy, and spirit into this stable spatial channel, he could recklessly control the space within this passage and feel the dense spatial power surrounding it. Even Yun Ming's comprehension of spatial power visibly improved under these conditions.
Aside from fully formed spatial channels, such dense spatial power could only be found in areas with spatial cracks.
However, even Yun Ming couldn't stay in spatial cracks for extended periods.
There were other spatial channels or entrances to small spatial worlds on Douluo Star, which Yun Ming had visited and gained insights from.
But the spatial channel constructed by the Demon Gate was a type he hadn't experienced before.
For Limit Douluos, mastery over spatial power was crucial.
The deeper one cultivated, and the closer one came to condensing a god position, the more Yun Ming realized this truth.
Therefore, in his daily cultivation, Yun Ming never stopped honing his control over space.
"Hmm?"
While stabilizing the spatial channel and simultaneously comprehending spatial power, Yun Ming suddenly paused.
He felt as if his spirit had been gently stirred by something.
This was—
"Old Tree?"
With a hint of surprise, Yun Ming quickly opened a channel in his steadfast spiritual force, allowing Old Tree's guidance to proceed smoothly.
His consciousness entered a vast, white expanse.
Though it appeared as a white void, in Yun Ming's eyes, it was constantly changing.
When Xu Yuan entered, he saw a white expanse. Tang Wulin saw a world filled with plants, a sea of blue silver grass.
When Yun Ming entered, it was also white—but this was because he had just been comprehending spatial power. Rather than calling it a white void, it was more accurate to say it was filled with silver specks of light.
Of course, this was only a fleeting change.
The white world rapidly transformed into a place familiar to Yun Ming.
Sea God Island!
"No wonder it's you—you're the first soul master who can freely switch scenes here." Old Tree observed this phenomenon with genuine admiration.
No wonder he was the only soul master in ten thousand years on the continent with the hope of condensing a god position through his own efforts.
Unfortunately, without the existence of the god realm, merely condensing a god position wouldn't succeed.
In the past, Old Tree had essentially given up, so he didn't provide any hints to Yun Ming.
Now, however, things were different.
He intended to give Yun Ming some guidance.
This could be considered a backup plan.
Since Old Tree had taken action, he naturally sensed something.
During the battle on Sea God Island, how could he not know that his intervention had been observed?
After all, it was only a weakened fragment of his divine consciousness, not his full power hidden and probing outward.
Xu Yuan needed a protective umbrella, and only Yun Ming could fulfill that role.
"Old Tree?" Yun Ming looked at the gray-bearded elder whose hair was streaked with black, momentarily uncertain.
In Yun Ming's memory, Old Tree should have had white hair and a white beard.
Why did he now sense a feeling of withered wood reviving?
Of course, these details weren't important.
Yun Ming had never actually met Old Tree. He only knew of his white-haired, white-bearded image from Xu Yuan and Tang Wulin's descriptions—but that didn't necessarily mean it was Old Tree's true appearance, did it?
Perhaps their realms were too low to see through Old Tree's true form.
But Yun Ming, the strongest person on the continent, could see Old Tree's true face at a glance!
"Hmm, I've been observing you for a long time—the current generation's Pavilion Master of the Sea God Pavilion, Yun Ming!" Old Tree nodded slightly and spoke.
He didn't explain why he hadn't summoned Yun Ming before.
He couldn't tell the truth, after all.
So he simply said he had been observing for a long time.
In fact, this wasn't entirely false.
Over the years, Yun Ming had maintained control over the spatial forces around Sea God Island to elevate the realm of the Seven Forbidden Techniques. This was because controlling the heavens and earth here was easier, and in reality, this was Old Tree helping him eliminate interference from those two individuals.
"Old Tree, may I ask why you've summoned me?"
Yun Ming held great respect for Old Tree.
However, unlike Xu Yuan and Tang Wulin, Yun Ming asked with confidence, neither humble nor arrogant.
"I simply don't want you to delve too deeply into this path, lest you achieve nothing in the end." Old Tree shook his head, looking at Yun Ming earnestly. "You must understand that only with the existence of the god realm can there be a god position. A god position is ultimately dependent on the god realm."
Yun Ming narrowed his eyes.
He wasn't surprised that Old Tree knew about his attempt to condense a god position.
What concerned him was Old Tree's warning.
Could Yun Ming not have thought of this himself?
He could.
But he believed he had hope—hope of creating a new god realm.
However, Old Tree's warning now carried the weight of a truly knowledgeable elder's evaluation.
Yun Ming was confident, but not arrogant.
He was pondering the significance of Old Tree's advice.
"Without the god realm, you won't even be able to condense a god position, let alone understand the true role of the god realm in relation to a god position. Thus, the benefits a god position provides will always be limited."
"To condense a god position in the absence of a god realm and attempt to recreate a god realm is a dead end. No cultivator below the god level in the universe has ever succeeded in doing so."
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