Time flows like water, quietly passing by.

Everyone else has made significant progress—the Emperor’s Secret Realm is a place of renown, on par with the Immortal Secret Realm of the Immortal Academy, making it an ideal place for cultivators to train.

It can be said that the environment in this Secret Realm has not changed much since Ancient Times; at least, the environment is quite similar to that of the Ancient Times.

In such circumstances, if Ye Fan and others can’t make substantial progress, they don’t deserve to be called the strongest among the younger generation in the Five Domains.

During this period, the person who made the most progress in cultivation unexpectedly was Li Yu’er, a fact that surprised everyone.

The Clumsy Fist emphasizes mental state, and progress in cultivation is very slow, but its power is immense, pushing a person’s potential to the extreme.

The world’s environment has undergone changes; the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi is far less abundant than in Ancient Times. Li Yu’er’s achievements are inseparable from his Clumsy Fist mental method.

After coming here and sensing the changes in the environment, Li Yu’er has been cultivating incessantly, almost every moment. The Clumsy Fist technique is simple; even those with ordinary physiques can achieve something with full commitment.

Li Yu’er can be said to have the most ordinary physique; even a random old farmer’s physique would be stronger than his.

But it’s precisely because of his extremely ordinary physique that he could perform the Clumsy Fist to its extreme, cultivating with a single-minded devotion, achieving a very high realm.

In the Emperor’s Secret Realm, everyone has formed an intense atmosphere of competitive cultivation, with everyone putting all their efforts into it.

Every day, people come in and out of the Elemental Ocean, aiming to comprehend the essence and laws of the second element.

The success of the Ancient Immortal has inspired them, and the emperors’ sons, Yue Haoyu and Yue Hui, are desperately soaking in the Elemental Ocean, trying to grasp the essence and laws of the second element.

Even if they don’t succeed, staying in the Elemental Ocean for a long time is extremely beneficial to one’s strength; this is known by nearly all cultivators.

Kou Wenjie is also cultivating and comprehending in the Elemental Ocean, but he doesn’t attempt to grasp the laws of a second element; instead, he deepens his comprehension of the elemental laws he already knows.

It’s another way of enhancing one’s strength. Rather than wasting time on unlikely endeavors, it’s better to focus in hopeful areas.

In the Trial Arena, Wen TaDou and the Great Demon seem to be locked in a rivalry, competing fiercely in slaying Demon Clan strong people and human-shaped creatures activated by Array Patterns.

Buddha Yu ChanZi is also in seclusion in the Elemental Ocean.

He firmly believes that what the Ancient Immortal could achieve, he could also do. It’s only a matter of time.

Even the weakest, Gu Xiao, has made great progress during this time, appearing like a completely different person compared to before.

The time for the Demon Clan’s emergence is drawing nearer, and the entire Emperor’s Secret Realm is shrouded in a tense atmosphere of an impending great battle.

In the Elemental Ocean, Ye Fan, utilizing the advantage of the Virtual Space, has also preliminarily understood the essence and laws of the seven elements, with ancient runes of gold, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and thunder appearing on his chest.

At this moment, he is seated at the central area of the ocean of the final element—the Light Element—striving to comprehend the essence and laws of the Light Element.

During this time, there was a minor incident when Ye Fan was comprehending the essence and laws of the Thunder Element: he suddenly realized that he didn’t need to comprehend it.

Upon entering the Thunder Element Ocean, Ye Fan’s body emitted myriad rays of light, an extremely ancient Thunder Element Rune appeared on his chest, dazzling brightly!

The light from the Thunder Element Rune overshadowed all the other elemental runes, indicating his profound understanding of the Thunder Element.

This surprised him greatly, but thinking it over, it wasn’t so strange after all.

He had inherited the legacy of the Thunder Venerable, tempered his body with Thunder Liquid, and undergone several rounds of Heavenly Tribulations.

It can be said that his comprehension of Thunder Power is unparalleled under heaven.

In the Thunder Element area, Ye Fan only stayed briefly before moving to the Light Element area, where he continued to meditate for nine days.

The ocean of the Light Element is a sea of brilliant Holy Light, with a very dense elemental aura. One can say that cultivating the Holy Light Technique in this area would definitely yield twice the result with half the effort.

Ye Fan couldn’t help but sigh; others could break through to the Lord Realm after comprehending the essence and laws of one element, whereas he needs to completely understand the laws of all elements—which is, though only a preliminary understanding, exceedingly time-consuming.

Without the Virtual Space, he would never have been able to initially grasp the laws of the seven elements in such a short time.

Currently, on Ye Fan’s body, the five elements at his chest have formed a perfect cycle diagram, endlessly cycling, with wind and thunder revolving like Yin Yang Fish.

"Buzz!"

Suddenly, a burst of dazzling Holy Light erupted from Ye Fan, brilliant to the extreme.

A huge wave emanated immediately, causing Ye Fan to tremble, and an ancient and indistinct Holy Light Rune appeared on his chest.

The previous unending flow of the Five Elements, endless cycle, wind and thunder forming Tai Chi, was a stable diagram. But with the addition of the Holy Light Rune, all rules were broken.

The runes of the eight elements clashed violently, causing Ye Fan to spit a mouthful of blood and fall unconscious.

At this moment, no one knew about the immense transformation happening to Ye Fan; his whole being seemed to twist as the laws of the eight elements continued to collide.

Had it been someone else, they would have exploded and perished, but Ye Fan’s physique is incredibly robust, not breaking even under the terrifying collisions of elemental laws.

Meanwhile, in his Dantian, the purple-golden Holy Embryo seemed to come alive, roaring to the heavens, as twenty Heaven and Earth Tao Markings flew out, weaving a great net encompassing all eight elemental laws within it.

"Buzz!"

The eight elements continued their collision, yet ultimately, none could overpower the others, and only compromise, realigning within Ye Fan’s body.

In Ye Fan’s Dantian, surrounding the Holy Embryo, the laws of the eight elements are arranged in eight directions, following the orientations of the Ba Gua.

At the Northwest Qian Gua position is the Holy Light Rune, shimmering with sacred light, representing the heavens.

The Southwest Kun Position holds the Earth Element Rune, representing the earth.

The Bei Kan Position has the Water Element Rune, the South Li Position the Fire Element Rune, the Xi Dui Position the Gold Element Rune, and the Dong Zhen Position the Thunder Element Rune.

The Northeast Gen Position harbors the Wood Element Rune, and the Southeast Xun Position contains the Wind Element Rune.

In such an arrangement, each gua position corresponds to an elemental rune, with the eight elemental runes shimmering, forming a wondrous Ba Gua.

Even Ye Fan hadn’t considered this possibility; it was all orchestrated by his subconscious. After all, in his very marrow, Ye Fan remained a Huaxia person, with a deep-seated love and persistence for the ancient traditions passed down from Huaxia.

Time unknown, Ye Fan slowly awoke, the bone-scraping pain had dissipated, leaving the ground he lay upon thoroughly soaked with sweat.

With a thought, Ye Fan entered into introspection and was startled to find the elemental runes that once resided at his chest now appeared in his Dantian, dividing into eight directions, slowly rotating around the Holy Embryo.

"This is..."

At first, Ye Fan didn’t realize it was a Bagua Diagram, feeling only a sense of familiarity, but soon he understood.

"The runes of the eight elements have naturally formed a Bagua Diagram within my body, truly incredible!" Ye Fan was initially left dumbfounded, and then secretly thrilled.

At this moment, Ye Fan had already gained preliminary insights into all eight elements; though not mastered profoundly, it should at least suffice for him to strive for the Lord Realm!

If he fails to break through to the Lord Realm this time, then he would indeed despair, given that he had already gained initial insights into the essence and laws of the eight elements, fully meeting all the requirements of the Lord Realm.

Whoosh!

With a stride forward, Ye Fan soared out of the Elemental Ocean, flying straight toward Emperor City.

At this moment, his heart felt a dawning enlightenment.

It turns out the transition from the Divine Power Realm to the Lord Realm is just like a layer of window paper; when pierced, it shatters. Unfortunately, without having fully grasped the preliminary insights into the laws of the eight elements, this window paper presents an insurmountable chasm.

Upon entering Emperor City, Ye Fan wasted no time and directly sought out Old Monster Zhou, the vice dean stationed here at the Imperial Academy.

"Dean Zhou, I’m about to charge into the Lord Realm. Could you find a suitable place for me? I’m afraid the Heavenly Tribulation I might draw would destroy some things."

Ye Fan spoke directly and frankly, without any courtesies, stating his intent bluntly.

Old Monster Zhou pondered for a moment and replied, "Of course, there’s an Emperor Battle Arena within the Emperor’s Secret Realm. However, it isn’t a place where true Great Emperors have contended; under a true Great Emperor’s strike, everything would turn to dust!"

On the way to the Emperor Battle Arena, Ye Fan learned from Old Monster Zhou that this ancient battle arena was left by a Great Emperor, inscribed with Emperor Patterns, sufficient for supporting battles among Quasi-Emperor Fifth Layer Heaven powerhouses without damage.

This is a top secret of the Imperial Academy, with only a handful of people in the world aware of its existence, and the academy has always kept it hidden.

Nevertheless, such an arena is rarely used, as even Quasi-Emperor Fifth Layer Heaven strong people would never truly engage in pitched battles on the ground, but rather in the boundless depths of space.

But this remains one of the Imperial Academy’s hidden foundations; opening this arena for Ye Fan itself speaks volumes.

Old Monster Zhou and Ye Fan were acquaintances from long ago, having met during the Southern Domain’s genius competition, and in attempts to recruit Ye Fan into the Imperial Academy, Old Monster Zhou had made numerous promises to him.

Unfortunately, Ye Fan had no intention of joining the Imperial Academy at that time, dousing Old Monster Zhou’s hopes with cold water.

Time has passed, and over these years, Ye Fan has grown to a level comparable to the Emperor’s son, yet Old Monster Zhou remains extremely fond of him, despite knowing Ye Fan is a disciple of the Immortal Academy.

As the ancient saying goes, parents desire the best for their children, hoping they will achieve great things. Acting as a vice dean of the Imperial Academy, Old Monster Zhou enjoys Ye Fan for his boundless potential and his humility, giving him the rare opportunity to attempt breakthrough on the Emperor Battle Arena.

The news of Ye Fan’s attempt to reach the Lord Realm spread like wildfire, with the entire Emperor’s Secret Realm becoming aware in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Unsurprisingly, Ye Fan had once boasted in front of everyone that once he breaks through to the Lord Realm, he would be ready to challenge Ancient Immortal.

Over nearly a year’s time, the growth of Ancient Immortal has been witnessed by all; at the Mid-Stage of the Lord Realm, he comprehended the laws of a second element, a once-in-a-millennium genius.

Many who were at odds with Ye Fan eagerly awaited his breakthrough to the Lord Realm, curious to see how he would fare.

By the time Ye Fan arrived at the Emperor Battle Arena, a crowd had already gathered behind him, with Ancient Immortal and others among them, specifically there to witness his breakthrough.

Of course, Kou Wenjie, Li Yu’er, the Great Demon, and others were also present.

To them, Ye Fan’s breakthrough was a significant event!

In their view, Ye Fan, even before coming here, was already at the peak of the Divine Power Realm, merely a step away from the Lord Realm.

During this time, Ye Fan is surely capable of comprehending the essence and laws of the elements, and thus, will undoubtedly succeed in his breakthrough.

They were never concerned whether Ye Fan could successfully ascend to the Lord Realm, but instead worried how Ye Fan would deal with the bold words he had once spoken after the breakthrough.

"Will he truly challenge Ancient Immortal immediately?"

This was the question on everyone’s mind.

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