Even so, he still couldn't release gravitational and repulsive force. If he could succeed with it in the future, he would eventually be able to come into contact with a true original magnetic ability.

"What a pity. If I could just spend more time in there, I'm sure I could unravel this mystery." He sighed, put the wings away, then spent the remaining eight hours working on his Waterswamp Kingdom.

When the eight hours ended, the air around him began to ripple, and before he could do anything, everything around him collapsed. A rumbling sound echoed out as a vortex formed, pulling at Yan Xiaobao's consciousness.

After he vanished, he reappeared outside the entrance of the Ausne Pass arcane pocket. He immediately felt disoriented. Inside the arcane pocket domain, his mind had been clearer than ever. His thoughts had roamed freely without restraint. But now that he'd returned to his normal state, he felt as if he were submerged in water. His head was incredibly muddled.

The elder opened his eyes and looked at him, and was immediately shaken. Yan Xiaobao seemed completely different from eight days ago. Every aspect of his energy felt far stronger than before.

The old man nodded in admiration, then said, "It's usually very difficult for someone to adjust after entering the arcane pocket domain for the first time. Meditate for a few days and you'll be fine."

After that, he closed his eyes again.

It took Yan Xiaobao a while to recover enough to move. Face pale, hands clenched tight, he bowed respectfully to the elder, then took his leave.

Back in his Immortal Cave, he sat beside the lake, adjusting himself while recalling his experiences in the pocket domain. In the end, he sighed.

"If only I could seek enlightenment there for a few more days. Cultivating in there was pure bliss. Just what kind of place is that? It's too strange." He shook his head. It was actually possible to pay merit points to enter the arcane pocket domain, but with Yan Xiaobao's current savings, he could only afford a few hours.

Considering how uncomfortable he felt, it was impossible to clear his mind enough to practice cultivation. After thinking it over, he undid his storage bag.

It was stuffed full of all sorts of odds and ends, including many things he'd obtained in the Fallen Sword World. So far, he hadn't taken the time to sort through any of it. When he opened it, he saw countless items, including Spirit Stones and even some magical artifacts.

After organizing everything, he discovered over a dozen bottles and boxes, some filled with pills, some containing items he didn't recognize. The other sects each had their own areas of expertise, so his understanding of items obtained from them was limited.

"Is this Spiritual Medicine from the Pill Stream Sect? The Pill Stream Sect's pill-refining methods look really interesting...

"This is from the Profound Stream Sect, right? It looks like a fingernail!

"What is this thing? It's so sticky..." Shaking his head, he turned to a blood-colored jade box. As soon as he opened it, a blast of searing heat burst out.

At first, he wasn't particularly impressed, but when he looked closer, his eyes went wide. Gasping, he leaned in toward the tiny tongue of flame inside the jade box.

That fire wasn't ordinary flame, but was emanating from an object at the bottom of the box—a type of Immortal Grass whose leaves bore four different colors. Because of the four colors on its leaves, the flames on the plant itself were also four-colored, making it look extremely bizarre.

Yan Xiaobao took a deep breath, his heart pounding. After a careful inspection, he confirmed his initial guess. "Four-leaf Immortal Grass! A rare item that can produce four-colored flame!"

"This mutation only appears once among a hundred thousand clumps of three-leaf Immortal Grass. Four-leaf Immortal Grass can produce four-colored flame..." Yan Xiaobao's eyes began to shine. How could he have imagined that his storage bag would contain such an item?

For disciples of the other three sects, it might only be something used in concocting medicines or for cultivation practice. But for Yan Xiaobao, it was like a priceless treasure.

He hadn't used his little turtle in quite some time—not because he didn't want to, but because fuel for four-colored flame was extremely rare in the sect and he hadn't been able to acquire any.

As he stared at the Four-leaf Immortal Grass, he suddenly remembered something he'd obtained from a disciple of the Blood Flow Sect. Back in the Fallen Sword World, many disciples had besieged him, and he couldn't clearly recall all of their auras. However, there was one disciple who had left some impression; after being killed, he had turned into a mask and tried to escape.

"Yeah, I remember him!" Yan Xiaobao thought, eyes flashing. He clearly remembered grabbing the mask and trying to crush it, but failing. In his haste, he had just sealed it away and tossed it into his bag. [1. The mask incident took place in chapter 163] 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

However, after quite a long time, he was shocked to discover that the mask was nowhere to be found.

"Impossible!" Ignoring the discomfort he'd felt just after returning from the pocket, he drew upon the power of his cultivation base to search again, this time even more thoroughly.

"I couldn't have misremembered. I definitely threw it into my bag. That mask has to be some sort of magical treasure and is actually trying to hide from me!" A conspiratorial gleam appeared in his eyes.

Jutting out his chin, he said, "How dare you play hide-and-seek with Lord Bai, you little mask. Lord Bai could pinch your ashes to dust with a single finger!" The bag in his hand was deathly quiet; you could have heard a needle drop. There wasn't the slightest response from inside. Yan Xiaobao's eyes went wide as he let out a threatening roar. Yet nothing in the bag moved. He jutted his chin out and said, "How dare you play hide-and-seek with Lord Bai, you little mask. Lord Bai could pinch your ashes to dust with a single finger!" The bag in his hand was deathly quiet; you could have heard a needle drop. There wasn't the slightest response from inside. Yan Xiaobao's eyes went wide as he let out a threatening roar. Yet nothing in the bag moved.

Enraged, he sealed it. Then he chuckled coldly, closed his eyes, and began to meditate. A few days later, after he had fully recovered, he circulated his cultivation base and sent golden light surging into the golden Dharma Eye on his forehead.

"All right, little mask, let's see if you can hide from me this time!" He snorted coldly, confirming that he could once again forcibly open his Heavenspan Dharma Eye. Then he opened his storage bag and activated his third eye. As he looked at the bag in his hand, a faint violet gleam appeared in his eye.

In that instant, his mind trembled and everything vanished. His storage bag and everything else turned transparent, revealing a crumpled mask in one corner.

It was hidden in the lining of the bag, slowly merging into the side. Clearly, if given enough time, it would have completely fused with the material of the holding bag and then secretly slipped out the other side.

The moment Yan Xiaobao saw it with his third eye, the mask shuddered and emitted a dazzling light, attempting to shoot out of his hand. Before it could, though, Yan Xiaobao snorted coldly and sent his spiritual power surging into the bag holding the mask.

After wrenching it out from the inner lining of the bag, he pulled it free and held it in his hand, examining it with his third eye. Strangely, only his third eye could see it. None of his other senses, including his normal eyes, could perceive its existence at all.

"How strange," he thought. "Why could I see it in the Fallen Sword World?" He couldn't maintain his third eye for long, so after closing it, he roused his nine Spirit Seas and released some Heavenly Halo. The air above his palm immediately began to distort, and soon, the mask became clearly visible before him.

It was now a flesh-colored mask!

This was the same mask he'd tried to crush in the Fallen Sword World. It looked as delicate as a cicada's wing, and also carried some strange auras that Yan Xiaobao couldn't clearly analyze. "Can it be nurtured with water from the Heavenspan River?"

This was an aura stemming from the material that formed the mask, and Yan Xiaobao found it shocking. Then he recalled how that Blood Flow Sect disciple's soul had entered the mask and tried to escape.

...