Upon hearing Venerable White's words and realizing that there was nothing wrong with his body, Song Shuhang sighed out of relief in his heart. At the same time, he had a dream-like fantasy feeling in his heart.

Second Stage True Master Realm? I am about to enter the Second Stage Realm???

The qi and blood in all five apertures within his body combined into one, opening up his dantian while turning into true qi. He was becoming a Second Stage True Master—the first enemy in Song Shuhang's memory, 'Altar Master', was precisely a Second Stage True Master.

At that time, Song Shuhang could still remember distinctly that even though Altar Master was severely poisoned by Medicine Master, when the western monk, a First Stage Dragon Gate Realm, fought against Altar Master, he was unable to put up a fight against him. With a light strike from Altar Master's palm, where true qi was gathered and concentrated, all of the western monk's defenses were shattered, forcing the western monk to flee within the train.

Even though Song Shuhang had the talisman treasure given to him by Senior Seven Lives Talisman in his possession, he still had to use two 'sword talismans' as well as one evil-warding talisman to fight the Altar Master. The difference between a first and a second stage cultivator was that big.

Now, he was actually about to step into the Second Stage Realm?

As he was thinking, the qi and blood energy within Song Shuhang's five apertures continuously flowed to his lower abdomen and forcefully filled up the embryonic form of the 'dantian'. Afterward, he just had to wait for the rest of his qi and blood to flow into his dantian and change from illusory to real, becoming true qi. Then, Song Shuhang would have officially stepped into the Second Stage True Master Realm!

There wasn't any heavenly tribulation when a cultivator got promoted from the First Stage Realm to the Second Stage Realm.

Or rather, when the qi and blood energy within the five apertures transformed into a dragon gate, that was the 'heavenly tribulation'.

And after the First Stage, every time a cultivator increased his rank to the next stage, he would undergo a different kind of heavenly tribulation based on his personal attributes. It was not only a test for him but also a training for the cultivator's body. The power accumulated by undergoing a heavenly tribulation was a good helping hand to bring the cultivator to a higher realm.

Just as Song Shuhang was immersed in the feeling of promotion to the next realm, Venerable White, who was next to him, said, "Shuhang, before you completely promote to Second Stage True Master, do you want to consider pausing the promotion, slightly delaying the process?"

"Delaying the process?" Song Shuhang looked puzzledly at Senior White. But deep in his heart, he knew that if Senior White suggested that, it was definitely good for him. Hence, he asked, "Senior White, could it be that my process of being promoted to the next realm is too fast, and my will is not too firm yet? And since my mental state is not ready for the next realm, I need more time to train my mental state for a while more before getting promoted to the Second Stage?"

"..." Venerable White.

A moment later, Venerable White didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he said, "Shuhang… xianxia novels, movies, and whatnot are fun to watch and laugh about. But, don't take the contents for real."

"..." Song Shuhang.

"Pfff~" Yu Jiaojiao who was observing broke out in a melodious laughter. If the upper half of her body could be transformed into a human body, her laughter would definitely be a 100 times cuter.

"Cough." Venerable White coughed and explained, "Previously, didn't I mention to you the Thirty-Three Divine Beasts' Sect's lost technique, the ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts' Technique❯?"

Song Shuhang's eyes immediately lit up. "The technique that could create a pseudo innate true qi even after missing the best time for cultivation practice?"

Venerable White smiled slightly and nodded. "Shuhang, you have already missed the best age for cultivation practice and lost the 'innate true qi' from your mother's body. In the future, before you get promoted to the Fourth Stage Innate Realm, your speed would be much slower compared to other cultivators who have that innate true qi, and you would also have to consume a lot more resources. But if there were a way for you to gather that pseudo innate true qi, the difference between you and those cultivators with the innate true qi would decrease greatly. Sharpening your axe will not delay your job of cutting wood, what is your choice?"

"I choose to wait!" Song Shuhang called out without hesitating—only a fool would yearn for short-term pleasure; one ought to plan long-term. "However, Senior White, I don't know how to pause the process of promoting to the Second Stage, where's the pause button?"

"Don't be anxious." Venerable laughed. "And you don't have to worry, within ten days at most, I'd be able to bring the lost technique of 'Thirty-Three Divine Beasts' Sect' to you. You won't have to wait for too long."

Venerable White was full of confidence. From the looks of it, it seemed as though he'd already made some progress with regards to the 'Thirty-Three Divine Beasts' Sect's technique'? This was the formidable power of a Seventh Stage Venerable!

Yu Jiaojiao looked at Song Shuhang and secretly came to the conclusion that his luck was quite good—this was one of the pros of having good relations with a Venerable.

"Almost there." As he was speaking, Venerable White reached out with his palm and a layer of dark earth-type aura appeared on it. Thereafter, Venerable White struck Song Shuhang's abdomen with his palm.

In the next moment, the link between the qi and bloody energy within Song Shuhang's five apertures and the embryonic dantian was cut off. The process of his promotion to the Second Stage was forcefully cut off by Venerable White. But such a sealing technique was very special—even though he cut off his promotion to the next rank, it did not inflict any harm on Song Shuhang's body.

Eh, is this the 'Qi Storage Expanding Technique? Yu Jiaojiao thought as she saw Venerable White executing the hand technique.

The hand technique that Venerable White chose to pause Song Shuhang's promotion process with was the 'Qi Storage Expanding Technique' that cultivator sects used on extraordinarily gifted core disciples when they got promoted to the Second Stage.

They made use of the special technique to pause the process of being promoted to the Second Stage. Then… before the seal of the 'Qi Storage Expanding Technique' disappeared, the disciples would take advantage of it to fill up their five apertures with qi and blood again.

When the seal of the technique disappeared, the disciples would be able to channel the new qi and blood energy within their five apertures to the embryonic dantian once again.

In this way, the disciples affected by 'Qi Storage Expanding Technique' would have a newborn capacity in their dantian that was much bigger than that of the disciples who got promoted in one go.

Unfortunately, the sealing technique could only be used once. This was because when the second batch of qi and blood energy was channeled into the dantian, it would directly start transforming into true qi, completing the promotion.

Nevertheless… before the 'Qi Storage Expanding Technique' was executed, it seemed to required one day of preparation. That was also to say that Venerable White had probably already prepared the seal of 'Qi Storage Expanding Technique' way in advance, waiting for the moment when Song Shuhang got promoted to apply it.

Isn't he treating Song Shuhang too well?

Is he Senior Venerable White's direct disciple? Is that why he's treating him so well? The Qi Storage Expanding Technique and the pseudo innate true qi… could it be that he is his descendant?

Just as Yu Jiaojiao was letting her imagination run wild, Venerable White lightly snapped his finger. The illusory reality dissipated.

The three of them were back on the barren island.

❄️❄️❄️

After the three of them returned to the island, Doudou turned around and looked at them. Thereafter, he saw Yu Jiaojiao's half-fish and half-human body and became speechless.

Doudou silently turned his head around… Doudou had two aesthetic point of views—that of a human, and that of a dog's.

But regardless of which aesthetic point of view he used, Yu Jiaojiao was not even close to the 'beautiful mermaid' he had in mind.

Is this the legendary half-fish and half-human? My fantasies are crumbling.

Next to Doudou was the small monk, who was sternly glaring at Wolf One and the gang. He was afraid of them getting away. He was earnestly carrying out the task handed to him by Venerable White.

And next to Guoguo, there was a short-haired woman. She was very petite, and a red light would often flash in her beautiful eyes. Even though she was petite, she had the loftiness of a tiger patrolling the mountains and forests.

"Eh? Miss Riverly Purple Mist?" Song Shuhang called out the moment he saw her.

She was Medicine Master's disciple, Miss Riverly Purple Mist—even though she had always wanted to become Medicine Master's wife.

Similarly, Riverly Purple Mist looked at Song Shuhang and at first, her small face tensed up… but when her gaze fell on Song Shuhang's smooth and shiny head, she couldn't stifle her laughter.

"Puhahaha~ Shuhang, you became a monk?" Riverly Purple Mist couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"I did not become a monk!" Song Shuhang shouted. "It was because of a certain reason that I ended up changing to a more refreshing hairstyle!"

"Yeah, this hairstyle is not bad. Especially in the hot summer." Riverly Purple Mist covered her mouth, and her red eyes blinked... perhaps when she went back, she could shave Medicine Master's head bald, too? When Medicine Master became a monk, the chances of other female cultivators developing an interest in him would be lower. Right, she could also change his daily clothes to a monk's robes, eliminating the other female cultivators' interest in him.

Song Shuhang had completely no idea what Riverly Purple Mist was thinking when she was looking at him. He asked, "Miss Purple Mist, why did you come here?"

"I'm here to give the girl from the Chu Family some new medication for her injuries. Let me give it to you, the new medication has a manual inside. Even though it can't speed up her recovery, it can ensure no hidden injuries remain. Also, before I head back, I was thinking of taking the test subjects Medicine Master requires—according to Senior White, because of some reason, fellow daoist Copper Trigram wanted to act as a matchmaker. Hence the task of bringing back the test subjects was passed to me." Riverly Purple Mist wore a beautiful smile on her face.

As she was talking, she thought of the text message Medicine Master received.

Venerable White: Medicine Master, fellow daoist Copper Trigram disappeared with a 'pew~', send someone else to collect the test subjects.

Medicine Master: Roger that!

Speaking of which, Riverly Purple Mist was rather curious what that 'pew~' meant.

Song Shuhang reached out with his hand and took the new medication.

"Oh right, before you use the new medication, you got to activate the medicinal property. Just look for any male cultivator and get him to put a few drops of blood to activate it," Riverly Purple Mist casually instructed him.

Male cultivator's blood?

Song Shuhang looked at the small monk but immediately shook his head. The small monk was still very young, how could he make him use his blood?

Thereafter, he looked at Wolf One and the rest who were laying on the ground.

Yeah, a big source of blood. I can just get a random member of that bunch and take a few drops of blood, I guess? Song Shuhang thought to himself.

"Shuhang, draw a few drops of your blood." At this time, Venerable White said, "There is a problem with the bodies of those guys on the ground, do not use their blood."