As soon as he entered the secret zone, all the acupoints on Chen Jingzhai’s body vibrated, resonating with his environment.

Immense essence power rushed into him through the pores of his entire body. It was then integrated into his meridians after being purified by the acupoints.

In the time it took for him to take a few breaths, the spiritual energy in his body had increased a tiny bit.

Even this little trace of increase should not be underestimated. At Daoxuan Peak, he needed to expand spiritual stones in order to gain even this little bit of boost.

“How rich is the essence power here?” Chen Jingzhai exclaimed.

The flame wings on his back dissipated as his eyes surveyed his surroundings, taking in the environment around him.

At the moment, he was standing in the middle of an expansive prairie.

Further into the distance was flat land—extremely open and seemingly boundless.

Beneath his feet was a dense carpet of green grass mixed with various unknown small flowers.

A breeze was blowing as the flowers and grass swayed gently in waves.

Just as Chen Jingzhai was about to make a move, he sensed something in the distance.

His expression altered slightly as he disappeared directly into the ground.

After a brief moment, three Foundational disciples immediately appeared in the same place where Chen Jingzhai had just been.

“He’s gone already?”

“Where did he go?”

“Move out and find him!”

The three of them whispered. Then, without the slightest hesitation, they dispersed in different directions in search of their target.

After a while, they reconvened at the same spot again, as none of them was able to find Chen Jingzhai.

They looked at each other, grunted coldly, and went in different directions again.

Not long after that, Chen Jingzhai reappeared in a place not too far away.

He frowned slightly, and there was displeasure in his expression.

He had not wanted to sink to the same low level as the youngsters.

It was not because he held himself in high regard or anything. But, in reality, he had a late start in joining the clan. Thus, a late start in almost everything.

The disciples of the clan were all older than him, and Chen Jingzhai had always been vigilant and aware of this fact.

At Tianyahai Pavilion, he kept a low profile and concentrated on alchemy.

But despite being unassuming and humble, these people still refused to live and let live.

Since they joined forces, it was obvious that they were not afraid of the Little Master-Uncle.

“It seems that I have to teach them a lesson this time!” Chen Jingzhai thought to himself.

Chen Jingzhai calmed himself down. There was a touch of indifference in his eyes and a little more depth.

He had not been long in the clan, and there were not many people he approved of.

This group of insolent disciples was decidedly not going to be among the list of people he would approve.

With his sleeves waving in the wind, Chen Jingzhai levitated as he rushed forward.

He chased in the direction of one of the three who had left.

Halfway through, he escaped into the earth.

After his celestial bone had been formulated and after having advanced to the Foundation Establishment Plane, Chen Jingzhai’s earth escape spell had become even more powerful.

His speed was more than twice as fast as before, and more importantly, he was undetectable.

After he had achieved the divine mind, together with the Presence Concealment Technique that was constantly in operation by him, he could cover up any fluctuations caused by the spell.

Even other spells had not had such an effect as this.

It was all because his physical body was unusually and closely connected with heaven and earth.

It could only be done with the combination of the Presence Concealment Technique and the divine mind, as well as deep integration with the power of the five elements.

Therefore…

He appeared right behind this one disciple from Lijian Peak and, with one slap, rendered the man unconscious.

His sudden appearance was without any warning, and the attack came out of nowhere, producing no movement whatsoever.

This Foundational disciple simply had no time to react.

After the man fainted, Chen Jingzhai took off his storage bag.

Then, he smashed the man’s transportation slip and watched him be teleported out.

Thus, the first inner disciple was eliminated!

He was not the only one. With more or less the same method, Chen Jingzhai got rid of the other two.

He sent them out easily enough.

Feiliu Valley.

The three of them appeared at the entrance of the cave, one after the other, and fell directly into the pool.

Elder Qin’s expression remained steady, and there was even a little smile in his eyes.

But the Golden Core Sage of the peak where the three disciples were from couldn’t sit by and do nothing.

This Golden Core Sage made a move from mid-air and fished out his disciples from the pool.

He slammed them hard on their backs, which not only dispersed all the water but also woke them up.

If he hadn’t done that, they would probably be unable to wake up so quickly.

Not only did Chen Jingzhai render them unconscious, but he also sealed the spiritual power inside their bodies.

This was the most basic ability of the first basic formation, the Yin Yang Formation.

It was not a spell, but a technique that was part of the Yin Yang Formation.

It was a bit pedestrian and needed to be in close range to the target to be used. However, its desired effect was excellent.

This was especially true when Chen Jingzhai employed it.

The three Golden Core Sages were vastly knowledgeable and recognized it right away.

Although the expression on their faces was not great, there was nothing they could say.

These three Foundational disciples looked gloomy. Their expressions shifted between embarrassment and depression as they hung their heads without saying anything.

None of them suffered the slightest injury, but their storage bags were lost, and their transportation slips were broken.

It could only be that they were sent out by somebody instead of encountering demons or monsters.

However, this dismissal was a little too fast. They had only just entered the secret zone before they were kicked out almost right away.

The whole process did not even last more than five minutes. It was indeed far too humiliating!

But no one said anything. The air was thick with embarrassment, and one couldn’t wait to get out of this place.

In the meantime, at Feiliu Valley.

The Golden Core Sage from each peak had different expressions on their faces.

But most of them had a playfulness in their eyes.

At any rate, it wasn’t disciples from their peak who made a fool of themselves. It was enough that these three made an example of themselves.

Sage Cui, from Daoxuan Peak, even had a smile in his eyes, feeling inexplicably pleased.

Among these three, not one of them was from Daoxuan Peak, and they had been taught a lesson by Little Master-Uncle.

The thing that they worried about the most did not happen. Better yet, disciples from the other peak made a fool of themselves.

Now that Sage Cui was able to put his worries aside, it was only natural that he was smiling.

In the secret zone.

Chen Jingzhai did not much care about these three people.

Exploring the secret zone was a priority, and he wanted to hurry toward the mountains ahead.

The secret zone looked quite extensive. Just this area of prairie alone was an endless open space.

The mountains ahead seemed elusive. Nevertheless, he felt that there might be a great harvest that was waiting for him yonder.

After all, Elder Qin did tell them that this place was likely a remnant type of secret zone, and there may be a cave residence somewhere.

Generally speaking, cave residences were usually located in the mountains.

But just now, when Chen Jingzhai escaped into the earth, he realized right away that something was not right.

While he was in the state of earth escape, he was extremely sensitive to the layers of the soil.

This time, as he escaped into the ground, his divine mind detected something that was quickly approaching.

Before he could even sense what it was, Chen Jingzhai had an inexplicably strong feeling of danger.

He did not hesitate before he flashed away immediately.

[Bang!]

Suddenly, an explosion sounded over the prairie, and a figure rushed out from among the grass.

The ground blasted open as grass and flowers were overturned, revealing a hole in the ground.

Chen Jingzhai stood in the void, looking forward with a solemn expression.

A gray shadow bolted out from the hole in the ground of the prairie.

It came forth with speed invisible to the naked eye, charging at Chen Jingzhai, who was in mid-air.

With a wave, Chen Jingzhai unleashed a wave of spiritual power that surged from his sleeve.

It hit the gray shadow accurately.

The gray shadow paused briefly in the air before being knocked into, flying outward.

It was only at that moment that Chen Jingzhai could clearly make out what it was with the help of the divine mind.

“What a gigantic shadow mouse!”

Chen Jingzhai frowned, finding it a little unsettling.

Shadow mice were known for stealing spiritual herbs and nibbling on the roots of spirit plants.

Most of them liked to prowl around medicine gardens, and most of the shadow mice were not much of anything.

Not much of anything meant that they were not even Grade 1 creatures.

The only thing they were good at was speed, which usually made them troublesome.

Generally speaking, the most common task assigned to the disciples in the Meditation Plane was to exterminate these shadow mice.

The disciples at Level 3 of the Meditation Plane could exercise the basic five elements spell to exterminate them.

But the shadow mouse in front of him was different. It was the size of an average person’s skull.

This size alone had already exceeded the normal size of a shadow mouse several times over.

More importantly, the speed of this thing in front of him could pose a serious threat to Foundational cultivators.

And its natural ability to drill through the ground now seemed to have amplified and become more powerful.

[Squeak!]

The head-sized shadow mouse was thrown off by a wave released from Chen Jingzhai’s sleeve.

After it landed on the ground, it screamed angrily and glared with a pair of reddish eyes.

In an instant, it scooted back into the grass.

“It ran off just like that?” Chen Jingzhai was stunned. It seemed that this little thing was timider than he imagined!