49: Long Li

Such rapid efficiency couldn't help but make Zhang Daobai daze for a moment, but he quickly snapped back to his senses under the reminder from the earth evasion talisman that it was about to expire.

After retracting the hand holding the void realm suppressing pagoda, Zhang Daobai hurriedly fled towards the surface; he didn't want to be buried in the soil at such a young age.

Upon returning to the surface just before the earth evasion talisman expired, Zhang Daobai secretly resolved in his heart that he must buy a higher rank earth evasion talisman next time.

"Master, I need to rest for a bit."

The White Dragon said in a somewhat weak tone before burrowing back into the void realm suppressing pagoda.

"So weak!" Zhang Daobai couldn't help but complain upon seeing this.

After storing the void realm suppressing pagoda into his body, Zhang Daobai met up with Lin Luoxue.

"Do you have any plans next?" Zhang Daobai asked Lin Luoxue.

"I plan to go hunt Yao Beasts."

After clarifying her Dao Heart, Lin Luoxue wanted to gather the three Profound Rank Low Grade five elements spirit items as quickly as possible.

"Then we shall part ways here; I plan to go back and study Alchemy," Zhang Daobai said after thinking for a moment.

"Mhm, be careful on your way."

Lin Luoxue said as she took her sword, preparing to leave the area by flying on it.

"You be careful too," Zhang Daobai called out to Lin Luoxue's retreating back.

"Mhm."

With an almost inaudible response, Lin Luoxue flew into the air on her sword.

Watching Lin Luoxue disappear into the distance, Zhang Daobai then turned and waved to White Moon, saying, "Let's go too."

The golden wings on White Moon's back flapped once, and she flew onto Zhang Daobai's shoulder to lie down.

After leaving the Xuantian Mountain Range, Zhang Daobai put White Moon away and changed out of the disguise he was wearing.

Returning safely to Purple Maple Immortal City without any trouble, Zhang Daobai finally slowed his pace.

"Have you heard? The Chiyang Secret Realm has collapsed!"

"I know! Fortunately, it collapsed just as it was about to close, otherwise, who knows how many people entering the Secret Realm would have died this time?"

"I heard there's another strange thing; in that Bath of Fire Pool within the Chiyang Secret Realm, someone stole all the spiritual liquid. Now, people from all the major Families are still investigating."

"Who else could it be but their own people? Only they can get close to that area of the Chiyang Volcano."

"Sigh, what a pity for that Chiyang Secret Realm. The closest Secret Realm to our Purple Maple Immortal City is just gone like that."

"I heard that some Evil Cultivators were causing destruction inside, which caused the Secret Realm to collapse."

"..."

On the way back to the Small Courtyard, Zhang Daobai heard all sorts of rumors about the collapse of the Chiyang Secret Realm.

Some said it was done by Evil Cultivators, some said someone struck a spatial fissure while mining, and others said the Secret Realm's lifespan was up and it collapsed on its own... All kinds of bizarre explanations made Zhang Daobai deeply feel what it meant to spread rumors.

Fortunately, not many people knew about the heart of the secret realm, so for the time being, not many people linked the cause of the Secret Realm's collapse to the heart of the secret realm.

After some time passed, even if someone realized it, finding clues by then would be as difficult as Ascension.

After returning to the Small Courtyard, Zhang Daobai entered the Small World.

As soon as he entered, the Artifact Spirit, the White Dragon, appeared before him.

"Master," the White Dragon spoke listlessly.

"Why do you look like you have a kidney deficiency?"

Zhang Daobai asked in confusion, looking at this Artifact Spirit that only looked like a dragon on the outside but had nothing else in common with one.

"Replying to Master, because I am an Artifact Spirit, everything about me is related to the void realm suppressing pagoda. Because the void realm suppressing pagoda is damaged, my state isn't much better."

The White Dragon explained weakly while lying on a nearby rock.

"Alright, you just lie there then."

Hearing this explanation, Zhang Daobai couldn't say much more.

"Thank you, Master."

After changing to a more comfortable position, the White Dragon spoke its thanks.

"By the way, I'm going to change your name, you don't mind, right?"

Zhang Daobai really couldn't stand the bizarre name 'Tender Meat', so he asked.

"I don't mind, Master!"

Hearing this, the White Dragon immediately perked up and nodded hurriedly in response.

The White Dragon had endured the bizarre name 'Tender Meat' for who knows how many years.

It had always wanted to change it before, but its previous master insisted that the name was great and was unwilling to change it.

"By the way, do you have a gender?"

Before thinking of a name, Zhang Daobai suddenly thought of something and hurriedly asked.

The main reason was that the White Dragon's voice was always listless and sounded very neutral, making it impossible to determine a specific gender.

"I do. Actually, when my previous master was shaping me, he added a White Dragon soul; the gender of this dragon soul is female, so I should also be considered female."

The White Dragon lowered its head somewhat shyly and said in a soft voice, its tail wagging.

Zhang Daobai: ...What the hell are you being shy for? I'm not going to inspect you.

"Since your current image is a White Dragon, then your surname shall be Long. You'll be called Long..."

"Long Li! How about Long Li?"

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Daobai suddenly thought of a name he considered quite good and said with a smile.

"Long Li..."

From the information transmitted by Zhang Daobai, the White Dragon knew which 'Li' it was, and its eyes immediately brightened.

"Thank you, Master! I like this name very much!"

Long Li tumbled excitedly in the air a few times before quickly lying back down.

"It's good that you like it."

Hearing this, Zhang Daobai couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief; he really wasn't good at naming things.

"By the way, Long Li, if I bury that Spiritual Vein into the Small World, will the Spiritual Qi from that Spiritual Vein still leak out?"

After the naming session ended, Zhang Daobai began to ask about serious business.

"Yes, because of the existence of that crack, the Small World simply cannot lock in Spiritual Qi," Long Li nodded and explained.

"Then if I use the heart of the secret realm, roughly how many would be needed to patch the hole in the Small World?" Zhang Daobai thought for a moment and then continued to inquire.

"If they are of the same quality as the previous heart of the secret realm, at least about a thousand would be needed."

Long Li uttered a shocking number, making Zhang Daobai daze in shock.

A thousand hearts of the Secret Realm—who knows how long it would take to find that many.

"Of course! I can also use Spatial Power to Seal the Spiritual Vein within a small space, preventing the Spiritual Qi from leaking out."

"However, one problem is that this Seal can only last for about a year. If it needs to be maintained further, I would need to continuously replenish the Spatial Power."

Long Li changed the subject and proposed another plan.

"Then let's use this method for now." Zhang Daobai helplessly could only choose the second option.

"It's fine, Master. As long as you repair me to over fifty percent, I can absorb Spatial Power on my own and then slowly recover."

Seeing Zhang Daobai's face full of melancholy, Long Li hurriedly spoke up to comfort him.

"You even have this function?" Zhang Daobai couldn't help but look at it with some surprise upon hearing this.

"Of course! No matter how you look at it, I am a High Grade Immortal Artifact, inherently containing the Law of space."

"Furthermore, the World Origin within this Small World already possesses self-recovery capabilities. As long as I recover a portion of my power and cooperate with the Small World's Origin, it can slowly recover on its own."

Long Li slightly raised its head and explained with eyes full of pride.

"If that's the case, then it's much simpler." Zhang Daobai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Subsequently, Zhang Daobai found an open space on a mountain top with beautiful scenery and then directed Long Li to place the Spiritual Vein inside.

Although this Spiritual Vein was only a second-rank Spiritual Vein, it was completely more than enough for Zhang Daobai's own cultivation.