Chapter 676 632: Secret Room

'Man, this soil is tough to dig!'

Yang Chan frowned as he looked at the small secret chamber he had spent a full quarter of an hour excavating.

The Heaven-Reaching Supreme Mountain was covered in Grand Arrays, which affected the land and made it extremely solid.

As he dug, it felt less like he was digging through soil and more like hacking away at a block of iron—one that had been tempered multiple times.

If he were truly only at the External Refining Iron Bone Realm, digging out a secret chamber just big enough to hold him would have taken at least two days.

"This mountain is the pillar of the Profound Void Grotto Heaven. It gathers all the Spiritual Qi, which has caused the land here to solidify. If the Taiyu Divine Continent still had Divine Veins, it might have even formed Spirit Ores, which can be used to cultivate Divine Medicines. But now, that's impossible!"

"The convergence of Spirit Veins and Spiritual Qi has made the soil here exceptionally hard and difficult to excavate!"

"But it's not a major issue for you, Master. It just means spending a little more time!"

From within the Profound Yin Hanging Bead, the Black Dragon had been observing the situation in the Merak Sacred Land all along.

Although the Spiritual Qi density in the Profound Void Grotto Heaven was high, it was only relative. He had experienced environments where Spiritual Qi gushed like a spring, so he naturally didn't think much of this place.

Besides, in the current Taiyu Divine Continent, a high concentration of Spiritual Qi was useless. Divine Veins were the only thing that truly mattered.

Without Divine Veins, the Taiyu Divine Continent had no future at all.

Hearing Yang Chan's comment, he chose to speak up. Since arriving at the Merak Sacred Land, his main hope had been for Yang Chan to find information about the Cross-Realm Teleportation Array.

After all, Yang Chan had already obtained the Great Shift Order, which enabled cross-realm travel. If they could just find a Cross-Realm Teleportation Array, they could leave the Taiyu Divine Continent for a world better suited to Martial Arts Cultivation. For the Black Dragon, this was the most important thing of all.

However, seeing that Yang Chan was still set on staying put in the Merak Sacred Land and developing slowly, the Black Dragon knew there was nothing else he could do. He could only go along with Yang Chan's wishes for the time being.

"Mm, one step at a time,"

Yang Chan set down his digging tool, which was already warped out of shape.

Of course, that was also because his digging tool was made of ordinary materials.

Back in the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty, these tools had been more than sufficient for any task, and the same was true even in the Purple Void Secret Realm. He never expected that here, on the Merak Sacred Land's Heaven-Reaching Supreme Mountain, they would fail so completely as to be rendered scrap.

'In a few days, I'll get a new set of digging tools from Chiyu Peak.'

'As a Pharmacist, it's perfectly normal for me to plant Spirit Medicine. Besides, it's a waste to leave these plots in the courtyard empty. Planting some Spirit Medicine would be a good use of the space; otherwise, all this rich Spiritual Qi will go to waste!'

Yang Chan could imagine how much effort it would take to plant Spirit Medicine here.

The plots of land on the surface were better, though. The soil wasn't quite as hard as iron. It was, of course, much tougher than the soil at the Cyan Yuan Sect, but for someone like Yang Chan, or even Han Bingyu, it would just mean spending a bit more time. If they had the right tools, the difficulty would be much lower.

Yang Chan planned to use "planting Spirit Medicine" as an excuse to keep extra digging tools on hand. Not only could he dig secret chambers, but he could also dig tunnels.

At the very least, he could dig a safe escape route.

While he had no intention of tunneling all the way through the Heaven-Reaching Supreme Mountain, it was always good to have a few extra exits.

The Merak Sacred Land seemed relatively safe, but that level of safety wasn't enough for him. Besides, danger sometimes comes from within. Therefore, Yang Chan planned to create several exits. If he ever faced an unavoidable disaster, having an escape route would give him much-needed peace of mind.

'But there's no rush. One step at a time.'

"I'm going to cultivate for a bit."

Yang Chan said slowly, his gaze fixed on the Profound Yin Hanging Bead.

His meaning was clear.

Upon hearing this, the Black Dragon flew directly back into the Profound Yin Hanging Bead. He naturally understood Yang Chan's meaning; this wasn't the first time, and he was long used to it.

He knew that whenever Yang Chan wanted to cultivate without being watched, he would say as much.

So, the Black Dragon was tactful enough to comply. Of course, it also helped that Yang Chan had already made up his mind. Even if the dragon had an objection, it would be useless. Yang Chan would just forcibly send him back into the Profound Yin Hanging Bead and use a Secret Technique to block his perception of the outside world.

He knew Yang Chan was hiding secrets, but he didn't care. Compared to whatever Yang Chan was concealing, he was far more concerned with finding the Cross-Realm Teleportation Array, leaving the Taiyu Divine Continent, and reaching a world suitable for cultivation. Once there, he could focus on recovering his cultivation to the Divine Acupoint Realm and then find a way for an Artifact Spirit to become a True God.

Yang Chan's personal secrets were not particularly important to him. In fact, the stronger Yang Chan's cultivation became, the more helpful it would be. So, he truly didn't care. They were all secrets below the Divine Acupoint level anyway. Compared to the goal of breaking the Human-God Boundary, they were utterly insignificant.

After the Black Dragon entered the Profound Yin Hanging Bead, Yang Chan once again used a Secret Technique to prevent it from observing him.

The Black Dragon had previously witnessed the process of his Tai Chi Longevity Body absorbing Spiritual Qi and evolving into the Innate Tai Chi Longevity Body. Even so, there were some secrets it was better not to share.

Once the Black Dragon's presence vanished, Yang Chan set up a Breath-Concealing Magic Array. Normally, there shouldn't be a major transformation when his Innate Tai Chi Longevity Body absorbed Spiritual Qi. After all, it had already undergone one evolution in the Purple Void Secret Realm, so he didn't expect any significant changes this time.