"Prove it with how?" asked Ji Haofei.
Li Shen smiled. The number of cameras inside the treasure dimension had been significantly reduced, there was no sign that the people from Ming Yuan Sect would come and repair them.
The man formed a complicated hand formation in front of them, Ji Haofei saw what Li Shen was about to do. He ordered his men to go ahead to prevent Li Shen from completing his technique.
Even so, Li Shen managed to evade them. None of Ji Haofei’s men managed to prevent Li Shen from perfecting his hand formation.
[12 Dragons Technique: Azure Dragon Roar]
A pillar of sky-blue light appeared on Li Shen’s body, radiating strongly into the sky until it broke through the cloud boundary and invited a huge rumble of thunder and storm. Ji Haofei saw this, he didn’t know anything about the 12 Dragon Technique.
[12 Dragon Technique: Tianlong Guardian of the Sky]
[Twelve Dragon Technique: Yanlong World-Destroying Sky Flame]
Not just one, but three dragons manifesting Li Shen’s power appeared at that place. Ji Haofei was terrified, he could feel the power momentum of the three dragons was so terrifying.
"How can he-"
Simply moving his hand forward, Li Shen commanded the three dragons to levitate to attack Ji Haofei and his men. The three different colored dragons responded while roaring loudly, startling many of them.
Ji Haofei reached out to summon a barrier of his spiritual energy. He was confident that he could stop the dragon using his cultivation level. However, something happened.
Their combined strength failed to stop the three dragons’ attacks, enough to leave Ji Haofei and his Soul Formation partner injured. However, for the three Nascent Souls, they were instantly destroyed when hit by the dragon’s attack.
"D-He can kill Nascent Soul cultivators so easily?" asked Ji Haofei’s companion, frightened.
"Tch!"
"Who are you, Shen Li?" asked Ji Haofei, getting more and more annoyed.
"I’m just a wandering cultivator, that’s all."
Li Shen summoned a spark of spiritual energy at his fingertips, directing the attack forward to crush Ji Haofei. Ji Haofei didn’t want to go without a fight. He activated the concept of dao and tried to stop Li Shen’s dragon attack by using full moon projection.
The full moon projection of Ji Haofei’s dao concept could not last long. A crack appeared and a bright light flashed from within the moon. Slowly, the crack grew bigger and caused the complete destruction of the full moon.
Ji Haofei was injured, his chest tight with drained spiritual energy, his mouth vomiting blood in response to the defeat of his defensive technique. The man had never expected Li Shen to have such abilities.
"We can’t possibly win against him," Ji Haofei declared.
He was terrified. Ji Haofei flew away leaving the place accompanied by his fellow Soul Formation cultivator beside him. Li Shen saw Ji Haofei’s panicked face, he certainly wouldn’t let him leave so easily.
"You attacked me. Now, you’re trying to escape!" said Li Shen.
"It’s not that easy."
With one footstep forward, Li Shen’s figure arrived in front of Ji Haofei who had flown far away from the original location. Ji Haofei panicked. He again flew away in the other direction avoiding Li Shen, still Li Shen managed to chase him.
Li Shen’s figure always appeared in front of Ji Haofei’s face, in lightning speed exceeding Soul Formation’s flying ability. Ji Haofei was furious, the veins in his temples tightened, his palms clenched tightly.
"What do you want from me?!" snapped Ji Haofei.
"That teleportation token," Li Shen replied.
"What?"
"Activate the token."
Ji Haofei was getting annoyed, he didn’t expect that Li Shen’s request for him was to activate the Teleportation Token. Ji Haofei would not want to do it. He would rather die in the Ming Yuan Sect’s treasure dimension than resign from the pill tournament.
"I will not give up. I will fight back!" declared Ji Haofei, Li Shen sighed while shaking his head, feeling astonished by the man’s stubbornness.
Just when Ji Haofei was about to use his dao concept again, Li Shen touched his forehead and brought up the Dao Domain flag. The appearance of the Dao Domain Flag shocked Ji Haofei.
"Dao Domain Flag? You’re not a Nascent Soul cultivator?" he snapped.
"You decide for yourself."
Li Shen let the flag float in the air, the man pointed his hand forward to immediately activate the dao domain flag. Slowly, the area around them turned into an Alchemist Hall with many people inside, an optical illusion.
From the dao domain flag, Ji Haofei could see the figure of Li Shen who won the pill battle and got Ming Yue, while Ji Haofei looked down. It was a crushing blow to him.
"D-Domain Dao?" asked Ji Haofei, shocked.
"You’re too early to show off your dao concept. I have a stronger dao concept than you," Li Shen explained.
"This place will change according to your heart and mind. Once trapped inside the Dao Domain Flag, it’s hard to get out. You should know that."
Several times, the optical illusions in this place changed according to the lives of the two cultivators. Depression and regret haunted them, their minds were affected to make their soul resolve waver.
At the critical moment their resolve faltered, their lives were completely threatened. If forcibly expelled, they would lose their cultivation by half.
"Feel their suffering and regret. I will return when the time is right for you to come out."
The Dao Domain flag absorbed the souls of Ji Haofei and co. in, trapping them in the endless illusion of the dao domain. That left their physical bodies in front of Li Shen, both bodies falling from the sky of the Treasure Dimension.
"Five people have died, now there are six people left."
Just when Li Shen was about to hunt down the other six cultivators, the sect elders had fixed the camera. They also entered into the Treasure Dimension to confirm the state of the cultivators. Li Shen hurriedly hid his Dao Domain Flag.
"They won’t suspect it. I am Shen Li. I’m a Nascent Soul stage cultivator."
"I’d better go find materials for my pill right away."
He flew elsewhere and away from the area where the elders were checking. Their arrival was a few minutes too late before Ji Haofei was caught in Li Shen’s Dao Domain flag.
With Ji Haofei gone, it became easier for Li Shen to win the pill tournament. He only needed to finish the test in this round and proceed to the final round. That was if the other participants made it through.
However, Ji Haofei’s disappearance was a bad omen for the Ming Yuan Sect. The Ji family would definitely hold the sect accountable for the impact of Ji Haofei’s disappearance. That would make the situation in Ming Zhao Kingdom unfavorable.
Ming Gong also had to think of a way to convince Ji Haofei that he could find the man, even though it was difficult for him to do so.
The further he went, the more Li Shen found precious materials to refine the age-extending pill according to his plan. In total, he needed 7 grade five materials and 3 grade six materials to do so.
Not alone, but Li Shen found other cultivators along his material quest. He acted polite and friendly, showing no signs of being aggressive with Li Shen.
"Greetings, fellow daoist," greeted the woman, Li Shen responding in kind.
"Have you found the materials you need?" asked Li Shen, the woman nodded.
From the materials, Li Shen could guess that the woman was trying to make cultivation pills, either to help someone break through or something else.
Li Shen had no problem with it. The woman was free to do other things as she wished, he would have a fair fight with her in the Alchemist Hall later.
The man flew back out of the hovering hill and arrived at another hill, containing the materials needed to refine the age-enhancing pill.
"So easy to gather materials without anyone interfering."
Li Shen returned his attention to another floating hill, a distance away from his current location. There, he found the other materials he needed to refine the age-enhancing pill.
In total, Li Shen had obtained all the materials he needed for the pill. He took out a teleportation token and activated it, making Li Shen’s figure instantly teleport from the Treasure Dimension to arrive at the Alchemist Hall.
"The first participant to arrive, Shen Li!" said Yun Zhi, to applause from many people, including Ming Yue.
"Looks like nothing happened in the Treasure Dimension. Thankfully he’s fine," Ming Gong replied.
"Ji Haofei must hurry if he doesn’t want to fall behind him."
Ming Yue nodded as he turned his head, "It looks like today’s pill tournament matches will be much more interesting than before."
Li Shen looked up at the podium, meeting eyes with Ming Yue. He would keep his promise to her to win the pill tournament, now that Ji Haofei was gone.
"I will win this pill tournament for you, Ming Yue."
"Wait and watch!"