Liu Wuhuang’s breakthrough to the 2nd level of the Earth Realm wasn’t as prominent as Li Fuchen’s breakthrough to the 1st level of the Earth Realm.
If the description of the qi force developed by Li Fuchen’s breakthrough was a giant dragon, Liu Wuhuang’s breakthrough would be considered a giant python. That was quite a significant difference.
Even so, the 2nd level of the Earth Realm was still the 2nd level. The qi presence was like a tornado storm, giving off a lot of pressure to Xiao Libie, Chen Fanghua, and Yu Wen Tian.
"With the combined abilities of the five of us, we will be able to go against all three sects now."
Xiao Libie was very pleased. Previously, Li Fuchen was the only one who could fight against the disciples from the three sects. They couldn’t even help in any way, and that made him frustrated. The feeling of being protected was undesirable.
The stone structures were massive in size, and the five of them continued to explore deeper.
***
"Kek kek, finally at the 2nd level of the Earth Realm."
"So this is how it feels to be at the 2nd level of the Earth Realm?"
In the deeper parts of the stone structure was a medium sized herb garden. Li Wuxue, Duan Hai, and Duan Muyou had all advanced to the 2nd level of the Earth Realm. Three massive qi presences rose up into the sky. The qi pressure that came from the three of them caused people who were within a few hundred meter radius of them to suffocate from the pressure.
"It seems like the heavens are looking out for us, we actually found a medium sized herb garden that contained six Earth Shattering Fruits." Duan Muyou laughed lightly.
"We can now single handedly defeat Li Fuchen. If we join hands, we’ll be able to turn him into dust in a single move." Li Wuxue sounded serious.
The feeling of being strong was amazing. The ability to control others' life and death was even more satisfying.
Duan Hai didn’t say a word, but the killer aura that came from his body was much more convincing than any useless statement.
It was obvious that the existence of Li Fuchen caused a huge blow to his emotions.
"Alright, we have broken through. It’s your turn now." Li Wuxue said to Black Fiend, Ling Huang, and Jiang Xiaomao.
There were a total of six Earth Shattering Fruits, each of the three sects got two. Only Yan Qingwu, White Fiend, and Ghost Girl Ye Hua didn’t get their share.
Yan Qingwu previously found a small sized herb garden, so she should already have an Earth Shattering Fruit.
White Fiend and Ghost Girl Ye Hua would just have to wait.
"Good!"
Black Fiend, Ling Huang, and Jiang Xiaomao couldn’t wait to sit and cultivate. After a dozen qi revolutions, they consumed the Earth Shattering Fruit.
***
As the sky grew darker, a star could be faintly seen.
Li Fuchen and group constantly moved deeper into the stone structures, hoping to find a second herb garden.
It was not known how much time had passed. Several miles away to the east was a wave of energy wave that caused one's heart to palpate.
"Someone is breaking through." Chen Fanghua frowned.
"It should be Li Wuxue’s group." Xiao Libie frowned too.
As their ability was being upgraded, their enemies were going through the same process too. But they did not know how many of them were at the 2nd level of the Earth Realm. If the majority of them has advanced to the 2nd level of the Earth Realm, then everything was back to square one.
"We need to hurry up and find the second herb garden." Liu Wuhuang mentioned.
Li Fuchen nodded. It was too easy to advance within the Hundred Herbs Hidden Domain. A single stalk of herb was sufficient to advance. Now that they were at the core of the domain, it would be even easier to advance their cultivation levels.
It’s fortunate that one could not continuously consume the Earth Shattering Fruit. If they consumed a second one, it’s effects would be drastically reduced. With a third fruit, it’s effect would only be 10% of the first fruit. In summary, the more you consumed, the weaker its effects. After the third fruit, there would no longer be anymore effects.
If not, having eight or ten of these Earth Shattering Fruits would allow one to easily progress to the 9th level of the Earth Realm.
***
In the medium sized herb garden, Ling Huang, Black Fiend, and Jiang Xiaomao had completed their progression.
The three of their qi presences were unbelievably vicious. Their eyes were either sharp as a sabre, filled with intimidating evil qi, or scheming and deceptive. They were now three totally different individuals since two hours ago.
"Li Fuchen, wash your neck and wait for me!" Black Fiend laughed heartily.
Ling Huang said, "As soon as he appears, I shall let him taste the feeling of being sliced by a thousand blades."
"Leave that female Azure Water Sect disciple to me. She looks so delicate and tender, it should be an enjoyable experience to play with her. After I kill her, I can still make her into a human skin puppet." Jiang Xiaomao let out a perverted look.
On the ground not far away was Yan Qingwu who was seated with a frowning face. This wasn’t the first time she heard these people mentioning the name of Li Fuchen.
'Within this short half a year’s time, it seems you have improved your ability by quite a bit.' Yan Qingwu thought in her heart.
During midnight, Li Fuchen and his group finally found the second herb garden.
In this herb garden, there were only two stalks of Earth Shattering Fruits. Luckily, Xiao Libie and Chen Fanghua were the only ones who had yet to receive their share of Earth Shattering Fruits.
As for the rest of the herbs in this garden, they all belonged to Li Fuchen.
"I have already consumed one Earth Shattering Fruit. This one wouldn’t be as effective anymore." Chen Fanghua gave up the Earth Shattering Fruit and offered it to Li Fuchen.
Li Fuchen replied, "If you consume this Earth Shattering Fruit, you would have at least a 10% chance to advance to the 2nd level of the Earth Realm."
Chen Fanghua shook her head, "10% is much too small a chance. If you do not despise me for being the weakest link, the 1st level of the Earth Realm is already sufficient for me."
"Naturally I will not despise you. With me here, you can be at ease."
Li Fuchen kept the Earth Shattering Fruit and took out an empty storage bag. He passed it to Chen Fanghua, "This storage bag is for you."
Storage bags that had the logo of the Azure Water Sect had to all be returned. Those that did not have the Azure Water Sect’s logo, would naturally be one’s own belongings.
"Then I shall help myself." Chen Fanghua let out a pleased smile. A storage bag was a very important item for a martial artist. When one was out and about in the outside world, there are always necessities to bring along. It would be inconvenient to not have a storage bag, with it, all problems will be solved.
During an auction in the outside world, whenever a storage bag appeared, it would cause chaos. The price would at least be several tens of thousands gold coins. Sometimes, even if one had gold coins, they wouldn’t be able to get one. After all, those who fought for the storage bag, were people who had a certain level of influence.
Two hours later, Xiao Libie successfully advanced to the 2nd level of the Earth Realm.
One could see that Xiao Libie was extremely excited.
It wasn’t hard to guess why either. For an Earth Realm martial artist, each level was harder to advance to than the next. With his 4 star bone frame, it would take at least one or two years before he could reach the 2nd level of the Earth Realm by normal cultivation methods.
But now, he could easily advance and save a ton of time.
In the past, not every group could discover the core of the domain. It was lucky enough if one or two disciples could find any Earth Shattering Fruits.
As the morning sun broke out and shined down on the lands. The five of them set off again, deeper into the stone structures.
"What a pity, this should be a large sized herb garden, but there isn’t a single stalk of herb." Glancing at the empty large sized herb garden, all five of them showed an expression of regret.
Li Fuchen said, "High grade herbs require many years to nurture. Perhaps these herbs were harvested by the disciples of the four sects a few years ago and have yet to be regrown."
Tiny root hairs would be left in the soil after harvesting. And these root hairs would begin to germinate after countless years and mature into herbs again.
The higher the grade of the herb, the more years required for it to grow.
According to records, some earth class herbs needed at least a few hundred years or even thousands of years to grow again.
The legendary heaven class herb would require at least thousands or tens of thousands of years to mature.
Xiao Libie nodded, "What Li shidi is saying does make sense."
"Haha! You guys are all here, huh? The heavens are really on our side and have actually brought you guys to us." A malicious voice echoed as a large group of people entered the spacious courtyard.