Chen Xia firmly took the position of the leader of the preparatory disciples.
This wasn't really a good thing for him. After all, it was rather high-profile. But since he had accepted the gifts, it wouldn't be right if he didn't do something.
He planned to go back later and carefully count the gifts, because he really had to start putting in some effort.
Moreover, Chen Xia also had a general idea about his future cultivation. One was the "Turtle Breathing Technique", and the other was the "Burning Blood and Destroying Soul Method".
Both of these techniques had room for improvement and progress.
As for the True Dragon Qi and the allocation of points, those couldn't be rushed. They could only be enhanced with the accumulation of time.
Currently, Chen Xia was thinking about optimizing the "Burning Blood and Destroying Soul Method". Coincidentally, he had also gained some new insights into the Great Dao of Time, which just fit the core of the "Burning Blood and Destroying Soul Method".
Besides, Chen Xia had an infinite lifespan, so he didn't need to worry about sacrificing himself.
The "Burning Blood and Destroying Soul Method" was so powerful that there were many restrictions on the direction of optimization. At present, the best optimization should be to cancel the five-year cooldown time.
In this way, Chen Xia could directly start casting spells without a cooldown, turning all saints and emperors into old men, and then start wearing them down.
This optimization direction was the most powerful, and naturally also the most difficult. It was related to the will of heaven and earth. Just relying on the Great Dao of Time might not be able to achieve it.
The second optimization route was to remove the restriction that one couldn't exchange the lifespan of old men.
Then Chen Xia could change from wearing down old men to becoming a professional assassin of old people.
If he could really succeed, Chen Xia had already thought about his future path. He would find some sects with bad reputations to join and become a disciple under the old men there.
Then he would start to ruthlessly exploit their pensions and quickly inherit their legacies with tears in his eyes.
If he did this several times, he should accumulate a lot of wealth.
However, it was extremely difficult to remove these two restrictions, because these were things that the will of heaven and earth didn't allow.
It even reached the level of taboo.
With Chen Xia's current strength, trying to change this taboo was like daydreaming. So he changed his mind. As long as he could improve the efficiency of exchanging lives, it would be equivalent to shortening the time limit.
For example, originally it was exchanging twenty years of life for a hundred years. Now it could be optimized to exchanging thirty years of life for a hundred years.
However, it was easier said than done. If he really wanted to do it, it would be a painstaking task and he had to test it slowly.
Fortunately, Chen Xia had almost unlimited chances to make mistakes and didn't need to be afraid at all.
Besides this, there was another thing that Chen Xia had always been preparing to do, which was to take the Observation of the Mysterious Pill.
This half of a Dao pill that he refined with his own luck had the effect of being able to see the Great Mysterious Capital and the thirty thousand Dao techniques outside the Great Mysterious Capital.
However, this Great Mysterious Capital wasn't the real one. It was the Great Mysterious Capital seen in the eyes of a quasi-emperor who observed the Great Mysterious Capital.
It felt a bit like a matryoshka doll, but that was roughly what it meant.
It was precisely because of this that the Observation of the Mysterious Pill was just a Dao pill. Otherwise, if it really contained thirty thousand Dao techniques, it would at least be a great pill.
Chen Xia sat in his cave dwelling, called over the big yellow dog and Chi Yu, his two right-hand men, to guard the door. At the same time, he instructed them.
"If something unexpected happens to me, you two immediately slap me awake."
The big yellow dog looked hesitant and stretched out its paw. "This... isn't appropriate, is it?"
Chi Yu, on the other side, had a serious expression and nodded. "Yes."
He wouldn't even hesitate to slap his own father.
He was really strict when it came to upholding justice.
"There's nothing inappropriate. Waking me up is the most important thing." Chen Xia replied. He was a bit worried. After all, it was only half a pill. What if something unexpected really happened? He could only rely on the big yellow dog and Chi Yu to wake him up.
"If, I mean if." Chen Xia's tone became serious. "If you two can't wake me up, then go and call my master here."
The big yellow dog quickly nodded, realizing the seriousness of the problem this time. Immediately, it stopped being playful and put on a solemn expression, with its dog face full of seriousness.
Chi Yu crossed his arms and lowered his head, still thinking about how to slap Chen Xia awake.
Should a powerful slap be from above or from the side?
He was a bit indecisive.
Chen Xia exhaled and ignored these two right-hand men. He put the half Observation of the Mysterious Pill in his hand and swallowed it in one gulp.
His thoughts instantly spread out, as if he was roaming among the stars and the universe, crossing the time barrier of millions of years. Standing among the stars, he looked into the Sea of Realms from a distance.
One star was like a blade of grass, and ten thousand stars gathered together to form land. When they flowed together, they became a galaxy.
Chen Xia walked aimlessly among the galaxies, crossed the universe, held onto the stars, and stepped on the void.
He was like the biggest giant in the world, spanning an entire star region.
Without any purpose.
Then the stars disappeared, the galaxies burst, and the universe shattered.
Chen Xia seemed to merge with the stars and saw a mysterious upside-down bronze pagoda from a distance.
The bronze pagoda wasn't in this star region. It could only be observed through the cracks caused by the shattering of the star region.
Chen Xia rushed towards the cracks, witnessing the shattering and recombination of countless stars.
In the cave dwelling, Chi Yu and the big yellow dog were always on high alert, observing Chen Xia's changes all the time.
Especially the big yellow dog. Its paw was already stretched out, ready to strike at any time.
In the first year after Chen Xia took the Observation of the Mysterious Pill, for some reason, his body emitted starlight, and some even fell to the ground.
The big yellow dog was amazed when it saw this and even licked it with its tongue, shouting that it was crispy. It also asked Chi Yu to have a taste.
Chi Yu's thoughts clearly weren't as strange as the big yellow dog's, so he just tasted a little.
In the second year.
Chen Xia not only emitted starlight but also had starlight radiance, illuminating the entire dim cave dwelling!
"Damn, that's so cool!" The big yellow dog exclaimed sincerely, thinking it was really handsome. It even wanted to get a whole pill of this to eat.
Could any male really resist such temptations?
The warm atmosphere was broken by Zhang Daoming's sudden visit. When he saw the big yellow dog and Chi Yu who came to open the door, he was stunned for a moment and then explained his purpose.
"I'm here to communicate with Chen Xia and see if there's any possibility of cooperation."
"Chen Xia is busy." Chi Yu shook his head.
"He's about to turn into light!" The big yellow dog excitedly shouted.
Zhang Daoming frowned. He always felt that this bird and this dog were not reliable, so he wanted to go in and take a look.
"No way. We have to guard the door. Chen Xia took a pill and no one is allowed to disturb him." The big yellow dog firmly refused.
"Yes." Chi Yu coldly agreed. It seemed that there was no room for negotiation at all.
"What pill did he take?" Zhang Daoming was a bit puzzled because generally, pills didn't require someone to guard beside them.
"I don't know, but it seems to be only half a pill." The big yellow dog replied.
"Oh, it's that Observation of the Mysterious Pill." Zhang Daoming understood. That made sense. After all, the Observation of the Mysterious Pill was indeed quite risky and needed someone to guard beside it.
"Then he should come out in a few days. I'll come back then." He said again.
The big yellow dog shook its head. "I don't know about that. After all, Chen Xia hasn't moved for two years."
"Two years?!" Zhang Daoming's tone was very surprised. "Usually, just taking a little powder of it as medicine would only make one sleep for half a month!"
"Powder?" The big yellow dog frowned. "He directly ate half a pill."
"Damn." Zhang Daoming couldn't help but swear.
"He's really gone overboard with this!"