Chapter 56 Ye Fan and Ji Ziyue
The boundless green lake is shrouded in mist and dotted among the towering ancient trees. It is quiet and peaceful, like a fairyland scene.

Suddenly, the tranquility of the lake was broken.

The waves rolled rapidly, and then two figures rushed out of the lake.

Amid the mist, a purple-clad girl cried out in great sorrow, "I have so much Xuan Huang Qi that I cannot take it away. I am really unwilling to do so."

The young man who was traveling with her seemed more stable than the girl. After flying out of the lake, he began to survey the mountains and forests in all directions.

After making sure there was no danger, he returned to the lakeside, came to the girl, and said, "Finally we are out of trouble."

The girl glanced at the boy with her big eyes, her eyes sparkling with light, and she shouted at him cleverly and strangely, "Little brat, we are friends who have shared hardships and life and death. Why don't you let me go quickly? Give me some of the Xuanhuang Essence."

The sounds of fighting by the lake faintly reached Li Zhi's ears underground, and in his mind he imagined a scene of a teenage couple laughing and playing.

It didn't seem to affect him, so Li Zhi continued to refine the endless essence of heaven and earth.

The giant island infused with the Xuanhuang Qi also floated on the crater of the Mingquan volcano under the guidance of Li Zhi.

After being nourished by the water of the life spring, the giant island, the Taoist temple on the island, and the fairy tree in the temple seemed to become more and more mysterious.

Moreover, the roots of the immortal tree that were visible outside were still continuously absorbing the Xuanhuang essence from the bottom of the lake. The silver-white Taoist temple gradually faded its silver color under the blessing of the Xuanhuang essence and turned into a "real" Taoist temple with red walls and green tiles. A heavy breath emanated from the Taoist temple.

The trunk of the silver fairy tree in the temple gradually faded from silver to brown, with only the branches and leaves still appearing silver.

On the plaque on the gate of the Taoist temple, the two words "天地" (heaven, earth and man) become increasingly mysterious, while the word "人" (man) appears vaguely, as if it is about to disappear.

Finally, the plaque seemed unable to bear the three mysterious runes of "Heaven, Earth and Man". The character "Man" collapsed and disappeared, leaving only the characters "Heaven and Earth", which made it even more mysterious.

Just when Li Zhi was fantasizing about absorbing more Xuantian essence to make this special "tool" completely solidify.

The immortal tree in the Taoist temple suddenly shook violently, and then a silver light converged from the outside world and re-entered the immortal tree.

The endless supply of essence of heaven and earth that had previously been gathered from the immortal tree disappeared.

Li Zhi felt a little annoyed and opened his eyes which had been closed.

A tremendous momentum burst out from his body, and the surrounding soil began to be squeezed and vibrated by a huge force.

At the same time, a huge mound suddenly rose on the ground near the lake.

On the lakeside, the boy and the girl looked at the sudden rise of earth with a wary look on their faces.

On the mound, there was some silver light that was dissipating.

The purple-clothed girl looked at the fading silver light and exclaimed, "Little boy, look, the tree you just broke was actually formed entirely from the essence of heaven and earth. Even the ancient great powers could not do this."

The young man clenched his fists, and a wisp of mysterious yellow energy appeared on his fists, and he seemed ready to attack at any time.

"Who is disturbing my meditation here?" A voice that seemed to come from the Nine Nether Hell reached the ears of the two men through the huge mound.

“Stop playing tricks, break it for me.” The young man walked like a dragon and a tiger and swung his fist directly towards the mound. A divine force burst out of his body, as if it could pierce through the earth.

"Boom!" The mound exploded, raising a cloud of dust.

Then, a shout with a childish voice came from the smoke and dust: "Wulian Tianzun, it's that bastard who disturbed my meditation." The girl blinked her big eyes, looked at the boy and said with a smile: "Hehe, little brat Ye Fan, you just swung your fist randomly, it seems you got into trouble."

Ye Fan glared at the girl, staring at the smoke with a strange look in his eyes.

A few seconds later, a chubby little Taoist priest, whose body was covered with silver light and looked as delicate as jade, walked out from the smoke and dust.

When the girl saw the little Taoist priest, she exclaimed, "Oh my God, it's actually a little Taoist priest."

Ye Fan looked at the little Taoist priest for a moment and said in disbelief: "Li Zhi?"

Two years later, he had grown into a 14-year-old boy, and at least his height was not much shorter than that of an adult. But Li Zhi had not grown up at all, and seemed to have rejuvenated himself, becoming a five or six-year-old child with some baby fat.

"Ye Fan? It's you kid." Li Zhi was also stunned when he saw Ye Fan.

Then he looked at the surrounding environment and the purple-dressed girl beside him, and finally fixed his eyes on the lake behind them and said, "So this is where it is. No wonder there is Xuanhuang essence."

Previously, the immortal tree attracted the mysterious and yellow essence, which made Li Zhi think for a time that he had accidentally cultivated the "Feng Shui Burial Sutra" and entered a special state of enlightenment.

But I never thought that it was because the Bronze Immortal Palace was right in this lake.

The Xuanhuang essence that he absorbed also escaped from the Xuanhuang mother energy outside the fairy palace.

The reason why he did not associate this lake with the Bronze Immortal Palace before was because there were dozens of similar lakes in the area near Taixuan Gate.

And the environment is similar.

There was no way he could realize the extraordinary nature of this place.

"Little brat Ye Fan, do you know this little Taoist priest?" Ji Ziyue's spiritual perception was very sharp. She directly captured the changes in the emotions of the two people and shouted at Ye Fan.

"Little boy Ye Fan?" Li Zhi laughed when he heard Ji Ziyue's way of addressing Ye Fan.

"You are the Little Moon of the Ji family. You have a good physique. Your cultivation was sealed by Ye Fan? Are you two playing house?" Li Zhi's eyes kept moving back and forth between Ji Ziyue and Ye Fan. He seemed to have discovered something interesting and showed a very gossipy look.

"Hey, little Taoist, what's with that look in your eyes?" Ji Ziyue looked at Li Zhi's meaningful eyes and suddenly felt like her thoughts were seen through.

"Li Zhi, why are you here? And how did you become a Taoist priest? What were you doing underground before?" Ye Fan walked up to Li Zhi and asked him three questions in a row.

Li Zhi sighed and said, "Since I failed to become your disciple, I can only wear the Taoist robe to show my determination. Before this, I buried myself in the soil to practice. If you hadn't accidentally smashed my fairy tree, I'm afraid I wouldn't have woken up so easily, and I might even never wake up."

Ji Ziyue looked at Li Zhi curiously and asked, "Little Taoist priest, why do I feel like you are very similar to an unscrupulous Taoist priest?"

Ye Fan looked at Li Zhi, who was dressed the same as Duan De, and nodded and said, "Indeed, they look alike."

Li Zhize said nonchalantly, "Did you come out of the bronze palace in the lake?"

"You actually know that there is a Bronze Immortal Palace here?" Ji Ziyue stared at Li Zhi with eyes wide open.

"I know a lot. I even know that you will become an immortal in the future." Li Zhi was also talking nonsense.

"Little Taoist, you have good vision. The future great immortal Zi Yue has high hopes for you!" Ji Ziyue said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)