After leaving the palace, Su Mo soon returned to the outer mansion.
He had wanted to move his own tower into the inner mansion, but he eventually abandoned the plan.
Since the Huoyuan Peak was so big and only a few people lived here, excavating an immortal's cave on the mountain would be a better choice.
He then went straight to Nie Qian and Han Ying, asking them to live with him in the inner mansion.
Nie Qian and Han Ying were very pleased with the news. Cultivating in the inner mansion was an incredibly good deal for them.
Not only did they not have to worry about Liao Yunjian, they could also receive Grand Master Huoyuan's protection. There were also numerous benefits pertaining to cultivation if they lived on Huoyun Peak. They were killing three birds with one stone.
Although the ordinary outer mansion disciples could go into the inner mansion, they could not stay for long.
Only a disciple accepted by an inner mansion instructor could live in the inner mansion.
Although Grand Master Huoyuan did not explicitly take Su Mo as his disciple, allowing him to stay at Huoyuan Peak meant Su Mo was now nominally a disciple.
Nie Qian and Han Ying wasted no time at all. They quickly packed up and followed Su Mo to the inner mansion. They arrived at Huoyuan Peak.
"Brother Su, where shall we live?" Nie Qian asked excitedly as the three stood on Huoyuan Peak.
The Spiritual Qi here was much more concentrated than in the outer mansion. It was truly a useful location for cultivating.
Even without the help of Spiritual Stones and Spiritual Crystals, they were cultivating the equivalent of a month outside just by absorbing the Spiritual Qi here for ten days.
"We don't have to build our houses here. Let's just excavate some caves on the mountain!" Su Mo said.
"An immortal's caves is good too. We just need a place to stay!" Han Ying said.
They went halfway down the mountain and excavated three immortal's caves in a lush valley.
Huoyuan Peak was definitely a suitable name for the mountain. The trees and plants on the mountain all were red and contained rich fire-property essences.
The fire-property Spiritual Qi inside the mountains was even more abundant. Scorching heat waves billowed out each time the three excavated a cave.
Excavating three immortal's caves were a piece of cake to them, taking them very little effort.
Su Mo's immortal's cave was remarkably vast. It was very spacious, with its radius of more than 100 meters.
In addition to a spacious hall, he also excavated space for a cultivation room.
Su Mo sat cross-legged in the cultivation room, feeling the dense fire-property Spiritual Qi all around him. He thought about Sikong Yan. If he had come here, he would definitely not leave.
After a short while, Su Mo removed the distractions from his mind and started cultivating. He needed to break through to Lvl 2 Martial Emperor Realm as soon as possible.
He started activating his Grand Chaos Five Elements Skill and immersed himself in cultivation.
As the saying goes, cultivating transcends time. A month flew by swiftly.
After a month of cultivation, Su Mo had consolidated his foundation. He now wanted to push forward and break through the realm's bottleneck.
His cultivation was already at the Peak of Lvl 1 Martial Emperor Realm. He was only a step away from breaking through his cultivation and reaching Lvl 2.
However, he did not have enough Lower Spiritual Crystals left. There were only about 500 Crystals remaining, while his Demonic Crystals had dwindled to about 200 or 300. It would be hard to break through with only so many Crystals.
However, to find out if he could succeed, he would have to try.
Su Mo entered the domain inside the jade bracelet and sat cross-legged among a pile of rocks.
Su Mo waved his arm and 500 Lower Spiritual Stones and 700 to 800 Demonic Crystals appeared in front of him.
A few Spiritual Herbs and several dozen elixirs also appeared.
Those were all that were left of his cultivating resources. They were spoils from the Demonic Clouds Sea trip.
He needed a way to replenish his resources after he ran out of them.
"Devour!" Su Mo activated his Fighting Soul and began devouring the resources at once.
All the Spiritual Qi within the Spiritual Crystals, Demonic Crystals, and Spiritual Herbs exploded, rushing toward Su Mo.
"Boom boom boom!"
Su Mo's body kept rumbling as the five divine elixirs vibrated. The dense Spiritual Qi was refined into the Dark Force of the Five Elements. It was absorbed into the five divine elixirs.
The process continued. Although his cultivation was already at the Peak of Lvl 1 Martial Emperor Realm, he still faced a very strong bottleneck.
"Rumble, Rumble!"
The loud eruptions continued. The five divine elixirs shone brightly.
The process lasted for more than four hours.
After more than four hours, all the Spiritual Qi was depleted. Su Mo opened his eyes.
Yet, he still had not reached Lvl 2 Martial Emperor Realm!
He felt very disappointed.
However, he was not discouraged. Cultivating the Martial Emperor Realm was completely different from any previous realm.
A martial artist at his level could be stuck in one realm for decades and even centuries.
To break through in less than two months was too ambitious.
Although his Fighting Soul could constantly devour, his cultivation needed some time to consolidate.
Now, he needed to focus on the Spiritual Crystals to make his breakthrough.
Yet, where should he go to find a large quantity of Spiritual Crystals?
He needed to ask Nie Qian and Han Ying for an answer. They should know better.
Su Mo let out a sigh. Just when he was about to leave the jade bracelet domain, he saw Wu Xian and her two companions.
He had almost devoured the three the last time he made his breakthrough.
Now, they had recovered. They stared in horror at Su Mo from afar.
They had seen Su Mo cultivating and could not describe how shocked they were.
Devouring Spiritual Crystals?
They had never seen anything like this!
"Come here, the three of you!" Su Mo called out to them. He was in no hurry to leave.
After seeing them, Su Mo thought of the quickest way to make money—killing and robbing!
Of course, he would not dare to rob the Shenwu Academy, but the Sorcerer tribe was a good option.
The three quivered while looking at each other. Then, they slowly flew toward Su Mo.
They did not dare to refuse.
The three soon landed in front of Su Mo.
"I'm going to ask you people some questions. I hope you can answer truthfully, or you'll know what will happen, won't you?" Su Mo said coldly, glancing at the three.
"Go... go ahead!" said the short young man from the Sorcerer tribe.
"Tell me everything about Wu Tianyu!" Su Mo said. He wanted to know Wu Tianyu's situation in order to save Hong Qingxuan.
If Hong Qingxuan had already been harmed, he would let Wu Tianyu regret coming into this world.
The three's expression turned grim. However, they did know Su Mo was only asking about Wu Tianyu in order to rescue a friend.
The three remained silent for a while. Then, the chubby man from the Sorcerer tribe said, "Senior Brother Tianyu is from the Heavenly Underworld Branch of the Sorcerer tribe. He was a genius since a child. He had reached the Martial King Realm when he was just 15... !"
"I don't want to know about his talent!"
Su Mo did not wait for him to finish, cutting him off. He waved his hand and asked, "How many branches are there in the Sorcerer tribe?"
Since there was a Heavenly Underworld Branch, there should be many more branches in the Sorcerer tribe—and a core branch too.
The Sorcerer tribe was Su Mo's biggest enemy. He wanted to be clear about the specific situation of the tribe.