But she couldn't show her joy on her face. As a dignified Holy Altar Venerable, the only Fire Dragon Lord in the world, how could she let her joy show over such a trivial matter?

So he gave a soft hum and said, "Barely."

Seeing her reaction, Shi Xuan knew she was satisfied with the place, so he took out the stump of her Soul-Nourishing Wood and placed it under the Enlightenment Tree, next to the Spirit Spring, in the best spot with the best view.

"From now on, you may come and go as you please, wherever you like. If you like the Soul-Nourishing Wood, you may stay there; if you like the Dragon Bone, you may stay there."

Hong Chi looked up at his spot, quite satisfied. Surprisingly, he didn't start with a "humph" but instead said "hmm".

Only then did she reveal herself, allowing the other spirit pets to see her appearance.

The other children were both curious and afraid of Hong Chi. This dragon's might was no joke. They wanted to get closer, but they were also hesitant.

Shi Xuan didn't care how they got along; there was still a long way to go, and they would naturally get used to each other.

Hong Chi liked her "new home," but she was somewhat disgusted by the concentration of spiritual energy in the space.

She thought about it and realized that there was an immense amount of spiritual energy outside, all originating from her. Leaving it outside would be a waste, so she might as well make her new home more comfortable.

Hong Chi acted immediately. Although she was dead, she had no problem dealing with her scattered spiritual energy. So, while Shi Xuan was recuperating outside, she drew all the fire spiritual energy in the entire rift into Shi Xuan's Silver Frost.

When Shi Xuan's injuries heal, the spiritual energy concentration of the entire Silver Frost increases exponentially.

With Hong Chi present, he naturally wouldn't let this spiritual energy boil in the silver frost. However, there's a problem: this spiritual energy is all single-fire spiritual energy!

This has led to a severe imbalance in the spiritual energy of the entire Silver Frost. Originally, the spiritual energy in Silver Frost was in a very balanced state, but now, the fire elemental energy dominates, giving the entire Silver Frost space an elemental attribute.

This made people and beasts who did not have fire elemental roots quite uncomfortable.

So, Shi Xuan led Qiu Chang'an to set up several spiritual energy conversion arrays in the Silver Frost, using the arrays to gradually convert the fire spiritual energy. After a period of time, it would slowly reach a balance.

By then, not only will all the spiritual plants and pets in Silverfrost benefit, but even the three-person working group will likely see their cultivation levels rise again.

There was less than a month left until the settlement date of the Outer Realms Arena.

Shi Xuan took out the puppet sword and flew towards the sect's headquarters with practiced ease.

It was already afternoon when they arrived at the camp. But only a few elders remained; the disciples were nowhere to be seen.

Upon seeing Shi Xuan descend from the sky, the elders were overjoyed and rushed to greet him.

Everyone was worried about Shi Xuan's situation, having heard about the fates of other disciples who had fallen into the rifts.

Even the best team members' performance was inevitably affected.

For this reason, Elder Jiang made a special trip back to the Lianfeng Sword Sect to check on Shi Xuan's soul lamp. He found that it was still burning well, and only then did he feel relieved enough to return to the outer realm.

Only then did the members of the best squad truly believe that their captain was safe and sound.

Shi Xuan greeted each of the elders with a smile.

"Where are they?" Shi Xuan asked.

The elders were still amazed by Shi Xuan's cultivation level. It seemed that this kid had gained tremendous benefits in the great rift of Yema Floating Island. Not only did he successfully form a Nascent Soul directly from the ninth level of the Golden Core stage, but he also advanced to the third level of the Nascent Soul stage!

It should be noted that Yan Lingyi, the number one player in the Outer Domain Arena, only has the cultivation level of the fourth level of the Nascent Soul stage.

While they were still reflecting on the past, they heard Shi Xuan's question and realized that they hadn't told Shi Xuan about what had happened that day.

Elder Jiang laughed and said, "Recently, it's not just us, but all the sects' headquarters are like this. The top-ranked disciples have stopped doing missions since the beginning of this month and are spending all their time in the training ground on the central floating island, vying for the top fifty spots in the nine-story tower."

This answer is pretty much in line with Shi Xuan's guess. At this point, those who know they have no hope of entering the tower might still do some missions, while those who hope to break into the top fifty are definitely in the training grounds.

Before the settlement date each year, the central floating island will open five training grounds simultaneously. There is one training ground in the center and one in each of the four corners, but the one in the center is the largest. Normally, only the central training ground is open.

By this time, those ranked at the top receive challenges every day. Many people feel they have the ability but lack luck, and if they fail to challenge one, they can rest and try another.

These martial arts arenas have an unwritten rule: the top ten challengers usually challenge in the central arena, those ranked tenth to twentieth go to the east, and every ten thereafter go to the west, south, and north in turn. The divisions are clear, and the challengers' destinations are also clear.

Shi Xuan checked her ranking on the virtual lobby's leaderboard; she had dropped to thirty-ninth. The rule here was that if you didn't participate in challenges for a month, your ranking would drop ten places.

And now, three people from their Qian Yuan Western Region are in the top fifty of the Prodigy Ranking. In addition to her and Lu Shenzhi, Zhang Yingxin has also joined!

Shi Xuan exclaimed in surprise, "Senior Sister Zhang Yingxin has actually formed her Nascent Soul!"

Elder Qiu of the Fuyuan Sect chuckled and took two steps forward, replying, "Indeed, I have to thank you for the Nascent Soul Pills. When I was young, I came to this outer realm arena, and no captain gave me any Nascent Soul Pills, which is why I was still at the peak of the Golden Core stage when I returned from the outer realm."

"Dream on! You want the captain to give you Nascent Soul Pills? Why don't you just rob him!" Elder Jiang gave him a light punch. Elder Qiu rolled his eyes at him in response.

Elder Qiu glanced at Shi Xuan, his meaning quite clear: Wasn't the captain giving out Nascent Soul Pills?

Elder Jiang snorted coldly and ignored him.

Shi Xuan finally understood that the two of them must be from the same cohort, with Elder Jiang being Elder Qiu's team leader.

A hundred years have passed, and Elder Qiu, watching others acquire Nascent Soul Pills, is now lamenting about his former captain...

Shi Xuan couldn't help but chuckle as he bid farewell to the others, saying, "I'm heading to the training grounds now. I'll fight you all to get first place!"

After Shi Xuan finished speaking, she walked out. Elder Qiu was still teasing Elder Jiang behind her. Elder Jiang shouted at Shi Xuan's back, "Do what you can. Staying in the top fifty is a victory!"

That's too low a requirement. But Shi Xuan still turned around and waved to him.

The elders had probably never seen anyone from their own continent enter the Nine-Story Tower before, and now they thought that as long as someone had entered, it was already a leap forward.

They've gotten used to falling behind and haven't adapted to their own progress in strength in a short time.

Shi Xuan, however, did not think so.

Putting aside the fact that she originally aimed for first place, just considering the matter of her being pushed into the rift, Shi Xuan suspected the Hongmeng team the most.

This time, she was going to see what interesting expressions the members of the HarmonyOS team would have when they saw her return.