Chapter 709 708: Yun'Er Emerges from Seclusion

'A few mere strands of Immortal Dao Will think they can disturb my Heart Spirit?'

Five bizarre fluctuations of energy abruptly materialized, lunging straight for Yang Xiao.

An ordinary person likely wouldn't even have time to react, and even if they did, they would have tried every means possible to dodge.

But Yang Xiao did neither.

He had long expected this to happen.

Neither burning his Talent Ability nor the Devouring Power of the Bloodthirsty Divine Sword could destroy the Immortal Dao Will within their bodies—a will that was clearly not their own.

It was only natural for it to be left behind.

And these remnants of Immortal Dao Will would inevitably strike out at him.

However…

Mere Immortal Dao Will.

'Would I be afraid of it?'

No.

On the contrary, he was actually looking forward to it.

He allowed the five powerful strands of Immortal Dao Will to enter his body.

Then…

Without him needing to do a thing, the Mysterious Furnace Cauldron directly sucked the five strands of Immortal Dao Will inside.

It began the refining process.

'These five strands of Immortal Dao Will are all extraordinary. Any one of them, even the one from Qin Tianlong, is denser than what I obtained from the Vast Heaven Immortal Lord. As for the other four, I can't even begin to guess how many times denser they are. In terms of quality, they're comparable to an ordinary Minor Dao Seed. Not bad. Not bad at all.'

The higher the quality…

The faster the refinement.

But of these five strands of Immortal Dao Will, aside from the one from Qin Tianlong, the other four belonged to Immortal Marquises and an Immortal Venerable.

How could the Immortal Dao Will from their bodies be underestimated?

Yang Xiao estimated that to completely refine them all, it would take at least ten to fifteen days.

And once they were refined…

The rewards would likely be substantial.

'My Physical Strength has already surpassed the power of five hundred Flood Dragons after so much tempering and refinement. After absorbing these five strands of Immortal Dao Will, it might even have a chance to double.'

He made the calculation in his head.

Yang Xiao was very satisfied.

In addition, there was the power fed back from the Bloodthirsty Divine Sword. Yang Xiao didn't absorb this power directly; instead, he used his Talent Ability to burn it, transforming it into Purple Flame of the same origin.

That's right.

The combined power of the five experts—even after being devoured by the Bloodthirsty Divine Sword and with less than a tenth of it returned to Yang Xiao—was still enough to transform into an incredibly dense Purple Flame.

And when this incredibly dense Purple Flame was completely absorbed by the Heaven and Earth Origin Fire, the Cyan Flame, which had already reached its limit, swelled involuntarily.

It had finally broken through its shackles.

A wisp of blue flame emerged.

Immediately after.

With this wisp of Blue Flame as the core, all the remaining Cyan Flame was instantly sucked into it, causing the wisp of blue flame to grow somewhat larger.

'I've finally broken through to the Blue Flame Realm First Revolution. But now, whether it's for the Blue Flame or the Purple Flame, any further breakthroughs will require an astronomical amount of power. To raise the Blue Flame to its peak in one go would likely require the Power of the Small World Origin from at least one Great Emperor. As for reaching the Purple Flame Peak… I'm afraid that just reaching the Peak of First Revolution would require the Origin Power of several Great Emperors, wouldn't it?'

He recalled his first life. It had taken him a full three million years to advance from the nascent Purple Flame First Revolution to the Purple Flame Nine Revolution Peak.

He had only achieved it after countless hardships and setbacks.

Moreover, at that time, whether it was the Ancient Era of his birth or the Ancient Era of his growth…

The Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the world were hundreds of millions of times more abundant than they are now.

Yang Xiao knew…

…just how difficult it would be to reach his former heights in this life.

But.

'My foundation in this life is even greater than in my first. At least in terms of combat power, at the same level, I've already far surpassed who I was back then.'

He could almost achieve Breaking Nine Prohibitions relying on his own cultivation alone, without needing the boost from the Power of the Emperor.

Such a foundation.

It not only surpassed his first life, but could likely rank in the top ten of all time, from the Far Ancient Era to the present.

However…

Yang Xiao was not satisfied.

He wanted to become even stronger.

At his level, aside from raising his cultivation, there were not many other paths to becoming stronger.

Even if he successfully cultivated the two Ultimate Skills, the Great Star Dominating Body and the Star-Picking Hand, it would only give him more options in a fight.

Aside from cultivating the Great Star Dominating Body, which would increase his power to some extent, the Star-Picking Hand wouldn't actually make him that much stronger.

Of course, this wasn't to say the Star-Picking Hand and the Great Star Dominating Body were unimportant.

To Yang Xiao, any Emperor-level Divine Technique was incredibly important, especially since most of the Dominator Divine Techniques he possessed could not be revealed publicly.

For example, the Flame Emperor Divine Fist.

And the Nine Yang Celestial Skill.

In contrast, he could use both the Great Star Dominating Body and the Star-Picking Hand without any reservations, and without anyone discovering his secrets.

Therefore, even if these two Emperor-level Divine Techniques didn't increase his combat power one bit, he would still learn them.

However…

When it came to increasing his own power…

His only option now…

was likely his physical body.

And when it came to his physical body…

Absorbing Immortal Dao Will was undoubtedly the fastest way.

'Killing Immortal Cultivators lets me accumulate energy to advance my cultivation, and I can also refine their Immortal Dao Will to enhance my Physical Strength. It's simply the best method for me to get stronger.'

Because of this…

After killing those people…

Yang Xiao didn't leave at all.

Instead, he waited.

He waited to see if the Immortal Dao would send more people after him.

But after waiting for a good while…

Still, no one came.

Instead, the dumbfounded Nangong Yin finally snapped out of it.

Staring at Yang Xiao in utter shock, she stammered, "Y-Yang Xiao, j-just now... did you kill all those people?"

Seeing that even this ditsy girl had come to her senses, while the void around them remained perfectly still…

Yang Xiao knew.

The other side probably wasn't going to send anyone else for a while.

As for him taking the initiative to attack the Immortal Realm…

His own strength was still lacking.

He needed to at least break through to the True God Realm to have the power to protect himself. Otherwise, if they casually sent over a single Immortal Monarch, he would likely have no choice but to turn tail and run.

At this thought…

Yang Xiao decided not to wait any longer.

He smiled at Nangong Yin and said, "It was just a few little tricks. I used a Secret Treasure gifted by an elder to temporarily raise my cultivation, that's all."

"Little tricks? A Secret Treasure? Raising your cultivation?"

Every one of these words shocked Nangong Yin to her core.

But after thinking it over carefully…

She accepted it.

Her heart gradually settled.

Of course.

This was also because her own cultivation was too weak. She had no idea who those people were or how powerful they were, much less that Yang Xiao had just activated a Divine General Talisman and the sheer difference in power that he had overcome.

If she had known…

That Yang Xiao, with the power of a Divine General Peak, had slain three Immortal Marquises and one Immortal Venerable in a single move…

…her expression would have been completely different.

It was simply too shocking.

Whenever a genius fought someone of a higher tier…

it was usually due to their unique constitution or Cultivation Technique, which allowed them to produce an aura far surpassing that of their peers.

Take Yang Xiao's Heaven and Earth Origin Flame for example. The aura it produced was easily a thousand times stronger than that of an ordinary Cultivator, which was equivalent to a three-tier advantage.

Thus…

when he fought an opponent three tiers above him, it was actually like fighting someone at his own level.

This was talent.

But beyond talent, fighting across even higher tiers was exceedingly difficult.

Below the True God Realm, it was still manageable. But above the True God Realm, and especially at the level of Titled Divine General and higher, it became exceptionally hard. After all, which expert who had reached that stage didn't possess powerful Secret Techniques, Divine Techniques, or Divine Soldiers of their own?

To gain an edge in this regard, one would need to cultivate a Dominator-level Divine Technique.

Or, like Yang Xiao, forge a unique Divine Sword from scratch.

Otherwise, it couldn't be considered an advantage at all.

It certainly wasn't enough to allow one to battle across tiers.

This was also why…

anyone who could overcome a four-tier gap was already considered a top-tier genius.

Because even for someone with a Sacred Body, defeating an opponent four tiers higher was no easy task.

Not to mention what Yang Xiao had just done.

He had used the Divine General Talisman to reach the level of Divine General Peak, still three tiers below the Immortal Venerable.

Yet he had killed him with a single sword strike.

He had relied on factors entirely beyond the scope of talent.

This…

…was the most terrifying part.

This meant that once Yang Xiao truly reached the level of Divine General Peak on his own, his power would be even greater. With the might of his Heaven and Earth Origin Fire alone, he could already fight six tiers higher, placing him among the ranks of peerless monsters.

Factor in his other abilities…

And it wasn't impossible that he could consistently achieve Breaking Nine Prohibitions.

Of course.

Nangong Yin knew none of this.

Therefore, she was merely shocked, without understanding the true depths of Yang Xiao's foundation.

This only made her more curious about Yang Xiao's identity and origins.

However, she didn't press the issue.

And Yang Xiao offered no explanation.

Taking Nangong Yin with him, Yang Xiao used his Divine General Peak strength to tear open the void and return directly to Star God Academy.

After a quick scan confirmed that nothing was amiss…

Yang Xiao immediately went into seclusion.

He was eager to increase his strength.

Since the Immortal Cultivators weren't coming to him…

he would naturally use the time to cultivate, at the very least learning the Great Star Dominating Body and the Star-Picking Hand.

This was to prepare for the expedition to the Hidden Dragon Secret Realm, which was less than half a year away.

Nangong Tianling was in full agreement with this plan.

Furthermore, after talking with Nangong Yin, she learned about some of the events that had transpired during Yang Xiao's trip.

She had been worried, but since nothing disastrous had happened…

…and he was now safely back at Star God Academy, she could finally rest easy.

She only instructed Nangong Yin to pay close attention to Yang Xiao's activities during this period, and also to keep an eye on Yun'Er.

After more than twenty days, her Dao Body's transformation…

was nearly complete.

This meant Yun'Er would be coming out of seclusion soon.

If Nangong Yin could befriend her, their spot in the Hidden Dragon Secret Realm expedition would be practically guaranteed.

Nangong Yin naturally agreed.

And so, the days…

passed one by one.

But while Yang Xiao was deep in secluded cultivation…

「About half a month later.」

Star God Academy…

unexpectedly welcomed a group of visitors with exceptionally special identities.

Instantly, the entire academy…

erupted with excitement.

And at that very moment…

Yun'Er emerged from her seclusion!