Nearly three months later, in an earth-fire furnace room. Lu Yang's body trembled as he slowly stood up. No, rather than standing, floating was perhaps a more suitable word, for at this moment, he no longer had flesh, muscles, and bones, but was a scarlet blood shadow!
"I've succeeded!"
The blood shadow had no face. Only a vibration amidst the swirling, brilliant light produced a slightly distorted voice: "Eighty-one days. I've finally refined it!"
The next second, the blood shadow gradually converged. The skin that had been peeled off on the ground flew up out of thin air and was 'worn' by the blood shadow. The pale skin was gradually filled with the color of blood, and the shriveled flesh and muscles slowly became full again.
In a short while, a perfectly intact Lu Yang appeared in the furnace room. At a glance, he looked no different from an ordinary person. In fact, compared to three months ago, Lu Yang's aura was even more immense.
His vast and powerful True Qi had even faintly condensed into a Qi seed. The seventh level of the Qi Refining Realm! The late stage!
Perhaps the process of cultivating the divine ability was too painful, an unimaginable tempering of his essence, qi, and spirit, which unexpectedly allowed him to break through his cultivation bottleneck. What was even more fortunate was that this happened before he had formally perfected the divine ability.
If it had been after he perfected it, then even if he broke through the bottleneck, it would have been useless. For example, right now, his cultivation was permanently stuck at the seventh level of the Qi Refining Realm.
"But this is enough."
Lu Yang murmured to himself. Possessing the Book of a Hundred Lives, he was never fixated on the achievements of a single lifetime; how to make use of them for the next life was his true goal.
"Let's test its power!"
As the thought arose in Lu Yang's mind, a magnificent sword pellet emerged from between his eyebrows. His figure then transformed into a streak of blood light and merged with the sword pellet.
Boom!
Outside Myriad Treasures Peak, the ground shook violently. The originally bustling crowd suddenly staggered, and several people fell directly to the ground.
"What's happening?"
"The earth dragon is turning over... Impossible. With the Daoist Masters suppressing the spiritual veins, how could the earth dragon turn over?"
The disciples looked at each other in dismay. Among them, a disciple with a higher cultivation level suddenly felt something and subconsciously looked in a certain direction, surprise gradually filling his eyes.
"Look!"
"That is..."
Everyone's gaze followed the voice. Then, they all saw a long rainbow that seemed to pierce the sun shoot out from one of the furnace rooms. In the blink of an eye, it leaped into the sky, causing the sea of clouds to churn wherever it passed.
Clang! Clang!
The clear ring of a sword resounded through the nine heavens. The intense red light dyed Myriad Treasures Peak the color of blood, stirring the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to the point that it formed a monstrous tide! Caught in such a great tide of spiritual energy, most disciples found they could not even breathe, nearly suffocating!
"Such a display of power, a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator?"
A disciple showed a look of envy.
"He has already formed a Qi seed. Just one final step of nurturing and transformation, and he can achieve Perfection, with Foundation Establishment just around the corner."
"I wonder which Senior Brother has broken through?"
"I've seen late-stage Qi Refining senior brothers before, but none had such spiritual pressure. That long rainbow of sword light is probably an extraordinary magical artifact too..."
At the same time, above the sea of clouds. Lu Yang's body had transformed into a blood shadow, his qi merged with the sword light. His spiritual sense spread out in all directions, revealing every detail within a radius of more than ten li, as clear as looking at the lines on one's own palm.
"Late-stage Qi Refining. True Qi sinks into the Dantian and becomes a Qi seed, triggering a transformation of one's essence, qi, and spirit. If I still had a body, my physique would be taking a qualitative leap right now. Being impervious to swords and spears would be a trivial matter, and my True Qi would have multiplied by several dozen times. A pity that all I have left now is my spiritual sense."
As Lu Yang was sighing with emotion, his eyebrows suddenly shot up.
"Who goes there?"
Before Lu Yang's voice had even faded, his sword followed his thoughts in an instant. The blood-red, rainbow-like sword light directly tore through the sea of clouds, revealing a young and handsome figure.
"Senior Brother, don't attack! Please don't attack!"
The man shouted loudly, but Lu Yang paid him no mind at all. The sword light pounced forward. Seeing this, the man hurriedly took out a small flag and stood it up in the air.
The next second, the flag unfurled and transformed into a pair of flag-gates. The man dodged into one of the gates. Only after the sword light Lu Yang had sent out chased him in did he emerge from the other gate.
Then, he beckoned with his hand. The flag-gates vanished, turning back into a small flag. Lu Yang raised an eyebrow, discovering that the sword light he had sent out had somehow been trapped in some unknown place, allowing the other party to evade it.
"Interesting."
Lu Yang grinned, and the sword pellet between his eyebrows vibrated intensely, like muffled thunder rolling across the sky. In an instant, it split into dozens, even hundreds of sword lights, fanning out like a peacock's tail. Seeing this, the young man, who had been feeling a bit smug, saw his expression change drastically.
He hastily took out the small flag magical artifact again to protect himself, shouting at the same time, "Senior Brother, my name is Xiao Shiye! I only came here to get acquainted, I have absolutely no ill intentions. I implore Senior Brother to withdraw his divine ability."
"Xiao Shiye?"
Lu Yang was stunned to hear the name. Then, the sword lights that were about to erupt suddenly froze in mid-air, reflecting a face drenched in cold sweat. That pre-arranged plant?
The next second, Lu Yang withdrew the sword lights, transformed back into his human form, and landed in front of Xiao Shiye, laughing heartily, "Junior Brother, don't misunderstand. I was just playing with you!" Hearing this, Xiao Shiye wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He cursed inwardly, feeling that Lu Yang had clearly been about to get serious, but on his face, he also revealed a brilliant smile and said eagerly, "Senior Brother's divine abilities are vast and your magical power is boundless. I, Xiao, am truly impressed. This is a small gift, please don't refuse it, Senior Brother."
After speaking, he smoothly handed over the small flag in his hand.
"How can I accept this..."
Lu Yang shook his head, but he still took the small flag. It was only then that he saw two words on the surface of the flag, "Void Evasion," which were actually embroidered with golden thread.
"This treasure is named the Void Evasion Flag."
Xiao Shiye took the initiative to explain, "I bought it from an antique shop before joining the sect. At first, it showed no miraculous properties, but after joining the sect, I discovered it was a wondrous treasure."
"The flag has two sides. When activated, it can transform into two flag-gates of life and death."
"Among those in the same realm, as long as one enters through the death gate and exits through the life gate, no matter how great the danger, one can find a way to survive, untouched by disaster."
After hearing this, Lu Yang couldn't help but feel his face twitch. Such a miraculous magical artifact was something this Xiao Shiye had casually bought from a mortal antique shop before he even started cultivating in the Saint Sect? Thinking of this, a thought suddenly struck Lu Yang, and he focused his spiritual sense into his eyes.
At the late stage of Qi Refining, with his spiritual sense greatly enhanced, it naturally had many wondrous uses. What Lu Yang was using right now was a marvelous technique called the "Qi Gazing Art." It would have been better not to look, but with one look, Lu Yang's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Because in his eyes, everything on Xiao Shiye's body—his crane-feather cloak, his boots, his robe, his crown, and even the belt cinching his waist—was radiating the light of a treasure! In terms of quality, they were probably no worse than his own sword pellet! Even with Lu Yang's current temperament, he couldn't help but feel a sense of injustice.
After all, the magical artifact he had spent months and a huge sum of money to refine was as common as cabbage on Xiao Shiye. It was hard not to feel envious.
"This person has such immense luck..."
If before, Lu Yang thought that Xiao Shiye winning the Merit Pool's Grand Prize was due to some insider manipulation, now he had changed his mind. Could it be that his luck was just that good? Thinking of this, Lu Yang's expression gradually became strange again.
With such great luck, one could say that by just following him, one could definitely leech off quite a few opportunities. And to top it off, his cultivation level wasn't even high, which would make robbing him especially easy... This Xiao Shiye, he seemed to be a real talent