Chapter 462: Chapter 462: Spiritual Strength Enhancement
Word Count: 2,910 Words
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A dark, oppressive mass of figures stretched out. Every one of them was an elite Dou Venerate and a renowned name on the Dou Qi Continent. Yet now, these illustrious experts were prostrating themselves before a youth, their heads bowed, not daring to meet his eyes.
It was not just Zhai Xing Tianzun. Even Ninth Tianzun Mo Yu, who sat beside Xiao Yan, along with the Eighth, Seventh, and Sixth Tianzun seated further away, all regarded this newly appointed Tianzun with grave expressions.
Throughout its history, the Hall of Souls had always maintained exactly Nine Great Tianzun. This number had never changed, for these positions represented not merely strength but also served as passports into the Hun Clan itself. The Nine Great Tianzun positions were determined by the Hun Clan’s highest echelons.
In a sense, the Hall Chief was now opening a back door.
Though this back door seemed more for Mo Yu’s benefit than Xiao Yan’s. Any observer with functioning eyes could see that in a true battle, Mo Yu would certainly lose. Even Qiu Di might struggle to maintain his position as Eighth Tianzun.
Xiao Yan yawned and waved his hand casually. "Rise."
Only upon hearing these words did everyone stand with visible relief. Zhai Xing Tianzun did not even dare glance at Xiao Yan, terrified this new Tenth Tianzun might make an example of him to establish authority.
But it was clear Xiao Yan couldn’t be bothered. After all, the man had inadvertently helped him practice using the Ancient Phoenix Wings. Some small credit was due for that service.
Silence settled over the Heaven Hall once more. The ceremonial gathering was far from finished. Even though no one else would challenge the Nine Great Tianzun—no, the Ten Great Tianzun now—everyone still eagerly anticipated the rewards to come.
’This feels rather like receiving a year-end bonus...’ Xiao Yan mused.
Winning the Pill Gathering had not just made him the sole candidate for the Di Pill Plan; it had also completed the task assigned by Hun Huzi. By any measure, he had shed blood and sweat for the organization!
As the Tenth Tianzun, he could now attend the Hun Clan’s coming-of-age ceremony and acquire their Dou God Bloodline. Surely this ’year-end bonus’ would include his share.
There were no formal rules in the Hall of Souls, no need to call out numbers or anything of the sort. Once it became clear no one else would come forward to challenge the Tianzun rankings, Hun Mie Sheng slowly rose from his throne-like seat. As he stood, every member of the Hall of Souls—including the First Tianzun—revealed burning anticipation in their eyes.
Even Xiao Yan’s gaze held traces of greed. Whether his Spiritual Strength could break through from the Soul State to the Heavenly State depended entirely on this moment.
If his Spiritual Strength reached the Heavenly State, he could request the true Asura Soul Reaping Technique from Hun Lao Gui and face his journey to the Gu Realm with genuine confidence!
Hun Mie Sheng waved his hand indifferently. "Submit your wishes."
The instant his voice fell, every heart skipped a beat as they produced their Soul Command Tokens.
This was the foundation of the Hun Clan!
Their reserves ran deep enough to grant cultivators’ wishes! Whatever one desired, they possessed!
Of course, not every wish could be fulfilled. One’s accumulated merit determined the scale and nature of the available rewards.
Take Venerable Qing Hai, for instance. Though Xiao Yan had not refined a pill to heal his hidden injuries, he had provided Mu Gu’s soul body, qualifying him for a reward.
Qing Hai gripped his token and focused his intent. The Soul Command Token seemed to sense his wish and shot out a beam of soul light that opened a Soul Path. Without hesitation, he stepped through and vanished.
Xiao Yan grasped his own Tenth Tianzun token, having heard about this procedure from Qing Hai. The Heaven Hall functioned like a divine court capable of fulfilling wishes: reach it, and your heart’s desire could be realized.
With a single thought, his Soul Command Token trembled, and a Soul Path appeared before him.
’So that’s how it works... a direct passage to the Treasure Hall.’ Xiao Yan felt no surprise, having experienced similar mechanisms in the Treasure Hall before.
He stepped into the Soul Path. Light flashed, and he arrived in the Treasure Hall’s vast white space where several light clusters floated before him.
Each one contained a treasure that could enhance Spiritual Strength. It was precisely what he needed most at this moment.
’Tsk tsk. Any one of these would drive countless alchemists to madness if placed in the outside world.’ Xiao Yan could not help sighing, though he felt some regret at being limited to a single choice.
"Nine Heaven Flower Spirit Honey. Can be used directly to enhance Spiritual Strength and repair soul damage. While the Spiritual Strength boost is modest, it creates no resistance and can be used multiple times. Also useful for refining soul-healing pills..."
Xiao Yan shook his head. He had no soul damage to heal. While the Nine Heaven Flower Spirit Honey could be used in alchemy, he needed something to shatter the barrier to the Heavenly State. He lacked both the time and the recipes for alchemy.
He turned to the second cluster, which contained a pill.
"Rotting Spirit Minor Demon Pill. A tier 8 pill that attracts four-colored Pill Lightning, suitable for Soul State cultivation. Limited to one per lifetime; subsequent doses are ineffective."
Xiao Yan frowned. He did need a pill that enhanced Spiritual Strength, but this one seemed too weak. Four-colored Pill Lightning signified a middle-grade tier 8 pill at best, and a mediocre one at that.
The enhancement would be limited. Its sole advantage was the absence of side effects.
The remaining two light clusters, without a doubt, were riskier and came with side effects, but offered the highest possible boost to Spiritual Strength. Only the Hun Clan, with their immense reserves, could provide such an array of choices.
’So this is soul essence... It’s not quite what I imagined.’ Xiao Yan examined the third cluster, which unmistakably contained soul essence.
Within floated a fist-sized sphere bound by black chains. Though small, this likely represented a decade’s worth of refined soul bodies from an entire Disha Hall-level branch.
One could only imagine how many souls were required to produce such a condensed essence.
But the problem was, soul essence wasn’t a refined pill. Even without probing it, Xiao Yan could sense the immense negative energy swirling within: resentment, unwillingness, and other emotions lingering from countless deaths. It would be difficult to fully refine these emotions, and careless absorption would inevitably affect one’s mind.
The final light cluster held a stream of spiritual information. The information itself would not enhance his Spiritual Strength but rather explained the risks of this option.
"Bone Soul Valley Secret Realm. A peak tier 8 secret realm of the Hun Clan. At its deepest point lies a Soul Gathering Basin. Cultivation within allows one’s soul to break through to the Heavenly State."
Though the description omitted explicit dangers, the ranking sequence told Xiao Yan everything he needed to know about the hazard level.
’The Nine Heaven Flower Spirit Honey would only slightly boost my Spiritual Strength. It’s included mainly for its healing properties, so it’s of no use to me.’ Xiao Yan dismissed the first option with a wave, and the light cluster promptly vanished.
’The Rotting Spirit Minor Demon Pill won’t suffice either. A tier 8 pill with only four-colored Pill Lightning? Forget breaking through to the Heavenly State; it might not even get me to the perfected Soul State.’ He rejected this option as well. Had it attracted seven-colored lightning, he might have reconsidered.
’That leaves these two...’
Xiao Yan’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. By his estimation, entering the Soul Gathering Basin in the secret realm would indeed allow his Spiritual Strength to advance to the Heavenly State.
The soul essence would be slightly less effective, probably bringing him to the perfected Soul State but not quite breaking through the final barrier.
He hesitated for no more than three seconds before making his decision. Surprisingly, he waved away the fourth light cluster, choosing the soul essence instead.
A satisfied smile crossed his face as he gazed at the chosen cluster. His eyes narrowed as he murmured, "Reaching the perfected Soul State will suffice."
He took out his Soul Command Token and tapped it lightly. Immediately, all his accumulated Spiritual Strength and soul points were drained into the white space. A blood vial, nearly three-quarters full, appeared floating in the air.
The vial visibly filled before his eyes until it was completely full, then it settled before him.
Xiao Yan did not need to break directly from the Soul State to the Heavenly State. He already possessed a method for that final breakthrough. He hadn’t come to the Hall of Souls just for this; he was here to acquire the Hun Clan’s Dou God Bloodline and cultivate the Emperor Soul Technique!
Once he reached the perfected Soul State, the combination of the Dou God Bloodline and the Emperor Soul Technique would easily shatter the final barrier. As for the negative energy within the soul essence, he was all too familiar with it.
When he first learned the Asura Soul Reaping Technique, it was precisely this kind of energy that nearly drove him mad. Now, however, he had mastered it completely. Those negative emotions could even be used to feed and temper the technique, helping him reach complete perfection.
Why risk his life in some secret realm when a more comfortable solution existed?
He examined the small vial in his hand and murmured, "So this is the Dou God Bloodline that every member of a Dou God Clan desperately covets..."
Despite expending countless resources and emptying his soul points, this vial would likely grant only a modest bloodline grade.
Hun Lao Gui had told him that a bottle like this would yield a Grade 6 bloodline, which was the bare minimum for cultivating the upper volume of the Emperor Soul Technique. And Grade 6 was just the baseline...
Moreover, Grade 6 bloodline hardly qualified as high-level by Xiao Yan’s estimation.
Tier 6 pills corresponded to Dou Emperors, and though pills and bloodlines could not be directly compared, the major clans likely graded bloodlines using a similar system.
A Grade 6 Dou God Bloodline was probably not considered exceptional.
’I wonder if the other Dou God Clans have means to enhance their Dou God Bloodline, or if it’s unique to the Hun Clan?’ Xiao Yan shrugged, no longer dwelling on whether the Tunling Clan’s method for refining the bloodline was exclusive to the Hun Clan, and put away the blood vial.
’First, I’ll refine this soul essence and boost my Spiritual Strength.’
He reached out and grabbed the light cluster. With a slight exertion of force, it exploded with a boom, leaving a fist-sized ball of soul essence in his palm.
Instantly, voices filled with savagery, resentment, and unwillingness flooded his mind.
Resentment! Hatred!
Scenes of capture by the Hall of Souls’ Honorable Elders and Protectors surged into his consciousness, as if he were there himself, enduring everything these souls had experienced before death.
A cold smile touched Xiao Yan’s lips. Trying to use soul illusions on me? That’s like stroking a tiger’s whiskers.
Asura Soul Reaping Technique—Abyss Submersion!
Chains clattered as pitch-black soul chains erupted from beneath his feet, piercing the soul essence with dull thuds.
YAAAAAAAAA!!
The instant it was pierced, the entire light cluster emitted a piercing scream, as if it were alive.
Normally, refining soul essence required first purging the negative emotions within. As an 8th-tier alchemist, Xiao Yan certainly knew how to do this, but as the Tenth Tianzun of the Hall of Souls, what would it say about him if he feared such energies?!
Am I supposed to fear you?!
Xiao Yan sat down cross-legged. Instantly, a black shadow enveloped the world, and a figure like a demonic Asura appeared behind him.
This entity wielded a spectral knife and fork, its crimson, ghostly eyes fixed on the light cluster with undisguised covetousness. It liked this thing very much.
"The essence is mine. The rest is yours," Xiao Yan stated flatly. His deep eyes glanced at the ghostly figure behind him. He showed no fear of the Asura demon lurking within his soul.
The Asura shadow looked down at him and narrowed its eyes slightly. In its current, incomplete state, however, it dared not resist.
Xiao Yan slowly closed his eyes, controlling the Asura shadow with his mind. Its knife and fork began to gently and meticulously process the soul cluster.
As the soul knife and fork cut down and the soul chains penetrated deeper, the cluster began to boil. Wisps of faint black gas seeped out, only to be absorbed by the Asura shadow and vanish without a trace.
Paying the black gas no mind, Xiao Yan focused on cycling the Great Single Soul Skill, ready to devour the soul essence at any moment
The more the Asura shadow devoured the resentful energy, the more solid and real it seemed to become.
This process continued for nearly half a day before Xiao Yan withdrew his Spiritual Strength. He gazed at the crystal-like soul cluster floating before him, a smile breaking across his face.
His hand seals shifted, and Spiritual Strength shot out from between his brows. He opened his mouth slightly, and a powerful suction emerged.
The soul cluster quivered, then an exceptionally pure stream of soul essence unfurled and coiled around Xiao Yan’s soul. It poured into him through his mouth, nose, and every pore, fusing seamlessly with his being.
As more soul essence was absorbed, a crystalline layer gradually formed on the surface of his soul.
Splash, splash!
The soul cluster undulated, emitting crisp sounds like splashing water as streams of exceptionally pure soul essence flowed into him. Enveloped in this energy, a faint, intoxicated smile appeared on his soul form’s face. He felt as if he were basking in warm light, a sensation reminiscent of a fetus in the womb.
Layer after layer of the strange, crystalline film formed quietly over his soul body, giving it an almost tangible solidity that was truly wondrous.
The soul cluster contained terrifyingly powerful essence; even Xiao Yan felt a sense of his own insignificance before it.
He continued to slowly circulate the Great Single Soul Skill, absorbing the essence while cultivating. Day after day passed in silent meditation, and before he knew it, two months had gone by.
What Xiao Yan did not know was that three pairs of eyes had been watching him the entire time...
...
In the center of the Hun Realm, within a grand manor, three figures stood observing Xiao Yan through a soul-light membrane as he sat cross-legged, refining the soul essence.
The person on the right was Hun Huzi, whom Xiao Yan had met several times. On the left stood a figure in black robes, with subtle shadows that seemed to burn across the fabric.
The central figure presented a striking contrast. He was dressed in white robes with his hands clasped behind his back, a faint smile gracing his lips. He was a carefree youth, as bright and graceful as a jade tree swaying in the wind.
Such a handsome face would be the most dazzling star no matter where it was placed, especially his clear, bright eyes, which twinkled with a light that revealed his great wisdom. An old verse perfectly captured his bearing: A gentleman on the path, as flawless as jade; a young lord peerless in this world.
But if his name were spoken on the Dou Qi Continent, it would be enough to make the entire continent tremble, simply because he was the Clan Head of the Hun Clan, Hun Tiandi!
"His innate Spiritual Strength is very strong, and his talent is very high," said the black-robed man, looking at the image of Xiao Yan.
Hun Huzi nodded. He had taken an interest in Xiao Yan years ago not only because of his self-taught alchemy, which had reached tier 2 and was approaching tier 3 at such a young age, but also because of his innately powerful Spiritual Strength.
Such Spiritual Strength without any formal cultivation was rare even in the Hun Clan.
Xiao Yan probably never imagined that because he was refining the soul essence, the Hun Clan’s coming-of-age ceremony had been postponed by ten days!
Not even the Hun Clan’s council of elders knew what was happening; they only knew the order had come from the Clan Head himself!
"His strength is not limited to his soul talent," Hun Tiandi said with a smile, having seen something more in the image of Xiao Yan.
The black-robed figure glanced at him. "Aren’t you afraid of nurturing a tiger that will turn on you?"
Hun Tiandi smiled and shook his head slowly. "Of course I’m afraid."
Both the black-robed figure and Hun Huzi froze in shock. Neither had expected Hun Tiandi to admit so directly that he could feel fear!
"Surprised?" Hun Tiandi smiled faintly, his eyes growing distant with memory. "I am human, too. Naturally, I experience fear."
"When I faced Xiao Xuan in the past, I was afraid. Now, as I confront the Gu Clan, I still feel worry."