He yanked the small golden creature down from his crown, but the little thing in his grip still struggled fiercely. A current of anxious yearning faintly emanated from it.

Zong Shou let out a soft laugh, knowing that the creature was likely eyeing the Thunder Luan egg with greed. Although the essence within had already been fully absorbed into his body, the shell remained perfectly intact.

Moreover, there were residual juices that, by themselves, could rival the highest grade of spirit pills. "Just eat it if you want; it was yours to begin with.

You did contribute something by getting me in here this time—" With a casual sweep of his sword, he shattered the purple eggshell. Then, he tossed the little golden creature forward, letting it land among the fragments.

A series of crisp kacha sounds followed as the broken pieces of the Thunder Luan egg began to disappear bit by bit into the little creature’s belly, starting from the initial crack. With no other spirit guardians around, and the Netherworld Tiger reduced only to a remnant soul, this little one was lucky enough to claim the spoils.

The next moment, he saw Chu Xue beside him, her eyes wide with curiosity, looking over. "Young Master, are you alright?

That situation just now was terrifying. Have you broken through to the Seventh Meridian of the Secret Martial Path already?

Also, how did you know the Thunder Luan egg would be here?" A string of questions tumbled out, as if she feared he might miss one. Zong Shou shook his head inwardly, then suddenly slammed a fist into the nearby mountain stone, causing the area spanning about a zhang around him to tremble slightly, kicking up flying shards of rock.

This punch carried a massive force of three thousand jin, just barely crossing the threshold of a Secret Martial Master. His bones were solid, his flesh robust, surpassing even solid rock.

The skin of his right fist showed no injury whatsoever. As for the sharp pain that accompanied the exertion of force, he simply ignored it.

What was strange, however, was that a faint purple electric glimmer would sometimes flash around his arm when he struck, suddenly increasing both the speed and the weight of his punch. He wasn't sure why.

A sharp glint flickered in Zong Shou’s eyes. Seeing Chu Xue still staring intently, not letting up, he could only reluctantly spare some attention to explain.

"I just guessed. Thunder birds prefer nesting in places that are dark and cold.

I figured the Thunder Luan would be similar. And within this Blood Valley, this is the only naturally occurring water vein capable of condensing a cold spring—" Zong Shou’s gaze drifted back to the spring head.

Although he had absorbed the Thunder Luan egg, the water there was still churning violently, filling this small cavern with steam. Only then did Chu Xue seem slightly relieved, though a small trace of doubt remained in her eyes.

She mumbled, "But I also heard that thunder and fire generate each other. Back in the Ancient Era, Thunder Luans always liked staying near Fire Phoenixes—" Before she finished speaking, Zong Shou suddenly drew his Pine Grain Wind Sword and silently began digging up the earth beside him.

He excavated downward for about a zhang, and then several wisps of red light pierced through from below, dyeing the cavern a deep crimson. Even the little golden creature, which had been wholeheartedly 'gnawing' on the Thunder Luan shell, shrank slightly, appearing somewhat frightened.

Chu Xue fixed her gaze and saw a dragon-eye-sized red fire pearl resting quietly in the soil, barely three feet from the spring head. This proximity was turning the cold spring water scalding hot.

It was only thanks to this extreme heat that the surrounding soil hadn't entirely melted away. "Is this the Glazed Fire-Fierce Pearl?" Chu Xue’s pupils contracted.

She was, after all, a Spirit Master, aware of this item's preciousness. It was a material that surpassed spirit artifacts, capable of being used to forge 'Profound Treasures,' and could even be regarded as a Profound Treasure in itself.

Witnessing two such rare treasures in a single day, even the somewhat naive Chu Xue felt a wave of disorientation. "There is a scarcity of fire veins in this Blood Valley, yet the concentrated water vein happens to be a hot spring—isn't that suspicious?

That’s why I say, you need to read more books in general!" Zong Shou let out a dry chuckle, using the Pine Grain Wind Sword to shovel all the dug-up earth back into place. In his chest, he felt a rising sense of respect for the Day-Roaming Realm Spirit Master from his previous life who had found this object.

What he had told Yin Yang that day wasn't fabricated nonsense. The faint clues he had uncovered in ancient texts were concrete facts.

That Day-Roaming Spirit Master had indeed sifted through countless classics, searching for threads of evidence, eventually deducing the nesting ground of the Thunder Luan. He had ultimately succeeded ten years later in finding the Thunder Luan egg in this remote location, allowing his sect to flourish.

Unfortunately, his subsequent momentum waned, and his own talent limited his cultivation from advancing further. In the end, he not only failed to elevate his sect to one of the Nineteen Spirit Mansions during the peak of the Spiritual Tide but instead invited the disaster of annihilation.

The reason for the sect’s destruction was the Glazed Fire-Fierce Pearl in his possession, along with the Luan Elixir that was now only half intact. Chu Xue finally managed to regain her senses.

Seeing Zong Shou’s actions, she couldn't help but be startled again. "Young Master, the Glazed Fire-Fierce Pearl is an ultimate treasure; why are you burying it again?" "Even the best treasure isn't worth as much as one's life.

Haven't you heard of 'possessing a treasure inviting ruin'? If you, Xue'er, have a way to take it away without being noticed, then I'll dig it out." With a slight smile, Zong Shou continued working without stopping, filling the earth back in.

He then buried several dozen water-attribute beast crystals, perfectly forming a small sealing spiritual array. When Zong Shou activated an array seal with a hand gesture, a faint blue light immediately flashed from below, completely sealing off the remaining traces of fiery aura.

Since the Spiritual Tide wouldn't begin for a full ten years, retrieving this item in a few years wouldn't be too late. Ignoring the worried expression on Chu Xue's face, he immediately plunged back into deep meditation.

He had noticed some anomalies within his Sea of Consciousness earlier that he hadn't thoroughly investigated, which had been nagging at him with curiosity. In just an instant, Zong Shou’s consciousness descended once more into the depths of his Divine Soul, beyond the colossal vortex.

Thirteen runes hovered and circled the periphery of his Sea of Consciousness. However, the most complete one was no longer the ‘Fortune’ rune; it was the ‘Thunderbolt’ character.

It was constantly shifting, displaying not only forms of electricity and lightning but occasionally transforming into the shape of a soaring bird. Deep purple, enveloped in electric light, its form was graceful.

Its size was also expanding, directly extracting the accumulated innate vital essence from within his body to grow stronger continuously. When it first entered his body, it was roughly the same size as the ‘Fortune’ rune.

Now, it was more than three times its size. Fortunately, this trend of expansion was gradually slowing.

However, the ‘Thunderbolt’ rune was now steadily approaching the vortex, his spiritual origin. It showed a subtle tendency to merge into it.

"Could this rune be the true spiritual core of the Ancient Thunder Luan?" Zong Shou felt a surge of confusion. After all, in his past life, he was only a Martial Cultivator.

His understanding of Spirit Masters was severely limited. At this moment, he didn't know how he should respond.

After hesitating for a moment, seeing that the rune was nearing the center of the vortex, he reluctantly extended a sliver of consciousness to tentatively make contact with it. He intended to use his willpower to control it and force it back to its original position, but the moment he drew near, a deafening explosion suddenly rang out beside his ears.

Zong Shou felt his consciousness momentarily blur, a faint electrical surge passing through him. His Divine Soul felt weightless, as if liberated from some binding restraint.

When he regained clarity, he found himself soaring through the endless skies. The area before him was vast and open, and below lay the Blood Valley and Corpse Demon Mountain.

"I'm in the air right now? How is this possible?

For a Martial Cultivator to travel by air, one needs at least the Heavenly Tier realm! Am I dreaming?

But why do these sights and circumstances feel so real?" He violently shook his head, and then, as if suddenly realizing something, his 'heart' nearly stopped beating. Since he wasn't truly flying through the air by physical means, there was only one other possibility for the scene before him.

—His Divine Soul was currently roaming the vast heavens! Looking down again, he confirmed that his physical body was nowhere in sight.

However, he could see patches of feathers condensed from soul power, along with a pair of sharp talons. On either side of him, a pair of purple wings had unfurled, with threads of lightning flickering and wrapping around them.

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