Inside the main residence of the secluded courtyard, Zong Shou closed the heavy booklet in his hands, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Many of the ancient texts within the Scripture Pavilion dated back to primordial times, when paper did not yet exist, and records were inscribed only on bamboo slips and animal hides.

The book in his hand was one such relic. Titled the Record of Spirit Sea Layered Seals, he had unearthed it two days prior from a dusty corner in Scripture Pavilion B.

The Scripture Pavilion of the Cang Sheng Dao possessed protective spirit arrays against dust and insects, maintaining a constant temperature that could preserve its canonical texts for a hundred thousand years without decay.

Yet, this Record of Spirit Sea Layered Seals, it was unclear how many years it had lain unread. When Zongshou picked it up and opened it, it was already permeated with the foul odor of decaying wood.

This volume was the work of a figure named True Person Linghai, penned approximately ten thousand years ago. By chance, he had discovered the profound mystery of the character 'Layer' () and attempted to use talismans and spirit arts in combination.

However, True Person Linghai ultimately failed. Before his death, he inscribed all his insights concerning this seal, along with every attempt, into the book. It eventually fell into the hands of the Cang Sheng Dao, and was finally discovered by Zong Shou.

Because it was an unfinished work, the pearl remained obscured by dust.

It took Zong Shou a full two days to complete the reading. Though it contained little more than twenty thousand characters, he pondered every phrase, grasping its essential meaning. The vague notions that had previously stirred in his heart were now illuminated with countless clarity.

"So, it seems the technique of using the 'Layer' character wasn't solely conceived by Master’s lineage—"

With a soft chuckle, Zong Shou’s mind settled back into stillness, and he entered deep meditation. As he was observing his own Sea of Soul, his spirit suddenly felt a ripple, and once this tide of emotion arose, it became unstoppable, surging endlessly within his divine soul.

It was indeed so!

Without the slightest hesitation, Zong Shou knew the optimal moment to condense the true seal had arrived.

As the thought crystallized in his mind, nearly a hundred true seal spirit restrictions soared up from the ocean of soul power within his Sea of Soul.

They converged one by one, the entire process proceeding without the slightest impediment. Looking closely, above the Sea of Soul hung the character ‘Layer’ ()!

Innumerable spirit patterns unfolded from it, intertwining with the other seven arrayed seals.

A spiritual meridian then formed, spanning across the ocean of soul power. A total of eight spiritual meridians now corresponded to the eight true seal spirit restrictions. This made the Sea of Soul far more condensed and imbued with greater potential; vast primal spirit energy perpetually replenished the spiritual energy within his divine soul.

Some even overflowed beyond the confines of his body.

"It’s done!"

As the final stroke of the ‘Layer’ character seal took shape, Zong Shou felt the vortex of his Sea of Soul ‘expand’ once more. Not with the dramatic flair of his previous advancement to Huan Yang, but it still increased his soul energy by nearly seventy percent!

Even his demonic body responded. Two fox ears sprouted atop his head, and a full six fox tails violently burst forth from his back.

"Why are there more tails? Is this ever going to end?"

Zong Shou felt immense frustration towards this demonic form. While it certainly provided aid, he genuinely harbored a degree of distaste for it.

Just as he prepared to rein in all the fox tails, Zong Shou suddenly sensed a change within the phantom image of the Seven-Tailed Celestial Fox in his Sea of Soul.

Where there had been seven tails, at this precise moment, an eighth tail abruptly appeared.

And a torrent of inexplicable information suddenly flooded into his consciousness, causing another wave of dizziness to sweep through his mind.

"An Eight-Tailed Celestial Fox? Could my current fox lineage have advanced?"

As this thought surfaced, Zong Shou muttered a curse of foreboding. Indeed, in the next instant, his limbs and meridians throughout his body began to twitch and writhe violently, as if undergoing a radical metamorphosis.

Within the Sea of Soul, the images of the Eight-Tailed Celestial Fox and the Thunder Roc nearly merged, beginning to squeeze that ball of flame, effectively 'devouring' it!

Zong Shou’s heart sank to the absolute bottom. He realized that the bloodlines derived from these divine beasts—the Eight-Tailed Celestial Fox and the Thunder Roc—were now cooperating to expel the human element within his body. A death struggle had erupted between them! The very foundation of his World-Shaking Spirit Art was beginning to shake!

He paid no mind to the excruciating pain radiating from his limbs and torso. He exerted all his power to suppress the bloodline assimilation, but the effect was negligible.

Gradually, even the Eight-Tailed Celestial Fox and the Thunder Roc ceased their uneasy truce, beginning to fight and clash amongst themselves.

He could only offer a wry, internal smile. Who could have predicted that merely condensing these eight true seals would trigger such a drastic change here—

However, in the next instant, just as the fire element true qi within one of the dual meridians was becoming increasingly disadvantaged.

Suddenly, a vast current of flame erupted from within him, sweeping outward like molten lava. The flame burning above the Sea of Soul blazed intensely, singularly resisting the pressure from the Thunder Roc and the Eight-Tailed Celestial Fox without yielding ground. Concurrently, another immense influx of information rushed into Zong Shou’s primordial spirit.

This surge was even more colossal, crashing into him like a massive hammer, driving him to the verge of collapse. The Thunder Roc followed close behind, like the final straw that broke the camel’s back, causing Zong Shou to completely lose consciousness for a moment.

When he finally regained awareness, thankfully, the outcome he had dreaded—the explosion of his Sea of Soul and the shattering of his body—had not materialized.

Zong Shou secretly breathed a sigh of relief and examined his primordial spirit. The Sea of Soul had calmed, and both the image of the Eight-Tailed Celestial Fox and the Thunder Roc above the vortex had become sharper. He could even vaguely discern their internal structures.

Zong Shou’s focus ultimately settled upon the conquering flame, plunging him into deep contemplation.

This was the Fen Kong Bloodline of the Lu family. A lineage that dominated eight hundred worlds—what manner of glorious family possessed such an overwhelmingly powerful bloodline!

Even now, merely revealing a tip of the iceberg was enough to suppress the Thunder Roc and the Eight-Tailed Celestial Fox, both of respectable ranks among divine beasts.

Although, he had not yet attained the true inheritance of either of those creatures.

If this continued, by the day the Fen Kong Bloodline fully awakened, he might ultimately be unable to suppress it.

Taking a deep breath, Zong Shou calmed his mind. To resolve the threat posed by the Fen Kong Bloodline, it appeared he needed to integrate another divine beast inheritance—and it must be a true water element lineage to achieve genuine balance.

With his Heaven Swallowing Primordial Transformation Art, this task was not impossible, but the difficulty lay in finding a suitable water-attributed divine beast.

This matter required haste. He vaguely sensed that the Fen Kong Bloodline was furiously accumulating energy.

This current advancement was forced by the pressure from the Celestial Fox and the Thunder Roc. The next eruption would surely be immensely powerful! And the time for it would not be far off—likely when he prepared to break through to the Seventh Tier!

"Hmm? What is this?"

A strange stream of consciousness suddenly flowed through his spiritual sense.

Zong Shou’s heart stirred. He grasped it tightly, and the expression on his face became wonderfully complex.

It was his own comprehension of the 'Illusion' () technique, and even methods for using several divine abilities.

Yet, in his memory, he clearly recalled never having learned these specific divine abilities.

In the next instant, Zong Shou remembered the influx of information from the Eight-Tailed Celestial Fox, that flame, and the image of the Thunder Roc that had poured into his mind earlier.

"I recall reading that some humans with special bloodlines, upon strengthening that lineage to a certain degree, receive bloodline inheritances. The same is true for the Demon Race. Could this inexplicable information be inherited memory? If so, it's a blessing in disguise born from misfortune."

Zong Shou immediately searched within his Sea of Consciousness. Sure enough, he found much more—scattered fragments, sometimes disorganized, but occasionally interlocking like puzzle pieces to gradually form a complete picture. These included not only illusionary techniques, but also several associated divine abilities for the Thunder Roc and the Lu family's Fen Kong Bloodline. Moreover, the latter even yielded several fire element cultivation methods appearing in his mind.

—Though they were all foundational portions, their quality was exceptional.

Zong Shou pondered briefly. He felt that although his primordial spirit had undergone turbulence, it was not fatigued; rather, his spirit was vigorous. His Sea of Soul was completely full, expanded significantly more than before.

He hesitated no longer, beckoning threads of soul power and spiritual energy from within the vortex. True talismanic restrictions coalesced one after another, seemingly effortlessly. It often took only a dozen breaths to form one.

And just a quarter of an hour later, a true seal of the character 'Illusion' () ascended in his Sea of Soul like the rising sun, settling beside the true seal of the character ‘Layer’ ().

This caused the soul power vortex to expand once more, and the space within his divine soul became suffused with wind and thunder.

The soul power in his primordial spirit had already been refined to absolute purity daily through the Soul-Illuminating Mirror technique, with some of it even transforming from Yin to Yang.

Now, it was unstoppable; the majority of his divine soul was transforming from utter Yin to pure Yang.

Zong Shou still refused to stop. The true seal of the character 'Fire' () was also changing. In a flash, it violently pulled down the corresponding Heaven Talisman Spirit Seed of the Fire character situated higher up, integrating it within. Almost instantly, changes appeared: more talismanic markings formed, filling the core, and more spirit patterns extended, permeating the space of the Sea of Soul. The quality of the fire element spiritual meridian was rapidly improving. The true seal of the character 'Thunder' () was also undergoing continuous transformation; though it hadn't begun a fundamental change like the Fire seal, it was constantly expanding. The true talismans he had gathered expanded several times over.

The transformation of the entire Sea of Soul vortex continued for several hours before gradually subsiding. When Zong Shou’s consciousness slowly returned, he saw that the sky outside indicated it was already noon.

He was not upset about missing the day's spirit art lessons; rather, he was overjoyed.

Currently, his divine soul possessed nine true seals condensed, with a Heaven Talisman of the 'Fire' character resting even higher above.

—Today, he had achieved Nine Seals Huan Yang! Peak Sixth Tier!