Six eight-winged flying ants, though their strength falls short of Hanxi’s, absorbed heavenly gold blood silver equal to hers. Their carapaces were similarly covered in shimmering silver patterns.

Their two pairs of scythe-like limbs had also extended by several inches, reaching about a foot and a half. However, the time taken was several times longer than what Hanxi required.

Zong Shou waited until he grew bored, so he simply closed his eyes and began his cultivation. When only a tiny remnant was left of a furnace of heavenly gold blood silver, the area outside the quiet room’s window had completely darkened, signalling the arrival of night.

Zong Shou opened his eyes again and carefully examined the new carapace and the pair of long blades on Hanxi. Suddenly, he tossed a block of metal toward Hanxi.

The latter’s purple-gold eyes first flashed with a cold glint, then subtly revealed a hint of disdain. A flash of blade light abruptly appeared.

Almost without a sound, this refined high-grade Yellow Rank spirit metal was silently severed into two pieces. Not only was there no sound of cleaving the air, but there was no sound of metal striking metal either.

That blade light seemed to have merely sliced through the void. This high-grade Yellow Rank spirit metal could not impede it in the slightest.

Zong Shou was inwardly startled and stared fixedly at the scene. Then, he saw Hanxi look over with a chilling gaze.

Those purple-gold eyes seemed to sweep over his own neck. A chill ran down his spine, as if the next instant, that blade light would slash toward him.

Yet, Zong Shou didn't pay it much mind. With the Great Profound Heart-Locking Soul-Calming Talisman he possessed, he did not fear this Saint Fire Ant Queen escaping his control before reaching the Saint Realm.

As for that single strike, he hadn't taken it seriously himself. It was indeed fast!

Not only was the blade glow sharper, but the blade speed had also increased by several points. If previously Hanxi could only contend with top-tier Eighth Rank spirit beasts, now she could utterly defeat them!

Such a fierce blade arm would likely be impossible for even spirit beasts that had stepped onto the path of immortality to withstand. But this blade speed was still far from being desperately fast enough to make him, Sword Emperor Tan Qiu, feel threatened.

He then shifted his gaze to behind Hanxi, at the six pairs of transparent wings. He had already noticed that some of the heavenly gold blood silver had merged into these six pairs of wings.

It was likely that not only the blade speed, but Hanxi’s evasive flight speed had also increased significantly. Just as he was about to command her to fly at full speed, Zong Shou’s heart stirred again.

With a wave of his sleeve, he recalled the six flying ants along with Hanxi. Then, when he opened the window, he saw three streaks of yellow light successively fly into his room, hovering in mid-air.

They were the three message talismans transmitted via the positional tracking method. Their radiance was all dim, suggesting how far they had traveled.

Zong Shou took them one by one into his hands. They were indeed talismans personally sent by the old high priest of Qiantian Mountain.

And these transmission talismans conveyed three matters in total. The first was that Zong Lan, following Zong Shou’s instructions, had safely retrieved the Glazed Fire Blazing Pearl from Demon Corpse Mountain.

However, the situation there seemed somewhat amiss. The demonized spirit beasts had increased by at least three times, and the spirit beasts that died would soon corpse-ify as well.

Currently, no martial cultivators or spirit masters dared to enter the vicinity of the Blood Valley. Zong Shou felt no surprise in his heart; he had long been aware of the future changes in Demon Corpse Mountain.

As for the corpseification, with the Nine Yin Nether Maiden there, it was not something to be astonished about. The second matter concerned Xiong Yu.

This woman finally appeared a month ago, having joined the Lingyun Sect as an inner disciple. Furthermore, over twenty Sixth Rank powerhouses of unknown origin had appeared in Blazing Flame Mountain.

They had also acquired a large sum of wealth from an unknown source, which not only allowed the military strength of Blazing Flame City to begin recovering but was also integrating the vassal cities, gradually showing signs of prosperity. It wasn't just Blazing Flame Mountain; Cloud Scenery City and Yun City were the same.

They were also reorganizing their armies and preparing for war, and had even managed to fulfill the compensation for soldiers killed or injured previously. And in the short span of just over a month, the price of all weaponry, all low-level elixirs across the East Lin Cloud Continent, had been soaring.

“Lingyun Sect?” Zong Shou’s eyes narrowed slightly, followed by a cold, humourless laugh. This sect, which had countless entanglements with him in his previous life, had ultimately chosen to become his enemy in this lifetime too.

“Indeed, they can no longer sit still—” Behind these three cities was not just Lingyun Sect. The other various sects of the Upper Heavens were likely involved too.

Zong Shou didn't pay them much heed. Rotten mud cannot be plastered onto a wall; no matter how much capital these sects invested, the outcome would be the same.

What genuinely interested him was the recent rise of an alliance of cities in the central region of the East Lin Cloud Continent, named the ‘Thousand City Alliance.’ Reportedly, the one leading it was Longxiang City, a major city in the central region. The City Lord here was only in his early twenties.

After three years in power, he had nearly doubled the territory under his jurisdiction, expanding it to the domain of four provinces, nearly eight thousand li in circumference, making it one of the foremost great cities in the East Lin Cloud Continent. There was initially an air of unifying the central region of the East Lin Cloud Continent, but recently their methods had changed from sweeping aggression to strategic alliances and horizontal associations.

For several months, envoys had been sent everywhere, striving to establish the so-called ‘Thousand City Alliance.’ Some results had been achieved, with dozens of city-states reportedly having joined. Moreover, the Lord of Longxiang City had not aggressively seized authority.

Therefore, east of Blazing Flame Mountain, many people, though still watching, were showing signs of interest. After finishing all the information in the talisman, Zong Shou’s heart sank slightly.

The methods of this Lord of Longxiang City were so brilliant that even he had to praise them. This so-called ‘Thousand City Alliance’ was likely the greatest obstacle to Qiantian Mountain in unifying the East Lin Cloud Continent.

He then gripped the third talisman in his hand. Only then did a hint of a smile finally appear on Zong Shou’s face.

This talisman came from Yin Yang. It stated that the first batch of Spirit Newt Blood Essence Pills had been refined.

After consumption by some innate powerhouses within Qiantian Mountain who had no hope of advancing further, whose temperament and background were both reliable, quite a few had successively broken through their realms to become Martial Grandmasters. Coupled with the personnel Zong Shou had gathered recently, the Blood Cloud Cavalry now numbered one hundred seventy-two individuals, all beginning to cultivate the auxiliary mental technique, ‘Cavalry Slaughter.’ And about ninety sets of the Blood Cloud Armor had been repaired.

“The efficacy of this Spirit Newt Blood Essence Pill is actually this potent—” Even after the last talisman spontaneously burned into ashes, Zong Shou’s eyes held a slight joy. He had been negligent.

The Spirit Newt Blood Essence Pill was effective even for him, whose martial path had reached an extremely profound level, let alone for those innate realm martial artists? In less than two months since his departure, one-seventh of the thousand-strong Blood Cloud Cavalry quota had been filled.

The speed of this member expansion far exceeded his expectations. When the time for battle arrived, he would certainly give the Lingyun Sects a huge surprise.

Abruptly flipping his hand, a jade slip suddenly appeared in his grasp. As the spirit command was activated, Zong Shou’s figure vanished from the quiet room without a sound.

Once again experiencing the dizzying sensation he and Zong Yuan and the others felt when they first arrived over a month ago, ten hours later, in a corner on the top floor of Sutra Repository B, the space suddenly distorted, and in the next instant, the figure of a young man appeared without warning in the center of the spirit formation there. It was Zong Shou, currently frowning deeply, continuously rubbing his temples with his fingers, his face extremely pale.

Though the transmission jade slip was excellent, allowing three round trips between the Azure Sky Realm and Qiantian Mountain per month, enabling convenient traversal across tens of thousands of li to handle urgent matters, the sensation of vertigo produced during the transmission—when crossing mountains and rivers—was incomparably agonizing. Although Zong Shou’s divine soul was powerful, after experiencing two spatial transmissions in one day, he felt nauseous to the point of vomiting.

A full quarter of an hour passed before the tightness in his chest gradually subsided, and the feeling of dizziness in his soul slowly faded. When Zong Shou opened his eyes, he looked down at his hand.

A fiery crimson pearl lay quietly in his palm. That was the Glazed Fire Blazing Pearl from Demon Corpse Mountain, which had nurtured the Thunder Roc egg but was ultimately reburied by him in the earth.

Even he could not ascertain the rank of this item. He only knew it was a supreme treasure of the Fire element.

Although blazing flames overflowed externally, its inherent fire power was extremely restrained. It contained boundless latent fire power, to the extent that his spiritual sense could not penetrate it at all.

Once extended inward, it would be instantly incinerated by the internal flame power. He didn't know where the Thunder Roc from the Cloud Wasteland era had found such a treasure.

In the Divine Emperor Game, this item was rated as a Low-grade Earth Rank. The treasures subsequently forged using this Glazed Fire Blazing Pearl as an auxiliary material were indeed Second Rank Immortal Treasures.

This item appeared to be Fire element-based, yet it also seemed to carry the essence of the Great Sun, burning away everything and emitting immeasurable light. Using this as the medium to anchor his Dharma Form should be sufficient.

“Is this the legendary Glazed Fire Blazing Pearl?” A voice suddenly sounded near his ear. Zong Shou was slightly startled at first, but after realizing the voice was extremely familiar, his expression softened.

Turning around, he saw Han Fang looking at the fire pearl in his hand with great interest. Then, with a cold face, he said, “Using a transmission jade slip in the middle of the night, Junior Brother, aren't you afraid of disturbing me, Han Fang!” Zong Shou smiled without answering, putting the fiery red jade bead into the Spirit Interspatial Ring and then simply walked away.

This item was too high-grade; it emitted flame power constantly. His Qiankun Pouch likely could not contain it.

Fortunately, he had recently acquired a new spatial treasure. Although it wasn't exclusively for storage, it was suitable for temporarily housing the Glazed Fire Blazing Pearl.

“Heh! The Spirit Interspatial Ring—that treasure indeed fell into your hands.

Does that mean severely injuring Li Zhe and then ransacking his belongings was also your doing, Junior Brother?” At this point, Han Fang’s voice grew increasingly cold: “Do you know that this man’s ancestor is already rushing to the Azure Realm, preparing to demand an explanation from our Hall? Your methods are hardly fitting for an elder of the sect!” Zong Shou couldn’t withstand that gaze, so he reluctantly turned back: “Senior Brother, if there is something, you can state it plainly!” As expected, upon hearing these words, the smile on Han Fang’s face immediately became radiant.

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