Four-Star Dou Saint

The Bodhi Ancient Tree's pure aura surged forth. Freed from the entanglement of the Dou Emperor's resentment, its righteous, peaceful, and pristine presence spread out in a vast tide, gradually expanding in all directions.

At that moment, a mass of radiance roughly a zhang across, resembling an energy heart, floated out from within the trembling Bodhi Ancient Tree.

A cluster of branches immediately moved, dragging the radiant mass toward Xiao Xuan and delivering it before him.

The Bodhi Heart—a legendary heavenly treasure capable of allowing one to become a Saint on the spot!

"Thank you, Senior!"

After saying that, he reached out and touched the radiance before him. At that very instant, the Bodhi Heart shone brilliantly, its form becoming seemingly intangible as it completely merged into his body.

Before Xiao Xuan could carefully sense it, a branch of the Bodhi Ancient Tree tapped his head. With that gentle tap, the world immediately spun around him...

The Bodhi Ancient Tree's branches swayed and wrapped around Xiao Xuan, pulling him toward its emerald-green trunk. A meditation cushion woven from branches floated over and placed him atop it.

Waves rippled across the verdant trunk, and an aura of holiness and wisdom spread from the Bodhi Ancient Tree.

At the same time, this space fell completely silent. Only the rustling sound of leaves brushing against one another could be heard as the canopy swayed.

The Bodhi Ancient Tree: becoming a Saint on the spot!

According to legend, a Two-Star Dou Zun had once earned the favor of the Bodhi Ancient Tree and received the heavenly treasure—the Bodhi Heart. Then, in just five short years, he leaped from a Two-Star Dou Zun to a Dou Saint.

What astonishing efficacy. What irresistible temptation.

It was enough to make people suppress their fear of Heaven Abandoned Mountain and head toward Heaven Abandoned City without regard for life or death.

In less than half a month, all of Central Plains had been stirred into motion. Any expert who heard the news and possessed even a trace of ambition rushed over without delay.

It could be said that every force in the Central Plains, whether openly active or hidden from the world, had dispatched experts from their sects to fight over the Bodhi Ancient Tree...

Even the ancient clans that had always remained secluded could not resist sending their peak Dou Zun youths after hearing news of the Bodhi Ancient Tree's appearance.

Upon entering the Heaven Abandoned Mountain Range, the first obstacle was the poisonous insects and miasma. Even Dou Zun experts could hardly escape disaster if they were careless and allowed those poisonous insects to burrow into their bodies.

It could be said that these poisonous insects alone had permanently left eighty or ninety percent of the people here. Their bodies became breeding grounds for the insects, while the Dou Qi within them became nourishment.

Only a small number of elites could pass this trial.

After paying the price of countless lives, they finally discovered the location of the Bodhi Ancient Tree. The true elite Dou Zuns of the Dou Qi Continent gathered a thousand zhang away from it, separated from the tree by a surging Beast Tide.

The Hun Clan's Heavenly Emperor, Gu Yuan of the Gu Clan, Lei Ying of the Thunder Clan, Yan Jin of the Flame Clan, and others were all peak Nine-Star Dou Zuns. It had to be said that bloodline power was indeed exceptionally formidable.

As these people grew older, received greater allocations of clan resources, and fully awakened their bloodline power, their cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, rising several realms in a single year.

Even with renowned experts from across the continent gathered here, the faint leaders of the group were still these gifted youths from the various clans.

"Xuan... Brother Xuan?"

Xiao Chen and Xiao Xiong were also Nine-Star Dou Zuns at this time, while Xiao Yun and Xiao Lan were slightly weaker, at Eight-Star Dou Zun.

When they saw Xiao Xuan sitting beneath the Bodhi Tree, they were immediately astonished.

Ten years had passed, and under the clan's cultivation, they had progressed rapidly as well.

For gifted members of Emperor Clans like them, cultivation before becoming a Dou Saint was far easier. With their immense resources behind them, they could be piled up to the Dou Zong and Dou Zun realms.

The truly difficult part was breaking through to Dou Saint and continuing to advance afterward.

A Dou Saint had already begun to involve comprehending heaven and earth. That was not something that could be rapidly improved through resources alone.

Otherwise, the Ancient Emperor Clans would already have Saints everywhere.

"So he is Xiao Xuan?"

"Aren't you all being a little too optimistic? Cross the Beast Tide first.

It looks like Xiao Xuan killed quite a few of them, but there are still plenty left."

Outside, the Bodhi Ancient Tree's illusion realm originated from its power to make people undergo a hundred lifetimes of reincarnation. Naturally, the effect was less than one percent of the real thing, but it was still enough to temper one's heart.

If one passed the trial within a set period, one could receive a Bodhi Seed as a reward. If one failed, one would be permanently expelled from the illusion realm.

That was precisely the situation with the people now. Having found the Bodhi Ancient Tree, they naturally gained the chance to undergo its trial and were sent into the illusion realm by it.

Meanwhile, Xiao Xuan's hundred lifetimes of reincarnation were already nearing their end. More than a month had passed since he began his reincarnation trials.

Upon the meditation cushion beneath the tree, Xiao Xuan slowly opened his eyes. They carried the weathered insight of one who had seen through all things, containing an endless light of wisdom.

His aura was completely restrained, without the slightest trace leaking out. He seemed like an ordinary person.

"This really was an enormous harvest. I rose in a single step to become a Four-Star Dou Saint!

I directly skipped Half-Saint and the Early-Stage Dou Saint realm.

Sure enough, whenever it is not time to be stubborn, it is better to yield. That is not cowardice."

Before experiencing the hundred lifetimes of reincarnation, he had been a Nine-Turn Dou Zun. During the reincarnation, he effortlessly broke through to Half-Saint and, beyond that, completely refined the Bodhi Heart within him.

The Bodhi Heart possessed a power of expansion. During Xiao Xuan's refinement, it continuously enlarged Xiao Xuan's vessel for containing Dou Qi, expanding it to the point where the Dou Saint bottleneck seemed nonexistent before him.

Thus, he effortlessly entered the Dou Saint realm, and with the Bodhi Heart's expansion, his foundation became incomparably solid.

Yet it did not stop there. The reincarnation continued, and the Bodhi Heart continued absorbing energy.

Of course, this was also thanks to his helping the Bodhi Tree resolve its ancient problem. That was why the Bodhi Ancient Tree helped him so greatly.

Although he had not blindly raised his Dou Qi and had instead constantly compressed it, suppressing its growth in every lifetime, the accumulation of those hundred lives still raised him to the Four-Star Dou Saint realm.

By conservative estimates, each life had lasted several decades. A hundred lives meant several thousand years.

After such a lengthy cycle of mental reincarnation, although he still appeared to be only in his twenties, his heart had long endured the vicissitudes of countless years.

His soul realm, in particular, had surged into the Peak Mid-Heavenly Realm, only a step away from the late Heavenly Realm.

"Thank you, Senior, for granting me this opportunity!"

Looking at the twenty-odd people gathered beneath the Bodhi Tree, Xiao Xuan knew they were no simple individuals. Every one of them was an expert above the Dou Zun realm, a Mount Tai or Big Dipper-level figure in the Central Plains.

Did I just become the obvious target?

Whatever. I will keep a lower profile after leaving. As for later, I refuse to believe they would dare attack the Xiao Clan.

He then looked at his cousins, who had already reached the Eight-Star and Nine-Star Dou Zun realms.

It seemed that during the ten years he had been away, these people had been doing very well within the clan.