Who Said Anything About Killing Him

"The bloodline barrier that a Lingtong Race spirit reader has to face is truly extraordinary!"

Jiang Yao felt the nine miniature planets within his sea of consciousness stirring, expanding and contracting, attempting to complete a metamorphosis, yet failing time and again; the vast amount of refined spiritual power urgently needed for this transformation was being blocked by an inexplicable force.

It was like a dam, obstructing the hunger and drought desperately needing to be satisfied downstream.

Previously, while in the nutrient pod, as each miniature planet formed, Jiang Yao had gradually sensed the existence of this dam, from a blur to a clear realization.

It seemed to originate from his bloodline, existing in the upper reaches of his lineage; he could perceive it, yet he could not reach it.

But the dam was constantly influencing Jiang Yao.

Even though he had reached the peak of the Planetary Level within the precious nutrient fluid of a D-grade nutrient pod, he could not advance any further.

"No wonder the Lingtong Race places such importance on spiritual talent and spiritual amplitude." Jiang Yao couldn't help but complain: "This isn't just 'somewhat difficult,' it is downright arduous."

A higher spiritual amplitude would allow the "Wall-Breaking Method" within the gray metal shard to exert greater power to destroy the bloodline barrier.

In his perception, the sturdiness of that bloodline dam made the 18-fold amplitude of the Seven Turns of Heaven's End seem far too weak.

However, spiritual amplitude secret techniques were generally only practiced by those at the Stellar Level and above; it was not easy for the Lingtong Race to find a low-level secret technique like the Seven Turns of Heaven's End that was easy to understand, accessible at the Planetary Level, and capable of reaching 18-fold amplitude within a few decades.

Even if one mastered the Wall-Breaking Method with 18-fold spiritual amplitude, it would likely take hundreds of impacts to break through the bloodline barrier, and each impact would bring a backlash force acting upon the spiritual power; the process of breaking the barrier was no less than enduring torture.

It was no wonder the Lingtong Race favored spirit readers so much, yet warriors still made up the majority of the Stellar Level members within the race.

Of course, Jiang Yao possessed the Xu Yuan Space, which transcended domains; with his consciousness presiding over the Xu Yuan Space, he possessed god-like control, and the power unleashed by driving his spiritual energy with this capability would be enough to easily shatter the so-called bloodline barrier.

The only problem was that he could not find the bloodline barrier; he could sense it, but he couldn't reach it, making even the greatest power useless.

That was why the first secret technique in the gray metal shard existed: Forging the Boat of Guidance.

It involved using spiritual power to forge a Boat of Guidance, thereby traveling upstream against the current to reach the bloodline barrier and crush it, allowing the energy intercepted by the dam to pour downstream, causing the nine miniature planets to disintegrate and reform into a single miniature star, stepping into the Stellar Level.

Incidentally, without the obstruction of the bloodline barrier, one could also ride the Boat of Guidance further up to the source of the bloodline to activate bloodline innate abilities, though activating those required going to Elder Luo.

Perhaps because his soul had undergone a metamorphosis due to the Xu Yuan Opening, or perhaps because his willpower was extraordinary, Jiang Yao could not only clearly sense the dam in the upper reaches of his bloodline but could also faintly perceive the source of his bloodline through that barrier.

There seemed to be many wild, primitive consciousnesses there, with powerful and chaotic auras.

Jiang Yao finished explaining his perception to the Messenger, who pondered for a moment before his pig-like face revealed an expression of keen interest:

"Wonderful! Wonderful! Your Lingtong Race ancestors were truly talented. Extracting the bloodlines of so many exotic beasts and refining them into bloodline innate abilities is normal enough, but to be able to 'plant' these innate abilities into one's own bloodline, and even pass them down to descendants—that is no small feat. They were truly talented."

After long contact, Jiang Yao could feel that this Messenger was definitely not a simple character, and certainly not just a tool for the inheritance of Divine Lord Taihuan; Jiang Yao was inclined to trust the judgments he made.

If this were true, then the so-called bloodline innate abilities of the "Lingtong Race" were actually innate abilities that some ancestor had extracted from exotic beasts or special life forms and then transplanted into their own bloodline, allowing them to be inherited by descendants, enabling those with strong spiritual power among the descendants to awaken these "innate abilities" at the Stellar Level.

This reminded him of what Prose had said earlier: "Some in the race are worried that Longshan Company is secretly raising Lingtong Race slaves to extract their innate abilities, refining them into treasures or secret techniques like 'Eternal Love'."

If the Messenger's guess was correct, it was no wonder some in the Lingtong Race were so sensitive to this; their own ancestors had done exactly that.

This made Jiang Yao even more interested in his own bloodline innate abilities, so he skipped the "Wall-Breaking Method" and began practicing the "Boat of Guidance."

According to Prose, the difficulty of forging the Boat of Guidance was extremely high, far more complex than the Seven Turns of Heaven's End, and even the shortest record in history had taken 96 years.

Even though Jiang Yao knew his soul had died and been reborn during the opening of the Xu Yuan Space, undergoing a massive transformation, and he had mastered the Seven Turns of Heaven's End to the fifth turn in just three days, he still had no benchmark for how much his comprehension had actually improved; after all, the Seven Turns of Heaven's End was just a single case.

Among those top geniuses in the universe for whom comprehending laws was as easy as eating and drinking, what level was he actually at?

It was precisely because he had no confidence that he didn't have 100% certainty that he could do in 19 years what past geniuses of his race had needed over a hundred years to accomplish.

Therefore, Jiang Yao adopted an attitude of facing a formidable enemy, immersing his entire mind and spirit into his cultivation.

A small B9-grade spaceship was docked in the B-grade zone of the Yanhe Star spaceport.

The hatch opened, and several Stellar Level individuals walked out of the ship. After passing security and identity registration, they took transport to the Longshan Building.

A while later, in the representative's office, Jiernuo, the representative of Longshan Company's office in the Yanhe Star System, stood before one of the men in black with some suspicion and shock.

"My lord, I truly did not expect you to arrive so quickly. May I ask your name..."

Jiernuo had previously reported to headquarters that a Planetary Level individual with a domain had appeared among the Yanhe Lingtong Race. He had thought that headquarters might either refuse to act, or if they did, they would send a Universe Level powerhouse to Yanhe Star.

As a lucky individual who had managed to step into the Universe Level, Jiernuo understood better than anyone that the gap between Universe Level powerhouses was even greater than that between Stellar Level individuals.

A true Universe Level powerhouse within the company could kill him in seconds; intercepting a Lingtong Race genius would be a trivial matter.

He hadn't expected that after waiting for more than 20 days, headquarters would actually send people, but to Jiernuo's disappointment, the few who arrived were only at the Stellar Level.

However, he hadn't expected that as soon as they entered the office, one of the Stellar Level individuals would leak a sliver of aura that terrified Jiernuo.

That was an aura far exceeding the Universe Level.

Domain Lord Level!

A Domain Lord's soul could condense into a crystal sphere and be stored within their life core, allowing them to completely conceal their aura so that the outside world could not detect their strength unless they voluntarily released it.

A Domain Lord disguising himself as a Stellar Level individual and "smuggling" himself onto Yanhe Star among a few Stellar Level individuals—the implications of this left Jiernuo feeling uncertain and suspicious.

Jiernuo had met the current directors of Longshan Company, and this mysterious Domain Lord did not seem to be one of them. Could he be some other titular director?

The mysterious Domain Lord's voice also seemed to have been disguised: "Yinhu Island has reached an agreement with the Jiuyuan Holy Land. Neither side is permitted to act, and they must restrain their subordinate forces from attacking members of the other side below the Universe Level; otherwise, it would be considered inciting a war between the Holy Lands."

"Ah?" Jiernuo was first startled, then fell into confusion.

If they weren't allowed to act, couldn't they just issue an order? Was the Virtual Universe just for show? Did they really need to send a Domain Lord to deliver this message?

The mysterious Domain Lord stared at Jiernuo: "So you don't know me, and you don't need to know who I am, understand?"

Jiernuo was shocked, naturally understanding what this person meant. Was he willing to risk triggering a war between the Holy Lands just to take action? All for the sake of a mere Planetary Level genius?

In truth, after calming down over these past few days, his urge to erase that Planetary Level brat had faded. If such a genius met with an accident, the Lingtong Race would likely not let it go. Regardless of whether there was evidence or if they had caught any leads, they would pin the blame on Longshan Company.

Even if the Jiuyuan Holy Land wouldn't go to war with Yinhu Island over this, nor destroy Longshan Company, it was not impossible for them to exert some pressure, force Yinhu Island to pay a price, and incidentally hand over some scapegoats to appease the Lingtong Race.

When that time came, his status as a seemingly imposing Universe Level powerhouse would be nothing more than a disposable pawn.

Furthermore, over the last few epochs, the company and the Yanhe branch of the Lingtong Race had indeed been much more peaceful, with a sense of "minding one's own business." Perhaps the company no longer viewed the Yanhe Lingtong Race as enemies and wanted to ease relations; if so, the headquarters would likely reject his proposal nine times out of ten.

He hadn't expected that just as he was about to abandon the idea of taking action, the company headquarters would get fired up instead.

"Tell me about the target's movements."

Jiernuo suppressed his shock and suspicion, replying respectfully: "According to the information we have, the Yanhe branch does not seem to intend on sending him to the Jiuyuan Holy Land immediately. The intelligence department speculates that the higher-ups of the Yanhe branch likely want the target to break through to the Stellar Level and awaken his innate ability before heading to the Holy Land."

"How long will that take?"

Jiernuo was uncertain: "Based on past experience, at least a hundred years. However... however, besides possessing a domain, this person also has extremely high comprehension, at least in terms of telepathic secret techniques. There is no way to estimate based on experience for a genius like this."

The mysterious Domain Lord did not show any disappointment, his face remaining calm and unruffled: "Ten years or a hundred years, it doesn't matter. I will wait."

Jiernuo gritted his teeth, not daring to look at the mysterious Domain Lord's face, and lowered his head to probe: "Does the company... does the company really want to risk triggering a war between the Holy Lands, determined to nip this Lingtong Race genius in the bud?"

It wasn't that he was a coward, but he had been truly shaken by the mention of the "agreement between Yinhu Island Holy Land and Jiuyuan Holy Land." Surely, a dignified Domain Lord would not lie to him.

Therefore, Jiernuo had to muster his courage to probe further. Was this decision to defy the peace agreement reached by the two Holy Lands a unilateral move by the company because they couldn't let go of years of hatred, or was it... the intention of Yinhu Island Holy Land?

The mysterious Domain Lord revealed a meaningful smile: "Who said anything about killing him?"