Nine Transformations of the Desolate God

Jiang Yao had no idea Elder Luo was already wondering whether he might be the reincarnation of some Lingtong Race ancestor. Still, he had a pretty good idea of what was going through the old man's mind. Two bolts of thunder in a single day were a lot to take in, so he ought to consider the old man's ability to handle the shock.

So he planned to make a quick exit and give the three people present some time to process everything.

Of course, the main reason was that the Taihuan Token Envoy kept urging him on. The inherited technique had to be passed down in a secluded place.

Jiang Yao furrowed his brow and put on an expression of endurance. "Elder Luo, the will contained in this 'Bizhang' is too strong. I may need to go into seclusion for a while before I can suppress it."

Elder Luo came to his senses and nodded repeatedly. "That's only right, that's only right. There's a planet on the edge of the star system where Yanhe Planet is located. Its core is highly active, and the temperature is also very high. Quite a few of our clan's Stellar-level geniuses who have awakened fire-type divine abilities cultivate inside the planet's core for a while to nurture their abilities.

"Don't worry. As long as you're within the Twin Star System where Yanhe Planet is located, you won't need to worry about your safety. My Lingtong Race's Yanhe Lineage has a few trump cards up its sleeve.

"But pay attention to the time. I've just told the Patriarch about you..."

Elder Luo's expression turned a little strange as he spoke. In a single year, this young man had made the Patriarch lose his composure twice. It was as if he'd been born to work miracles and break the rules.

"The Patriarch has already contacted the Main Sect. We originally thought it might take you some time to reach the Stellar level, but you did it so quickly. The Main Sect should send someone to fetch you soon. When they do, Kuman, Prose, and the others will go with you to the Sacred Land."

Watching Jiang Yao walk away, Prose asked in confusion, "Our bloodline source actually contains a divine ability like 'Bizhang'?"

Clearly, it wasn't just Elder Luo—even Prose could tell that something about it didn't fit.

It was like a tiger suddenly appearing among a flock of sheep.

Compared to the divine ability Jiang Yao had awakened, even the eight high-grade divine abilities seemed too weak. Not in terms of power, but in terms of an overwhelming difference in nature.

Even though Jiang Yao had revealed only a tiny glimpse of that "Bizhang," Prose could still sense just how terrifying the demon beast or ferocious beast that possessed it must have been. He'd never seen one before—not even heard of one.

So Prose, like Elder Luo, had the same question.

Had their Lingtong Race ancestors really done something so incredible?

Faced with the younger generation's question, Elder Luo grumbled to himself but answered vaguely. He couldn't very well say outright that their ancestors could never have been that impressive. Still, perhaps it had come about through some stroke of luck.

Perhaps they'd acquired the bloodline essence of some powerful demon beast by chance, then miraculously extracted its innate divine ability from it. And somehow, for reasons no one knew, they'd managed to implant it into the Lingtong Race bloodline, whose Life Gene Level was quite ordinary—and even pass it down to their descendants.

"The Sacred Land will have an explanation for this. Maybe the Main Sect will soon announce that our Lingtong Race has gained another high-grade divine ability! But you two must keep this secret. Don't let it get out!"

After warning them, Elder Luo smiled. "You two have Jiang Yao to thank for this. According to the plan, you weren't supposed to go to the Sacred Land for another eighteen years. This is a wonderful opportunity. The Genius Tournament is coming up, and time is precious. Going a year earlier means an extra year of benefits!

"As for Jiang Yao... perhaps our Lingtong Race really will produce another Immortal God..."

At those words, not only Prose but even Kuman, who had already regained his usual aloofness, looked astonished.

An Immortal God! That was the dream of countless living beings in the universe.

Even among the top powers in the Xuanshang Universe Country and the geniuses within the Three Great Secret Realms, only a tiny number could become Immortal Gods.

Even among the super-geniuses who joined the five great powers of the Human Race, not everyone could achieve immortality. Most still fell by the wayside on the road to immortality.

An eternal being who could make a Sacred Land with his presence alone.

But when Kuman thought about everything Jiang Yao had done over the past two years, even he began to waver. It wasn't hard to imagine a genius as unreasonable as Jiang Yao becoming an Immortal God in the future.

Elder Luo, however, was clearly thinking further ahead. His gaze followed the direction Jiang Yao had gone, deep and contemplative.

In past Peak Battles, the Lingtong Race had always taken the attitude that simply participating was what mattered. That didn't mean they didn't take them seriously. They were generally contests between the six Sacred Lands, held without either side openly breaking ties—a competition in peacetime.

Only when the clan had an exceptionally outstanding genius who stood a chance of entering the Guluo Secret Realm of the Xuanshang Universe Kingdom would they make a major effort to prepare. But that had happened only once in their history.

This time, however, things were very different. The Lingtong Race's sole Immortal God had unexpectedly issued an edict, ordering the Sacred Land to spare no expense in cultivating every genius to the fullest—even those from the branches.

Those who achieved good results would receive great rewards!

They hadn't said what counted as a good result. Obviously, the higher they ranked in the preliminary elimination round, the better.

Any reward the ancestor considered important was sure to be extraordinary. As a branch elder, Elder Luo knew that the Lingtong Race's only Immortal God was a powerful one even among Immortal Gods—at least stronger than the Immortal Gods of the other five Sacred Lands in the Kasolo Empire.

Otherwise, how could he stand as an equal to Yinhu Island, the oldest Sacred Land in history, which had four Immortal Gods?

Elder Luo hadn't expected much before. Even with a genius like Kuman, the Lingtong Race had countless branches, and the Main Sect's Sacred Land had a huge number of disciples. Kuman would surely rank among the top geniuses in the Main Sect, but he wouldn't be among the very best.

Then Jiang Yao had suddenly appeared two years ago. But he'd emerged too late. If it took him a hundred or eighty years to reach the Stellar level, he'd have only two hundred years left to cultivate at that level. His Domain might not improve much in that time. Geniuses needed time to grow, after all.

Yet now, Elder Luo had begun to entertain ambitions of his own.

Just from the divine ability Jiang Yao had awakened, he'd gained an inexplicable confidence.

Thinking of how the old fellows at the Main Sect and Sacred Land would one day be just as stunned by Jiang Yao as he'd been, Elder Luo couldn't help but grin.

If that day really came, it would be a great opportunity for the entire Lingtong Race and their Yanhe Branch—and it would change the balance of power across the Kasolo Empire.

"Unbelievable, simply unbelievable. That old man's certainly generous with you. To improve your safety, he even gave you a D7-class spaceship to use. It's a bit small, but it's still worth around eighteen million Universe Coins. Tsk, tsk."

Jiang Yao was aboard a narrow spaceship about a hundred meters long, listening to the Taihuan Token Envoy's insincere admiration.

That pig often visited the Virtual Universe and had learned quite a bit about the Human Race. Most Universe-level warriors couldn't scrape together eighteen million Universe Coins even if they pooled all their assets.

But when the Taihuan Token Envoy said it, the words didn't carry the same weight.

Even if this pig couldn't afford a VIP membership for playing games in the Virtual Universe, his origins were what they were. Not to mention, a secret technique like the Xu Yuan Opening that Jiang Yao cultivated would be priceless in this world—valuable beyond measure.

Still, even if the Taihuan Token Envoy's admiration wasn't sincere, Jiang Yao was genuinely grateful to Elder Luo.

A D7-class spaceship, commonly used by Domain Lords, certainly improved his safety. Especially since he didn't plan to stay on that planet at the edge of the otherwise safe star system.

He couldn't keep staying in the safe area near Yanhe Planet, because he was about to receive the inheritance the Messenger had mentioned. According to him, the process would be somewhat dangerous and cause quite a disturbance, so they had to find an uninhabited planet—and preferably make sure there was no life on any planet within a certain distance.

Fortunately, this D7-class spaceship was compact, barely more than a hundred meters long. Jiang Yao's Xu Yuan Control was powerful enough to wrap around the entire ship, concealing all its radiation, reflections, and fluctuations.

This was another useful application of Xu Yuan Control. In terms of subtlety alone, never mind power, Xu Yuan Control truly surpassed Domains.

After spending a few days inside the core of a planet on the edge of the Twin Star System, Jiang Yao piloted the spaceship away from the Lingtong Race's heartland—the star system where Yanhe Planet was located—without anyone noticing.

Using a map of the Yanhe Star System he'd found in the Virtual Universe, he spent a month traveling to a lifeless star system.

After landing on a desolate planet whose core had completely cooled and which had no magnetic field to protect it, the Taihuan Token Envoy finally revealed the cultivation technique he'd chosen for Jiang Yao to inherit at the Stellar level.

Nine Transformations of the Desolate God!