Descends Upon Earth Dragon Gate

"Huh? That child's aura actually disappeared?" Du Busi swept the surroundings with his spiritual power, only to find nothing at all.

"Old man, how was that? This haul was pretty impressive." Xiao Jinchen slowly walked over to Ice Empress's body and patted her emerald-green tail with a smile.

"I really wonder who your teacher is." Du Busi also walked over to Ice Empress's body and touched it, his tone full of astonishment.

When Du Busi had first seen Xiao Jinchen's talent, he had wanted to take him as a disciple, but Xiao Jinchen said that he already had a teacher.

That had left Du Busi unconvinced! How could anyone on the continent understand the cultivation of body martial souls better than he did?

Yet as time passed, Du Busi's dissatisfaction gradually faded. Not only had Xiao Jinchen's cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, but he had also mastered an exceptionally formidable art of alchemy.

This made Du Busi increasingly curious about Xiao Jinchen's teacher.

Xiao Jinchen merely smiled faintly and did not answer.

Xiao Jinchen was a transmigrator. When he was six years old, he awakened Twin Martial Souls: Fiery Golden Eyes and Emperor Flame.

He had also inherited the legacy of Flame Emperor Xiao Yan. The teacher Xiao Jinchen spoke of was Xiao Yan. Since he had inherited the man's legacy, he could be considered Xiao Yan's successor, so calling him his teacher was not wrong.

As for Xiao Yan's legacy, Xiao Jinchen had not initially realized that it had been with him all along—it was the ring on his hand!

This ring had been left to Xiao Jinchen by his late mother. It was called the Exotic Flame Ring, and after his martial soul awakened, it began to grow hot without stopping.

Out of curiosity, Xiao Jinchen infused the flames of Emperor Flame into the Exotic Flame Ring, never expecting a spatial rift to appear immediately.

Beyond that spatial rift was a stretch of land. Only after entering did he discover that it contained all the battle techniques Xiao Yan had once used, the Heavenly Flames sealed in the Exotic Flame Plaza, and the inheritance of an alchemist. Even the Storage Ring he used now had been found within the Exotic Flame Space.

That was why Xiao Jinchen possessed the Fallen Heart Flame. Without it, capturing Ice Empress would have been nearly impossible.

The Fallen Heart Flame could directly attack the soul. He had only succeeded in capturing Ice Empress by taking advantage of that trait.

Xiao Jinchen's second martial soul was Emperor Flame. He had already devoured two kinds of Heavenly Flames: one was the Green Lotus Core Flame, and the other was naturally the Fallen Heart Flame.

After Xiao Jinchen refined these two Heavenly Flames, they fused with Emperor Flame. When needed, he could even separate them again.

In truth, Xiao Jinchen's Emperor Flame martial soul was not yet complete. At first, it only possessed the power of ultimate fire. Every time he devoured a Heavenly Flame and fused it into Emperor Flame, its power would increase by another measure.

Only after Xiao Jinchen devoured every Heavenly Flame within the Exotic Flame Space could his Emperor Flame truly be considered Emperor Flame.

After Xiao Jinchen stored Ice Empress's body in his Storage Ring, Du Busi asked, "Little Jinchen, you're already level sixty, right? Have you given any thought to your sixth spirit ring?"

Xiao Jinchen had actually broken through to level sixty a month ago, but he had delayed obtaining his ring in order to intercept Ice Empress.

"A twelve-year-old level-sixty Soul Emperor—this talent is truly terrifying. If I hadn't brought you back to the Body Sect right after your martial soul awakened, I'd have suspected you were an evil Soul Master." Du Busi patted Xiao Jinchen's shoulder and smiled in satisfaction.

"Even evil Soul Masters can't cultivate as fast as I do, okay?" Xiao Jinchen said indifferently.

"Alright, alright, don't get too smug. Be careful not to stumble in a ditch!" Du Busi knocked Xiao Jinchen on the head and said irritably.

Although Du Busi's tone was stern, the delight in his voice could not be concealed.

"Hmm, my sixth spirit ring..." Xiao Jinchen lowered his head and pondered for a moment before saying, "My fifth spirit ring came from a seventy-thousand-year Dream Cloud Sparrow, so my sixth spirit ring naturally has to be a hundred-thousand-year one."

"A hundred thousand years? Spiritual-type ones are already hard enough to find, let alone a hundred-thousand-year one!" Du Busi said with some vexation. "I wonder if we could find one by turning the Star Dou Forest upside down."

"Old man, did you forget that the Sun Moon Empire has a powerful spiritual-type Soul Beast? Why do you keep staring at the Star Dou Forest?" Xiao Jinchen looked at Du Busi and chuckled.

"Ahem." Du Busi's expression stiffened under Xiao Jinchen's gaze, and he immediately coughed dryly to hide his embarrassment.

Du Busi raised his hand and gave Xiao Jinchen another hard knock on the forehead. He shot him an annoyed glare and said, "How could I not know? I was just waiting for you to say it yourself."

"Oh? An old tsundere, are you?" Xiao Jinchen rubbed his forehead, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Old man, no rush. We still need to go somewhere first." As though he had thought of something, Xiao Jinchen's lips curved into a mischievous grin.

Xiao Jinchen planned to visit Earth Dragon Gate first. There was Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow there—otherwise, how was he supposed to keep little Ice Empress in line?

"Hehehe, I'm really wicked." Thinking of this, Xiao Jinchen could not help letting out a strange laugh.

"What bad idea have you come up with now, brat?" Du Busi asked as he looked at Xiao Jinchen's odd grin.

"Old man, tell me: if our Body Sect takes a fancy to something, what should we do?" Xiao Jinchen asked with a smile.

"Is that even a question? Anything our Body Sect sets its eyes on belongs to our Body Sect. We just take it." Du Busi patted his chest and declared confidently.

"Old man, then there's something I want." Xiao Jinchen said with a faint smile.

"Something? What thing?" Du Busi pressed.

"Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow!" Xiao Jinchen answered. "It's an ice-attribute heavenly treasure, and it will be of great use to me."

"If it's useful to you, then we'll take it," Du Busi said. "Where is it?"

Xiao Jinchen raised his eyes toward the distance and said, "Earth Dragon Gate."

Dragon City.

This was an exceptionally prosperous city within the Heaven Dou Empire, with a population no smaller than that of the imperial capital, Heaven Dou City.

Within Dragon City stood the two strongest sects.

Heaven Dragon Gate and Earth Dragon Gate.

Heaven Dragon Gate was the sole surviving legacy of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan from ten thousand years ago. It had been established by the brothers Yu Tianheng and Yu Tianxin, and its inherited martial soul remained the orthodox Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.

Earth Dragon Gate, on the other hand, was a sect founded by Soul Masters with various subdragon martial souls.

Within Earth Dragon Gate, the disciples were sparring and cultivating in a sweat. Amid the interweaving gusts of fists and Soul Power, hearty laughter echoed inside and outside the sect.

"Mom, I'm already a level-thirty Soul Elder now!" Nan Qiuqiu said excitedly.

Nan Shuisui lovingly rubbed Nan Qiuqiu's little head and said gently, "My Qiuqiu is the best! But you can't slack off either. You have to cultivate diligently, understand?"

"Okay, I know, Mom! I'll cultivate hard." Nan Qiuqiu nodded vigorously.

Just as the mother and daughter were talking, a voice suddenly exploded above Earth Dragon Gate: "Earth Dragon Gate's master, come out and meet this old man!"

At first, the voice did not seem particularly loud, yet it spread to every corner of Earth Dragon Gate, rumbling like thunder.

"Not good! A powerful enemy has arrived." Nan Shuisui's expression changed drastically. She pushed Nan Qiuqiu toward an Earth Dragon Gate elder and instructed in a grave voice, "Take Qiuqiu away first."

After settling Nan Qiuqiu, Nan Shuisui instantly summoned her martial soul. Eight spirit rings rose around her as dense Soul Power surged forth, and she shot into the sky above Earth Dragon Gate.

Nan Shuisui quickly arrived above Earth Dragon Gate. There, she saw two figures floating in the air: an elderly man and a youth. A pair of wings wreathed in violet light extended from the youth's back.

"Senior, please forgive us for failing to welcome you from afar." Nan Shuisui clasped her hands in greeting. She sensed a dangerous aura from Du Busi and could only first probe his intentions.

"This old man is Du Busi," Du Busi said calmly.

"Earth Dragon Gate's master, Nan Shuisui, pays respects to Your Excellency of the Body Sect!" Nan Shuisui was startled inwardly. She had not expected it to be the Body Sect, and she promptly bowed again.