Dragon-Phoenix

"Your ability is rather unusual." Mandala looked at the second Seal on Futu Yun's body.

It had been condensed from the power of her Datura Flower and was thus called the "Datura Flower Seal."

This Seal was of a higher grade than the Undying Thunder Seal and had already reached the level of a Greater Divine Ability.

Yet Futu Yun had successfully cultivated it with nothing more than Mandala's spiritual energy.

"True strength does not depend on how many traits one's spiritual energy possesses."

"For instance, the Flame Emperor of the Boundless Fire Territory. In terms of mastery over fire, perhaps no one in the Great Thousand World could surpass him."

"He is the true emperor of fire. All the flames of heaven and earth can be wielded freely in his hands."

The Flame Emperor had cultivated the path of flame to its utmost limit. At his level, other powers could hardly shake his Dao heart.

"That cannot be said either. The mysteries of heaven and earth are boundless; no path is absolutely the strongest."

"The Martial Ancestor of the Martial Realm possesses spiritual energy with many traits as well." Futu Yun shook his head.

"It is said that even the Ice Spirit Clan, an ancient race, can barely withstand the frost power he unleashes."

Mandala nodded in agreement. "It is said this is related to the characteristics of the Lower Plane where he once lived."

"Although the Great Thousand World is where countless planes converge, some Lower Planes have their own unique qualities."

"Certain special cultivation arts would not be considered ordinary even in the Great Thousand World."

Thus, there had never been a strongest path of cultivation in heaven and earth, only the path best suited to oneself.

As long as one could find one's own path, one might not be unable to contend with those Heavenly Sovereigns in the future.

But Futu Yun's path differed from everyone else's.

At this thought, Mandala's gaze toward him grew more complicated.

On the surface, he seemed much like the Martial Ancestor, able to merge spiritual energy of various attributes into one body.

Yet in truth, each of his Seals existed independently.

Simply put, the Martial Ancestor's frost attribute could suppress the Ice Spirit Clan entirely because of his superior cultivation.

If the Ice Spirit Clan also had a Saint Grade expert, they would at least not be suppressed in terms of ice attributes.

They might even suppress him in return, unless he used the power of other attributes.

Just as the Martial Ancestor understood fire attributes as well, but if he competed with the Flame Emperor in the art of controlling fire, the outcome would be beyond doubt.

But every one of Futu Yun's Seals existed independently.

If he could use the Flame Emperor's power to cultivate a "Fire Seal,"

then the power contained within that Seal would be enough to rival the Flame Emperor's fire-controlling power.

Paths that others spent their entire lives studying could be made his own merely by obtaining the corresponding spiritual energy.

For example, the current "Datura Flower Seal" was equivalent to another Mandala.

Once Futu Yun's cultivation reached the Heavenly Sovereign level, the power unleashed when he activated this Seal would equal Mandala herself.

The root of it all lay in the word "chaos."

Futu Yun's Chaos Spirit Wheel, which surpassed all limits, had turned even the attributes of his spiritual energy into chaos.

This attribute resembled attributeless spiritual energy:

If one did not cultivate arts or Spiritual Arts, nor refine external objects to alter it, spiritual energy was inherently without attributes.

Yet once it came into contact with the attributes of external objects, it would mutate, which could also be called an "impurity."

But Futu Yun's chaotic spiritual energy was precisely the opposite—being without attributes was itself his attribute.

Any "impurity" cast into it would likely be broken down and ultimately become part of chaos.

However, at this thought, Mandala suddenly remembered something: Sovereigns were a dividing line on the path of cultivation.

Beyond the Supreme Sea and the Supreme Dharmakaya, the most crucial reason was that their spiritual energy possessed "spirituality."

It was a kind of power whose quality far surpassed ordinary spiritual energy.

Many Sovereigns possessed spiritual energy with unique attributes—some bleak and frigid, others violent and blazing hot.

It was precisely because spiritual energy possessed spirituality that its power became so extraordinary.

Or rather, only upon entering the Sovereign Stage could spiritual energy truly be considered spiritual energy—because it possessed spirituality.

Before that, so-called spiritual energy was ultimately merely ordinary energy.

Compared to the energy of those Lower Planes, it held little claim to superiority.

The essence of "spirituality" was to fuse other substances into one's own spiritual energy, causing it to undergo a transformation.

But though this sounded simple, it was exceedingly difficult in practice. One's spiritual energy could not merge with every substance.

Once rejection occurred, not only would transformation fail, but one would suffer a backlash and be gravely injured.

Most Sovereigns chose places of extreme yin and cold, or extreme heat and yang, where they absorbed strange energies and fused them with their spiritual energy.

This method was the simplest and most direct, though its enhancement of spiritual energy's power was limited.

Futu Yun's problem, however, was this:

With his chaos attribute, he could not alter the attributes of his spiritual energy through external objects, much less grant it spirituality!

"But it is still too early to discuss this. Your most urgent task is to find a beast soul." Mandala shook her head.

In truth, many who entered the Divine Soul Stage had yet to refine a spirit beast essence soul.

It was not because they lacked the ability, but because most had high standards and were unwilling to settle for just any essence soul.

Although they could refine another one later if they found a better essence soul, it would still be troublesome.

The Great Thousand World had a Myriad Beast Record, divided into the Sky and Earth Rankings, which recorded countless spirit beasts between heaven and earth.

Spirit beasts ranked among the top hundred of the Earth Ranking possessed strength comparable to cultivators of the Three Heavens Realm.

They were called "Heaven-grade spirit beasts," or "Heaven Beasts" for short.

If a Heaven Beast entered the Sky Ranking, it would advance into a "God-grade spirit beast," or "Divine Beast" for short.

Even Sovereigns would feel wary when facing these alien overlords of heaven and earth.

The higher-ranked Super Divine Beasts were not to be underestimated even by Heavenly Sovereigns.

However, for those at the Divine Soul Stage, refining the essence soul of a Heaven Beast was already exceedingly rare and enough to give them an edge over others of the same realm.

As for higher-grade Divine Beasts and even Super Divine Beasts, they were essentially impossible to refine.

Unless one used the Bloodline Link technique.

It was a secret art that could only be mastered by races possessing the bloodline of ancient Divine Beasts.

Simply put, it connected the bloodlines of a human and a spirit beast.

In this way, the human could obtain the spirit beast's abilities, with effects far surpassing simple refinement.

But the price was that the two parties would form a life-and-death bond. If one died, the other would perish as well.

The practice of simply refining an essence soul, erasing the spirit beast's will to obtain its abilities, was viewed by spirit beasts as both despicable and inferior.

Bloodline Link, whether in method or potential, far surpassed the former.

Only through this method could humans and spirit beasts truly merge as one and unleash astonishing power.

However, a Bloodline Link had to be founded on the willing consent of both parties.

These proud overlords of heaven and earth regarded linking their bloodline with a human as the greatest humiliation.

Even if they were utterly slain, they would never submit.

Furthermore, while humans could prolong their lifespans through cultivation,

unless they reached an extremely high realm, they would inevitably die of old age before spirit beasts, which offered no benefit to the spirit beasts.

Even so, Futu Yun still intended to give it a try.

His first target was the Boundless Fire Territory—more precisely, that Dragon-Phoenix of the Boundless Fire Territory.