"Holy shit!"
"The ferocious beast Taotie?!!"
The system's notification jolted Ling Feng. The ferocious beast Taotie was an exceedingly famous ancient ferocious beast from the primordial wilderness.
Of course, what had made Ling Feng lose his composure was the notification about Taotie's bloodline.
[Those who fuse with Taotie's bloodline can possess its innate talent, disregarding all attributes and devouring all things...]
"System, is this notification true?"
[Yes. Taotie is an ancient ferocious beast that stands above every species of magical beast on the Dou Qi Continent, a ferocious beast even more terrifying than ordinary divine beasts. As ravenous as a starving wolf, it devours people without even pausing to swallow. It can consume anything and convert it into energy. If you fuse with Taotie's bloodline, your constitution will change, and you will acquire its innate talent. Thus, unlike ordinary people, you will not need to pass through the body tempering stage before using external power to increase your cultivation. You can force-feed yourself external power to increase your strength. Simply put, you can grow stronger by devouring things and attain the Dao by popping pills!]
Good gracious!
This reward was way too awesome!
Thank the heavens, thank the earth, and thank Daddy System for his favor...
For a moment, Ling Feng's mind overflowed with grandiose fantasies, and he began itching to try it out.
"System, how do I fuse with Taotie's bloodline?"
[Host, do you wish to fuse with it now?]
"Yes!"
Meanwhile, a party of ten men and three women had gathered on the yellow dirt path beyond the lakeside.
The ten men wore matching outfits, with badges bearing the name "Mittel" on their chests. They clearly belonged to the same faction.
Of the three women, two wore maidservants' attire, while the last wore a red dress and was by far the most striking.
The woman wore a vivid red, close-fitting brocade robe that perfectly outlined her exquisite curves. The stretch of dazzling, snow-white leg beneath it stirred a fiery impulse in anyone who saw it. A silver sash encircled her willow-slender waist, so narrow that a hand could span it, emphasizing its delicate shape to the fullest.
To many men, she was an irresistible beauty. Especially now, with her face flushed in nervous embarrassment and her breathing slightly hurried, she looked as though she had just enjoyed a bout of clouds and rain, leaving her accompanying guards staring.
But the woman apparently held an exalted position, and they dared not look for long, hurriedly lowering their heads. Just then, the guard captain, Lin Wei, stepped forward. "Miss Ya Fei, are you all right? What happened just now?"
Indeed, this woman in red was Mittel Ya Fei.
These guards were Ya Fei's accompanying bodyguards. Hearing her startled cry earlier, they had hurried over to rescue her. But Ya Fei was visibly uneasy, her face flushed with embarrassment. She could hardly tell them that someone had seen her completely naked and that she had fled without even bathing. The experience was so mortifying that even Ya Fei could not face it calmly.
"Uh... I'm fine. I just accidentally tripped earlier. All right, let's get moving."
She faltered slightly, but soon regained her composure and issued her order without further explanation.
Given Ya Fei's status, Lin Wei, as her guard, dared not ask any more questions. He could only obey.
"Yes."
Ya Fei paid Lin Wei no further attention and headed straight for her private carriage.
"Phew..."
Inside the carriage, Ya Fei patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. Her pretense of composure began to crumble, revealing her true feelings.
"How embarrassing! That guy... why did he suddenly appear in the lake? There was never anyone there before... Oh, this is mortifying! I hope I never run into him again, or I'll be too ashamed to show my face..."
The more she thought about it, the more embarrassed she became. Covering her crimson cheeks, Ya Fei recalled her humiliating predicament and wished she could crawl into a crack in the ground.
That expression made her even more breathtaking.
Unfortunately, no one was there to appreciate it.
At the lakeside.
Bare-chested, Ling Feng sat cross-legged with his eyes tightly shut, seemingly cultivating.
Amid the youth's smooth, steady breathing, a golden radiance suddenly emerged from his body.
A closer look revealed a mass of golden liquid constantly circulating through his limbs and every part of his body.
Illuminated by the golden liquid, Ling Feng's veins became visible, as though his body had turned transparent.
Looking carefully, one could see golden and red blood merging within those veins. Astonishingly, as the blood fused bit by bit, the energy of heaven and earth around Ling Feng began gathering. A whirlwind had already formed above him, circling overhead and growing larger and larger.
Time slipped by, little by little.
At a certain moment, the golden liquid inside Ling Feng completely fused with his blood, turning the visible blood within him brown. At that very same instant, the energy of heaven and earth gathered above his head surged into his body all at once.
"Second stage Dou Qi!"
"Third stage, fourth stage... sixth stage..."
Ling Feng greedily absorbed the energy around him, and his Dou Qi rose rapidly.
Others might need an entire year to advance a single stage, yet Ling Feng advanced through several in a single breath.
Such a terrifying speed was unmatched!
Under Ling Feng's almost limitless demands, the energy of heaven and earth gathered above him began dwindling at a rate visible to the naked eye, while the Dou Qi inside him continued soaring.
"Seventh Stage Dou Qi!"
"Eighth stage... ninth stage Dou Qi!"
After reaching the peak of ninth stage Dou Qi, he still lacked what was needed to cross the final threshold to Dou Zhe-compressing and condensing a dou qi vortex-and his advancement abruptly stopped.
"Phew..."
As a breath of turbid air left his body, Ling Feng opened his eyes, his young face looking noticeably more invigorated.
"Crack, crack, pop!"
Ling Feng rolled his neck, producing a series of crisp cracks from his bones. He lightly clenched his hands, and the satisfying sense of strength made the corners of his mouth lift in delight.
"Nine stages in a single day. Even on the Dou Qi Continent, I doubt anyone can match this speed. Hehe..."
Sensing the abundant Dou Qi that had surged within him, Ling Feng broke into a silly grin.
He had never heard of anyone on the Dou Qi Continent advancing nine stages of Dou Qi in a single day.
Such a terrifying increase showed Ling Feng the power of Taotie's bloodline and gave him hope of surviving and rising to prominence here.
"I can feel it. The power of Taotie's bloodline goes far beyond this. If my body weren't still too weak to withstand such powerful energy, perhaps I could break straight through to Dou Zhe, or even higher!"
Feeling the surging bloodline power within him, Ling Feng grew excited again. "Just one-tenth of Taotie's bloodline is already this powerful. If I obtained all of it, couldn't I become an emperor in a single leap, screw the heavens and the earth, and reign supreme over all?!"
At that thought, Ling Feng's face flushed with excitement. He knew very well that Taotie's bloodline power crushed that of any inheritor of a Dou Di's bloodline on the Dou Qi Continent.
Take Xiao Xun'er, for instance, the bearer of the Gu Clan's divine-grade bloodline, widely acknowledged as the successor most likely to break through to Dou Di.
Yet even she could only cultivate conventionally during the Dou Qi stages. How could she possibly cheat her way forward as swiftly as Ling Feng, surging through nine stages of Dou Qi in a single day?
In fact, this speed was not even his limit. He could continue growing through such force-feeding every day. As long as Ling Feng had enough resources, he could keep advancing.
Of course, these advancements would still take time.
"I really can't wait to see what treasure I'll draw once I break through to Dou Zhe..."