"So this is the Emperor Grade Nascent Pill!"
Xiao Xuan retrieved the Emperor Grade Nascent Pill from his system inventory.
This Emperor Grade Nascent Pill was his reward for completing the check-in at the Xiao Clan.
But after obtaining the Emperor Pill, he had been so concerned with the Xiao Clan's current situation that he had chosen to resolve some of its troubles first. As a result, he had never found time to take the pill, putting it off until now.
Now, he finally had time to use this Emperor Grade Nascent Pill.
Xiao Xuan gazed at the Emperor Grade Nascent Pill floating before him.
With the keen perception of a Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint, he could distinctly sense a strand of Dou Qi within the Emperor Grade Nascent Pill that did not belong to the Dou Qi Continent.
That aura was ten thousand times purer than ordinary Dou Qi and carried a strand of "qi" from a higher dimension. Presumably, this was the Dou Di origin that the Dou Qi Continent now lacked, the very thing Nine-Star Dou Sheng like him had spent their entire lives desperately seeking.
In his previous life, his attempt to break through to Dou Di had failed precisely because he lacked that Dou Di origin.
But today, that would not happen.
Before swallowing the Emperor Grade Nascent Pill, however, Xiao Xuan still needed to bring himself into peak condition.
He retrieved his other system rewards.
The system had also issued other rewards when he recruited Yao Chen just now, all of them useful to Xiao Xuan.
Aside from the Dou Di Points, which he could not use yet, the system had given him two tangible rewards for recruiting Yao Chen.
The first reward was [Upgraded Xiao Clan Inherited Technique—Xiao Clan Imperial Silence Heart Sutra].
The second was [Ninth-Tier Soul-Restoring Golden Pill].
Each reward perfectly matched what Xiao Xuan urgently needed right now.
The upgraded Xiao Clan Inherited Technique, the Xiao Clan Imperial Silence Heart Sutra, was an improved version of the Xiao Clan's Emperor Vein Heart Sutra that Xiao Xuan cultivated.
The original Emperor Vein Heart Sutra had been created by the Xiao Clan's ancestral Dou Di. It cultivated both the body and the soul and could already be considered an exceptionally complete, top-class Heaven Rank High Grade cultivation method on the Dou Qi Continent.
The fact that Xiao Xuan had reached Nine-Star Dou Sheng through the Xiao Clan's Emperor Vein Heart Sutra, and had even cultivated a Dou Di-level soul, already proved how formidable this cultivation method was.
But Xiao Xuan discovered that the upgraded Xiao Clan Imperial Silence Heart Sutra was even stronger.
It seemed to have been further refined by an existence above Dou Di. Not only could it elevate his body and soul to new heights, but it could also accelerate his cultivation and strengthen his Dou Qi.
It could even allow his current Dou Di-level soul to make another breakthrough, while bolstering his soul's defenses and specifically countering the Hun Clan's soul-devouring techniques.
"In other words, once I switch to this cultivation method, the Hun Clan's most troublesome soul-devouring techniques-the ones that attack the soul-will be useless against me whenever I encounter them again?"
This cheat was so outrageous that even Xiao Xuan could barely keep a straight face.
If he had possessed this cultivation method back then, even after failing to break through to Dou Di, Hun Tiandi and the Hun Clan's Dou Sheng would have been marching straight to their deaths.
He had lost to Hun Tiandi back then for two reasons. First, he had been injured. Second, the Hun Clan's Dou Sheng had joined forces to deploy their Soul-Devouring Formation, grievously wounding his soul and ultimately causing his death.
If he could become immune to the Hun Clan's soul-devouring techniques, would killing their members not be as easy as slaughtering chickens whenever he encountered them again?
Invincible!
Xiao Xuan grinned with delight.
Switch cultivation methods. I absolutely have to!
It did not even matter how much stronger the upgraded Xiao Clan Inherited Technique was than the original. What mattered most was that it could specifically counter the Hun Clan's cultivation methods, and that alone delighted him.
The second reward, the Ninth-Tier Soul-Restoring Golden Pill, was also immensely useful to Xiao Xuan.
Ninth Grade Golden Pills were effective for cultivators ranging from Seven-Star to Nine-Star Dou Sheng.
This Soul-Restoring Golden Pill was precisely intended to heal injuries and hidden ailments in both the body and the soul.
Xiao Xuan had traveled back a thousand years in his physical body. His body was still in the condition it had been in after his failed breakthrough to Dou Di, when the Hun Clan's Dou Sheng had surrounded and attacked him.
Thus, he was still injured. This Ninth-Tier Soul-Restoring Golden Pill could help restore both his Dou Sheng body and his soul to their peak.
It truly was a pillow delivered just as he was nodding off.
Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Xuan swallowed the Ninth-Tier Soul-Restoring Golden Pill first.
This Ninth Grade Golden Pill possessed intelligence and Dou Sheng-level strength. Sensing that Xiao Xuan intended to swallow it, it frantically struggled to escape, still hoping to flee.
Unfortunately, it faced Dou Sheng Xiao Xuan, the strongest expert among the Ancient Eight Clans a thousand years ago.
How overwhelming was Xiao Xuan's strength?
With a single hand, he instantly subdued the restless Ninth Grade Golden Pill.
Then he swallowed it. Pure ninth-grade medicinal power immediately dissolved within him, and his body and soul began recovering rapidly, like withered wood blessed with sweet rain.
The injuries left by his failed, forced breakthrough to Dou Di, as well as the wounds his soul had suffered from the Hun Clan Dou Sheng's combined assault, all healed rapidly.
Not only that, this incomparably precious Ninth-Tier Soul-Restoring Golden Pill even healed the hidden ailments Xiao Xuan had accumulated during his earlier cultivation.
When Xiao Xuan opened his eyes again, he felt refreshed and clearheaded, in better condition than ever before.
"All my hidden ailments and injuries have healed. My cultivation at its peak has returned."
Only now was Xiao Xuan truly the Dou Sheng Xiao Xuan of his prime.
He had also successfully switched to the newly upgraded Xiao Clan cultivation method, the Emperor Silence Heart Sutra. With everything brought into optimal condition, it was time to attempt his breakthrough to Dou Di.
Without a moment's hesitation, Xiao Xuan swallowed the Emperor Grade Nascent Pill.
Confidence was Lord Xiao Xuan's specialty.
Now that he was in peak condition, if he did not attempt to break through to Dou Di at this moment, when would he?
After swallowing the Emperor Grade Nascent Pill, as that strand of Dou Di origin qi entered his body, Xiao Xuan immediately felt the Dou Sheng shackles that had remained immovable within him for years begin to loosen.
Xiao Xuan could not help saying, "That feeling-the feeling of advancing to Dou Di. I can feel it."
In truth, people like Xiao Xuan, Hun Tiandi, and Gu Yuan had long possessed sufficient strength and potential.
The fundamental reason they had remained trapped at the peak of Nine-Star Dou Sheng for hundreds or thousands of years lay not with them, but with this world.
It was this world's lack of Dou Di origin that had prevented them from breaking through to Dou Di.
Otherwise, supreme experts of the Eight Ancient Clans like Xiao Xuan, Gu Yuan, and Hun Tiandi would have broken through and ascended long ago.
Now that Xiao Xuan had obtained a strand of Dou Di origin, the shackles of his Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint cultivation began to loosen.
At last, Xiao Xuan took that step toward the Dou Di realm he had dreamed of reaching.
At that moment, Xiao Xuan seemed to see a great door.
The door slowly opened. All he needed to do was step through it to break through to Dou Di and become the first new Dou Di on the Dou Qi Continent in ten thousand years.
But Xiao Xuan soon discovered that the Dou Di origin within this single Emperor Grade Nascent Pill did not seem sufficient to support him in stepping fully through that door to Dou Di.
Even with his heaven-defying strength, which allowed him to push open the door to Dou Di with just a strand of Dou Di origin qi, there was too little Origin Emperor Qi. It was only enough for him to put half a foot through.
In the end, Xiao Xuan let out a breath.
So be it. Having half a foot through is still better than being like Gu Yuan and Hun Tiandi, who cannot see even a glimmer of hope.
Now, he could be considered the only Half-Emperor on the Dou Qi Continent, standing above even a Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint.
This time, he did not force the issue. After all, he had learned his lesson from his previous attempt. He knew that forcing it would only exact a terrible price; a breakthrough to Dou Di had to come when the conditions were right.
His inability to break through to Dou Di in one go was a problem with the Emperor's Origin, not with him.
So Xiao Xuan stopped.
"A Half-Emperor it is, then. Even as a Half-Emperor, I am already the strongest on the Dou Qi Continent."
"Unless a Dou Di emerges, I, Half-Emperor Xiao Xuan, am invincible under heaven!"
Uh, is no one reading this book?
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