[Year 133: After a year of searching for the Ancient Heavenly Snake, you discovered a fact.
He was hiding from you.
Whenever you detected traces of the Ancient Heavenly Snake and rushed to the location, he would flee immediately.
Later, he went two or three months without leaving any trace at all.
As a Magical Beast overlord at the late stage of Nine-Star Dou Sheng, he was nowhere near your match in a head-on confrontation, but with him avoiding you at every turn, there was little you could do.
So, to catch him successfully, you returned to the cave and began cultivating the Breath-Concealing Technique Shi Huang had created in earnest.
After spending half a year, you successfully cultivated the Breath-Concealing Technique to perfection. As long as someone's strength did not exceed yours by too much, they would be utterly unable to sense any trace of your aura.]
[Year 134: You successfully intercepted the Ancient Heavenly Snake King in the underground world of the Beast Region.
He stared at you in horror and cried out in terror, "Damn it, how could you have no aura at all!"
Since you were going to eat him for no reason, you made an exception and explained the existence of the Breath-Concealing Technique to him.
The Ancient Heavenly Snake King's face was filled with unwillingness. Knowing he was no match for you, he gave up resisting and negotiated with you. "I am willing to offer all my flesh, blood, and Magic Core, but I want to remain in this world as a soul. You must protect my soul so that I can possess a body and be reborn in the future."
You nodded and agreed. Although it made no difference to you whether he resisted, you were, after all, going to devour him for no reason, so you did not mind going to a little trouble.
You smoothly devoured the Ancient Heavenly Snake King and stored him in your belly. His soul survived, but compared with him at his peak, it was so feeble that any Dou Zun could suppress him.
You took his soul away to the Central Plains, found a group of Nine-Star Dou Sheng, and had them put their efforts into building a great formation that could automatically absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
These Dou Sheng Experts, who usually carried themselves with such imposing grandeur, did not even dare show displeasure before you. Their faces were filled with honor.
Not only that, they also supplied all the precious materials needed to build the formation, though you had never intended to provide any materials in the first place.
Once the formation was complete, you used your spatial power, which surpassed even that of a low-star Dou Di, to create a small world of modest size and combine it with the spirit-absorbing formation. You sealed them together in the Central Plains. Aside from you, no one could open it from outside unless a Dou Di intervened.
The Ancient Heavenly Snake King entered the small world, his face filled with delight, and immediately fell into slumber. He seemed to intend to stay here for a very long time.
You could not be bothered with him any further and left.]
[Year 135: You completely digested the Ancient Heavenly Snake King, yet still failed to break through to late-stage Nine-Star Dou Sheng.
The enormous gulf between the middle and late stages left you angry and helpless.
On the Dou Qi Continent now, only one existence remained that could increase your cultivation after you devoured it.
So you returned to the Ancient Void Dragon Clan without hesitation.
Your appearance in the Ancient Void Dragon Clan left every Ancient Void Dragon trembling with fear.
Your grandfather, the clan leader, did not show himself at all. The new First Elder of the Ancient Void Dragon Clan braced himself and told you, "The Dragon Emperor has gone into seclusion in the void. We do not know his exact location either."
You did not ask after your Ancient Void Dragon grandfather's whereabouts. Instead, you asked where the Void Lightning Pool was.
The First Elder of the Ancient Void Dragon Clan breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly led you to the Void Lightning Pool.
Looking at the restless black devil lightning within the Void Lightning Pool and that inconspicuous yet impossible-to-ignore streak of golden lightning in its deepest reaches, you plunged straight in.
The raging lightning could not break through your Dragon Phoenix Armor, much less temper your physical body. Even the nine profound golden lightning was not formidable enough.
But you had not come to temper your body at all.
Your devouring secret technique could devour Magical Beasts to increase your physical strength, but the Spirit Refining Art could devour spiritual entities born of heaven and earth.
Black devil lightning and nine profound golden lightning were naturally born between heaven and earth, so they naturally belonged to this category.
You had never cultivated the Spirit Refining Art, but by relying on the portion of its circulation pathways used to devour spiritual entities born of heaven and earth, you could still absorb them to strengthen yourself, even if the efficiency fell short of properly cultivating the Spirit Refining Art.
But at least it was enough for you to break through to late-stage Nine-Star Dou Sheng.
After that, you settled directly in the Void Lightning Pool, absorbing black devil lightning and nine profound golden lightning day and night.]
[Year 136: An overwhelmingly powerful aura surged out of the Void Lightning Pool.
You successfully broke through to late-stage Nine-Star Dou Sheng, and your strength underwent another qualitative leap.
You roamed through the void, releasing your power while also using the opportunity to gain control over your skyrocketing strength.
In this void, you actually encountered nihility devouring flame, and it was still in its infancy. You did not absorb it, as it would have been utterly useless to you.
You merely pitted your beast flame against the nihility devouring flame.
The result proved that the gulf in their inherent rank could not be crossed. Although your beast flame could burn even a Dou Di, it still faltered when facing a heavenly flame and could not unleash its full might.
You stripped a sliver of essence from the nihility devouring flame and merged it into your beast flame. It did little, and that sliver of essence nearly devoured a little of your beast flame instead.
You returned the essence, inwardly cursing the nihility devouring flame as nothing but a wheelchair of a heavenly flame.
Leaving the void, you returned to the continent. Nothing seemed to have changed, until you heard news of Shi Huang.
He had actually already advanced to Eight-Star Dou Sheng.
His speed utterly shocked you. Could he be some sort of chosen son of destiny?
You found him, and when you reunited, he hid nothing from you, saying with a smile, "I got lucky. While exploring a secret realm, I encountered a Dou Di inheritance and was fortunate enough to gain its recognition.
I could have accepted the full inheritance and advanced straight to Dou Di, but I didn't want to follow that Dou Di's path completely, so I refused."
You did not think Shi Huang had chosen wrongly. You believed he would eventually become a Dou Di, and choosing to walk his own path would instead give him a higher ceiling. You nodded in approval.
You chatted with him for a while. Shi Huang said he wanted to become a top-tier Dou Di like the first Stone Emperor, establish a mighty Emperor Clan of his own, and pass it down forever. When that time came, he would pass down statues of the two of you as well.
After your conversation, you parted ways.
He knew you were going to the Stone Clan, but he did not stop you. He had lost his Stone Clan bloodline, and everyone in his entire branch had died tragically. Even without you, he would take revenge on the Stone Clan in the future. Now, you were merely helping him accomplish it ahead of time.
You arrived outside the Stone Realm, put on the Dragon Phoenix Armor beforehand, and charged inside.
In an instant, the Stone Emperor appeared before you. His injuries had completely healed, and his aura was even more powerful than last time, but he had not broken through to a new level.
He looked at you, now at late-stage Nine-Star Dou Sheng, with horror in his eyes, and his expression twisted. "Damn beast, how did you advance so quickly!"
He knew that without completing his breakthrough, he was absolutely no match for you, but he did not panic. A ruthless glint merely flashed through his eyes.
He raised his hand, and an immense suction force poured from his palm. He shouted, his voice ringing throughout the Stone Realm, "People of the Stone Clan, offer everything to this emperor!"]
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