In a clearing within a vast forest, the surrounding woods looked as though they had just been through a great battle.
Trees all around had been uprooted and left in ruins, while ancient trees snapped in half covered the ground.
Only the figure hovering cross-legged in the air remained dressed in snow-white robes, his clothes neat and billowing in the wind with bursts of whistling.
Around his body, a massive vortex of energy spun at incredible speed, gathering the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth and producing a howling wind like the wails of ghosts and wolves.
Faint spatial rifts had even appeared between heaven and earth, making the sight even more sinister and terrifying.
At that moment, Dou Qi filled Xiao Yan's body, which kept contracting and swelling like an overinflated balloon. That special space was also continuously absorbing the spiritual Qi from all around that Xiao Yan had refined. Yet the space storing the spiritual Qi, which seemed to be contracting and expanding and on the verge of breaking through its restraints and bursting apart, remained incomparably sturdy.
Seeing this, Xiao Yan circulated the Flame Mantra even more frantically. Dou Qi surged wildly through his meridians, and Heavenly Flames raced through them, refining the energy of heaven and earth that he absorbed from outside. But this still was not enough. Most of what that energy carried was Emperor's Origin.
Xiao Yan's Heavenly Flames, however, could not refine the Emperor's Origin. When refining the energy of heaven and earth, the Heavenly Flames had to separate the Emperor's Origin from it, slowing his absorption of that energy even further. If this continued, he would surely fail to break through in the end.
But just then, a ferocious, unparalleled suction came from elsewhere.
Whether by design or not, that suction absorbed only the Emperor's Origin between heaven and earth. The Emperor's Origin sped toward the source of the suction as though it had received an order.
Xiao Yan's absorption and refinement of the energy of heaven and earth sped up as well. Streams of pure Dou Qi poured into the strange space, steadily increasing the Dou Qi within it and making the space swell further. Clearly, it was not far from finally rupturing and expanding.
Yet Xiao Yan frowned slightly. What was the origin of this unknown fellow, who had actually gotten past Huo Yi's guard?
Now, anyone looking from outside at the space where Xiao Yan was would have discovered that there were two massive energy vortexes, rather than the one that had originally appeared as Xiao Yan cultivated and worked toward his breakthrough.
Both were situated within this stretch of heaven and earth where Xiao Yan was. The only difference was that the vortex behind Xiao Yan was absorbing the energy of heaven and earth, giving off an exceedingly powerful and overbearing presence, while the vortex opposite it was absorbing the Emperor's Origin between heaven and earth.
The milky-white Emperor's Origin seemed to circle and dance in the air, slowly spinning and condensing into a mysterious droplet of liquid resembling milk, which vanished into the void in a flash. Although the milky-white vortex rotated very slowly, unexpectedly, all the Emperor's Origin in this stretch of heaven and earth was being drawn toward it, making the sight extraordinarily wondrous.
The two absorbed different kinds of energy, and so the massive energy vortexes, vast enough to blot out this stretch of heaven and earth, were different colors as well. They looked like two giant beasts fighting over the energy between heaven and earth, a sight that had its own peculiar charm when viewed from afar.
A hundred li away, Huo Yi was slightly startled to see this. By rights, after his power had driven everyone away, there was no possibility that anyone could have slipped past his guard, much less come within ten zhang of Xiao Yan.
The next moment, however, his tightly knitted brows relaxed, and he watched the strange energy vortex with curiosity instead. He had just noticed that Xiao Yan, whose cultivation had been slow, was gradually speeding up because of the mysterious vortex that had appeared from who knew where. It seemed, then, that this suction of unknown origin was helping Xiao Yan. His cultivation speeding up also meant he was one step closer to a breakthrough, so why bother interfering?
What exactly is that thing? What is it trying to accomplish by helping big brother Xiao Yan? Huo Yi wondered, both happy for Xiao Yan and worried.
Fierce winds blew constantly around Xiao Yan as the energy of heaven and earth poured into his body. The Flame Mantra circulated at top speed, and the Heavenly Flames within him continually refined and absorbed that mixed energy.
The Dou Qi within the strange space was extremely dense, and the spatial barrier trembled constantly. Hairline cracks had actually begun to appear.
After Xiao Yan noticed these cracks, he grew even more excited and pushed his cultivation method harder to absorb the energy between heaven and earth. Meanwhile, the Emperor's Origin between heaven and earth sped toward the other direction.
Before long, a crisp cracking sound rang out, and a mighty presence surged into the sky between heaven and earth, stirring gusts of howling wind like a giant dragon soaring into the heavens.
Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes, and a flash of brilliance swept across them. He then rose to his feet. After a series of popping sounds, he performed a set of punches with the force of wind in every movement. Finally, he let out a long breath and murmured to himself, sounding slightly excited:
"It's been so long since I last felt what it was like to advance. It feels wonderful!"
He then turned to look around, his brows furrowing. The strange vortex was gone too. After a moment's thought, Xiao Yan gave it no further thought.
After all, he had suffered no loss, and there had been no change within his body, so he naturally paid it no more mind.
He glanced at the shattered Nether Sea Storage Ring, then bent down and tucked the jade bottle into his robes. Immediately afterward, he casually drew a line through the void, creating a pitch-black spatial rift. He put the other items inside and turned to fly toward Huo Yi.
With Xiao Yan's current strength, he could tear open the void with a casual gesture. The space just now was merely one he had temporarily opened for convenience.
Yet the instant Xiao Yan tucked the jade bottle into his robes, it emitted a faint glimmer of light, which even he failed to notice.
At the same time, inside a magnificently decorated grand hall tens of thousands of li away from Xiao Yan, a white-robed elder stared in shock at a crystal ball in the center of a stone table before him, which was shining with dazzling golden light. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open as he gazed blankly at the crystal ball. Only after its light faded did he come to his senses, and he immediately shouted in great excitement:
"Divine-Grade Bloodline! Hahahaha! Heaven truly is helping my Xiao Clan! Hahahaha!"
Before his voice had faded, his figure vanished from the grand hall in a flash, leaving only the deep, hearty echoes of his voice reverberating through it.
After the elder vanished, the crystal ball lay quiet for a while before suddenly lighting up again. This time, its light was even brighter than the previous golden glow. It shone with seven brilliant colors, illuminating the entire grand hall in a dazzling display. Unfortunately, the elder had already left and had no chance to see this radiant sight.
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