After leaving Star Chasing City, Xiao Yan sped northeast.
The Heaven Dou Empire has a vast territory. Even with his Twin Flame Wings speed, it would take him several days to travel from the border of the Star Luo Empire to Heaven Dou City.
He flew low over the desolate mountains and wilderness along the border between the two countries, avoiding the patrol routes of the Spirit Hall and the sentry posts of major cities.
Having revealed his whereabouts in Star Chasing City, he fears that the Spirit Hall will soon be searching for him everywhere.
At the border between the two countries, beneath your feet stretches a rolling wilderness dotted with the occasional wisp of smoke rising from village chimneys.
Xiao Yan's figure flew swiftly through the air, with only the low whistling sound of his wings cutting through the air in his ears.
By the evening of the third day after leaving Star Chasing City, Xiao Yan's speed was gradually slowing down.
The setting sun painted the western sky a magnificent crimson hue, and a few golden rays of afterglow peeked through the gaps in the clouds, gilding the entire barren mountain with a pale gold hue.
Xiao Yan found a cave in a stretch of desolate mountains to rest for the time being.
The cave was small, only a few dozen feet deep, and its entrance was mostly hidden by several crooked pine trees. Unless you were looking for it, you wouldn't be able to tell there was a cave from the outside.
The cave walls were covered with weathered cracks, the ground was covered with a layer of dry gravel, and a few skeletons left by some unknown animal were scattered in the corners, indicating that it had been abandoned for a long time.
Xiao Yan set up a simple early warning formation at the cave entrance.
He silently embedded several faint threads of Soul Power into the cracks in the rocks around the cave entrance. If any person or Soul Beast approached, these threads of Soul Power would break immediately and send a response to him.
After doing all this, Xiao Yan entered the cave and sat down cross-legged.
However, this time, when he circulated his Soul Power through his meridians for the third time, he suddenly felt an unusual fluctuation in the Soul Power vortex in his dantian.
At first, he thought it was because his meridians were tired from traveling for days, so he didn't pay much attention to it.
He simply continued to circulate his Soul Power in a methodical manner.
But the fluctuations did not subside; instead, they became more pronounced and intense.
As time went on, the warmth began to intensify rapidly.
What started as a trickle turned into a gushing spring, and then spread rapidly throughout his body like a flood bursting its banks.
The Soul Power within his body seemed to be violently stirred by an invisible hand, and began to spontaneously accelerate its circulation.
The speed at which it operated increased rapidly and violently, completely slipping out of his control.
It was as if a once docile river had suddenly turned into a wild horse, rampaging through his veins.
The Soul Power in his meridians surged like the rising tide, crashing against his limbs and bones wave after wave, each surge bringing a tingling and fulfilling sensation.
Xiao Yan was startled at first, then immediately realized what it was.
A sign of a breakthrough.
But the signs of this breakthrough are unlike any before.
In the past, when he made breakthroughs, he felt a gradual accumulation and a natural transition.
This time, however, it was as if a volcano that had been suppressed for too long had finally found an outlet.
The force was far more intense than he had anticipated.
He quickly understood the reason.
After returning to the Douluo Continent, he relied on the Dou Qi origin of the Venerable Feng.
However, he actually fought a genuine battle against three Titled Douluo: Bibi Dong, Yue Guan, and Gui Mei.
He then unleashed his full power under the pursuit of Yue Guan and Gui Mei.
The Soul Power within the body is continuously consumed during this process.
And in the Star Dou Great Forest.
Witness the battle between the Titan Giant Ape and two Titled Douluo, a head-on clash between Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast and a peak human expert.
It had a tremendous impact on his fighting spirit.
These experiences acted as a catalyst, simultaneously unleashing the foundation he had accumulated in both the Dou Qi Continent and Douluo Continent worlds.
In addition, the residual medicinal power of the Mystic Spirit Nourishing Rhyme Pill continued to nourish his meridians.
The sudden halt at this moment led to a series of breakthroughs.
Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately focused all his attention on his body.
It actively guides this surging torrent of Soul Power to circulate orderly along the meridians.
He formed a cultivation hand seal in front of his dantian, and within a few breaths, his breathing adjusted to a very special frequency.
One after another, Soul Ring appeared on his body, some yellow, some purple, and some black.
The five Soul Ring emitted a faint glow in the dimly lit cave.
The five Soul Ring pulsed rhythmically on his body, each pulse drawing a portion of the surrounding energy into his body.
The pebbles in the cave trembled slightly under the energy fluctuations, and dust fell from the cave walls, forming tiny halos of dust in the glow of the Soul Ring.
His breathing became long and deep, each breath drawing in the energy of the surrounding world.
If someone were standing at the cave entrance looking inside, they would see that Xiao Yan was enveloped in a light blue Soul Power shield.
The light shield slowly expanded and contracted with his breathing, like a cocoon nurturing some powerful being.
The Soul Power circulated faster and faster in his meridians, like a raging river roaring endlessly within his body.
The vortex of Soul Power in his dantian was also expanding at a visible speed.
The vortex core, which was originally only the size of a fist, has now expanded to the size of a bowl. The vortex is spinning faster and faster, and the centrifugal force is throwing more and more Soul Power into the meridians.
As the vortex expanded to a certain critical point, a clear cracking sound rang out within his body.
The sound was not a physical noise, but a perception from the depths of the soul.
It was as if an invisible barrier within his body had shattered with a deafening roar. It was the sound of a bottleneck being broken through.
Immediately afterwards, an even more powerful surge of Soul Power erupted from his dantian, flowing like a flood through his meridians to every corner of his body.
The magnitude of that newly generated Soul Power far exceeded that of before.
If his Soul Power reserves were a deep pool before, they are now a boundless lake. Every cell is cheering and greedily absorbing this newfound power.
He broke through the bottleneck of level 65, and his Soul Power Level reached level 66.
Xiao Yan's lips curled up slightly for a moment, then he returned to his focus.
He could feel that after breaking through to level 66, the flow rate and density of the Soul Power within his body had reached a new level.
If his Soul Power at level 65 was a surging river, then at level 66, the width and depth of that river nearly doubled.
When he finally opened his eyes, two sharp glints flashed from his dark eyes.
The light was not an outflow of Soul Power, but a natural manifestation of Spiritual Soul Power that could not be completely contained temporarily after the breakthrough.
In the dim cave, the two beams of light, like two suddenly lit cold stars, illuminated the cracks on the cave walls, making them clearly visible.
He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, which transformed into a white ribbon about three feet long in the air, condensing and lingering for Jiujiu.
Those were impurities and remnants of old blood that had been refined from his body; they were the last bit of waste he expelled after his breakthrough.
The white ribbon lingered in the air for nearly ten breaths before slowly dissipating, leaving behind a very faint herbal fragrance.
The surging Soul Power within his body gradually subsided, flowing gently through his meridians.
Wherever the Soul Power passed, the meridians were at least 30% wider than before the breakthrough, and each flow of Soul Power was smoother than before, without any sense of stagnation.
The Soul Power vortex in his dantian also resumed a stable rotation speed, but the vortex was nearly half the size of what it was before the breakthrough, and a faint golden light flowed around the core of the vortex.
That's a sign that your Soul Power has been refined to a certain level.
However, Xiao Yan already understood why he was able to break through so quickly this time.
This is not only related to the experiences during this period, but also largely due to the fact that the pills left in his body by Venerable Feng were not fully absorbed.
It might not be so easy to achieve such a breakthrough again.
Having broken through his strength, Xiao Yan spent another half a day recuperating in the cave.
Only after thoroughly consolidating his breakthrough realm did he embark on his journey to Heaven Dou City once again.
Heaven Dou City is the heart of the Heaven Dou Empire and one of the most prosperous capital cities in the entire Douluo Continent.
This ancient capital, with a history spanning hundreds of years, is situated on a vast plain in the heart of the Heaven Dou Empire. Its city walls, over ten zhang high, are constructed from countless blue stone blocks, each weighing a thousand jin, making them majestic and imposing.
Every hundred paces along the city wall stands an arrow tower, with the golden eagle flag of the Heaven Dou Empire fluttering atop each tower.
The city has a permanent population of over one million, with numerous shops and a constant flow of traffic. Merchants, Soul Master, and nobles from all over the continent gather here, making it bustling day and night.
The palace complex of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family is located on a high ground in the very center of the city, and its magnificent glazed tiles gleam in the sunlight.
The Spirit Hall's branch in Heaven Dou City is located in the east of the city, and its size is second only to the Spirit City headquarters.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's headquarters were located in the west of the city, forming a tripartite balance of power with the Imperial City and the Spirit Hall.
However, at this moment, everyone in this bustling capital city was shaken to their core by the same news.
The news was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake; within just a few days, it spread from the Heaven Dou Empire's intelligence network to every corner of the entire capital.
The Spirit City was attacked by a mysterious powerful figure, and the dome of the Pope's Palace was shattered by a single sword strike.
Pope Bibi Dong and Chrysanthemum Demon, two Titled Douluo, barely managed to block it by unleashing their Martial Soul Avatar.
Even more shockingly, the mysterious expert escaped unscathed after delivering the attack.
The two Titled Douluo, failed to catch up and were instead severely injured by Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in the Star Dou Great Forest, forcing them to retreat to Spirit City in a sorry state.
Inside the Imperial Study of the Heaven Dou Empire's Imperial Palace.
The Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire sat behind his dragon desk, with an urgent secret report that had just been sent back from Spirit City spread out in front of him.
The edges of the secret report still held the warmth of the sealing wax, indicating that it was delivered to the emperor as quickly as possible after being sent.
The emperor read the secret report three times, his gaze lingering on the same line of text each time.
"The dome of the Pope's Palace was completely destroyed, Bibi Dong herself was injured in the battle."
He was all too familiar with that name: the Pope the Spirit Hall, the woman who stood at the pinnacle of martial power across the entire continent.
For so many years, she has been the heaviest shadow in the heart of the Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire.
The Spirit Hall's influence on the continent is growing, while the Heaven Dou Empire's autonomy is diminishing, largely due to the existence of that woman.
And now, someone has actually managed to injure Bibi Dong, and that's happening right here in Spirit City.
He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the trusted ministers before him, his voice tinged with disbelief and shock:
"He single-handedly fought against three Titled Douluo and even destroyed the Pope's Palace."
My esteemed ministers, what do you think of this person's strength compared to that of Clear Sky Douluo back then?
The ministers looked at each other, none daring to speak first.
The air in the imperial study seemed to freeze.
Finally, one of the senior officials standing at the very front stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said:
"Your Majesty, I believe this person's strength is probably no less than that of Clear Sky Douluo."
He cleaved the Pope's Palace in two with a single sword strike, demonstrating that his attack power had surpassed that of an ordinary Titled Douluo.
Moreover, the fact that this person was able to escape unscathed from the combined attack of three Titled Douluo indicates that his speed and agility are also extremely impressive.
More importantly, this person is an enemy of the Spirit Hall.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Your Majesty, I suggest that we immediately mobilize all intelligence resources to search for this person's whereabouts.
If we can bring them under the wing of my Heaven Dou Empire, the Spirit Hall's constraints on my Heaven Dou Empire will be greatly reduced.
At that time, my Heaven Dou Empire will hold an unprecedented initiative in the balance of power between the two great empires.
Another courtier, who appeared to be a military general, chimed in:
"Your Majesty, I second that opinion."
In recent years, the Spirit Hall has been recklessly expanding its branches within the Heaven Dou Empire, interfering with local officials and no longer taking the Imperial Family seriously.
Now that someone has the power to challenge the authority of the Spirit Hall, it is a golden opportunity.
If His Majesty can win this person over, he will have another trump card when facing the Spirit Hall.
The emperor pondered for a moment, then slowly nodded:
"We'll do as you say."
Find this person at all costs.
The Heaven Dou Empire needs such a powerful figure.
By imperial decree, use all available channels to gather intelligence on this person.
In addition, prepare two generous gifts—one to send to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and the other as a backup, to be sent after finding that powerful figure.