Lin Xiao felt as though his entire body was being scorched, his veins straining as if they might burst. The surging, roiling energy left him dazed.
Yet, with sheer willpower, he gritted his teeth and endured. As time slowly passed, it wasn’t until the dead of night that he sensed the refining process nearing its end.
But just then, a thick wave of danger flooded his heart. Immediately after, a voice filled with regret and fury rang out, “You actually refined the Serpent Blood Void-Breaking Elixir!”
“Chi!” A massive, terrifying spiritual force enveloped Lin Xiao, seizing control of his body and hurling him toward the wooden window.
“Fourth-grade advanced spiritual power!”
Veins bulged on Lin Xiao’s forehead. He couldn’t fathom that, just as he was about to complete the refining, a fourth-grade advanced spirit controller would attack him.
In that instant, he forcibly refined the last of the Serpent Blood Void-Breaking Elixir.
“Kid, you’d better not move, or your life’s forfeit!” An elderly voice reached his ears as his body crashed into the window.
Roar!
At that critical moment, a dragon’s roar erupted from within him. A faint earthy glow burst from his dantian, and a colossal blood-red dragon shadow materialized behind him. An ancient, overwhelming pressure surged forth, its terrifying force shattering the spiritual power binding him. The room collapsed in a deafening boom, splintered wood flying everywhere.
“Blood Dragon anomaly, Earth-tier elementary!”
A shocked, aged voice cried out as Lin Xiao’s eyes blazed with twin beams of light.
In that moment, he felt the vitality in his dantian surge wildly, his body brimming with unparalleled strength.
His cultivation had broken through two stages, leaping from Heavenly Martial First Layer to Third Layer.
Moreover, his Blood Dragon anomaly, bolstered by the Serpent Blood Void-Breaking Elixir, had upgraded from Mysterious-tier advanced to Earth-tier elementary.
A dantian anomaly’s explosive power, capable of manifesting a vision, signified supreme cultivation talent—an innate gift fixed at birth, unchangeable.
Lin Xiao hadn’t expected his Blood Dragon anomaly to evolve from Mysterious-tier advanced to Earth-tier elementary.
An Earth-tier advanced anomaly was rare not just in the Lanlan Empire but across the entire continent.
With it, his cultivation speed would skyrocket, and his strength would soar.
At that moment, the freshly upgraded anomaly and breakthrough unleashed a force so formidable it repelled even fourth-grade advanced spiritual power.
Yet Lin Xiao’s heart seethed with shock and rage. Had he not succeeded in refining it and upgrading his anomaly while breaking through, that terrifying spiritual force might have crushed him instantly.
But just moments later, the same fearsome fourth-grade advanced power enveloped him again, locking his body in place.
“Didn’t expect this—a peerless genius like you. Pity your strength isn’t enough. Cooperate, and you might live. Resist, and you’re dead!” A masked, black-robed elder appeared, controlling Lin Xiao’s body as he sped out of the Spirit Controller Alliance.
“How dare you!” At that instant, another wave of fourth-grade advanced spiritual power latched onto Lin Xiao, breaking the elder’s hold.
A peerless figure swiftly dashed forward.
“Alliance Leader!” Lin Xiao’s heart leapt with joy. It was Ye Fenghua, the fourth-grade advanced spirit controller.
In a flash, Ye Fenghua reached Lin Xiao, unleashing a torrent of spiritual power toward the black-robed elder.
“Kill him!”
A voice dripping with killing intent burst from the masked elder as his spiritual power surged from his mind, clashing with Ye Fenghua’s.
As the words fell, a glint of cold light flashed in the night—a dagger hurtling toward Lin Xiao at blinding speed.
Lin Xiao’s brows furrowed. He summoned his third-grade intermediate spiritual power to its limit, precisely latching onto the dagger and redirecting its path.
“Chi!” The dagger grazed past him, slicing a tear in his clothes.
Fortunately, it was only third-grade advanced spiritual power. With his cross-grade combat ability, his third-grade intermediate power sufficed.
Had it not been a sneak attack, Lin Xiao was confident he could’ve avoided even a scratch.
After the dagger passed, he seized control, spinning it back toward a masked, black-robed youth charging at him.
“Chi!” The youth countered with his own spiritual power, halting the dagger between them.
The youth’s brows knit, and without hesitation, he produced a blue elixir. At its appearance, Lin Xiao’s eyes flared with intense killing intent.
“Thunder Spirit Elixir!” Lin Xiao spat coldly.
The Thunder Spirit Elixir was the near fourth-grade elixir Yunfeng had refined earlier that day. Once consumed and refined, it granted temporary thunder energy, wielding power akin to spiritual energy.
It was obvious—this was Yunfeng.
Lin Xiao hadn’t imagined Yunfeng would dare infiltrate the Spirit Controller Alliance to assassinate him.
And after failing once, he was ready to use the precious Thunder Spirit Elixir without a second thought.
“Wait for death!” The youth’s voice emerged from the black-robed figure as he prepared to swallow the elixir.
But at that moment, an overwhelming pressure descended, a majestic voice rolling in from afar, “Heh, I suspected someone might visit in the night. Looks like this old lady’s night call to our young friend was well-timed.”
In an instant, a gaunt figure appeared in the sky. The black-robed youth’s body froze under the terrifying pressure, his right hand—poised to toss the Thunder Spirit Elixir into his mouth—locked in place.
“Empress Dowager Meng Xi!” The youth cried out in horror. He hadn’t dreamed that the Lanlan Empire’s mightiest figure would appear now, her strength so unfathomable that her mere presence immobilized him.
“Go!” A shout erupted from the black-robed elder. Moments later, the youth’s body regained mobility, whisked away by the elder’s control.
“Chi!” Lin Xiao’s eyes flashed. He instantly latched his spiritual power onto the Thunder Spirit Elixir in Yunfeng’s hand. As Yunfeng’s body was pulled away, the elixir shot free.
“My Thunder Spirit Elixir!” An enraged roar echoed as the two black-robed figures vanished into the night beyond the alliance, their speed lightning-fast.
“It’s the Moyu Empire’s royal chief spirit controller, Zhuifeng!” Ye Fenghua exclaimed, recognizing that speed.
