Within the Moonlight Pagoda, Ling Xiao was still examining the map of the third stage on the Mountains and Rivers Chart.
Several minutes had passed, and he had marked a few locations on the map, preparing to visit each one to assess the situation.
Entering the Moonlight Pagoda once was no easy feat, so naturally, he wanted to explore this place as thoroughly as possible.
The next time he came, the stage might be completely different, so he should seize whatever he could now.
It might be his only chance, after all.
He avoided the more dangerous areas as much as possible, and at this moment, as he infused more true essence into the Mountains and Rivers Martial Soul, clear text annotations began to appear on the chart.
When he clicked on the text with his soul force, fragmented video clips even appeared.
“Interesting, so that underground city is the ruins of the Spider Kingdom, and Tantai Lingzi and Liu Lie are there. Tantai Lingzi’s luck isn’t bad, finding a cultivation ground that perfectly matches her martial soul!”
Clicking on one text segment, he saw Tantai Lingzi and Liu Lie moving through the underground city. Ling Xiao couldn’t help but sigh.
Though he was tempted to go and disrupt Tantai Lingzi’s cultivation plan, he ultimately gave up.
Two reasons:
First, he had his own matters to attend to and didn’t have the spare time.
Second, and most crucially, the path to the underground city required passing through the territories of several powerful ferocious beasts. Unless he transformed into the Primordial Golden Dragon, he’d struggle to get through alone, which wouldn’t be worth the effort.
Next, he clicked on another text segment.
This showed the situation on a steel warship.
“Wu Yang and Qin Wu have been captured?”
Ling Xiao was stunned. On the steel warship, everyone was cloaked in black, their bodies completely concealed.
Wu Yang and Qin Wu were kneeling there, facing judgment.
“Those two poor sods are probably done for.”
He could sense that the master of the steel warship was at least as strong as the Five-Faced Monster he’d encountered before, if not stronger. With Wu Yang and Qin Wu’s abilities, they stood no chance.
“Looks like I need to hurry!”
Ling Xiao had a feeling that the black-cloaked figures on the steel warship could become the biggest threat in the third stage, so he had to act quickly.
He had nearly finished reviewing the map, marking all the feasible locations with symbols. Next, he would investigate each one as quickly as possible, grabbing whatever benefits he could.
Cultivation could wait until he was outside; for now, he needed “gains.”
The third stage had no time limit, and the portal to the fourth stage had to be found on his own.
Ling Xiao could take advantage of the relative safety now to search for the fourth stage’s portal. Delaying even a day could bring more danger.
That was likely the rule of the third stage: each passing day might bring stronger monsters to harass him.
With this in mind, Ling Xiao made up his mind.
While exploring all the secret areas of the third stage, he would search for the portal to the fourth stage.
It was something even Sect Leader Chang Yueying and Demon Flame Heavenly Lord hadn’t achieved, so he felt it was worth a try.
He believed the fourth stage, the final stage of the pagoda-climbing ceremony, would offer even richer rewards. Perhaps he could even obtain the Moonlight Goddess’s inheritance, which would be a massive win.
Glancing back at Dai Yuling, who was immersed in her cultivation, Ling Xiao didn’t disturb her. With a leap, golden dragon wings unfurled behind him, and he flew off into the distance.
With his current strength, he couldn’t yet dominate the third stage, so he avoided dangerous areas as much as possible.
Thanks to the map in his Mountains and Rivers Martial Soul, he could easily steer clear of powerful creatures.
The formidable beasts guarding certain areas wouldn’t attack unless you entered their territory.
Of course, if he encountered weaker beasts, a fight would be inevitable. Detouring would take too long, and for the current Ling Xiao, killing beasts below level eight was quite easy.
It required little time and almost no true essence.
The beasts in the third stage carried an ancient aura. Though the strongest he’d encountered was only a half-step Heavenly Lord, they seemed to have special array seals on their bodies.
Ling Xiao speculated that this might be a vast inheritance left by the Moonlight Goddess for her descendants.
These powerful beasts weren’t illusions but real ancient creatures, like the Black-Winged Great Peng, Stone Monster, Dream Maiden, Ten Thousand Poison Python, and Five-Faced Monster he’d faced before.
Ancient beasts shared a common trait: their massive size.
Their ancient aura was unmistakable.
With the reviving Primordial Golden Dragon in his body, Ling Xiao could sense this even more clearly.
“Roar~~”
At that moment, the Primordial Golden Dragon within him opened its eyes and let out a soft cry.
“This guy wants the inner cores of ancient beasts!”
Connected with the Primordial Golden Dragon, Ling Xiao knew exactly what it desired.
After a brief hesitation, he sent the Five-Faced Monster’s inner core, obtained from the second stage, into the Mountains and Rivers Martial Soul for the dragon to consume.
“Roar~~”
As the dragon swallowed the core, one of its scales began to glow, though only about ten percent, far brighter than the others.
The dragon’s scales had been dull, like tarnished gold, lifeless.
But now, one scale shone with about ten percent radiance, dazzlingly bright.
“No wonder I couldn’t make the Primordial Golden Dragon my martial soul. Its power hasn’t recovered enough. Strengthening its soul isn’t enough; its body needs to be strengthened too!”
The glowing scales were a sign of that physical enhancement.
It seemed he couldn’t just avoid fights anymore. Encountering level eight beasts, he should kill them to aid the dragon’s full revival.
With this in mind, Ling Xiao changed his initial strategy and began hunting level eight beasts.
The first he faced was a giant man-eating flower, over ten metres tall, with a flower disc large enough to swallow a shark.
But a level eight beast was manageable for Ling Xiao in human form. It was a good chance to solidify his cultivation and hone his combat skills, a win-win.
After defeating the giant man-eating flower and feeding its inner core to the Primordial Golden Dragon, the scale’s glow increased slightly.
Seeing his guess confirmed, Ling Xiao was delighted and resolved to continue hunting beasts.
He figured that once that scale fully glowed, something special would happen.
