“Hmph, I don’t believe the Heavenly Maiden can protect him forever!”
Elder Jin snorted coldly and turned to leave.
The former Supreme Sect Leader, Chang Yueli, also smiled and vanished outside the cave dwelling.
Ling Xiao didn’t care about what was happening outside.
He had never feared any enemy.
As long as you become overwhelmingly powerful, your enemies will naturally crumble.
Inside the cave dwelling, Ling Xiao sat cross-legged.
Previously, he could only cultivate with two sword soul clones, but now he could directly use three.
The first sword soul clone continued to cultivate *Shadow Transformation Sword Art*.
The second sword soul clone continued to comprehend *Nine Veins Qi Sword*.
The third sword soul clone continued to cultivate *Twelve Golden Lotus Art*.
Meanwhile, his main body focused all its energy on the inheritance of the Ancient Hell Dragon Martial Soul.
Within the Mountain and River World, a lotus flower with four petals shimmered with golden light. At its centre were nine bottomless pools.
One of the pools had already transformed, black as ink, with strange shadows occasionally appearing within.
This was the inheritance of the Ancient Hell Dragon Martial Soul.
The pool was very deep, measured by the Mountain and River Martial Soul to be about a thousand metres.
Yet, the depth his soul force could probe was only a mere hundred metres or so.
This showed how low his comprehension of the Ancient Hell Dragon Martial Soul inheritance still was.
The golden lotus flickered, and a black dragon shadow gradually appeared on the first petal.
This was the result of combining the Ancient Hell Dragon Martial Soul with the Wind Celestial Phenomenon.
Now, *Twelve Golden Lotus Art* had reached the introductory level of jade-grade martial arts, so the power of the celestial phenomena needed to be reinforced one by one.
Currently, he was reinforcing the Wind Celestial Phenomenon, which he had first comprehended.
After integrating the dragon soul, it felt completely different. The Wind Celestial Phenomenon now contained raging black winds, incredibly terrifying, with its overall power significantly enhanced.
Two days later, Ling Xiao’s Wind Celestial Phenomenon was fully reinforced.
One could see a clear black dragon shadow on one of the four lotus petals, looking extremely eerie and enchanting.
Of course, this was just the surface.
What Ling Xiao aimed to do was use *Twelve Golden Lotus Art* as a link, allowing him to simultaneously harness the energy of the Ancient Hell Dragon Martial Soul when using various martial arts. At that point, the power of any martial art would likely see a significant boost.
According to Ling Xiao’s estimation, his current Wind Celestial Phenomenon was at least ten times more powerful than before!
This was due to two reasons:
First, *Twelve Golden Lotus Art* had evolved into a jade-grade martial art, greatly increasing its level, naturally enhancing the power of the celestial phenomena.
Second, the integration of the dragon soul further strengthened it, boosting the power of the celestial phenomena even more.
The combination of the two made it incredibly formidable.
Afterwards, Ling Xiao attempted to fuse the reinforced Wind Celestial Phenomenon with his movement techniques, *Cloud Dragon Divine Travel* and *Golden Light Dragon Wings*.
Now, the improvement of *Cloud Dragon Divine Travel* no longer relied on other movement techniques as a foundation but required special energy.
The Wind Celestial Phenomenon was one such energy.
The reinforced Wind Celestial Phenomenon caused *Cloud Dragon Divine Travel* to transform. When Ling Xiao used the movement technique, he moved like a divine dragon, elusive and unpredictable, almost perfect in speed.
Ultimately, after complete fusion, *Cloud Dragon Divine Travel* fully evolved, becoming an introductory jade-grade movement technique—
*Cloud Dragon Divine Travel: Shadow Escape*.
For the next five or six days, Ling Xiao devoted all his energy to fusing Hellfire True Essence with *Twelve Golden Lotus Art*.
This was a critical issue that needed to be addressed first.
The time wasn’t long, but the true essence in Ling Xiao’s nine martial veins was completely transformed into “Dragon Lotus True Essence”.
The lotus-shaped true essence in his martial veins still existed, but now a black dragon shadow appeared on it. When used, not only did its power increase significantly, but it also carried the destructive force of Death Dark Flame.
Once the fusion was complete, Ling Xiao could clearly feel that his true essence had fully integrated with the golden lotus and the Ancient Hell Dragon Martial Soul within his body.
By activating his true essence, he could harness the power of both, which felt truly profound.
After completing this, Ling Xiao spent another six days reinforcing the Thunder Celestial Phenomenon, Rain Celestial Phenomenon, and Lightning Celestial Phenomenon.
During this time, he consumed a vast amount of cultivation resources.
This included spirit stones, spirit fruits, and spirit pills.
But that didn’t matter, as he had plenty of these resources now. As long as he could complete the reinforcement of the four-petal lotus, he could continue cultivating *Twelve Golden Lotus Art* to reach higher realms.
However, after completing the reinforcement, he gained an unexpected reward.
That day, dark clouds gathered above the peak where Ling Xiao resided, with divine dragons faintly visible, circling and soaring within.
This was because Ling Xiao had broken through!
Though the phenomenon only lasted a moment before vanishing, it was still noticed by those nearby.
“This kid, breaking through again and causing such a terrifying phenomenon. I didn’t expect the Black Dragon Martial Soul inheritance to be so fearsome!”
Demon Flame Heavenly Venerable stared at the rapidly fading phenomenon in the distance, feeling immense pressure.
He felt that his own disciple alone could no longer stop Ling Xiao’s relentless growth.
From now on, he would have to rely on himself.
Otherwise, if Ling Xiao continued to grow like this, one day he would completely surpass him.
“Senior Brother Ling is truly incredible. He’s already at the eighth stage of the Mortal Realm and still progressing so quickly. I’m far behind.”
Leng Hao, who was in seclusion, opened his eyes, looking at the phenomenon with utmost admiration.
From disdain to complete admiration, Leng Hao’s attitude towards Ling Xiao had changed in just a few months.
“Hmm, not bad. It seems this kid isn’t getting arrogant.”
Yue Nü’s face showed a relieved smile.
She had previously worried that Ling Xiao might become proud and complacent after taking first place in the Tower Climbing Ceremony.
Now, it seemed she had overthought it. Not only was Ling Xiao not proud or complacent, but he was even more diligent than before.
This was understandable.
The stronger one becomes, the broader the world they see. It’s often those half-baked martial artists who think they’re exceptional.
Early ninth stage of the Mortal Realm!
This was Ling Xiao’s current cultivation level.
He had once again made a leap in progress.
If the seventh stage of the Mortal Realm was a dividing line, then the ninth stage was where a qualitative transformation occurred in the Mortal Realm.
From this stage onward, many things would change.
A person’s perspective would broaden, and their nine martial veins would gradually begin to merge, developing towards the Heavenly Vein.
Moreover, the true essence within the body would start to exchange small amounts of energy with the outside world, participating in the cycle of external energy.
Though it was only a tiny amount, it was a complete qualitative change.
