Dragon Spirits and Dangerous Auras
During this period, Nie Li had somehow managed to arrange meetings with Ying Yueru.
He had also teamed up with Gu Bei and Li Xingyun to collect numerous dragon bloodline demon spirits and tens of thousands of regular demon spirits for his demon pot refinement techniques focused on dragon souls.
My days were usually spent laying down, witnessing all things happening in all the righteous and demonic sects using my divine sense. Some have sensed a slight soul aura but mine is obfuscated now.
One day, he approached me with a carefully concealed soul crystal, lowering his voice conspiratorially.
"Tao, this is a mutated dragon bloodline spirit with god-level growth potential ~ a Saint Yinglong dragon. You can fuse with it if you want."
Providing him with spirit stones had definitely not been wasted effort. Even though he hadn't strictly needed the financial resources, he had been cautious enough to limit his purchases of demon spirits from external sources. Some families and forces had even approached him directly, recognizing a prodigy's need for such materials and offering to supply him.
Later, he had approached Gu Bei to request assistance with collection efforts, creating a profitable business by supplying higher demon spirits to Gu Bei's limited circle of followers. Without my interference, he had visited Li Xingyun of the Ashen Flames clan through Gu Bei's introduction, and fate had brought them together as allies.
***
"Thank you, Nie Li. I've also noticed the business ventures you've been developing recently. Be extremely cautious about how you process these materials. This situation is similar to my small world constantly producing spirit stones ~ keep it within close circles only."
"I know." he replied seriously.
I accepted the dragon soul into my personal storage space. Just like before, the extremely unruly demon spirit became terrified upon sensing the overwhelming power of my soul. The avatar of my soul directly pierced through it, copying its abilities before releasing it from bondage. Since I couldn't simply dismiss it without arousing Nie Li's suspicions about whether I actually needed it, I temporarily bound it with heavenly vines in my soul space.
When I stepped outside my quarters, I encountered the usual group of Hu Yong's lackeys lingering nearby.
"Seriously, guys, it's been a full two months. Don't you need rest?" I unleashed a small portion of my aura and watched as they all systematically looked at me with genuine terror.
The ten-fate aura apparently felt extremely dangerous to people cultivating through normal methods. I made a mental note about this reaction and casually walked past them, converging my aura once again to avoid causing further disturbance.
Classes proceeded peacefully after that. Long Yuyin now came to class directly addressing me as "Master." Since I was actually older than her, I didn't mind the strange looks from Gu Bei and Lu Piao. During combat sessions, I continued explaining her technical flaws and attack methods.
She was at least ten times faster than before, and although she still ended up on the ground eventually, she was much more energetic and genuinely happy with her progress.
Beyond combat drills, she had made the student next to me replaced and asked questions through Qi transmission during regular lessons. Overnight, she had transformed from proudly aloof to almost shyly friendly.
"Can't you at least maintain that proud arrogant aura you had before? I feel like awakening your bloodline turned you from a tiger into a kitten," I commented dry one day.
This observation was shared by many others, and certain rumors began circulating about the nature of our relationship.
Breakthrough to Heavenly Star Realm
Two more weeks passed as I casually enriched the tenth fate soul. This time, while under my rule domain, I attempted to cultivate using the burning essence of the divine phaseless fruit. The energy flowed from my internal world refining energy as a typical dantian to my soul realm, causing the ten fate stars to become agitated. Heavenly energy condensed in the center, forming a distinct star shape.
The formation process took considerable time, but the energy from the phaseless divine fruit was tremendously potent. Rather than redirecting excess energy to my internal world, I allowed it all to flow into the newly formed heavenly fate star that was positioning itself above the existing fate souls. When the star fully condensed, it returned vast amounts of soul energy that energised millions of constituents of my physical body.
Since my body was already ridiculously strong, this wasn't problematic, but if I had been an ordinary cultivator attempting to form a fate star with this much concentrated energy, it would have been enough to kill me a hundred times over.
I had consumed at least four divine phaseless fruits by this point from beginning of heavenly fate realm. Considering that eating just one could cause a Martial Ancestor realm cultivator to explode instantly, it was easy to understand how much condensed heavenly energy and soul power remained stored within these formations. My fate star resembled the nine stars in my internal world, except this one blazed with golden brilliance.
When I released my Heavenly Star realm aura, it carried much more weight than typical star realm energy. It contained traces of my original yang soul strength, making it distinctly more oppressive than normal cultivation auras.
The Journey Beyond Divine Feather Sect
I made the decision to venture into the outside world for a few days of exploration since staying here felt a bit lazy. After informing the venerable red soul of my intentions, I departed from the Divine Feather Sect, flying through its gates with my soul cultivation strength fully engaged.
It didn't take long before I detected several presences following me. One was clearly the guardian assigned by the sect, while the others appeared to be representatives from various interest groups. Factions or clans maybe. I brought myself to a halt and turned to address the guardian who had been specifically allocated by the sect master.
"I have reached the heavenly star realm," I informed him directly. "There is no need for you to follow me. I am capable of handling myself."
The guardian shook his head with concern. "Young master, these are the Sect master's direct orders. Furthermore, you are required to report back to him upon reaching the heavenly star realm. It makes sense now why the sect master assigned someone of my dragon dao realm level for your protection."
I considered his words for a moment. "A few days of absence won't harm anyone. If you believe you can keep pace with me, then very well... but don't concern yourself if you lose track of my movements. I will return within a few days at most. Besides, I have established a fate soul in soul hall ~ I can be reborn if necessary."
The guardian remained silent, clearly unaware of my true strength and dismissing my words as youthful bravado. In truth, I had never bothered to place a fate soul in the soul hall ~ it was merely a convenient lie to ease his concerns.
I launched myself forward, gradually unlocking my true power. Within mere seconds, I had moved beyond his perception range entirely. As I continued to unseal my strength, the very fabric of space began to fracture from the power that leaked out, similar to what had occurred in the tiny world, though thankfully less severe. My perception was also set to absolute minimum.
My consciousness expanded to cover an immense distance. While a martial ancestor could project their intent to inspect thousands of miles, my perception had already grown sufficient to encompass thousands of realms. The entirety of the draconic ruins fell within my observation, and I could see far beyond those boundaries. I even detected a clone of the sage emperor in the distance and bunch of other realms near by followed by endless space. Though the perception of me, remained minimal enough that he failed to notice my presence.
Beyond the territories controlled by the righteous and demonic sects, I discovered numerous powerful beings. The outer regions teemed with creatures in the ancestor realm. I also spotted a few in deity realm. However, regardless of their strength, the moment my hand reached for them, no technique they employed could prevent their spatial and spiritual imprisonment.
Like gathering chickens by their necks, I captured several thousand demons. The variety was remarkable ~ primordial bloodline beasts, dragon bloodline creatures at god level growth rate, beings with extraordinary growth rates, demon phoenixes, thunder beasts, earth devouring beasts, nether beasts, and countless other bloodline varieties.
My ring world contained demon beasts, but due to unknown eras of inbreeding and various limitations, such diversity had been impossible to observe. I also discovered several rare herbs during my journey: starfall herb, phaseless fruit trees, and divine springs. Most of all I took about twenty of deity lakes that I deemed ancient with all its spiritual stones intact. All of these became valuable additions to my ring world.
My overwhelming strength made the collection process effortless and in a sense a little boring too. Without much consideration, I sensed demonic auras and plucked even the beast kings from their regional territories. My intention was also to recreate and identify memories from anyone who possessed knowledge of contact with the sage emperor or other significant connections, using creation energy to accomplish this task.
I successfully extracted such information from two deity-ranked beasts and twenty martial ancestor beasts from the areas I had explored. They were not really servants of him, but some left over pieces. Rather than simply putting them in ring world, I decided to place them within my internal world to test their adaptability to Chaos Qi. Most were devoured by the environment until they managed to escape with their souls and heavenly principles completely exhausted.
The sheer volume of discoveries was staggering. When I encountered certain regions rich in alchemy materials due to condensed laws of heaven, I directly uprooted several hundred miles of terrain and transplanted it into my ring world.
I casually tossed similar portions into my inner world for refinement like a Dantian before sending them to the soul realm. Yes internal world can act like a cauldron for refinement, and it is also where the creation energy mill worked. Due to my unsealed power level and the passive refinement process, two additional fate stars condensed during my exploration period.
My divine sense could directly retrieve items by sensing the heavenly principles of the treasures, eliminating any need for physical visits to specific locations. These dramatic changes did not go unnoticed, despite occurring nearly a million miles away from the sects. I chose not to engage with those who investigated, as they couldn't detect my presence even without my creation energy shielding, if I had desired concealment.
During my exploration, I discovered numerous high and low-level sects, all isolated and surrounded by powerful demon beasts lands much like glory city, some dimensional worlds attached to draconic ruins. I also came across ancient tomblands where I obtained information about objects containing space-time auras. To my surprise, I found a temporal demon page ~ such a coincidence seemed almost impossible.
After completing my fruitful exploration, I began my return journey. The artifacts of this world held little meaning for me, since my sword from the apotheosis world contained enough weight to literally pierce through this world as it is.
I gradually sealed my strength and returned after four days of exploration. Six if you count the day I took to reseal myself. The difference between them is like day and night, from a feeling of absolute to normalcy.
It is easy to unseal, but to reseal myself it took some adaptation. The guardian I had left behind was still waiting faithfully for my return. I approached him and we traveled back to the sect together without incident. Many sect members noticed that my aura had advanced to the first level of the heavenly star realm which I intentionally lowered and showed. I am already at 3rd heavenly star realm.
Central Institute
The following day, while I was preparing for my scheduled classes, the person assigned to both protect and monitor me appeared shortly afterwards. I typically shielded my activities from his observation when utilising special means, which had resulted in his physical appearances multiple times to complain about my tendency to conceal my actions.
"Young Master," he said with a mixture of amazement and duty, "you have achieved the Heavenly Star realm within merely four months of joining our sect. Please accompany me ~ the master wishes to see you immediately."
This time, when I met with the sect leadership, I only heard a voice in my mind rather than seeing anyone in person. "Arrangements will be made in a few days for your entrance trial to enter the central institute. Since you have reached Heavenly Star realm, you can cultivate in peace within your assigned housing until then. We will notify you when it's time."
"Yes " I replied with the proper formal martial etiquette that cultivation worlds expected.
I didn't attend classes that day. When the others returned, they found me fishing at the pond in front of my quarters.
"Why didn't you come to class today? Long Yuyin was bothering us constantly asking about you," Lu Piao complained.
"I won't be attending west division classes anymore. I've entered Heavenly Star realm, so I've been scheduled for a combat trial in a few days. After that, I'll be entering the central division if I pass successfully."
"What? No way!" Lu Piao exclaimed. Nie Li and Xiao Yu were equally astonished.
I sensed a familiar presence rapidly approaching and turned toward the door. Long Yuyin burst in, panting as if her life depended on reaching me quickly.
"What happened? Did you die in the outside world or something? You look like your tail is on fire," I joked.
Seeing our interaction, the other three made random excuses and retreated to the training room to give us privacy. I repeated the same explanation I had given them about the realm advancement and upcoming trials.
"It's just a change of residences. You can still visit me at my new place if you want."
"Do you know about the ranking lists? There are many higher-level fate star cultivators there. Can you really fight against them?"
"It would be strange if they could even stand a chance against me. I'm not exactly ordinary. You've fully awakened your dragon bloodline, and I've refined your internals with life fire. Have you been able to keep up with me in combat?" I paused, considering her worried expression.
"Anyway, for obvious reasons, the trial stage is set to be private. You can come with me if you want ~ I can arrange for you to attend as someone trusted. If you refine your energy in bloodline and fully accepts it, your realm will increase perhaps you can also try to reach me their on your own."
The Trial Stage
The trial stage was established in a secluded area, and I observed two venerates present when I arrived. "Greetings, Hierarchs, elders" I said, producing the customary martial bow.
The rest of the area was notably absent of Martial Ancestor realm practitioners, though several Dragon Dao realm cultivators were present ~ likely instructors from the central institute.
"You are from my Dragon Seal family, aren't you? Why have you come here?" one of the venerates asked, directing the question toward Long Yuyin.
"Grandmother... sorry, Hierarch LingLong Venerable. I am currently training under him, and he invited me to observe," she replied nervously.
She clearly hadn't expected such heavyweight figures to appear at what I had described as a casual combat trial. Moreover, she was the only 'normal' spectator present ~ everyone else consisted of instructors and two high-ranking students from the central institute.
"You have taken a fancy to her, Mr. Tao? I can indeed make arrangements official. Our Dragon Seal family would benefit from such a strong addition," Hierarch LingLong suggested with obvious interest.
"No I didn't, Elder. As she mentioned, she trains under my guidance, much like a disciple. We have no unusual relationship. Please don't misunderstand."
"You indeed have the qualifications, so don't be afraid to be bold about such matters."
"LingLong, don't be so eager to pull him into your clan. In fact, our clan also has some young Heavenly Fate realm talents who need training. Perhaps you could help them as well?" Hierarch Dragonblaze interjected with laughter.
"That's enough discussion for now. Let's begin the trial. As agreed beforehand, Tian Chi Tao, you are forbidden from using your full physical strength and soul power. This fight will be based entirely on heavenly principles and techniques."
Long Yuyin had previously informed me about the top-ranking individuals in the eastern institute's hierarchy. My opponent stepped forward ~ a serious-looking young man who carried himself with disciplined arrogance.
"I am Nie Yong, third Heavenly Star realm. Please advise me," he said formally.
The contestant had apparently figured out that I carried significant backing, so he avoided displaying the usual arrogance that might otherwise be expected.
"I am Tao, first Heavenly Star realm. Please advise me as well," I replied.
His demon spirit manifested as a dragon-blooded draconic winged tiger ~ an impressive creature that radiated predatory energy. Since I was restricted from using physical strength or the full power of my soul, I drew my spirit sword.
It was a low-grade rank five weapon I had obtained through exchange.
Sword intent based on heavenly principles began condensing around my blade, and the space around me started fluctuating with barely contained energy. When I saw him lunging at me on four legs, I swung the sword in a technique based on heavenly principles mixed with the sword intent I had perfected in the Source world of Apotheosis.
I watched him attempt to defend and sidestep at the last moment, but the strike was essentially instantaneous from his perspective. He froze completely, sensing a genuine death threat emanating from my attack.
A single strike would have been sufficient to kill him multiple times over, but I diffused the lethal energy at the last moment with a wave of my hand. The residual impact still sent him flying to the edge of the protective barrier, blood streaming from various wounds.
The fight concluded with that single exchange. I approached him and offered a high-essence healing pill I had created in my ring world.
"Sorry, this was my first time actually fighting someone of a similar realm, so I haven't properly calibrated my power output yet. Take this to help with healing."
" ..."
****
"Your achievements in swordsmanship are indeed remarkable given your cultivation level. Are you still unable to use demon spirit techniques?" Hierarch Dragonblaze inquired.
"Hierarch, I can use those abilities partially now, but without full materialisation, I would also need to employ physical power then. Would close combat be acceptable?"
Hierarch LingLong suddenly stood up and gestured for most observers to leave the area. She clapped her hands, and a new person ~ a woman ~ stepped into the arena.
"Yes, we are primarily interested in your combat skills and overall talent. You have already achieved the basic qualification by defeating Nie Yong. It's difficult to measure your true strength without sending someone more powerful. But if you're confident, we can indeed arrange for you to fight a Dragon Dao realm opponent."
The woman Hierarch LingLong had summoned stepped forward with fluid grace.
"I am Ling Xie, fourth rank Dragon Dao realm. I will go easy on you," she announced.
I didn't reply immediately. She would soon discover who was actually going easy on whom.
We clashed over a thousand times in rapid succession. Close combat. Her perception speed was indeed faster, similar to a World Lord realm practitioner in essence cultivation. I adjusted my combat style to match hers and engaged in pure battle techniques.
We exchanged multiple complex combinations until I began targeting the flaws in her technique with physical force comparable to her own level. After several moments, as she gradually began taking the fight more seriously, she realized she hadn't been able to push me back at all up to this point.
Retreating to create distance, she merged with her demon spirit ~ a Crimson Blaze Skydragon. An enormous amount of fire energy erupted toward me, but I simply merged with my void form and emerged unharmed.
"Yin Yang Primal Vortex," I announced with its hand signs, executing an adaptation of a technique from Saint Chunjun that I had modified to work with heavenly principles. What it excelled at was absorbing incoming energy and redirecting it as a single, unified law-based attack.
The energy I returned was of a higher principle order than what she had sent, striking her dragon form and pushing her backward significantly.
I decided to actively engage.
"Illusion" I said, dragging her consciousness into a temporary dream state. While she was disoriented, I positioned myself beside her and delivered a powerful punch to her dragon chest. As she emerged from the dream, she collapsed instantly but attempted to sweep me with her tail.
I caught the tail mid-attack and used vector manipulation to redirect the force of her own strike, lifting her massive dragon form and sending it flying away.
She was clearly defeated. "You are really unusual. I observed multiple demon spirit abilities during our fight. That last attack was actually a force-based controlling ability rather than pure physical strength, correct?"
"Yes, Hierarch Dragonblaze. These were indeed demon beast abilities. Due to my enhanced soul, my reaction speed is considerably higher ~ that's the only reason I was able to keep pace with her."
"Well, congratulations then. You have definitely been selected for the central institute. I think your battle techniques, sword intent, and overall strength are already approaching the level of some core instructors, so since we were actually tasked with making special arrangements based on your performance here."
Hierarch LingLong continued, "Since your performance surprised even us, as rewards you can access our information collections in the library of any hall using this token, regardless of which hall you choose to focus on. As for actual classes, the central institute is primarily self-directed.
We and some of our subordinates conduct instructional sessions, but it's more about self-discovery. You can attend our monthly sermons and participate in yearly martial debates. Besides this, we have an immediate assignment for you after the yearly sect gathering concludes. Ling Xie will provide you with the details soon."
After receiving my tokens and housing arrangements, I rejoined Long Yuyin, who was still visibly shocked by witnessing me fight against a Dragon Dao realm opponent.
"Well, do you have anything to say about your master's performance?"
"Congratulations," she managed. "How can you fight and actually win against a Dragon Dao realm cultivator when you're still only in Heavenly Star realm?"
"I told you before ~ there are heavens beyond heaven, people beyond the ones you know. Occasionally, you encounter exceptions like myself. You don't need to be so shocked by this." I showed her the residence identification tag. "Are you coming with me? You can help me arrange things if you want to assist."
Later, she did help me organize my new living space. The heavenly energy concentration there was significantly higher, and various new resources had been provided ~ from dragon spirit souls to heavenly crystal essences.
"You can come here daily to train. I've modified your family techniques substantially. You shared your clan's cultivation methods and principles with me, but I've heavily adapted them to bring out the full potential of your dragon lineage while incorporating other advanced concepts, so much that it is now entirely different one. Red Dragon Tempering technique."
I pointed at her, and a complex technique was transmitted directly to her mind. "Yes, it's an extremely sophisticated method. I've included detailed instructions to help you get started. Practice this, and if you succeed, I'll reveal additional information about the true nature of this world."
Seeing that she is enlightening at the moment, I let her be.
After half an hour, when she returned, "Yuyin, if you succeed with this technique, people will notice your cultivation advancing rapidly. After the sect meeting concludes, Nie Li will likely establish his own faction to venture into the outside world. "
" I am not a leader type. He's already connected with heirs from the Gu family and Ashen Flames family. You can gradually demonstrate your improved abilities to your family members after the meeting and prepare to take independent action. But be subtle about it, and especially avoid drawing attention from your cousin ~ I have some concerns about his intentions."
"Remember, only act after the sect gathering."
***