Immortal-Exterminating Divine Venerable

”Not good! This thing is actually going to self-destruct!”

Yang Xiao’s expression changed drastically.

For the past three months, thanks to the Purple Fire Qilin’s suppression, he had easily dealt with every Barbaric Beast, whether they were Tier Three Dominator-level or Tier Four Dominator-level. Not a single one had managed to self-destruct its Inner Core.

It had made Yang Xiao momentarily forget this terrifying instinct of the Barbaric Beasts.

’I was too careless! Qilin True Body, get back here!’

Yang Xiao saw the White Jade Rhinoceros swelling up like an overinflated balloon, and a trace of horror flashed in his eyes.

’I’m afraid this is it for me this time.’

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted from the edge of the Cold Pool, shaking the entire Celestial Cloud Mountain Range.

Even the other two Tier Five Barbaric Beasts, a thousand miles away, sensed the power of the blast.

Fortunately, within a three-thousand-mile radius, all the Tier Three Dominator-level and Tier Four Barbaric Beasts had already died at Yang Xiao’s hands. Otherwise, the explosion would have sent the surrounding thousand miles into chaos as Barbaric Beasts went on a rampage.

But now, Yang Xiao, the one who had caused all this, was not faring well either.

The self-destruction of a Tier Five Barbaric Beast.

It was terrifying.

The destructive power was likely even more horrifying than a full-force attack from a Tier Five Upper Grade Barbaric Beast.

Yang Xiao simply couldn’t withstand it.

If he hadn’t reacted so quickly, and if his cultivation of the Profound Feather Divine Technique hadn’t made him so fast, he wouldn’t have been able to fly over a hundred miles away, avoiding the very core of the explosion.

He likely would have perished here.

If that had happened, Yang Xiao would have been devastated.

He had gone through so much to be reborn, only to meet such an end.

Fortunately, however, he had been prepared to escape from the start. He acted decisively at the first moment and flew over a hundred miles away, so he was only caught in the aftershock.

His injuries weren’t severe, just minor wounds.

But the Qilin True Body wasn’t so lucky.

As the White Jade Rhinoceros’s opponent, it was at the center of the explosion. Although Yang Xiao had tried to recall it at the first possible moment, it was still too late.

He himself had already fled.

No matter how fast the Qilin True Body was, it couldn’t get back to him.

Instantly, it was blasted beyond recognition, a miserable sight.

Its body of flesh and blood, which had become quite solid, was now riddled with countless gaping holes.

If it weren’t just one of Yang Xiao’s Divine Techniques and not a true living being, it probably wouldn’t have even had a chance to survive.

’Damn it! I was so careless. This time, not only did I gain nothing, but I also ruined my strongest trump card! It seems three months of smooth sailing have made me arrogant.’

Yang Xiao looked at the tattered Qilin True Body, feeling like he wanted to cry but had no tears.

However, he was not the type of person to get discouraged by setbacks.

On the contrary, this incident allowed Yang Xiao to get a clear look at his own strength.

At the same time, he also understood something.

The path of hunting Tier Five Barbaric Beasts for their Inner Cores to break through to the Yellow Flame Realm was likely no longer viable.

That left only one other path.

Refining a King-level Fire Essence Pill.

Pills were divided into nine grades, and above the ninth grade was the King Level.

This was the current classification of Pills in the Pill Realm.

Yang Xiao had over a hundred Inner Cores on hand. The worst of them were Tier Three Upper Grade, equivalent to a Sixth-Grade Spirit Medicine.

The best ones were comparable to a Level 9 Peak Spirit Medicine—the Inner Cores from Tier Four Dominator-level Barbaric Beasts.

In addition, he also had quite a few Ninth-Grade Spirit Medicines.

If he were to really refine a King-Grade Pill, this would probably be enough.

’But before that, I need to cultivate to the Orange Flame Limit and temper my body and spirit.’

He withdrew the Qilin True Body into his own body to let it recuperate.

Yang Xiao began to consume some Fire Attribute Inner Cores and Spirit Medicines.

After advancing to the Orange Flame Realm, Yang Xiao’s Heaven and Earth Origin Flame could not only be released externally, increasing its destructive power by a major tier, it also had another function: refining all Fire Elemental Power.

Originally, the Inner Cores of Barbaric Beasts, even those with the Fire Attribute, could not be consumed by humans.

They needed to be refined into Fire Element Pills to remove substances harmful to the human body.

But after advancing to the Orange Flame Realm, Yang Xiao no longer needed to refine them. A single circulation of his Origin Flame could eliminate all impurities, leaving them perfectly clean.

Therefore, there was no harm in Yang Xiao directly consuming the Inner Cores.

This greatly increased his cultivation speed.

In just one night, Yang Xiao refined no fewer than twenty Inner Cores and ten Spirit Medicines of Level 7 or higher, pushing his Heaven and Earth Origin Flame, which had already reached Great Success in the Orange Flame Realm, to its limit once more.

This produced a large amount of Essence Qi.

However, the process of tempering his body and spirit was a Water Grinding Skill that took a considerable amount of time.

After Yang Xiao tempered himself once, twenty days had already passed.

But his physical body and spirit had improved significantly.

His Physical Strength, which had been stuck at the power of one young Demon Flood Dragon, directly tripled to the power of three young Demon Flood Dragons.

In other words, the power of three Flood Dragons.

His constitution also changed from an ordinary Mid-grade Fire Spirit Body to a Peak Level Mid-grade Fire Spirit Body. With a single thought, the Fire Elemental Power from thirty miles around would surge toward him.

His cultivation speed was now almost sixty times that of someone at the Peak of Innate Realm.

At this speed, even if Yang Xiao didn’t consume any Spirit Medicines, he could advance from the Early-stage Orange Flame to its limit in just about a year, as long as there was enough Fire Elemental Power.

To go from the Innate Realm First Layer to the Peak of Innate Realm Ninth Layer in just one year—such a speed was absolutely unheard of.

His Spiritual Level also saw a great improvement, advancing from the stabilized Observing Micro Middle Stage to the Peak of Observing Micro Middle Stage.

Although there was still some distance to the Observing Micro High Level, it was not far off.

’Next, I’ll start refining Fire Element Pills. The remaining materials should allow me to refine at least five Peak of Level 9 Fire Element Pills.’

Without stopping, Yang Xiao began to refine the Pills.

This process was even longer than tempering his own body and spirit.

A full two months passed.

Yang Xiao finished refining all the resources he had on hand.

Six Peak of Level 9 Fire Element Pills appeared before him.

It was one more than he had previously estimated.

However, Yang Xiao was a little disappointed.

He discovered that his once-invincible Medicine Condensation Skill had hit a bottleneck.

With his current Spiritual Power, he could only refine Peak of Level 9 Fire Element Pills.

’It seems I can only refine King-Grade Pills once I reach the Observing Micro High Level. But to break through to the Observing Micro High Level…’

It was difficult. Very difficult.

Improving one’s Spiritual Power was inherently difficult, many times more so than improving one’s physical body or aura.

Yang Xiao had been able to improve so quickly, from the Observing Micro Threshold to the Peak of Observing Micro Middle Stage, because he had undergone three temperings by the Heaven and Earth Origin Flame. He also had a Supreme Treasure like the Divine Communication Grass and a Secret Skill for tempering the spirit like the Medicine Condensation Skill to help him reach this level.

But breaking through to the Observing Micro High Level was still very difficult.

It would require a Water Grinding Skill, or another spiritual tempering.

But what troubled Yang Xiao even more was the Qilin True Body.

After nearly three months of recuperation, the heavily damaged Qilin True Body had still not recovered.

There were even faint signs that it might dissipate.

It was on the verge of collapse!

’To save the Qilin True Body, I have to feed it my Heaven and Earth Origin Flame again and refine it into my bloodline. It’s an extremely time-consuming process. Should I save it, or not?’

If he saved it, Yang Xiao’s cultivation, which had reached the Orange Flame Limit, would drop again.

But if he didn’t, the Qilin True Body would be gone.

Which was more important?

After only a moment, Yang Xiao made up his mind.

Save it.

He had to save it.

How could he not?

Even though his realm would regress again, he had six Peak of Level 9 Fire Element Pills on hand.

But if the Qilin True Body was gone, that would be a true disaster.

He would lose a trump card.

And the Earth Fire Qilin Beast could not be revived.

So, there was no need to even consider it.

Yang Xiao knew he had to save it.

The only thing that made him hesitate was whether or not to refine it into his own bloodline.

If he did, the Qilin True Body’s compatibility with him would become even stronger.

He would be able to use many of its abilities.

However, it would take more time.

The Sect competition was approaching, and Yang Xiao didn’t know if he could make it in time.

’I hope I can make it in time. After what happened, I must refine the Qilin True Body into my bloodline. Only then will it become a true Supreme True Body. I was too careless before. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have needed to inject it with Heaven and Earth Origin Flame again; just nourishing it would have been enough to let it recover.’

Yang Xiao’s gaze was firm.

As for the Sect competition, Yang Xiao was confident that with his current strength, no one would dare to disrespect him!

Even if someone was unconvinced, he would beat them into submission!