After defeating the Yimo Emperor, Xiao Yan did not go along with the World Spirit's suggestion to celebrate, but instead found a secluded place to enter seclusion and heal his wounds. Although he had ultimately succeeded in slaying the Yimo Emperor in that earth-shattering battle, the injuries he sustained were nothing short of severe—even for someone who had already stepped into the Dou Di realm.
At his current level, ordinary pills were no longer of much use. Only Emperor-rank pills could produce noticeable effects. While Xiao Yan did have the ability to refine such high-grade pills, the conditions required were extremely harsh. As a result, he couldn't rely on medicinal aid this time and instead had to depend on his own strength to repair his body.
This healing process lasted for over a full month before he gradually recovered. It was only thanks to his exceptional physique—far superior to other cultivators of the same rank—and the unique restorative abilities of flames like the Life Spirit Flame that he was able to recover so quickly. If not for those factors, given the exhaustion of both his energy and soul, it would have taken at least half a year to recover fully. In a worse case, he might have perished alongside the Yimo Emperor.
However, this life-and-death battle did bring him considerable benefits. For example, as his Dou Qi and soul power gradually returned to a full state, he could clearly sense that his strength had grown yet again. Not only that, his control over his power had improved compared to when he first broke through. It felt as though he had stepped past the initial stage of the Dou Di level—though he wasn't sure what his current precise level was.
Among the spoils he had taken from the Yimo Emperor, all had been refined except for the power of the Plane Origin, which now quietly resided within his body. One of the reasons his injuries had healed so swiftly was the support of the Life and Death Ancestral Talisman among the eight ancestral symbols.
Xiao Yan had long been aware of how powerful the ancestral talismans were. These objects, formed from the laws of heaven and earth, were in terms of raw might comparable to the Heavenly Flames he wielded. They had proven troublesome in his battle with the Yimo Emperor.
Thus, during his recovery, Xiao Yan also took time to familiarize himself with the powers of the ancestral talismans. He understood that if he could manipulate them as skillfully as his Heavenly Flames, his combat strength would surely rise considerably.
Moreover, he had learned from the Spirit of the Ancestral Stone that if he could fully master the ancestral talismans, his body would begin to assimilate their power. When that happened, his Dou Qi would gain eight different attributes simultaneously—an outcome Xiao Yan was greatly looking forward to.
What intrigued him the most, however, was their unique properties. His self-created technique, Annihilation of All Living Beings, drew its terrifying power from the fusion of countless special attributes. If he could someday combine the power of all the ancestral talismans and divine artifacts into this technique, then the might of Annihilation of All Living Beings would certainly rise to an unimaginable level.
Xiao Yan also felt a lingering dread toward the world above the Dou Qi Continent. According to the Plane Spirit, there were several levels beyond the Dou Di realm in that higher realm. That meant that even a Dou Di, the peak existence of a lower world, might be insignificant there. Without leaving himself enough trump cards, he might very well suffer greatly. And among those trump cards, Annihilation of All Living Beings was undoubtedly his strongest thus far.
Even Xiao Yan himself couldn't precisely estimate how powerful the technique truly was. But judging from how it had overwhelmed the Yimo Emperor, he believed that even in the Great Thousand World, it would not be considered weak. And it was still only in its infancy—its potential was far from fully tapped. With further refinement and evolution, it might even come to rival the greatest techniques of that higher realm.
As for the Plane Spirit, Xiao Yan hadn't forgotten to settle scores with her. Just as he'd promised, he gave her a harsh lesson, locking her up in the Spirit Refining Tower and roasting her with its flames. After this beating, he was confident she'd think twice before running her mouth again.
In his spare time, Xiao Yan also studied this world's cultivation system. While he felt that the yuan energy cultivation of the Tianxuan Continent had its flaws, it was still a system that had developed to its peak within a complete world—there were certainly things worth learning. What intrigued him the most was the so-called power of the Yuan Spirit.
In the Tianxuan Continent, once yuan energy cultivation reached a certain point, cultivators would condense a Yuan Core. This was similar to the Dou Crystal from the Dou Qi Continent. However, while the Dou Crystal dissolved into the meridians upon reaching the Dou Wang level to act as a conduit for energy, the Yuan Core would gradually transform into a Yuan Spirit upon reaching the Nirvana stage.
This Yuan Spirit was similar to a soul form. As long as it existed, even if the physical body was destroyed, there remained a chance for resurrection. Xiao Yan wasn't particularly interested in that ability. What fascinated him was the Yuan Spirit's capacity to act independently in combat—just like a soul clone.
Although Xiao Yan hadn't cultivated yuan energy, there were still some similarities between it and Dou Qi. Using the Tianxuan system as a foundation, he tweaked it slightly and used his own Dou Qi to condense what he called a "Yuan Spirit." To solidify its form, he absorbed some of the world's source energy, making it closer to a "Source Spirit."
With that, Xiao Yan now possessed two independent clones. In future battles, having both assisting him would certainly grant him the upper hand. However, after forming this new Yuan Spirit, he discovered an unexpected drawback.
Like the soul clone, this Yuan Spirit had no physical body and no meridians, which meant it couldn't use any Dou Techniques. While the soul clone could still wield soul-based Dou Techniques like Nine Revolutions Spirit Refinement and Yellow Springs Heaven's Fury, this Yuan Spirit had no such options and could only rely on raw strength.
Worse yet, since his body had no Dou Crystal after reaching the Dou Wang level, and he didn't need one for cultivation anymore, this Yuan Spirit couldn't naturally accumulate energy like a normal Yuan Core. It required an external supply of Dou Qi. If deprived of energy for too long, it might even dissipate entirely.
(End of Chapter)
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