Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
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“Boss, I really have become an Empyrean!” cried Guo Ran, filled with excitement.
Guo Ran could feel some kind of new energy awakening within him. His sense of the Heavenly Daos was also growing clearer. It felt like he was the ruler of this space, as if all the surrounding Heavenly Dao energy belonged to him.
Sensing the aura of primal chaos growing stronger within Guo Ran, Long Chen finally sighed with relief. After losing four Empyrean Heavenly Dao Fruits, he had finally succeeded.
Long Chen couldn’t help but smile bitterly. His luck was really garbage. Why had this formula been the last one? If it had been the first, he would have saved three Empyrean Heavenly Dao Fruits. That would have represented three new Empyreans.
However, he was used to his bad luck, so he brushed it off. It was fine since he had succeeded in the end.
Long Chen continued refining. With this experience, he completed the refinement of the eleven remaining Heavenly Dao Fruits.
He distributed them to Gu Yang, Li Qi, and Song Mingyuan. Yue Zifeng was devoted to the Sword Dao and didn’t use Heavenly Dao energy to assist him.
According to Yue Zifeng’s deduction, the Sword Dao should be above the Heavenly Daos. Cultivating the Sword Dao was to go against the heavens. Therefore, he shouldn’t completely comply with the will of the heavens.
Long Chen naturally didn’t force Yue Zifeng to consume it. Now there were eight more Empyrean Pills. Two of them were for Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er, but Long Chen struggled over the remaining six.
Originally, he was saving one for Yue Xiaoqian. He didn’t know how she was, or whether or not she needed one.
According to the Seventh Elder, Yue Xiaoqian was currently secluded in the original devil race’s inheritance land. If she came out, she would definitely come to find him immediately.
As for Ye Zhiqiu, Long Chen hadn’t gotten any news of her. All he knew was that she was in the Northern Xuan Region.
However, considering she possessed an innate ice spiritual body that led to a powerful expert coming to find her and have her join her sect, she was definitely important to them. Considering the change in heaven and earth, any sect with any foundation would condense all their karmic luck onto their most talented disciples so that they could become Empyreans. Ye Zhiqiu most likely didn’t need his Empyrean Pill.
After thinking over it, he kept the two Empyrean pills for Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er and gave the remaining six to Gu Yang.
He told Gu Yang, Li Qi, Song Mingyuan, and Yue Zifeng to pick out an assistant amongst their own groups.
The four of them were captains. At first, the Dragonblood Legion had only had three hundred and sixty members, but now there were over twelve thousand. For the four of them to lead so many people was clearly a bit taxing. Promoting four vice-captains could lessen the burden on them.
As for the other two, Long Chen told Gu Yang to pick out the two strongest wood cultivators. They were the strongest shield of the Dragonblood Legion’s lives. With two powerful Empyreans amongst them, their healing capabilities would rise and their enemies would have even less chance of targeting them.
It could be said that they were the secret heroes of the battle of the Grand Han. Without them, then no matter how hard the Dragonblood warriors had fought, it would have been unavoidable to have some casualties. So Long Chen cared deeply about the healers’ abilities.
When those two women received the Empyrean Pills that could change their future, they were full of gratitude toward Long Chen. Long Chen had changed their lives. Originally, their talent wasn’t particularly exceptional, but now they had ascended with Long Chen into the sky. They had never dreamed that they would become legendary existences.
Gu Yang, Li Qi, Song Mingyuan, and Yue Zifeng all picked out their assistants and gave them the Empyrean Pills. It wouldn’t be long before twelve terrifying Empyreans would appear in the Dragonblood Legion.
Furthermore, after the battle of the Grand Han, all the Dragonblood warriors could become rank nine Celestials whenever they wanted. This terrifying legion was definitely the one with the greatest potential in the entire continent.
Long Chen told everyone to keep quiet about their advancement. It would be best if the outside world did not learn of it yet. Even the new disciples who had just joined were to be kept in the dark about it. Who knew if any spies had mixed into the crowd?
In any case, they only needed a small portion to face constant challenges. Furthermore, the Xuantian Dao Sect’s original disciples were starting to soar as well. Hua Shiyu, Zhao Ziyan, Wang Zhen, Su Mo, Mu Qingxuan, and the others were undergoing the baptism of the divine pool. They would soon advance to become Empyreans, and they could handle the challenges in the future.
In any case, it was best for the Dragonblood Legion to act low-key for now. There were still many things for the Xuantian Dao Sect to complete. They had to be careful and not let victory go to their heads.
After arranging all this, it had already been half a month. Long Chen stealthily took a trip to the original devil race’s base in the Grand Xia Ancient Nation.
This time, Long Chen didn’t see the Seventh Elder. Apparently, something urgent had happened within the original devil race, and the Seventh Elder had been forced to go back.
Long Chen handed all the Heavenly Dao Fruit he had on him to the Elder-in-charge and told him to quickly bring them back to his race.
Long Chen then went to the Wine God Palace to see his parents. As a result, he only managed to see his mother and Xiaoyu.
When he asked about his father, his mother immediately started to rage. She said that Long Tianxiao was completely enraptured by the Wine Dao, and if he wasn’t drinking wine, he was learning how to make it. He rarely spent time with them now.
Fortunately, Xia Youluo often came to see them. She would bring them to the imperial palace for fun, making Xiaoyu very happy.
When his mother had been preparing to send Xiaoyu into the imperial school for her to learn some things, Xiaoyu immediately refused. She didn’t want to leave her parents.
After all, she had always been with them. Parting suddenly, even if it was just for a few hours, made her feel afraid of the unknown.
However, after being accompanied by Xia Youluo for a while, Xiaoyu managed to make friends her age and began to play with her companions all day. She began to attend lessons with them, learning about poetry, songs, literature, etc.
In any case, she was very happy learning in the imperial school, putting Long Chen at ease.
Long Chen spent three days there. He paid his respects to the High Priest and Xia Yuyang. He also asked Xia Yunchong about Xia Chen.
Xia Yunchong said that Xia Chen was most likely a disciple from a branch of the Grand Xia’s imperial family. He had no real connection with the Grand Xia, and no one knew where he was. Long Chen couldn’t thank him even if he wanted to.
The Grand Xia, Grand Zhou, and Grand Chu were all calm. Only the Grand Han’s interior was filled with battle and fire. Refugees fleeing from within were constantly coming to the other three ancient nations.
The three nations did their best to take in these refugees. They gave them land for them to set up their homes and what tools they needed. Although it was a little bitter, at least they could make their own living now. That was a thousand times better than staying in the Grand Han.
With the Grand Han filled with internal warfare, the commoners were never sure whether or not they would live to see the sun rise or set each day.
When Long Chen heard this, he didn’t quite know what to feel. It was no wonder Xia Yuyang had said that warfare was cruel. The glory went to the highest people, while the ones who paid the debt for the battle were always the innocent commoners.
Although Long Chen couldn’t quite approve of Xia Yuyang’s methods, he had no choice but to admit that Xia Yuyang was the most benevolent ruler he had ever seen. Whether or not his decision was right or wrong, at least the Grand Xia’s commoners could live without fear of bein
g killed the next day.
Three days later, Long Chen left the Grand Xia and went to the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect. During this time, the Eastern Xuan Region was completely calm. At least, it was calm on the surface.
There was no sound from Pill Valley, the Corrupt path, the ancient races, the ancient family alliance, the Bloodkill Hall, or even the Xuan Beasts.
Long Chen knew that this was thanks to Qu Jianying’s actions in the background. After all, the Martial Heaven Alliance was the collective alliance of the Righteous path. The collective power of all those sects was truly terrifying.
However, Long Chen trusted that his enemies wouldn’t let things go after such a loss. Although Pill Valley had paid their compensation, he knew that they hated him to the bone now.
They were like hunters hiding in the dark right now. They would keep waiting until they could launch a fatal blow.
“Evilmoon, have you finished digesting the energy from the blood gourd?” asked Long Chen.
“Pretty much. I’ve recovered about ten percent of my power and can help you out with more things now. However, this is already the limit. Any more than this, and my power will provoke Yun Shang’s seal. It’s too bad your cultivation base is too low. If you were at the Life Star realm, then working with me, you could cut down Netherpassage experts like cabbages. Your Yuan Spirit is powerful, and although it’s not divine energy, it can combine with my energy to unleash a true divine attack. However, a Yuan Spirit’s energy has its own limits. Once we launch such an attack, it will use up all the energy of your Yuan Spirit, and it won’t be able to fight alongside your true body,” said Evilmoon.
“Fuck, how irritating. Why am I never strong enough?” raged Long Chen.
“Why don’t you check what kind of enemies you have first? You can already dominate your realm and even the realm above you. Is that not enough for you?”
Long Chen thought about it and supposed that was true. It wasn’t that he wasn’t strong enough, but that he was truly skilled at courting death. He had even courted over some Netherpassage experts.
Long Chen quickly arrived at the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect. After resting for a few days, the old man recovered to his peak state.
“Come. If you want to be crazy, I’ll accompany you!”
In a secluded room within the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect, Long Chen and the old man were sitting in front of each other, their palms against each other’s. They slowly closed their eyes.
Chapter 1595 Strange Lifeform
A three-inch-tall figure of Long Chen appeared. It was identical in appearance to him. This was his Yuan Spirit.
His Yuan Spirit slowly entered the old man’s head, and the old man opened his mind-sea for Long Chen.
“I can’t believe I was stupid enough to agree to do something so crazy.” The old man bitterly smiled. His own Yuan Spirit was looking at Long Chen’s Yuan Spirit.
He truly felt like he had gone insane. No one had ever dared to do such a thing before. However, Long Chen had promised that there wouldn’t be a problem.
“Ah, just relax. It’ll be fine,” said Long Chen.
“Prepare yourself. I’m about to start.”
The old man’s Yuan Spirit enveloped Long Chen in its energy. Long Chen could feel the old man’s vitality slowly dissipating. His vision turned dark.
“So this is how it feels to die. Endless darkness…” Long Chen felt like he had descended into eternity.
It was no wonder old people said that people had to live properly and be grateful for everything they had. It was because people’s deaths always lasted much longer than their lives.
He didn’t know how much time had passed. Eventually, a gate appeared within the darkness, and a ray of light shot out of the gate.
The surroundings were still simply darkness. The only thing visible was a path formed of that light. Long Chen found that he and the old man were present, not just spiritually. They were in the same state as they were in the world of the living.
He raised his arms, he raised his legs, and he found nothing different about himself in this world. His power was still there.
“How curious.” The old man was also testing this new world. However, he quickly found that although his clothes were still present, his spatial ring had vanished along with his connection to his spiritual space.
“It really is just like the legends. Once in the Netherworld, it’s impossible to bring in things from the outer world. Even these clothes are fake, formed from the surrounding laws,” said the old man.
Long Chen also couldn’t sense his spiritual space, but he was delighted to find that he could still sense his primal chaos space.
He extended a hand, and a wooden staff appeared in his hand. It was the staff that the old man usually held.
“You… How did you do that?” The old man jumped in shock.
Long Chen had previously been told by the old man that in the Netherworld, people were dead. According to some legends and sayings, the things on the Yang side were unable to enter the Yin side.
That was why Long Chen had specifically asked the old man to give him the black staff. He had placed it in his primal chaos space. However, he hadn’t actually expected to be able to take things out from his primal chaos space within this world.
“Ah, if only I had known this was possible. I would have brought in the Heaven Splitting Blade too. Should we go back?” Long Chen was vexed.
In the beginning, Long Chen hadn’t had any confidence in this. It had just been a casual experiment, but it had actually succeeded. If only they had brought the Heaven Splitting Blade, then the old man’s chances of success would have been practically guaranteed.
“Little fellow, you really have some skill.” The old man took the staff excitedly. With a weapon in hand, his confidence rose. Seeing Long Chen’s vexed expression, he said, “Be happy with what we have. This is the Netherworld, the opposite side of the Yang world. The Heaven Splitting Blade’s nature is heavily Yang. If we brought it in here, it would be like carrying a lantern in the darkness. That’s too dangerous. The staff is good enough, and its body originally came from a darker place. It’s not as conspicuous in this world, and I can use Split the Heavens with it. As for going back, that’s impossible. Once I go back through this gate, the gate will forever close, and I would never have another chance at the Netherpassage realm.”
The two of them continued onward through the gate. As expected, a long bridge appeared on the other side.
The bridge was covered in dense smoke, and countless figures were roaming across it. There were men and women, young and old. They were staring vacantly.
When he had seen them through Qu Jianying’s vision, he hadn’t sensed anything in particular about them. However, this time, he clearly sensed their spiritual fluctuations.
They weren’t the spiritual fluctuations of normal people. Their spiritual fluctuations were completely calm.
“They should be mortals whose souls were drawn here after death. They are roaming aimlessly… Watch out, that fellow’s appeared.”
Suddenly, the old man stopped after seeing the chain-wielding monstrosity appear. It was like a killing machine, its chains piercing through these wandering souls and absorbing them.
“Those chains should be treasures focused on absorbing souls.” Long Chen’s eyes began to shine.
“Don’t you dare. Those chains cannot be touched.” The old man jumped in shock upon seeing Long Chen’s expression. Long Chen’s guts were even bigger than his.
“I was just talking. How could I be as unreliable as that?”
“Don’t even try it. I can tell what you’re thinking with just a glance. We’re not in the Netherworld for fun. Don’t mess around. We’ve already agreed that you’re to scram as soon as we arrive at the Gates of Hell,” warned the old man.
The old man had agreed to let Long Chen come, but only to the outer regions. He was to leave from his gate once they reached the Gates of Hell.
This gate had the old man’s spiritual mark on it. As long as the old man didn’t die, this gate would stay open. Although the Netherpassage realm was mysterious, there was still some general knowledge passed down from ancient stories.
“Fine, I’ll listen,” said Long Chen obediently. He didn’t want the old man to drive him away in a fit of rage.
The old man and Long Chen carefully walked past the monstrosity. The old man was ready to attack at any moment, as he was afraid of this monstrosity sensing that Long Chen did not belong here.
Although Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength was powerful, he did not possess life and death energy. The old man was very worried for him. He was the hope of the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect.
Fortunately, the monstrosity didn’t even look at them. The two of them easily passed by it, but just at that moment, rumbling rang out behind them, causing them to jump in fright.
In the distance, another gate had opened, and a large red-haired man walked out. This man was a head taller than Long Chen and had a third eye on his forehead.
Long Chen and the old man’s hearts shook. This was clearly another expert attacking the Netherpassage realm. Furthermore, his aura was very powerful. His third eye gave Long Chen a sense of grave danger.
This person was definitely not human. His aura was turbulent, as if he had been bedeviled. A human definitely wouldn’t have such an aura. A person’s aura stayed the same upon entering the Netherworld.
The red-haired man looked around and slowly approached the bridge. When he saw the chain-wielding monstrosity, a red light shot out of his third eye and illuminated the monstrosity.
The monstrosity didn’t seem to sense anything. It continued to harvest the roaming souls.
The old man transmitted to Long Chen, “His eye should be a kind of magical art to peer through a person’s abilities. You can see strange runes appearing on the chains when his red light illuminates it.”
After examining the monstrosity, the red-haired man carefully dodged it and continued onward.