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Qian Renhan wasn't exactly sure how long he had stayed in the Ancient Emperor's cave. Even with his talent and the guidance of a powerhouse like Zhu Kun—a peak nine-star Dou Sheng—it had taken him an immense amount of time to refine that crude spatial energy up to Dou Sheng level.
At present, Qian Renhan's cultivation had reached mid three-star Dou Sheng. To achieve this, he had devoured all the fire lizards from the magma, and also absorbed all the medicinal power of the ninth-grade precious pills stored in Zhu Kun's Spirit Ring.
Meanwhile, Zi Yan's cultivation was only at five-star Dou Huang. It wasn't that Qian Renhan was unwilling to help her advance, but her Void Ancient Dragon bloodline had yet to awaken. This bloodline could be purified by certain means at lower levels, but once she reached a higher realm, it would become permanently fixed. After staying in the Ancient Emperor's cave for a while, Zi Yan was, to say the least, extremely restless.
Shaking her hand, Zi Yan said, "Qian Renhan, I feel my clansmen nearby. I want to go find them. Could you take me to say goodbye to the old man?"
Qian Renhan ruffled her head and said, "No. Your cultivation is too weak. The entire Jia Nan Academy is being monitored without blind spots by three one-star Dou Sheng from the Ancient Clan. I can go unnoticed, but bringing you along would greatly increase the chance of being discovered."
"Don't worry. Before coming out, I swept Jia Nan Academy with my soul power. Everything there is fine—after all, it's an academy established by the elder of the Lei clan, Mang Tianshi. No matter what, the Ancient Clan has to give the Lei clan some face."
Hearing this, Zi Yan looked somewhat reluctant as she gazed at a small pavilion inside Jia Nan Academy. Her surrounding space rippled slightly as she flew off toward Ancient Dragon Island.
"The Ancient Dragon Island is fractured. The Void Ancient Dragon's own affairs are not something an outsider like me should interfere with too much. Uniting the island is a necessary challenge for Zi Yan to become the next Dragon Emperor, a task bestowed by Senior Zhu Kun. I should return to my original profession."
According to Zhu Kun, a living fossil of the Dou Qi Continent, Qian Renhan's cultivation advancement was not always through devouring pills and beings. The Dou Qi Continent had resources similar to the Douluo Continent—places like the birthplace of Bone Spirit Cold Fire or the millennia-old cold jade marrow. Devouring such resources not only raised his cultivation but also benefited his own body.
As for the three one-star Dou Sheng of the Ancient Clan, Qian Renhan indeed wanted to devour them now, but he feared alerting the Ancient Clan. With his current mastery of space, he could avoid detection across the entire continent, but there was still Zi Yan. Behind her stood the entire Void Ancient Dragon clan, and she still needed to grow. If he enraged the Ancient Clan completely, they might wipe out the Void Ancient Dragon clan, who, at their present strength, couldn't resist at all.
Those three one-star Dou Sheng, whether devoured now or later, would ultimately become nourishment for Qian Renhan's cultivation. His personality wouldn't allow him to wait for Xiao Yan to become emperor and open the Great Thousand World's portal to absorb primordial energy; he wanted to devour imperial-grade nascent pills himself to ascend. The Ancient Clan was the cornerstone of his ascension—if that wasn't enough, then the Soul Clan might be next.
The Blood Sacrifice Clan—destroying a sect like that was no different to Qian Renhan. He had done worse before.
After arranging his upcoming plans, Qian Renhan crossed space and began searching for areas on the Dou Qi Continent with long histories, places thick with yin and cold energy. Such areas must have a concentration of Dou Qi that condensed the essence of heaven and earth.
Dou Qi Continent, Central Continent
A mountain range shrouded in cold mist, long untouched by sunlight. The vegetation was all dark green, and the cold was intense, making visibility extremely poor.
Space rippled slightly as Qian Renhan arrived outside the mountains. He breathed lightly, feeling the biting cold, and his eyes brightened. "This is the place."
By logic, gases spread from dense to sparse areas, so Qian Renhan moved against the flow of cold energy. Along the way, he encountered many demonic beasts lunging at him.
For these beasts, Qian Renhan merely flicked his Dou Qi, pushing them aside without taking their lives. At his current cultivation, he wouldn't even glance at life forms below Dou Zun level—too lazy to devour them. To rise from mid to late stage by devouring nine-star Dou Zong beasts, the numbers would have to be in the tens of thousands. Unless they came all at once, tackling them one by one would waste too much time.
But these beasts were like mindless maggots, clinging to Qian Renhan desperately, forcing him to expend extra Dou Qi and hide his body in space as he advanced.
The mountain range was vast and the cold mist thick—not only that...
"This black grand hall… Haven't I seen this architectural style somewhere before?" Qian Renhan, as a cultivator, naturally had an excellent memory. However, due to his habit of devouring souls and refining his cultivation, his mental "CPU" was limited. He had deliberately used his corrupt Dou Qi to erase unnecessary memories—only retaining what was valuable to him, such as the details of the Mouse Sect's final battle.
Just as Qian Renhan passed through a spatial barrier and stepped onto the hall's plaza, several dark shadows suddenly erupted with murderous intent. "Trespassers of the Soul Hall—kill without mercy!"
"So, it really is the Soul Hall… like a buffet restaurant?" Qian Renhan had not expected to encounter the Soul Hall so conveniently—and he had no interest in any friendly exchanges. He extended his hand, sealing off the surrounding space. Dou Qi exploded outward, pulverizing every shadowy guardian into dust. Thick waves of spiritual energy rippled through the air.
Like a phantom, Qian Renhan strode into the center of the Soul Hall. Wherever he passed, the guardians who rushed forward were reduced to plumes of black mist; even the ancient Elder exploded in a spray of blood.
He arrived on a vast plaza. Towering blackstone pillars stretched toward the sky. Black chains snaked across the space like a spider's web. At the ends of those chains floated countless luminous spheres—each containing a ghostly soul-form within.
A faint smile curved Qian Renhan's lips. With a light tap of his foot, he covered ten meters in a single step. In only a few breaths, he stood upon a raised platform at the very heart of the Soul Hall, where the spiritual aura was most concentrated. There, bound by four massive chains, sat a frail old man in a lotus position, his limbs held fast.
Qian Renhan was about to open his mouth and devour that soul, when he saw the old man's white hair and wizened, twilight-aged face. He paused in surprise. "Yao Lao?"
At that name, within the luminous sphere, Yao Lao's eyes trembled slightly before slowly opening. His cloudy, tired gaze fixed on Qian Renhan, and in a hoarse voice, he asked, "Qian Renhan… how are you here?"
(End of Chapter)