People fight and become emperors in advance

Chapter 288 Vanished Without a Trace, Time Flies

Unlike Zi Yan's initial refinement of the Dragon-Phoenix Origin Fruit, Chen Xiao and Zi Yan could sense that Cai Lin had successfully broken through and reached a new level of strength.

However, her condition remained peculiar, and she was unable to concentrate on communicating.

In this state, Chen Xiao and the other two could only talk to Cai Lin for a while, as if talking to themselves, before leaving helplessly.

"Should we say hello to that demon?"

Emerging from the Netherworld, Zi Yan looked at Chen Xiao and asked.

When they rescued Yao Ming, he had already made his stance clear, so now they are on the same side.

Zi Yan was not present at the time, but she had already heard about these matters from Elder Qingshan.

Chen Xiao released his soul perception and saw that Yao Ming was still sitting under the Yellow Springs Stone Tablet in the forbidden area like an old monk in meditation, so he shook his head.

"Let's not disturb him anymore. Let's take Yao Yao back to Dragon Island directly. You're already a five-star Dou Sheng. After Cai Lin comes out of seclusion, he will definitely be able to advance to the Dou Sheng level as well. I can't fall behind."

Gazing at the distant horizon, the pre-existing information appeared in Chen Xiao's mind.

[Currently available advance payment]

Spell: (1/1)

Rare and precious materials: (0/1)

General: (0/1)

[Follow-up to the pre-application of Bodhicitta: An attempt to obtain it from the ancient Bodhi tree.]

[The sequel to the pre-obtained cultivation technique "Nine Chapters of Frosty Soul": Read one million volumes and reach the strength of a Dou Sheng.]

[Current progress: (88854/1000000)]

Looking at that string of numbers, Chen Xiao felt a heavy responsibility and a long way to go.

Fortunately, most of the big and small matters have now come to an end. Qinglin, Xiaoyixian, Cao Ying and the other girls are all capable of handling things on their own, and Ziyan has even reached a level that many old monsters can only dream of.

The battle with the Soul Palace will no longer require Chen Xiao to do everything personally, allowing him to dedicate a significant amount of time to completing the follow-up tasks and refining the Bodhi Heart!

These two things will be his focus for a long time to come!

Zi Yan nodded slightly, "Alright, let's go back to Dragon Island!"

...

The destruction of the Soul Palace branch in the Soul Devouring Abyss, along with the nearby Heavenly Nether Sect, by the Pill Tower, is no small matter.

Even in the current turbulent Central Continent, it has attracted widespread attention, even among the high-ranking members of the Soul Palace and a number of ancient races, who are all tempted to act.

However, before they could react, their attention was quickly drawn to a series of major events.

Ten days after the destruction of the Soul Devouring Abyss branch, the usually low-profile Flower Sect suddenly joined the battle and became an ally of the Pill Sect.

This wasn't the end of it. Like a powder keg ignited, the four major powers—Purple Cloud Pavilion, Burning Flame Valley, Yellow Springs Pavilion, and Myriad Swords Pavilion—simultaneously announced that they would not rest until the Soul Palace was completely eradicated.

At this point, all of them—one hall, one tower, two sects, three valleys, and four pavilions—except for the secluded Yin Valley and a few others that have already been destroyed, have entered the game!

At first, the Soul Palace's higher-ups and a group of ancient races were dissatisfied, but they didn't take it too seriously.

After all, the more one knows about the Soul Palace's strength, the more wary one becomes.

These forces, in collusion with the Pill Tower, are unlikely to shake the foundation of the Soul Palace. While they may cause some trouble, they are not enough to affect the overall situation if handled properly.

However, their thinking changed completely very quickly, within just one month.

The reason is that while the Flower Sect, Burning Flame Valley, Yellow Springs Pavilion, and Myriad Swords Pavilion are all relatively strong, the Purple Cloud Pavilion has unleashed a terrifying strength that is no less than that of the Pill Tower!
Those Heavenly Demon Puppets kept appearing on the battlefield, and their number was roughly estimated to be dozens!

Even the weakest of these Heavenly Demon Puppets could easily hold off a three-star Dou Zun from the Soul Palace!

Among them, the two most powerful Heavenly Puppets vaguely resembled Tianmingzi and Tianming Laoyao, and they were even able to face a half-saint powerhouse without being at a disadvantage!
With such strong support from the Purple Cloud Pavilion, the ancient races suddenly realized that even if they didn't take action, or even if they occasionally sabotaged the process, they could no longer stop the Pill Tower from clearing out the Soul Palace.

In just six months, more than half of the twenty-four Earthly Fiend Halls of the Soul Palace have been quietly destroyed!

Hundreds of his former allies who defected to him were expelled from the party.

The Soul Palace seems to be on the verge of collapse, unable to stop its downward trend.

What's extremely strange is that, faced with this situation, the Soul Palace, as the party involved, was still able to remain calm.

On the contrary, a group of ancient races kept trying to change the situation, using both soft and hard methods, to try to bring the out-of-control situation back on track.

Unfortunately, the three giants of the Pill Tower remained resolute, determined not to stop until the ancient races wiped out the Pill Tower, causing them considerable headaches.

Meanwhile, on Qifeng Mountain, where Zixiao Pavilion is located, powerful figures from ancient races have been visiting for half a year. However, each time they come with great confidence, they leave with dark faces and flinching sleeves.

It is worth mentioning that during these six months, Chen Xiao kept a very low profile, as if he had completely disappeared from Zhongzhou, and did not personally participate even once.

Time slips away silently, like sand through your fingers.

Under these circumstances, another six months have passed.

In the void, a piece of land drifts aimlessly.

Perhaps describing this landmass as an island would be more appropriate.

The island is extremely vast. Above the island, a pale silver, bowl-shaped light shield hangs down, enveloping the entire island. Looking outside the light shield, one can see a pitch-black, chilling void.

Such a unique scene could only be explained by Dragon Island, which floats in the void.

At this moment, inside a grand hall on Dragon Island, Chen Xiao, who had not appeared in the public eye for a full year, was quietly playing chess with Elder Qingshan, the sound of pieces being placed echoing in the hall from time to time.

After an unknown amount of time, a series of crisp footsteps came from outside the palace.

Hearing the familiar footsteps, Chen Xiao and Elder Qingshan exchanged a glance and smiled helplessly.

Immediately, Chen Xiao put down the chess piece in his hand, picked up a cup of tea to take a sip, and waited quietly for the owner of the footsteps to arrive.

Elder Qingshan stood up and waited respectfully to the side.

The fact that Elder Qingshan could act in such a manner speaks volumes about the identity of the visitor.

"Elder, you go ahead and do your work. I need to speak with Chen Xiao."

"Yes!"

Qingshan responded with a single word, and his figure vanished from the spot in a flash.

Just then, a fragrant breeze entered his arms. If Chen Xiao hadn't already been used to it, he probably would have been knocked to the ground by her.

"how?"

Chen Xiao placed the teacup on the table and asked casually.

Zi Yan picked up the teacup that Chen Xiao had just put down, took a sip without any hesitation, and then patted her ample assets, her pretty face full of pride.

"With this Dragon Emperor secretly protecting us, it was naturally a piece of cake. This time, Sister Qinglin led the team, and with the support from the Pill Tower, it was over in less than half an hour. Now, the Soul Palace only has six branch palaces left."

Zi Yan recounted the story with a smug look on her face.

During that year, besides spending time with Cao Ying and the other girls, Chen Xiao basically did only two things.

First, cultivate the Bodhicitta (the aspiration for enlightenment). Second, peruse various scriptures and ancient books day after day.

As for the matter of settling accounts with the Soul Palace, there is no need for him to get involved; Little Fairy Doctor and the others can handle it.

However, to be on the safe side, whenever he took action, Chen Xiao would have Zi Yan or the First and Second Elders of Donglong Island secretly protect him, in order to prevent the Soul Palace's Dou Sheng experts from suddenly making a move.

Even now, only six branch halls of the Soul Palace remain, and those Dou Sheng powerhouses remain unmoved.

This is both good news and bad news.

The good news is that this will make eliminating the Soul Palace much easier.

The bad news is that the more the Soul Palace acts this way, the more certain Chen Xiao becomes that the soul essence required by the Void Devouring Flame must have already been gathered!
Only in this way could the Soul Clan react in this way.

"How was the harvest?"

"Not bad. The Soul Hall now has fewer branch halls, and its manpower is more concentrated. This time, there were actually seven Dou Zun experts in that branch hall. Sister Qing Lin was ruthless and fast. She killed four of them, and the other three were in the hands of Xuan Yi and the others."

With that, Zi Yan waved her hand, and four disfigured bodies fell into the hall.

Following that, four more jade bottles were taken out. Through the seals on the bottle openings, it could be seen that each bottle contained a sealed soul.

That wasn't all; Zi Yan also took out a ball of soul light about two feet in diameter.

"We were lucky this time; we found the Soul Essence first. Including this one, we've obtained six Soul Essences this year," Zi Yan said with satisfaction.

Even as allies, the distribution of benefits must be discussed and agreed upon in advance.

However, in this dog-eat-dog world, the distribution of benefits is also very simple and brutal.

In short, whoever kills the person gets the spoils, and whoever finds the soul's origin first gets to take it away!

Thanks to such rules, once all the forces have stated their positions, they are able to maintain sufficient enthusiasm and fight even harder.

After all, when a whale falls, all things come to life.

It's only natural that everyone would want to gain more benefits from the impending collapse of the Soul Palace, a behemoth like the Soul Palace.

Chen Xiao nodded slightly, "The same old rule applies. Send all these things to Ying'er. After they are refined into Heavenly Demon Puppets, have Hei Qing go to the Void Thunder Pool to upgrade them to their limit."

Looking at the two-foot-square area of ​​the soul's essence, Chen Xiao no longer had the desire to absorb it again.

This amount is simply not enough to support him to go any further.

After all, he is now at the late stage of the Heavenly Realm.

Reaching the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm is no small hurdle.

Perhaps only the essence of the soul within the three palaces of Heaven, Earth, and Man can help him overcome this hurdle.

Furthermore, Chen Xiao's decision to address Hei Qing by his first name was not intentional, but rather Hei Qing's own request.

Starting a month ago, whenever Chen Xiao called him "Brother Hei Qing," even Hei Qing, with his carefree personality, no longer dared to respond.

Zi Yan nodded slightly, shifted her shapely buttocks slightly to find a more comfortable position, put away all her belongings, and then took out a storage ring and handed it to Chen Xiao.

"These are the ancient books and scrolls you requested. We didn't find too many this time, only a little over 30,000 volumes."

Chen Xiao's consciousness seeped into it and he saw a mountain of various scrolls and notes piled up inside.

After a quick glance, the information he had previously accessed surfaced in Chen Xiao's mind.

[Pre-ordered follow-up to "Nine Chapters of the Cold Soul": Read a million volumes.]

[Current progress: 914396/1000000]

The power of the soul is immense and has countless benefits. For ordinary people, multitasking is a simple matter.

Thanks to this, and with Chen Xiao's focused efforts, in just one year, they are less than one-tenth of the way to completing the pre-paid follow-up.

"That's enough. There are still tens of thousands of volumes I haven't finished reading."

"Will you continue collecting them in the future?"

“Let’s continue. Reading and studying more is never a bad thing. It’s also a way to build up your foundation. Once the matter of the Soul Palace is settled, send a Dou Zun Pill to each of the forces like the Pill Tower Flower Sect.”

The so-called Dou Zun Pill is actually the Heavenly Serpent Pill that can temporarily enhance the strength of a Dou Zun. Its formula was obtained by Chen Xiao and Qing Lin in the Tianbei Ruins.

However, he didn't like his original name, so he changed it to a simpler and more straightforward one.

As a token of gratitude, Chen Xiao gifted these forces a Dou Zun Pill.

After all, Zixiao Pavilion had been frantically collecting all sorts of scriptures and books over the past year, including combat techniques and even various secret arts.

Because their rank isn't too high, if the quantity is small, these forces, with their resources, naturally won't care and will be happy to go with the flow.

Even with such a staggering number, these scriptures and classics are still a considerable gain.

After all, they were friendly forces that had fought alongside Zixiao Pavilion for at least a year, so Chen Xiao naturally didn't want to take advantage of them. Making a small compensation would make everyone feel comfortable.

Zi Yan nodded slightly, not paying any attention.

In fact, the Zixiao Pavilion has already benefited greatly in the past year.

Other forces suffered losses to varying degrees; even the Pill Tower lost two Dou Zun-level elders.

Only the Zixiao Pavilion was vulnerable, as the Heavenly Demon Puppets seemed endless, their numbers increasing with each battle, and even among its elders, none of whom were at the Dou Zun level, had perished.

"Oh, right, there's some good news. Little Fairy Doctor was originally planning to take people to another branch of the Soul Palace, but before setting off, she felt the urge to break through again, so she temporarily went into seclusion."

Time is passing, the landscape is changing, and the strength of countless people is constantly improving.

Little Fairy Doctor, who possesses the Calamity Poison Body, is also one of them. She entered the Nine Revolutions to Sainthood stage more than half a year ago.

Now, he has gone into seclusion again, aiming for the second job advancement.

Of course, many powerful individuals have not changed in strength, such as Venerable Tianhuo, who is still at the peak of the second-stage Dou Zun.

For example, Qing Lin did not advance to the level of a half-saint; he remained at the peak of the ninth-level Dou Zun.

Even with her Azure Serpent Three-Flower Pupil, it would be extremely difficult for her to advance to the level of a half-saint.

Even though Chen Xiao had already given her a portion of the Yellow Spring Demon Saint's essence blood, she had never refined it.

"Xian'er's physique is special, so it's normal for her to improve quickly. However, after reaching the ninth level, she will face the same problem as Qing Lin. I still have the essence blood of the Yellow Spring Demon Saint. Once the matter of the Soul Palace is settled, I can try to break through to the Half-Saint level, or even the true Battle Saint level."

Of the six women around Chen Xiao, Zi Yan and Cai Lin are now far ahead.

Cao Ying possesses the Burning Technique, which allows her to slowly refine herself using the power of a different kind of fire, thus increasing her strength in the most stable way.

With the essence blood of the Yellow Spring Demon Saint, Little Fairy Doctor and Qing Lin are not in much trouble.

As for Xun'er, Chen Xiao doesn't know what her situation is.

Since their parting in the Eastern Region last year, Chen Xiao has had no news of Xun'er.

"Perhaps we can get some information from Gu Mo..."

(End of this chapter)