366: It's not just magic power that's being stacked.

Gu Worm abilities are bizarre and have always been called heretical paths. The Beast Taming Sect and the Gentlemans Academy most despise heretical paths. Yet, True Lord Haoran, a True Lord of the Gentlemans Academy, secretly cultivated Gu Worms that control other people's Divine Souls—he truly has the heart of a beast in human skin!

Pink rosy mist condensed in the Cultivation Chamber, and the Peach Blossom Demon Lord appeared beside Bone Fiend Immortal Master.

She extended her jade hand, tapped the skull of Bone Fiend Immortal Master, and chuckled, “If we use this to threaten him, I wonder if we can extort some benefits from him?”

“Hmm?”

She reached out and tapped twice more.

“Clink, clink!”

The sound was wrong; Bone Fiend Immortal Master's skull was harder than a Low Grade Magic Treasure, and there seemed to be a trace of... Demonic Qi?

‘How can a Human Race Cultivator have Demonic Qi on them?’

‘Did a Yao Race Bloodline Awaken inside him?’

The Peach Blossom Demon Lord became intrigued. Human Race Cultivators who awaken a Yao Race Bloodline generally have fast initial Cultivation speed, but their progress is restricted later on. It is rare to see a Golden Core True Person possessing a Yao Race Bloodline!

With a light flick of her jade finger, the bone, hard as a Magic Treasure, parted like tofu. The Peach Blossom Demon Lord extracted a drop of Bone Fiend Immortal Master's Essence Blood from the marrow.

“This Sovereign shall see what Bloodline you have awakened?”

“Buzz~”

“Roar~”

When her Divine Sense delved into the Essence Blood, the Peach Blossom Demon Lord seemed to see two colossal beasts spanning the Void Realm.

“This... what is this?”

She was so shaken that her mind almost collapsed. These two Yao Beasts surpassed her imagination; such powerful beings could not possibly exist in this world!

“Buzz buzz~”

“Not good!!”

The Peach Blossom Demon Lord suddenly snapped back to her senses and quickly returned the Essence Blood to the inside of Bone Fiend Immortal Master's skull.

She had a premonition that if she hadn't returned it immediately, she would have been targeted by the terrifying existence behind him, with unimaginable consequences!

After returning it, she was still uneasy and quickly cast a healing spell, completely restoring the wound she had just cut, only then relaxing.

Looking at the Bone Fiend Immortal Master, who was quietly meditating in an illusion, the fear in the Peach Blossom Demon Lord's heart lingered.

She surveyed the surroundings, erased all traces of her presence at the fastest speed, and then fled the Orchid Palace.

Above the Orchid Palace, the Peach Blossom Demon Lord watched from afar through the Formation barrier, layers of confusion welling up in her heart.

‘This person was definitely not sent by True Lord Haoran!’

‘Could it be that a Spirit Transformation Dao Lord from the Beast Taming Sect made a move?’

‘No!’

The Peach Blossom Demon Lord recalled the two colossal beasts spanning the Void Realm she had just seen. A Spirit Transformation Dao Lord would be nothing more than an ant before such existences!

‘But why would such terrifying Bloodline appear inside a controlled Puppet?’

The Peach Blossom Demon Lord herself was Yao Race, and she knew very well the degree of control high-level Great Demons have over their Essence Blood.

If Bone Fiend Immortal Master had truly awakened a Yao Race Bloodline of such terrifying magnitude, he absolutely could not have become a Puppet.

Unless... this drop of Essence Blood wasn't Bone Fiend Immortal Master's at all, but belonged to the master behind him.

If a diluted drop of Essence Blood inside a Puppet possessed such terrifying Origin, how high would the level of Origin Essence Blood inside the master behind him be?!

The more the Peach Blossom Demon Lord thought about it, the more unbelievable it seemed. Her previously calm and steady demeanor could no longer be maintained, and expressions constantly shifted across her exquisite face.

A flash of light, and she returned to the Peach Blossom Secret Realm. “Lü Luo, mobilize all energy, investigate all intelligence on Bone Fiend Immortal Master at any cost, including everyone he has contacted recently, and everything he has done! It must be meticulous.”

“Understood!”

Lü Luo didn't know what had happened. She had never seen the Peach Blossom Demon Lord so serious, and though curious, she dared not ask more questions.

“Wait!”

The Peach Blossom Demon Lord called back Lü Luo, who was about to leave, and then instructed, “Only investigate secretly; absolutely do not let anyone notice anything unusual!”

“Understood!”

Lü Luo felt bitter. To investigate all intelligence thoroughly while not letting anyone notice—wasn't this making things difficult?

After Lü Luo left, the Peach Blossom Demon Lord’s expression finally calmed down. She murmured to herself, “An unexpected change; I wonder if it is good or bad?”

...Bone Fiend City.

Liu Residence.

Liu Xuan sat cross-legged in the Cultivation Chamber. Rarely cultivating on his own, a Golden Core rested in his Dantian. As Liu Xuan circulated his Cultivation Technique, it frantically swallowed massive amounts of Spiritual Qi.

The Golden Core was not just a qualitative change for the Divine Soul; it was also like a super energy core, providing terrifyingly vast magic power, much like a nuclear reactor.

Daily cultivation was about refining magic power to charge the reactor, and advancing a minor Realm meant expanding the reactor's scale.

‘For a Golden Core True Person to break through each minor Realm takes anywhere from a hundred years to several centuries, but I currently...’

Unlike ordinary Golden Core True Persons, Liu Xuan did not need to Cultivate; magic power was continuously generated inside his Golden Core.

The last time Dao Yuan broke through to Foundation Establishment, his magic power immediately surged, achieving an effect equivalent to decades of hard work for a typical Golden Core True Person.

After the eighty-one xuanhuang undying pills were consumed by the children, his cultivation had also advanced rapidly during this period.

Liu Xuan rarely cultivated himself, almost to the point of being negligible. His current cultivation advancement mainly relied on Dual Cultivation and the compounding of his offspring's cultivation.

The effect of Dual Cultivation was fixed and had little room for growth, whereas the compounding of offspring's cultivation steadily increased with the growing number and quality of his children.

Roughly calculating based on the current growth rate, he was expected to reach the Mid Golden Core Stage within twenty years and potentially achieve Nascent Soul Formation by age one hundred.

Achieving Golden Core at one hundred years old was already considered a Prodigy; achieving Nascent Soul at one hundred was unheard of in this world, the kind of feat no one would believe if told.

His own cultivation yielded poor results, far less effective than during Dual Cultivation. Liu Xuan's cultivation today was purely for cultivating his character and giving little Liu Xuan a break for a while.

As the saying goes, desire brings suffering when unfulfilled, and boredom when satisfied. For high-level Cultivators with long lifespans, the cultivation of Heart-Nature was equally important.

If psychological health is not managed well, becoming a pervert is inconsequential, but if suicidal thoughts arise, the collapse of the Divine Soul would be troublesome!

With his mind immersed in cultivation, Liu Xuan suddenly sensed a base platform faintly within his Golden Core, seemingly a... dao foundation!

“What is this?”

When his consciousness touched the earth-yellow 'dao foundation' tinged with blood, a feeling of Epiphany suddenly emerged.

Kun Yuan Earth Control Art!

Kunpeng Swallowing Heaven Body Refining Method!

“This is Eldest Son Dao Yuan’s dao foundation!”

The two Cultivation Techniques presented various profound insights from an angle Liu Xuan had never seen before. Although superficial, they provided him with broader thinking.

“Buzz~”

If the System awarding Cultivation Techniques was like an infusion from above, then this current Epiphany was a refinement from below.

“Kun Yuan Earth Control, neither rigid nor fierce, is steady and merging...” Liu Xuan gained a deeper understanding of the underlying logic of the Five Elements Earth rule.

“What the System is compounding is not just magic power, but also comprehension of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth!”

Liu Xuan had been disappointed for a long time when Dao Yuan didn't receive a System reward during his Breakthrough to Foundation Establishment. He hadn't expected the reward had been here all along; it was just that he had been too restless and hadn't discovered it until now.