Xu Qing was very satisfied with the shadow's advancement.
The fusion secret technique shocked him even more.
This could basically be considered a trump card. It was similar to the secret art the woman in red had used.
However, the woman in red summoned a battle soul into her body while Xu Qing transformed his body into an extreme body-refining cultivator.
"Now that the life lanterns and my poison are no longer a secret, my first secret is the existence of the shadow. The woman in red's weapon gave me a foundation for this."
"If the shadow is exposed in the future, I have to use this method to hide it. This way, it won't attract too much attention."
"The second secret is Under the Nine Springs and the shadow's secret technique. The former is fine, but I have to think of a mnemonic chant for the latter. I can use the chant as a disguise to catch the enemy off guard."
"The third secret is being able to produce anomalous substances."
"The fourth secret is still the purple crystal."
Xu Qing sorted out his thoughts. After his heart calmed down, his gaze swept past the shadow that was in the shape of a coffin.
"I wonder what shape the shadow will transform into during the next advancement?"
In Xu Qing's opinion, there must be more mysteries about the shape of the shadow this time. However, now wasn't the time to ask. After all, the shadow couldn't explain properly.
At this moment, Xu Qing thought of the Diamond Sect's ancestor and looked over.
The current Diamond Sect's ancestor was in a very miserable state.
His body trembled and his entire body was filled with countless bolts of lightning. As the lightning continued to swim, they would enter his body from time to time, causing the Diamond Sect's ancestor to occasionally let out a blood-curdling scream.
However, the ancestor was a person who valued his dignity if he could help it.
Amidst the intense pain, he saw the shadow's provocative gaze and Xu Qing's expectant look. This instantly caused madness to appear in his eyes.
Right now, he was a lightning spirit. Originally, he still needed some time to nurture himself before he could gather the heavenly tribulation to evolve into a soul and withstand its baptism.
However, he couldn't care less about these now. With the help of the energy he gained by devouring the mirrors' artifact spirits, he advanced by leaps and bounds. He mobilized all his lightning power and let out a loud roar at the sky. He then performed a series of hand seals with both hands and pointed upward.
"Tribulation!"
At the next instant, countless bolts of lightning erupted from the Diamond Sect's ancestor's body, forming a dazzling light that directly rushed into the soil above.
Lightning drilled out of the soil, forming countless arcs of lightning in the canyon outside. Finally, they gathered into a thick lightning river that headed straight for the sky.
The black clouds in the sky rumbled and were actually penetrated by the long river formed by lightning. As they churned intensely, an earth-shattering muffled thunder suddenly exploded in the clouds.
As the thunder rumbled and echoed, traces of red lightning swam in the clouds and quickly gathered into a red bolt of lightning.
It seemed to contain some extreme intent as it descended.
It headed straight for the ground, the canyon, and the cave deep underground.
At the same time, in the jungle some distance away from where Xu Qing was at, the captain was fleeing crazily. His speed was astonishing. Wherever he passed, a cold aura would spread out, causing everything behind him to be frozen.
His face was flushed and there was a glint in his eyes. He let out a nervous laugh as he held a red fruit in his hand and even took a big bite.
"Good stuff, good stuff. A holy fruit born in extreme anomalous substances and evil. This thing was born in adversity and must be extraordinary. I smelled it from afar just now, hahaha… F*ck!"
Amidst his laughter, an eerie light suddenly flew out from behind him. It swept out like a sharp blade and instantly cut the trees that came into contact with it.
At that moment, it got close and was about to slash at the captain. However, the captain's body twisted in a strange manner and he dodged the light. However, a portion of his hair was still cut off.
It could be considered as brushing past his scalp.
The captain took a deep breath and swallowed the fruit. As he sped up his escape without turning his head, he suddenly saw lightning in the sky far away and heard the faint thunder. His eyes lit up again.
"Another treasure? Should I go or not? It's a little dangerous in the previous location, especially since their patriarch seems to be on the verge of waking up from my provocation. They are too petty."
The captain hesitated. In the end, he gritted his teeth and changed directions to rush over.
He felt that if he let it go like this, he would definitely regret it in the future.
Since that was the case, he would go and take a look. As long as he was fast, he might be able to kill two birds with one stone.
As for the patriarch of that race, he had sensed earlier that the other party clearly had old injuries on his body. It wouldn't be so easy for it to wake up.
Moreover, there were also some restrictions set up by the myriad races there. It seemed to be to prevent the other party from escaping.
"Is it one of the subordinates who went out with the emperor of the forbidden region? All of them were suppressed by the myriad of races of Fenghai County. Although they escaped and returned, they were still chased by the myriad races and the whole forbidden region was surrounded with restrictions."
"The Sword Forbidden Region, the place of imprisonment?"
The captain fell into deep thought. He thought of another name of this forbidden region. As he ran, he took out another red fruit and took a bite.
Behind him, the ground trembled and the trees collapsed. A group of six-armed giants was chasing after him furiously.
These giants were about 100 feet tall. Their skin was green and their ears were huge. The most eye-catching thing was their earlobes.
A large number of bells were tied there, emitting crisp sounds.
It was as though the bells had grown together with them. The eerie light from before was emitted by the bells.
These giants were the special race born in the forbidden region.
At that moment, all of their eyes were filled with madness and killing intent as they continued to pursue. Among them, there were more than ten with Golden Core cultivation bases.
What was even more astonishing was that their clan's territory behind them faintly emitted an aura of awakening.
It was as though an almighty was awakening.
While there was a mad chase going on in the outside world, in the canyon, Xu Qing was completely focused on the Diamond Sect's ancestor.
He saw countless red lightning bolts with extreme intent suddenly appear from the soil and head straight for the Diamond Sect's ancestor.
The ancestor's body trembled and he let out a mournful cry. Countless red lightning enveloped him and continuously destroyed his body. At the same time, it also stimulated the Diamond Sect's ancestor's spirit body, causing it to rapidly produce a large amount of red light.
His body was transforming from an artifact spirit to an artifact soul.
This light permeated the Diamond Sect's ancestor's riddled body, causing him to look extremely disheveled and on the verge of death.
However, this red lightning actually caused all the eyes of Little Shadow to narrow slightly, revealing a solemn expression.
However, it quickly reacted and felt that its expression wasn't good, so it showed disdain again.
Xu Qing could also tell that this red lightning was extraordinary. The lightning dissipated faintly. The screams from the Diamond Sect's ancestor turned into a low roar and the madness in his eyes became even more intense.
He had successfully survived the first wave of heavenly tribulation. At this moment, he quickly sat cross-legged and kept circulating the red light in his body to prepare for the next wave of heavenly tribulation.
However, his current body was extremely weak and on the verge of collapse. It would be very difficult for him to survive the second wave of heavenly tribulation.
While Xu Qing remained silent, the sky rumbled again, as though something was roaring furiously. After that, more blood threads filled the clouds and the second heavenly tribulation descended.
Countless red lightning formed blood-colored lightning that descended again, piercing through the ground and about to bombard the Diamond Sect's ancestor.
The Diamond Sect's ancestor opened his eyes. Just as despair appeared in his eyes, Xu Qing moved.
He took a step forward and instantly arrived above the Diamond Sect's ancestor. He lifted his right hand and pressed upward.
Immediately, his two canopies appeared and the Heavenly Palaces manifested outside as he blocked the lightning.
Xu Qing's body trembled.
He could sense the extreme intent contained in this red lightning, as well as his canopies resisting it and offsetting each other.
He tried to absorb it but he couldn't. There was no way to contain it.
"This red lightning of the heavenly tribulation destroys souls and bodies."
"You Lingzi's advancement is interesting."
Xu Qing mumbled. Xu Qing had only seen such a method of advancement for artifact spirits from the Diamond Sect's ancestor.
Seeing that the Diamond Sect's ancestor had recovered a little, Xu Qing looked at him.
"Do you want to continue?"
"Master, I…"
The Diamond Sect's ancestor was about to say that he couldn't take it anymore, but after noticing the disdain and hostility in Little Shadow's countless eyes, he gritted his teeth fiercely and roared.
"I can do it!"
Xu Qing nodded and retreated, no longer blocking the red lightning that he had neutralized by more than half.
At the next instant, the lightning headed straight for the Diamond Sect's ancestor.
The Diamond Sect's ancestor let out a low roar and gritted his teeth.
As the lightning blasted in, his body trembled even more. His body dimmed again and his body was dissipating. Even like this, he couldn't withstand the lightning.
The feeling of death surfaced in his mind.
The Diamond Sect's ancestor laughed bitterly. He had lived a stable life and was careful in everything he did. If he provoked an enemy, he would attack with all his might and destroy them at all costs. If he couldn't, he would rather relocate the sect to avoid them.
When he encountered Xu Qing again and faced life and death, he gritted his teeth and destroyed himself, becoming his slave for the sake of surviving.
But now, he was in despair.
Amidst this despair, the lightning spread and his body was dissipating. The Diamond Sect's ancestor let out a deranged and miserable laugh.
He wasn't willing to accept this. He suddenly felt intense regret.
What he regretted wasn't trying to break through.
What he regretted was why he didn't take risks when he was young.
In order to survive in his early years, he didn't dare to risk his life to snatch resources and couldn't quickly form his life fire.
He could only fantasize about becoming the main character in those books, fantasize about starting from ordinary and reaching the peak of the heavens.
"I, You Lingzi, am also a person with aptitude!"
The Diamond Sect's ancestor lifted his head and looked at Xu Qing as he spoke miserably.
"Demon Xu, I, You Lingzi, am also a person with opportunities!"
"Demon Xu, I, You Lingzi, wasn't born a slave!"
"How did it… end up like this?"
As he recalled his past, he felt indignant. His emotions also fluctuated intensely, filled with despair, madness, and regret. This was especially so when he felt that he was about to die. He didn't care about what he said anymore.
This despair had turned extreme because of the arrival of death.
This madness was the same, and regret was even more so.
Xu Qing looked at the Diamond Sect's ancestor and sighed inwardly. He was about to make a move to neutralize the lightning.
However, at this moment, the instant the Diamond Sect's ancestor's emotions reached an extreme, before he died, the red lightning in his body actually paused.
After this pause, they seemed to have resonated with the Diamond Sect's ancestor to a certain extent, as though he met the conditions for acceptance.
In an instant, these lightning bolts directly gathered in the Diamond Sect's ancestor's body. After circling around, all the places where the Diamond Sect's ancestor's body dissipated grew back.
However, the body was red!
At that moment, 70% of the Diamond Sect's ancestor's body turned blood-red. The remaining 30% was normal. This meant that he had completed 70% of his advancement.
30% was spirit and 70% was soul.
The heavenly tribulation dispersed.
The advancement was a failure and a success.
The Diamond Sect's ancestor was stunned. He looked at his body with confusion.
After that, it turned into ecstasy. However, at the next instant, he thought of his roars earlier and his face turned pale. He trembled in nervousness. He lifted his head and looked at Xu Qing, revealing an expression that was uglier than crying.
"Um… Master, just now, it was actually all based on the cultivation art's requirements. It was the most critical step in breaking through. I had to say that…"
"In reality, the period of time I followed Master was the happiest time in my life."
"Master… don't take it seriously."
The shadow at the side revealed a sinister smile. Its body swayed back and forth as though it was shaking its head.
