154: Chapter 154 One Year Later

The silence of the Flame Emperor Alliance allowed the Hun Clan's psychological warfare to achieve results far exceeding expectations.

With the instigation of the Hun Clan's secret agents, the news of Xiao Zhan being captured spread to every corner of the Central Plains; teahouses, taverns, sect halls, and mercenary camps—everyone was discussing the same thing.

The father of the Flame Emperor Alliance leader, Xiao Yan, had been captured alive by the daughter of the Hun Clan's Young Master, yet the Flame Emperor Alliance didn't dare to make a peep.

Some said that Xiao Yan had long since fallen in the Ancient Emperor Cave, and the Flame Emperor Alliance was merely putting on a show of an empty city; others said the reason the Hun Clan didn't kill Xiao Zhan was that they were waiting for Xiao Yan to emerge, so they could deal with the father and son together in front of the whole world; still others said the Flame Emperor Alliance had been a joke from the start, a rabble daring to call themselves an Emperor Alliance, and now that the Hun Clan had slapped them in the face, they didn't even have the courage to fight back.

In short, there was all sorts of talk, but not a single word was pleasant.

In the main hall of the Starfall Pavilion, Wind Idle slammed the latest intelligence summary onto the table, his face ashen.

Yao Chen sat in the main seat; his aged face betrayed no expression, but his fingers holding the teacup trembled slightly.

It was not that he hadn't thought about sending people to rescue him, but the Soul Realm currently had three Nine-Star Dou Sheng guarding it; even if the Flame Emperor Alliance poured out its entire strength, they might not be able to breach the front gate.

With Xiao Yan gone, whoever went would be throwing their life away.

This was exactly the effect the Hun Clan wanted—neither killing nor releasing Xiao Zhan, just dragging it out, causing the Flame Emperor Alliance to lose all face under the gaze of the entire world.

But he had no other choice.

The only thing he could do was wait for Xiao Yan to return, swallowing all humiliation until then.

Soul Realm, East Courtyard cultivation chamber.

Hun Muxiao sat cross-legged on the cold jade platform in the center, blood-colored Dou Qi surging around her like a physical substance.

Floating before her was a dark red longsword—one she had personally selected from the Hun Clan's treasury.

The sword was named "Blood Abyss," forged from ten-thousand-year blood soul iron; the blade was as thin as a cicada's wing, with faint, blood-colored runes flowing along the edge, naturally compatible with the God-Grade Bloodline and blood-attribute Dou Qi within her.

When she found this sword in the treasury, she knew it was what she wanted.

Although the bone whip was good, it was ultimately Aunt Yaoyao's preferred weapon; she needed a weapon that truly belonged to her.

Over the past year, she had devoted most of her energy to practicing the Blood Soul Heavenly Wrath.

This Heaven-tier intermediate soul sonic Dou Technique was far more obscure and difficult than she had anticipated; during the cultivation process, there were several times when she nearly roared the restrictions of the cultivation chamber to pieces.

Every time Hun Qian passed by the entrance of the cultivation chamber, he couldn't help but shrink his neck, muttering to the guards nearby that the little ancestor's voice was becoming more and more terrifying.

But when she truly grasped the essence of this Dou Technique, those soul runes that once caused her splitting headaches suddenly became incomparably clear, and the power of the Blood Soul Heavenly Wrath was fully unleashed at that moment.

She stood up, pushed open the door of the cultivation chamber, and walked toward the ghost bell orchid meadow behind the mountain.

It was the season for the flowers to bloom; pale purple corollas covered the entire hillside, chiming when the wind blew through them.

She took a deep breath, her blood-red aura surged violently, and the aura of a peak Sixth-Turn Dou Zun spread out without reservation.

The blood abyss sword let out a very soft ring in her palm.

She opened her mouth, and an indescribable soul sonic wave erupted from her throat.

Blood Soul Heavenly Wrath—using the God-Grade Bloodline to trigger a soul shriek, ignoring physical defenses and attacking the opponent's Sea of Consciousness directly.

A blood-colored sonic wave swept forward like a physical entity; the space wherever it passed trembled violently, and the petals of the ghost bell orchids on the meadow were instantly shattered when swept by the sonic wave.

The entire meadow in front of her was forcibly blasted into a charred trench hundreds of feet long, and the air was filled with a faint scent of blood.

In the distance, several Hun Clan cultivation towers simultaneously lit up their defensive restrictions, and the Hun Clan experts who were in seclusion within the towers were all shaken by this sudden soul impact, causing their blood and Qi to surge.

Hun Qian came stumbling over from the entrance of the courtyard, looking at the meadow that had been blasted beyond recognition, the wrinkles on his old face twitching—this was the most beautiful flower sea in the East Courtyard, and Lady Yao Yao loved to take walks here.

Hun Muxiao sheathed the blood abyss sword, brushed the dust off her hands, and said nonchalantly, "I'll just have Grandpa Hun Qian replant it later."

She turned and walked toward the East Courtyard; the Hun Clan guards she encountered along the way all consciously stepped aside to make way for her.

Over this past year, she had broken through from the peak of the Sixth-Turn Dou Zun to the Seventh-Turn, and combined with the Heaven-tier intermediate Blood Soul Heavenly Wrath, she was already invincible among those of the same rank.

But this was not enough—her goal was never to be invincible among her peers, but to catch up to her father's footsteps.

Ancient Emperor Cave, Ocean of Exotic Flames.

Xiao Yan stood before that boundless ocean of fire, Fire Spirit lying quietly on his shoulder, its tiny body formed from six-colored flames rising and falling slightly.

In this past year, he had experienced countless life-and-death trials; his robes were already tattered from being burned by the Exotic Flames, but the light in his black eyes was sharper than ever.

The moment he stepped into the ocean of fire, countless Exotic Flames surged from all directions; the terrifying high temperature was enough to instantly melt the physical body of an ordinary Dou Sheng, but he did not take a single step back.

Fire Spirit let out a clear cry, and the six types of Exotic Flames condensed into a six-colored light screen around Xiao Yan, isolating all the impacts of those Exotic Flames.

He moved forward step by step through the ocean of fire, and with every step, he could feel those Exotic Flames eroding and tempering the Fire Spirit—this was not merely defense, but a test.

Only by possessing sufficiently powerful Exotic Flames and the protection of the Fire Spirit could one carve out a path through this ocean of fire.

He did not know how long he had walked, but the end of the ocean of fire finally appeared before his eyes.

Xiao Yan looked back at the ocean of fire that was still surging behind him, a faint smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.

The first trial, passed.

He withdrew his gaze and strode toward the deeper parts of the cave.

The ocean of Exotic Flames behind him continued to surge incessantly, but those flames that had once tried to devour him were now burning quietly behind him, as if making way for a new Emperor.

Soul Realm, deep within the Myriad Soul Origin Pool.

Hun Feng sat cross-legged in that surging ocean of golden energy, the blood-colored light of the Heaven-Slaying Flame flickering around him.

The power of the bloodline origin contributed by the patriarchs of various clans intertwined in the pool to form a brilliant web of light, shrouding him completely.

He felt as if he were floating in a sea of stars condensed from pure energy, and with every breath, he could feel his cultivation steadily climbing.

His foundation as a mid-stage Nine-Star had been repeatedly tempered over this past year to be incomparably solid; although there was still a distance to the late-stage Nine-Star, he could clearly feel that the threshold was not far ahead.

He even felt that even if he were to face the Void Swallowing Flame now, he could remain in an invincible position—not by brute force, but by the natural suppression of the Heaven-Slaying Flame over the origin of Exotic Flames, as well as the soul advantage of the mid-stage Emperor Realm Soul over the early-stage Nine-Star.

But this was not enough.

He needed to continue accumulating until he touched the edge of the late-stage Nine-Star.

He slowly closed his eyes, sinking all his focus into his Dantian, continuing to refine those bloodline origins.

Time became blurred in the pool, but he was not impatient—the Emperor's path was long, and every step had to be taken solidly.