“On your own? Why don’t I go with you?” asked Chu Yao.

“It’s fine. My cultivation base has reached the peak of the Jade Core realm. I have enough power to protect myself.” Long Chen smiled. Having advanced to the tenth Heavenstage of Jade Core, Long Chen had enough confidence.

“Then be careful.” Chu Yao reached out and tidied his robes, straightening his collar. Long Chen never cared too much about such details, and so his collar was often askew. “Ah, wait. Cloud was sent back to the Martial Heaven Continent by the Spirit Emperor ten days ago.”

“What? Why?” asked Long Chen.

“Cloud said that it has reached the peak of the ninth rank. In order to advance, it needs to return to its ancestral lands and undergo a baptism. That way, it’ll be able to take human form at the tenth rank,” said Chu Yao.

Cloud was no ordinary Magical Beast. It was classified amongst the annals of the Xuan Beasts. Although it had an innate deficiency, thanks to Meng Qi’s care and the help of the Myriad Spirit Diagram, Cloud’s Spirit Blood showed signs of returning to its ancestral state. Its Spirit Blood had been purified to a peak.

The tenth rank was an important level for the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow. It had to return to its ancestral lands and undergo a spirit awakening ceremony.

Then it would be able to take human form. By taking a human form, the Xuan Beasts were able to get closer to the Heavenly Daos. That allowed them to progress toward the path to ascension.

As for Magical Beasts that were unable to take human form, they would forever be Magical Beasts. Only Xuan Beasts that were capable of taking human form could ascend. Mere Magical Beasts, no matter how strong they became, would never step foot onto that path.

Long Chen nodded. If Cloud could transform into human form, then with the assistance of the Myriad Spirit Diagram, it would no longer have any setbacks on its cultivation path. Perhaps it could restore the ancient glory of its race.

When Long Chen looked at Cloud, he was reminded of Little Snow’s image. Right now, Little Snow’s crystal core was being nourished by the Myriad Spirit Diagram.

According to Meng Qi, Little Snow’s soul was strengthening with each passing day as if there was no limit. Even Meng Qi didn’t understand this phenomenon. Little Snow’s Spiritual Strength had now surpassed the standard of eleventh rank Magical Beasts.

If even Meng Qi couldn’t understand it, then there was no way Long Chen could. However, Long Chen thought it was related to the Eastern Wasteland Bell.

This mysterious phenomenon might be related to how the Eastern Wasteland Bell had sealed Little Snow’s soul.

Thinking of the Eastern Wasteland Bell, Long Chen thought to himself how it had been many years, and there wasn’t the slightest news of the Eastern Wasteland Bell. It was like it had vanished.

“Ah, that’s right, how is everyone doing with nourishing their Ancestral items?” asked Long Chen.

“It’s not ideal. In over a month, I think only two hundred people have managed to awaken their item-spirits. The others still haven’t managed to provoke a reaction.” Chu Yao shook her head.

“What? They have two Ancestral items sharing one item-spirit. But even after a month, they were unable to awaken their spirits?”

Long Chen naturally knew that true Ancestral items required their item-spirits to be nourished. This process required a large amount of time and effort. That was why when he had given instructions to Guo Ran to forge them, Long Chen had instructed him to make sure that the armor and weapons shared runes, so that they could share one item-spirit.

That was to save everyone’s time. Other than Guo Ran’s armor, everyone else’s armor and weapon shared one item-spirit. But despite that, only a few people had managed to awaken their item-spirits. That was too slow.

Chu Yao was speechless. “Do you think everyone’s soul is as powerful as yours? Ancestral items are normally nourished by generations of people. Even for the first generation user, it normally requires half a year to a year to awaken the spirit. For some people to have succeeded in just a month is amazing speed!”

Long Chen laughed embarrassedly. It was true. The item-spirits of Ancestral items required a huge amount of Spiritual Strength to awaken.

Just like incubating an egg, it couldn’t be rushed. It needed to be done one step at a time. But the day that everyone awakened their item-spirits would come sooner or later.

For an item-spirit to form a resonance with a master was an excellent sign. That meant that the item-spirit had already obtained a slight consciousness. After gaining its own mind, the item-spirit would need its master to continuously nourish it with their soul. This increased the item-spirit’s loyalty and favorable impression. It made them feel dependant on their master. That was the only way to guarantee their loyalty.

Once both sides had reached a necessary level of trust between them, as the item-spirit grew stronger, the master would work together with the item-spirit to learn how to activate the item’s runes. When the master attacked, the item-spirit would assist, multiplying their individual power.

From the time that an Ancestral item was forged to when it grew to its peak state, normally hundreds of years would have passed. At the very least, it would require a few decades.

For some of the Dragonblood warriors to have reached this point in just a month was shocking. Long Chen had truly been too impatient.

No matter what, having an item-spirit with consciousness alone would double the Ancestral item’s power. That was the difference between having an item-spirit and not.

As their item-spirits grew stronger, the power of the Ancestral items would also grow. This was an excellent thing.

However, having two Ancestral items sharing one item-spirit would most definitely not be as strong as two Ancestral items with individual item-spirits. But there was no way around that. The Dragonblood Legion didn’t have that much time or energy to waste.

“What about Guo Ran? How’s he doing?” asked Long Chen.

“Him? I suppose he’s weeping in his room.” Chu Yao was caught between laughter and tears. Although she knew she shouldn’t laugh, she couldn’t help it.

In order to increase his power to the max, Guo Ran had begged Long Chen to create item-spirits in every part of his armor.

As a result, now he had met with tragedy. As a Forging Master, Guo Ran’s Spiritual Strength was above average. But when he started nourishing his item-spirits, he almost crumbled. Others were nourishing one and having difficulty, while he was nourishing dozens.

But regret was useless. He had poured too much blood, sweat, and tears into his armor already. He had to nourish them. However, thinking of how he had to nourish dozens of them at once, he felt completely powerless.

“He deserves it. I told him that even if he constantly used medicinal pills, five items-spirits would be his limit, but he refused to listen. His expression back then was like he was going to become hostile if I refused to give him more item-spirits, like he wouldn’t view me as his boss anymore.” Long Chen smiled. Having not listened to his boss, Guo Ran was reaping what he had sowed.

“Fortunately, Meng Qi has been helping him out a bit, lending him some Spiritual Strength to nourish them. Furthermore, she also split a bit of the Three-head Nine-eye Illusion Spirit Beast’s energy with him to quicken the process. Guo Ran was so moved that he swore to create her a powerful soul item to thank her.” Thinking of Guo Ran’s tears of gratitude from that time and how he had looked like he had seen his savior, Chu Yao’s smile widened.

“Tch, he should be thanking his luck. Who knows how long it would take him otherwise?” Long Chen laughed.

However, Long Chen had long since known this would happen. With Meng Qi’s vast Spiritual Strength, lending Guo Ran a small fraction wouldn’t hinder her own cultivation.

Hearing all this, Long Chen was relieved. He had Chu Yao go back into seclusion by the Life God Tree. She didn’t need to worry about the Life God Tree’s emotions. The Undying Willow would be a terrifying helper to the Dragonblood Legion in the future, and this was definitely a good thing.

Only then did Chu Yao feel at ease and return back to the Life God Tree with Long Chen.

Long Chen didn’t hide his intentions. He directly told the Spirit Emperor that the Undying Willow was no longer an enemy, but Chu Yao’s contractual protector.

The Spirit Emperor didn’t express any shock. She merely smiled and gave Chu Yao her blessing.

Long Chen also said that he wanted to go. He gave explicit coordinates of where he wanted to be transported to.

A single leaf floated down from the Life God Tree and landed in his hand.

“When you return to the Martial Heaven Continent, we will no longer be able to sense you. This leaf is similar to your spirit transmission talismans. If you inject your Spiritual Strength into it and then crush it, we will be able to receive a message from you,” said the Spirit Emperor.

Due to Long Chen’s suggestions, the Spirit Emperor had closed all the channels to the Spirit World. The entire world was now isolated, and the outer world wouldn’t be able to create new channels for a while.

But within the Spirit World, the Life God Tree could freely send Long Chen and the others out, or even create a temporary channel that allowed them to come and go.

That kind of channel was not exactly a spatial channel. Even with the Life God Tree’s power, it could only maintain it for a single breath’s time.

Furthermore, this channel could not accept people above the Life Star realm. Otherwise, the fluctuations would grow too violent and cause the channel to crumble.

Long Chen nodded and put away the leaf. This was his key to returning to the Spirit World, so he had to take care of it.

Since they had only given Long Chen one leaf, it meant that it was no ordinary item. Otherwise, considering the Spirit Emperor’s generosity, she would have given him a pile of them to use.

Through the Life God Tree, Long Chen saw countless isolated spaces within its crown. All the Dragonblood warriors were sitting in a meditative state. Each one of them had a jar full of medicinal pills in front of them.

Occasionally, a person would stick their hand into the jar and pull out a medicinal pill to eat.

Right now, they were absorbing the energy of medicinal pills while nourishing their item-spirits with their souls.

Seeing everyone going all-out to get stronger, Long Chen didn’t hesitate. He gave a look to the Spirit Emperor.

The Spirit Emperor waved her staff, and the head of her staff began to glow like a star.

The light of millions of leaves on the Life God Tree converged into a huge vortex, and it gradually shrank until it became a three-meter-wide channel. As soon as the channel was stable, Long Chen stepped into it, vanishing from the Spirit World.

The scenery in front of him changed. The dense air of life and the sun vanished. Long Chen’s vision darkened. He had returned to the Martial Heaven Continent, but it was currently night.

Looking around, he realized the Life God Tree’s channel was frighteningly accurate. He was just a few thousand miles from the Xuantian Dao Sect.

Determining his position, Long Chen rushed off to the Xuantian Dao Sect. But when he saw the scenery where the Xuantian Dao Sect was, killing intent exploded out of him.