Long Chen’s stomach was like a bottomless abyss. Runes flowed within his stomach, transforming the medicinal pills into immense spurts of energy.

Millions of medicinal pills were transformed into streams of energy that spread throughout Long Chen’s meridians.

“After absorbing the azure dragon essence blood, even the Swallow the Heavens, Devour the Earth divine ability has strengthened.” Long Chen was pleasantly surprised by this effect. The transformation of the azure dragon essence blood went far beyond just his physical body.

“Long Chen, I find that my dark evil dragon race’s divine ability matches you perfectly. You should consider devouring other lifeforms like the dark evil dragon race. That would allow you to get stronger even faster than devouring medicinal pills.” Evilmoon couldn’t help interjecting.

The devouring divine ability that Long Chen was displaying was even more effective than it was in the dark evil dragon race. If Long Chen was willing to devour other experts to get stronger, he would have even better prospects. Having such a powerful divine ability used on just medicinal pills was a waste.

“That’s alright, thank you.”

Long Chen directly rejected the idea. After all, he wasn’t a Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow. He couldn’t rely on eating people to live.

Long Chen’s spiritual yuan suddenly began to roil. He felt like a furnace growing hotter and hotter.

“So quick?!” Long Chen was startled. It had been less than fifteen minutes, but he felt himself be on the verge of breaking through.

BOOM!

Long Chen’s aura fiercely surged as he advanced to the tenth Heavenstage of Soul Transformation.

BOOM!

An incense stick’s worth of time later, he advanced to the eleventh Heavenstage.

“Too fast!” Long Chen was excited but also stunned. This kind of rapid advancement felt refreshing.

An hour later, he once more advanced, reaching the twelfth Heavenstage.

As his aura broke through, it began to grow stronger and spread out of his control. The void rumbled and the ancestral altar shook.

“I’ve already reached the great circle.” Long Chen pushed himself to keep going. He wanted to advance to just before the thirteenth Heavenstage, the point where he would be right before breaking through to Life Star.

The void rumbled as Long Chen’s aura grew more and more violent.

“The last three Heavenstages of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art are always the strongest. I can’t even control my own power.” Long Chen’s gaze was sharp. He actually had an urge to become the ruler of this world.

It was like he was to be the ruler that all others would have to look up to. Anyone who defied him would be mercilessly annihilated.

His killing intent also surged out of his control. One scene after another appeared in his head. People cursing him, people slandering him, people framing him, people hunting him, all those scenes floated through his mind. He suddenly let out a howl, his killing intent erupting. His head became murky.

After an unknown amount of time, Long Chen woke up. The back of his head hurt, and when he touched it, he found an egg-sized lump.

“Evilmoon, did you hit me?” demanded Long Chen angrily.

“You needed to calm down. Just now, you were almost bedeviled,” said Evilmoon. It truly had been forced to attack Long Chen just now. Due to how long it had been with Long Chen, it was able to strike Long Chen before he could sense it.

“The Nine Star Hegemon Body Art is too domineering. It doesn’t allow anyone to betray its will. I’ve suppressed it for so long that now it’s erupting.” Long Chen was grave. Thinking of everything that had happened just now, he felt uneasy.

“You’re too weak, but there’s no way around it. You have things holding you back, so being unfettered is impossible for you. You always have to think of others, while true experts are not tied down by such things. Continuously suppressing it won’t work. The longer you suppress it, the harder it will be to control when it erupts. You have to learn how to release this pressure and find your own domineering side. Otherwise, you will sooner or later be consumed,” said Evilmoon.

Long Chen nodded. Everything he had was given to him by the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, but as his cultivation base grew higher, he felt uneasier as if the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art was gradually taking control of his mind.

He was forced to resist the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, and that was not a good thing. Evilmoon was correct when it said that this kind of resistance was not a solution. He had to find some way to release it.

Long Chen lightly punched the air. As he did so, his spiritual yuan burst forth, unleashing a giant fist-image.

“Hehe, the energy follows the will. There’s no need for me to circulate my spiritual yuan in advance. The great circle of the twelfth Heavenstage is truly powerful.” Long Chen smiled. This feeling of being filled with strength was delightful.

However, at the same time, he felt an urge to roar at the heavens. That urge was suppressed. He needed to stabilize his realm, or this power would cause his mental realm to become violent.

“Congratulations. You’re just one step from advancing to Life Star.” At this moment, Yue Xihan walked over gracefully.

“Aunt Han.” Long Chen hastily bowed.

In front of others, he would call Yue Xihan the race leader as an expression of her status. But in private, he called her aunt Han. After all, she was Yue Xiaoqian’s mother and his future mother-in-law. First calling her aunt then mother was definitely right.

As for Yue Xiaoqian’s father, Long Chen had always been stifling that curiosity. He had never seen Yue Xiaoqian or anyone else raise this question, so he wasn’t in a good position to ask. He had no idea what his future father-in-law was like.

“Your aura can easily harm other people’s souls like this. You should rest for a few days until you can control it better,” said Yue Xihan.

Perhaps Long Chen didn’t sense it, but Yue Xihan clearly felt a sharp domineering air coming from Long Chen that was attempting to invade her soul. If weaker experts were present, they might be injured just by his aura.

This was the aura of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, wild and domineering, not differentiating between friend and foe. Any disciples below the Life Star realm wouldn’t even dare to get close.

Long Chen nodded. That was what he was planning. He had to first stabilize his realm before anything else.

“Aunt Han, how is business going on the Martial Heaven Continent?” asked Long Chen.

Long Chen had been sending over more and more Heavenly Dao Fruits ever since the Immemorial Path, allowing more and more of the original devil race’s disciples to walk on the continent without being found. They had started several businesses.

To increase the profits, Long Chen had even proposed creating a black market business.

Yue Xihan smiled. It was because of the Heavenly Dao Fruits that the original devil race finally had a chance to gather resources on the Martial Heaven Continent. The Skyscraping World was lacking in many resources, and they had been barely holding on before. They hadn’t even had the ability to open channels to the outside world.

Long Chen’s arrival had completely changed the original devil race’s fate. They were now conducting business on the continent, buying the resources that they couldn’t obtain from the Skyscraping World, which greatly increased the cultivation speed of their disciples. Even geniuses would be crippled without resources. That was the power of money.

“The business was doing very well before. We accumulated a great deal of wealth, and by working together with the Huayun Sect, we gained many resources. However, close to half a year ago, we received pressure from various areas. Our black market business has become more difficult to conduct, with greater danger. We encounter violent customers, and our profits are shrinking,” sighed Yue Xihan.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Long Chen was startled. Seeing her expression, he said, “Were you embarrassed? We’re a family, so that’s hurtful.”

In truth, Yue Xihan felt that such a minor matter wasn’t worth troubling Long Chen over. They should have been able to resolve this issue on their own, but there was no effect despite their best efforts.

After pondering for a moment, Long Chen said, “Half a year ago would be around when the various large powers began to secretly collude. They temporarily put aside their own enmities, so naturally the black market will become less efficient. That’s the time when Pill Valley made agreements with those sects and when the plan for the Yin Yang World started. Just what kind of trump cards does Pill Valley have to make all those opposing powers join together against the Martial Heaven Alliance?”

Long Chen frowned. Pill Valley’s announcement this time was clearly a bit rushed. There had to be something. The leaders of the large powers wouldn’t join hands without certain benefits and assurances. They wouldn’t attack an enormous existence like the Martial Heaven Alliance for nothing.

Long Chen also thought of the words Luo Tianji said right before dying. He had barely gotten out that there was something behind Pill Valley before being killed. Just what was behind Pill Valley? Long Chen smelled danger.