At a certain secret location within the depths of Dragon Phoenix Academy, the grand guardians and the principal were gathered. They were looking at a white stone of about two meters in width. A certain scene was playing out on the surface of the stone.

"This kid sure has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He is actually able to fly, and he even has that nether prison devil puppet. Looks like he won't have much trouble surviving in the Back Graveyard," praised the purple-haired old man.

"Old Purple, now is not the time to praise him. This kid won't submit without any suffering. I think we need to throw him deeper into the Back Graveyard and let him witness real evil spirits. What do you think?" suggested the old man in a gold outfit.

At this time, the principal said, "Grand Guardian Gold, I don't think we should do that. Not even Sovereigns can survive against those evil spirits. Even if this kid has a flame of extreme yang in his possession, he won't be able to survive."

"That's right. We should be patient. He won't be able to last long there. Furthermore, there are more than some vicious beasts around him. There are also some low-level evil spirits. Not even that nether prison devil puppet can do anything to those evil spirits. At that time, the kid will start his life of suffering," said the beautiful woman.

Others voiced their agreements as well.

"Since that is the case, we'll let him stay there for a bit. But be careful to not get him killed. Otherwise, it will be too much of a waste," said the purple-haired old man.

"That's right. He has a freakish physique that can even destroy the saint-grade assessment stones. Perhaps he has even more secrets. Let's wait," said the heroic middle-aged man.

Next, they all left, returning to their respective places of seclusion. It was unknown what Xiang Shaoyun would think if he knew everything he was doing was being observed. For now, he remained at the bird nest. He had the nether prison devil puppet standing guard outside the nest while he used a drop of lightning liquid to heal the injuries he had sustained under the big-winged vicious bird's attack. His injuries weren't as bad as he had imagined. The broken armor was truly incredible.

Only now did Xiang Shaoyun feel that Ugly Gambler was actually treating him quite nicely. At the very least, this broken armor was a treasure through and through. He had gradually gotten used to its weight. The day he took it off would be the day his speed reached a brand new level.

However, he had decided to not take the armor off unless absolutely necessary. That was because he had always been extremely strict on himself. This was a way of maintaining his motivation to keep striving forward.

After quickly healing up, Xiang Shaoyun started thinking about his next course of action. He had been dumped here, and it was unknown when he would regain his freedom. The level of danger was also not as simple as it appeared. Thus, he had to prepare himself thoroughly and grow in strength as best as he could. That would be the best way of protecting himself.

"It's time I start my cultivation of wood, water, earth, light, and darkness. Which should I start with? Or perhaps I should focus on my soul?" Xiang Shaoyun contemplated.

After some hesitation, he finally decided to start with the power of darkness. He had a feeling the power of darkness would have a high degree of resonance with his devil blood, able to increase the time he could keep the Nether Shadow Evanescence active. That way, he would be able to better protect himself.

At the fort above the Devil Domain, Xiang Shaoyun had purchased several items with unique elements. They were respectively a 3,000-year-old root essence, a 1,000-year-old congealed liquid ball, an earthstone heart, a radiant meteorite, and a dark heart.

The dark heart was an item that would only form in a unique environment of absolute darkness. It looked completely black and had a glossy surface. Occasionally, it would throb, as if it was a living heart, and it gave off an eerie sensation.

Xiang Shaoyun directly refined the dark heart in his astral cosmos sea, channeling all the energy he drew from the dark heart into his dark star. The power contained within the dark heart was no weaker than the power contained within an emperor medicine. In fact, an ordinary Emperor would be able to directly refine it to obtain a great increase in strength.

Xiang Shaoyun was only a fresh eighth-stage King. Thus, it was impossible for his strength to stay the same after absorbing the power of the dark heart. Fortunately, his stars had recently expanded, allowing him to store as much energy as a late-stage Emperor.

Because of that, after compressing his newly gained energy, a large amount of remnant energy was left for him to expand his astral cosmos sea. His bloodline power had also absorbed some of the remnant energy.

The heavy armor had also played a great role in helping to suppress the energy, making his newly gained energy thick and solid. Thus, after absorbing all the energy in the dark heart, Xiang Shaoyun's cultivation base had only increased by a little. In other words, his cultivation level had only increased from fresh eighth-stage to mid eighth-stage.

If anyone else found out about this, they would be greatly shocked. The dark heart contained enough energy to allow any King to advance by two or three stages. Even an Emperor would benefit greatly from absorbing its power. And yet Xiang Shaoyun's cultivation base had only increased by a tiny bit. It was evident how excessive the amount of energy his body could contain. Not even regular Emperors were comparable to him in terms of storage capacity.

Of course, a big part of the small growth in cultivation level was due to his bloodline. The devilish power within the bloodline of the Imperial Nether Clan was in essence pure power of darkness. Therefore, more than half of the energy he had gotten from the dark heart had actually been absorbed by his bloodline. After his bloodline absorbed the energy of the dark heart, his vitality and physical body had further enhanced.

Xiang Shaoyun was still in meditation when the three birds started crying again, waking him up. Evidently, they were hungry again. He quickly took out some food. It was at this time that he noticed one of them opening its eyes and looking at him with a bright gaze. This particular bird had obviously hatched earlier than the other two. Two days later, the other two birds also opened their eyes one after another.

"Looks like I will have no choice but to bring you along in the future. Time to name all of you. It will be easier for me to greet you guys in the future," said Xiang Shaoyun. After some thought, he said, "Since I have Little White and Money, you will respectively be Vicious One, Vicious Two, and Vicious Three. Yes, that's it. You three will definitely grow up into vicious birds."

The three birds seemed to have sensed Xiang Shaoyun talking to them. Thus, they started chirping one after another. Xiang Shaoyun nonchalantly pushed a pile of dried meat to them before he refocused on refining the earthstone heart he was working on.