The moment Xiang Shaoyun's invisibility ended, he dove into a bush. A demonic beast abruptly charged out from a concealed position and pounced on him. The beast wasn't weak, and its timing was exceptional as well. Xiang Shaoyun's energy circulation was in complete disorder, and he had no way of resisting.

During the crucial moment, with the tiny bit of clarity he still had, he released Money. The moment Money appeared, it reduced in size before charging into the beast's mouth. The beast didn't even notice Money, and it only felt some foreign object suddenly appear in its mouth. Without any hesitation, it snapped its mouth shut.

However, a burst of silver lightning energy suddenly erupted, blasting its mouth apart. At the same time, Money enlarged his body and swallowed the beast. Without anything else to worry about, Xiang Shaoyun quickly focused and started refining the sin dragon energy within him.

As he refined the sin dragon energy, his draconic aura solidified to 20 percent, and his stars began to grow as well. His nine stars, along with his acupoints, shone brightly as his energy coursed through his meridians. His internal body seemed to transform into an extraordinary, divine river of stars.

A dragon projection hovered out from his body, and with that, his cultivation level reached the second stage. The compressed energy he had gained from the Purple Lightning Pool and Vicious Steel Mist also erupted, helping him perfect the consolidation of his new cultivation level as an early Dragon Ascension Realm cultivator, pushing him one step closer to the mid stage.

Sphhlt!

Suddenly, Xiang Shaoyun spat out a mouthful of blood. His entire person seemed to have waned, making him not look like someone who had freshly broken through at all. Even the energy within his body dimmed as a certain portion of his energy stirred, putting the energy circulation in his meridians in disorder. The backlash from the energy disorder impacted his internal organs, causing him to spit blood.

As for the reason for the backlash, it was because he had forcefully suppressed his breakthrough when it was the most optimal timing to do so. Coupled with the damage the sin dragon dealt to him, his body had suffered some damage.

Fortunately, the backlash wasn't too serious. His foundations were still safe, and he had only suffered some hidden damage. He only needed to remove the hidden damage, and he would be fine. Using a drop of lightning liquid, he started healing his injuries.

After a good while, he finally heaved a long breath and muttered, "That was close. If I was a tiny bit slower, I would have died."

A joyful smile then formed on his face as he continued, "Fortunately, I have still reaped some great harvest."

One ought to know that the sin dragon vine he had harvested was something even Sovereigns would covet. He no longer dared to spend more time near the Sin Dragon Pond and quickly left with Money. Along the way, he sighed inwardly, Too bad I have also paid a great price. The nether prison devil puppet is totally lost.

He could no longer sense the puppet. Without a doubt, the sin dragon had to have destroyed the puppet. One ought to remember that the puppet was at the sovereign grade and worth more than the sin dragon vine. It was understandable that he would feel the loss.

Of course, the loss was still worth it since he had advanced one step further in his cultivation. If he hadn't taken this risk, it would take him quite a while before he could reach the second stage.

While Xiang Shaoyun was heading back to the Dragon Phoenix Academy, several uninvited guests arrived at the Dragon Phoenix Mountain Range. They had disguised themselves as a hunting group, but they were in fact Ziling Sect members.

There were about 50 of them, with most of them being Emperors. A few were Sovereigns. The leader of the group was Di Lin's eighth brother, Di Shang. The group quietly arrived at the place with thick poisonous miasma.

The location was quite far from the academy, and even a Sovereign would take some time to reach it from the academy. However, the place was also filled with numerous powerful poisonous life forms. Because of that, people generally lacked the courage to approach anyway. This was the very location the map Di Lin had gotten from his father was pointing to.

"Eighth young master, are you sure this is the place?" asked the group's strongest Sovereign.

The Sovereign looked middle-aged, yet he had the strength of the eighth-stage Soul Foundation Realm, making him much stronger than Winter Frost and Summer Flame. His name was Ren Zhijiu, a new expert Di Batian had recruited in recent years.

Di Shang nodded. "Yes, this is the place."

"Only a Heaven Battling Realm Saint will have the courage to enter a place like this," said Ren Zhijiu with a sigh.

"That bad? Are you guys not enough?" Di Shang asked, somewhat speechless by what he heard.

"Eighth young master, you can't look down on the poisonous miasma here. The miasma is composed of the powerful devouring phosphorus poison. Even with my strength, I will barely last an hour in there. And even that is with the premise that I'm not disturbed or attacked by any poisonous life forms during that period of time. Otherwise, I will die," said Ren Zhijiu solemnly.

Only then did a look of fear appear on Di Shang's face. He had not imagined that the poison was actually that big of a deal.

"If the divine site is really underneath this poisonous miasma, it is no wonder that the Dragon Phoenix Academy has not done anything yet. This is not a place a regular person can discover, and it is perfect for hiding a secret. The sect master had given me a saint-grade armor for this mission. I can finally put it to use. I'll decide what to do after going into the miasma," said Ren Zhijiu as he put on a thin armor.

The armor gleamed with a fascinating luster, and one could tell it was an extraordinary treasure at a glance. It was a saint-grade armor, and it definitely had dreadful defensive prowess. This armor would let Ren Zhijiu enter the miasma safely.

The devouring phosphorus poison was a terrifying poison formed through the corrosion of some evil objects over a period of thousands, or even tens of thousands, of years. If one observed the miasma, one would notice that it seemed to be filled with scale-like particles.

Anything the poison touched would quickly corrode away. The devouring phosphorus bugs were a type of life form capable of surviving in this environment, an insect that was much scarier than the corpse poison worm. They were considered royalty among bugs.

Not long after Ren Zhijiu entered the miasma, he ran out in a sorry state. Black scales were all over his body, and several bugs the size of a head were chasing after him. The bugs looked incredibly dreadful, with sharp fangs capable of ripping a head off a human easily.

After rushing out of the miasma, Ren Zhijiu swung his blade repeatedly, killing the bugs chasing him.

At the same time, he shouted, "Withdraw! There are a lot of devouring phosphorus bugs here!"

The moment he said that, the others panicked and quickly retreated from the area.