Little Lin circled in the void, his body radiating golden light, resembling a melting furnace.
The golden light on his body disappeared, but Little Lin's cultivation had taken a step forward, reaching the realm of Second-layer Human Venerable.
The golden light around him retracted, and Little Lin transformed back into human form.
Little Lin burped contentedly, a smile cracking at the corner of his mouth as he looked at Xiao Yi, "Boss, I didn't let you down, did I!"
Xiao Yi looked at Little Lin speechlessly, rubbing his forehead, and said, "Little Lin, what exactly is your race?"
Even though he had inherited the legacy of the Wind Thunder Venerable, he had never heard of any race of beasts that could directly swallow the experts of the Longevity Secret Realm and then refine them to improve their own cultivation!
Little Lin grinned, speaking in a hushed, secretive tone, "Boss, I just found out from my inherited memories that our race is called the Ancient Sky-Devouring Dragon. It seems that our race is cursed, unable to pass on from one generation to the next, only able to produce through a mutation of the bloodline. Our race's strongest innate divine ability is to devour living beings and refine them into Dragon Origin to enhance our cultivation!"
"Can it also help others improve their cultivation?"
Xiao Yi arched his brows, waving his hand as the corpses of Ye Hua and the other four people landed in front of Little Lin, saying, "These few are all First-layer Human Venerable experts, by devouring them, you should be able to advance further, right?"
All these individuals possessed a Ninth-grade Longevity Spirit.
Xiao Yi couldn't have cared less for such things.
Little Lin nodded, and with a gulp of black light from his mouth, he swallowed the corpses of Ye Hua and the others.
A burst of golden light erupted from him.
It continued for a good half stick of incense.
Little Lin's aura climbed again, reaching the realm of the Third-layer Human Venerable – advancing through three realms in a single day, a feat comparable to thousands of years of secluded cultivation by other strong beings of the Longevity Secret Realm.
However, Xiao Yi didn't notice...
After swallowing these five people, a faint trace of black qi appeared between Little Lin's brows.
But it was quickly covered by golden light.
"You truly are deserving of being an Ancient Sky-Devouring Dragon. As long as there are enough powerful beings for you to devour, who else can be your opponent?"
As Xiao Yi marveled, a small orb of flickering golden light emerged in Little Lin's palm, about the size of a walnut.
He passed the orb of energy into Xiao Yi's hand, "Boss, this is the Dragon Origin, heh heh..."
He could clearly feel the surging energy contained within the Dragon Origin in his hand.
It could definitely allow a First-layer Human Venerable expert to directly ascend to the Second Layer Human Venerable Realm.
Little Lin's race was incredibly overpowered!
With Little Lin around, who needed to refine pills?
Just directly kill the experts of the Longevity Secret Realm and let him refine them into Dragon Origin, right?
Xiao Yi would definitely not do such a thing.
Although he had stained his hands with countless lives and blood, he had never taken the life of an innocent person.
Naturally, he wouldn't massacre the innocent just to improve his cultivation.
Xiao Yi said gravely, "Little Lin, your innate divine ability is indeed against the heavens, but you must never use this divine ability on the innocent!"
Little Lin nodded, smiling as he spoke, "Big brother, rest assured! Even if you didn't tell me, I'd know. Although my innate Divine Skills are powerful, they have limitations... Every time I devour a powerful being, it creates a certain amount of negative energy. If the negative energy accumulates too much, it's very likely to invade my soul and cause me to deviate from the path. I won't act recklessly..."
The wisp of black air at Little Lin's brow earlier was that negative energy.
Once the negative energy becomes too much,
It's very possible for him to deviate from the path and lose his true nature, necessitating the cleansing of his essence with innate power after each absorption.
Xiao Yi suddenly understood.
The Heavenly Dao is fair.
Innate Divine Skills that defy the heavens like Little Lin's naturally wouldn't be without limitations.
Who in this world could stand against an Ancient Sky-Devouring Dragon?
Xiao Yi put away the Dragon Origin he held in his hand and reached out with one claw into the air. With a buzzing sound, an invisible claw formed in the void, ripping through the ground with a bang as it probed underground.
The entire Black Eagle Mountain Range thundered with loud noises.
Mountains crumbled, the earth split open, and moments later, a blue light shadow hundreds of zhang in length burst forth from underground.
This was the Spirit Vein that laid buried underneath Black Hawk Stronghold!
Xiao Yi raised his hand in the air, the boundless Yuan Qi swirling as he captured and sealed the Spirit Vein, tossing it into the Storage Ring, and only then did he look at Little Lin, "We've delayed long enough here; it's time to leave."
"Big brother, where do we go next?" Little Lin asked.
Xiao Yi's lips curved in a slight smile as he answered, "You are now a powerhouse of the Longevity Secret Realm. There were some Ninth Grade Spirit Veins we couldn't conveniently visit before, but now we can make a move. The Nantian Dynasty has sent powerhouses disguised as members of the Changsheng Sect to slaughter the civilians of the Daqian Dynasty, right? Let's play the role of defiers this time as well!"
The two of them departed, ripping through the sky.
About three hours after Xiao Yi and Little Lin had left,
Above Black Hawk Stronghold.
Suddenly, a rift appeared in the void, and a grim man clad in black armor emerged, hovering in the sky, surveying the ruins of Black Hawk Stronghold. He frowned slightly, "Hei Yu's aura disappeared here, and at least the presence of two beings above the Longevity Secret Realm was once detected in this place... It seems Hei Yu is more likely dead than alive... No matter who you are, daring to kill the head of the Imperial Guards, even if I have to dig three feet into the ground, I will find you!"
The man only glanced at Black Hawk Stronghold before turning and stepping into the Void Rift.
Almost simultaneously as he left...
The vast Black Hawk Stronghold and the mountain ranges stretching for hundreds of kilometers, with a series of thunderous noises, turned into ruins.
This was the capital of Purple Robe Kingdom, a subordinate kingdom of the Nantian Dynasty. The Purple Robe Kingdom's princess, who was one of the Nantian Dynasty's queens, had once been bestowed with a Ninth Grade Spirit Vein to bolster the nation's fortune. This Ninth Grade Spirit Vein was located underneath Purple Fir City, and on this day, the city suddenly shook with tremors.
Within the vast city, the ground continuously cracked, spewing flames like a dragon turning over, signaling an apocalypse.
More than half of the city was destroyed in an instant.
When everything subsided...
All discovered that the royal family of Purple Robe Kingdom had not escaped; they had all perished in the disaster.
And when the Purple Robe Kingdom's powerhouses dug into the underground, they were horrified to find that the Ninth Grade Spirit Vein that had been stabilizing their nation's fortune had vanished.
In the days that followed...
The same incident kept occurring within the Nantian Dynasty and its subordinate states, with city after city being destroyed and Spirit Veins stolen. All the missing Spirit Veins were of the Ninth Grade, and in the beginning, the Nantian Dynasty did not pay much attention, until Long Sihai received the news and ordered an investigation, by which time more than a hundred Ninth Grade Spirit Veins had already disappeared.
This made Long Sihai instinctively alarmed.
He dispatched the powerful members of the monitoring authorities to investigate the missing Spirit Veins and uncover the truth.
Meanwhile, the culprits Xiao Yi and Little Lin were looking at a letter in their hands, their faces revealing a mischievous and excited smile, "A thousand Ninth Grade Spirit Veins, if we were to snatch these, even Nantian Wen would have to feel the pinch for a while, right?"