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Chapter 8 Xiong Zhou: A mere showpiece?
The Heavenly Fiery Dojo, in the center of the temple.
Senior Sister Baiyu stood with her hands behind her back, watching Xiong Zhou return in less than twelve hours, her curiosity growing stronger.
"Therefore, less than a day after you finished listening to my teachings, you perfected the Abundant Authority to its initial form and successfully pioneered your own path to sainthood."
"Then, by virtue of the special power of abundance, he completed the first bloodline revival and growth, and obtained a series of bloodline inheritances."
"At the same time, in such a short period of time, he suddenly had a whim and deduced that there was a being of a higher realm than himself plotting against him?"
As she spoke, Senior Sister Baiyu stretched out her fingers, counting the events that had occurred.
Good heavens, the probability of this series of events happening is incredibly low, and now it has all happened to a mortal being?!
Putting aside how those guys who calculate the secrets of heaven broke through the causal blockade and destiny barrier of the Tai Li Immortal Sect and successfully plotted against a highly regarded Tai Li disciple, the troublemaking ability of this junior brother Xiong alone is simply outrageous.
"Junior Brother Xiong Zhou, is the source of your bloodline a spirit?"
"A mere second-level mortal realm being able to provoke a fourth-level immortal being from outside the sect, even prompting them to dedicate resources to plotting against you..."
"I haven't noticed any abnormal gathering or natural convergence of the Qi of Heaven and Earth on you."
Senior Sister Baiyu circled Xiong Zhou's sturdy body again and again, her gaze growing increasingly astonished and intense.
It's just a matter of getting handsy, picking up a scalpel, dissecting bones, flesh, and meridians, separating the inner landscape, consciousness, and true spirit, and savoring it carefully.
"Gurgle..."
Xiong Zhou felt his hair stand on end, swallowed hard, and took a half step back under Bai Yu's undisguised and utterly naked gaze.
He was seized by another sudden impulse, all stemming from the dangerous warnings from the white-jade senior sister before him.
This Baiyu Yuanjun truly had the idea of studying him, the kind of study that involves laboratory mice.
Xiong Zhou raised his hand to wipe the fine sweat from his forehead. "Senior Sister Bai Yu, can we put this problem aside for now...?"
"Junior Brother's newly opened path to sainthood is about to run into trouble. We must save him first..."
Senior Sister Baiyu nodded, her blatant gaze softening as she turned to stare at the authority within Xiong Zhou's body, lost in thought.
A few breaths later, she raised her hand and separated a tiny fragment from one of her powers, shaping it into a seed containing her personal imprint, and tossed it into Xiong Zhou's hand.
"This is a mark that I separated from my own authority. If you merge with it, you will be able to temporarily borrow a small portion of my power."
"We Qi cultivators need not concern ourselves with the strict and rigid rules of the divine path, and the path of the sage is not our main cultivation. The influence and constraints of this seed on you are almost non-existent."
"However, from the perspective of the divine path, your fusion with this mark seed means that, in the eyes of other beings who have walked the path of sainthood, you have voluntarily joined my totem pantheon and become a subordinate god under my command."
Senior Sister Baiyu's eyes were slightly deep and mysterious.
"You must remember that everything that has a cause and effect has a price."
"The specific gains and losses depend on the individual."
Xiong Zhou went through Bai Yu's words in his mind, but didn't think about them deeply.
He held the mark seed that Senior Sister Baiyu had tossed into his hand, and the power of [Innate Divine Power: █ (Pixel Cube)] surged within it, slowly pixelating it.
Under Bai Yu's keenly watched gaze, about fifteen minutes later, the seed transformed into a pixelated three-dimensional icon, hovering above Xiong Zhou's palm.
[Mark of Authority: Li Tian]
Main deity: Baiyu Yuanjun
Authority and power: Calamity
Level: First Stage of Spirit Refinement - Spirit Building
effect:
1. Items required to become a subordinate deity of the White Jade Primordial Lord
2. After fusion, depending on one's own situation, one can borrow varying amounts of power from the White Jade Sovereign.
Seeing the information panel that Xiong Zhou pulled open from mid-air, Senior Sister Bai Yu's eyes lit up.
"Your innate supernatural power is quite rare; it even involves certain abstract concepts."
"If the level of development is high enough, there might be a chance to catch up with the innate supernatural powers I currently possess."
A hint of gossip immediately arose in Xiong Zhou's mind, and he asked, "I wonder what Senior Sister Bai Yu's innate divine ability is?"
Senior Sister Baiyu's lips curled up slightly. "As for the function of innate metal... it is close to the Dao and is born with the favor of the metal element principles."
Xiong Zhou was stunned for a moment, and then felt a chill run down his spine.
"Innate Metal" can be translated as "Innate Dao Body".
No matter where you go, you're treated like a godson by the local deity, receiving top-notch treatment and even having inheritance rights.
Moreover, it has additional blessings for the laws of heaven and earth that are related to the metal element, possessing a noble extra domain.
If we add to that Senior Sister Baiyu's current cultivation level of the sixth level of Qi Refining, she would be a prospective Immortal True Person of the Tai Li Immortal Sect!
Senior Sister Bai Yu looked at the stunned Xiong Zhou and said with a smile, "Junior Brother, are you dissatisfied with my method of solving the problem?"
"If I'm not satisfied, I can send a message to an elder I know in the sect and ask for advice on how to handle it."
"However, they are not the elders on duty at the Qianyuan Hall. They may be in seclusion or busy with other matters. We will have to wait a while to get a reply."
Xiong Zhou shook his head. "Find a sect elder?"
You don't have to.
Not all sect elders are as kind and approachable as Senior Uncle Lu.
If he were to pull out a grumpy, living fossil, Xiong Zhou certainly didn't want to end up with a meal of "braised pork with rattan cane".
Moreover, Senior Sister Baiyu is a preparatory Immortal-level being who has studied totems. Even ordinary sect elders might not be able to offer a better solution than her.
Right in front of Senior Sister Bai Yu, Xiong Zhou directly sent the [Authority Mark: Li Tian] into the Inner Realm and threw it into the [Gate to Another World].
-----------------
The boundary between mountains and seas.
As Xiong Zhou watched the sky gradually brighten and saw the large dogs snoring and occasionally twitching, he lowered his mind to the inner world and placed the pixelated authority mark that had been transmitted over onto the path of the sage, which was gradually revealing its rich Dao essence within the inner world.
"Pop..."
A sound like bubbles bursting rang out, and Xiong Zhou's consciousness immediately became hazy.
In this semi-conscious state, he followed his inspiration and continued to walk forward through a thick, pure white fog.
At some point, a mountain stele inscribed with "Xuanpu" appeared, behind which stood a majestic, seemingly endless mountain.
Xiong Zhou did not stop. He continued to follow his inspiration, walking forward, past the mountain stele inscribed with "Xuanpu", and deeper into this sacred mountain.
Until he arrived at a magnificent city with a plaque that read "Tianyong City" hanging high above it, surrounded by wisps of chaotic energy.
Xiong Zhou jolted awake, fully waking up.
"Where is this place?"
Xiong Zhou felt his lips were a little dry. The city in front of him was too huge, as if the people living there were all gods whose bodies were hundreds of millions of miles in size.
He could sense that every brick in the city was inscribed with mysterious patterns, as if explaining ten different principles of heaven and earth, evolving the chaotic and boundless meaning of the initial separation of yin and yang and the beginning of the distinction between purity and turbidity.
Wisps of light drifted out from Xiong Zhou's body and flew to the city gate.
"This is... Senior Sister Baiyu's mark of authority?!"
A silent Daoist sound exploded, shattering the power mark emanating from the calamity. It was dismembered into streams of unknown Qi, imbued with the divine charm of time.
It is becoming ancient!
It is tracing back to the beginning!
In the dim light, Xiong Zhou seemed to see a goddess holding a divine axe, standing at the starting point of the long river of time.
Everything shattered; the Xuanpu Divine Mountain, Tianyong City, and the Chaos Qi all vanished like dreams, leaving no trace.
What Xiong Zhou saw before him was his own inner world, a pixelated "grassland" composed of tens of thousands of earthen blocks covered with wheat, and the path of the saint that shimmered with the light of the power of abundance and the power of calamity on the "grassland".
After a moment of silence, he raised his hand and summoned the tattered, yellow cloth.
[Target for reference: Dark yellow tattered cloth]
Ability to Connect: Gate to Another World
The principles of the same law: Earth element, Wood element, cosmic light, void, destiny.
After opening the information panel, the information related to the Xuanhuang Rags was updated.
"What just appeared before me—was it a daydream, or a hint from fate?"
"Why would Senior Sister Baiyu's mark of authority cause you to change?"
Xiong Zhou shook his head.
His cultivation level is still too low. If he had already attained immortality, he might be able to deduce the corresponding results based on what he just saw.
A touch of red reflected from the clouds on the horizon and fell into Xiong Zhou's eyes.
A familiar feeling of sudden impulse has been stirred up once again.
"It's someone who's plotting against me, someone whose cultivation level is higher than mine, arriving soon."
Suddenly, Xiong Zhou raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Wait a minute, what's coming here doesn't seem to be the true form of that being, but rather... an avatar?"
"The source of that immense sense of crisis that I feel seems to be still at large. Has it sent an avatar to probe ahead?"
"Such a cautious approach, but why wasn't the secret concealed?"
As Xiong Zhou sensed the mark of authority on the path of sainthood within his body, as well as the vast power that faintly stirred the unknown, his heart was immediately filled with confidence.
He left the large dogs with the intention of staying put, then took off running towards the unknown clone.
As the grasslands were left behind and time passed, the summit of a sacred mountain, ablaze with fiery red, gradually came into view.
It's as if this is a special boundary.
From this point onward, the temperature gradually rose, and the mild and pleasant air became dry and hot, carrying a faint smell of sulfur.
A strange beast, over ten meters long, with six legs and four wings, resembling a long snake, slowly swam towards the bear boat.
The snake path, covered in scorched yellow and filled with the glow of fire, quietly appeared before Xiong Zhou, causing him to stop immediately, his expression grave.
Xiong Zhou let out a low growl: "Hoo!"
[A power of disaster!]
This peculiar image and catastrophic authority reminded him of a ferocious beast called "Feiyi," whose appearance would bring a great drought to the world.
"call?"
[Fei Yi?]
The strange beast, over ten meters long, with six legs and four wings, resembling a long snake, stopped its movement towards the bear boat.
She opened her mouth, and a nine-pronged forked tongue emerged. "Even this little puppy has heard of my clan's reputation?"
"You, this newly emerged totem, are quite knowledgeable."
Drops of saliva, almost like lava, flowed from the fat relic's mouth, dripping into the grass and emitting a burnt smell. They left behind wisps of black ash and emitted a faint, corrosive aura that made Xiong Zhou frown.
Xiong Zhou immediately manifested the mark of authority on his path to sainthood and let out a low roar.
"call."
[Senior, I have powerful connections, please reply.]
Fei Yi looked at the mark on the path that Xiong Zhou had manifested, and a look of surprise flashed across his face, as if he had never expected that the little puppy in front of him had already joined a lineage of gods.
But then, her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Where did you get this seal of authority?"
"I don't think I've seen this before. Is it a totem of someone who has recently completed their transformation and is preparing to recruit subordinate gods to expand their path to sainthood?"
"Moreover, this aura of authority seems to share some commonality with me."
Seeing that the fat relic showed no sign of retreating, Xiong Zhou's mind began to tighten.
A fight seems inevitable.
"call."
[Senior, please leave.]
Xiong Zhou growled; he was making a final effort.
He's still developing, so it's best to avoid hitting him if possible.
However, Xiong Zhou's actions seemed to be in vain. Fei Yi seemed to have no fear or concern whatsoever towards this totem whose name he had never heard of and who had begun to recruit subordinate gods. On the contrary, he seemed to be eager to make a move.
Without a word, Fei Yi's body suddenly coiled up, and then with a fierce charge, terrifying streams of flames enveloped her more than ten-meter-long body, heading towards Xiong Zhou's raised snake tail.
"Snapped!"
The sound of something cutting through the air hit Xiong Zhou's head, making his scalp tingle.
It was too fast. Xiong Zhou could only see a blurry afterimage of the flame. He could only follow his instincts and his own inspiration to retreat step by step.
"boom!"
A pit three meters deep and ten meters wide appeared as the snake's tail lashed out.
Pebbles and clods of mud, burning with flames, flew out, grazing Xiong Zhou's cheeks and scorching the fine hairs on his face, causing his pupils to contract wildly.
"You dodged it?"
Fei Yi seemed somewhat surprised.
"The bloodline within you seems quite good."
"With that Abundant Authority, you are worthy to be part of my collection!"
Fei Yi's body coiled up again, and a deep, bluish flame ignited around her, carrying terrifying force as she continued to pounce towards Xiong Zhou.
In mid-air, this thick, long snake body was incredibly light, like a willow catkin moving with the wind, ready to drain your bones and blood without any mercy.
Driven by a deep, throbbing impulse, Xiong Zhou narrowly escaped once again. His thick, long snake tail, carrying immense force, left only a crater four meters deep and twelve meters wide in its wake.
Fei Yi's expression changed.
Avoiding it once might be a coincidence or luck.
But avoiding a second chance cannot be explained by mere coincidence or luck.
Xiong Zhou's expression also changed.
This fat relic doesn't seem to be very strong.
At least, it wasn't as irresistible as he had imagined.
A mere showpiece?