"Brother Zhexian's sword intent, sword bone, and flawless body have all returned!"
Skydream Ice Worm was first overjoyed, then quickly sighed in worry.
"Ah…"
"To condense the final Spirit Rings, an unimaginably vast amount of energy is required to restore Brother Zhexian's Spirit Power."
"Yi-yi ya-ya!"
Little Yazi released its grip.
The tiny Qinglian Sword floated into the air.
A flash of sword light—
and chunks of energy-rich ten-thousand-year ice marrow appeared on the ground.
"I nearly forgot about Little Yazi!"
Skydream Ice Worm said excitedly.
"As an auspicious beast of the Extreme North, it has the keenest perception of ice-attribute spiritual treasures!"
"But…"
"Relying on ten-thousand-year ice marrow alone still won't be enough."
As he spoke,
he sneaked a glance at the Ice Empress.
"Hmph!"
The Ice Empress's scorpion tail lashed out.
A burst of cold energy sent Skydream Ice Worm's spiritual force rippling.
"Do you think I need you to teach me?!"
The Snow Empress, who had accompanied her for ten thousand years, sensed the Ice Empress's thoughts and couldn't help but change expression.
"Bing'er, you…"
"Sister Xue."
A faint smile appeared on the Ice Empress's bewitching face.
"Just as you once said…"
"Li Zhexian's talent is peerless, and the path for Spirit Beasts to become gods has already been severed."
"Perhaps, by following his heaven-reaching path, I can glimpse the divine realm."
"And…"
"If I become Li Zhexian's spirit soul, I can remain with you forever."
As her words fell,
she raised her hand.
The ten-thousand-year ice marrow on the ground all rose into the air.
She transformed into a dazzling azure streak of light and charged resolutely toward Li Zhexian.
"Li Zhexian!"
Her clear, cold voice rang across the snowfields.
"I, the Ice Empress, am willing to become your spirit soul!"
"From this day on, we shall share honor and disgrace, life and death—please accept me!"
The ocean of sword qi surrounding Li Zhexian
seemed to sense its master's will.
With resounding clangs, it parted to either side,
opening a clear path.
The Ice Empress swept unimpeded to Li Zhexian's front.
During this process,
her flawless azure scorpion body shattered inch by inch.
Having lost her physical form, the Ice Empress cast one final glance at the Extreme North that had given her birth and nurture.
Then—
without hesitation, she plunged into Li Zhexian's brow.
Boom—boom—boom—boom!
Boom—boom—boom—boom!
Nearly four hundred thousand years of cultivation, combined with the essence of ten-thousand-year ice marrow, transformed into an azure pillar of light that shot straight into the sky.
Within the pillar,
Li Zhexian's hair and white robes fluttered wildly.
His aura skyrocketed at a visible pace.
At the same time,
within his flesh and blood,
the shattered fragments of his Spirit Rings began to gather once more.
The First Spirit Ring: Thousand-Year Azure Blade Mantis.
The Second Spirit Ring: Thousand-Year Three-Tailed Sword Scorpion King.
Before the excited gazes of Skydream Ice Worm and the Snow Empress,
countless Spirit Ring fragments returned to their places, forming complete Spirit Rings that rose beneath Li Zhexian.
However—
when his Spirit Power broke through Level 30,
a sudden change occurred!
The third set of multicolored sword-feather Spirit Ring fragments began to repel one another, unable to reform.
This Spirit Ring
came from the rare beast that had bestowed Li Zhexian with the Heaven-Piercing Sword Bone—
the Dragon-Headed Sword Falcon.
The Snow Empress frowned deeply.
"His Spirit Power has already reached Level 30, and all the Spirit Ring fragments have surfaced—why is this one Spirit Ring alone unable to condense?!"
Skydream Ice Worm stared uncertainly at the multicolored fragments.
"Snow Empress…"
"Don't you feel…"
"that there's something off about this Spirit Ring?"
"Have you ever seen a Spirit Ring with twelve different colors?"
"It seems to faintly correspond to Brother Zhexian's twelve-segment Heaven-Piercing Sword Bone!"
"Even a rare beast like the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, tainted with divine aura, shouldn't be this miraculous…"
The Snow Empress was just about to respond—
Buzz—!
Buzz—!
Those multicolored Spirit Ring fragments suddenly began to tremble violently.
Twelve-colored radiance drifted out from the fragments and, before Li Zhexian, condensed into a single drop of divine blood, shimmering with twelve hues.
At the same time, Li Zhexian's Great Vertebra Sword Bone and the multicolored Spirit Ring continued to glow, and a wondrous flower, dazzling with flowing light, quietly manifested.
At the instant the divine blood and the wondrous flower appeared—
an authority born from the very origin of life swept across the vast Extreme North in a heartbeat.
In that moment—
regardless of strength or distance,
countless Spirit Beasts instinctively bent their knees and prostrated themselves in devout worship toward the direction of that drop of divine blood.
Even Skydream Ice Worm with his million-year cultivation, the mighty Snow Empress who ruled the Extreme North, and even Little Yazi, a beast of auspicious destiny, could not suppress the reverence deep within their souls and knelt with bowed heads toward the divine blood.
At this moment,
if one were to look down from the heavens, they would witness a soul-shaking scene.
Across the boundless frozen plains of the Extreme North, innumerable Spirit Beasts revealed their forms, prostrating toward a single direction like pilgrims on a sacred journey.
Ten thousand beasts submit. Heaven and earth fall silent.
Such a sight had never been seen since time immemorial.
Li Zhexian seemed to sense something and slowly opened his eyes.
When his gaze fell upon the divine blood and the wondrous flower before him, his eyes trembled slightly.
Since his memories had awakened,
aside from recollections of Qian Renxue, Zhu Zhuqing, and his close companions,
the most unforgettable experience for him was absorbing the Spirit Ring and Spirit Bone of the Dragon-Headed Sword Falcon.
There was no other reason—
that creature had simply been far too extraordinary.
Its very existence
seemed to transcend the category of a mere "rare beast."
He still remembered clearly:
the miraculous sapling guarded by the Dragon-Headed Sword Falcon was about to mature, triggering violent conflict among Spirit Beasts from all directions.
Yet despite having cultivation below ten thousand years, the Dragon-Headed Sword Falcon proactively laid an ambush, slaughtering a group of notorious ten-thousand-year Spirit Beasts such as the Bloodfang Demon Tiger.
In the end,
the Dragon-Headed Sword Falcon emerged victorious at the brink of death.
Only then was Li Zhexian able to seize the opportunity.
And during the process of absorbing its Spirit Ring and Spirit Bone, the divine-blood aura dormant deep within the ring had nearly caused his physical body to collapse.
At the critical moment,
it was the wondrous flower guarded by the Dragon-Headed Sword Falcon that he consumed, allowing him to survive the ordeal.
"So the divine blood lying dormant within the Spirit Ring only revealed its true form after the ring shattered…"
"And a wondrous flower that the Dragon-Headed Sword Falcon guarded with its life—how could it be without purpose?"
Li Zhexian did not hesitate.
"Opportunity stands before me. Hesitation and second-guessing are not in my nature."
"Come—let me see what secrets you truly hold."
Boom—!
The moment his thought stirred,
the divine blood and the wondrous flower seemed to answer his call, floating toward him simultaneously.
This time,
they no longer lay dormant.
Instead, they completely transformed into two streams of energy of the same origin
and surged into his body.
The vast energy of the Ice Empress and the ten-thousand-year ice marrow was dispersed by the ancient, domineering will contained within the divine blood.
A torrent of multicolored energy poured endlessly into his body.
His Spirit Power instantly broke through the Level Thirty bottleneck.
Third Spirit Ring — Thousand-Year Dragon-Headed Sword Falcon.
Spirit Power Level 40.
Fourth Spirit Ring — Ten-Thousand-Year Calamity Bloom.
Spirit Power Level 70.
Seventh Spirit Ring — Million-Year Skydream Ice Worm.
Spirit Power Level 80.
Eighth Spirit Ring — Seven-Hundred-Ninety-Thousand-Year Evil Eye Tyrant Emperor.
His Spirit Power surged forward without obstruction—
straight to Level 90.
At the moment Li Zhexian stepped into Level 90,
the divine blood integrated into his flesh and bones seemed to transmit a message.
A flash of enlightenment struck him.
His Time–Space Sword Intent erupted violently.
The Eighth Spirit Ring, derived from the Evil Eye Tyrant Emperor, shattered once more.
Time–space power spread across it.
The Evil Emperor's past rewound like a rapidly unfurling scroll.
The flow of time finally halted at a forgotten instant.
At the end of time and space,
the silhouette of a mysterious divine beast
and a Spirit Ring containing unfathomable power
slowly took form…
..
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