Nine Heavens Martial Emperor

Chapter 425: Chapter 421: Ascending from Mortal to King

Not much time had passed, but when the True Self Divine Soul reappeared, it had already transformed.

Not only had its form grown, but it was also wreathed in Chaos Qi. A terrifying aura faintly emanated from it, like a slumbering Ancient Divine King.

A portion of the power from the sun, moon, and stars was absorbed by the True Self Divine Soul, while the Saint Leaf’s essence and the Divine Spring’s power surged from the crown of Lin Hao’s head to nourish it.

As these forces merged, the Chaos Qi around the True Self Divine Soul grew denser still. Its aura became even more terrifying, as if the slumbering Divine King was about to awaken.

Lin Hao’s cultivation was at the Fourth Layer of Soul Gathering Realm, yet his True Self Divine Soul already possessed such might; it was simply unimaginable.

But on second thought, it made perfect sense.

After all, Lin Hao’s Divine Soul had been formed from the very origin of the human body—an evolution that occurred after he witnessed the formation of the Dragon’s Nine Sons and the birth of the Dragon Mother. It was the true, nascent form of the Dao.

Now, nourished by Chaos Qi, the Divine Soul naturally released wisps of an aura imbued with the Dao Rhyme of heaven and earth.

The Divine Soul’s aura was terrifying, and Lin Hao himself was not to be outdone.

His cultivation was soaring, and he still hadn’t reached his limit. Lin Hao chewed and swallowed the Saint Leaf, its essence transforming into an ocean that surged through his entire body.

The power of the sun, moon, and stars entered his body, intertwining with the ocean of essence. After being tempered by the power of the Divine Spring, it transformed into one stream of Chaos Qi after another.

The Chaos Qi coursed through Lin Hao’s entire body, flowing through his meridians and converging at his Dantian.

Just as Lin Hao thought his cultivation was about to break through to the Fifth Layer of Soul Gathering Realm, a sudden change occurred.

Lin Hao felt the Tai Chi Array Map in his Dantian rotate, and the drop of Lifebound True Blood at its center suddenly shone with brilliant light.

Then, a peculiar thing happened.

The drop of Lifebound True Blood at the center of the Tai Chi Array Map in Lin Hao’s Dantian, which was originally red, began to change color.

The red slowly faded, and then it became orange.

Once the Lifebound True Blood turned orange, the Tai Chi Array Map trembled. The blood grew ravenous, frantically absorbing the Chaos Qi in Lin Hao’s body.

But this was not the limit, because the orange color did not last long. The Lifebound True Blood changed color again, turning yellow.

The mutated Lifebound True Blood became even more insatiable, and its rate of absorbing Chaos Qi suddenly increased severalfold.

And this was still not the limit, because the Lifebound True Blood changed color again, becoming green.

When a drop of green blood appeared in the center of the Tai Chi Array Map in Lin Hao’s Dantian, it grew violent. The vast ocean of Chaos Qi was devoured with unstoppable force. That single drop of green blood was like a bottomless pit, swallowing the Chaos Qi that Lin Hao produced.

And that drop of green blood, aside from its color deepening, showed no other abnormalities.

Throughout this process, Lin Hao did not stop it. Instead, he frantically activated his Emperor Art to generate more Chaos Qi.

Lin Hao could sense that as the color of his Lifebound True Blood changed, his True Self Divine Soul became more attuned to him. At the same time, immense Spiritual Power began to well up in his mind.

Not only that, but as this Spiritual Power grew, some fragments he had never seen before flashed through Lin Hao’s mind.

The fragments were intermittent and seemed to belong to a powerful Secret Skill, but they were far too short for Lin Hao to piece them together.

Despite the ocean of Chaos Qi and Lin Hao’s constant production, the Lifebound True Blood’s absorption speed became too fast after it turned green. Before long, Lin Hao could sense the Chaos Qi running low.

At this, a flicker of worry crossed Lin Hao’s mind. ’If this Lifebound True Blood doesn’t stop, it’ll probably suck all the True Essence from my body dry.’

Thankfully, Lin Hao’s worry was unfounded. The Lifebound True Blood finally settled down.

And now, Lin Hao’s cultivation had stabilized at the peak of the Fourth Layer of Soul Gathering Realm.

BOOM!

At that moment, his Divine Soul, which had been outside his body, returned.

The next moment, the scene changed. Lin Hao had left the Saha World.

Time was up.

"The Saint Medicine! Did you eat the Saint Medicine?!" As soon as Lin Hao appeared on Heaven-Stepping Peak, the turtle egg was there. It took one look at him, froze in shock for a second, and then roared, its eyes looking ready to pop from their sockets.

It had noticed something was different about Lin Hao—and the change was enormous.

First was his cultivation level. In just a few hours, he had soared from the Second Layer of Soul Gathering Realm to the Fourth Layer. Second was his physique. Lin Hao originally had a mortal body; the only reason he could dominate his opponents, unaffected by his physique, was thanks to his Emperor Art.

But now, peering into his very Origin, the turtle egg saw that a drop of green True Blood had appeared in Lin Hao’s Dantian.

’Green Lifebound True Blood... That’s a Kingly Physique!’

Lin Hao’s Emperor Art, combined with the Divine Spring, could explain raising his cultivation by Two Layers. But to elevate a mortal body to a Kingly Physique? For Lin Hao, there was only one thing that could have done it: the Saint Medicine.

Seeing the turtle egg’s reaction, Lin Hao, who had grown quite impatient with its pestering over the past few days, felt his mood lift. He nodded with a perfectly straight face. "That’s right. If I didn’t eat it, you would’ve gotten your hands on it sooner or later. Now, that would have been a waste."

"You wastrel! You absolute wastrel! Do you have any idea that was a key ingredient for an ancient prescription? I was just trying to hold onto it for you!" the turtle egg howled, beside itself with rage.

"You’re kidding me. What kind of ancient prescription is so heaven-defying it requires a Saint Medicine as an ingredient?" Lin Hao’s interest was piqued, and he asked.

The turtle egg was so muddled by its anger at Lin Hao that it answered without thinking, "The ancient prescription from the secret realm’s underground palace, of course!"

Lin Hao’s eyes lit up.

He knew a little about that ancient prescription. It was said to have been prepared by Emperor Hongtian himself for a heaven-defying purpose, so using a Saint Medicine as a key ingredient was entirely believable.

"So what exactly does that ancient prescription do? And how can one get it?" Lin Hao pressed, seizing the opportunity.

But the turtle egg immediately grew wary. It said peevishly, "Unless you can find another Saint Medicine, don’t even dream of hearing another word from this divine turtle about..."

Before the turtle egg could finish, its eyes widened in shock. It stared as a red fruit suddenly appeared in Lin Hao’s hand.

"Aha! You dare to trick me!" The turtle egg lunged for it, but Lin Hao was faster, instantly tucking the fruit into his storage ring.

"Now can you tell me?" Lin Hao asked with a grin.

The turtle egg shook its head and said with a serious face, "It’s not good for you to know right now."

Hearing this, Lin Hao said irritably, "Then you can forget about me giving this to you."

"You think I want it? Do you have any idea how terrifying *he* is!" the turtle egg exclaimed, pointing toward the sky.

Lin Hao understood immediately. That wisp of the Celestial Dao’s will had not been destroyed.

But Lin Hao didn’t seem concerned. "So what?" he said calmly. "I’m guessing he can’t stray far from Forbidden God Mountain. Besides, he’s seriously wounded right now and has his own problems to deal with."

"He can’t stray far from Forbidden God Mountain, that’s true. But you’re dead wrong if you think that means he can’t deal with you," the turtle egg said, giving him a scornful look.

This time, Lin Hao was a bit surprised and asked, puzzled, "What do you mean by that?"

The turtle egg mentioned a name, but instead of clearing up Lin Hao’s confusion, it only made him more bewildered.