BOOM!

BOOM!

In two hours, Long Chen made three breakthroughs, returning to the third Heavenstage. Using the realm suppression technique taught by the Earth Cauldron, his foundation remained unshaken by the rapid advancement. In fact, his foundation was now even more solid and stronger than before. Having returned to the same realm he had been at when he entered the Heavenly Fate Divine Pool, Long Chen found his actual power to be much greater. This solid foundation allowed him to endure even more power.

However, he didn’t let himself get lost in this delight. The Earth Cauldron had warned him to be wary of the resentful devil spirits invading his mind. Although they weren’t affecting him now, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t later.

Three days later, Long Chen became even more careful, not letting too many flames enter him at once.

Long Chen learned that as his realm increased, the flames also grew stronger. Through his Spiritual Strength, he sensed some energy invading his body.

However, even as their energies erupted within him, he couldn’t sense that energy of resentment that he had been warned about. It seemed like the energy eruption caused their resentful wills to dissipate.

Could it be that their resentful wills have grown too weak to affect me? Long Chen didn’t quite believe it. However, as he continued to absorb the flames, he found that the resentful spirits truly couldn’t threaten him, having no effect on him at all.

Unbeknownst to Long Chen, as he absorbed these energies to increase his cultivation base, black spots silently appeared in his eyes, absorbing the energy of the resentful spirits.

An ocean’s worth of energy was silently being devoured by those black spots, all while Long Chen remained unaware.

The Jiuli race was truly terrifying. They could use such a method to aid their descendants’ cultivation. Unfortunately, this kind of magical technique is close to extinct now. Its power is likely not much inferior to the Heavenly Dao Tree's heaven-defying abilities, thought Long Chen as he absorbed the flames.

The Heavenly Dao Tree was indeed heaven-defying, but the Jiuli race could harness the spiritual energy of the devils they killed to help their descendants cultivate. That was equally terrifying.

In truth, Long Chen was unaware that this method was a forbidden art in the Jiuli race. Not just anyone could cultivate this way. Those who possessed this technique could only use it on the fiendish devil race, and there were many other restrictions.

BOOM!

Six hours later, Long Chen’s cultivation base reached the sixth Heavenstage. This was the fastest he had ever cultivated. Furthermore, the ease with which he did it made him feel like cultivation was very easy.

“With this, do I ever even need to eat medicinal pills?” Long Chen practically shouted in joy.

It was no wonder that the Earth Cauldron had told him to stop cultivating after reaching the third Heavenstage. It had already paved the way for him.

However, after the sixth Heavenstage, Long Chen’s speed clearly dropped. Startled, he looked around. Fortunately, the sea of flames was still enormous and powerful.

From the sixth Heavenstage to the seventh Heavenstage, Long Chen took a full day. Although it was just a single day, compared to before, it felt like a long time.

After reaching the seventh Heavenstage, due to how much energy was required, Long Chen directly exposed his body to the flames. He just kept suppressing his realm to ensure his foundation remained solid.

Days turned into weeks, and after a full month, Long Chen reached the twelfth Heavenstage. As he achieved this milestone, his aura exploded, shattering the entire sea of flames.

BOOM!

The stone pillar beneath him shattered, and the flame sea dwindled to a few flickering embers resembling ghostly flames drifting through the air.

“Hm? I still haven’t reached the full circle.” Long Chen’s heart sank. The Earth Cauldron had instructed him to activate the sealing rune only after advancing to the great circle. How was he supposed to activate it before reaching that point?

The Jiuli Tower no longer had many flames for him to absorb. Long Chen started to feel that something was off, though he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

According to reason, everything was within the Earth Cauldron’s expectations. If it said he could reach the great circle, then he should definitely be able to.

“Ugh, if there are no more flames, I’ll just need to use pills!” Having reached the twelfth Heavenstage, he was merely a single step away from the great circle. He started to voraciously devour medicinal pills.

Long Chen was pleasantly surprised by how effective the pills were. Since he hadn’t relied on them to advance from the first to the twelfth Heavenstages, he had not built up any resistance to them. As a result, the pills could showcase their best effect.

Another month passed. Long Chen’s aura swelled and expanded until he halted upon touching the next barrier.

“Hahaha, I’ve finally reached the great circle of the Divine Venerate realm!” Long Chen exclaimed, raising his head with laughter. Achieving this level from the first Heavenstage in just two short months marked the fastest advancement of his life.

However, he had used up a great deal of time before this. Most likely, the Dragonblood warriors were around the great circle as well. In the past, he had always lagged far behind everyone else. But this time, he had managed to arrive first.

Long Chen carefully used the transportation formation to leave. Fortunately, the tower didn’t collapse. As for the lack of flames inside, it had nothing to do with him.

“Boss!”

The moment Long Chen came out, he saw Long Ziwei waiting for him, looking very anxious and noticeably thinner.

“What happened to you?”

“I’m fine! I was just worried about you. You’ve been in there the whole time,” replied Long Ziwei. “Boss, you entered the Jiuli Tower, but how come your cultivation base is only at the seventh Heavenstage?”

He had expected Long Chen to be at the great circle, or at least the ninth Heavenstage, after entering the Jiuli Tower. Instead, he saw that Long Chen’s aura was only at the seventh Heavenstage.

Long Chen naturally wouldn’t reveal that he had sealed his cultivation base. He asked, “Tell me the truth. What happened?”

Hearing this, Long Ziwei directly knelt on the ground and said, “I’m sorry, Boss. I was unable to accomplish your orders. I could not protect them.”

“What happened?!”

“You told me to protect the mercenaries, but Long Zaiye mobilized the Long clan’s disciples to bully them every day. Just yesterday, Brother Fang… he was killed by Long Zaiye.”

“What?!” Long Chen was enraged. He had never expected Long Zaiye to be so shameless as to bully a group of mercenaries.

“Get up! Bring me to see him!” Long Chen’s eyes blazed with killing intent.