3rd Layer

"Is that right? Do you specifically know who is currently up the mountain?" Lin Xiang curiously asked without any hint of apprehension in his tone.

Such confidence left the Sacred Emperor Mansion members a bit startled. One of the Elders hurriedly added, "Fellow brother shouldn't underestimate anyone up there. We only caught wind of the intel, but the ones up are the Blood Demon Sect, Spirit Heaven Valley, and the Sword Monarch Palace. Each of them has cultivation arts that far superior, superior weapons, and superior talents. Even in the same realm, they're all overwhelming dangerous."

Calmly listening, faint memories poured into Lin Xiang's mind. There were geographical books detailing the sects belonging to the surrounding area and the most popular across the continent.

Sects like Blood Demon, Spirit Heaven Valley, and Sword Monarch Palace can't be considered as the very peak. But they are powerful enough to overwhelm countless lesser-tier sects and organizations, such as the Sacred Emperor Mansion!

'Guessing it, these sects most likely have several peak Heavenly Kings, a few half-steps Divine Lords, and most likely one extremely ancient ancestor who barely made it in the Divine Lord realm. It should be good enough...' Lin Xiang's eyes faintly glinted. He already made numerous aspirations and goals in his mind.

These Divine tier sects would start as a good foothold for his new journey. Even without those sects, Lin Xiang still needed to reach the peak of the mountain if he didn't risk dying.

Hence, Lin Xiang casually turned around and began walking back up Polaris Mountain. He said without turning back, "Many thanks fellow brothers and sister for the information. I pray you all to have a safe journey back."

Every footstep of his seemed to be radiant, with unspeakable assurance. As if Lin Xiang wasn't about to face Divine Tier organizations that can flatten the entire Sacred Emperor City with just a few powerful cultivators, but simple roadblocks.

Yin Xinya and the Elders could only stare at Lin Xiang's mysterious back in slight puzzlement.

One of the Elders suddenly sighed, saying, "Could he really perhaps be from the same province? It would make sense why he had zero reaction to those sects."

"But even then, I doubt anyone from that province can just causally blow off any one of those sects. This person really is too mysterious..." The other Elder shook his head.

At this point, Yin Xinya suddenly jerked up. She let out a small groan of frustration when already seeing Lin Xiang vanish from her sight. "Ah! We should have at least attempted to get his name, fake name, title, or means of contact. Now, who knows if we'll ever see this mysterious expert again?"

A random person who wields combat prowess that can dominate Heavenly Origin experts while just at the late layers of the Profound realm was definitely worth more than just attention.

This would be a genius many would want to robe in their sect!

But while the benefits seemed high, there would always be negative effects.

One of the Elders pointed out the negatives saying, "I believe it's safer that we keep it this way. An unknown entity like that expert can also cause our downfall at any time. Best we get back to the mansion and began figuring out the reason behind this ambush."

"Right." Both Yin Xinya and the Elder nodded.

Though, Yin Xinya couldn't get rid of this prickling feeling in her soul ever since Lin Xiang had first shown up.

...

A figure in faint red-blue lights effortlessly tore through the 2nd layer of Polaris Mountain. His speed couldn't be perceived by other late-layer Heavenly Origin experts.

He traversed several hundreds of meters per second. He wasn't the slightest bit affected by the Extreme Fire Law essence engulfing the atmosphere.

Of course, a figure who can so causally barrel through the power of Extreme Fire was Lin Xiang.

Though Lin Xiang couldn't tear through the skies yet, he certainly felt like he was flowing through the clouds.

Just utilizing his bloodline for non-combat situations was effortless for him. It was helpful as Lin Xiang didn't want to waste so much time dealing with random, monstrous beasts on the long travel.

Time slipped by as Lin Xiang shredded up the mountain. He reached numerous miles deep in only five minutes.

Hiking up Polaris Mountain would typically take other cultivation groups hours or even days. As the beasts patrolling around would be troublesome to deal with. There was also the intense atmosphere permeating the area, also making it difficult to gather energy from the Qi Sea.

None of these troubles could bother Lin Xiang. He was hundreds of miles deep in Polaris Mountain in time at all.

It was finally at this point did Lin Xiang finally see and experienced a change in the scenery.

The scorching heat and molten lava didn't completely disappear. Instead, it beautifully mixed in with the freezing cold and glistening frosty ice.

Everything was out of common logic and order. Large patches of lava and ice gorgeously combined without any forces tearing away at each other. Specks of frost and air that sizzled filled the atmosphere.

Mountain peaks had lava following at the bottom and then shining crystal ice completely shrouding its top.

The lower layers of Polaris Mountain seem like different worlds compared to the third layer.

Even down to the temperature were things extremely odd.

Lin Xiang could feel a mix of sizzling and freezing cold. Any weaker cultivator would shiver but also sweat in this mixed temperature. Only through the mystical powers of Great Dao Laws can such an environment exist.

The forces of the universe could evolve and mutate together, either through natural causes or the forces of cultivators with an extreme understanding of the Great Dao.

A few steps into the fire-ice region, Lin Xiang could detect numerous powerful, monstrous beasts in the surrounding area.

These creatures ranged from peak Profound layer to late layers Heavenly Origin.

Nothing could threaten him here. But, things would be incomparably dangerous for sects with only a Heavenly King ancestor foundation.

Lin Xiang casually looked around. As Soul Sense permeated the atmosphere, a small smile curled his lips. 'I'm already close to the peak. This atmosphere source essence is at a far higher layer. Might as well reach the peak before reaching the top.'

With a thought, a Heavenly bead appeared within Lin Xiang's palm.

When he reaches a breakthrough, the Heavenly bead would have enough World source energies to enhance his Qi Sea towards the 9th layer of the Profound realm.

Of course, only special bloodline users can enjoy such an advantage of absorbing beads at a higher cultivation base than them.

Special bloodline users have far better Qi Seas. The foundations of their Qi Seas are reinforced at least several or dozens of times more than the average cultivator.

Special bloodline users' bodies also have high, innate defenses because of the powerful essence particles from their bloodline energy.

Thus, they can withstand the powerful force that is within the particles of Heavenly energy.

Lin Xiang wasn't worried about any monstrous beasts sneaking up on him. He promptly sat in a meditative state, Heavenly bead in hand, and began cultivating.

His Spiritual Sea quickly filled to the brim with particles of unique Extreme fire-ice Law essence. Two opposing forces perfectly mixing produced enlightening particles for Lin Xiang to comprehend.

Within the fiery destruction of flames was the deathly stillness of unbreakable ice. There was still a fine line away from a true fusion of fire-ice.

But what was felt broadened Lin Xiang's perspective.

Instead of just letting these forces simply co-exist within his body, it would be, or more accurately, the correct path to perfectly mixed the forces together.

Only through this way could his own understanding of the universe grow and can his personal prowess increase.

The growth of his Spiritual Sea extended to Lin Xiang's Absolute Yin-Yang bloodline. Just like with the fire-ice environment, he began comprehending Absolute Yin and Absolute Yang at the same time.

The foundation has already been made. It didn't take long at all for Lin Xiang to begin grasping a faint understanding of the true powers of his absolute bloodline.

The fog of his bloodline energy was still heavily deep within his Spiritual Sea. But with every minute passing, Lin Xiang could just barely grasp tiny particles within this fog.

These particles weren't anything like Lin Xiang perceived before. They were actually a mixed fusion of Absolute Yin and Absolute Yang bloodline energy!

His Spiritual Sea deepened as the comprehension of his true bloodline just slowly increase.

Minutes later, Lin Xiang's body jerked. Streaks of Fire and Ice radiance glowed out his skin. The luminous red-blue light shined up to the skies, tearing away any clouds that met its path.

He was like a radiant red-blue star that rippled with power that could overwhelm the world!

A dominating atmosphere naturally formed around Lin Xiang. Any weak Heavenly Origin beast wanting to get near would experience getting painfully burned and completely frozen!

At this time, the Heavenly bead emitted a clean shine. World Source energy poured into Lin Xiang's body. The World Source energy was first refined by a portion of bloodline energy, converging into the purest source of Profound energy for Lin Xiang.

This pure source energy rapidly absorbs into his Qi Sea, enhancing his Profound energy to the peak of the 8th layer.

Once his Profound energy had reached its current peak, a suction force was released from his Spiritual Sea.

A small mental barrier attempted to block him from absorbing stronger energy. But with just a pulse of soul essence, Lin Xiang shattered the barrier to pieces.

His comprehension abilities match the peak of the Profound realm!