One more catty, one more attribute point

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The thunder rumbled from afar to near, the world before him shrouded by a yin wind that darkened the skies, a terrifying image of doomsday approaching.

The outskirts of Zhuqiong Mountain.

Upon a steep cliffside where rock pines grew.

Xu Hanlin sat cross-legged on a gnarled branch of a pine, his expression serene, flipping through a book in his hands.

Yet his gaze wasn't on the book but fixated on the thunderous flashes in the distant sky. Black winds blew from the heavens, stirring his hair and the hem of his clothes, also flipping the pages of the book with a rustling noise. Occasionally, one could see a smear of crimson bloodstain on its pages.

Swish!

A red light illuminated beside Xu Hanlin.

The Taotie with a human's face and sheep's body yawned, walking lazily out from the midst of the fiery light.

"You are still flipping through this letter your mother left you," the Taotie clambered down onto a flat rock, using its paw-like hands to scratch its chin. "You must have memorized the contents by now."

"Could it be that some peerless divine technique is hidden inside?" The Taotie's eyes suddenly lit up as it extended its neck closer.

"It's just an ordinary family letter," Xu Hanlin looked up at the Taotie, saying calmly. "She was locked up in the Demon Suppression Tower for over twenty years, not knowing whether I was dead or alive. She just wrote some words she wanted to say, as if I were still by her side..."

"This paper, and the ink too. They were all exchanged from the Demon Suppression Bureau bit by bit with her own flesh and blood."

Xu Hanlin's voice grew lower and lower.

The Taotie opened its mouth but said nothing, laying back down on the rock.

Whoosh!

Something shocking happened.

Xu Hanlin held the book he treasured so dearly high above, and a sudden flare of fire ignited atop it. The crimson flames set the pages ablaze, and spurred by the wind, it seemed as if scores of butterflies were dancing against the wind, a gorgeous sight to behold under the dark dome of the sky, like a dream.

Xu Hanlin's gaze was empty, faintly remembering the scene from over thirty years ago.

He and his mother lived in a courtyard filled with blooming flowers, where similar butterflies fluttered.

"Those beautiful times, gone and never to return," as the flames in the air extinguished, the flickers of light in Xu Hanlin's eyes also dimmed.

"You..." The Taotie looked at Xu Hanlin, its gaze filled with surprise.

The letter that Xu Hanlin had cherished was now destroyed by his own hands, burnt to ashes.

"I can sense his presence right here," Xu Hanlin slowly stood up, arms outstretched, his eyes reflecting the bleakness of the darkened sky.

"I once said I would protect my mother, but she died right before my eyes."

"I broke my word," Xu Hanlin sighed, saying. "Regardless of win or lose, this will be my last battle."

"Let these memories accompany me to hell."

"Roar!"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Xu Hanlin suddenly threw back his head with a long howl.

Blood vessels burst in his eyes as something massive bulged from his back, a huge pair of dark wings, ablaze with somber demon flames, unfurled behind him. A piercing, harsh sonic boom shattered the rolling clouds in the sky at that moment, the mountain peak under his feet exploded, and he, carrying a sanguine aura, shot up into the sky, vanishing into the black torrent in a blink.

"Damn it, wait for me!" The Taotie was blasted away by the sudden gust, crawling out from a pile of debris covered in dust.

It spat a glob of saliva on the ground.

The Taotie appeared somewhat angry.

He still remembered when they had first met, he had simply regarded the other as a blood bag to heal his injuries.

But unexpectedly, over the months of living together, facing life and death, they had gradually formed a deep friendship.

Now, as Xu Hanlin left of his own accord, the Taotie found itself hesitating. It paced back and forth amidst the rubble, on one hand recalling Su Heng's fierce and vicious smile that inspired fear in its heart, and on the other hand reminiscing the moments he had lived with Xu Hanlin, their joint struggles, their mutual recognition.

In the end—

Emotion triumphed over reason.

Bang!

The Taotie slapped down, the giant rock mountain shrank by half due to its sheer force.

Its body suddenly blazed with dark flames, its tremendous shadow revealing the formidable presence of a top-tier demon.

"Damn it, I really am crazy," the Taotie cursed furiously.

The flames exploded.

His body transformed into a streak of dark light, chasing rapidly in the direction Xu Hanlin had disappeared.

...

...

When a distant dragon's cry reached his ears, Su Heng halted.

He looked up to see a grand expanse of black, a boundless and terrifying spectacle. Endless thunder fell from the heavens, clouds swirling tumultuously.

The massive rock peaks that had reached for the sky were now broken by this vast force, yet the fractured peaks did not fall. Instead, under the pull of a powerful force, they merged with numerous rocks to form a massive expanse of land floating in the air.

This was the origin of the "Sky Amidst the Clouds" phenomenon.

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In this ink-black and fierce continent of Cloud Summit, littered with rubble and broken peaks, a blurry dark dragon shape was faintly visible.

Because the distance was quite far and the environment was harsh,

Su Heng could only vaguely discern the dragon shape for the moment, but the immense dragon's power was already rolling in, causing palpitations in his chest. Without needing to say more, Li Lingxiu was indeed correct in the letter she had written. The tyrant dragon had once briefly stayed here, and because of the special environment of "Cloud Sky," it left its mark.

To this day, a thousand years later, that mark had never dissipated, still brazenly releasing dragon power as vast as the abyssal sea.

The time for the "Cloud Sky" secret realm to be open was limited.

Su Heng didn't want to waste it and continued forward.

Boom!

The storm brought a flash of lightning-streaked thunderclouds that mercilessly struck Su Heng.

In an instant, he felt as if he was submerged in a pool of lightning, his long hair standing on end, his entire body blackened, with traces of blood emerging from the more severely injured areas. Coughing up a waft of black smoke from his mouth, Su Heng looked somewhat bedraggled.

"That's got some kick," Su Heng flipped a middle finger at the distant sky.

He closed his eyes, mobilizing the Dragon Blood.

The formidable vitality released from his spine, flowing throughout his body with his highly mutated blood.

Su Heng's body seemed to be enveloped in a layer of golden light, as the slightly injured skin instantly healed. He grew more serious within, knowing that he was about to face a real test. He directly ignited the potential of the Dragon Blood, entering a state of Deep Blood Explosion.

After elevating the "Dragon Shedding Blood Refining Method" to the breaking limit and successfully integrating the Dragon Marrow,

Enjoy new adventures at empire

Su Heng, not only could dig into the potential of the Dragon Marrow like An Shelie and enter a state of Deep Blood Explosion, but he could also directionally strengthen his body with Dragon Blood according to different combat needs. Dragon Blood was like a handful of attribute points in Su Heng's hands that he could freely allocate, and now, Su Heng allocated these points to his defense.

Su Heng's muscles, bones, and skin were significantly enhanced.

His stature returned to his normal height of just over five meters, and then further increased to nearly six meters. Covered in armor-like muscles that shimmered with a metallic luster, his bones looked terrifyingly massive, and dark dragon scales appeared on Su Heng's skin.

The strength in his body was unleashed, burning fiercely, leaving tangible shadows in the gloomy void.

The Yin Wind was dark, and the lightning flashed with thunder.

This world seemed thoroughly enraged, with intense lightning falling like it cost nothing. Formed into a massive silver-white waterfall, over a dozen meters wide, it enveloped Su Heng completely. Zhuqiong Mountain was momentarily illuminated by the lightning, a silver-white expanse before the eyes. The only point of noticeable black was where Su Heng stood, unmoved, emitting an air of stability as unyielding as a mountain.

Bundles of gazes were drawn to this sight, first with schadenfreude, wondering which poor soul was struck by lightning. But when they saw Su Heng neither carrying a Cloud Key nor being hindered by the thunder as he strode forward, those gazes turned into horror.

A few cultivators standing in front of Su Heng frantically made way, parting the path for him, fearful that the Heavenly Thunder above him would affect them.

Su Heng, however, didn't care and continued on.

As he ventured further, the number of cultivators on the surrounding peaks grew fewer.

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Su Heng still saw a familiar figure on one of the mountain peaks, none other than Cui Mingri of the Fiery Sun Sect. Next to Cui Mingri stood a burly man with bared teeth, clad in fur and armor, who was also gaping at Su Heng with a shocked expression on his face from afar.

Su Heng and Cui Mingri exchanged glances across the distance.

Remembering how Cui Mingri had taken the initiative to invite him to the Fiery Sun Sect as a guest when he learned that he was being targeted by a Buddhist master, Su Heng felt somewhat grateful and nodded his head in greeting.

As he passed by Cui Mingri, all he saw was an empty expanse before him, with only a few giant mountain peaks standing in the midst of the sea of clouds, sparking with electricity. The vegetation on the mountains had been burned to ashes, and even the rocks and soil had turned into glistening glazed matter under the Heavenly Thunder and cataclysmic fires.

The few mountain peaks seemed like staircases leading to the central "Sky Amidst the Clouds."

Su Heng took a long look.

Having come this far,

even with the Cloud Key, many had already approached their limits.

At least within Su Heng's field of vision, not a single figure could be seen. And with just his physical body, he had arrived here without even touching his own limits.

His figure flickered, and he no longer hesitated. Taking a step forward, he blinked across to another Glazed Mountain peak. With another flicker, Su Heng's towering figure had already stepped onto the secret realm's central "Sky Amidst the Clouds."

And behind Su Heng,

Yuan Qianqiu and Cui Mingri both snapped their jaws shut with shock, withdrawing their gaze from Su Heng's back with terror on their faces.

Even carrying the Cloud Key, Yuan Qianqiu felt his scalp tingle from the lightning strikes.

His shoulder bore a massive wolf pelt that was giving off sparks of fire.

He opened his mouth and exhaled a large ring of smoke, clutching Cui Mingri's shoulder, "Brother, that fierce guy seemed to be greeting you just now, do you know him?"

"Haven't I told you?" Cui Mingri grimaced in pain from the grip on his shoulder, "Haven't I told you that the man who killed Zen Master Dingguang and saved my life in Jiangbei Continent was him just now. But it's strange that I haven't seen Li Lingxiu..."

"Baihua County's Demon Suppression Bureau Head, Su Heng." Cui Mingri asked curiously, "Do you know what a bureau head's position is?"

"Seems like a small local official." Yuan Qianqiu scratched his head with his claw.

Before he could go on, they heard the voice of another person echoing eerily through the darkness, "Su Heng... Did you just see him?"

Yuan Qianqiu and Cui Mingri both felt as if they had plunged into an ice cave.

A chill crept up their spines.

Both turned around simultaneously.

But behind them, a black-clad figure had appeared at some point, handsome and indifferent in appearance.

And most importantly, the person did not possess a Cloud Key. Standing there with hands behind his back, amidst the vortex of Heavenly Thunder and cataclysmic fire, his body was enveloped in a layer of faint Demon Flames, showing no clear signs of injury.

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