'A Supreme True Body?'
Yang Tian gasped inwardly when he saw this.
He was slightly shocked.
A Supreme True Body was a Great Divine Technique, and not just an ordinary one. If Yang Xiao were from the outside worldāa cultivated member of an Emperor Race's direct lineageāthen it would be understandable. He would have had opportunities to learn such Great Divine Techniques.
But he had grown up here in the Celestial Cloud Region. To have cultivated such a Great Divine Technique was truly unexpected.
This left Yang Tian utterly astonished.
But then he remembered that Yang Xiao possessed both a Red Blood Hound and Greater Yang Power.
'So, cultivating a widely known Great Divine Technique like this should have been possible for him.'
Even so, his perception of Yang Xiao deepened.
He felt even more optimistic about his future.
Yang Ziling and Zhang Mengfei, however, did not recognize the origin of this Divine Technique.
They were surprised,
but not shocked.
It was a case of ignorance breeding fearlessness.
Meanwhile, as soon as the Qilin True Body broke through,
its aura also began to rise rapidly.
Yang Xiao could be said to have poured a tremendous amount of effort into this Qilin True Body.
He hadn't been the least bit stingy, even using his True Greater Yang Fire and the Heaven and Earth Origin Fire Source.
By refining it day and night, he had long ago laid a solid foundation.
Thus, after the Qilin Treasure Blood reached the required level,
the Qilin True Body, which had been stuck at the Peak of Tier Four, instantly reached the Peak of Fifth Tier First Grade, and then broke through in one fell swoop.
It reached Tier Five Middle Grade.
Finally, it stopped at the Peak of Tier Five Middle Grade.
Furthermore, its true combat strength could likely rival a Barbaric Beast at the Peak of Tier Five Upper-Grade.
Its form also faintly changed, becoming lifelike, as if corporeal.
A satisfied smile appeared on Yang Xiao's face.
"This should be about enough."
Yang Xiao smiled faintly.
But his next move
was something even Yang Tian couldn't comprehend.
With a wave of his hand, he produced five small, strange flags from his Storage Ring.
They looked ordinary,
but they faintly exuded the air of Magical Artifacts and the aura of the Immortal Dao.
This made Yang Tian frown slightly.
Yang Xiao, however, paid them no mind.
He began to make his preparations.
He had obtained two of these five flags long ago.
The remaining three he had only recently pulled from Xuan Tianzhan's Storage Ring.
They held the soul of the Earth Fire Qilin Beast.
Originally, Yang Xiao didn't have the Earth Fire Qilin Beast's soul, which made resurrecting it incredibly difficult. He would have needed to cultivate the Qilin True Body to the point where it could turn from ethereal to corporeal, generating its own flesh and blood.
And even then, it wouldn't have been a true resurrection.
However, Xuan Tianzhan's act of extracting the Earth Fire Qilin Beast's soul had actually made resurrecting it much easier.
As long as Yang Xiao was willing to sacrifice his Qilin True Body,
and merge the Earth Fire Qilin Beast's Beast Soul into it,
it could be resurrected.
'In the time to come, I must race against fate. There's no telling if I will succeed in the future. So, Earth Fire Qilin Beast, this is all I can do for you right now. I hope you won't blame me.'
He sighed inwardly.
With a point of his finger, the soul fragments within the five flags surged out as one.
In the void,
they gradually merged,
beginning to form a complete soul.
But some unknown power was constantly interfering,
preventing it from fully forming.
Originally, Yang Xiao had not planned to resurrect the Earth Fire Qilin Beast so quickly.
After all, the Qilin True Body he had cultivated was still ethereal. If the beast was resurrected now, its future cultivation would depend on itself.
Its future would be unpredictable.
Yang Xiao felt he owed the beast a great debt and was uneasy about repaying it in this manner.
But now, things were different.
Xuan Tianzhan could become the master of the Northern Wilderness Sword Mansion in as little as ten days.
If he succeeded,
Yang Xiao's own life would be in peril.
And this was the greatest obsession he'd had since his rebirth.
Yang Xiao felt that if he didn't resolve it now,
he was afraid that in the time to come,
he would find it difficult to be fearless and give his all.
So, upon seeing the four Red Blood Hound corpses, he made his decision.
Resurrect the Earth Fire Qilin Beast.
Eliminate this obsession.
"With my blood as the guide, let the scattered souls become one! Condense!"
The soul fragments had emerged,
but they refused to combine.
With a low cry, Yang Xiao cut his finger and dripped a drop of Essence Blood into the swirling fragments.
Instantly, the five soul fragments finally merged into one,
becoming a somewhat dazed-looking Earth Fire Qilin Beast.
"I... where am I?"
As soon as the Earth Fire Qilin Beast's Beast Soul took form, it saw Yang Xiao.
At first glance, it felt a sense of familiarity but couldn't remember who he was.
But soon, a flood of memories surged forth.
Finally, they settled on the moment it had saved Yang Xiao.
"It's you! I gave you my Essence Blood and my Inner Core! I saved you! Why did you extract my soul? What do you want?"
Seeing the Earth Fire Qilin Beast's terrified expression,
Yang Xiao felt a pang of helplessness.
He knew Xuan Tianzhan must have damaged the beast's memory when extracting its soul, causing it to completely forget who had done it.
He had expected as much, however.
In fact, he was a little surprised that the Earth Fire Qilin Beast could recognize him at all.
This was a good thing.
It meant its memories weren't missing in large chunks.
"Don't worry. You saved my life; how could I possibly harm you? Your soul was extracted by Xuan Tianzhanāthe man who came after. Now, I'm going to resurrect you."
As he spoke, Yang Xiao gestured with both hands,
and the Qilin True Body flew over.
He forcibly shattered the Spirit Will he had left upon it.
With a strangled cry,
he spat out a mouthful of blood,
and his expression turned listless.
'He really gave it up?'
Yang Tian was stunned.
He had been skeptical when he heard the conversation between Yang Xiao and the Earth Fire Qilin Beast's soul.
But now,
he finally understood.
His junior brother had not been lying.
'To abandon a Great Divine Technique like the Supreme True Body just like that... he is truly his mother's son. This trip was not in vain. Even if I can't stop Xuan Tianzhan, just meeting my junior brother is a blessing in itself.'
Yang Tian's estimation of Yang Xiao rose even higher.
This time, it wasn't about talent or strength,
but about character.
The Earth Fire Qilin Beast's soul, however, simply stared blankly at the Qilin True Body before it,
looking a bit dazed.
It didn't know what to do.
It felt an intense attraction to the body,
wanting to merge with it,
but it was a little hesitant.
"What are you waiting for? Merge with it and refine it! Or are you going to let it just dissipate into thin air?"
Yang Xiao barked.
"Oh, oh, I get it!"
Looking adorably clueless, the Earth Fire Qilin Beast's soul subconsciously surged into the Qilin True Body.
As it surged in,
an overwhelming sense of familiarity washed over it. It felt an incredible compatibility with this body,
as if it had always been its own.
Moreover, this body was powerful,
far surpassing its previous physical form.
'And it can even change form?'
"Huh, in that case, can I take human form?"
A thought struck the Earth Fire Qilin Beast.
Instantly, it transformed into a youth with long, purplish-red hair.
When he saw the youth's face,
Yang Xiao was stunned.
"Damn it, why did you make yourself look like me? Can't you be a little more creative?"
Yang Xiao yelled.
The beast,
had made itself look exactly like him.
Everything was identical, except for the hair.
"Have you no shame?!"