Without the command of the Marquis of Jinghuan, the Immortal Royal Flag, the G.o.d-Slayer Puppet and the Great Ice Moonlight Ruler paused momentarily before spreading out in all directions like prey running from their predators.
Xiao Zhener and the others were already a step ahead and tried their best to suppress and retrieve these magic items.
The cultivators under the command of the Marquis of Jinghuan scattered like rats, and n.o.body really paid attention to them anymore.
Yan Mingyue grinned as several streams of black and white Yin-Yang mana shot out to aid the others in capturing the Immortal Royal Flag and the other magic treasures.
Xiao Yan withdrew the Nefarious Almighty Sword as the Divine Token of the Five Thrones returned to the top of his head and enveloped in its signature five-colored treasure light. Xiao Yan was drained after the battle to the point where his legs became weak, but the Divine Token of the Five Thrones supported him and prevented him from falling to his unfortunate death into his own sea of flames - that would have been a real tragedy.
This battle could be said to have stripped the Marquis of Jinghuan till nothing was left. Besides the Immortal Royal Flag, the G.o.d-Slayer Puppet and the Great Ice Moonlight Ruler, even the Divine Body Armor of the Emperor of Violence was forcefully ripped from his body.
However, Xiao Yan refused to let his guard down. He took a moment to stabilize himself before he turned towards Yan Mingyue. "What do you have in mind?"
Yan Mingyue"s Heavenly Imperial Jade transformed into patches of white energy and encircled the G.o.d-Slayer Puppet. She held a white and translucent crystal-like ruler that was flickering with icy light in her hand as well.
On the other side, Xiao Zhener was channeling the power of the Ancient Royal Sword and the Ancient Lightning Jade Earring to suppress the Immortal Royal Flag as she returned to Xiao Yan"s side. Yang Qing, the Kui Cow King and the Spiritual Sea Horse King started leaning in towards Xiao Yan as everyone s.h.i.+fted their eyes towards Yan Mingyue.
Yan Mingyue flashed a warm smile and said, "I don"t mean you harm. I am just helping to hold down the G.o.d-Slayer Puppet and the Great Ice Moonlight Ruler for the time being. These items belong to you and I have no intention to claim them for myself."
Xiao Yan glanced at her and nodded his head. "If that"s the case, then you have my thanks."
With that, he released his inventory bag and a giant piece of tree log s.h.i.+mmered into vision. Its trunk was incredibly large and was flowing with thick spiritual energy.
Xiao Yan took a deep breath and absorbed the vast volumes of spiritual energy into his body, and his fatigue and dizziness were quickly remedied.
It took only a moment for Xiao Yan, who was previously about to collapse from fatigue, to return to his peak condition.
The epic battle with the Marquis of Jinghuan gave Xiao Yan a much-needed consolidation for his abhijnas and his control of mana. The eventual victory gave him an epiphany-like feeling that advanced his powers as he continued to absorb the spiritual energy from the colossal Cloud Forest Tree Trunk.
The large ma.s.s of the tree trunk started to shrink with a speed that was visible to the naked eye.
A spark of clear light lit up above his head and a figure appeared - it was Xiao Yan when he was barely the age of ten.
In this moment, Xiao Yan was consolidating and concentrating his entire life"s worth of mantras and special abilities. He channeled the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire, the Pure Yang Primordial Fire, the Grand Sun Primordial Fire, the Nanming Primordial Fire and the Heavenly Apocalyptic Blaze and used them as raw materials to materialize another human figure above his head.
The images of the eight trigrams appeared as well and morphed into the eight limbs of the giant figure. The pure-white Pure Yang Primordial transformed into the giant"s torso.
The other four primordial fires each morphed into a head.
The head formed from the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire was bluish-purple and had an air of dominance as it released an ear-splitting roar.
The Grand Sun Primordial Fire transformed into a pure-golden head that was so blinding, much like staring at the sun with naked eyes, that the others had to s.h.i.+ft their gazes away.
The golden head formed from the Nanming Primordial Fire had a pair of eyes that were radiating red and blue colors.
The Heavenly Apocalyptic Blaze morphed into a head that was emanating with black energy that was so dark and murky that its facial features were obscured and blurry.
All the heads on the giant started to howl as its eight arms flailed about. The clouds in the sky started flitting around and the domineering giant possessed a deeply petrifying aura as it stood there in the void.
It was apparent that Xiao Yan had managed to ascend the nascent soul advanced stage after his battle with the Marquis of Jinghuan and unleashed his cosmic form!
Below the cosmic form, Xiao Yan"s nascent soul also grew to his appearance when he was eleven or twelve. This was also a sign that he had ascended into the nascent soul advanced stage.
His nascent soul gradually descended into his head. Yan Mingyue smiled faintly as she watched everything and released the G.o.d-Slayer Puppet and the Great Ice Moonlight Ruler at the same time.
The two rogue items wanted to escape again, but Xiao Yan was prepared as he raised his eyes. He no longer needed the Divine Token of the Five Thrones to suppress the Great Ice Moonlight Ruler, and the eight arms of his cosmic form extended outwards and grabbed the G.o.d-Slayer Puppet at the same time.
The G.o.d-Slayer Puppet struggled meekly as the eight arms of Xiao Yan"s cosmic form roared again and rained streams of flames upon the G.o.d-Slayer Puppet and heavily damaged its soul.
Yan Mingyue smiled again and said, "Fearsome. Even though the G.o.d-Slayer Puppet cannot be truly considered to be an immortal soul stage cultivator, it"s not too far from one. Yet, Xiao Yan is still able to suppress it with his cosmic form."
Xiao Zhener, Yang Qing and the others did not look too surprised. They had just witnessed one of Lin Feng"s avatars unleash the cosmic form and the immortal soul avatar not too long ago.
Without the guidance of the Marquis of Jinghuan, the G.o.d-Slayer Puppet could only rely on its natural instincts to move about. It even started to fear Xiao Yan"s immense power as its struggling became weaker and weaker till the end when it was in complete submission.
Xiao Yan turned towards the unstable Immortal Royal Flag. A pale-golden human illusion appeared from within the black light of the Immortal Royal Flag - it was a figure formed from pure light and was clad in golden armor with a golden helmet. There was a royal aura about him, as if the emperor of an empire had arrived on scene.
It was the original soul of the Immortal Royal Flag. It was a metaplasilevel magic treasure, and was already capable of materializing its original soul.
The only problem was that, before a magic treasure reached the Mahayana level, the power that a magic treasure could channel on its own was highly limited without tan owner. At this moment, the Ancient Lightning Jade Earring and the Ancient Royal Sword were also watching him with hostile eyes.
The original soul of the Immortal Royal Flag watched Xiao Yan for a while before it heaved a defeated sigh. "I wish to meet the leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders. Before that, I don"t wish to be enemies with you, and I am willing to travel with the lot of you as well."
The black light dissipated as the Immortal Royal Flag reverted to its original form of a giant black banner and drifted down in front of Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan waved his hands as the sea of flames all around receded in an instant and returned into the center of his palms. There were even charcoal-colored remnants of armor that returned with the ocean of fire - they were the pieces of the Divine Body Armor that Xiao Yan had so mercilessly torn apart with the Quad Fire Lotus and the Yin Yang Burning Heavens Formation.
Xiao Yan used his mana to sweep one of the broken pieces and sensed the concepts of power contained within before he kept them.
After using the Divine Token of the Five Thrones to retrieve the Great Ice Moonlight Ruler, he turned back towards Yan Mingyue. "Yan Mingyue, whatever your intentions are, I have to thank you for your help."
"It is your right to share in the spoils of war as well. You can pick one."
The spoils of war from this battle was truly plentiful - there was a metaplasilevel magic treasure, a gestation-level magic treasure, an immortal soul stage Puppet, and a Divine Body Armor that had been destroyed but still contained much knowledge to be excavated.
The s.p.a.ces in the middle of the Immortal Royal Flag contained the various treasures that the Marquis of Jinghuan had cached over the years, and were just lying there in wait for Xiao Yan to sort them out.
Yan Mingyue trained her eyes upon this handsome youth in front of her. She thought back to the courageous and brave teenager she had met all those years ago, and realized that he had indeed matured a lot since then.
Xiao Zhener and Yang Qing remained expressionless, but the Kui Cow King and the Spiritual Horse King were slightly taken aback as they started to deliberate.
It was clear that Xiao Yan meant something else with those words.
Yang Qing glanced at them and pa.s.sed a voice-projected message. "Yan Mingyue"s intentions in helping us out was not just to aid the Celestial Sect of Wonders - she wanted to help the Great Zhou Empire as well."
"Even though the Marquis of Jinghuan was born of the Great Zhou Empire, this person had a very complicated ident.i.ty and background. The form of the Buddha that you saw just now proves this point."
"Besides the lineage of the Emperor of Violence and the mantras that he had obtained from the Great Zhou Empire, he embodies shadows of the Great Void Sect"s Radical Faction and that mysterious monk as well. He is a liability in this expedition into the Ying Sea and the reappearance of the Three Mountains."
"Whether Yan Mingyue was acting as a direct disciple of the Great Void Sect or as a collaborator with the Great Zhou Empire, there was enough reason for her to remove this liability," Yang Qing paused momentarily and raised his eyes towards the void above. "If I"m not wrong, Yan Mingyue"s true target is the mysterious monk behind the Marquis of Jinghuan. Even master is extremely curious about the ident.i.ty of that monk."
"The only problem is that that monk is too intelligent. He saw through Yan Mingyue"s intentions instantaneously and withdrew right away. Perhaps that"s because there are other people in the immediate vicinity besides Yan Mingyue, and if the monk refused to take off then an ambush would have been triggered."
The Kui Cow King and the Spiritual Sea Horse King chewed on his words but immediately turned solemn. "Will this ambush be used against us?"
Yang Qing said nothing more as he casted his gaze towards Yan Mingyue.
Yan Mingyue chuckled and said, "I said before that I mean no harm to the lot of you. These spoils of war are the direct result of your efforts, and I don"t want anything."
She smiled warmly at Xiao Yan and continued, "You are worthy as Lin Feng"s eldest disciple. You harness the power of five different primordial fires, and you have even been able to integrate the changes of the Yin and Yang into them."
The most powerful combination of Xiao Yan"s Tri Fire Lotus was the one formed from the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire, the Grand Sun Primordial Fire and the Heavenly Apocalyptic Blaze, yet Xiao Yan avoided that.
Instead, he used the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire, the Heavenly Apocalyptic Blaze and the Nanming Primordial Fire to form a Yin Fire Lotus while he used the Pure Yang Primordial Fire, the Grand Sun Primordial Fire and the Nanming Primordial Fire to form a Yang Fire Lotus. The Nanming Primordial Fire was the balance between Yin and Yang, and also acted as a conduit for the changes of the Yin Yang Burning Heavens Formation.
The multiple transformations of the magic formation were unnaturally complicated and profound. What was more important was the fact that the Primordial Fires were naturally violent and explosive, and the Heavenly Fire Lotus was dangerous and volatile as well. Channeling such volatile and explosive power to set up a magic formation was risky as if he mishandled just one step in the process, the magic formation would have erupted before anything else could happen.
Over the past three years, Xiao Yan mastered this powerful magic formation with his own studies and masteries, along with Lin Feng"s guidance.
Without this magic formation, even though Xiao Yan still had the world-ending power of the Quad Fire Lotus, he would not have achieved the same effect. He would still have been able to defeat the Marquis of Jinghuan, perhaps, and eventually send him running for his life, but he would not have been able to cut off his escape route and end his life right there and now.
The appearance of the Quad Fire Lotus was still a shocker for Yan Mingyue and the Marquis of Jinghuan as Xiao Yan was only supposed to be able to start practicing that after he ascended to the nascent soul advanced stage.
However, Lin Feng made special preparations for him when he first formed the nascent soul. Lin Feng used the powers of five different primordial fires to aid Xiao Yan in the process, and integrated the various abhijnas and mana into his nascent soul as a foundation for his eventual mastery. These foundations led to Xiao Yan"s eventual success and his ability to fuse the four different primordial fires together to form the Heavenly Fire Lotus that sh.e.l.l-shocked even immortal soul stage cultivators.
Xiao Yan smiled at Yan Mingyue and said, "You flatter me."
His eyes swept across the void and asked slowly, "What plans do you have after this?"
He had also considered the same problem that Yang Qing thought about previously.