Armipotent

Tang Shaoyang sat cross-legged next to the phoenix’s remains and started to cultivate, continuing with Heavenly Meridian Opening Art and the Heavenly Body Transformation.

It was Han Taiyang’s advice to use the Phoenix’s energy to cultivate. He said it would be more effective than using his own Heavenly Energy. He followed the advice. It was fast, but not as fast as Han Taiyang claimed to be.

Based on Han Taiyang’s advice, it was faster to open the meridian using stronger energy. That was when he was struck with an idea. He used Heavenly Meridian Art with Chaos Energy.

He previously used Chaos Energy when he opened his meridians, but he converted it into Heavenly Energy first. This time, he used the pure Chaos Energy to open his meridians. As Han Taiyang said, it became faster and more effective.

As he channeled the Chaos Energy, his meridians grew in size and got stronger. His meridians could channel more energy, thereby increasing the speed of meridian opening.

He was here for Spirit Summoning, but ended up cultivating, and he opened his whole meridians, the two hundred and fifty-six meridians. The moment the last path opened, he noticed a change.

The sleeping dragon in his dantian opened its eyes. At the same time, the energy in his dantian gets purified even further. Then the signature gold energy of Heavenly Energy started to change as well.

The bright gold slowly dimmed, turning into dark gold. His dantian also grew in size and could contain more energy now. He no longer executed the Meridian Opening Art since he had already opened all his meridians, yet the energy kept flowing through the already opened paths.

The flow of energy was getting quicker, and he noticed his meridians were enlarged in real time. Meanwhile, the dragon was swimming around in his dantian. It looked content and seemed to notice his gaze on it. It stared back and conveyed its contentment toward him.

Tang Shaoyang didn’t know how to react or what he should do with this little dragon. But one thing was for sure, it didn’t have malice, and in fact, it made his energy get stronger. His body was currently overflowing with energy, and he didn’t waste his time continuing with the Heavenly Body Transformation.

He continued with the Heavenly Body Transformation. He let his dark-gold energy refine his meridian and channeled the Chaos Energy for the Heavenly Body Transformation.

It was just his instinct, telling him to continue to ride the momentum. Han Taiyang didn’t even advise him to continue. He followed his instinct with the Heavenly Body Transformation.

It was smooth and quicker than his previous transformation. It took him some time until he noticed that his Chaos Energy was getting absorbed by something. He paused for a moment and noticed the one who absorbed his Chaos Energy was his own dantian, the little dragon.

The Chaos Energy flowed into the meridian and entered his dantian, then it was absorbed by the little dragon. It was like a little glutton who found its favorite food.

He didn’t know what would happen if the little dragon absorbed his Chaos Energy, but he allowed it as it looked happy. He continued with his Heavenly Body Transformation and completed it in one sitting.

It took him eight hours to open all paths in his meridians, and it took him ten hours to finish the Heavenly Body Transformation. It took longer because of the little glutton in his dantian who stole his Chaos Energy.

Tang Shaoyang didn’t stop there as he absorbed the energy from the phoenix remains. He sent them to the dantian and gave a feast to the little glutton. He didn’t waste the energy from the phoenix before using its body for sacrifice.

As he expected, the little glutton greedily took the new energy happily. By the time he finished absorbing the phoenix’s energy, the little glutton fell asleep. It curled up and fell into slumber once more.

He didn’t really know what exactly had happened, but he had a hunch what had happened. The little glutton was refining the energy it had just eaten. It would wake up again once it had fully ingested what it had just eaten.

Tang Shaoyang stood up, still inside the lava. For some reason, staying inside the lava made him more comfortable than before when he first entered. It was like a sauna to him now.

The plan was just to look for a location for Spirit Summoning, but he ended up cultivating instead. Not that he regretted it, in fact, he was satisfied with his gains. Next, he only needed to learn defensive, footwork, and offensive technique.

“Alright, let’s wrap this up!”

He turned toward the floating Fire Essence. The essence hadn’t fully matured, but he decided to take it now. He would use this place to summon a spirit, and it was bound to attract people’s attention with the Spirit Summoning phenomenon. If he left it behind, someone else would take it.

[Phoenix Fire Essence!]

He figured it out; it was not just ordinary fire essence, but something even better. With two Phoenix Fire Essences, Rosalie and Liang Suyin could each. He put the fire essence into his inventory and used his energy to create a space.

It would be silly if he lost his materials because of the lava. He poured all the dead bodies from his inventory, and he had to expand the space further to contain all of them.

Spirit Summoning!

The moment the skill was activated, the bodies were burned by the dark purple flame, including the phoenix’s remains. He was at ease when he saw the dark purple fire. It was the same color as the Phoenix Fire Essence. It meant he was summoning the right target.

Tang Shaoyang didn’t remain inside the volcano. His figure shot up to the sky, leaving the cramped space. Since the first two friends asked for a fight, he figured out the phoenix would ask for a fight as well. The inside volcano was too cramped for a fight.

He waited for the summoning in the sky. At the same time, he scanned the surroundings. He made sure that no one would interrupt him or watch him. It was safe since the mountain was far from any settlements.

The ground shook, and the dark purple flame shot out from the volcano mountain. It also shot up the dark lava, creating a rain of lava around the mountain. This was why he could not leave the Phoenix Fire Essence behind.

Along with the dark-purple flame that shot to the sky, a screech resounded in the air. His luck was on his side today; he got all he wanted. Three Desolate Heavenly Beast spirits.

He was quite lucky because all three Desolate Heavenly Beasts became spirits. There was a chance that they didn’t become spirits, after all. The fact that they became a spirit meant they had unfinished business when they were alive. Or maybe they sought vengeance.

A silhouette took shape inside the pillar of dark purple fire, the silhouette of a phoenix. He quickly recognized it because he also had a Phoenix Spirit, and both were not normal, a variant. Baccara’s flame was dark, and this one was dark purple.

[You have summoned an Archaic Spirit, Xiyue the Phoenix!]

The phoenix shot up to the sky with its wings opened wide before taking a dive toward the same volcanic mountain. The temperature rose and burned everything at the stake as the ground was set ablaze by the purple flame.

“Are you my summoner?”

Phoenix was a beast made of fire, and her whole body was made of dark-purple fire. However, he spotted a difference between the phoenix in front of him and Baccara. It was the golden crown above her head. The crown was radiating a brilliance of golden lights and rotated.

“I am.”

“I will serve you if you promise me… No, I want it in our pact that you must help me with my vengeance!”

Shizi and Bao Xue became spirits because they wanted a second chance, not for vengeance. They wanted to achieve an ascension to be a Heavenly Beast. That was the reason why they agreed to become spirits. At least, that was what they told him after they made a contract.

Xiyue, however, agreed to be a spirit for revenge, and he noticed another thing. Xiyue was not a heavenly beast, not even a Desolate Heavenly Beast. The System just titled her as Phoenix, nothing else.

“I hope your two friends are as reasonable as you.”

That remark confused Xiyue, but before she could ask what it meant, a notification appeared in front of her. It was the pact between her and Tang Shaoyang. It was a pretty simple pact. She would serve him for five hundred years, and he would help with her revenge.

The clause stated that the contract would be canceled if the summoner didn’t fulfill his promise or died. It was quite extreme, but she didn’t mind it. In fact, she needed that kind of assurance to fully serve her contractor. It didn’t take long for her to agree to the pact as she turned into a dark-purple orb and entered Tang Shaoyang’s forehead.

[You have established a contract with Xiyue the Phoenix!]

Curious, Tang Shaoyang checked Xiyue’s rank, and he was in for a surprise because Xiyue was a pinnacle rank Archaic Spirit.