"How did you know about it?"
Zang Xin asked in a low voice.
The Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud was considered highly confidential.
Although the higher-ups of the Sea God Pavilion should all be aware of its existence, very few actually knew about it.
Tang Wulin coming directly to request the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud naturally stirred some excitement in Zang Xin.
Tang Wulin took a deep breath.
"Deputy Hallmaster Zang Xin, I urgently need the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, so I've been searching for its whereabouts. I hope you can lend it to me."
Zang Xin's expression slightly changed as he weighed whether to hand over the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud to Tang Wulin.
The current Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud was no longer what it used to be.
Before Tang San, the Heavenly Dou Empire had forgotten its use and treated it purely as a symbol. However, now, under Zang Xin, even without the divine power left by Tang San, the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud still had many uses.
It was, after all, a divine artifact.
---
Hell Plane
Xu Yuan and Rex were studying the situation of the Lord of Hell.
"The four divine beast bloodlines have merged exceptionally smoothly within you," Rex concluded.
"The Dragon, Phoenix, Black Tortoise, and White Tiger—each bloodline has its unique characteristics, and their fusion forms your current bloodline."
Xu Yuan knew that Rex was explaining this to him.
Studying bloodlines meant extracting only the mechanisms of their abilities, not fusing with them.
This was why Rex brought him along to study the blood mage system.
With the Lord of Hell as a specimen who had reached an extremely high level of bloodline fusion, Xu Yuan's understanding of bloodline powers, especially those of these four divine beasts, rapidly improved.
Among them, the Dragon bloodline stood out the most.
The Lord of Hell's Dragon bloodline originated from the Hell Plane, and this bloodline was very pure, devoid of the fluctuations left by the Dragon God that Xu Yuan was familiar with.
In other words, this Dragon bloodline had no connection to the Dragon God.
This indirectly indicated the location of the Hell Plane—at least outside the former Divine Dragon Realm.
Xu Yuan was naturally most familiar with the Dragon bloodline. By studying the mysteries of bloodlines from the Lord of Hell, he quickly made progress.
Time passed.
Three months later.
"Is it... done already?"
Xu Yuan felt somewhat unsatisfied.
He looked at Rex, hoping the latter would say more research was needed.
"I told you, I had already completed the prototype before. I just wanted to reference the mature blood mage system to refine it further." Rex rolled his eyes.
"Alright."
Xu Yuan could only pause this round of research.
To be honest, he now had a completely different understanding of the Dragon and Phoenix bloodlines. Without fusing the two bloodlines, he had already gained partial powers from both.
The Dragon represented strength, while the Phoenix represented rebirth.
With the aid of these two traits, Xu Yuan condensed the blood-essence rune 'Force' and further refined the Life-and-Death Rune.
From the Black Tortoise and White Tiger bloodlines, Xu Yuan also grasped one characteristic each. The Black Tortoise bloodline allowed him to condense the rune 'Dominance' for the Blood Essence Overbearing Body soul ring of his Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear martial soul, while the White Tiger bloodline helped him condense the rune 'Breakthrough' for his Piercing Spear soul skill.
This research directly yielded three new runes and significantly refined the Life-and-Death Rune.
Just these results alone were enough, fully justifying the three months Xu Yuan spent helping Rex perfect the so-called forbidden spell.
"What does your forbidden spell look like?"
For three months, Rex hadn't demonstrated any forbidden spells. He had only been conducting various analyses and making adjustments without actually casting the forbidden spell he spoke of.
"It's similar to the cultivation of blood mages. With the help of the forbidden spell, human cultivators can mutually assist beast races. Human cultivators gain the bloodline powers of beasts, perfectly integrating their abilities, while the beasts receive assistance from the human cultivators to unlock deeper potential within their bloodlines."
This truly replicated the blood mage system.
Xu Yuan was astounded.
Rex was absolutely no ordinary supergod-level magician.
This was the core of an entire plane's cultivation system, yet he managed to replicate it. Even with thorough preparation beforehand, this result alone was astonishing.
"What about your spaceship? Let's go; I'll give you the coordinates of the wormhole."
As Rex spoke, lines appeared in front of him, sketching out a cosmic star map.
The position of the Hell Plane was marked, and then Xu Yuan saw the arrangement of surrounding planets, likely used for positioning. At a certain point, a wormhole was labeled.
He summoned his spaceship.
The ten-meter-tall mech transformed swiftly into spaceship form.
A small spaceship quickly formed, and with Xu Yuan's activation, it soared into the sky, breaking out of the Hell Plane.
Entering space, using the positioning planets marked by Rex, Xu Yuan roughly judged his position and direction, then flew toward the wormhole.
The Probe Abyss, in essence, was still a mech—and one that fit Xu Yuan's concept of a mech. It was part of the mech pilot, capable of being perfectly operated, rather than a cold, lifeless machine.
As the spaceship ventured deeper into space, the Lord of Hell left with a complex expression.
Xu Yuan and Rex's research essentially treated him as a specimen, which was a great humiliation for a plane's ruler. However, their research also brought benefits, helping him understand the essence of bloodlines and revealing a path forward.
Moreover, Xu Yuan, who had also been constrained by plane limitations, offered him several suggestions.
Either break through with the advancement of the Hell Plane, or enter the stars and become a starry lifeform to break through.
These two methods were currently the most likely ways for the Lord of Hell to ascend to godhood.
Even so, the Lord of Hell didn't plan to choose either option.
He had his own path.
With deeper insight now, he felt his previous plan had a higher chance of success.
---
In The Vast Universe
This was Xu Yuan's first time navigating through space.
The starry sky outside the spaceship, though beautiful and dazzling, was extremely dangerous.
Under the interplay of starlight bursting from unknown distances, the dazzling cosmic scenery was merely a temptation.
Beneath this allure lay endless peril.
If his spiritual power hadn't broken through to the Divine Origin Realm, Xu Yuan felt that even extending his spiritual power outside the spaceship would have been excruciating. The dense, primal stellar energy was incredibly violent, like layers of sandstorms scraping by, inflicting great pain on his spiritual power.
Even after breaking through to the Divine Origin Realm, Xu Yuan still felt this stinging sensation.
However, it wasn't without benefits. His spiritual power inherently contained stellar attributes, and after this trial, it became even more refined, with stronger stellar properties.
"The universe is vast and boundless. Even ordinary voyages can yield gains," Xu Yuan remarked.
At the same time, he remained vigilant.
After all, behind these endless opportunities lurked ever-present dangers.
This vast starry sky resembled a colossal abyssal beast, capable of swallowing him whole.
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