"What's wrong, junior sister? Don't you recognize me?" Seeing Bai Ye's strange expression, Li Sheng's doppelgänger chuckled heartily.
"I just find it curious; please don't laugh, senior brother." Bai Ye waved her hand, her cheeks flushing slightly.
"Junior sister, your aura seems to indicate you've entered the fourth tier of transformation..."
Li Sheng observed his junior sister and felt a unique energy surrounding her, reminiscent of his own first experience in condensing a divine ability.
"Senior brother, you have sharp eyes. Cultivating the dual-spirit martial arts allows one to skip the domain level upon reaching the fourth tier, directly entering transformation. It saved me a lot of effort, and I managed to condense successfully thanks to the Enlightenment Ancient Path."
As she spoke, a green orb of light appeared behind Bai Ye, containing terrifying energy fluctuations.
Seeing this, Li Sheng nodded and advised, "When you have time, visit the Hundred Battles Arena to improve your skills while refining your divine abilities. Find the one that resonates most with you as your main divine ability, and you can start condensing your second divine ability seed."
"Thank you for the guidance, senior brother! I'll go try it right away..."
Bai Ye's eyes brightened as she hurriedly responded.
Ever since she heard that her senior sister was nearing the Grandmaster realm, a sense of urgency had arisen within her.
She was eager to enhance her strength to assist her senior brother and catch up with her senior sister.
Noticing her urgency, Li Sheng offered a few more words of advice before letting her leave.
He then attempted to access the panel again. Previously, he had tried in the barrier space with no reaction, so he planned to test it once more now that he was back at the sect.
After a moment, Li Sheng shook his head helplessly; neither the panel nor the residence system was responding to his doppelgänger.
With a flash, he disappeared from his location.
Outside the mountain gate, in the dense forest, Li Sheng appeared, tugging on the back collar of Hong Ying with his left hand while grabbing the approaching Tuan Tuan with his right.
"Alright, you two, stop messing around."
Seeing Li Sheng arrive, Liu Hong Ying sighed in relief, smoothing her messy hair while pouting and pointing at Tuan Tuan.
"Master brother~ Tuan Tuan is bullying me..."
"Stop! Don't whine! Call me 'Uncle Master!'" Li Sheng felt a chill and quickly reprimanded.
"Wah wah wah!!!"
Hearing Liu Hong Ying's complaint, Tuan Tuan struggled furiously in Li Sheng's grasp.
"Enough already! One is a sect's senior sister, and the other is a protective spirit. If you keep this up, I'll put you both under house arrest!"
Li Sheng scolded with a dark face, and only then did the two settle down.
"Distribute these sixth-grade dirty pills to the disciples; focus on your cultivation from now on!"
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"Got it, Uncle Master!"
Liu Hong Ying accepted the pills and made a face at Tuan Tuan before darting away.
Li Sheng shook his head helplessly and flew towards the outside of the sect.
Currently, aside from those demon nests, there were no traces of demons in the entire Lingchuan Prefecture, allowing him to fly swiftly.
Half an hour later, he stopped two thousand eight hundred miles from Qing Ling Sect.
By a small stream, Li Sheng took out the white mysterious stone space and sent a thread of mental energy inside.
In the empty hall, Li Sheng went straight to the light barrier and began transmitting information under the guise of issuing tasks.
He sent out everything about his senior sister's speculations regarding sacrifices, cross-world travel, demon generals, and demon kings...
Moments later, Li Sheng opened his eyes and threw all four white mysterious stones far away.
With a thought, he felt a warmth on the back of his hand, and soon a yellowish light enveloped him, merging into the earth.
After a breath, at the mountain gate, Li Sheng's figure appeared.
He didn't know much about the mysterious stones and wasn't sure if the sender could pinpoint their location.
For safety's sake, he had made this trip.
"Most of the necessary tasks are nearly complete, just thirty-two fifth-grade pills left; I can refine them in eight days. Only the doppelgänger's technique remains undecided..."
Li Sheng pondered. The doppelgänger's origin was close to the Abyss lineage.
Cultivating these spirit-level martial arts in the sect felt distant, and progress was slow, so he had given up after several attempts.
"It seems I'll have to trade techniques with the people from the Lifeless Demon Sect; hopefully, it'll be useful..."
Li Sheng sighed and took out a black mysterious stone to issue a task for purchasing demon techniques before stepping out.
During the upcoming period, he decided to focus on cultivation to condense his third-tier divine ability and create a Three Talents array.
Although the lack of top-tier pills would slow down his progress somewhat, the efficacy of a high-grade spiritual vein with a spirit-gathering chamber was only about twenty percent less than that of top-tier pills.
As long as he didn't lack the spiritual essence for sudden comprehension, the overall effect wouldn't be much worse.
With his current realm, his cultivation wouldn't be too slow.
Additionally, with the help of the low mountain and the Enlightenment Ancient Path, if luck was on his side, he should be able to condense successfully when ordinary disciples advanced to the fourth tier.
Li Sheng silently calculated as he headed towards the spiritual vein in the back mountain.
......
Twelve days later, just outside the Enlightenment Ancient Path.
Li Sheng sat cross-legged, enveloped in dense yellow mist.
He felt light as if he were in the clouds, his thoughts clear, with countless ideas flashing through his mind every second.
"The enlightenment effect here is comparable to that of top-tier pills..."
Li Sheng marveled inwardly, as after these days, he finally succeeded in condensing the seed for his third-tier divine ability.
Now, three orbs of light swirled around him, in gold, crimson, and pale white.
The three orbs rotated in a unique pattern.
The Three Talents array corresponded to the heavens, earth, and humanity.
Under his control, the three divine ability seeds gradually shrank.
The golden light fused into his third eye.
The crimson entered his heart.
The white mist appeared in his dantian.
In an instant, thunder roared in his sea of consciousness, and his spiritual lake surged violently.
His heart felt as if it were being forged in flames, a sharp pain spreading through him.
In the energy sea, five dark cracks continuously absorbed the spiritual energy within him, and a dull ache gradually emerged.
Li Sheng endured the discomfort within him; he understood that the Three Talents array had reached a critical moment.
Now was the final step of tempering the three bodies; success would activate the array and bring forth anomalies.
Failure would deplete his vitality, leaving him severely injured, while others faced this trial with protection from their sect's elders.
But he didn't know that the Martial Domain Secret Classics only briefly mentioned this without elaborating.
Now, thunder and lightning roared within his sea of consciousness, and his spiritual lake had been refined down to two-thirds.
His heart felt like it was on fire.
The bright and vast energy sea now dimmed, resembling a lifeless star domain.
Li Sheng focused and held his breath, ceasing to pay attention to the commotion inside him, silently operating the Three Talents array secret method.
Uncertain how long had passed, a violent roar erupted from deep within his soul.
It sounded like an ancient demon god's roar, and suddenly, an extraordinary sight emerged around Li Sheng.
In a pitch-black space, silent and filled with deathly stillness, a gigantic golden eye suddenly opened.
In an instant, the void crackled with electricity, and thunder rumbled.
As the eye closed, all anomalies vanished in an instant, then a crimson eye opened in the dark space.