The schadenfreude on his face made the surrounding demonic beasts exchange bewildered glances. They looked at the man, utterly perplexed. What was wrong with the Trial Master? He was laughing like an idiot!
Jin Bao'er, oblivious to her expression being witnessed, wiped her face and looked at the charred object in her hand, her own complexion darkening. *Ascend, was it? Did she really think her dantian was useless now? Hmph!*
Meanwhile, the Spirit King, enjoying a rare midday nap within his immortal mansion, suddenly jolted awake. He fumbled frantically in his embrace, finding nothing. His eyes darted around, filled with suspicion and shock. "Thief?"
Outside, Jin Bao'er's hand suddenly produced a branch. Rich spiritual energy surged into her dantian like a spring, rapidly replenishing the strength her body needed. The charred blackness quickly receded, revealing tender, fair skin beneath. Her black hair regained its smooth luster, and her magic robe was instantly replaced with a new one.
She then withdrew the spirit tree branch and looked up at the churning thunderheads gathering in the clouds. *Half the power should be enough for ascension!*
With that thought, she conjured a pale pink barrier, her body floating slightly. Recalling the feeling of heavenly lightning during her ascension as a little white dragon, her aura grew increasingly astonishing.
A moment later...
"Boom!"
A lightning bolt, neither too thick nor too thin, descended fiercely. It ravaged and destroyed her body, only to swiftly repair it. Every meridian contracted violently, greedily absorbing the pure power of the heavenly lightning. Then... it was gone!
As the radiant light fell, Jin Bao'er was utterly stunned. Especially since she had recently experienced the heavenly lightning of a little white dragon's ascension, and she knew precisely how powerful it should be. But now... after merely three bolts of lightning, a shower of heavenly blessings descended, healing the devastated immortal-demon battlefield and Jin Bao'er's injuries.
Simultaneously, a dark energy suddenly appeared in mid-air...
Jin Bao'er was dumbfounded! She watched as the black clouds dispersed, a faint light illuminating the land. The sky soon returned to normal... *That's it? Were they looking down on her? She had painstakingly restored the missing power in her body to prepare for the lightning onslaught, only for them to rush through it, perfunctorily striking three bolts of lightning, and then... gone??*
Though she didn't understand why, and it should theoretically be a good thing not to be struck by lightning, the heavenly bestowed power was more than enough for her to fully advance to the ranks of Heavenly Dao Saints. Yet, she felt inexplicably displeased. Back then, they had seemed eager to strike her to death, but now they were so casual... It felt unreal!
At this moment, a certain Trial Master, who was in the midst of selecting demonic beasts elsewhere, suddenly had a face that was both black and white, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief. His expression contorted to an extreme, shifting like a kaleidoscope!
This made the eager demonic beasts tremble, and they began to whisper amongst themselves... *Is the Trial Master really alright? He's so strange today! Could he have some kind of problem? He's so terrifying! I want to go home! Is it too late to refuse now?*
Little did they know, the man had been thrilled when the heavenly lightning fell, and genuinely enjoyed it when it struck Jin Bao'er. But after the third bolt, it was gone in just two measly strikes? Jin Bao'er was unharmed, which was one thing, but what was that expression on her face? Like she was still wanting more? Did she really enjoy being struck by lightning so much?
Damn it! He was going to complain! Jin Bao'er must have cheated! Otherwise, under normal circumstances, which cultivator wasn't battered and bruised after ascending? Why was Jin Bao'er completely unharmed! *Is this woman using cheats?* he thought.
At this moment, Jin Bao'er felt the familiar power within her without any significant anomaly. After all, she had already ascended when she was a little white dragon and was quite adaptable to the power of a Heavenly Dao expert.
Then, she looked up at the unknown mass in the sky. Sensing the familiar energy signature, she directly extended her right hand...
The dark energy seemed to sense a call and slowly descended from the sky. When it landed in Jin Bao'er's palm, it wrapped around her hand with a gentle embrace, carrying a hint of longing! It knew, it had waited! Tens of thousands of years of waiting and enduring, and it had finally completed its mission!
Jin Bao'er gazed at the energy in her hand, and for some reason, her heart felt a slight pang, yet she herself felt no emotional fluctuation... *Was it the feeling this energy gave her? Why?*
At the same time, memories that did not belong to her flashed before her eyes! In the visions, after she left, Long Li Xing and Long Zhan showed no unusual expressions. However, their attacks against the Demon God became even more ruthless, devoid of their previous calm indifference. They did not choose to merge, perhaps unable to accept becoming one with someone they detested! Yet, when the black hole formed, they were both engulfed within it...
Simultaneously, the transparent egg in Long Li Xing's hand also entered the black hole! It then vanished! The Demon God, witnessing this, let out an excited, maniacal laugh, only shouting that he had succeeded and would soon absorb their power and enter that world...
Before he could finish speaking, the black hole reappeared. A violent force tore through space, and the man in black finally emerged. His cold eyes were devoid of any emotion, his purple pupils utterly indifferent. His black robes billowed in the wind, like an emperor of the night descending upon the mortal realm! Cruel... and domineering!
It turned out that after the two were swallowed by the black hole, they simultaneously absorbed the transparent egg, forcing the black dragon to merge. Before the Demon God could absorb them, the true, complete Long Li Xing appeared! With hardly any effort, he slew the Demon God and restored peace to the Upper Realm...
At the same time, at his feet, an oval egg, completely black and translucent, lay quietly on the ground, unnoticed by anyone! The scene froze on the black egg. Jin Bao'er blinked slightly. Though she didn't know why, any discerning eye would see that the egg was unusual...
At this moment, as if its mission was complete, the dark energy slowly entered the immortal mansion within her sea of consciousness! Jin Bao'er was not surprised. She knew it was Long Li Xing's power returning to its origin! She finally understood that after she left, Long Li Xing's memories had also been left behind. It was only a thousand years ago that Long Li Xing's power was forcibly dispersed, with a part of it trapped here, automatically merging with those memories. When she arrived, she was sent back tens of thousands of years to experience all of this... So, everything was destined from the start!
She regained her senses and didn't immediately enter the immortal mansion to check on things. Following the memories, she walked in another direction... She still found that egg very strange!
Her white figure moved slowly through the world, once filled with black smoke, until she stopped upon seeing a black, giant egg, about half a meter in size, not far away!