Chapter 1286: Preparations for Evolving the Heavenly Long Xiang

Early in the morning, when Li Luo lazily opened his eyes, the soft, supple body in his arms was nowhere to be found. He hurriedly sat up and saw that Jiang Jiang Qinge had already changed and was standing by the window, gazing toward the distant training ground where the sounds of drills drifted over.

Hearing the movement, Jiang Jiang Qinge turned her head and said, "Awake?"

Li Luo looked at Jiang Jiang Qinge, who had regained her usual composed calm, and couldn't help but click his tongue in regret, saying with lingering longing, "Quickly give me back that soft Jiang Jiang Qinge of mine!"

Last night's Jiang Jiang Qinge, radiant with a touch of shyness, was a sight Li Luo rarely got to see.

Jiang Jiang Qinge shot him a look and said, "I'm heading to drill first. There's no mission to carry out recently, so just focus on your cultivation."

After saying that, she was about to leave, but upon seeing Li Luo's wistful expression, she still walked over with her long legs, bent down, and lightly pressed her red lips to his forehead, leaving a faintly cool imprint.

After doing that, she turned around crisply, her slender, sharp figure trailing a fragrant breeze as she pushed the door and went out.

Watching her dashing figure, Li Luo couldn't help but feel a sense of swapped roles—so just who exactly slept with whom last night?

Still, it really was quite comfortable.

The body of a great white goose, fragrant and soft—cuddling it to sleep was simply more soothing and refreshing to the heart than swallowing any miraculous elixir.

If only this reward could be permanent, that would truly be perfect. But Jiang Jiang Qinge was rather thin-skinned in this regard, and he didn't know whether she'd give him more chances.

With a touch of regret, Li Luo tidied up briefly, then headed to the cultivation chamber to begin his daily practice.

This trip to Jin Shi to carry out the mission had lasted about half a month, and having gone through many fierce battles at the end, Li Luo's phase force had also made progress during this period.

His Heavenly Xiang Diagram had thoroughly reached the level of nine thousand zhang.

If it were an ordinary Da Tian Xiang Jing cultivator, reaching this level with the Heavenly Xiang Diagram might already be satisfying, but for Li Luo, nine thousand zhang was only the starting point—his goal was a ten-thousand-zhang Heavenly Xiang Diagram.

Because only with the foundation of a ten-thousand-zhang Heavenly Xiang Diagram could the Marquis Platform forged when finally breaking through to the Marquis Realm possibly reach ten pillars.

"That so-called 'Boundary River Treasure Domain' will open at any time. I must reach the ten-thousand-zhang level with my Heavenly Xiang Diagram before it opens. If I can then seize a top-grade Foundation Establishment spiritual treasure within that domain, I'll be able to use it to break through directly and step into the Marquis Realm in one fell swoop."

Li Luo sat upright on the stone platform, a contemplative look on his face.

However, after the Heavenly Xiang Diagram reached nine thousand zhang, the difficulty of improvement grew higher and higher. Even with the cultivation speed of Li Luo's three phase palaces, he could only barely advance about one zhang per day—a pace that clearly couldn't satisfy him.

Fortunately, there was still a cultivation treasure land like the "Boundary River Falling Star Platform."

When the Falling Star Platform opened last time, he had been at Jin Shi and couldn't participate, so naturally he hadn't been allocated any Star Beads. Fortunately, there were only about ten days left until the next opening of the Falling Star Platform.

Borrowing its power then, Li Luo's Heavenly Xiang Diagram might be able to advance considerably more, but if he hoped for a surge of over two thousand zhang like the first time, that would probably be rather difficult.

After all, for anything, the first time has the strongest effect, and on top of that, Li Luo had stepped into nine thousand zhang, so the difficulty of improvement had increased accordingly.

"And then there's the evolution of the 'Long Xiang.'"

At the thought of this, Li Luo's heart couldn't help but blaze with excitement. After being busy for over half a month, he had finally obtained the "King Bead." With this item's aid, his confidence in evolving the Heavenly Long Xiang grew even stronger.

Regarding that Heavenly Long Xiang, hailed as the sovereign of dragon xiangs, Li Luo had long coveted it.

Back in the day, his old man relied on his Void Ninth-Grade Heavenly Long Xiang to look down on many peers among the heavenly prodigies, proving that this Void Ninth-Grade Heavenly Long Xiang likely possessed combat power surpassing even some lower Ninth-Grade Xiangs.

If Li Luo could succeed in evolving it this time, then his lowest of the three xiangs, the "Dragon Lei Xiang," would rise from behind and surpass the "Wood Earth Xiang."

But by then it probably wouldn't be the "Dragon Lei Xiang" anymore, but rather...

Heavenly Dragon Lei Xiang!

Just thinking about it was thrilling.

Li Luo suppressed his excited heart. Next, he could only wait for good news from Li Li Jingzhe. As long as the spiritual liquid for cultivating the "Ao Dan Qin Lian Xue Hua Xiang Fa" was refined, he could begin the evolution.

Thinking this, Li Luo gradually closed his eyes and entered a state of cultivation.

And this wait of his lasted five whole days.

These five days, Li Luo felt each day drag on like a year, but he couldn't rush things and could only endure day by day.

Li Luo could understand this. After all, the auxiliary spiritual liquid capable of evolving the "Heavenly Long Xiang" was by no means an ordinary thing. If he had to do it himself, he probably truly couldn't have whipped it up no matter how much wealth and means he poured in.

Having a king-tier figure like Li Li Jingzhe, a "Void Triple-Crown King," step in was already an immense blessing.

So Li Luo gradually adjusted his mindset and began to wait patiently.

After waiting another two days like this, Li Luo, who was drilling with members of the Dragon Fang Guard at the training ground, finally received news from the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion. This delighted him so much that he leaped up on the spot, immediately abandoned the drill at hand, and shot off at top speed toward the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion.

After arriving at the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion, he saw Li Li Qingpeng coming to greet him. The latter smilingly led him into a great hall deep within the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion.

In the center of the spacious, bright great hall stood a crimson cauldron. A volcano was inscribed on its walls, and wonderfully, the volcano kept erupting lava. The lava seemed as if it truly existed, radiating an extremely scorching heat that kept the temperature inside the cauldron at an astonishing level.

It was precisely that "Scorching Mountain Cauldron."

Beside the Scorching Mountain Cauldron, Li Li Jingzhe stood with his hands behind his back.

"Grandpa!" Li Luo ran in and called out happily to Li Li Jingzhe.

Li Li Jingzhe glanced at him and smiled faintly. "Waiting anxiously?"

"Not too bad. With Grandpa stepping in, this is surely a sure thing!" Li Luo immediately flattered him.

Li Li Jingzhe smiled, flicked a finger, and saw one of the openings on the "Scorching Mountain Cauldron" open. Li Luo's gaze swept over and saw that it was actually filled with a kind of crimson liquid. A mysterious rhythm emanated from within, causing the blood in Li Luo's body to seemingly flow faster.

"The King Bead you brought back worked extremely well, so the refinement actually took a bit more time. Fortunately, in the end, I still successfully refined the 'Evolution Spiritual Liquid.'"

Li Li Jingzhe stared at Li Luo and said slowly, "I must remind you, with this Mi Fa to evolve the Heavenly Long Xiang, you only have one chance. Once this attempt fails, this method will never work again, and you will almost be forever cut off from the 'Heavenly Long Xiang.'"

Li Luo's expression also turned solemn, and he nodded heavily.

He had already made ample preparations for this. No matter how difficult this evolution was, he could not give up.

Because when he later broke through to the Marquis Realm and wanted to forge a "Ten-Pillar Golden Platform," his mere seventh-grade "Dragon Lei Xiang" would definitely hold him back somewhat, so he had to make up for this flaw.

"The evolution of the Heavenly Long Xiang involves tempering the Heavenly Dragon bloodline within your body and then fusing it with your own Long Xiang. This process contains great pain. Those whose will is not firm will probably be unable to endure it."

Li Luo gazed at the "Scorching Mountain Cauldron," which radiated terrifying temperatures. At this moment, his expression instead grew even calmer, the impatience of waiting from previous days gone.

"Grandpa, I've made all the preparations. During this evolution process, unless it's a life-or-death moment, I hope Grandpa won't intervene." Li Luo said softly.

Li Li Jingzhe said nothing, but deep within his eyes, a flash of relief passed by.

Without such resolve and perseverance, even with his protection, Li Luo's hope of evolving the Heavenly Long Xiang would still be nothing but a dream.

"Grandpa, I still have one question."

"Go ahead."

Li Luo asked curiously, "If I really do evolve the Heavenly Long Xiang this time, what grade can it reach?"

Li Li Jingzhe thought for a moment and said, "There is no Heavenly Dragon phase below the eighth grade. Although your Dragon Lightning phase is only Upper Seventh Grade, as long as the evolution succeeds, it will certainly start at the eighth grade. And since you added a Royal Pearl to your spiritual liquid materials this time, the probability of reaching Upper Eighth Grade is very high."

"Upper Eighth Grade, huh." Li Luo smacked his lips, feeling a bit unsatisfied.

"Still think Upper Eighth Grade is too low? From Upper Seventh to Upper Eighth is a full grade's worth of improvement. If you relied on normal Spiritual Water Marvelous Light to advance, the consumption would be unimaginably massive. Moreover, an Upper Eighth Grade Heavenly Dragon phase is completely comparable to many False Ninth Grade phases." Li Li Jingzhe said.

"Can it be raised just a little bit more?"

Li Li Jingzhe said irritably, "Being overambitious to your extent is truly rare."

Li Luo cried out in grievance, "It's not that I'm overambitious, it's that Sister Jiang Jiang Qinge is too fierce! I feel the pressure!"

"Jiang Jiang Qinge possesses three Ninth Grade Light phases; that is indeed an astonishing talent. However, your Three Palaces and Six Phases are not bad either—don't belittle yourself." Li Li Jingzhe pondered slightly and said, "Although the Heavenly Dragon phase is more dominant than other Dragon phases, advancing it is also harder. Your father back then invested tremendously in his False Ninth Grade Heavenly Dragon phase, yet failed to evolve it into Lower Ninth Grade. You can see how difficult it is."

"Having such ambition is a good thing, but I can't give you any more assistance in this matter. The evolution of the Heavenly Dragon phase depends on two things: first, Mi Fa and spiritual liquid; second, your own Heavenly Dragon bloodline. So how far you can go still depends on yourself."

Li Luo nodded and took a deep breath. "Understood."

Li Li Jingzhe nodded slightly.

"Enter the cauldron."