"All members of the Shadow Clan, circulate your cultivation techniques, prepare to receive the baptism! Your thousand-year wait has been worthwhile! Please accept the baptism of destiny! This is also the first response to your clan's wait until now!"

Following Jiang Chen's cry, the crowd from the Shadow Clan was momentarily stunned.

You Bitong's face changed as if he realized something and he shouted loudly, "Everyone, circulate your cultivation techniques! Quick!"

Hum hum hum!

Waves of aura surged in the valley as members of the Shadow Clan began circulating their cultivation techniques and entered a state of practice.

At this moment, everyone's faces were etched with solemnity.

In their view, being asked to circulate their cultivation techniques at this moment meant they were preparing to make a sacrifice for their ancestor.

However, what they hadn't expected was that this sacrifice would require the whole clan's participation!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Just as the members of the Shadow Clan began to circulate their cultivation techniques, streaks of bloody radiance burst forth from the two-hundred-meter tall secret chamber, as if answering a call, blending into the bodies of the clan members!

"This is..."

You Bitong's face changed again, his eyes revealing ecstasy: "Lord Xue! The response from Lord Xue! This is Lord Xue's response! Everyone grasp this opportunity, absorb with all your might!"

The solemn expressions on the faces of the clan members changed to astonishment and, upon feeling the vast energy brought by the bloody radiance, they turned ecstatic.

Afterward, they all began to absorb it frantically!

Inside the secret chamber, the Nine-Colored Cocoon had crumbled into dust, now scattering in the air and gradually blending into Jiang Chen's body, while the bloody radiance traveled all around inside Jiang Chen's body before flying out of the chamber.

You Zhengqian at the entrance had already stopped absorbing, with no more bloody radiance entering his body. At this moment, his face, once lined with wrinkles, no longer looked withered, but rather robust.

If one were to disregard his graying hair and beard, he would surely be taken for a middle-aged man.

Tears glistened in You Zhengqian's eyes as the events unfolding reminded him of a scene recorded in the Life Records of Lord Xue left by the Shadow Clan's founder.

It was right before a major battle; the Shadow Clan's founder was discovered while gathering intelligence and was besieged by numerous martial arts practitioners, but ultimately, Lord Xue arrived just in time to save him. At the time of the rescue, the Shadow Clan's founder had already been gravely injured, teetering on the brink of death.

After examining the founder's injuries, Lord Xue extracted numerous Blood Crystals, circulated his cultivation technique, absorbed the energy from the Blood Crystals into his own body, then transformed it using his own cultivation technique into pure Blood Fiend Energy, which he injected into the founder's body, helping him make a breakthrough in his realm and saving his life.

This kind of energy transformation involved the vast Qi of heaven and earth that Lord Xue himself led. Lord Xue was already on the verge of a breakthrough in his realm, but for the Shadow Clan's founder, he gave up his own breakthrough, transforming the energy with the Qi of heaven and earth and infusing it into the founder's body.

At the end of this record, a note added by the Shadow Clan's founder read: "If Lord Xue had not healed me but instead made a breakthrough, even if he had been defeated in that battle, he would not have ended in resentment!"

Thump!

Bang!

You Zhengqian knelt down silently on the ground and kowtowed resoundingly towards Jiang Chen.

He could feel that Jiang Chen's aura had reached the very limit of the Pinnacle of the Venerable Realm and was about to break through to the Saint Realm, but Jiang Chen had stopped it just in time.

Then, due to the transformation of the Blood Fiend Energy, Jiang Chen's aura continued to decline, and had already dropped to the Early Stage of the Venerable Realm!

He gave up the chance to enhance his own power level and opted to help the people of the Shadow Clan advance their realms!

During this period, Jiang Chen's realm fluctuated wildly, going from the Early Stage Venerable Realm to the Pinnacle of Venerable Realm, then sliding back to the Early Stage Venerable Realm, and rising again, in an endless cycle!

Jiang Chen resisted countless temptations of realm advancement, exhausting all but the first influx of cosmic energy from breaking through to the Early Stage Venerable Realm to transform the energy within the Blood Crystals, converting all of it into the pure Blood Fiend Energy and channeling it back to the people of the Shadow Clan!

"Lord Xue, please don't continue any further!"

Watching as Jiang Chen's momentum was about to fall back to the Early Stage Venerable Realm again, You Zhengqian cried out loudly, his heart filled with towering gratitude!

He knew that Jiang Chen had absolutely no need to do this; after all, these Blood Crystals were originally meant for Jiang Chen, and his clan was merely Jiang Chen's servants.

Yet, Jiang Chen did not regard these Blood Crystals as his own, nor did he truly consider his clan to be servants, treating them instead as equals.

This energy was Jiang Chen's way of repaying the Shadow Clan!

But it was too much! Far too much!

You Zhengqian could not estimate how much energy Jiang Chen had transferred, nor could he gauge the realm Jiang Chen's strength could reach with it. All he knew was that the vast energy made even him feel trepidation, an energy he dared not fully absorb!

Moreover, he knew his own condition all too well; he was already at the end of his resources, yet with that energy, Jiang Chen miraculously enabled him to achieve a breakthrough and reach the Pinnacle Realm, a level that even Lord Xue of old had only attained!

This was the highest level of power since the days when Zhou Wu annihilated King Zhou and disposed of the Soul Martial, after all!

How much energy would that require? You Zhengqian could not estimate, but he only knew that his clan owed Jiang Chen a boundless debt of gratitude even before they had genuinely acknowledged him as Lord Xue.

Hummm!

The aura around Jiang Chen gradually stabilized, securing him in the Early Stage Venerable Realm.

Slowly opening his eyes, Jiang Chen moved to stand before You Zhengqian and offered a hand to help him up: "Elder You, didn't I say to stop with the bowing and kneeling already?"

"Lord Xue, you... you really didn't have to do this!" You Zhengqian spoke with tears streaming down his face.

Jiang Chen smiled faintly: "The Shadow Clan has remained hidden for a thousand years, all of this is what you deserve!"

"Besides, absorbing such a colossal amount of energy all at once would destabilize my realm."

Moving towards the cave entrance, Jiang Chen looked down at the members of the Shadow Clan enveloped in the Blood Fiend Energy and spoke with a light chuckle: "I would rather retain one hundred percent control over my power than have only ten percent control over a mightier force."

"Even if that ten percent is stronger than the full one hundred percent, it is not truly my own after all!"

"Martial Artists cultivate to improve, but ultimately, only the power you can truly control is your own!"

"I have always been able to fight across levels, and I used to think it was due to the cultivation techniques. But after this advancement, I realized, whether it is Soul Martial, Ancient Martial, or Martial Arts, they are all merely teaching us how to cultivate power, how to control power, and how to wield power!"

"The levels of Martial Arts are not as rigid as we imagine. Regardless of the kind of Cultivation Technique, if you can fully control your power, if you can wield it as you wish, then you are a strong fighter, and you can achieve invincibility within your own realm!"

"This is my path of martial arts!

The Way of Control!

The Way of Invincibility!"

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