Another moment passed, and the third-grade Nine Palaces Formation had already evolved into a fourth-grade Nine Palaces Formation.
The number of Little Stone Clan members participating in the formation had reached a staggering 6,561!
Controlling over six thousand Little Stone Clan members single-handedly and with such perfection was nothing short of horrifying.
The individual strength of those Little Stone Clan members participating in the formation was generally not high, yet the aura emanating from the formation at this moment made even Yang Kai feel considerable pressure.
In other words, if he were to face these Little Stone Clan members as enemies without finding a way to break the formation, the result would inevitably be mutual destruction!
What an astonishing feat!
With this single skill alone, Zhang Ruoxi's value was no less than any Human Race Eighth-Order master!
Yang Kai once again witnessed the materialization of the Tianxing Bloodline's power.
Perhaps because the bloodline's power was being driven so intensely, Zhang Ruoxi was now wreathed in a crimson glow, and behind her, a colossal figure had manifested — it appeared to be a woman, her head bowed so that her features could not be seen, both hands resting atop a long sword, standing silently behind Zhang Ruoxi. The void trembled and a overwhelming pressure spread in all directions.
Yang Kai froze on the spot!
The figure in his vision and another extremely blurry figure in his memory rapidly merged into one — though there was a difference in size, the silhouette was strikingly similar.
Truly, one plants flowers in vain but idly plants a willow that thrives. He had never imagined that this chance meeting with Ruoxi would lead to the discovery of such a tremendous secret by sheer coincidence.
Understanding dawned upon Yang Kai in an instant. The vague, nagging thought that had lingered in his mind suddenly became crystal clear.
So that was it!
So it was this way all along!
If that truly was the case, then everything made sense.
The Tianxing Bloodline was, at its root, a Sacred Spirit Bloodline — only it was not a Sacred Spirit Bloodline in the conventional sense.
In terms of hierarchy, the Tianxing Bloodline ranked above all Sacred Spirit Bloodlines. This was why the so-called "nemesis of Sacred Spirits" label was inaccurate. The Tianxing Bloodline was not born to counter Sacred Spirits. Rather, it shared a common origin with Sacred Spirit Bloodlines, yet held a higher position in the hierarchy, which was why it could suppress every Sacred Spirit Bloodline!
The Dragon Clan itself possessed bloodline suppression, but Dragon Clan bloodline suppression largely only worked within the clan. A dragon of higher bloodline naturally restrained one of lower bloodline, and if they became enemies, the weaker-bloodlined dragon's combat ability would be greatly diminished.
The Dragon Clan's bloodline might carry some deterrent effect against other Sacred Spirits, but it was far from true suppression.
The reason ultimately came down to hierarchy. The Dragon Clan's bloodline might rank slightly higher than other Sacred Spirit Bloodlines, but not by a dramatic margin.
In truth, there were two Sacred Spirits whose bloodlines ranked even higher than the Dragon Clan.
Zhuozhao and Youying!
Strictly speaking, the two of them were also Sacred Spirits! Ancient legends claimed they were the common ancestors of all Sacred Spirits, though after witnessing the truth behind that Light, Yang Kai knew this was merely a distortion of the facts.
If all Sacred Spirits were imagined as members of one family, ranked by seniority, then the higher one's place in the hierarchy, the greater one's status in this grand family.
Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan could already be considered the elder siblings of all Sacred Spirits!
When Yang Kai had activated the Power of the Sun and the Power of the Moon in the Dragon Abyss, he was able to draw the Abyss's power together, assisting Fu Guang in breaking through his shackles and ascending to the rank of Sacred Dragon — and this was precisely why.
The power of Zhuozhao and Youying, and the Dragon Clan's bloodline power, shared the same fundamental origin. That Light had first stripped apart Yin and Yang forces in the Chaos Death Domain, then arrived in the Ancestral Grounds, transforming into myriad rays of radiance that gave rise to the various Sacred Spirits, forming the vast and extraordinary clan they comprised.
The first time Yang Kai had gone to the Return Pass, he had even used the Power of the Sun and the Power of the Moon against Ji Laosan. At that time, Ji Laosan had been a Great Dragon while Yang Kai was only Seventh Order — their strength had not been that far apart. Yet before those two marks, Ji Laosan had been utterly powerless and captured by Yang Kai with a casual gesture.
There was also the occasion when Yang Kai had slain Taowu in the Xuanming Domain. He had similarly invoked the Power of the Sun and the Power of the Moon to suppress Taowu's own bloodline. Otherwise, Taowu as an Eighth-Order Sacred Spirit would not have been so easily slain even after taking a Soul-Piercing Thorn head-on!
This was the suppression that elder siblings in the grand Sacred Spirit family exerted over their younger brothers and sisters!
Come to think of it — if he told Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan about this, the two of them would certainly be delighted. For countless ages, those two had been quarreling endlessly over who was the elder brother and who was the elder sister, with no end in sight. If they learned they had so many younger brothers and sisters beneath them, there would be no need for further argument.
As a member of the Dragon Clan, having called them Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan all these years… there seemed to be nothing wrong with that at all.
Zhuozhao and Youying were the elder siblings of the grand Sacred Spirit family, but within this family, there appeared to be an existence of even higher rank!
The Tianxing Bloodline!
Those Little Stone Clan members could be seen as extensions of Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan's power. Even Yang Kai had needed to rely on the two marks to activate them, because the Dragon Clan's bloodline ranked lower than that of Zhuozhao and Youying.