His Divine Sense seeped into every inch of his skin, probing the changes to the true essence within his flesh. Having advanced to the second level of the Transcendent Realm, Yang Kai felt that both the volume and purity of his true essence had improved considerably.
Moreover, through one fierce battle after another, his physical body had grown even tougher.
His Divine Sense had also been refined. Nourished continuously by the Six-Colored Warm Spirit Lotus, this breakthrough had granted Yang Kai a gratifying boost to his spiritual cultivation.
He felt that if his Divine Sense were to clash head-on with someone at the first level of the Saint Realm, it would not fall short.
And that was before accounting for the formidable and mysterious Nature of his Divine Sense Fire. If an ordinary first-level Saint Realm cultivator actually chose to fight him on that front, they would likely suffer a nasty fall.
He also possessed the Divine Battle Hall, a bizarre Artifact capable of forcibly dragging an opponent's spiritual soul into that space for a battle of Divine Sense.
All these foundations and assets greatly bolstered Yang Kai's confidence. The misfortunes and setbacks he had encountered repeatedly over the past year had all been transformed into fuel and opportunity for him to grow stronger.
Every powerhouse was forged in the crucible of life-and-death combat, where they could gain insights and understandings unattainable under normal circumstances. Only at the edge of crisis and death, time and again, could one truly perceive things that eluded one in everyday life.
It could be said that every successful warrior had passed through life and death and possessed a spirit unafraid of mortality, enabling them to emerge ever stronger from adversity.
As for those pampered prodigies raised in greenhouses—if their path had been smooth sailing all the way, all well and good. But the moment they encountered even a small setback, they might crumble and never recover, fading from the world's sight forever.
Yang Kai belonged to the former type. From the moment he began his Cultivation, his road had been lined with thorns. Hacking through them, teetering between life and death countless times—this was what allowed him to achieve a level of Cultivation that surpassed his peers.
Everything he now possessed had been earned through one step at a time. It was not luck, nor was it coincidence.
Realizing this, Yang Kai's state of mind underwent a subtle shift, growing ever more confident. He felt that given enough time, he would inevitably stand at the pinnacle of the martial path, looking down upon all living beings.
Reining in his surging spirits, Yang Kai continued examining his body.
What surprised and delighted him was the golden blood flowing within him. It seemed to have increased considerably.
Li Rong and Han Fei had both told him that once all the blood in his body turned golden, he would possess the Great Demon God's Blood, granting him abilities as heaven-reaching and earth-penetrating as those of the Great Demon God of old.
The Great Demon God was but a legend—the universally acknowledged strongest being among the Human, Monster, and Demon races in his era. No one dared defy his majesty in those days.
The golden Demon God's Blood held boundless wonders. Because Yang Kai carried it in his body, his physical form had become so incredibly sturdy, and his recovery speed so absurdly fast.
Yang Kai could hardly imagine how powerful his physical body would become once every drop of his blood turned gold.
The Ancient Demon Clan's physical resilience came from carrying traces of the Demon God's Bloodline. Compared to them, Yang Kai's was undoubtedly more orthodox, more pure.
His consciousness sank into the space of the Black Book, communicating with the Divine Tree, while his physical body autonomously circulated its technique and began Cultivating on its own.
Yang Kai was growing. The Divine Tree was also constantly evolving and growing. With Yang Kai's permission, the Divine Tree drew one drop of the Myriad Medicinal Spirit Liquid each day. With this assistance, its intelligence had become noticeably clearer, its wisdom ever sharper. Now it could not only communicate with Yang Kai clearly but would even proactively ask questions from time to time.
Yang Kai answered them with the same patience and care one would give a child.
Time flew. It had been over two months since Yang Kai arrived at the Nine Heavens Holy Land.
Over this period, Yang Kai had gradually grown accustomed to the Nine Heavens Holy Land. Apart from being unable to leave freely, the treatment he received was quite generous.
Grand Elder Xu Hui and the others entertained him at the highest standard—not only providing an abundance of spirit pills and medicinal herbs for his Cultivation, dispatching several beautiful maidservants to attend to his every need, but even bringing Yang Kai a great number of the Holy Land's martial arts manuals for his study.
Yang Kai accepted everything without hesitation. Aside from the maidservants—whom he did not touch—he took advantage of it all, spending his days buried in Cultivation. His cultivation at the second level of the Transcendent Realm rapidly stabilized.
Xu Hui and the others visited Yang Kai from time to time, making casual conversation, never once bringing up the matter of succeeding as Holy Master. When they had leisure, Xu Hui and the others would even take Yang Kai out to tour the Nine Peaks of the Holy Land, showcasing its beauty and formidable heritage.