At this moment, Ye Xingli lay scattered on the ground, her starlit hands and feet casually tossed aside, mixed with seven or eight other Dharma Skeletons and magical artifacts like the Vacuum Tribulation Transformation Diagram, looking like a pile of trash.

“Senior Sister.”

Zhang Yu immediately picked up the unconscious Ye Xingli. Feeling her empty meridians, he couldn’t detect even a trace of mana or gang qi.

“This is…”

Zhang Yu’s mind recalled the name of Ye Xingli’s opponent on the match list.

At the same time, a voice sounded behind him: “Human, is she your Senior Sister? She has many tricks; she’s quite resilient to dismantling.”

“Speaking of which, according to the match list, you’re my next opponent, aren’t you? I didn’t expect both you and your Senior Sister to fall into my hands.”

Zhang Yu turned to see a tall figure with a dragon’s head and a human body standing behind him, looking down at him.

It was Ying Mingchi, the top-ranked student from Tianyao University, possessing true dragon bloodline.

Looking into the dragon eyes, Zhang Yu said coldly, “That’s good, it means I don’t have to wait too long.”

Ying Mingchi’s dragon mouth twitched slightly, seemingly revealing an ugly smile: “I think it’s pretty good too; delivering you to me is probably what countless demon descendants wish to see.”

“Heh, speaking of which, both you and your Senior Sister were equally overconfident and stubborn before the battle began.”

With that, he turned and said indifferently, “See you next week, human.”

Zhang Yu watched his retreating back, then turned to reassemble Ye Xingli’s Dharma Skeleton and inject mana.

A moment later, Ye Xingli suddenly woke up. Seeing Zhang Yu in front of her, she was slightly surprised, then forced a bitter smile, “It seems I lost quite badly.”

“You’re facing that dragon in your next match, aren’t you?”

Seemingly recalling her battle, Ye Xingli sighed, “That guy is a bit of a bane for me, and seems to be a bane for you too.”

“I’ll send you the battle record and video; you should study it carefully.”

Zhang Yu browsed the battle video, his brows furrowing involuntarily.

Ye Xingli explained, “Besides controlling the weather, this guy can also control spiritual energy within a certain range, which is very troublesome for someone like me who uses Dharma Skeletons and consumes a lot of mana.”

“He can also control water and breed an army of demonic beasts in the water, and the true dragon bloodline seems to have special applications for controlling demonic beasts. You need to be careful…”

As Ye Xingli relayed information to Zhang Yu, with the arrival of the 15 winners and 15 losers, the first round of matches came to an end.

Among them, Kuang Tianqing, as the recognized strongest, was the first to defeat his opponent and win.

Other strong cultivators from various schools, such as Yan Xiang from Youming, Cang Shenyu from Jingang, Tian Shengong from Xianbing, Mu Qiansi from Hehuan, and Ying Mingchi from Tianyao, all took similar amounts of time to defeat their opponents and arrived one after another.

Next were Jiu Tianliu, Yan Qianji, Wen Wuya, and Zhang Yu, who also took roughly the same amount of time.

Bai Zhenzhen, however, took much longer than Zhang Yu expected, being the last to arrive.

Seeing Bai Zhenzhen’s somewhat weak legs after landing, Zhang Yu quickly rushed over: “A’Zhen, what’s wrong?”

Bai Zhenzhen clutched her stomach, her face flushed: “Don’t come closer!”

Zhang Yu stopped, thinking to himself: “Is A’Zhen worried that if she gets too close to me, her sword qi will erupt, exposing the information that I can adapt to some of it?”

As Bai Zhenzhen spoke, her eyes glared fiercely at him, thinking: “Damn it! How can this Yu Spirit Root be so restless! It’s been a week, and not only is it bouncing more, it seems to be getting bigger too.”

Although the Yu Spirit Root kept bothering her, causing Bai Zhenzhen occasional stomachaches and weak legs, the enhancement it brought also secretly delighted her.

This past week, Bai Zhenzhen felt that every day, her body’s various resistances, efficiency in breathing, mana recovery, and even her application of sword techniques and understanding of martial arts, had all improved.

Although the improvements weren’t significant, for Bai Zhenzhen, who had already reached her limits in all aspects, every slight enhancement now, when applied in battle, would bring immense changes and create a desperate gap for her opponents in actual combat.

“Hmph, if it hadn’t started acting up again during my fight, I would have finished my opponent much earlier.”

And as Zhang Yu approached, the Yu Spirit Root seemed to have some kind of connection with Zhang Yu’s body and the True Spirit Root within him, beating even more intensely, causing a sharp pain in Bai Zhenzhen’s Dantian.

At the same time, Zhang Yu observed Bai Zhenzhen’s appearance and realized: “Has the Yu Spirit Root’s influence on A’Zhen not diminished yet?”

Thinking about how the Yu Spirit Root adapted to various martial arts, Daoist arts, and the accumulation of various set effects on himself, Zhang Yu thought: “Is it because of too many adaptive modifications that the stimulation is so strong?”

“In comparison, I’ve adapted much more to A’Zhen’s True Spirit Root.”

But the next moment, Zhang Yu also felt the True Spirit Root in his stomach beating, as if trying to pull him closer to Bai Zhenzhen, causing Zhang Yu’s brows to furrow sharply.

Only after Zhang Yu retreated continuously did the commotion in his Dantian subside slightly.

Zhang Yu looked at Bai Zhenzhen, thinking: “It seems during this period of exchanging Spirit Roots…”

Bai Zhenzhen’s gaze met Zhang Yu’s. They nodded slightly, and without needing words, both understood each other’s meaning: “Maintain a distance for now.”

On the way back, Zhang Yu could see that the Spirit Realm was abuzz with promotions of Kuang Tianqing’s victory.

In fact, ever since Kuang Tianqing mentioned life extension in his last interview, Zhang Yu had felt that public opinion in the Spirit Realm had overwhelmingly sided with Kuang Tianqing.

Not only did all the Soul Transformation stage cultivators from the Four Demon Schools publicly support Kuang Tianqing.

Even the Nascent Soul and Golden Core stage powerhouses from various schools, and even Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators, all came out to express their support for Kuang Tianqing.

“I want to live a few more years, of course I support Kuang Tianqing!”

“Kuang Tianqing won the championship and said he’d let us live a few hundred more years! I support Kuang Tianqing getting the Immortal Gate cultivation method.”

“Kuang Tianqing isn’t fighting just for himself, but for all living beings. I want to donate to Kuang Tianqing!”

All sorts of titles, like benefiting Kunxu, benefiting the public, and caring for all beings, were attributed to Kuang Tianqing, making Zhang Yu feel conflicted.

Although some people expressed opposition, believing that widespread life extension might not be entirely good, expressing such a view even slightly would lead to countless people attacking them.

Zhang Yu didn’t know how many of the attackers were real people and how many were Soul Transformation stage online trolls, but in short, within a few days, it was almost impossible to see anyone criticizing the idea of universal life extension in the Spirit Realm.

Zhang Yu sighed inwardly: “Everyone, heaven and earth, seems to be supporting Kuang Tianqing.”

Fuji chuckled, “Heh, it’s not that no one thought of the downsides of universal life extension, but the downsides are for later. Let’s just live a few more years first, right?”

Zhang Yu thought: “Even the Myriad Dao Four Schools haven’t launched a public opinion counterattack… Are they also planning to support Kuang Tianqing? If so, then if I win the championship, I can only choose a life extension cultivation method?”

Fuji said, “You haven’t shown much hope of winning the championship yet. Once you win one or two more rounds, leaders from Myriad Dao University should come talk to you. Then you’ll find out what arrangements the Soul Transformation stage cultivators of Myriad Dao University have made after Dao Qiankun’s death.”

Zhang Yu shook his head. He couldn’t understand the thoughts of Soul Transformation stage cultivators for now, so he didn’t concern himself with these matters anymore. After returning to the laboratory, he continued to diligently practice the *Demon Saint Myriad Transformation Scripture*.

This dark cultivation method, which relied on the Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor and the resonance between the Residual Ox Self-Sacrifice Heart Technique and the Immeasurable Inner Dharmakaya, and was ultimately refined from the demon descendant bloodline, had endless wonderful uses, Zhang Yu realized with a brief demonstration today.

In particular, it was very suitable for hiding within the Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor’s demonic beast breeding function, making it the most suitable path for Zhang Yu to improve his strength at present.

After cultivating diligently until that evening, Zhang Yu received news that Dao Ge’s body had been placed on the flying boat, so he decided to go and see Dao Ge’s body one last time.

But before going, he consumed a considerable amount of demon blood, intending to accompany Dao Ge while secretly continuing to cultivate the *Demon Saint Myriad Transformation Scripture*.

As he consumed mouthfuls of demon blood, storing them in his stomach, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but sigh: “The blood of low-grade demon descendants is fine, but the blood of high-grade demon descendants is really not cheap, especially since the *Demon Saint Myriad Transformation Scripture* requires a large amount. To cultivate this Daoist art, I’ve spent hundreds of spirit coins in total.”

However, thinking about his expenses on the Daoist art of Heaven and Earth Bad Tribulation Formless Heart Soldiers, Zhang Yu felt relieved again.

“Cultivating Daoist arts is like this; it’s just spending money. This *Demon Saint Myriad Transformation Scripture* is relatively cheap in comparison.”

Inside Dao Qiankun’s flying boat.

As Zhang Yu entered the mourning hall, he saw Dao Qiankun’s seated body, still as lifelike as when he last saw it.

Sitting down in front of Dao Qiankun, Zhang Yu looked at his chest, thinking: “Dao Ge, are you alive or truly dead?”

Glancing at the cameras around him, Zhang Yu did nothing extra to Dao Qiankun. Instead, he sat cross-legged, watching Dao Qiankun while secretly cultivating the *Demon Saint Myriad Transformation Scripture*.

He wondered: “Will the Dao Seed… appear again?”

Several hours later, just as Zhang Yu was refining demon blood and elevating the *Demon Saint Myriad Transformation Scripture* to level 13, a figure suddenly appeared in front of Dao Qiankun.

“Kuang Tianqing?” Looking at the projection before him, Zhang Yu’s eyes narrowed, and he said, “What are you doing here?”

Kuang Tianqing glanced at Zhang Yu and said indifferently, “I’m here to visit, is that not allowed?”

At the same time, Kuang Tianqing gazed at Dao Qiankun, recalling the words they had exchanged that night.