Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

Xilun's name jumped from fifty-first to forty-ninth and forty-eighth, finally stopping at forty-seventh.

Below, Samuel's name dropped from fifty-second to fifty-third.

The entire square was completely silent.

No one expected that Xilun would actually break into the top fifty on his first attempt at the Tower of Triumph.

And it's not just hanging by a thread at the end.

The forty-seventh.

He is six places higher than Samuel.

Elena stared blankly at the stone tablet, then slowly exhaled.

Bruno's face lit up with undisguised joy, while Gna was so excited he almost jumped up.

"Top 50! Senior Brother Xilun really made it into the top 50!"

The inner disciples around them finally erupted into a thunderous clamor.

"After defeating Samuel, he even surpassed him on the Tower of Delight!"

"Even the mental pollution at the fifth level couldn't affect him, what kind of mental power is that?"

"I heard he's only in his twenties. How did he cultivate so much?"

"Elder Swain's third disciple is indeed no ordinary person!"

Samuel stood in the crowd, his face ashen.

He stared intently at the two names on the stone tablet, his hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

When Xilun emerged from the Linglong Tower, the clamor of the outside world rushed towards him like a giant wave.

He looked up at the stone tablet.

Forty-seventh, Xilun.

The fifty-third, Samuel.

Just a few lines of text, yet they changed the way everyone around looked at them.

Some people felt awe, some envy, some were jealous, and some had already begun to plan how to befriend this newly minted top 50.

Elena walked quickly to him, unable to suppress her smile.

"Congratulations, Senior Brother Xilun."

"The ranking is acceptable," Xilun nodded.

"Not bad?" Elena's eyes widened. "You broke into the top fifty on your first attempt, and even surpassed Samuel, and that's all you say?"

Xilun looked at the stone tablet and said calmly, "I can already feel the pressure on the fifth level, the sixth level should be even stronger."

Elena's smile slowly faded.

"Are you going to continue?"

"Not today."

Xilun raised his right hand, feeling the lightning energy slowly subsiding within his flesh and blood.

"The fifth level was quite taxing, and my body needs to readjust. Before the next challenge, I need to thoroughly integrate the Thunder Dragon Heart with the Great Thunder Breathing Technique."

Bruno walked over, his expression serious: "When you were dealing with the mental illusion just now, it seemed like you almost lost control for a moment."

"It's the Blood Lock."

Xilun didn't hide much: "It sensed the presence in the phantom and became restless."

"Can it still be suppressed?"

"able."

"That's good." Bruno breathed a sigh of relief. "The higher you go in the Linglong Tower, the closer the phantoms become to real sea beasts, and they might even replicate the power of some powerful beings. You must be careful."

Xilun nodded.

He turned and looked at Samuel, who was not far away.

Their eyes met across the crowd.

Samuel remained silent, the anger in his eyes almost tangible.

Xilun did not provoke them, but simply pointed to the stone tablet.

The forty-seventh.

That says it all.

Samuel's face darkened further, and he finally let out a cold snort before turning and leaving.

The crowd automatically made way for him, but no one looked at him with the same awe as before.

All eyes were on Xiren.

Above the Linglong Pagoda, the silver light patterns on the sixth floor slowly lit up.

Like a sleeping eye, silently opening in the mist.

Xilun gripped the Thunder Spear and gazed at the layer of light.

The first fifty are just the beginning.

……

Night was falling.

Outside Thunderclap Cliff, dark clouds pressed down on the mountains and slowly surged, occasionally a silvery-white flash of lightning streaked across the depths of the clouds, illuminating the jagged rocks in front of the cave in a stark white light.

Xilun sat cross-legged in the quiet room, with a black wooden box about half a foot square in front of him.

The wooden box was wrapped with three layers of silver thread to isolate the aura, and two talismans to suppress death energy were pasted on the corners.

As he reached out and untied the silver thread, a faint smell of blood immediately seeped out from the gap.

Snapped.

The box lid is opened.

A dark red blood pill lay quietly inside.

The blood pill is about the size of a thumb, and its surface is not smooth, but rather covered with fine black and red lines.

At first glance, it looks like an eyeball that has been shriveled up by flames.

This is the True Elixir of Fire that he obtained from the underground magma pool on the Sunset Coast.

That lava pool used the Molten Bone Fire Lotus as bait to lure extraordinary individuals into the cave to fight with sea beasts.

The blood, resentment, and even some of the life essence of the deceased will flow into the depths of the magma along the hidden array patterns on the rock wall, eventually condensing into this blood pill.

Such a bizarre origin means that it is definitely not just an ordinary body-strengthening drug.

Xilun was never in a hurry to take it.

He placed the Blood Pill in his palm, activated the Moon Memory Meditation Technique, and his mind slowly sank into tranquility.

The candlelight in the quiet room flickered slightly.

A moment later, the Thunder Dragon Heart within Xilun's body throbbed gently, and blue-white lightning flowed along the tendons of his arm, eventually converging between his five fingers.

laugh.

A ray of lightning touched the surface of the blood pill.

The dark red patterns on the blood pill lit up, and the rich blood energy was about to break through the pill shell, but was forcibly suppressed by some force in the next instant.

Xilun seemed to be deep in thought.

The power contained within the Blood Pill is immense.

If he can fully absorb it, it might truly allow him to cross the final line and push his third-tier physique to perfection.

Although he was not far from perfection, he had not yet truly touched the bottleneck.

If taken at this time, the medicine may not be able to exert its maximum effect.

"Once the third level of the Overturning Sea Technique is close to the critical point, then use it to break through the bottleneck."

After a long deliberation, Xilun reached out and picked up the lid of the wooden box.

But just as the lid was about to close, his movements suddenly stopped.

The moment the lightning touched the blood pill, besides the rich blood energy, he seemed to sense something else.

Very faint.

Like countless broken threads, tangled inside the blood pill.

Xilun took out the Blood Pill again, his brow furrowing slightly.

Instead of continuing to activate the Thunder Dragon's Heart, he mobilized the expert-level Breath of the Styx.

A wisp of extremely faint black mist escaped from his nostrils, slowly swirling around the blood pill.

The Breath of the Styx is extremely sensitive to death energy and lingering resentment.

As the black mist seeped into the surface of the blood pill, Xilun suddenly heard a faint roar.

"kill……"

"Blood……"

"Let me out..."

The sounds overlapped and became chaotic, as if dozens of dead people were stuffed into a narrow bottle and tearing at each other day and night.

Xilun's eyes darkened slightly, and he immediately withdrew the Breath of the Styx.

Those were not complete souls, but merely the lingering remnants of the restrictions that were not removed during the refining of the Blood Pill.

They coalesced along with the blood and qi, forming a kind of natural seal inside the blood pill.

If forcibly ingested, these lingering thoughts may invade the mind along with the drug's effects, and may even cause the remnants of evil spirits within the body to become agitated.

Xilun raised his right hand.

Deep within the skin, dark red blood vessels quietly coiled around the black energy, showing no abnormalities.

But the more this was the case, the less willing he was to take the risk.

The Thunder Dragon Heart, the Xuan Yin Coldness, the Breath of the Styx River, the Storm Bloodline, and the remnants of the Evil God within his body have maintained a rare balance.

Any external force of unknown origin could disrupt this balance.

Xilun resealed the Blood Pill back into the wooden box, and only after the silver thread had been wrapped tightly around it did he get up and leave the quiet room.

A night breeze blew in my face.

In the distance, thunder rumbled low, like a giant beast turning over behind the clouds.

As he gazed at the cliffs shrouded in dark clouds, a vague idea gradually formed in his mind.

The next morning, just as dawn broke, Elena arrived at Thunderclap Cliff.

She was wearing a fitted silver-gray long dress, her long golden hair was tied up with a black ribbon, and she was carrying two bags of food that she had just bought from the foot of the mountain.

"Tell Gna to come to the correctional facility before dawn and tell him he has something important to see."

Elena placed the food on the stone table and looked at Siren suspiciously.

"Could it be another evil artifact brought out from some dangerous ruin?"

Xilun took out the black wooden box.

"The Blood Pill obtained from the Sunset Coast."

Elena stopped moving.

"That thing nurtured with the blood and energy of the dead?"

"Um."

"You still kept it?"

"It may help me achieve physical perfection."

Xilun broke the seal and briefly recounted what he had noticed the previous night.

Elena's casual expression gradually disappeared.

Instead of touching the blood pill directly, she took out a silver-gray disc from a small pouch at her waist and placed it next to the wooden box.

As the energy was poured in, a soft halo appeared on the surface of the disc.

Initially, the halo was very stable.

But when Elena gently touched the blood pill with her silver needle, the disc suddenly emitted a faint buzzing sound, and several messy black lines appeared on its edge.

"There is indeed a mental disability."

Elena bent down and examined it carefully for a moment. "But it's not entirely impurities left over from the refining process. Look at these patterns; they're interconnected, clearly forming a seal."

Xilun asked, "Is the power of the Blood Pill sealed?"

"At least most of it is blocked."

Elena picked up the silver needle and gently traced a line on the surface of the blood pill.

The dark red lines moved with it, avoiding the needle tip as if they were alive.

"The person who refined it not only wanted to store blood essence, but also did not want it to be absorbed by others when the conditions were not met."

It's also possible that after the cave's killing formation spontaneously condensed its blood core, a natural restriction was created to prevent its power from leaking out.

"Can it be untied?"

"Forcing an attack with mental power won't work," Elena shook her head. "The lingering resentment and blood energy are too deeply intertwined. Once mental power enters, it will only drag you in. Purifying with holy light might not be suitable either, as the holy light will also erode the blood energy."

The two sat down at the stone table and studied it from early morning until nearly noon.

Xilun tried the power of the Overturning Sea Technique, the coldness of the Profound Yin, and the breath of the Styx River.

The power of the Overturning Sea Technique can shake the restrictions, but it cannot break them apart.

The Xuan Yin Coldness can freeze some of the lingering remnants, but it also causes the blood energy inside the Blood Pill to fall into silence.

As for the Breath of the Styx, it can devour remnants of the spirit, but once those remnants are damaged, they will actively shrink into the depths of the Blood Pill, sealing away even more medicinal power.

Elena pondered, "We need a power that is strong enough, but won't linger inside the blood core for too long."

"Break through the barrier instantly, then immediately draw away the external force," Xilun continued her words.

"good."

"Thunder".

The two spoke almost simultaneously.

Elena looked up at the churning dark clouds outside the cliff and immediately understood Xilun's thoughts.

"You want to borrow the heavenly lightning from Thunderclap Cliff?"

"Ordinary lightning energy isn't enough." Xilun put away the Blood Pill. "The illusion of the Abyss Thunder Dragon within the Exquisite Pagoda has further fused the Thunder Dragon's Heart with the Great Thunder Breathing Technique. With the help of real lightning, perhaps we can dispel the lingering resentment within the Blood Pill in one fell swoop."

Elena frowned and said, "Thunder Cliff is not a platform for practicing spear techniques. The real training ground for enduring heavenly lightning is above the main cliff."

"I know."

"There are five hundred feet in total. The higher you go, the stronger the lightning becomes. Above three hundred feet, even ordinary third-level extraordinary cultivators would find it difficult to withstand. You've only just come out of the Linglong Tower."

"So I won't force myself."

Elena stared at him for a few moments, then let out a soft hum.

"I never believed you when you said that."

Half an hour later, the two arrived at the foot of the main cliff of Minglei Cliff.

This is different from the platform where Swain taught gunmanship.

The entire cliff resembles a giant black sword plunged upside down into the earth, piercing straight into the dark clouds.

There are no complete stone steps on the cliff face, only natural cracks and protrusions for people to step on.

The higher you go, the darker the color of the rocks becomes.

Above 300 zhang, the rock face was almost completely charred black, with countless silvery-white arcs of electricity running along the cracks in the rock, and the air was filled with a pungent, burnt smell.

Dozens of inner court disciples were gathered below the main cliff.

Some sat cross-legged on the hundred-zhang platform, using the stray lightning to temper their strength; others, shirtless, clung to the two-hundred-zhang rock wall, letting the fine arcs of electricity strike their flesh and blood again and again; and several powerful third-tier disciples were attempting to break through to over three hundred zhang.

"That's Feld, the thirty-fifth in the inner court."

Elena looked up at a burly man on the high ground.

"He perfected his physical cultivation two years ago and has now begun to hone his strength. Last month, he stayed at 340 feet for half an hour."

At this moment, Feld was climbing towards the platform, which was 350 feet high.

Just as his hands gripped the edge of the platform, a bolt of lightning as thick as an arm struck down from the clouds.

boom!

Lightning exploded on the cliff face.

Feld's protective aura trembled violently, and the skin on his arms instantly turned black.

He groaned and managed to hold on for three breaths before he had to loosen his grip on the rock face and slide down the pre-fixed iron chain.

After landing, his legs trembled slightly, and there was still blood at the corner of his mouth.

"Three hundred and fifty feet, that's still too much of a stretch."

Feld shook his head.

The surrounding disciples did not ridicule him; instead, they showed admiration.

Being able to climb three hundred feet proves that his physique far surpasses that of ordinary third-level cultivators.

Three hundred and fifty feet is a limit that even many masters with perfect physiques find difficult to cross.

Just then, someone recognized Xilun.

"It's Xilun, the forty-seventh in the Linglong Tower."

"What is he doing at Thunderclap Cliff?"

"Do you also want to try climbing the cliff?"

All eyes quickly turned to them.

Feld took a vial of medicine, turned his head and saw Xiren, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"First time climbing the main cliff?"

"Yes," Xilun said.

Feld pointed to the iron chains beside him.

"It's best to tie them up first. Lightning over two hundred feet high will stiffen your muscles, and once you fall, it will be difficult to adjust your body on your own."

"No."

Xiren took off his boots and stepped barefoot onto the cold, rough black rocks.

With his large, sinewy muscles, he could easily maintain his balance and move freely among the cliffs.

Feld was taken aback.

Elena couldn't help but remind her, "You still need to carry the Blood Pill; don't take too many risks."

"I will stop where I can bear it."

Xilun carefully placed the wooden box close to his body, gripped the rock face with both hands, and began to climb upwards.

For the first hundred feet, only tiny arcs of electricity flowed between the cracks in the rocks.

When the lightning touched his skin, the Thunder Dragon Heart within Xilun's body immediately began to beat.

The tingling and stinging sensation did not make him uncomfortable; instead, it felt like warm water seeping into his muscles and flesh.

One hundred and fifty zhang.

Two hundred feet.

Celia's speed never slowed down.

He even deliberately dispersed most of his protective energy, allowing the lightning to directly contact his body.

boom!

A bolt of lightning struck his shoulder.

A bluish-white light instantly covered his entire body.

Someone below gasped in surprise, and Elena instinctively clenched her fists.

But after the lightning dissipated, Xilun remained firmly standing on the protruding rock face.

His skin wasn't charred, and his breathing became even longer.

Boom!Boom!Boom!

The Thunder Dragon's Heart resonated powerfully.

The stray lightning penetrated the body through the skin, was absorbed by the lightning patterns at the heart, and then transformed into a purer form of lightning energy, flowing along the major tendons to the limbs and bones.

In Xilun's mental perception, the lightning spirit within his body, which was not yet fully formed, was slowly unfolding under the nourishment of lightning.

The lightning, which had originally coiled up like a long snake, gradually grew a pair of blurry wings.

At first glance, the outline of an eagle is vaguely visible.

Xilun's heart stirred slightly.

Is this the form of the Stormbloodline?

He didn't dwell on it and continued upwards.

Two hundred and eighty feet.

Three hundred feet.

The murmurs below gradually subsided.

When Xilun stepped barefoot across the 340 feet where Feld had just stood, everyone's gaze turned solemn.

Three hundred and fifty feet!

The lightning in the clouds seemed to be drawn by some force, suddenly illuminating half of the cliff.

Xilun raised his hand, took out the Blood Pill, and sat cross-legged on the edge of the platform, which was 350 feet long.

He held the blood pill in his palm, closed his eyes, and began to practice the Great Thunder Breathing Technique.

call!

suck!

The lungs and internal organs trembled, and the muscles and bones resonated.

The sounds of wind and thunder outside the cliff gradually overlapped with his breathing.

The eagle-shaped lightning spirit within his body unfolded its blurry wings, and strands of lightning energy surged into his palms with each breath, drawing in the lightning in the sky and crashing into the seal deep within the blood core.

This lightning spirit talent was acquired when I first set foot on the Prisoner Star Islands and was still with the Langte family.

Now, as natural lightning strikes from outside the body, it seems to be nourished, slowly absorbing the power within.

The first bolt of lightning struck.

The dark red patterns on the surface of the blood pill flickered violently.

The second bolt of lightning struck.

Dozens of chaotic remnants simultaneously let out a mournful roar.

When the third bolt of lightning struck, fine cracks had already appeared on the skin of Xilun's arm, and the blood had not yet flowed out before it was evaporated by the lightning.

His expression remained unchanged, and his breathing remained steady.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thunderbolts rained down one after another.

Nine in a row!

Below the main cliff, everyone stood frozen in place.

The nine consecutive thunderbolts at Minglei Cliff were no ordinary celestial phenomenon.

Legend has it that only when a cultivator's lightning-type energy resonates with the natural lightning veins remaining in the cliff can nine bolts of lightning be drawn out.

In the past few years, only a handful of inner court disciples have been able to trigger such an anomaly.

"Nine Thunder Body Refinement..."

Feld muttered to himself, "How is this possible? He triggered the Nine Thunder Body Refinement on his very first ascent of the cliff?"

The ninth bolt of lightning crashed down.

The blood pill in Xilun's palm suddenly trembled.

Crack.

A barely perceptible cracking sound rang out.

The lingering remnants of the restrictions that were entangled deep within the Blood Pill were pierced by the thunder and the Great Thunder Breathing Technique, collapsing inch by inch like a spider web under a torrential rain.

An extremely dense blood essence instantly burst out of the pill shell.