Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Hundreds of thousands of miles away from Qiusha, dense pine forests spread across the land like a dark blue carpet, stretching all the way to the horizon.

The pine trees in the forest were at least ten feet tall, their lush branches blocking out the sunlight, creating a serene and tranquil atmosphere, devoid of any human presence.

Only a few small animals darted through the bushes, causing the grass blades to sway gently.

Lin Huai flew close to the treetops, trying his best to conceal his aura. His escape light was dim, but his speed was not slow.

He quickly flew dozens of miles, but still could not see the edge of the pine forest.

Beside Lin Huai, a strangely shaped bird followed closely.

This bird is small in size, covered in azure feathers, with two dragon horns on its head and golden pupils.

It opened its mouth and let out a few low cries, its voice deep and resonant, like a dragon's roar, carrying a hint of urging, as if guiding Lin Huai in the right direction.

If some low-ranking dragon people were to see this strange bird, they would surely gasp in surprise and even prostrate themselves in worship.

This bird is called "Dragon Sparrow". Legend has it that it has the bloodline of a true dragon and is a descendant of a true dragon. It can grow big or small, its voice is like a dragon's roar, and it has the ability to summon wind and rain and turn the world upside down.

In some small and weak tribes, a dragon-bird statue is also worshipped along with a real dragon.

But any knowledgeable dragon person knows that this is just a rumor.

The dragon sparrow is indeed a powerful dragon beast, and its bloodline should be somewhat related to that of a true dragon, but it is worlds apart from a true dragon.

Among some exceptionally ferocious dragon beast tides, dragon sparrows will appear, possessing at least the strength of the Cloud Soaring Realm.

Leading thousands of dragon beasts to attack the Dragon Breath Platform, his wings flashed, a gale swept through, and torrential rain fell from the sky, turning a thousand miles of land into a swamp, leaving behind a fearsome reputation in the Xuanli Realm.

The extremely obvious dragon-like features on the dragon sparrow led the lower-ranking dragon people to associate it with a true dragon, which is why they worshipped this powerful and mighty dragon beast.

Even if the dragon sparrow does not have the bloodline of a true dragon, it is one of the few dragon beasts with bloodlines related to true dragons. It is also extremely proud and there are very few records of it recognizing a master.

It was purely by chance that Lin Huai was able to keep a dragon sparrow.

He was an elder of the Yingshan tribe, and his cultivation at the mid-stage of the Tengyun Realm was not outstanding.

However, with this dragon sparrow, which was also at the mid-stage of the Cloud Soaring Realm, Lin Huai would not be at a disadvantage even when fighting against cultivators at the late stage of the Cloud Soaring Realm, and he had a reputation throughout the entire Xuanli Realm.

Originally, he was just an ordinary low-level cultivator in Yingshan Division. His parents had low cultivation levels, and his own aptitude was not outstanding.

After hundreds of years of diligent cultivation, he finally managed to raise his cultivation level to the peak of the Blood Condensation Realm, but then it stalled.

Dragon people can only cultivate to this level on their own. If they want to advance further, they must enter the Dragon Breath Platform and rely on the dragon energy tide or treasures containing pure dragon energy.

This treasure is a hundred times more precious than a spot on the Dragon Breath Platform, and it's something a mere Blood Condensation Realm cultivator couldn't possibly covet.

Yingshan tribe is one of the five major tribes in Xuanli Realm and controls more than one Dragon Breath Platform.

The Dragon Breath Platform in the Iron Frost Mountain Range, which serves as the foundation of the tribe, can also provide a platform for five cultivators to simultaneously attempt to break through to the Cloud Soaring Realm when the dragon energy tide erupts.

However, there are many more cultivators at the Blood Condensation Realm in Yingshan. Given Lin Huai's aptitude and background, it would take thousands of years before he could possibly obtain a spot.

By then, his lifespan will also be exhausted.

Lin Huai was unwilling to wait any longer, but even if he wanted to use some underhanded means, he didn't have enough dragon energy stones.

If you stay in Iron Frost City and complete the tasks step by step to accumulate Dragon Stones, you will still have to wait thousands of years to buy a spot.

After much deliberation, Lin Huai decided to leave Iron Rin City and travel the world in search of opportunities.

Being born into a large tribe is the dream of countless dragon people.

However, for a low-level dragonman like Lin Huai, who had mediocre talent but an exceptionally firm Dao heart and wanted to break through to a higher realm, this was a constraint.

The Blood Condensation Realm cultivators of the Yingshan tribe are not qualified to travel outside. They can only obey the tribe's orders, such as patrolling Iron Frost City, hunting dragon beasts, or escorting caravans between cities.

In the eyes of the tribal elders, only those cultivators with exceptional talent are qualified to attempt to reach higher realms, and they will not waste the precious Dragon Breath Platform slots.

Lin Huai, a cultivator of mediocre talent who reached the peak of the Blood Condensation Realm entirely through his own efforts, was not particularly outstanding in strength.

Only by undertaking various miscellaneous tasks and dedicating one's life to the tribe can one be worthy of the cultivation resources they consume.

Cultivation resources are too precious to be wasted, even for top-tier tribes.

Lin Huai had to spend several hundred years accumulating a large amount of Dragon Qi Stones before he could gain the right to leave Iron Frost City and travel abroad.

Lin Huai's relatives and friends did not agree with his actions. The Xuanli Realm was so dangerous that losing the tribe's protection meant that he would die at most.

But his mind was made up, and despite all advice against it, he set off alone on this rugged road.

After leaving Iron Frost City, Lin Huai traveled hundreds of thousands of miles and experienced life and death countless times.

He once fought to the death with powerful dragon beasts, explored the realm with several treacherous cultivators in search of treasures, and escaped from the dragon beast tide... but he never obtained an opportunity strong enough to defy fate.

Lin Huai entered another dangerous place, killed several dragon beasts, and fought with the dragon people who were traveling with him. Then he encountered a bird that was surrounded by several ferocious birds and was seriously injured and on the verge of death.

If it were any other cultivator at the Blood Condensation Realm, they certainly wouldn't have bothered with this.

After all, these were just a few weak dragon beasts at the Dragon Breath Realm; killing them would be pointless and would only waste dragon energy.

But when Lin Huai looked at the small bird that stubbornly resisted the fierce birds, with its fierce eyes, he couldn't help but think of himself, who had always persevered despite all the setbacks he had encountered, and he felt a pang of pity.

He killed the ferocious birds, rescued the small bird, led it out of danger, and even gave it medicine to heal its wounds.

At first, the bird was extremely hostile to Lin Huai and refused to swallow the pill. It let out a series of weak shrieks in an attempt to scare Lin Huai away, but it was not fierce at all. Instead, it made people feel sorry for it.

Lin Huai shook his head and chuckled, leaving the pill behind. He then retreated to a distance, and the bird tentatively probed for a long time before finally swallowing the pill.

After this happened several times, the bird finally stopped being hostile towards Lin Huai, took the medicine with peace of mind, and its injuries gradually improved.

Once the bird had fully recovered from its injuries, Lin Huai planned to leave, but the bird followed him.

By this time, Lin Huai had developed a deep bond with the bird and had not placed any restrictions on its soul. The two of them relied on each other for survival and traveled around the world.

Lin Huai treated the birds like family, and since his own cultivation could not be improved, he was generous with pills and dragon energy stones for the birds to cultivate.

But he gradually discovered that the bird's cultivation level was improving extremely quickly, its strength far surpassing that of dragon beasts of the same level, and its appearance was also changing, with the characteristics of a true dragon becoming more and more obvious.

It wasn't until a Manifestation Realm Dragon Man was chasing Lin Huai that he realized that the bird he had unintentionally saved was the legendary Dragon Sparrow.

Lin Huai escaped by sheer luck and dared not show the dragon sparrow to anyone again. He immediately returned to Tielin City and reported the matter to the clan, which was taken seriously by the clan leader.

The Dragon Sparrow is one of the most powerful dragon beasts in the Xuanli Realm. In ancient times, a Dragon Sparrow of the Imperial Realm was even born, leading a great tide of dragon beasts and destroying several powerful tribes. Its ferocious power spread throughout the entire Xuanli Realm.

Lin Huai's dragon-bird bloodline is extremely pure, and he is very likely to advance to the Cloud Soaring Realm in the future. Moreover, his strength is among the best of dragon-humans and dragon-beasts of the same level. When the elders of Yingshan Tribe learned of this, their first reaction was naturally to take the dragon-bird for themselves. To this end, they did not hesitate to use threats and inducements to make Lin Huai hand over the dragon-bird.

However, Long Que is proud and arrogant. Since he has already recognized Lin Huai as his master, he will not choose another master.

Lin Huai regarded the dragon sparrow as family and refused to place a soul restriction on it, so naturally he was unwilling to hand it over.

Some elders tried to forcibly take away the dragon sparrow, but were stopped by the clan leader, Sheng Ke.

Yingshan then allocated a large amount of cultivation resources to nurture the Dragon Sparrow.

At this moment, Long Que's cultivation level was comparable to Lin Huai's. Although he could not speak, he was full of spirituality.

Instead of cultivating, it gave the pills and dragon energy stones to Lin Huai, letting Lin Huai improve his cultivation first.

Left with no other choice, Yingshan tribe had to allocate more slots at the Dragon Breath Platform and a large amount of cultivation resources for Lin Huai's cultivation.

Thousands of years have passed, and Lin Huai and Long Que have both reached the mid-stage of the Cloud Soaring Realm. They have also made great contributions to the Yingshan tribe in resisting the dragon beast tide and fighting against other tribes.

This time, Lin Huai was ordered by the Supreme Elder to search for traces of the demon race for the sake of the survival of the Yingshan tribe, and even for the future of the entire Xuanli Realm and the Dragon People.

Lin Huai still can't forget the shock and astonishment he felt when he met the human fellow Daoist Chen and the demon general Wu Xuan from the Supreme Elder and heard about the demon invasion.

But his greatest strength is his resilience; he can quickly calm down.

The next day, he left Iron Frost City and followed the location of Dragon's Breath Platform.

The Dragon Sparrow is not only incredibly powerful, unmatched by anyone of its rank, but it is also extremely sensitive to dragon energy.

The Demon General Wu Xuan used his supernatural powers in front of Elder Ying Shan. The traces left by the mutual annihilation of demonic energy and dragon energy were firmly remembered by the dragon sparrow, which could detect them even from thousands of miles away.

After leaving Iron Frost City, Lin Huai passed by four Dragon Breath Platforms and discovered a demon general. He then used the Homophone Conch to send a message to Fellow Daoist Chen of the human race to come and kill him.

A day earlier, he discovered another destroyed Dragon Breath Platform and had the Dragon Sparrow find their trail based on the demonic energy left behind by the Demon General.

However, it was not one demon general who destroyed the Dragon's Breath Platform this time, but two demon generals.

Fellow Daoist Chen once warned that the Demon General's strength was equivalent to that of a Dragonman at the peak of the Cloud Ascension Realm, or even slightly stronger.

We cannot fight them head-on; we can only try our best to stall them until Fellow Daoist Chen or the Supreme Elder come to our aid.

Lin Huai figured that if he and Long Que joined forces, even if they were at the peak of the Cloud Soaring Realm, they could still put up a fight and hold off these two demon generals. Although it would be a stretch, it wasn't impossible.

But having traveled abroad for over a thousand years and experienced countless life-or-death situations, he had long since developed a cautious and prudent character.

After Long Que told him that there were two demon generals ahead, Lin Huai made up his mind not to fight them.

He sent a message to Fellow Daoist Chen via a conch shell, then quietly followed the two demon generals for a thousand miles, lowering his escape light, concealing his aura, and carefully following them.

Even though these three demon generals later slaughtered a small tribe and destroyed a Dragon Breath Platform, Lin Huai did not intervene.

A small act of impatience can ruin a great plan. There are more than three hundred tribes in the Xuanli Realm. Destroying one will not cause any major problems.

However, if we alert the two demon generals and allow them to escape, or even lose our lives and the dragon sparrow's, and fail to find any more demon generals, that would be a major disaster for the Supreme Elder and Fellow Daoist Chen.

After Lin Huai became a tribal elder, he was qualified to read the tribe's records and knew that the Dragon People were derived from the Human Race, as well as the ancient secrets of Ao Huan's betrayal that led to the decline of the Xuanli Realm to this day. He had no good feelings towards the Demon Race.

Along the way, he witnessed firsthand the demon race's brutal massacre of the dragon people's tribe and the destruction of the Dragon Breath Platform, which fueled his deep hatred for the demon race.

We must not allow these demon generals to destroy 70% of the Dragon Breath Platform, break the Xuanli Realm Formation, attract the Demon Saint, and cause the Yingshan tribe to suffer the same fate.

This was Wu Xuan's guess. He also told Lin Huai that the bloodline in the dragon sparrow's body was called "Xianzhen Dragon Sparrow," which originated from the legendary Yinglong True Spirit and was extremely rare.

Lin Huai only knew about the True Dragon, but had never heard of the Yinglong.

Upon inquiry, it was learned that Yinglong was also a type of true dragon.

Wu Xuan also said that the bloodline within the dragon sparrow was extremely pure.

If the dragon energy in the Xuanli Realm weren't so thin, the dragon sparrow would have a good chance of advancing to the Demon King level, which is the Dragon Transformation Realm.

They might even have a chance to reach the Demon Saint realm, the legendary Heavenly Realm.

Upon hearing this, Lin Huai became even more determined to stop the Demon Saint from descending and help Fellow Daoist Chen open the True Dragon Cave.

He and Long Que have been companions for thousands of years, sharing life and death experiences, their bond is incredibly deep, and they are no longer separated.

According to Wu Xuan, the demon race values ​​bloodlines the most, and they might covet the bloodline within the dragon sparrow.

The Supreme Elder said that Fellow Daoist Chen is a disciple of the Tai Xuan Sect, a major sect in the Spirit Realm.

Only by befriending him can Long Que have the opportunity to enter the True Dragon Cave and use the pure dragon energy within to break through to the Dragon Transformation Realm, or even the Heavenly Sovereign Realm.

Even if you can't enter the True Dragon Cave, you can ask Fellow Daoist Chen to ask a powerful figure from the Tai Xuan Sect to help the Dragon Sparrow improve its cultivation.

Lin Huai was well aware that he lacked cultivation resources when he was young, was somewhat impatient for quick success, and his foundation was not solid enough.

Being able to cultivate to the mid-stage of the Cloud Soaring Realm already requires strong support from the tribe.

He can only cultivate to the late stage of the Cloud Transformation Realm at most, and his hope of breaking through to the Dragon Transformation Realm is extremely slim.

However, Long Que has the potential to reach the Heavenly Realm, and his path is far longer than his, so he cannot stop here.

No matter how strong the Tai Xuan Sect is, it cannot ignore the combat power of the Yu Tian Realm. They will definitely carefully cultivate Long Que, and then he will have no regrets.

As Lin Huai carefully followed behind the two demon generals, his mind raced, pondering how to persuade Long Que to improve his cultivation on his own, instead of considering his master, whose path to enlightenment was nearing its end.

Suddenly, the dragon sparrow let out a slightly sharp dragon roar.

Lin Huai's pupils contracted, and he retreated rapidly.

He did not place a soul restriction on the dragon sparrow, but the two were already in sync.

As soon as Long Que spoke, Lin Huai knew what it meant; it was a warning to him.

But he couldn't dodge in time. A beam of light flew out from the pine forest below and entered Lin Huai's body.

His divine sense swept wildly through his body, and he saw a pale yellow spiritual light wandering around his meridians.

He immediately channeled his dragon energy, rushing towards the spiritual light from all directions, but the light passed right through him.

The spiritual light remained completely unharmed, an illusion that seemed to exist outside the meridians.

A voice tinged with coldness reached Lin Huai's ears: "You've followed us for quite some time; now you want to leave? It's too late!" (End of Chapter)