War God Long Ao

For the next few days, Long Ao remained with the Long Family, dedicating himself to helping everyone improve their strength.

「Inside the Little Courtyard House.」

Long Ao focused on his core, absorbing the power flowing from the Dragon Seal Space. He was trying to force all the energy in his body into his Dantian to form an endless cycle.

The Five Innate Realms, from lowest to highest, were the Hundred Scattered Heaven Realm, the One-Line Heaven Realm, the Evolution Realm, the Fusion Realm, and the Unity Realm.

The Unity Realm.

To break through from the Fusion Realm to the Unity Realm, one had to first force all of their energy into their Dantian, condensing it into a single point before forming an endless cycle.

This sounded simple, but it was incredibly difficult to achieve.

At this moment, all the energy within Long Ao's body had already converged in his Dantian. It was condensed into a single point, forming the momentum of an endless cycle.

Slowly opening his eyes, Long Ao's face broke into a smile. 'The Unity Realm.' It had taken him ten days, but he had finally broken through, elevating his cultivation to the Unity Realm.

Long Ao knew full well that although the Fusion Realm and the Unity Realm were only one realm apart, the difference in strength was immense. The two could not be compared.

'Now that I'm at the Unity Realm, I should start working toward the Transformation Realm.'

The stage above the Innate Realm was the Transformation Realm. It was divided into five sub-realms, which, from lowest to highest, were the Thunder Tribulation Realm, the Transformation Realm, the Human King Realm, the Earth Emperor Realm, and the Taoist Ancestor Realm.

Thunder Tribulation.

Long Ao knew that as long as he could sense his own Thunder Tribulation and successfully pass through it, he would truly break through the Innate Realm and reach the Transformation Realm.

However, Long Ao was also worried. He had learned that many Unity Martial Artists failed when facing their Thunder Tribulation; the success rate was less than thirty percent.

Just as Long Ao stood up and gave a long stretch, the door to his Little Courtyard House was pushed open.

He felt a flash of anger. He had given explicit orders that no one was to disturb him for any reason while he was in closed-door cultivation.

'Given my current status in the Long Family,' he thought, 'who would dare disturb my cultivation?'

"Grandpa, is something wrong?"

Seeing his grandfather, Long Ao's anger instantly vanished. Long Haoshi seemed rather anxious. "Ao'Er, I need to talk to you about something," he said.

Long Ao grew even more curious, wondering what could possibly have his grandfather so worked up.

"Ao'Er, a day ago, news came from Red Fire Mountain. Someone discovered an injured Qilin there."

"A Qilin!"

Long Ao exclaimed in shock. He was, of course, no stranger to the creature his grandfather mentioned.

Like the Giant Dragons, the Qilin were one of the most powerful races on the Celestial Martial Continent. However, the Qilin Race had a fatal weakness: their population was only one-thousandth, or perhaps even one-ten-thousandth, that of the Dragon Race.

Because of this, Qilin were extremely rare on the Celestial Martial Continent.

"Grandpa, a Qilin's power is obvious. Even an injured one isn't something an ordinary person can approach. Have people already gone to Red Fire Mountain?"

Nodding, Long Haoshi said, "Ao'Er, the Qilin has drawn everyone's attention. I've received reliable information that kingdoms from all over, including the Thunder Empire, the Nebula Kingdom, and the Flame Empire—and even people from the Six Great Sects—are all rushing to Red Fire Mountain."

The Thunder Empire, the Flame Empire, the Nebula Kingdom, the Six Great Sects.

Long Ao wasn't surprised in the least. After all, anyone could imagine how tempting an injured Qilin would be.

Long Ao was only curious about one thing: how did such a powerful Qilin get injured, and who was the one to wound it?

Without a doubt, anyone capable of injuring a Qilin had to be an expert among experts.

"Ao'Er, I came to tell you this because I want to make one thing clear: no matter what happens, you are not to go to Red Fire Town. Understand?"

How could Long Ao not understand his grandfather's concern? He smiled and said, "Don't worry, Grandpa. I'm just going to take a look and meet up with some old friends while I'm there."

Long Haoshi gave his grandson a deep look. He knew Ao'Er's personality all too well, so he didn't press the issue.

As soon as Long Haoshi left, an anxious Long Ao immediately departed from his Little Courtyard House and headed for Red Fire Mountain.

Red Fire Mountain had been Long Ao's favorite place since childhood. He vaguely remembered ten years ago, when he fell from being a genius to being labeled a waste. He suffered endless humiliation and ridicule, but he refused to give up. For ten long years, he had persisted, coming to Red Fire Mountain every single day to cultivate.

Because of this, Red Fire Mountain held a special place in Long Ao's heart.

At this moment, Red Fire Mountain was bustling with activity. It was teeming with people, and an attack could come at any moment. So, instead of brazenly heading up the main path, Long Ao took a hidden trail.

He was likely the only person who knew about this trail on Red Fire Mountain.

The lure of an injured Qilin had thrown the entire Celestial State into an uproar. The hegemonic Six Great Sects, the Two Great Empires, and countless Kingdoms all swarmed to the mountain. Everyone wanted the Qilin for themselves. If one could gain the Qilin's acknowledgment, becoming a regional hegemon would not be a difficult task.

「Somewhere on Red Fire Mountain.」

"Ao Xue, are you thinking about him again?"

Ghost King Ao Tian shook his head helplessly. It pained him to see his daughter like this, but there was nothing he could do.

Ao Xue just smiled and changed the subject. "Dad, didn't you say an injured Qilin appeared on Red Fire Mountain? We've been here a full day, so why haven't we found it yet?"

At the mention of the Qilin, Ao Tian's spirits lifted. "A Qilin is incredibly powerful," he said. "Even an injured one is not something an ordinary person can handle. Besides, the Qilin is no fool. It knows the situation it's in. It's definitely still on Red Fire Mountain, just hiding."

"Dad, people from the other Five Great Sects have also gathered on Red Fire Mountain. If we all find the Qilin at the same time, won't a huge battle be inevitable?"

Nodding, Ao Tian suddenly smiled. "Ao Xue, I'm sure you know what a Qilin represents. Otherwise, the other five wouldn't have all shown up."

Ao Xue didn't say anything more, just pouted and muttered something under her breath.

Having successfully made his way up the mountain, Long Ao didn't bother the members of the major powers. Instead, he searched everywhere for traces of the Qilin. It would be a lie to say the prospect of an injured Qilin didn't excite him.

Long Ao knew that if he could obtain the Qilin Spirit, once Long Fu completed its Refinement, he and Long Qiang could use its power to break through to the Transformation Realm. It didn't seem like such a difficult task.

A Desolate Sacred Body—let alone two of them—required a terrifying amount of energy. That was precisely why Long Ao had come to try his luck.

'Tang Lin?'

Long Ao's expression soured as he watched a few people resting in the distance. He had nothing but contempt for that man and for the Nebula Kingdom.