Soul Emperor Awakening

After obtaining the Five-Colored Spirit Wood, Lin Xuan immediately took out his Engraving Knife and began to carve. Carvings made from Five-Colored Spirit Wood were not only durable, but most importantly, they possessed a higher Cultivation. This was especially true for creatures like the Phoenix; a carving made from Five-Colored Spirit Wood would definitely be of the Upper Grade!

’This Five-Colored Spirit Wood is absolutely perfect. It far surpasses the grade of the one from the Shang Family...’ Lin Xuan could tell the Grade of the Five-Colored Spirit Wood at a glance. The older it was, the better its effect.

The Shang Family’s Five-Colored Spirit Wood was a pseudo-Five-Colored Spirit Wood, grown only with the help of Phoenix Essence Blood. This one, however, was an absolutely genuine Five-Colored Spirit Wood, far surpassing the previous one in both length and thickness.

’What a huge piece. It must be at least a hundred years old. It looks like I’ll be able to carve a statue with a very impressive Cultivation...’ Lin Xuan was thrilled and immediately began to carve with great speed.

All trees have a corresponding age, and the older the age, the higher the quality. The same was true for the Five-Colored Spirit Wood. Of course, a greater age for the Five-Colored Spirit Wood didn’t provide much of a boost to the engraved patterns. It merely increased the success rate a bit. The inherent potential for improvement remained the same, so it wasn’t too Heaven-Defying.

It should be said that it was already Heaven-Defying enough. If it could be enhanced even further, wouldn’t that be outrageous? That was why the Shang Family hadn’t waited for too many years before cutting down their Five-Colored Spirit Wood. After all, the slight boost in success rate wasn’t that significant. As long as one’s own skill was high enough, why bother with such a small detail?

Tuo Yunhai watched from the side, but after a while, he fell asleep. His Cultivation was relatively low, and the previous battle had left him mentally strained. Now that there was no danger, he drifted off to sleep.

Lin Xuan glanced at him and revealed a faint smile before continuing to carve. Every cut of the knife was made with such force and concentration.

When Tuo Yunhai woke up, Lin Xuan had already finished carving. He had carved the entire block of Five-Colored Spirit Wood into a Phoenix, and it was quite enormous. He hadn’t split it into several pieces, instead using the entire Five-Colored Spirit Wood to create the carving. It was at least half a meter tall, looking exquisite and lifelike.

The size of the statue didn’t affect its Cultivation, only the amount of its Elemental Power. He needed to fly Tuo Yunhai to Divine Martial Island, which was still very far away. It needed to have powerful endurance to make the journey smoothly. Especially if they were pursued, he would be in trouble if its Elemental Power was insufficient.

Therefore, if he was going to carve one, he might as well carve a large one. In the future, if he had more Five-Colored Spirit Wood, he could carve others to serve as guards. Besides, a Phoenix could also act as a guard and was extremely ferocious, so there was no need to overthink it. It could serve two purposes.

"What a big bird! Is Brother Lin going to make the big bird appear again?" A surprised and delighted light flashed in Tuo Yunhai’s eyes. He knew that Lin Xuan’s Phoenix was something he conjured himself. Watching it made him envious, and he wished he could do the same.

When Lin Xuan told him he couldn’t do it, he was very disappointed, but he quickly came to terms with it. In any case, there was no need to pursue that sort of thing.

Lin Xuan didn’t hide this from him. Tuo Yunhai was his lifesaver, so there was no need to hide too much. In fact, he didn’t hide it from Liu Yue’Er either. In any case, these things would be exposed sooner or later; it was just a matter of who they were exposed to.

Exposing it to powerful experts who were hostile toward him would be the most troublesome. If they saw he had such an exquisite Puppetry Technique, they would really want to snatch it away.

To them, it was just a Puppetry Technique. They wouldn’t suspect the Soul Pearl and would only think it was a rather high-end Puppetry Technique. In the Demon Cloud Sea, he had no acquaintances, and no one knew his identity, so he could be more casual.

"That’s right. In a moment, we’ll fly to Divine Martial Island. We’re going back to your home," Lin Xuan said.

"Are we... finally going home?" Tuo Yunhai’s eyes glistened, and the rims of his eyes immediately reddened. It felt like this whole ordeal had been so long.

Lin Xuan tossed the carving in his hand forward. A massive Phoenix appeared before their eyes. Its size was the same as always, but the Flame erupting from it was much more vigorous than before. The aura it released even put some pressure on Lin Xuan.

"Holy cow, Peak of Essence Pill Stage Cultivation!" Lin Xuan sucked in a cold breath. He hadn’t expected the difference between Five-Colored Spirit Woods to be so great. What if it had been a thousand-year-old Five-Colored Spirit Wood? The Cultivation would definitely be even higher.

Of course, each had its own advantages. If he managed to get some materials for forging Divine Artifacts to carve with, the hardness would certainly be extraordinary. The Five-Colored Spirit Wood provided good Cultivation, but its hardness was lacking. However, his current circumstances were limited, so he couldn’t find any to try.

"Let’s get on."

Lin Xuan led Tuo Yunhai onto the Phoenix’s back. Under his control, the Phoenix flapped its broad Fire Wings and flew rapidly toward Divine Martial Island. At this speed, it was slower than Elder Feng’s flight, but not by much. This terrifying flight speed meant he wouldn’t even fear being pursued by a Spirit Pill Stage expert.

This was the advantage of being able to fly. A Spirit Pill Stage expert was strong, but if they couldn’t fly, how could they give chase? Especially in this sea region, it was difficult for a Spirit Pill Stage expert to reach high speeds in the water.

After flying at an astonishing speed for nearly two or three days, a massive island finally appeared before their eyes.

"Brother Lin, look, look! That’s my home!" Tuo Yunhai shouted excitedly, pointing at the island ahead. As he yelled, tears streamed down his face—tears of joy and emotion.

After so many years, he hadn’t forgotten the way home; he still knew which direction to go.

"This is Divine Martial Island?" Lin Xuan was startled. Memories from Qing Liuyun surfaced, causing him to space out for a moment. After coming to his senses, he turned to Tuo Yunhai and said, "Wasn’t this originally called Martial God Island?"

Martial God Island and Divine Martial Island were just inversions of each other, but their meanings were completely different. Martial God signified an absolute expert, while Divine Martial was more of a description fit for an Emperor.

"Yeah, it used to be called Martial God Island, but now it’s been changed to Divine Martial Island. We on the inside still call it Martial God Island, though. I didn’t expect that you aren’t one of the Demon Sea People, Brother Lin, yet you know its old name," Tuo Yunhai said.

"If it’s Martial God Island... Yunhai, your family is the number one family in the Demon Cloud Sea!" Lin Xuan was a bit dumbfounded. He just now remembered that Tuo Yunhai’s surname was Tuo, and the number one family in the Demon Cloud Sea was the Tu Family!

The second-largest family was the Zeng Family, and the third was the Lan Family. When he had heard the surname before, he hadn’t thought much of it. Having the same surname didn’t necessarily mean being from the same family, just like with the Lin Family.

"Yeah, I was born into the Tu Family, but I’m just from a humble branch. The splendor of the highest echelons is something we can’t even touch..." Tuo Yunhai’s eyes were filled with longing, but that longing was useless. After all, it was completely out of reach.

The entire island belonged to the Tu Family, and everyone who lived there was part of the Tu Family—a super-massive family with at least several million to ten million people living there, all of them Tu Family members. Tuo Yunhai was just from one small household among them. He wasn’t a Young Master, so when he was captured and taken to the mines, no one was able to save him.