After consuming enough, they seemed to evolve.

They grew larger, stronger, and far harder to break through.

This discovery caused Xiao Shou to pause for a brief moment.

Then, without hesitation, he instinctively poured a massive amount of spiritual energy into the Dark Night Spirit Sword and activated its second level of power.

Xiao Shou unleashed an even more powerful wave of sword energy, instantly shattering the evolved stone beasts charging at him into fragments.

At the same time, he split off a strand of divine sense to collect all the Windwheel Dandelions that had not yet been devoured and storing them in his storage bag.

Xiao Shou did not realize that in this battle, he had not only created a new sword technique, but had also just achieved triple-tasking with his divine sense.

He simultaneously attacking, sensing, and retrieving items.

He did not understand how precious this ability was.

Instead, after consuming a large amount of spiritual energy to unleash the second level power of the Dark Night Spirit Sword, he immediately began thinking about how to reduce energy consumption while maintaining that level of power.

He also started trying to develop a method for initiating long-range attacks.

He could not keep passively waiting for attacks and then countering with the sword net.

In that instant, it felt as though countless thoughts passed through his mind, yet also as though nothing did.

From all the memories of his life, every image related to long-range attacks began flashing through his mind.

There were real-world weapons like guns and artillery as well as fictional techniques from various protagonists and side characters.

Suddenly, inspiration struck.

Most of the images vanished, leaving only a few behind.

Among them, the ultimate move of Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach shone brightly, along with the echo of Zangetsu’s guidance ringing in his ears.

Xiao Shou’s heart stirred.

In an instant, he rose from the center of the sword net into midair.

Instead of relying solely on his flying cloud boots to remain suspended, he compressed a large amount of spiritual energy beneath his feet, mimicking a flash-step-like movement to support his body.

Then, just as the voice of Zangetsu had instructed, he poured half of his spiritual energy into the Dark Night Spirit Sword.

With absolute simplicity, he released this condensed power in a single strike.

The massive sword energy surged downward along the canyon.

In that moment, an enormous pale black arc of sword energy burst from the blade of the Dark Night Spirit Sword, tearing through the canyon path with unstoppable force.

Under such overwhelming power, every stone beast in its path was reduced to dust.

Everyone stood frozen in shock at the sheer might of that attack.

In a single strike, Xiao Shou had cleared over four hundred meters of the canyon of all stone beasts.

Meanwhile, they had spent over a month advancing, averaging less than that distance per day.

Chi Jia’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

"I truly want to see the full set of sword techniques you possess, Fellow Daoist Xiao."

"Yes, the power is astonishing," Yu Lin said with a sigh. "It does not resemble something at the Golden Core stage at all. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator might only achieve this level."

She could not help but think that the cultivation world was truly full of monsters.

In the modern world, an attack of this scale would require something far beyond ordinary explosives.

Those favored by higher realms were truly different.

His words filled everyone present with a mix of envy and jealousy.

Xiao Ran’s expression darkened. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

She had already used the Soul Tempering Flower.

With Xiao Shou’s mere three spiritual roots, how could he have become this powerful in less than ten years?

Sure enough, he was someone favored by the Heavenly Dao.

And Yu Lin still claimed that she herself was the protagonist.

Would a true protagonist end up in such a miserable state?

It sounded like a joke.

In Xiao Ran’s eyes, Xiao Shou was the real protagonist.

Opportunities, treasures, and fortunes all seemed to fall into his hands effortlessly.

Yet he would casually give them away to her as if it were nothing, almost like charity.

In front of him, she and her brother felt like beggars.

But for the sake of cultivation, for the sake of Chi Jia, for the sake of resources, she had no choice but to endure that humiliation.

Time and time again, she accepted his handouts, listened to him speak of his good fortune, and watched as he advanced smoothly all the way to ascension.

Ever since entering the Heavenly Void Sect, every interaction with him had been a form of torment.

With such luck and opportunities, he was the true protagonist.

How she longed to possess that kind of fate.

She had thought that after being reborn, by taking the Soul Tempering Flower and feeding berserk medicine to the guardian beast, she could eliminate the person who had always tormented her.

Yet his luck proved overwhelming.

Even a berserk demonic beast could not kill him.

After he left the marketplace, he only grew stronger.

Meanwhile, she herself had been nearly destroyed by Yu Lin’s schemes.

No matter how strong she became in the future, she would still be a pitiful woman dependent on men.

To her, Yu Lin was nothing more than a despicable schemer who only dared to plot in the shadows.

One day, she would surpass her completely and erase everything Yu Lin had done.

But Xiao Shou was different.

Only he remained as the inner demon she could not overcome.

Only one of them could survive.

And now, he had grown even stronger.

Xiao Ran felt an overwhelming urge to destroy him completely.

Unaware of the thoughts of the protagonist and supporting character, Xiao Shou looked at the scene he had created with delight.

The stone beasts had been reduced to dust.

A massive fissure stretched deep into the ground.

The effect was almost identical to that of Ichigo Kurosaki’s Shikai.

As expected, what that younger brother character in the anime had said was true.