Let's not mention Wang Xiaoqiang's carefree life, embraced by women on all sides, and first talk about the fierce battle that unfolded outside the sleeping chamber, where the Imperial Guards clashed with the Chiba Sect in the most intense skirmish.

Without the head of the Chiba Sect, the female disciples were despairing and disorganized, while the sight of the women invigorated the Imperial Guards with boundless ambition and a resolute determination akin to a decisive life-and-death battle, resulting in many of the Chiba Sect women dead or prostrating, with half of them lying in pools of blood, and the other half becoming objects of pleasure for the Imperial Guards.

The Patterned Beast roared and returned to the entrance of the sleeping chamber to protect its master.

After Wang Xiaoqiang had his way with the Chiba sisters, he cast a powerful restriction, confining both sisters before throwing them into the Sumeru Ring, leaving Yang Ling to watch over them. Then, he got dressed, stepped outside, and saw that all the soldiers were indulging themselves with captives. He didn't bother with them. Casually grabbing one of the captives, he leapt onto the Patterned Beast's back, with a single thought.

The Patterned Beast took to the skies, following its master's will.

The captive's face was battered and scarred, resembling a car accident scene, frightening to behold at night, and thus, despite being a prisoner, no Imperial Guard dared to touch her.

Seeing that Wang Xiaoqiang had snatched her and flown up, the captive trembled with fear. Wang Xiaoqiang said to her, "If you don't want to die, point out the direction of the Chiba Sect."

The captive pointed toward the northern horizon. With a thought from Wang Xiaoqiang, the Patterned Beast flew toward the north.

Soon, they arrived at the Chiba Sect.

The Chiba Sect was not large, but as a sect of female cultivators, the buildings and layout within were extremely elegant, with pavilions, towers, small bridges over streaming water—it resembled a garden.

However, the Chiba Sect was protected by a powerful sect array, wrapped in a layer of purple light that covered the vast sect.

Outsiders could not fly in.

Wang Xiaoqiang shot an arrow with the Sun-Shooting Bow but failed to break through. Only by combining the Visualization Technique and the Thunderclap Annihilation Palm was he able to shatter the sect's protective light barrier.

The captive was secretly amazed to see Wang Xiaoqiang break through the protective sect array. Wang Xiaoqiang let out a proud laugh, urged the Patterned Beast forward, and flew inside.

Since Lady Chiba had taken people to White Cloud City, and the rest had rushed to provide support, only two to three hundred disciples were left to guard the sect. Now, terrified upon seeing someone break the protective sect array, they dared not make a move.

This protective array was set up by an Immortal Venerable level member of the Chiba Clan. To understand how substantial the protective array was, even Sect Leader Lady Chiba could not break through it. Now that someone had, one could imagine the extent of their cultivation base—regardless of its level, it was beyond their ability to withstand. Most of the disciples hid away, and only a dozen or so fierce women pointed at Wang Xiaoqiang, who was descending from the sky, and shouted, "Who is the villain that dares to break our sect's array?!"

Wang Xiaoqiang sneered and took out the Sun-Shooting Bow, shooting an arrow.

Whoosh!

Bang!

The woman struck by the Spiritual Energy Arrowhead had her head explode. Blood sprayed as she met an untimely death.

The rest were terrified, frozen in place, daring not to move, not even to breathe, let alone speak again.

"Any more foolish talkers will share the same fate!"

Wang Xiaoqiang bellowed, withdrawing his gaze, and proceeded to the Pill Storage Room, led by the captive.

Wang Xiaoqiang swung his sword to break open the storage room door and then walked in. What caught his eye were five boxes. With a wave of his hand, the boxes opened, revealing that each was filled with Demon Crystals—five boxes of them, with a total of more than a thousand crystals. It was indeed a significant gain.

Then Wang Xiaoqiang walked out and said to the captive, "Go find your own way to survive."

The captive ran off as if granted a great pardon. With a thought from Wang Xiaoqiang, he ordered the Patterned Beast to guard the door, and then he entered the storage room. Sitting cross-legged, he released 44,800 Spiritual Springs from within his body and began absorbing the Demon Crystals.

Wang Xiaoqiang now had 144,800 Spiritual Springs inside him. With the lessons from his previous experiences, he dared not release all of them to absorb the essences of the Demon Crystals, for fear of bursting his meridians and dying from their expansion.

Thus, he only released a small part—44,800 Spiritual Springs flew out of his body and immediately rushed towards the boxes of Demon Crystals, greedily absorbing the essence and converting it into Spiritual Power.

Absorb, absorb, absorb, absorb...

Once the 44,800 Spiritual Springs were all saturated, they returned to Wang Xiaoqiang's body, causing light cracking sounds after a swelling and contracting sequence...

Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop... pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop...

The 44,800 Spiritual Springs split into 89,600, and at this point, the number of Spiritual Springs inside Wang Xiaoqiang's body reached 189,600.

All 189,600 Spiritual Springs vibrated simultaneously, causing his Spiritual Power to skyrocket as the surging energy, like tidal waves, kept washing over his entire body, circulating through his meridians and acupoints.

Then, the 189,600 Spiritual Springs revolved within his body following a mysterious trajectory like countless twinkling stars, their movement was very slow yet powerful, as if a gigantic energy field was rotating, causing even the dust around Wang Xiaoqiang to turn without wind.

Finally,

After completing a rotation, they stopped and settled into positions corresponding to several starry sky zodiac signs.

At this point, Wang Xiaoqiang's cultivation had reached the Ninth Transformation of the Immortal, just one small step away from the True Immortal Realm.

Wang Xiaoqiang opened his eyes revealing both surprise and a tinge of regret.

The thrill was in leveling up again, but the regret was in not reaching the True Immortal Realm.

Looking up, Wang Xiaoqiang noticed that there were still more than half of the demon crystals left in the box. A thought struck him, and he decided, why not take this opportunity to advance to the True Immortal Realm right here.

With that thought, he released the 89,600 Spiritual Springs within his body to absorb the remaining demon crystals in the box. Once the 89,600 Spiritual Springs were fully saturated, they all returned to Wang Xiaoqiang's body. Amidst a series of expanding and contracting, a faint but dense series of cracking sounds were heard...

Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop... pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop...

The 89,600 Spiritual Springs split in two, and at this moment, the number of Spiritual Springs inside Wang Xiaoqiang's body had reached 179,200. Now, he had a total of 279,200 Spiritual Springs within him.

All 279,200 Spiritual Springs shook simultaneously, and spiritual power surged wildly, swelling and surging like an avalanche, like a tsunami, constantly scouring through the meridians and acupoints throughout his body.

Then, the 279,200 Spiritual Springs started to circulate within his body like countless stars on a mysterious trajectory,

This rotation was even more forceful, as if a giant disc of heaven and earth was spinning, causing the surrounding large boxes filled with demon crystals to rotate as well.

After one full rotation.

A sudden explosive roar was heard.

The spiritual power within the 279,200 Spiritual Springs burst forth and formed numerous Spiritual Energy Vortices inside Wang Xiaoqiang's body, beginning to condense. At this moment, the spiritual energy underwent a transformation, becoming much more forceful and sharp, known as Qi Condensation into Gang Qi.

After all the Spiritual Energy Vortices had condensed into Gang Qi Vortices within him, these Gang Qi Vortices lifted Wang Xiaoqiang's body and ascended upward.

Boom!

A Gang Qi Vortex shot out from the top of Wang Xiaoqiang's head, blasting open the roof of the storage room.

Wang Xiaoqiang's body was then carried up to the sky by the Gang Qi Vortex.

This ascension didn't require the use of spiritual power or Divine Sense; it was a natural ascension, the so-called ascension of an Immortal.

It signified that Wang Xiaoqiang had stepped into the True Immortal Realm.

He was now, indeed, a true Immortal.

Bonded with its master, the Patterned Beast grew stronger as Wang Xiaoqiang advanced. Seeing its master ascend, it let out a joyful roar and flew under Wang Xiaoqiang's feet, lowering its beastly head in a gesture of utmost respect.

"Haha, I, Wang Xiaoqiang, have finally become an Immortal!" Wang Xiaoqiang laughed triumphantly, then stepped onto the Patterned Beast and soared into the higher skies.

Wang Xiaoqiang returned to White Cloud City.

He first released Yang Ling.

Upon coming out, Yang Ling saw that Wang Xiaoqiang had advanced to the True Immortal Realm and immediately congratulated him, "Congratulations to the Gongxi City Lord for ascending to the True Immortal Realm and becoming a true Immortal!"

"Stop calling me City Lord," Wang Xiaoqiang said. "I reckon I won't hold this position much longer. The two women in the ring are from the Chiba Clan. I've had my way with the Chiba Clan's women, so it's only a matter of time before the Chiba Clan comes to trouble me. I suspect that the Chiba Clan is an extremely powerful force, so the top priority now is finding a place to hide."

"Hmm...," Yang Ling nodded and said, "As for hiding places, of course you need to find an existence more powerful than the Chiba Clan. But Little Qiang, I can't think of any. After all, this is the Rogue Cultivator Territory, and I don't know anyone."

"Well, how about this?" Wang Xiaoqiang suggested. "Let's flee White Cloud City tonight to avoid the Chiba Clan catching us in a trap. Then we can gauge how strong the Chiba Clan is and how powerful their experts are. If they're too formidable, we'll flee to the deep mountains."

"That's a good plan. But this means White Cloud City is going to suffer," said Yang Ling as she glanced at the sleeping Imperial Guards. After an intense battle and an encounter with the female disciples of the Chiba Sect, these guards were utterly exhausted and had fallen asleep on the ground.

"Why have you become so sentimental? White Cloud City was never ours to begin with. If we lose it, we lose it; if it's destroyed, it's destroyed. What does it have to do with me?" Wang Xiaoqiang shrugged.

"Hmm, you're right," Yang Ling conceded, then joked with a laugh, "But before we go, do you want to take a few women with you? Are you willing to abandon the women of the Xia Family?"

"Having you is enough," Wang Xiaoqiang replied, wrapping his arm around Yang Ling's slim waist, leaping onto the Patterned Beast, which then became invisible at the will of its master and flew out of White Cloud City.

Shortly after the Patterned Beast had flown out of White Cloud City.

Five figures in white robes arrived at White Cloud City.

After circling Wang Xiaoqiang's other courtyard, they finally landed at the entrance of Wang Xiaoqiang's bedroom. The dozing soldiers sensed something and opened their eyes. Seeing five unfamiliar figures, they unleashed their Divine Sense and saw that they were all experts at the True Immortal Realm, with one of them even being a formidable Fifth Stage True Immortal Realm expert. They were immediately petrified and scurried away.

But before they could get far, the Fifth Stage True Immortal Realm expert reached out his hand, and instantly several soldiers' heads exploded, meeting a violent death.

The rest dared not flee any longer and turned to kneel on the ground, pleading for mercy, "Mercy, sirs! We had nothing to do with this!"

The Fifth Stage True Immortal Realm expert demanded, "Tell me, where are Lady Chiba, the Sect Leader of Chiba Sect, and Master Yunmeng now?"

"Lady Chiba, Master Yunmeng, we don't know..."

"Ah, I... I know," one of the soldiers immediately betrayed Wang Xiaoqiang, pointing to Wang Xiaoqiang's bedroom, "In our City Lord's bedroom."

Hearing this, the Fifth Stage True Immortal Realm expert ground his teeth in anger, his expression chilling. With a sweep of his sleeves, the several hundred soldiers were sent flying hundreds of meters away, spitting blood and dying on impact.

(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)

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