Chapter 2272: Uncomfortable Ao Feng

The more pure soul power Zhang Xuan absorbed from the light membrane, the larger his soul body became, and his control over his soul grew stronger.

Soon, he reached saturation again.

However, it didn't matter. With a thought, the absorbed power entered his clone's body, making its soul increasingly powerful.

Soon, all the absorbable power was depleted.

Looking up, he saw Ao Feng hovering in the air like a dead dragon, covered in blood, as if all the power within him had been completely exhausted.

Gone was the might of a Conferred God King he had displayed earlier.

"I have a pill here to restore your strength; take one!" Seeing Ao Feng in such a state, Zhang Xuan paused, flicked his finger, and a pill flew towards him.

If the fellow really fainted, Zhang Xuan wouldn't be able to absorb the scattered soul power with peace of mind.

Having absorbed so much just now, he needed to show gratitude.

"My injuries are too severe; ordinary pills are useless to me..."

Seeing the pill offered, Ao Feng gave a bitter smile.

Even medicines of the highest divine-grade essence pill level had little effect on him, let alone lower-grade ones.

His injuries were too severe; only purer lineage could be effective.

"Try it!" Zhang Xuan smiled faintly.

Although it was just an ordinary high-grade divine essence pill, it contained his 'Heaven's Love' true energy and some blood from the little yellow chick. Common injuries were nothing to it.

Seeing Zhang Xuan's persistence, and recalling how easily he had walked over from a distance, Ao Feng opened his mouth and swallowed the medicine.

As the pill went down, a warm current immediately surged through his body, and his severe injuries recovered in an instant.

"This..." Ao Feng's pupils contracted, and he trembled uncontrollably.

The effect of this medicine was comparable to that of an Emperor's medicine!

Who exactly was this... giving away such a valuable pill so casually?

He looked down and saw the other party gazing at him with an eager expression: "Keep striking..."

"..." Ao Feng's mouth twitched, and his eyebrows twitched wildly.

All gratitude in his heart vanished.

You're treating me like a laborer...

He glanced back at the many God Kings he had brought, most of whom were already injured and close to collapsing. Knowing this wasn't the time to quibble, he gritted his teeth again and brought his claw down fiercely.

*Crack! Crack!*

The light membrane trembled, and more streams of power rained down, which the other party absorbed.

After absorbing for a while, Zhang Xuan frowned again.

His clone hadn't comprehended the Heaven's Love cultivation technique nor achieved the Nine Heavens Conferred King status, so its soul power demand was greater. Initially, Ao Feng had accumulated a lot of power from striking for a long time, so absorbing it felt fine. But now, absorbing while Ao Feng was striking, he felt the soul power's speed was too slow.

In cultivation, speed and slowness are two different concepts. Sometimes, when breaking through a realm, being too slow is equivalent to having no effect at all.

"Why wait for it to be struck down before absorbing? Can't I just absorb this membrane directly?"

Seeing Ao Feng in the air, his tongue hanging out and saliva splattering from exhaustion, and knowing that increasing his speed was unlikely, Zhang Xuan shook his head and looked at the cocoon-like membrane before him.

Absorbing it after it was struck down was easier, but given Ao Feng's condition, the speed of striking couldn't keep up with the absorption. A change was necessary.

If he had known the fellow was so unreliable, he wouldn't have given him the pill.

It was a waste of a pill.

It seemed that Conferred God Kings weren't as formidable as he had imagined!

Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan placed his palm on the membrane, concentrating his mind and frantically trying to absorb. However, he found the barrier to be incredibly hard, completely unabsorbable.

"No wonder this guy couldn't break it; this membrane is indeed terrifying..."

He threw a punch, and the resulting force was no more than what Ao Feng generated in the air. Instead, it left his arm numb, making Zhang Xuan shake his head.

This membrane, composed of the purest parts of countless plant spirits' souls, was indeed more formidable than he had imagined.

Although his true energy hadn't reached the peak of a Conferred King, and he hadn't used his soul power, his pure physical body, after being tempered by the Undying Lava Pool, was stronger than that of an ordinary peak Conferred King. For such powerful force to cause pain from recoil, it seemed only an Emperor could quickly break through the membrane before him.

"Let's try a weapon..."

Since his fists weren't working, Zhang Xuan flipped his wrist, and the Scarlet Firmament Sword, given by the Emperor of the Sword God Heaven, appeared in his palm.

"The tree desires stillness, yet the wind does not cease; the child wishes to serve, yet the parents are gone!"

The "Wind Never Ceases" sword art was unleashed.

*Whoosh!*

The membrane before him didn't hold up for an instant; a large hole ripped open, and he stumbled, finding himself inside the membrane.

"This..."

Zhang Xuan blinked.

His punches earlier couldn't inflict significant damage on the membrane no matter how hard he tried. He had expected that even with the sword, it would take a long time, but he never dreamed it would cut such a large opening so easily...

If he had known it was this simple, he wouldn't have wasted time outside.

While astonished, he also wondered what level of treasure this Scarlet Firmament Sword truly was; it was far too sharp!

"Hmm, absorbing from the inside is indeed much more convenient than from the outside..."

He put the sword back into his ring and resumed absorbing. Sure enough, a powerful surge of soul power rolled in and poured into his body.

He couldn't absorb it at all from the outside, but inside, the power was extremely abundant, making absorption effortless.

His clone in the storage ring rapidly absorbed this power, and its cultivation grew higher and stronger.

*Thump, thump, thump!*

While he was absorbing, Ao Feng outside was still attacking frantically, dragon blood constantly dripping from his claws. Just as he felt there was no hope of opening the membrane, he saw that the young man had, at some unknown point, slipped inside and was standing motionless within.

Ao Feng's body swayed, and he felt a sweetness in his throat, almost spitting blood again.

Big brother, when did you get in there?

Why didn't you call me?

I was out here foolishly striking with all my might; didn't you... see me?

This isn't fair...

It's like I was desperately fighting mosquitoes while you went inside the mosquito net, crossed your legs, and drank a beverage...

We're both God Kings, so why are you so exceptional?

His body swayed, and he arrived before the young man. He found the torn part of the membrane and lunged forward... but got stuck!

After struggling for a long time, he transformed into his human form and finally squeezed in.

"Spirit Liquid, I'm finally going to get it..."

Disregarding the young man who was sitting not far away, absorbing power, Ao Feng could no longer restrain himself and rushed directly towards the Earth Treasure Spirit Liquid before him.

With a gentle grasp, he held it in his palm.

*Thrumming with energy!*

Feeling the immense spiritual energy within, Ao Feng trembled with excitement. Just as he was about to find a container to store it and put it into his ring, his brow suddenly furrowed.

This spirit liquid...

Why did it look a whole lot smaller?

When he first saw it, it was about the size of an adult's fist. Now... it was only about the size of a ping-pong ball?

Full of doubt, he then watched as the spirit liquid shrank another small bit, becoming like a grape, and then a large edamame bean...

His scalp felt like it was about to explode, and Ao Feng's face was filled with exasperation.

Fist-sized, it would have pleased the Emperor greatly if presented. But offering something this small now? It would be an insult, wouldn't it?

It was utterly unpresentable...