Still, this level of information leakage was truly unavoidable.
After all, he couldn't act submissive and cowardly, letting others think he was an easy target.
During his year of traveling across Earth, Yu Xian had met all kinds of people. Some wanted to become his disciples, some wished to become his blood scions, some coveted his fame, and some lusted after his power.
From dealing with them, he had learned one fundamental truth: never test human hearts or human nature, because for most people, neither could withstand the test.
Especially in the Abyss, where neither laws nor rules existed, playing the pig to eat the tiger was essentially dangling a meat bun in front of a dog—hardly any dog could resist taking a bite.
"Little Nora, how many languages can you speak?"
Once the Kaman Hunting Group had walked far off, Yu Xian suddenly looked at Little Nora with curiosity and asked.
So far, Little Nora had spoken over a dozen languages. It knew the languages of Earth, and it could speak the Swamp Humans' tongue as well. Yu Xian was quite curious about just how many languages it knew.
Little Nora gulped down a piece of meat, took the roasted meat Yu Xian handed over, and replied, "A lot."
With that, it swallowed another mouthful of roasted dragon meat.
"How much is 'a lot'? Have you never counted?" Yu Xian handed it another piece of meat and pressed on.
Little Nora shook its head. "I don't know. Anyway, it's just a lot, a whole lot. Some languages, I only remember when I come across them."
"Fair enough. Just remember to share that knowledge with me in the future," Yu Xian said helplessly, handing Little Nora yet another roasted slice.
Little Nora nodded eagerly. "Mm-hmm, got it!"
Yu Xian then focused on roasting meat for Little Nora. Once Little Nora finished eating, he urged it to cultivate.
Garudas were born with their own cultivation methods. The one Little Nora practiced was called the *Glazed Rebirth Method*, a cultivation technique unique to Garudas that could accelerate their growth and even surpass the limits of their bloodline.
The *Glazed Rebirth Method* had four realms in total: egg-born, womb-born, moisture-born, and transformation-born, each realm corresponding to a rank.
Egg-born was the lowest tier, which was the stage Little Nora was currently cultivating. Its primary function was to convert ingested food into accumulated energy, preparing for a future breakthrough to Star Rank.
Even without cultivating, Little Nora could still break through to Star Rank, but it would take a very long time.
The purpose of cultivation was to shorten that duration. Reaching Star Rank would have normally required several thousand years, but diligent cultivation could shorten that by at least a third.
Womb-born pertained to the Star Rank stage of cultivation, moisture-born corresponded to Li Rank, and transformation-born to System Rank.
However, all of that was still far too distant for Little Nora. What it needed to do right now was to master the cultivation method for the egg-born stage.
Looking at Little Nora lying on the ground looking as though it were asleep, Yu Xian asked curiously, "Auntie, the highest level of the *Glazed Rebirth Method* only reaches System Rank. But you said Little Nora's ancestor was at Hegemon Rank when it set the bloodline gene lock. Did it break through to an even higher realm?"
"Beyond transformation-born, there are realms such as form-born, formless-born, thought-born, thoughtless-born, neither-thought-born, and nor-thoughtless-born. The Garuda Ancestor only advanced to Hegemon Rank after breaking through to form-born, though that belongs to another cultivation method entirely," Zhenwo Changjing replied.
Yu Xian nodded. "In other words, after the *Glazed Rebirth Method*, there's a higher-level technique that connects seamlessly with it. Auntie, do you know it?"
"I do not. That is the Garuda Ancestor's closely guarded secret. Perhaps you can go ask it yourself," Zhenwo Changjing said with a faint smile.
Yu Xian caught on and asked, "Which means the Garuda Ancestor isn't dead yet? Auntie, where is it?"
"Sometimes exploring the unknown is a joy in itself. Why not try uncovering the truth on your own?" Zhenwo Changjing didn't give a direct answer, speaking with a smile instead.
Yu Xian grinned. "I get it. Even if it's not dead, it must be in some special state. Is it sealed away, or imprisoned?"
Zhenwo Changjing merely smiled without saying another word, letting the topic drop.
Yu Xian didn't dwell on it further. He committed the matter to memory, then went back to observing Little Nora's condition.
Right now, his combat power was 126. Back when he fought Edward, it had already reached 118, and the remaining eight points were gains from spending the following month integrating various bloodlines. From then on, Earth's resources were beneath his notice.
Little Nora's combat power had been 1. After obtaining the Adamantine Feathers talent, Little Nora effectively gained a portion of Star Rank capability, raising its combat power to 30. If they merged, their combined combat power would be 156.
This was still within the early stage of Star Rank.
For Star Rank, the minimum combat power was 100, while the ceiling was 1,000.
Thus, Star Rank could be divided into four phases: 100 to 299 was early-stage, 300 to 599 was mid-stage, 600 to 899 was late-stage, and 900 to 1,000 was the peak.
The Spartan King mentioned by Chun Mu was an expert at the peak of Star Rank, meaning his combat power was at least above 900 and below 1,000.
In fact, with that level of strength, the other party could utterly crush Yu Xian; the gap between them was simply too vast.
"The Ancient Cosmos Dragon, the Spartan King... As expected, Star Rank experts are hardly rare in the Abyss." Yu Xian looked up at the pitch-black sky and let out a long breath, musing silently to himself.
Fortunately, he had entered a world fragment rather than stepping directly into the Abyss itself, giving him at least a meager margin of safety. Once he truly set foot in the Abyss, far more unknown dangers would surely await him.
He had to grow stronger quickly. A Star Divine Artifact had to be forged, and Little Nora needed to be strengthened as soon as possible.
The night passed without incident.
The next morning, Yu Xian and Little Nora continued roaming around while merged to hunt dragon-type creatures. The meatier ones were saved to roast for Little Nora, while the leaner ones had their blood drained directly.
Although it was merely a world fragment, the fragment was immense.
Over the next few days, Yu Xian did not encounter any other outsiders. Evidently, there weren't as many contenders for the Forbidden Fruit as he had imagined. Instead, he discovered a dragon blood vein and obtained a substantial amount of Dragon Blood Iron.
According to the information Little Nora provided, Dragon Blood Iron could be refined into Dragon Blood Steel, a prime material for Star Divine Artifacts.
With the amount of Dragon Blood Iron Yu Xian had gathered, it was equivalent to collecting a third of the components needed for a Star Divine Artifact. Once he found two more suitable materials, he could begin reforging the Dragon Shield.
Back when he was weak, the Dragon Shield had provided him immense peace of mind. Going without it now felt genuinely unnatural.
To some extent, the Dragon Shield had become the most important defensive gear in his heart. So long as it could be upgraded, he would keep upgrading it again and again, letting it accompany him forever.
One day at noon.
Yu Xian and Little Nora were resting by a lake.
Holding an oddly shaped piece of Dragon Blood Iron in his hand, a wisp of Six Ding Divine Fire flickered at his fingertip as he carefully attempted to refine away its impurities.
Suddenly, a thunderous boom echoed from afar. Both he and Little Nora, who had been busy gnawing on meat, immediately looked up toward the direction of the blast.
Chapter 211