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However, there are also rumors about this orc invasion. It is said that on a certain night when the orc forces led by Samantha almost reached the foot of the Saint Spirit Mountain, an elderly man in white, who appeared to be the Pope of the Radiant Temple, challenged the Orc King alone in a duel. The two stood ten meters apart, staring at each other for about fifteen minutes, then turned and left. After that, the Orc King retreated fifty kilometers, reorganized his troops, and showed no further intention to advance.

For Chen Xuanfeng, the progress of the war was of no concern.

For three months, he had been living in seclusion like hermits with Jin Luosha in the mountains of the southern Mainland, guiding her in absorbing and mastering the power of the "Holy Sigil," while also digesting the gains from that devastating slash capable of leveling a city.

That day, the move "Reopening the Chaos Purple Brilliance Calamity," due to the unexpected dark power in the "Tiger Soul," caused him to lose dozens of powerful dark magic abilities he had painstakingly acquired. Now, he only had three or four average auxiliary magic spells left, making him sigh that he truly had no affinity with magic. As the saying goes, "Easy come, easy go." Losing the magic abilities he had obtained through unorthodox means three times in his life could only be described as a cruel twist of fate.

With every gain comes a loss. After the "Tiger Soul Blade" absorbed dozens of fragments of divine power from the Dark Demon Gods, it underwent another transformation. Although each Demon God's power was extremely subtle, even combined, it was less than one-tenth of the original dark power in the "Tiger Soul." However, in terms of quality, it far surpassed the carefully cultivated magic power of the "Great Demon King" Bato. Not only did it push the "Tiger Soul" to complete that move that day, compensating for the flaws caused by the incomplete absorption of the magic core, but it also elevated the overall strength of this demonic blade to a new level. Whether in terms of power, attributes, or spirituality, it had significantly improved. If the previous "Tiger Soul" had merely taken the position of the "Soul Devouring Sword" as the world's second divine weapon and was closing in on the "Calamity Demon Axe" as the third, then the newly transformed "Tiger Soul" had now surpassed the "Sighing Holy Bow," the second divine weapon Chen Xuanfeng had ever encountered. Only the "Emperor Sword—Hero," crafted by the Twelve Sages, which withstood eight rounds of apocalyptic "White Golden Light Thunder" on the day of the gods' judgment and remained unscathed in the ninth round, could compare.

The whereabouts of the "Emperor Sword Hero" were long unknown (up to now, neither Chen Xuanfeng nor Xi Luo knew that the crystal sword that incorporated the "Ice Mark" was the "Hero Sword"). But according to legend, that divine sword was hailed as the world's best because it could resist the judgment of the gods, earning the reputation of "not a divine artifact, yet superior to one." Now, the "Tiger Soul Blade," with its divine power (Demon Gods are also gods), could use its dark power to resist a certain degree of "White Golden Light Thunder." In Chen Xuanfeng's view, even if this demonic blade did not reach the level of the "Hero Sword," it was not far off.

After its evolution, the "Tiger Soul" no longer posed a risk of backlash. However, since most of the power behind that slash came from the Demon Gods' divine power, if Chen Xuanfeng wanted to perform that move again, he would have to rely solely on his own strength. If he exhausted all his battle aura and Nine Yin True Qi, he could unleash about seventy percent of that slash's power. But the cost would be several days of recovery, making it a desperate move, impractical for everyday combat. Only if he later stepped into the Saint Realm could he fully unleash this move's power with the limitless power of the "Starry Abyss."

Fortunately, Chen Xuanfeng's gains from that battle were not limited to this. Firstly, because the "Tiger Soul" simultaneously absorbed the holy "Holy Grail Battle Aura" and the dark "Nine-Headed Dragon Battle Aura," it unexpectedly created a harmonious relationship between these two opposing forces. The result was that the two battle auras, which previously could not be used simultaneously, could now be applied together, increasing Chen Xuanfeng's combat power by nearly twofold. This was a crucial step for a Sword Emperor aiming to break through to the Sword Saint realm. With this progress, he could gradually attempt to merge the two powers. The day he succeeded in merging them would be the day he faced the test of constructing an energy circulation. Failure would mean destruction, but success would make him invincible.

Apart from the progress in power, the spoils from that battle were also considerable.

The "Holy Spear Quinilon" had naturally been handed over to the young girl Jin Luosha to cultivate her Saint Realm power. Additionally, the "Staff of Solitude," capable of manipulating space and time, had also fallen into his hands. To his surprise, he had seen this staff before—it was one of the seven treasures housed on the fourth level of the underground palace when he stole the divine artifact "Doomsday Horn." At the time, he hadn't recognized it. Although Chen Xuanfeng had no experts proficient in the rare space-time magic under his command, the staff's applications were not limited to that. It was also a crucial treasure for building magic teleportation arrays. Several space teleportation arrays built by humans had relied on its divine effects. With it, Chen Xuanfeng could easily repair the derelict teleportation arrays in the River Styx Tower.

He also obtained several secret treasures preserved by the blood elf royal family.

Naturally, the treasures stored in that secret chamber were not useless items like gold, gems, or artworks, but truly valuable items that could influence the fate of a race.

After inventorying, aside from the ten volumes of blood elf magic tomes that Chen Xuanfeng did not understand, and over a dozen mysterious top-tier magic artifacts, there were three particularly notable items: the "Golden Fruit," the "Elven King's Crown," and an exquisitely crafted green ring.

The "Golden Fruit" was an oval-shaped pale yellow crystal. As the name suggests, it was the fruit of the Golden Tree, the foundation of the elves. However, this fruit did not come from flowering and fruiting but was the crystallized power formed when a Golden Tree reached the end of its life. Although called a fruit, it could not grow a new Golden Tree. (The Golden Tree is said to be a branch of the World Tree, and all Golden Trees are cultivated from the elven divine artifact, the "World Tree Fruit.")

However, the Golden Tree's fruit was not useless. On the contrary, it was an extremely rare and precious treasure. The energy condensed within it was the essence accumulated over the Golden Tree's lifetime, far surpassing the energy of a top-tier super magical beast's core. Although it could not continuously regenerate energy like a super magical beast's core, its absolutely pure essence allowed it to be absorbed by any creature, enhancing their strength. Whether a mage, warrior, or even a magical beast, all could benefit from it, making it one of the elven national treasures.