Raising Princess Qianqian to the realm of Perfect Innate Sovereign had always been one of Yue Yang’s goals.

On her own, it wasn’t that she couldn’t do it — it would simply take a very long time.

In the past, Yue Yang could have waited patiently.

But now, with enemies multiplying and danger lurking on every side, getting her promoted to Perfect Innate Sovereign as fast as possible — turning her into a powerful right hand — had become imperative.

What’s more, Yue Yang himself possessed the most perfect comprehension of the Perfect Innate Sovereign realm. Even Empress Vivienne had to turn back to him, link minds with him, and once again grasp what she’d been missing at the Perfect Innate Sovereign level so she could make up for her own shortcomings — how much more so for Princess Qianqian as she was now! In other words, with Yue Yang guiding her, it was far better than Princess Qianqian trying to comprehend it all alone.

Long before he’d obtained the White Tiger Holy Pearl, Yue Yang already had a plan.

Now, with the unexpected windfall of the White Tiger Holy Pearl, Yue Yang felt the moment was ripe, and he revised his original plan into three steps.

First: use the pearl’s energy to raise the White Tiger Sacred Beast fused with Princess Qianqian above super-Sacred Beast, ideally reaching quasi-Divine Beast.

Second: use the pure energy of the Fire God Soul-Tempering Herb, together with divine blood, to raise it once more, letting it truly reach Divine Beast.

Third — the final step — was extremely crucial. Yue Yang intended, while guiding Princess Qianqian to comprehend and break through into the Perfect Innate Sovereign realm, to simultaneously fuse and refine the Prison Emperor’s divine sword, turning it completely into a divine artifact that belonged to Princess Qianqian. That way, even if Princess Qianqian couldn’t reach a super-perfect Perfect Innate Sovereign like Yue Yang’s, she would at least achieve a near-perfect breakthrough. With a Divine Beast evolved from a life-guardian war beast and a divine artifact in hand, once she broke through to Perfect Innate Sovereign, Princess Qianqian’s strength would surge — and she would truly become an invincible swordswoman who could gallop unstoppably across any battlefield.

“Don’t rush. Let’s stop here for today — let me rest a bit. I need some time.”

Princess Qianqian’s spirit separated out from the dual-cultivation state of lovers.

Not having reached Perfect Innate Sovereign, she couldn’t sense his spirit world for long… that feeling was just like how Yue Yang couldn’t sense the spirits of the Supreme, the Night Empress, and Vivienne for long.

The Night Empress was a little easier — Yue Yang’s current strength was fairly close to hers.

The Supreme already required Yue Yang to look up at her.

And mind-melding with Empress Vivienne was the most pronounced of all. In the very beginning, Yue Yang couldn’t endure even a single second; only after comprehending under the World Tree could he smoothly merge minds with her, the two of them probing each other’s realms and making up for each other’s deficiencies. Princess Qianqian was the same now — she felt she had to strain just to look up at Yue Yang, and especially when her spirit probed the ultra-high realm in which Yue Yang glimpsed the divine realm, wave after wave of inadequacy washed over her, impossible to sustain for long.

Yue Yang’s realm was not something she, as she was now, could explore and sense.

Of course, this complete melding of spirits, painful as it was, brought enormous benefits.

On and off, after a dozen-odd attempts and much perseverance, the two of them at last merged their spirits together for a good stretch of time.

The life-guardian war beast White Tiger, fused as one with Princess Qianqian, for the first time fully accepted Yue Yang’s spiritual realm — receiving the Chaos Source channeled from within his body, and gaining the purification of Innate Sword Qi and Nirvana Flames upon its very soul.

“Ahhh — ahhh — ahhhh…”

Princess Qianqian felt unbearable agony.

It was as if her whole being, inside and out, were being burned clean through by the Nirvana Flames. And this burning went on and on without end — whenever the energy inside her ran the slightest bit low, the Chaos Source and Innate Sword Qi would flow in to replenish it, keeping the Nirvana Flames’ purification going. Even when she was about to give out, Yue Yang would activate the Eternal Wheel, forcibly holding her in the purification state, refusing to let her quit halfway.

This kind of pain would be utterly unbearable even for an ordinary person.

Princess Qianqian, who possessed the Six Senses Gift, felt it more clearly and was more deeply wounded by it; to some degree, the pain she endured was probably a hundred times greater than anyone else’s. Yet this was exactly the result Yue Yang wanted — only what is preserved and born under the greatest purification is the most precious, the most formidable in power.

The Six Senses Gift purified through this greatest of agonies would be the most powerful Six Senses of all.

And the elevated life-guardian war beast ‘White Tiger’ —

would likewise gain the finest growth.

Yue Yu and the Drunken Cat Imperial Lady watched from outside, fretting anxiously but unable to lend a hand.

Princess Qianqian had to break through this hurdle herself — only by truly passing the trial of raging fire would she become the finest true gold!

The cultivation state continued.

One minute, three minutes, five minutes, ten minutes…

One hour, three hours, five hours…

At one point midway through, Yue Yu and the Drunken Cat Imperial Lady set aside their bashfulness and took turns slipping in to channel energy several times into Yue Yang — locked as he was in the stark-naked dual-cultivation state with his lover — helping the painstaking, strenuous business of maintaining this cultivation. But they didn’t dare linger or offer encouragement, afraid of disturbing Princess Qianqian, distracting her, and undoing the whole effort at the last moment.

At the same time, the two women were also awed by Princess Qianqian’s willpower.

Even with Yue Yang’s full assistance and the Eternal Wheel forcibly aiding her from time to time, being able to sustain five hours of cultivation was, by any measure, an utterly incredible feat.

Yue Yu marveled at Princess Qianqian’s perseverance, while the Drunken Cat Imperial Lady privately felt ashamed that her own will fell far short.

She truly was worthy of being the fiery little tigress he cherished most!

The cultivation went on.

No one knew how much time had passed.

Suddenly a tiger’s roar — silent and still, yet almost tangible — burst out from within Princess Qianqian, forming a soundless shockwave that spread until it filled the entire space of Yue Yang’s Grimoire World. It seemed the life-guardian war beast ‘White Tiger’ fused with Princess Qianqian had already surpassed Sacred Beast and stepped into the super-Sacred, or perhaps quasi-Divine, tier. The most crucial moment had arrived: break through once more, or remain long at this realm to await the future?

“Go!”

Yue Yu and the Drunken Cat Imperial Lady exchanged a glance and nodded firmly.

One held the soul-tempering elixir refined from the leaves of the Fire God Soul-Tempering Herb that Yue Yang had prepared beforehand; the other held the divine blood Yue Yang had readied earlier.

The instant the White Tiger ascended, they leapt forward… Yue Yang’s plan called for the first and second steps to be completed at the same time if at all possible. Because once the first step was done, whether it was Princess Qianqian’s body adapting or the White Tiger stabilizing after its ascension, both would need a stretch of time — which would push the timing of the next breakthrough far into the distance. To race against the clock, it had to be done in the blink of an eye. In the shortest possible span, using the combined energy of the White Tiger Pearl, the soul-tempering elixir, and the divine blood, she would break through again in one stroke, driving straight into the Divine Beast realm.

Thousands of rays of light bloomed across Princess Qianqian’s body.

Sharp as blades.

The shockwave that followed blasted the clothing of Yue Yu and the Drunken Cat Imperial Lady to ashes, and the two of them forcibly warded off the surge of energy.

With all their might they rushed toward Princess Qianqian, dripping the soul-tempering elixir and divine blood in their hands onto the White Tiger Pearl on her forehead.

Princess Qianqian had nearly slipped into a swoon; Yue Yang released the White Tiger Pearl and cradled the back of her head in his hand.

Xiao Wenli reached a small hand out from behind Yue Yang.

Just in time, she caught the White Tiger Pearl and gently pressed it back into the center of Princess Qianqian’s brow.

The soul-tempering elixir and divine blood —

had already dripped down.

In an instant they sank into the White Tiger Pearl, and the pearl’s energy drove straight into the depths of Princess Qianqian’s mind. The soul of the life-guardian war beast White Tiger was now fully in the peak state of divine-power soul-tempering and divine-blood fusion. Its potential, in this moment, exploded completely, unleashed to its very limit.

Princess Qianqian’s Grimoire naturally manifested.

Three beams of golden light rose at once — one from the Grimoire, one from the crown of Princess Qianqian’s head, and one from the crown of Yue Yang’s.

Rising to a certain height, they twisted and fused together in boundless mystery, forming an unprecedented spiraling column of light that shot straight into the heavens.

It was as if an infinitely vast white tiger leapt out from within Princess Qianqian, and then an infinitely vast image of the White Tiger took shape, filling the entire sky of the Grimoire World.

When it opened its maw and roared, there was no sound.

Yet the whole world seemed on the verge of shattering — in all creation there was only the tiger’s roar, and nothing else.

Princess Qianqian, who had nearly fainted, suddenly opened her eyes. Her sparkling, beautiful eyes poured forth thousands of rays of radiance, their might comparable to a powerful heavenly god. Her Summoning Grimoire gave off millions of streams of light, too dazzling to look upon. Amid that fierce brilliance it gradually surpassed its former realm, broke through the Diamond-rank limit, and evolved into a quasi-Sacred Grimoire. It turned a page on its own, and the new page revealed a scene: the White Tiger that had grown as one with its master since childhood — a Divine Beast!

Then, unable to withstand the back-to-back breakthroughs, Princess Qianqian reached her limit and fainted in Yue Yang’s arms.

Her turbulent field of sacred power displayed the forces of all four Sacred Beasts at once.

Electric currents lashed out, ice sealed the earth, raging flames scorched the heavens… Most terrifying of all was the White Tiger’s sacred power, empowered by Divine Beast might, which tore thousands of rifts through Yue Yang’s Grimoire World, nearly collapsing the whole Grimoire World.

Fortunately the Grimoire World recovered with extreme speed, and after Princess Qianqian fainted, Yue Yang took over her spirit and will.

In an instant, everything dissipated.

“This tiger girl — even her breakthroughs are this frightening!” The Drunken Cat Imperial Lady got a real scare; she was nearly killed by the sword qi she’d unwittingly let loose. Luckily there was still Yue Yang and Xiao Wenli’s protection, or the consequences would have been unthinkable.

“Having crossed this hurdle, Princess Qianqian’s ordeal is behind her. If she can go on to break through to Perfect Innate Sovereign and fuse the divine sword, then no one will be able to stop her from racing down the great path of cultivation. She and Wuxia are both peerless geniuses destined to strike for Sacred Sovereign!” Yue Yu was happy for Princess Qianqian, yet the thought of her own insufficient talent left her quietly downcast. Though she knew it was impossible, in her heart she still hoped the gap between her realm and her little brother’s could close a little — that she’d grow less and less unable to look up at him, so that one day, perhaps, he wouldn’t leave her behind forever…

“You can do it too — you just haven’t truly thrown yourself into it.” The Drunken Cat Imperial Lady felt that if this Yue Yu really applied herself, her future achievements would be beyond imagining.

But given the awkwardness of their positions, it wasn’t her place to say more.

After all, for now Yue Yu was still his second sister.

Some things were genuinely too embarrassing to say aloud.

Yue Yang channeled energy into the fainted Princess Qianqian for a while, restoring her body. In the end he couldn’t hold off his own exhaustion either — before he could take the water the Drunken Cat Imperial Lady handed him for even a sip, he toppled headlong to the ground. The Drunken Cat Imperial Lady and Yue Yu hurriedly caught him and Princess Qianqian both.

Princess Qianqian was fine — she was simply not yet adjusted to her body’s back-to-back breakthroughs, needing to recover, and had fallen asleep.

Yue Yang, on the other hand, was utterly spent.

The two women exchanged a glance; the Drunken Cat Imperial Lady avoided Yue Yu’s eyes, scooped up Princess Qianqian, and swiftly slipped out, leaving Yue Yu alone.

She knew that to restore Yue Yang from his fatigue, it still had to be Yue Yu — only her pure water-attribute energy could bring him back to his best. On this point, even Xue Wuxia’s pure ice energy fell far short.

The Drunken Cat Imperial Lady carried Princess Qianqian out of the way.

The awkwardness in Yue Yu’s heart instantly melted away.

As for this little brother of hers who was so worn out he’d sleep anywhere on the ground — she’d seen it plenty of times, and had restored him countless, countless times: in experiments, after battles, or while fusing runes, brewing medicine, forging artifacts. Almost every time he wore himself out, it was her energy that dispelled it for him. She’d long since grown used to it. Not caring about anything else, she quickly bent down and gathered up this infuriating yet endearing little brother, channeling energy into him while grumbling: “Always driving yourself like this. A grown man, forever acting like a child — when will you ever let your sister set her heart at ease? Maybe I owed you in a past life; I don’t even know what I owed you — but this life, it seems, I’ll be repaying you like this…”

Whatever Yue Yu said, the utterly exhausted, deeply sleeping Yue Yang couldn’t hear a word of it.

Of course, when he was awake —

she’d never speak to him like this.

On the first day, having fully recovered, Yue Yang — bursting once more with vigor and vim — sprang up and ran off to find Princess Qianqian: “Tiger girl, let me have a look at you! I’ve never once seen the state of a Divine Beast fused as one with its master!”

Princess Qianqian saw that the Drunken Cat Imperial Lady and Yue Yu were resting and hadn’t risen. All at once she drove a fist into Yue Yang’s chest, sending him staggering.

“What’s wrong?” Yue Yang was baffled — this tiger girl seemed upset?

“You’ve still got the nerve to ask! That — you made that disappear, I’ve really turned into a White Tiger!” Princess Qianqian’s face suddenly flushed crimson, hot as if it were on fire.

“Huh?” At first Yue Yang didn’t follow, stunned for a good while — then it clicked: “Fused as one with the Divine Beast, you’ve turned into a White Tiger? The little patch of grass down below is gone? I didn’t know about this either — does it really happen like that? No way… really? Hey, let me see, let me see!”

“See your head!” Catching the curious-little-treasure look on this brat’s face, Princess Qianqian, both mortified and furious, raised her powder-pink fist and knocked him flying clear beyond the ninth heaven.

(End of Chapter 934)