You don't want your secret to be revealed by others, right?
Chapter 630 - 630: 123, Holy Beast 2

Lin Yue suddenly realized.

The Taihong Hall?

That place virtually counted as part of the Imperial Palace Forbidden Land, where only Princes and Princesses being granted royal titles could enter.

Every hundred years, ten drops of Divine Power...

The Divine Emperor was quite generous, yet where did he procure the Ancient Divine Power from?

The Great Yu Imperial Family had spent countless years, working so strenuously to extract merely eighteen drops of Divine Power from the body of the Human Ancestor, yet the Divine Emperor allowed his children to take away ten drops every century?

"Just one drop would make Sister Qiuhe too vulnerable,"

Lin Yue shook his head and said, "Once the Twelfth Prince realizes your presence, he would force you to use that drop of Divine Power at the outset. What would you do then?"

Drops of Divine Power were consumables.

Even without any significant contributions, the Twelfth Prince refined ten drops of Divine Power every century—within these centuries, he should have accumulated dozens of drops.

In terms of accumulating Divine Power, he definitely could not compete.

His greatest advantage lay in the uniqueness of the Ultimate Path, the Divine Artifact, and various Semi-Divine Artifacts.

Thus, a sudden strike, quick and decisively, would be best.

"I can hide."

The Seventh Princess spoke seriously, "Besides the Path of Life and Death, I also control the Heavenly Reversal Path, but it's only proficient in concealment and disguise."

"More?" Lin Yue was hardly surprised as he sized up the Seventh Princess.

In her life, the Seventh Princess had once been known as Chanjua Temple's Holy Daughter, Qiu Zhi, who had traveled the world and saved countless lives, yet nobody knew Qiu Zhi was actually the Seventh Princess.

Her ability to disguise and conceal was evidently extraordinarily divine.

It was like his Formless Path, which allowed him to impersonate anyone, perfectly mimicking their every aura—to the extent that many who proved the Path were confused.

"Look."

The Seventh Princess didn't say more but suddenly blurred and even vanished from sight.

In an instant, her very aura disappeared as well.

Lin Yue slightly raised his eyebrow, observing closely for a long while, barely managing to perceive a covert surveillance.

"A hallucination?" Lin Yue asked, uncertain.

He guessed that it was probably a deception for the senses and even Divine Thought.

After all, he had not yet achieved Harmonization, and even though he possessed the nascent form of the Ultimate Path, he barely sensed it.

"It can be considered a hallucination, but it only works on me, allowing me to become something like an illusion. I call it the Formless Path."

As her voice sounded, the Seventh Princess reappeared, now transformed into a familiar figure—valiant and beautiful, strikingly the appearance of Baili Fengzhi.

Not only her appearance but even her aura had completely changed.

"Brother, if you hadn't seen me transforming, could you have distinguished whether I am real or fake?" the Seventh Princess asked with a smile.

Of course, he could tell... she's a mortal now—Lin Yue silently responded with a somewhat heavy-hearted jest but then he firmed up a bit and said, "Indeed, it's a remarkable illusion. I didn't expect Sister Qiuhe was also skilled in this... In that case, I'll have to trouble Sister Qiuhe."

"You are probably the first person to know my secret."

Speaking, the Seventh Princess transformed back and gently shook her head, "Only those who have proved the Path can see through my Formless Path. In the past, when I roamed the world, I never interacted with those powerful beings."

Lin Yue slightly nodded.

He had guessed that the Seventh Princess possessed a skill in hiding her identity but wasn't sure whether it was by a Treasure or her own ability.

Now it appeared, it was another Heavenly Reversal Path controlled by the Seventh Princess herself.

But then, this was natural.

The Seventh Princess, who never killed, hadn't learned any offensive cultivation techniques, always only protecting herself; in both her past and present life, she saved people by the Path of Life and Death.

Even when she transitioned to the Path of Life and Decay, it was just for farming.

Without the protective skill of the Formless Path, she would have likely been harmed by demons long ago.

"When you go to kill the Twelfth Prince, I'll follow by your side using the Formless Path. If you get poisoned, I'll save you using the Heart Medicine."

The Seventh Princess smiled and said, "This should resolve any issues, shouldn't it?"

Lin Yue slightly nodded.

However, he suddenly realized that the heart of the Seventh Princess was actually kinder and softer than he had imagined.

When they had come out from the Beiyuan Mountains, the Twelfth Prince had set up an ambush specifically to snatch the Phoenix Crown, putting the Seventh Princess at risk of being killed if she decided to utilize Harmonization. Despite this, she did not choose the path of withdrawing from the world.

He thought it was probably because the Harmonization was only useful for her and could not be applied to other beings—such as the Phoenix Crown.

Since he was also present at the time, she did not choose to disappear alone but instead chose to confront the Twelfth Prince.

If she wanted to protect herself, she only needed to abandon the Phoenix Crown and him and disappear by withdrawing from the world.

"Qiuhe, if there is danger this time, you should first take care of your own life."

Lin Yue softly instructed, "I have many ways to protect myself; I definitely won't have any issues."

"I understand," the Seventh Princess nodded slightly.

...

After leaving the Seventh Princess Mansion, Lin Yue returned to his own mansion.

Now, the important conditions were nearly fulfilled, but he still needed to learn the Heavenly Reversal Path contained in a few Semi-Divine Artifacts to add more techniques.

However, a few days later, he was pleasantly surprised—

"Xiaoqing is awake?"

Inside a room filled with abundant essence, Lin Yue was thrilled to see the green cocoon-like object slowly dissipating.

He had brought back many Holy Beast Essences from Eternal Night and had fed them to the Phoenix Crown as soon as he returned.

Recently, the Phoenix Crown had consumed all the essences and subsequently attracted a massive amount of essence, forming a green cocoon encapsulating itself and falling into a deep sleep.

Lin Yue had checked the information about the transformation from Mutant Beast to Holy Beast, and found that such transformations could take as short as a few months or as long as several decades or even centuries.

He wasn't sure when the Phoenix Crown would finish transforming; both the True Dragon and the Fire Phoenix transformations started at ten years, and since the Phoenix Crown fed on True Dragons and Fire Phoenixes, it should take even longer.

Therefore, when he was planning, he did not count on the Phoenix Crown.

But he hadn't expected...that the Phoenix Crown would finish transforming so soon?

It had only been a few months.

"Yo—"

The green cocoon cracked open, transforming into strands of green light that dissipated, and shortly afterward, a small green shadow flashed by.

"Xiaoqing?"

Lin Yue slightly turned his head and saw that the Phoenix Crown had already appeared on his shoulder.

"Such speed, yet it didn't cause even the slightest disturbance? Not even a ripple in the void?"

Lin Yue couldn't help but be amazed as he examined the Phoenix Crown.

At this moment, the Phoenix Crown remained the same size as a palm, just as before, but the colorful feather-like Phoenix Crown on its head had become more vivid and beautiful, appearing extremely noble.

It was unclear how such small birds managed to feed on dragons and phoenixes in Ancient Times.

However, the aura of the Holy Beast was indeed undeniable.

It was a terrifying presence that even Lin Yue couldn't help but feel a shiver in his heart; even the Holy Beasts with Divine Beast Bloodline that he had seen couldn't compare to the Phoenix Crown at this moment!

A regular Holy Beast was generally stronger than a Saint of the same level from the Human Clan.

A Holy Beast with Divine Beast Bloodline could at least match a Heavenly Reversal Saint, and a Divine Beast at the Holy Beast stage, such as a dragon or phoenix growing into a Holy Beast, was much stronger than a Heavenly Reversal Saint, equivalent to several Heavenly Reversal Paths in a Human Clan.

And the Phoenix Crown was even stronger?

However...

Lin Yue looked at the Phoenix Crown affectionately rubbing its head against him and couldn't help but laugh, "Xiaoqing, you really never grow up, do you? Even becoming a Holy Beast, you're still like this?"

He recalled the information about Holy Beasts and suddenly understood why the Phoenix Crown's transformation was so short.

"Perhaps...the length of the transformation depends on the change in size?"

Each transformation of Divine Beasts like the True Dragon and Fire Phoenix involved a significant change in size, like the Divine Beast Dream Snake, which when coiled up was akin to a mountain.

But the Phoenix Crown had not changed in size at all.

"Right."

Lin Yue suddenly had a thought, "Xiaoqing, there's one more Divine Beast Essence. If you consume it, can you continue to transform?"