After glancing at the surrounding terrain, Ming Qi had no intention of refining the corpses here. Instead, he collected them one by one within the divine map space and returned to the surface along the path he had come from.
This must be a secret location within the Tianzui Camp. Now that Tianyi and his chief generals had been slain, if the deities of the Tianzui Camp sensed something was amiss, they would surely come to investigate.
Back on the surface, Ming Qi chose the north and flew rapidly for thousands of miles before mobilizing his divine power to tear open a passage through space to the Mingyue Great World.
When Ming Qi returned, it was night in the Mingyue Great World. The nine prominent moons in the sky all radiated the same soft moonlight, casting a silvery glow over the earth. The night wind blew, and the night owls cried softly.
Ming Qi made a beeline back to the circular valley, but he didn't enter directly. Instead, he found a secluded mountain cave at the back and entered. He needed time to fully absorb his energy and improve his strength. He didn't yet fully understand the ultimate realm of the Martial God, but that didn't hinder him, as he still had much room for improvement at this stage.
Laying the four corpses in a row, Ming Qi felt like a solitary hunter, quietly devouring his prey until the day his prey was gone, and he would embark on another quest.
Putting aside these strange thoughts, Ming Qi set up a defensive formation around the cave and began to use the Eight Trigrams Seal to refine and fuse the first corpse. He didn't know how long this process would take, but one thing was certain: it would be a long time.
In the western Xiaoyao Realm, a shimmering rainbow of clouds hovered high above a massive, fiery-red castle. The castle, a brilliant rose-red, encompassed a vast expanse, nearly a hundred miles in radius. Within a thousand miles of the castle, towering red-armored warriors patrolled the land.
This was the realm of the Controller, a region forbidden to mortals, not even gods.
The Red Lotus of the West, formed four hundred thousand years ago, controlled the Western Realm of Order.
At this moment, within the Red Lotus Castle, directly in front of the central throne, an illusory miniature of the Western Realm swirled and swirled. Atop the throne, a languid young woman in a red dress gazed at the miniature world in a trance.
After a long moment, the girl suddenly muttered to herself in frustration, "Damn it! Why would such an evil spirit appear in my world? What am I supposed to do?"
As she grumbled, she reached out and gently grasped the air, snatching a red lotus flower. Then, boredly, she plucked and discarded the petals one by one, until the entire flower was completely devoured.
"Forget it, let's go and take a look."
The girl pondered for a long time, then gently tossed the petalless lotus flower in her hand. Then, with a flick of her finger, a colorful cloud enveloped the lotus, swirling rapidly.
In a short moment, the lotus flower was completely enveloped by the cloud. Amidst the shimmering light, a human form gradually emerged: long, fiery red hair, limbs as shimmering as jade, and a slender, curvaceous figure.
Soon, the lotus flower transformed into a flawless, beautiful girl whose face bore a striking resemblance to the girl Red Lotus.
The conjured girl hovered in mid-air, seemingly asleep. Honglian flicked her finger, and a drop of blood flew out, quickly imprinting itself between the girl's eyebrows. A moment later, the girl slowly awoke, her bright eyes opening.
Seemingly pleased with this clone, Honglian casually pointed at the scattered petals on the ground. The petals immediately transformed into clothing, flying up and wrapping around the girl.
"Alright, that's all. Well, let me see where the evil spirit is now..."
Honglian began searching the illusory miniature of the earth. Soon, she located a spot. Then, with a flick of her jade finger, a void portal appeared before the girl, remarkably connecting to that spot.
"It seems I'm missing something..."
Looking at the clone she had created before her, then at the void portal connecting the real and the imaginary, Honglian paused for a long moment before pointing again. A red lotus flew from her fingertips and quickly disappeared between the clone's eyebrows.
"That's good. After all, it's my avatar descended. There's no reason to be so easily defeated."
Seemingly pleased with his masterpiece, Honglian nodded repeatedly and pointed to the Void Gate: "Go."
The girl responded by stepping through the Void Gate and vanishing in the blink of an eye.
"Well, that's good too. It's rare for something interesting to happen..." Having said this, Honglian waved away the miniature world before him and simply lay down on the throne, closing his eyes to rest.
...
"Tianyi, won't you submit to me?"
In the stone cave at the back of the circular valley, Mingqi stared coldly at the phantom of Tianyi floating above the Book of Life and Death.
Tianyi is the spirit of the Ancient Book of Life and Death. He must be completely subdued. Otherwise, Mingqi will not be able to fully control the Ancient Book of Life and Death and unleash its full power in battle.
"Surrender? As long as my consciousness remains, you will never be able to control this ancient artifact!"
Defeated, Tianyi showed no sign of surrender. He was the artifact's spirit, bound to the Ancient Book of Life and Death, his consciousness deeply connected to its mysterious power.
"Hmph! I'll ask you one last time! Submission or death, you decide!"
Mingqi didn't intend to waste any more time with Tianyi. He had been in this cave for a long time, at least three to five months. During this time, all four corpses had been refined, and his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds. However, he encountered obstacles when refining the ancient artifact, the Ancient Book of Life and Death. Because of Tianyi's presence, he could never fully control it.
Tianyi's silence made his stance clear. After a few minutes, Mingqi decided to use drastic measures to kill the artifact's spirit!
With a wave of his hand, Ming Qi's palm condensed into alternating balls of red, white, and black light. These three colors represented his Path: red, the Path of God-killing, and black, the Path of Immortality. Over this period, he had mastered the integration of these two distinct Paths.
The three-colored balls flew out, instantly enveloping the Book of Life and Death hovering in front of him. Then, the tricolor power immediately seeped into the Book's interior, expelling Tianyi from within.
This process was originally complex, but now that the Book of Life and Death had been severely damaged by Ming Qi's self-destruction, Tianyi's power had been greatly reduced. It wasn't long before Tianyi was completely forced out.
"Hahaha! You've destroyed me! This book is completely useless!"
Faced with death, Tianyi showed no fear, but instead laughed wildly.
"You wanted to be careful, but it's too late now."
Ming Qi remained unmoved. Even if he couldn't unleash the full power of the Book of Life and Death, he wouldn't allow Tianyi to exist until he completely surrendered.
Under the stranglehold of the Three-Colored Dao's power, Tianyi proved powerless to resist. In the blink of an eye, the phantom vanished, and the Ancient Book of Life and Death, seemingly without support, plummeted to the ground.
Ming Qi, expressionless, picked up the Book of Life and Death and tossed it into the Divine Diagram's space. He then addressed the Wuxiang boy, "Wuxiang, set up the formation and repair this artifact. Also, find a way to give birth to a new spirit."
"The Ancient Book of Life and Death is an ancient artifact. Repairing it is easy with the materials available, but giving birth to a new spirit will likely be extremely difficult."
"Let's try it first."
Ming Qi said, removing the surrounding formations and crushing the boulder blocking the cave entrance with a single finger. He then exited the cave.