The Dragon Gall Silver Spear drove into the ancient corpse's dried-up heart with a muffled thud.
Chen Sanshi twisted the shaft, and the spearhead churned inside the corpse, crushing the heart to pulp while also destroying the Corpse-Kui Demon Vine's rhizomes within.
With the Corpse-Kui Demon Vine dead, the elder became like a puppet that had lost its strings. His limbs and head drooped powerlessly, then he toppled stiffly to the ground and went completely still.
At the same time, utterly exhausted, Chen Sanshi could no longer hold himself up. He dropped to his knees with a heavy crash, gulping down air in great, ragged breaths.
If he had not grasped a sliver of martial Dao truth at the critical moment, this time he would have run into serious trouble.
Extreme Dao Divine Ability!
Put simply, it meant that no matter what weapon one held, one would not be confined to the weapon itself. Instead, one could comprehend one's own "Dao," achieving true unity of person and weapon. Any move unleashed at will would be the pinnacle of technique.
On this trip, even if there were no other gains, just obtaining the Extreme Dao Divine Ability meant it was not a loss!
Before this, when Chen Sanshi dealt with cultivators at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, he still needed to go back and forth in prolonged spell duels. After this, his combat power would definitely rise by an entire tier, and handling them would become who knew how much easier.
Clang!
After resting briefly and regaining a bit of strength, Chen Sanshi picked up his weapons again and charged into the even larger crowd of ancient corpses.
Once his martial Dao was unleashed, he no longer had any openings. Every move and every form contained the true essence of martial Dao.
And since these ancient corpses were far inferior to the elder, dealing with them was as easy as chopping melons and slicing vegetables.
In less than about 7 minutes, over 200 ancient corpses were completely dealt with, their bodies piling up at his feet like a mountain.
After severing the last ancient corpse's head, Chen Sanshi collapsed onto the ground. The backlash of pushing his body far beyond its limits surged up—his meridians, bones, and even flesh all began to ache with tearing pain. In the end, his whole body went numb, and he could only lie there and recover slowly.
The blind woman was not doing much better.
A spell cultivator's body was originally remodeled by spiritual energy. Once her cultivation was stripped away, her flesh body only became even weaker, completely unable to endure such high-intensity slaughter.
On the surface, the blind woman did not show much reaction. She merely set down the Ice Soul Sword lightly, leaned against a stone pillar, then slowly sat cross-legged and quietly regulated her breathing.
By the time the two regained the ability to move, about 15 minutes had passed.
Using the long spear as a walking staff, Chen Sanshi limped toward the elder's remains.
Jiang Xiyue, meanwhile, held her long sword. With each step she took, she had to stop and rest for a few breaths. She slowly approached the pool and the red lotus within, then bent down and carefully harvested it in an unhurried manner.
Buzz, buzz…
Beneath the collar at the elder corpse's chest, spiritual light still continued to pulse, like a blue heart beating.
Just as Chen Sanshi was about to draw near, a clang rang out as a silver plaque slipped free from the corpse's waist and fell to the ground.
Three carved characters on its surface were clearly visible—Guardian Envoy.
Guardian Envoy again.
It seemed that so-called Guardian Envoys were, with extremely high probability, from the Luoxiao Sect.
Chen Sanshi was just about to reach out and pick up the silver plaque when a幽 blue glow suddenly surged out from it. He immediately leapt backward, raising both weapons.
After the blue light hovered in midair, it gradually condensed into a human shape—its appearance was exactly the same as the ancient corpse.
A lingering soul!
The elder stared around in confusion, his eyes filled with the weight of ages, like a traveler returning home after wandering far away—everything before him felt both familiar and strange.
After sweeping his gaze around once, his eyes finally settled on the young man before him.
Rumble—!
Without warning, the cave dwelling shook violently, as if the laws themselves had loosened. At the same time, waves of terrifying pressure began to spread from the elder's body.
This was bad. This lingering soul was not merely an obsession—he still had his own emotions and consciousness!
Most crucially, he seemed to possess a trace of mana, however weak.
The elder raised both hands and slapped downward toward the young man's crown.
Chen Sanshi instinctively thrust out the Dragon Abyss Sword. The blade pierced straight through the lingering soul's face, but it was like stabbing into smoke. Aside from making it sway slightly, it caused no real harm.
A palm descended above his head. Bone-chilling cold swept down. He tried to dodge, only to realize in shock that his legs seemed frozen in place, unable to move.
"Senior, please wait!"
Chen Sanshi shouted loudly and raised the Guardian Envoy wooden plaque on his body.
Upon seeing the wooden plaque, the elder's expression eased slightly. The hand that was about to strike also stiffened in midair, no longer falling.
"This token."
He spoke in a hollow, hoarse, ancient voice that seemed to come from distant antiquity, drilling straight into the mind. "Is it yours?"
"It is mine."
Chen Sanshi regained freedom of movement. He retreated several steps and said, "Senior, this junior had no intention of offending you. It's only that your remains were parasitized by the Corpse-Kui Demon Vine, and I had no choice but to strike and destroy it."
"Corpse-Kui Demon Vine…"
The elder looked down at his feet, as if recalling something. "So you're saying this old man lost to you?"
"Yes."
Chen Sanshi said humbly, "This junior exhausted every last bit of strength, and only barely managed to overcome senior's remaining body."
"Though it was only a remnant body, under the parasitism of a high-grade demon vine, its martial Dao was still at its peak. For you, so young, to defeat this old man—truly impressive—"
Admiration showed in the elder's eyes as he repeated his earlier question. "Where did the token come from?"
"It is mine."
Chen Sanshi gave the same answer.
"Impossible."
The lingering soul gently shook his head. "There are no General Guardian Envoys that young."
"General Guardian Envoy?"
Chen Sanshi was puzzled.
Could it be that this wooden plaque's status was even higher than the silver plaque and bronze plaque?
He explained, "The token was passed down by my master. My master is Sun Xiangzong. Does senior know him?"
"Never heard of him. He's probably some junior of a later generation."
The elder's soul body grew a bit more hazy, and his voice weakened slightly. After a pause, he asked, "What year is it now?"
"Immortal Spirit Era, year 252,673."
Chen Sanshi answered truthfully.
This calendar was counted from the rebuilding of basic order after the ancient war, when the ancestral vein collapsed.
"Immortal Spirit Era?"
Hearing the unfamiliar term, the elder sighed. "So much time has passed… How is my Luoxiao Sect? How is White Jade Capital?"
"Senior…"
Chen Sanshi told him, "The sects you speak of ceased to exist long ago."
"They're all gone?"
The elder's soul grew even more indistinct.
"If senior is curious," Chen Sanshi said, "this junior can tell you everything I know and recount the major events of the last 200,000 years."
"There's no time."
As the elder spoke, sections of the cave dwelling had already begun to collapse, bits of rubble and dust pattering down from above.
In a deep voice he said, "Boy, speak. What do you want from this old man? Be quick. I am only a wisp of lingering soul sealed within a remnant body. I have awareness, but no origin. I can't last much longer."
Earlier, those wandering souls that kept repeating their obsessions were not truly the person they had been in life. Over the long years, they had transformed into evil entities, which was why they could persist.
"…."
At first, Chen Sanshi had only owed the blind woman a favor and came to help retrieve a treasure. He had not expected so many unexpected gains.
He did not stand on ceremony. "Senior's 'All Techniques Forbidden'—how was it achieved?"
"Heh heh, good boy, what a big appetite. The moment you open your mouth, you want to learn 'All Techniques Forbidden.'"
The elder chuckled twice. "This old man doesn't know it either."
"'All Techniques Forbidden' is a law personally refined by the sect master of the upper realm. This old man merely used a method to activate it."
"Luoxiao Sect Master?"
Chen Sanshi asked, "Does senior know Mister Mei Xiao?!"
Could it be that Mister Mei, who bestowed upon him the power of "All Techniques Forbidden," came from hundreds of thousands of years ago?!
"Mei what?"
The elder denied it again. "I don't know him."
…
Chen Sanshi thought it over. Seeing the elder's soul dissipating more and more, no longer posing any threat, he took out the Mystic Pearl and held it in his hand. "Senior, is the law you mentioned like this?"
"Precisely."
The elder said in astonishment, "You just said this law was given to you by someone called Mei Xiao? In this world, apart from the sect master, there is actually a second person who can grasp this law?!"
"Boy, where is this person now?"
"I don't know."
Chen Sanshi said, "Mister Mei comes and goes without a trace. After leaving behind the law more than 10 years ago, this junior has never seen him again. Even now, this junior still doesn't know how to use this power."
"Mm."
After pondering for a moment, the elder said, "Go to this old man's body and take out what's inside the chest."
"Alright. Then please forgive this junior for the offense."
Chen Sanshi knew nothing about "Luoxiao Sect" or "Guardian Envoy," and since the lingering soul had previously shown mana, he naturally did not dare to fully trust the other party.
So he did not make direct contact, fearing the other might be a legendary ghost cultivator who knew some kind of possession art. After all, one could never be too cautious. Thus, he used the edge of the Dragon Abyss Sword to slice open the collar and挑 up the object within that was still glowing like a heart.
Then he saw—
It was a spirit pearl!
Exactly the same as the spirit pearl from Tianyong City, except that for some unknown reason, the spiritual energy inside was already nearly dried up.
"Didn't you want to know how to use the law of 'All Techniques Forbidden'? This old man will tell you."
The elder spoke at length. "Between Heaven and Earth, the activation of any formation or law requires the consumption of spiritual energy, and a supreme law like 'All Techniques Forbidden' consumes an even more massive amount.
"So, if you want to activate the law of the 'Forbidden' mantra, spirit stones are far from enough. You must pay the price of destroying a spiritual vein.
"The best method is to refine a 'Spirit-Extinguishing Grand Formation' or a 'Spirit-Sealing Grand Formation' and store it within a spirit pearl as the source of spiritual energy.
"The strength and duration of the 'Forbidden' mantra will be determined by how dense the spiritual energy inside the spirit pearl is."
"Determined by the density of spiritual energy to decide the duration…"
Chen Sanshi suddenly thought of something.
If that was the case, then wouldn't the All Techniques Forbidden here have lasted for hundreds of thousands of years?
"Not that long."
The elder seemed to see through his thoughts. "Only when the cave dwelling is damaged, or when outsiders enter, will the 'Forbidden' mantra activate automatically. At other times, it is merely a grand formation that suppresses cultivation.
"But even so, it's already reached its limit.
"The spiritual energy within the spirit pearl is about to be exhausted. This heaven and earth is also about to collapse completely—after that, it will be卷 into the void and cease to exist."
Rumble—
As he spoke, huge chunks of rock began peeling off from above their heads.
Chen Sanshi guessed that the reason the Nine Nether Forbidden Land had developed a second forbidden area this time was likely related to this.
"Senior," he asked, "how does one refine the 'Spirit-Extinguishing Grand Formation' and the 'Spirit-Sealing Grand Formation'?"
"You don't know how?"
The elder's lingering soul continued to spill away, his lower body already completely blurred. He urged, "Then quickly fetch paper and brush. This old man will speak—you write."
"Alright. Many thanks, senior."
Joy rose in Chen Sanshi's heart.
He naturally remembered that back in Nanling Town, his master had used the Spirit-Extinguishing Grand Formation to destroy the ancestral vein and prevent the collapse of the Heaven-and-Earth seal.
Thinking about it now, his master's "Spirit-Extinguishing Grand Formation" was most likely something obtained ready-made. Otherwise, he certainly would have passed down the refining method to him.
If Chen Sanshi could learn it, the troubles in Eastern Divine Continent would be much easier to resolve. And if there truly was no other way in the future, he could follow his master's example and directly destroy the ancestral vein!
In any case, before Chen Sanshi cultivated to the peak, there was absolutely no way he would allow the Heavenly Water sects to get even the slightest chance to meddle in Eastern Divine Continent.
He did not carry brush and ink with him, so he took out the talisman brush and talisman paper from his storage bag as substitutes.
With the situation urgent, this little bit of waste did not matter.
"This old man only has enough time to explain it once. It also includes certain ancient Dao resonance. Listen carefully—if you so much as miss a single stroke, it may result in an inability to refine the formation."
After the reminder, the elder began to describe it in detail.
A lingering soul without mana could not touch anything tangible, so he could only dictate it, and some of the patterns were obscure and difficult to grasp.
In the end, the elder had no choice but to accelerate his own annihilation as the price to help sketch several crucial talismanic diagram patterns.
"Alright."
The elder's voice grew weaker and weaker. Almost only his face still retained a recognizable shape, and in the blink of an eye he was about to disperse completely.
The spirit pearl that sustained "All Techniques Forbidden" was also on the verge of going out.
The restrictions within the cave dwelling began to loosen. Chen Sanshi could feel that his realm had already returned to the Qi Refining realm.
"Many thanks, senior."
After putting away the diagrams, Chen Sanshi asked with some curiosity, "Senior agreed to teach this because of the Guardian Envoy wooden plaque, yes? Aren't you afraid I'm lying?"
"What's there to fear?"
The elder said indifferently. "This old man doesn't care whether you're one of us, but the Spirit-Sealing Grand Formation must be passed on eventually. Only by passing it on can it avoid being a bright pearl buried in dust. Don't you agree?"
…
Chen Sanshi neither affirmed nor denied.
"We should go."
After harvesting the red lotus, the blind woman returned. Her words were still as sparse as ever.
"This girl…"
The elder narrowed his eyes, sizing up the woman. "She's not simple."
"Her?"
Chen Sanshi had no time to pay attention to the blind woman. He still had many questions he wanted to ask—about Luoxiao Sect, Guardian Envoys, and so on—
"What a pity. There's no time. Otherwise, this old man truly would like to go out and see—how are the heavens and earth, and the great Dao, today?"
With only a threadlike wisp of lingering soul remaining, the elder gave his final warning. "Boy, someone has come from outside."
As his words fell, his soul finally dispersed completely.