A massive pillar of light suddenly appeared in the secret realm, shooting straight into the sky and instantly attracting everyone, including the lurking demons and spirits.
The aura was still faint, very weak, but the fact that it could attract auspicious clouds and blessed rain, such extraordinary natural phenomena, indicated that it was no ordinary treasure.
Even if it wasn’t a heavenly-grade item, it was at least a top-tier earthly-grade item, just one step away from the heavenly grade.
In an instant, all creatures with awakened spiritual intelligence were restless, especially the old monsters who had been lurking for many years.
They were now secretly sharpening their claws, eager to move forward.
Only Gan Sha, standing in front of the Prison Demon Tower, coldly watched the pillar of light, without making a single move.
A demon of the clan with sparse demonic blood stepped forward, his eyes blazing as he stared at the golden light, barely suppressing the frenzy in his eyes, and asked, “The treasure has appeared, does Chi Zun not want a share?”
Gan Sha’s true form was a blood-red ghost, extremely fierce, hence he was given the title “Chi Zun” when he became famous.
Gan Sha sneered in response, “If you don’t want to die, don’t think about it.”
A heavenly-grade treasure, rare not only in the realm of spiritual cultivation but also in the entire cultivation world, always caused a storm of bloodshed whenever it appeared.
It was impossible to say he wasn’t tempted by such a rare item appearing before him.
However, having spent years with the Ghost Emperor, Gan Sha was well-versed and vaguely felt an unusual aura from the golden light, one that made people tremble and not dare to covet.
The last time he felt this way… was in the Chaoge Palace in the ancient domain, where the supreme gods once resided, surrounded by a strong divine presence.
But the gods of the cultivation world had perished in the ancient times thousands of years ago, and the demonic clan today only retained very sparse and diluted bloodlines, with little else besides rare inheritances.
The person who could emit such an aura…
Gan Sha dared not think further.
Seeing Gan Sha’s fearful expression, the descendant of the demonic clan felt disdainful.
If it weren’t for the fact that he still needed the great ghost to rescue his lord, he would have rushed forward immediately.
However, since he couldn’t leave himself, he could send his subordinates to explore first, not allowing some shortsighted beings to snatch the opportunity.
A glint of greed flashed in the eyes of the demonic descendant, and if one looked closely, they could see a determined intent hidden within.
Gan Sha saw his reaction and remained indifferent, no longer caring about the golden light, and only asked, “Can the seal of the Prison Demon Tower be broken?”
The demonic descendant quickly collected his thoughts and solemnly replied, “It can be broken, but I need Chi Zun’s help.”
Saying this, he humbly stepped aside, making a gesture of invitation, showing no sign of the contempt in his heart.
On the other side, the little snow fox, originally guarding the area, sensed a familiar aura and immediately bristled, retreating several meters without a second thought.
This time, Tang Muxi’s hair did not turn white, her eyes tightly closed, frantically absorbing the spiritual energy around her.
As the power continued to pour in, it seemed as if something was quietly changing.
It was indescribable, yet one could feel a hint of divine might subtly infused within.
Compared to the previous two times of cold detachment, this time it was much gentler, like a god descending from heaven, supreme yet inviting, benevolent and merciful, capable of embracing all things in the world.
Bathed in this majestic aura, the little snow fox let down its guard, slowly following its inner desire to approach the golden pillar to touch it.
However, before it could, the pillar suddenly disappeared, and the surrounding spiritual energy vortex also abruptly stopped, and miraculously, blessed rain fell from the clear sky.
Bathing in it, one could feel a wonderful power infusing into the body, cleansing the mind and spirit, ethereal and vast, even expanding the narrow spiritual consciousness, benefiting immensely.
Jiang Yin naturally also felt this gentle power, and her cultivation level improved slightly, although it was minimal, it was enough to surprise her.
Tang Muxi was a heavenly spiritual root, cultivating very quickly.
In her previous life, she had seen her breakthrough several times.
There were thunder tribulations as expected, and even because of her rapid cultivation, the instability of her foundation was more severe than others.
Yet, this time, not only was there no thunder tribulation, but also heavenly blessed rain, gathering thousands of blessings in one.
Speaking of which, this life’s Tang Muxi, after her rebirth, was quite peculiar.
Not only had her temperament changed drastically, but she also possessed strange powers.
Last time when I treated her wounds, the demonic energy on her back quietly disappeared.
At that time, Jiang Yin thought it was an illusion and didn’t pay much attention, but today she clearly saw Tang Muxi absorbing the demonic energy from the body of the mirage beast into her own.
Clearly a spiritual cultivator, yet she shows no repulsion to demonic energy…
Jiang Yin’s gaze sharpened slightly, her interest in Tang Muxi growing.
But now was not the time to press and probe; the recent disturbance was too great, definitely not a good thing.
The Tianji Secret Realm was home to many old monsters at the Nascent Soul stage; it was best to leave this place of trouble quickly, otherwise, they might invite disaster.
Jiang Yin took out fifty top-grade spirit stones, extracted ten drops of the mirage beast’s demonic energy-cleansed essence blood, and swiftly drew a complex and ancient rune in the air.
By the time her spell was complete, a palm-sized, blurry figure appeared before her.
Tang Muxi had just made a breakthrough and was still in a daze, unable to react, when she saw Jiang Yin slice open her own wrist.
Tang Muxi: …
The pain quickly pulled her back to reality.
She bit her lip, angry yet not daring to speak out, and said with grievance, “Senior sister… why are you cutting me?”
It couldn’t be that the great demon was still not appeased and needed to swing a knife to feel better.
With a pitiful look, at the mercy of others, biting a handkerchief.
Jiang Yin said nothing more and took three or four drops of blood.
However, as soon as she smelled the blood, her expression suddenly froze.
There was no mistake, this was the same blood used to treat her wounds last time!
It had also appeared on that dagger and the exquisite little bottle!
In the blink of an eye, the cut on Tang Muxi’s wrist healed at a visibly rapid pace.
Jiang Yin’s eyes darkened, a multitude of questions surfacing in her heart, but with the situation being urgent, she chose not to speak further, merely noting it silently in her mind before turning to drop the blood into the figure.
The figure quickly grew, rapidly expanding like lush vines, and in just a few breaths, it grew into an adult, its appearance and aura indistinguishable from Tang Muxi.
Both the little snow fox and Tang Muxi widened their eyes.
“Senior sister, what is this?”
“This is a substitution technique. The disturbance from your breakthrough was strange and might attract unwanted attention,” she explained, casting several spells on Tang Muxi to conceal her aura, “I’ve hidden your presence so no one can detect it.”
This was a demonic secret technique, undetectable by anyone except the Tianmo clan.
“We shouldn’t stay here long. I can feel dozens of presences rapidly approaching, and their strength is beyond our ability to withstand. Let’s go. The substitution technique can only last for seven days; we must shake them off as soon as possible!”
Upon hearing this, Tang Muxi’s figure trembled, and she quickly became serious, gathering her materials.
Robes can always be refined, but one only has one life.
Although she didn’t know why the great demon had so many strange and unusual techniques, thinking about how she had come back even after her spiritual roots were destroyed, this seemed like nothing.
After packing up, she asked, “Senior sister, where do we go now?”
Jiang Yin pondered, about to speak, when she suddenly felt intense fluctuations of demonic energy beneath the sands, her gaze sharply turning towards the center of the desert, obscure and unclear, before finally speaking, “The center of the desert.”
Her demonic lord’s intuition told her that there would be unexpected gains there.
Moreover, with Tang Muxi currently attracting too much attention, the turbulent demonic energy could effectively conceal their movements.
But now, they really couldn’t afford to be as leisurely as they had been in the past few days, whether it was because of the turbulent demonic energy or the need to hide their tracks, they needed to leave this place as soon as possible.
“Snow fox, have you recovered?”
The battle yesterday had been exhausting, and the environment here suppressed its recovery speed, so the snow fox was still weak.
Snow fox shook her head, but seeing the seriousness in Jiang Yin’s eyes, she knew it might be something important, so she used her ice sand to form words again: “I can transfer, but I’m afraid I can’t send too far.”
It’s manageable with one person, barely possible.
If it’s two people, then the distance must be reduced.
Jiang Yin nodded: “No matter, send as far as possible.”
“Where to?”
Snow fox formed the words again.
“To the center of the desert.”
Snow fox clearly lacked strength.
Although she agreed to head to the desert center, she couldn’t maintain the spell halfway through the actual transfer.
She was too weak, her internal strength nearly depleted.
To avoid danger, they must find a secluded place to recover her strength.
During the transfer, she found a chilly cave hidden near the center of the desert and without a second thought, brought them there.
The area was eerily ghostly, quite bizarre within the desert.
Snow fox spread her divine consciousness, detecting no danger, and boldly proceeded inside.
“This power… is it from the Cold Pond?!”
Tang Muxi was astonished.
She had woken up in the Cold Pond last time her spiritual power backfired, and was quite familiar with that force.
Stepping in here, she immediately sensed a power identical in origin.
She was certain that the water sources of both Cold Ponds came from the same place, and it was deliberately done by someone.
Such a chilling aura could not naturally form in the vast desert.
“This place…”
Jiang Yin hinted with a breath, slightly surprised, “has the aura of a Divine Artifact.”
“Divine Artifact!”
Both the human and the fox were stunned by her bold statement.
In the cultivation world, items that could be called Divine Artifacts were few, but each was immensely powerful, and their appearance could lead to bloodshed.
A hundred years ago, during the great war between the spiritual cultivators and the demon realm, one of the Divine Artifacts, the Demon Prison Blade, went missing.
The four major domains of the cultivation world—spiritual, demon, beast, and ghost realms—each held two major Divine Artifacts, evenly matched in power.
But because the Divine Artifacts were too powerful, they were hidden away.
Although unspoken, the four domains had agreed not to use the Divine Artifacts lightly.
The two Divine Artifacts of the spiritual realm belonged to the Nine Sha Hall and the Incense Burning Valley, and couldn’t possibly appear here.
Thus, the aura of the Divine Artifact here… was quite intriguing.
Jiang Yin curved her lips, this familiar feeling… couldn’t be mistaken, it must be the Manglietia Seal.
Although the cultivation world was divided into four major domains, the beast clan originally resided in the ancient region formed during the primordial times—now known as the Beast Realm, located above the vast Eastern Yellow Springs Sea, a massive floating island not bordering the other three realms.
The Ghost Realm was even more elusive, not on the mainland, and no one knew exactly where it was, only that it had a faint connection with the Yellow Springs Sea.
The mainland was divided into north and south, apart from a few neutral areas, the north belonged to the spiritual realm, and the south to the demon realm.
The Manglietia Seal, rumored to be the key to opening the Ghost Gate and leading to the Ghost Realm, should be held by the Ghost Emperor, who governs the order of yin and yang.
Why then would it appear here?
This era truly has too many changes.
