Qin Renhuang just became an immortal, and you told me this is the prehistoric time

Not only that, Xiang Zhili was horrified to discover that his connection with the spiritual energy of the outside world had been completely severed, and the flow of spiritual power in his body, which was originally as surging as a river, had become extremely sluggish, as if he had been trapped in a mysterious ice cave for ten thousand years.

Even more terrifying, he felt his lifespan slowly but steadily slipping away under the suppression of this great formation! Although the speed was not fast, the feeling of his life essence being drained by an invisible force sent chills down his spine!
Forcibly breaking the formation would deplete one's lifespan—this was not an exaggeration during the threat, but an unstoppable fact that was unfolding right now!

The momentum that Xiang Zhili had unleashed deflated instantly, like a punctured balloon.

His anger was replaced by immense horror, and for the first time, his gaze towards Ying Xuan was filled with undisguised fear.

What kind of formation is this? It can directly lock down space, solidify spiritual energy, and even extract the lifespan of those trapped? This is unheard of! Even the protective formations of the top sects in the Spirit Realm are probably no more powerful than this. Just who is this person?
Ying Xuan remained standing in the same spot, his hands still behind his back, as if the formation change that had just occurred to a Nascent Soul cultivator was merely a trivial thought to him.

"Fellow Daoist Xiang, can we now discuss the terms properly?"

He smiled, but the smile that Xiang Zhili saw was more chilling than any hideous face.

Xiang Zhili's expression shifted constantly as he felt the slow but real loss of his lifespan. He glanced at the star chains around him, which emanated terrifying fluctuations. In the end, all his pride, anger, and resentment turned into a long, bitter, and dejected sigh.

He concealed his aura and bowed deeply to Ying Xuan.

"I... admit defeat."

"I agree to what Sect Leader Ying requests."

Looking at Xiang Zhili, who was bowing deeply and whose breath had completely withered, Ying Xuan's smile became even more pronounced. There was no warmth in that smile, only an indifferent indifference of complete control.

"You agreed? Very good."

Ying Xuan nodded slightly, his tone relaxed, as if he had only accepted a trivial matter.

However, a thought quietly stirred in his mind.

"Buzz—Boom!"

The 108 star islands suspended in the surrounding void did not dim their light because of Xiang Zhili's submission. Instead, they all trembled and emitted even more intense light!

The chains, composed of countless runes, rattled and tightened slowly, like living things, pressing towards Xiang Zhili at the center. The pressure within the entire array space surged once more, the air becoming as viscous as mercury, and every ray of starlight feeling as heavy as a thousand pounds!

Xiang Zhili's expression changed drastically. He hadn't expected that even after he had given in, the other party would still exert pressure! Was this to completely crush his will to resist, or to take his life directly?

"Sect Leader Ying! You..."

He was both shocked and furious; before he could finish speaking, the terrifying pressure was already upon him.

He could no longer care about anything else. With a roar, a dazzling golden light suddenly shot out from the top of his head!
The golden light rapidly expanded, transforming into a magnificent pagoda, over ten feet tall, seemingly crafted entirely from pure gold, with nine stories, each carved with countless profound runes and mythical birds and beasts!

The pagoda spun rapidly, scattering countless golden rays that firmly protected Xiang Zhili within. The golden rays collided violently with the surrounding star chains and immense pressure, producing a deep, thunderous roar that caused the space to tremble violently.

"A Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasure?!"

A hint of surprise flashed in Ying Xuan's eyes, but it quickly turned into deeper interest.

He could sense that the golden pagoda was of extremely high quality, emanating a vast and pure spiritual pressure that far surpassed any magic weapon he had ever seen before, and was even more refined than the so-called "immortal artifacts" he had brought back from the Great Song world!
In particular, the material used for its tower body is golden and restrained, pure and flawless, containing almost no impurities, and is far superior to ordinary refining materials in this world.

However, what terrified Xiang Zhili even more was that even though he had used his most treasured protective artifact, the "Nine Heavens Demon Suppressing Pagoda," which had helped him escape danger several times, the golden glow emanating from the pagoda was visibly dimming under the continuous pressure of the Zhou Tian Star Array!

The tower creaked under the weight, and the mysterious runes on its surface flickered, as if it might collapse at any moment.

"This...how is this possible?!"

A tremendous wave of shock and horror surged through Xiang Zhili's heart.

This pagoda of his was obtained by risking his life in an ancient ruin many years ago. It is suspected to be a replica of an ancient spiritual treasure that can reach the heavens. Its power is boundless and its defensive capabilities are among the best in this world.

He had once withstood a full-force attack from a Nascent Soul cultivator of the same level with this tower and remained unharmed. But now, under the continuous pressure of this strange array, the tower seemed so fragile? The power of this array had exceeded his understanding of "arrays," it was simply... simply comparable to the power of a legendary immortal artifact! How could such a thing exist in the lower realm?
He refused to believe in evil and was unwilling to sit and wait for death. A fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and taking advantage of the moment when the golden pagoda temporarily withstood the pressure, his figure suddenly blurred, and in the next instant, he appeared directly three zhang behind Ying Xuan!

At the same time, a short stick, completely black with dark gold dragon patterns at both ends, appeared in his hand. The stick grew longer in the wind, transforming into a giant stick as thick as a bowl and about ten feet long. With a shrill whistle that tore through the void and a terrifying force that could shatter mountains and split seas, it slammed down hard towards Ying Xuan's head!
This strike came without warning, was as fast as lightning, and contained all the physical strength and surging spiritual power of his mid-stage Nascent Soul stage. It was one of his true trump cards, the "Void-Breaking Staff"!
He was confident that even if the opponent was a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, without a top-tier defensive magic treasure to protect him, taking this blow would surely result in his physical body being shattered and his Nascent Soul being destroyed!

However, just as that massive black club was about to touch Ying Xuan's hair—

"Crack!"

A blindingly bright bolt of lightning, purely formed from the laws of destructive thunder, seemed to appear out of thin air about a foot behind Ying Xuan's head, striking the tip of the black gold giant staff squarely!
There was no deafening roar, only a sizzling sound that made your teeth ache and your soul tremble.

The terrifying force, enough to shatter mountains, and the shimmering spiritual light on the giant black-gold staff, were instantly melted and dissolved like ice meeting boiling oil before the seemingly slender silver lightning! The giant black-gold staff let out a mournful cry, its spiritual light vanished, and it returned to its original form. It fell to the starlight ground with a thud.

Even more terrifying, the lightning bolt seemed to follow the mental connection between the staff and Xiang Zhili, and a trace of lightning intent, almost imperceptible yet extremely sharp, instantly pierced into Xiang Zhili's sea of ​​consciousness!

"Ugh—!"

Xiang Zhili felt as if he had been struck by a heavy hammer. His vision went black, and it felt as if a million steel needles were piercing his brain at the same time, or as if his entire soul had been thrown into a thunderous furnace to be burned! He groaned, and blood seeped from all seven orifices at the same time. He staggered backward, the magic seal in his hand dissipated, and the Nine Heavens Demon Suppressing Pagoda above his head dimmed and shrank back into his body.

The intense pain and stiffness originating from the depths of his soul caused his spiritual power to almost spiral out of control, leaving him completely powerless. With a thud, he knelt on one knee, panting heavily, his eyes filled with boundless fear as he looked at Ying Xuan.

This isn't a spiritual energy attack! This is a law-based attack directly targeting the very essence of the soul! This person's lightning techniques have actually reached the point where they can directly harm the soul of a Nascent Soul cultivator? How is this possible?!
Just as his soul was injured and his consciousness became blurred, the 108 star islands around him shone brightly, and countless rune chains shot out like serpents, binding him tightly in an instant.

These chains were not physical, yet they were stronger than any divine iron, and contained a strange power to seal spiritual energy and imprison the soul. Xiang Zhili felt the vast, boundless spiritual energy within his body instantly locked up, and his soul suppressed by an invisible force, unable to mobilize even a fraction of it, not even able to self-destruct his nascent soul!
They were completely reduced to fish on a chopping board.

"Master Ying...Master Ying! Spare me! Spare me!"

Xiang Zhili panicked completely, losing all the composure and pride of a Nascent Soul cultivator. His voice was hoarse, filled with deep fear and pleading.

"This old man... no, this humble man knows his mistake! This humble man was blind and offended the sect leader's majesty! If the sect leader has any request, this humble man will grant it! Cultivation techniques, magic treasures, secret arts, treasures... as long as the sect leader spares this humble man's life, this humble man is willing to offer them all, and will swear the most vicious oath of the heart, to serve him forever, with no disloyalty whatsoever!"

He was truly terrified at this moment. After cultivating for thousands of years and overcoming countless dangers, he had finally reached the Nascent Soul stage. With much lifespan left and a glimmer of hope to ascend to the Spirit Realm, how could he possibly perish in this inexplicably newly established sect? He would agree to any condition as long as he could live.

Ying Xuan then slowly turned around, as if the fatal blow had never happened.

He walked up to Xiang Zhili, who was slumped on the ground and bound by rune chains, and looked down at him with a calm and unwavering gaze.

"If you had cooperated earlier, you wouldn't have had to suffer like this."

Ying Xuan said something indifferently, then reached out without any politeness and began to grope Xiang Zhili's body.

Xiang Zhili was filled with shame and indignation, but dared not resist in the slightest. He could only close his eyes and let the other party do as he pleased.

A moment later, more than a dozen gleaming objects floated in front of Ying Xuan. Besides the Nine Heavens Demon Suppressing Pagoda, which had shrunk and dimmed, and the black gold Void-Breaking Cudgel, there was also an ancient bronze mirror, a small jade sword, a string of seven-colored beads, a purple-gold gourd, a set of silver needles, a small black banner... In total, there were more than ten items.

Each of these items emitted an astonishing amount of spiritual energy, far exceeding the natal magic treasures of ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators. They were clearly exquisite pieces collected or refined by Xiang Zhili over thousands of years, at least at the level of top-tier ancient treasures or even replicas of Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasures.

Ying Xuan took each item in his hands and examined them carefully, his interest growing stronger with each passing moment.

The crafting techniques used to create these magical artifacts are significantly different from those commonly used in the Qin Dynasty and the mortal world. They seem to be more ancient and place greater emphasis on guiding the spiritual essence of the materials themselves and ensuring that the runes and the laws of heaven and earth are in harmony.

Especially the Nine Heavens Demon Suppression Tower, the purity of its materials and the smoothness of its spiritual energy transmission are almost the ultimate that materials in this world can achieve. It is much better than the Demon Refining Tower in his hands. As long as it is re-refined and stronger restrictions and laws are incorporated, it definitely has the potential to become a true immortal artifact!

The other items are also unique. The ancient bronze mirror seems to involve space and illusion, the jade sword is incomparably sharp and has its own inexhaustible wood energy, and the seven-colored bracelet contains seven different types of protective power... They are all rare and good materials and good pieces.

Besides these clearly magical artifacts, Ying Xuan also found several antique-style storage bags on Xiang Zhili's person. Probing them with his divine sense, the first storage bag contained dozens of jade bottles filled with various colored and fragrant elixirs.

Some of the medicines were potent, while others had an obscure aroma. Even with Ying Xuan's keen eye, it was difficult to determine their specific effects all at once. However, anything that a Nascent Soul cultivator could carry with him was certainly no ordinary item.

The second storage bag contained hundreds of jade slips, categorized by subject. Besides a dozen or so containing core cultivation techniques leading directly to the Nascent Soul stage, the majority were various secret arts, travelogues, anecdotes, ancient secrets, array diagrams, alchemy insights, weapon crafting methods, and other miscellaneous knowledge—truly a mobile library. Clearly, Xiang Zhili had lived far too long, accumulating an incredibly vast amount of knowledge.

The third storage bag contained various refining materials, many of which were rare and top-quality items, such as Gengjin (庚金), ten-thousand-year-old ironwood core (万年铁木芯), star sand (星辰砂), and void stone (空冥石), in considerable quantities.

What caught Ying Xuan's attention the most was the fourth, seemingly smallest, storage bag. Its interior was meticulously divided, containing dozens of carefully sealed jade boxes.

Opening several of them revealed a variety of spiritual herbs, each radiating astonishing spiritual energy. Judging by their age, they were at least three thousand years old, with some even reaching five or six thousand years!
What's even more interesting is that there are some other seeds that are also well-preserved nearby. They were obviously collected by Xiang Zhili for his own future use, or because they were extremely rare.

"These seeds... when we get back, we can let Han Li try planting one of them."

The thought flashed through Ying Xuan's mind. Han Li had the ability to accelerate the ripening of spiritual herbs with the Heavenly Bottle; giving these rare seeds to him might produce unexpected results.

He first took the jade slips containing the cultivation techniques into his hands, then immersed his divine sense in them and quickly browsed through them. As he expected, most of the techniques could only be cultivated up to the Nascent Soul stage, but there were also more than ten techniques that clearly recorded the cultivation methods from the Nascent Soul stage to the Deity Transformation stage, as well as the Deity Transformation stage.

Ying Xuan focused his study on several of the most detailed and seemingly most orthodox Nascent Soul cultivation techniques. With his current level of cultivation and knowledge, understanding them was not difficult. Soon, he grasped the essence of the so-called "Nascent Soul" in this world.

"So that's how it is... Completely merge one's own soul with the 'new life core' that is centered on the spiritual root and has been tempered through the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages, making them inseparable, so that the Nascent Soul truly becomes 'me', thereby being able to sense and call upon the power of the laws of heaven and earth at a deeper level, and thus greatly extending one's lifespan."

Ying Xuan understood immediately.

"This is similar to the first step of my path—condensing the primordial spirit—in its fundamental purpose of 'integrating the divine soul and sublimating the core of life.' However, my path of the primordial spirit transcends the intermediary of 'spiritual root' from the very beginning, directly using my own essence, energy, and spirit as the foundation to perceive the heavens and earth and condense the primordial spirit. The path is purer, and its potential may be greater." (End of Chapter)