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

Each time she appeared, she was in an incredibly cunning location, narrowly avoiding the "Star Island" that relentlessly pursued and crashed into her like a leech.

It was none other than the immortal Empress!
She was both shocked and furious.

Each impact from those 108 "islands" sent shivers down her spine; their power was absolutely sufficient to severely injure or even threaten someone of her level! Although she managed to dodge them with her secret techniques and experience, the aftershocks still caused her blood and qi to churn, resulting in serious internal injuries.

What frustrated her even more was that no matter how she moved, she could never close the distance between herself and that hateful human in mid-air! That strange array that enveloped the heavens and the earth distorted space and interfered with her perception and escape techniques!

"hateful!!"

A cold, sharp female voice, filled with overwhelming resentment, rang out.

"Human ants! You dare to come here just because you have this strange magical artifact! If you have any guts, remove this tortoise shell and fight me head-on! What kind of skill is it to hide and evade?! You only dare to use these inanimate objects to show off your power from afar?!"

She realized that although the enormous magical artifact that refined the Purple Mountain and commanded the Star Island was incredibly powerful and terrifying, its controller did not seem to be skilled in close combat and had been operating it from a distance.

This made her both angry and resentful. Despite possessing formidable combat power, she was completely restrained by this strange formation and Taoist magic, making it difficult for her to get close and unleash her full potential.

The Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends Grand Formation was originally a top-tier formation crafted by Ying Xuan, based on the movement of the stars and the terrain, and using countless efforts and precious materials. Later, it incorporated the incense and spiritual power gathered by the Great Qin Empire and the spatial origin of the Void Heaven Palace, which has long since transcended the scope of ordinary formations, forming a nearly independent "formation space" under Ying Xuan's absolute control.

Within this space, all laws, spiritual energy, and even spatial structure are regulated by the great formation. Unless outsiders forcibly break through the formation with absolute power, they cannot easily approach the core area surrounded and protected by 108 "star islands".

At this moment, Ying Xuan's true form and primordial spirit stood on the core main island, like an emperor residing in the center of the celestial sphere, overlooking the battle situation within the entire array space.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

……

The continuous, seemingly endless muffled impacts, like the war drums of a thunder god from the heavens, resounded wildly within the array space! One after another, enormous "star islands" accelerated in turn along some mysterious trajectory, transforming into dazzling streaks of light and shadow, carrying a terrifying power capable of crushing stars and suppressing eternity.

From all directions and angles, it violently crashed into the cold, black-clad figure who was desperately dodging in the array space—the Undying Empress!

The array space had already absorbed all the spiritual energy of heaven and earth around Purple Mountain and even a wider area, completely severing the exchange of energy between the inside and outside. Here, even a former imperial powerhouse like the Undying Empress could only rely on the divine power contained within her own Bitter Sea and her powerful physical strength to fight, unable to obtain any replenishment from the outside world.

If it weren't for her incredible strength and extremely keen perception of space and danger, a slightly weaker cultivator would probably have been smashed to pieces and annihilated by these "islands" containing the power of stars the moment they entered the formation!

"puff--!"

Another powerful and tricky impact struck. Although the Undying Empress narrowly avoided it with a strange movement, the spatial turbulence and star-like winds generated by the island still fiercely swept past her protective divine light.

The dense black mist around her surged violently, and she suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood that shimmered with a dark golden hue and contained astonishing life essence! The blood was instantly evaporated and absorbed by the power of the array space as soon as it left her body.

Countless fine cracks appeared on the surface of her body, like porcelain about to shatter. Dark golden blood seeped out continuously, her aura weakened at a visible speed, and her figure sluggish and stiffened for a moment.

"Now!"

A cold glint flashed in Ying Xuan's eyes as he pushed his mind to its limit!
"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!!"

As if it were premeditated, the moment the Immortal Empress's figure froze, all thirty-six "Star Islands," like a Star Guardian receiving a command, abandoned their original trajectories and accelerated simultaneously from all four directions—up, down, left, right, front, and back—in an almost suicidal manner, ruthlessly surrounding and crashing into the area where she was!
This time, it was no longer a one-sided pursuit or harassment, but a true, deadly combined attack! The thirty-six islands sealed off all escape routes, and the combined power of their forces resonated, causing the void in that area to completely distort and solidify!
"Do not--!!!"

The Immortal Empress let out a sharp, distorted shriek, her voice filled with endless resentment, bitterness, and a hint of...fear! She frantically rallied all the remaining divine power within her body, and the black mist on her body instantly thickened tenfold, transforming into a hideous phantom of black armor, attempting a final act of resistance.

"Bang--!!!!!"

An indescribable, earth-shattering roar erupted! The combined attack of the thirty-six star islands unleashed an energy storm that instantly engulfed everything! Blinding starlight and black mist intertwined and annihilated each other wildly, and the space in that area shattered like a broken mirror, revealing the raging void turbulence behind it!
As the light and chaos subsided, only faint black dust and a few fragments of armor, seemingly formed from the deepest darkness, remained where the Immortal Empress had stood, slowly falling to the ground.

Her powerful and intimidating aura had completely vanished, as if she had never existed.

The ancient celestial empress, wife of the immortal emperor, perished in this battle, both body and soul!
At the same time, the entire Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Formation, due to its full operation, the refining of Purple Mountain, and the earth-shattering combined attack just now, has accumulated unimaginable and immense energy.

This energy, in the form of pure spiritual power, surged and churned within the array space like a tangible stream of colorful water! Its sheer volume and purity were simply astonishing!
Even within the array space, on those 108 star islands, the tens of millions of phantom spiritual roots and herbs that Ying Xuan had transplanted and derived were now like parched land receiving rain, frantically stretching their branches and opening their "pores" to greedily absorb this massive amount of pure spiritual energy, growing, transforming, and experiencing a surge in medicinal and spiritual power at a visible speed...

However, it can only absorb a negligible small portion of it! The vast majority of the pure spiritual energy remains like a vast ocean, surging endlessly within the array space.

Ying Xuan could clearly sense that such a vast and pure spiritual energy, if placed in the Great Qin World, would be enough to allow nearly ten million Imperial Guards soldiers, who had experienced the bloody battles of the wasteland and had solid foundations, to collectively advance a small realm in a short period of time! What a terrifying energy reserve this was!

However, Ying Xuan, who was located on the core island, frowned slightly. He discovered that among the purest core spiritual energy flowing surging within the array space, there was a faint but undeniable trace of...blood and chilling resentment!

Those were the remaining traces of life and overwhelming resentment left after the Immortal Empress and her followers were refined. Even after the initial tempering by the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Array, they could not be completely purified. "This kind of spiritual power, though vast, has been polluted and contains alien will and resentment. It is detrimental to my pure Yang primordial spirit and cannot be absorbed directly."

Ying Xuan understood this perfectly.

He pursued a pure and flawless foundation for immortality, so why would he covet this little bit of "impure" spiritual power? With a thought, a soft yet tough invisible barrier appeared around the core island, completely isolating the pure spiritual power mixed with blood, not allowing even a trace to flow in.

Having dealt with the Immortal Empress, Ying Xuan no longer delayed.

With a thought, he activated the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Array diagram that enveloped the dark purple core of Purple Mountain, causing it to slowly descend and shrink.

With the removal of the array barrier, the true scene of the core area of ​​Zishan was fully revealed.

The once majestic dark purple mountain had its surface covered with ordinary rocks and soil, which had been completely refined by the array, revealing a strange rock layer inside that was crystal clear and sculpted like amethyst, as well as a large number of refining materials that shimmered with various colors of precious light embedded and scattered within it!
There are fragments of Phoenix Blood Crimson Gold as red as fire, fragments of Dragon Pattern Black Gold as black as ink, Eternal Blue Crystal as blue as the sea, and Divine Mark Purple Gold Particles as heavy as mountains... Although most of them are just fragments or unrefined ores, their variety and quality are enough to drive any weapon-refining master crazy!
Pulled by the power of the formation, these rare materials detached from the mountain and, like weary birds returning to their nests, drifted towards the core main island where Ying Xuan was located.

Ying Xuan reached out and grabbed all the materials, putting them into the temporary space he had created in his sleeve.

He did not intend to use these materials to enhance the "Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends Formation" at this time.

This formation has just been initially refined into the Sea of ​​Bitterness by him using the Heaven-Covering Technique, and is currently in the critical stage of life imprinting and fusion. Rashly adding foreign materials, especially these top-level divine materials with different attributes and containing different fragments of imperial laws, is very likely to disrupt its balance and even trigger unpredictable conflicts.

He planned to bring these materials back to the Qin Dynasty to enhance two other crucial "national treasures".

One of them is the Qin Dynasty Imperial Palace.

This artifact, which has merged with the essence of the Void Heaven Palace and become the prototype of a celestial artifact that suppresses the fate of the nation, is the core and symbol of the Great Qin Empire.

It continuously transforms the power of incense offerings and the nation's destiny, subtly enhancing the physical condition and potential of all Qin citizens.

Previously, the terrifying aura generated by the Imperial Guards during the bloody battle was transformed and dispersed by the Imperial Palace, and some of it was transferred to the common people. Although this caused some people to become more bloodthirsty and belligerent, resulting in public security problems, Ying Xuan believed that this was still a necessary price to pay for protecting the entire population.

He hoped that the further strengthening of the palace would bring more and more comprehensive benefits to the Qin Dynasty.

The second is the "Great Wall" that surrounds the wasteland and defends against the goblin world.

This Great Wall is no ordinary object; it was forged from the essence of hundreds of thousands of stars, using several small star cores, a large number of planetary fragments, and countless stardust. It is indestructible and has a natural suppressive and repulsive force on low-intelligence monsters such as goblins, making it impossible for them to climb over it.

However, the Great Wall's primary function is currently defense and suppression, and its ability to launch proactive attacks is relatively lacking.

Ying Xuan planned to use these top-tier materials obtained from Zishan to add some offensive formations or components to the Great Wall, or to infuse it with some of his incense and spiritual power to enhance its ability to actively defend against enemies and launch long-range attacks, so as to reduce the frontal pressure that the Qin army might face from massive numbers of goblins or other otherworldly monsters in the future.

Just as Ying Xuan was collecting refining materials, something new was being "squeezed" out from the depths of the rock strata by the power of the array in the core area of ​​Purple Mountain.

There were several crystal stones of varying sizes, the largest as big as a house and the smallest as big as a millstone, as well as countless smaller fragments that shimmered with a faint light.

These crystals and fragments seemed to have a liquid, seven-colored radiance flowing slowly within them, emitting extremely pure spiritual energy and rich life essence fluctuations—the very hard currency of cultivation in this world, Source Crystals! Moreover, they were Source Crystals of extremely high quality, with some even faintly containing divine light at their cores, possibly indicating divine sources!
Ying Xuan reached out and grabbed the largest piece of source crystal and several fragments, bringing them to his face.

His powerful divine sense carefully sensed the flow of spiritual energy and life essence within, as well as its internal structure.

"Hmm? This feeling..."

Ying Xuan raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. The rhythmic flow of spiritual energy and life essence within the Source Crystal, and the faint life imprint at its core, resembling a "seed," gave him a strange... sense of familiarity?

He pondered deeply, comparing the sea of ​​suffering he had just created with the characteristics of the flow of life essence within it... After a moment, a conclusion that sent chills down his spine gradually became clear!

"This source crystal... its essential structure is actually seven or eight parts similar to the 'Sea of ​​Bitterness' created by cultivators?!"

Ying Xuan was startled.

"No, it's not just similar! This is actually... a remnant of the 'Sea of ​​Bitterness' that was forcibly solidified and crystallized by some great force of heaven and earth or a special environment! Or rather, it's a 'Sea of ​​Bitterness Crystal' formed after a cultivator's death, where their Sea of ​​Bitterness secret realm combined with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the earth veins under special conditions, and was transformed and precipitated over a long period of time!"

He instantly understood why cultivators in this realm could use source crystals to extend their lifespan and even seal themselves! Because source crystals themselves contain pure life essence and have a relatively stable structure, they can serve as an "external carrier" or "protective shell" for the continuation of life!
"No wonder... no wonder this world is so lacking in energy, yet it can give birth to such a rare thing as 'Source'. It turns out that its origin is the 'remains' of the previous generation of cultivators!"

A complex mix of emotions welled up in Ying Xuan's heart, a mixture of sudden realization of the truth and a chill that was hard to describe.

"I just wonder, how long and under what conditions must a cultivator endure the sea of ​​suffering to be completely transformed into source crystals?"

But there is one thing he is certain of.

This formation process means that Source Crystals cannot be replicated and used on a large scale in the Qin Dynasty world. Are we supposed to have the cultivators of the Qin Dynasty dig up the Bitter Sea after they die, bury it in the ground, and wait for it to turn into Source Crystals? That's utterly absurd!
His gaze swept across the core area of ​​Purple Mountain once more. Under the continuous refining effect of the formation, more materials were being extracted from the rock strata, including refining materials and source crystals.

He also saw some remains that vaguely resembled magical artifacts or weapons, but were completely petrified and devoid of any spirit. There were even some huge and strange skeletal fossil outlines embedded in the rock strata. (End of Chapter)