Starting with the creation of the Immortal Clan through the compilation of the family genealogy.

Chapter 101 The Yin Sha Secret Treasure, All in My Possession

The Yin Sha Sect's treasure vault was built inside the main peak, and its entrance was firmly protected by a "Hundred Ghosts Guarding the Gate Formation" of the middle-grade Xuan level.

If it were three months ago, Meng Xihong would have had to put in a lot of effort to deal with this situation, and might even have had to ask Yun Songzi for help.

But now, he is a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Meng Xihong stood at the entrance of the deep cave, his Foundation Establishment stage spiritual consciousness surging out like an invisible tide, instantly washing over every corner of the entire formation.

In an instant, the ninety-nine vengeful spirit nodes of the great formation, and the trajectory of every wisp of Yin energy, were clearly dissected in his mind, leaving no secrets whatsoever.

"With ninety-nine vengeful spirits comparable to the late stage of Qi Refining as the main array eyes, drawing upon the Yin energy of the earth's veins, and further supplemented by bewitching and corrosive effects, the array is intricately linked. The person who designed this array was quite talented, but unfortunately, he misused it."

With his full power activated, he saw through the formation—a formation that would be quite troublesome even for ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators—in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

"Forcibly breaking the formation would cause too much noise, and it would be a pity if we destroyed the things inside."

Meng Xihong's lips curled up, and he began to form hand seals.

He did not use any violent spells, but instead skillfully divided the powerful five elements magic power within his body into strands of spiritual energy thinner than a hair.

These silk threads, like the most skillful embroidery needles, silently pierced into every node of the great formation's operation.

"Pfft~"

The thick black mist guarding the cave entrance surged violently, emitting a series of shrill and piercing ghostly howls, as if it had sensed a deadly threat.

"Noisy!"

Meng Xihong let out a cold snort, and his spiritual power instantly condensed into an invisible, immensely heavy hammer, which he slammed down on the core of the formation.

The ninety-nine vengeful spirits that served as the core of the formation didn't even have time to utter a scream before their spiritual bodies were shattered by this overwhelming spiritual power, transforming into the purest Yin energy and being completely liberated.

Once the main array eye was breached, the light of the entire array dimmed instantly, and it teetered on the brink of collapse.

Meng Xihong then calmly took out the black iron key he had obtained from Liu Xuan and inserted it into an inconspicuous groove on the stone door.

Click, click...

With a sickening creaking sound of machinery turning, the incredibly heavy stone door, engraved with countless runes, slowly rose upwards.

A rich, precious light, mixed with spirit stones, pills, and various rare and precious materials, burst forth from behind the door. The light was so intense that it almost stung people's eyes.

Even with his calm and collected nature, Meng Xihong couldn't help but take a deep breath the moment he saw the scene inside the treasure vault.

"Good heavens! The Yin Sha Sect has been entrenched in this secret realm for hundreds of years, and they are truly rolling in wealth."

Inside the huge grotto, which spans hundreds of square meters, lies a dazzling array of cultivation resources.

The most eye-catching thing is the mountain of spirit stones piled up in the left corner.

It shimmered with various colors of light, and was practically a small mountain of spirit stones!
A rough count suggests that there are at least 100,000 low-grade spirit stones.

There are over a thousand mid-grade spirit stones!

At the very top of Spirit Stone Mountain, dozens of superior spirit stones with even purer spiritual energy and dazzling brilliance were neatly arranged.

This batch of spirit stones alone is enough to make a third-rate sect go all out to launch a war of annihilation.

Beside the pile of spirit stones were rows of neat wooden shelves, filled with jade bottles labeled with tags.

"Qi-Condensing Pill", "Rejuvenation Pill", "Detoxification Pill"...

The sheer quantity of various pills commonly used in the Qi Refining stage was enough for the disciples of the Tianyan Sect to eat like candy for the next few years.

Meng Xihong also discovered several bottles of pills that only Foundation Establishment stage cultivators could use, such as the "Azure Spirit Pill" which could quickly restore mana, and the "Muscle Regeneration Jade Bone Ointment" which had excellent healing effects.

These are all rare and valuable items that are hard to find in ordinary markets. It seems they were obtained by exchanging items from the secret realm.

Opposite the medicine shelf was a weapon shelf, filled with all sorts of magical artifacts, including swords, spears, and halberds, in a dazzling array.

Most of them were of lower-middle quality in the Yellow Rank. Meng Xihong glanced at them but showed little interest.

Trash, I don't want it.

His gaze swept straight over the top shelf of the weapon rack, where three magical artifacts exuding a mysterious aura were displayed.

Mysterious-grade magical artifact!

The long banner, entirely black and exuding a ghostly aura, was a replica of Liu Xuan's "Thousand Soul Banner," a low-grade Xuan-level weapon with considerable power.

A black shield shaped like a tortoise shell, of mid-grade Xuan level, with astonishing defensive power.

And a black flying boat the size of a palm, which, when infused with magic, can transform into a ten-zhang-long vessel that can travel three thousand li a day, making it an excellent tool for traveling and running away.

Meng Xihong's brows gradually furrowed.

A long banner? And a soul banner at that? Isn't that standard equipment for evil cultivators? It's not suitable for me.

A shield? It's just for taking hits.

Flying boat? For escaping.

So after all that work, there's not a single thing we can use to chop someone up?

He remained silent for a moment, then turned around without changing his expression and looked again at the pile of yellow-rank magical artifacts that he had just scoffed at.

"cough."

He coughed lightly, and seriously picked through the pile of yellow-grade magic weapons. Finally, he selected two gleaming yellow-grade high-quality longswords and a spare flying sword, and stuffed them into his storage bag.

Mmm, it smells really good. It's a bit embarrassing for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to need a Yellow-Rank magic weapon to make a good impression when going out.

But something is better than nothing.

"It seems I'll have to make a trip to the Hundred Alliance Chamber of Commerce again to buy a suitable weapon," Meng Xihong thought to himself.

He nodded in satisfaction, his gaze continuing to move, landing on the several boxes made of ten-thousand-year-old cold iron at the deepest part of the treasure vault.

He opened the first box, which was filled with various refining materials such as century-old black iron, red copper essence, and mithril.

Opening the second box revealed various Yin-attribute spiritual herbs and medicines, the youngest of which were at least three hundred years old.

When he opened the third, and final, box, his breath caught in his throat.

Inside the box lay a crystal, larger than the one he had previously obtained, yellowish-brown in color, and pulsating slightly like a heart!

A pure and profound earthy aura wafted towards me.

The heart of the earth's veins!

There's another one! And it's even bigger and purer than the one Liu Xuan always carries with him.

Meng Xihong instantly understood.

No wonder Liu Xuan carried that slightly smaller Earth Vein Heart with him; he probably used it for daily cultivation or to save his life in an emergency.

This large one is the true treasure of the Yin Sha Sect, the true core of the spiritual vein!
"We not only have one of the four auxiliary materials needed to refine the 'Small Universe Eight Trigrams Diagram,' but we even have some left over!"

Meng Xihong carefully put the larger Earth Vein Heart into his storage bag, feeling that he was one step closer to refining his first family magic weapon.

Besides these, a large number of cultivation technique jade slips were also piled up in a corner of the treasure vault.

Meng Xihong scanned the area with his spiritual sense and found mostly evil techniques like "Soul Refining Technique" and "Marrow Extraction Technique," whose very names sent chills down one's spine.

"Keeping it will also be a disaster."

With a thought, Meng Xihong conjured a ball of azure flame in his palm, burning the evil jade slips to ashes.

However, he still kept his guard up and made a copy of the Yin Sha Sect's core inheritance, the "Netherworld Profound Art," as well as several representative heretical spells.

Knowing yourself and your enemy is never a bad thing.

After looting the entire treasure vault, Meng Xihong discovered some carvings on the stone walls of the vault that had been concealed by an array.

He waved his hand to break the formation, and saw several lines of blood-red characters carved on the stone wall in a flamboyant style, filled with resentment and madness.

"We are born mortals, with mixed spiritual roots, and the path to immortality is far away! We are deceived by the so-called righteous path, laughed at by our fellow disciples, our lifespan is about to end, and our path ahead is cut off! I am not resigned to this! Since Heaven does not grant it to me, I will take it myself! I have exhausted my heart and soul to create the 'Netherworld Profound Art,' using the soul as a guide and evil as power, not seeking to become an immortal, but only to survive in this world!"

"Fortunately, Heaven has eyes and sent down this ancient secret realm! However, deep within the secret realm, there is a place where an ancient great being passed away, and it is heavily restricted, beyond our ability to explore."

"Even with the utmost effort from our sect, we have only managed to explore two or three tenths of the outer perimeter. This secret realm is our sect's only hope. Every sect leader throughout history has sworn a blood oath to the heavens, vowing never to reveal even a trace of this secret realm to anyone; those who violate this oath will be condemned to annihilation, their souls scattered to the winds!"

"If any future disciples possess extraordinary talent, they may be able to break through the core restrictions, obtain the inheritance of a powerful being, and glorify the Yin Sha Sect... At that time, we will surely make those so-called righteous sects pay for their blood debts!"

The signature was "Li Jiuyou".

Meng Xihong looked at the words on the stone wall, but his heart remained unmoved.

Is it pitiful? Perhaps for a moment.

He asked himself honestly, if he hadn't had the Meng family genealogy and the daily divination, he would have been born a mortal with mixed spiritual roots, helplessly watching his wife and children suffer humiliation.

If, at this moment, there were a path before him that would grant him power and allow him to slay his enemies, but at the cost of countless innocent lives, would he choose it?

He had no answer.

But then he thought of Zhou Maocai. The county magistrate of Wufeng who, in order to curry favor with the Lin family, personally sent his wife to another man's bed, turning her into a sex slave. Perhaps, he had the answer.

Meng Xihong never considered himself a good person.

Good people? Bad people? It's just a matter of different perspectives.

All he sought was a clear conscience. To protect his family, to safeguard the community, and to ensure that those who followed him could live with their heads held high.

He wouldn't even blink an eye if it meant wiping out an entire Yin Sha Sect.

Of course, this excludes those evil creatures who are born to enjoy torture and killing; such beings are not worthy of being human.

This is precisely the fundamental reason why he was willing to make the first three parts of the "Brightening Furnace Classic" public.

He is not a savior saint; he provides a path for all people, which is both a selection process and a strategic arrangement.

Those with great perseverance who are willing to join my school will receive my full support and resources to aid their spiritual practice.

As for those who only want to take advantage, giving you a path is already an immense favor. Want to go further? Sure, but you'll have to pay a sufficient price.

Meng Xihong set fire to the stone wall, burning all traces of the inscriptions and erasing the last remaining evidence of the Yin Sha Sect's existence.

He then categorized all the resources in the treasure vault and packed them into dozens of storage bags.

After doing all this, Meng Xihong did not linger and immediately returned to the Tianyan Sect.

With this foundation, the rise of the Tianyan Sect has truly laid the first solid cornerstone!

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　　Many thanks to all the readers who took the time to read this book. I've rushed to finish this chapter today, and I can only manage this one today. Please forgive me!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)