Covering the Sky: Fairy, I really need to control you properly.

Even a Saint Lord-level figure wouldn't dare say they could escape unscathed when faced with unknown ancient creatures.

Only Zixia remained standing in the same spot, continuing to dissect the stone.

Within the Sea of ​​Bitterness, Xu Jinhuan spoke up to remind them, "Don't panic, this is just a strange phenomenon of the soldier's spirit manifesting, nothing more than a little frost. In a moment, just summon the black gourd and carefully absorb the soldier's spirit into it."

Xu Jinhuan knew better than anyone else that it was not some ancient being, but a strange phenomenon manifested by the spirit of a soldier.

"Clang!"

With the final cut, the stone skin was completely peeled away.

The celestial light gradually dimmed, and the demon-like phantom gradually faded away, eventually disappearing into nothingness.

Only a palm-sized fragment of bronze remained in the original location.

"Just a fragment?"

Zixia stepped forward, reached out and took the bronze fragment into her palm. The moment her fingertips touched the fragment, it shattered and spilled out between her fingers.

"this……"

Everyone was dumbfounded.

But the next moment, the Wang family's protector exclaimed in shock: "That's... a deity born from a weapon!"

Amidst the dust, a faint ray of light floated silently.

The light seemed ethereal, yet it contained astonishing spirituality, like a newborn life, yet lacking a complete sense of self.

"Legend has it that in ancient times, when beings at the level of saints clashed, they would often sink the earth and knock down stars, and their weapons would often be destroyed."

"To this end, a supreme being with unparalleled power created a secret technique to cultivate two divine beings within the weapon during the forging process. Once a sacred weapon is damaged, one can be sacrificed to repair the other!"

Those who remained in the holy lands all changed their expressions.

The value of a soldier's spirit is immeasurable.

These forces, which have been passed down for 100,000 years, all possess a few incomplete sacred artifacts. If they could obtain this weapon spirit, it would be enough to restore an ancient sacred weapon to its former glory.

At that moment, everyone's breathing became heavier.

Those who had originally left the holy land turned back one after another. The cultivators who had been in a panic earlier no longer cared about their lingering fear of the ancient beings and stared intently at that ray of light.

"Little girl, this soldier's spirit is destined for me. With your cultivation level, you cannot keep it."

"Do you think your Ji family can keep it?" Another voice rang out, from a beautiful woman from the Yaochi Holy Land. Although her face was not old, her eyes were full of vicissitudes. "Such a divine object belongs to the virtuous."

"Little girl, how about joining my Jade Pool?"

"Ha, a virtuous person?" A member of the Beiyuan Wang family also stepped forward. "This stone was sold by my Wang family. If we're really talking about it, it should be my Wang family that takes it back."

"Bullshit!" someone shouted on the spot. "Once the stones are sold, it's someone else's opportunity. To forcibly seize them, aren't you afraid of being ridiculed by the world?"

In a short time, tensions rose between the holy sites.

"Ignore them, just refine them!" Xu Jinhuan reminded from within the Sea of ​​Bitterness.

Without further ado, Fairy Zixia flipped her hand and immediately produced the black gourd.

Although the gourd bore the mark of the restrictions set by the peak master of Purple Bamboo Peak, it wasn't difficult for her to activate it with a little effort.

Just as the gourd's mouth opened, the wisp of the soldier's spirit seemed to sense something and actually drifted over on its own.

The spirit of a soldier is spiritual and chooses a master to reside under.

Little did others know that this military spirit was not the work of any saint; its origin was astonishingly profound, clearly the work of some ancient emperor.

The gods nurtured by the emperor's weapon-forging are no ordinary beings.

At that moment, the unclaimed soldier's spirit was instantly swallowed up by the black gourd the moment it touched it.

Immediately afterwards, the inside of the gourd shook violently, and the mark left by the peak master of Purple Bamboo Peak was instantly washed away and completely disappeared.

A wisp of dark light burst forth from the gourd's mouth, as gentle as water and as warm and smooth as jade.

"This...how is this possible?"

"The soldier's spirit willingly surrenders? What kind of gourd is that?"

Some people gasped, some changed color, and some instinctively tried to stop them, but it was too late.

"Buzz!"

Immediately afterwards, a completely new will awakened deep within the black gourd.

That was the spirit of the soldier merging with the gourd, like a seed falling into fertile soil, beginning to take root, sprout, branch out, and unfold its leaves.

It is absorbing the remaining Dao essence of the gourd, devouring the chaotic energy and the Taiyin divine water, and nurturing a brand new deity.

"Quickly, refine it!" Xu Jinhuan's voice rang out in the Sea of ​​Bitterness.

"While the deity is newly born and still ignorant, immediately establish a connection with it with all your heart and soul. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; if you miss it, there will be no next time. Make it recognize you as its master, quick!"

Its original name was the Immortal-Slaying Gourd!

Zixia dared not delay and immediately sat down cross-legged, closing her eyes.

To the outside world, all they saw was Fairy Zixia sitting gracefully in the void, dressed in white like snow, with her black hair flowing like a waterfall, holding a black gourd in her hand, her aura fluctuating.

On the surface of the gourd, cracks intertwine and eventually transform into patterns, mysterious and ancient, like some long-lost imperial script, or like the imprint of the Great Dao.

Those patterns shimmered with a dark light, and with each shimmer, the heavens and earth trembled.

"This...this is..."

"boom!"

A surge of energy rose into the sky.

That energy was terrifying, so terrifying that it defies description.

It was just a wisp, a mere wisp, yet it carried the will of the entire heavens, bursting forth from the black gourd like a sword drawn from its sheath, a dragon ascending to the sky, or the rising sun, piercing straight into the clouds with unstoppable force.

The Heavenly Secret Umbrella shattered instantly.

The Wang family's most prized possession, a protective treasure powerful enough to withstand a full-force attack from a Saint Lord-level expert, was shattered into countless fragments.

Next, there is the entire stone archway.

"Boom!"

Wherever it passed, pavilions and towers collapsed, bricks and stones flew everywhere, and dust filled the air. Within a radius of a hundred feet, all buildings were reduced to ruins.

Everyone—elders, protectors, and independent cultivators from all the major powers, regardless of their cultivation level, social status, or background—knelt down with a thud.

That oppressive aura wasn't deliberately targeted at them; it was merely a natural aftershock.

That is the Emperor's might.

Even a tiny wisp of imperial might is enough to crush eternity, awe the heavens, and reign supreme over all things, all living beings, and the world itself.

At this very moment, in the sacred land of Yaochi, thousands of miles away in the Northern Region, the Western Emperor Tower, which had been silent for countless years, was trembling, emitting a hazy radiance, responding to that distant imperial might.

In the Jade Pool, the current Queen Mother of the West seemed to sense something and raised her head, her gaze passing over the vast mountains and looking towards the direction from which the imperial might came, at the end of the sky where the Holy City was located.

Zixia Fairy opened her eyes, and the shock in her beautiful eyes lingered for a long time.

Inside the gourd slumbers a nascent will, pure as an infant, innocent as a newborn, and trusting of her.

She finally believed it, and believed everything that the Tree of All Heavens in the Sea of ​​Bitterness had said.

This black gourd, and the soldier's spirit carved from the strange stone—such skill is beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators.

That Taoist tree did not deceive her.