Mortal: I, Zhang Tie, started by joining forces with Han Li to kill a strategist.

"boom!!!"

A hole exploded in the ground beneath his feet, sending debris flying everywhere. However, Zhang Tie had anticipated this, as the Azure Gang Tower had already been prepared for the Rat King.

As soon as the Iron-Toothed Rat King appeared, the tower shadow slammed down, and the power of confinement descended suddenly, enveloping the figure that had broken through the ground.

As the power of confinement raged, the Iron-Toothed Rat King's body suddenly froze, and its movements became sluggish.

"This guy can still move!" Zhang Tie's expression hardened, and he increased his spiritual power.

The Iron-Toothed Rat King could no longer move. It let out a sharp cry and struggled desperately to break free from the Qinggang Tower's restraints.

However, it had already been hit by a talisman comparable to a mid-Foundation Establishment stage attack, and its injuries were severe. Its strength was far less than at its peak, so there was no need to use the Six Harmonies Sealing Formation. The Azure Gang Tower could suppress it!

Zhang Tie gave him no chance. The tower spun rapidly, expanding to more than ten feet tall, and slammed down hard on the rat's head!

"clang!"

The tower smashed down on the rat's head. The Iron-Toothed Rat King, which already had old injuries, stiffened abruptly and let out a shrill scream. The shadow of the rat quickly approached from the bamboo forest.

However, Zhang Tie didn't take these level one to Iron-Toothed Rats seriously. The Locking Ring flew out, and a series of screams echoed through the bamboo forest.

The dozen or so surviving first-level iron-toothed rats all died.

The Azure Gang Pagoda, combined with the Golden Locking Ring, unleashed a full-force attack on the Iron-Toothed Rat King's wound!

Black beast blood gushed out, splattering all over the ground with a sizzling sound!

One strike, two strikes, three strikes...

Until the sixth attack landed on the Rat King's head, the Iron-Toothed Rat King could no longer struggle and grew weaker and weaker until it finally stopped moving completely.

A book of cause and effect flashed in my mind.

[Slaying the Iron-Toothed Rat King (Level 2 Peak), Karma Value +200]

Upon hearing the causality indicator, Zhang Tie then retrieved the Azure Gang Pagoda and the Golden Lock Ring.

Ignoring the blood dripping from his body, Zhang Tie stepped forward and carefully examined the corpse of the Iron-Toothed Rat King.

Under the Spirit-Seeking Technique, Zhang Tie sensed a chilling aura emanating from the Iron-Toothed Rat King's corpse and the splattered blood!

It is the aura of the Earthly Fiends!

It's not that this guy absorbed the Earthly Fiend Qi, but rather that he lived in an environment rich in Earthly Fiend Qi for a long time, and his body was nourished by it, which is why his physique is so strong.

This guy's blood and even his hair contained trace amounts of earthly evil energy, which shows how strong the earthly evil energy was in that place.

Zhang Tie was immediately overjoyed.

"It seems the source of the earth's evil energy is right below here!" Zhang Tie was certain of this.

He stored the Iron-Toothed Rat King's strength in his storage bag. This guy was at least at the peak of the second level, and his whole body was a treasure, which could be sold for a lot of spirit stones.

Zhang Tie then went to the hole where the Iron-Toothed Rat King had emerged and leaped into the hole.

The cave passages were winding and interconnected. If it weren't for the blood of the Iron-Toothed Rat King scattered on the ground, Zhang Tie would have had to put in a lot of effort to search.

Soon Zhang Tie arrived at an underground space with a cave ceiling several meters high, and even several stalactites hanging upside down.

However, what surprised Zhang Tie the most was that there was actually a stone doorway in this underground space!

There are signs of human intervention!

Zhang Tie was startled. He activated the Azure Wood True Shield, and azure light enveloped his entire body. He held the Azure Gang Pagoda in his left hand and the Locking Golden Ring in his right, and opened his divine sense to the fullest.

Fortunately, nothing unusual was found. Skilled and daring, Zhang Tie walked down the stone passage. The passage became narrower and narrower, but Zhang Tie could feel the sinister aura growing stronger.

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the cave passage suddenly opened up, revealing a stone chamber that was clearly dug by man.

The stone chamber was not large, about two zhang square, but there was a stone table in the center of the chamber, and on the stone table was a black gourd.

Zhang Tie did not step forward; instead, he paused and took a slight step back.

The gourd was entirely black, with a faint spiritual light flowing around it, and judging from its aura, it was a magical artifact no less powerful than the Azure Gang Pagoda.

However, the yin energy above was almost solidified; it was not the natural kind of yin energy, but rather yin energy carrying the aura of a cultivator's yin spirit!

There is a cultivator's soul inside this gourd!

Seemingly sensing the presence of a stranger, the black gourd suddenly emitted a wisp of black mist, which swirled above the gourd, as if trying to condense into a figure.

Zhang Tieru was on high alert!

But whether it was due to the passage of time or the weakening of the soul, the figure did not materialize successfully, but the black mist did not dissipate either, and it remained above the gourd.

Zhang Tie hesitated for a moment, then extended his divine sense, and his expression froze.

That was indeed a cultivator's soul, but it could only be considered a remnant soul, a nearly extinguished remnant soul, its intelligence almost completely obliterated, like a flickering lamp that could be extinguished at any moment.

With the remnant soul so incomplete, having lost all its intelligence, it had no ability to possess another body. Only then did Zhang Tie feel relieved and picked up the gourd.

The black gourd felt heavy and icy cold to the touch. When the gourd was opened, a rich aura of earthly evil energy surged out of its mouth. Zhang Tie's expression changed, and he quickly stuffed it back in. Then, a look of wild joy appeared on his face.

Earthly Fiend Qi!!!

This gourd contained the very earthly evil energy he had been searching for, and it was half full, enough for him to condense a golden embryo!

Finding the Earthly Fiend Qi filled Zhang Tie with immense joy!

However, upon seeing the black mist on the black gourd, he immediately frowned.

This remnant soul must be the owner of this black gourd. It is unknown what happened to it, but its soul is on the verge of disintegration.

After careful observation, Zhang Tie felt confident and immediately activated the Soul Searching Technique!

"I'm sorry! But you'll be fading away soon too!"

The black mist trembled violently, and fragments of memory were captured by Zhang Tie's divine sense, but they were extremely chaotic and broken.

But Zhang Tie still managed to see some useful snippets!

A middle-aged cultivator, wearing the robes of the Spirit Beast Mountain, was the figure. However, to Zhang Tie's surprise, this person was actually a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. It seemed that he had been besieged by other cultivators and had taken refuge in the Cangqiu Mountain Range after being seriously injured. However, the cultivators who besieged him seemed to be from the Seven Sects as well!

The middle-aged cultivator was severely injured and felt he was about to die, so he sealed his soul in a black gourd and asked a spirit beast to guard it!

The last thing I remember is the place where he fell—a deep ravine!

Zhang Tie's pupils suddenly contracted. Deep ravine, lake bottom, spirit beast!

Zhang Tie's heart skipped a beat. It turned out that the two Nether Water Toads and the Iron-Toothed Rat King were all the spirit beasts of this middle-aged cultivator. However, after their deaths, the spiritual contracts dissipated, and the spirit beasts regained their freedom.

The fragments of memory dissipated, and the lingering soul vanished completely above the gourd, turning into nothingness!

Zhang Tie remained silent for a long time. Apart from the black gourd, there was nothing else in the stone chamber. The person had truly perished at the bottom of the lake in the deep ravine.

"Since he perished there, his storage pouch and such should still be there!"

The Netherworld Toad in the deep ravine has been killed by the cultivators of Spirit Beast Mountain, and the ravine is now empty.

But Zhang Tie didn't rush off. Instead, he examined the black gourd and quickly refined it by consuming causal points.

"Another exquisite and top-grade magical artifact, but this black gourd has a rather limited function; it can only be used to hold some earthly evil energy. Let's just use it as a container!"

Zhang Tie shook the black gourd in his hand.

In my memory, the Earthly Fiend Land inside this gourd should be full, but over the decades, maintaining that remnant soul has consumed a lot of resources. In the end, the remnant soul could not withstand the erosion of time and was annihilated first!