The blade storm immediately enveloped him. Seven curved blades infused with death essence sliced through the air around him. Instead of evading, Zhi Xuan allowed the blades to graze his tattered robe. He knew that with his reinforced physical foundation, a fatal strike from an ordinary Consciousness Transformation cultivator would not be able to pierce his skin, let alone sever his meridians.

  CRASH! DUG!

  Zhi Xuan punched downward with a right fist shrouded in a somber black aura from the Heavenly-Blood Body Law, targeting the center of the Seven-Star Killing Formation. The blow struck the head of one of the transparent robed figures at the lowest position of the formation. The figure did not even have time to deploy their essence defense. Their head, along with their spiritual foundation, shattered into blood dust in an instant, adding to the dark red mist in the air.

  BLARR!

  With the destruction of one vital point, the Seven-Star Killing Formation immediately faltered. The six remaining assassins stumbled back, pure shock and defeat creeping into their cold killing intent. They had exerted the full strength of the formation, and their enemy had not even retreated a single step.

  Zhi Xuan landed softly, as if he possessed no weight. He gave them no second chance. He moved, not toward the nearest assassin, but toward the fastest one. He knew that the swiftest killer was the most dangerous.

  ZHING!

  The curved blade shot toward Zhi Xuan's chest. This time, the blade pierced his tattered robe, touching his skin. The thin blade felt cold, but it was unable to penetrate his skin, which was now as hard as ancient bronze forged in blood. The robed figure was shocked. Their Seven-Star Killing tactics were designed to slice, not to pierce. They had never faced an opponent who relied on pure physique for defense. That moment was an opening for Zhi Xuan.

  With a cold sneer, Zhi Xuan allowed the blade to remain faintly embedded in his skin, a perfect anchor. He swung his right leg in a cruel spinning kick, hitting the assassin's waist.

  CRACK! DUM!

  The sound of shattering ribs echoed clearly. The robed figure was sent flying, and their bloodless body slammed into the rock formation wall in the distance with a loud thud, moving no more.

  "Merely Consciousness Transformation, not yet worthy to fight in the same realm as me," Zhi Xuan snorted harshly, pulling out the blade that had torn his robe. He threw it toward the robed figure lying dead on the rock, and it impaled the body.

  Zhi Xuan spun, his sharp eyes staring at the five transparent robed figures who now moved in a panicked defensive pattern. The twenty-eight Slaughter Seals now engraved beneath his skin pulsed with an intoxicating heat—two new Seals from the last two assassins he had annihilated. Each Seal added a new layer of hardness, and each absorption strengthened his cold confidence.

  With five assassins remaining, Zhi Xuan now moved in a highly efficient dance of extermination. They had learned; the Killing Formation was no longer effective. They had to return to individual tactics, relying on their speed and death blades.

  ZHING! ZHANG!

  Two assassins darted from the flanks, their curved blades aiming to slice the neck and arm simultaneously. The other three moved forward as a defense, preparing their spiritual essence. They hoped the attack would at least slow down their enemy.

  But Zhi Xuan had surpassed the realm of their predictions. Twenty-eight Slaughter Seals gave him a speed exceeding the limits of Consciousness Transformation. He did not evade; he ducked, relying on his newly found physical flexibility. Both blades merely sliced the air.

  WHUSHH!

  As he rose, both his hands moved like two eagle claws forged from steel. His hands gripped the necks of the two assassins. The grip was not meant to break the neck, but to lock and drain. Dark runes immediately spread from Zhi Xuan's hands, piercing the transparent robes and touching their spiritual foundations. It was ruthless; they died in silent panic, their life essence pulled out by force, channeled into Zhi Xuan's meridian system.

  SSSHHH! SSSHHH!

  In a fraction of a second, the robes once again slumped empty. Two new Slaughter Seals were engraved. Thirty Slaughter Seals. On Zhi Xuan's forehead, a pattern shaped like steep pillars began to emerge, forming a Slaughter Seal that glowed faintly and seemed to pulse in time with his breath.

  Zhi Xuan arrogantly tossed the empty robes to the ground. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, opening them again with a sharp grin as he saw the three robed figures building the final killing formation and a blood sacrifice to kill him.

  "Oh, wishing to detonate yourselves?" Zhi Xuan said with a sharp smirk. He could see the intent around him soaring with the conclusion of the battle. A Consciousness Transformation self-detonation could at least wound him severely, let alone three of them. "You think you have the time to detonate!"

  Zhi Xuan coldly waved his hand, and the Divine Cauldron immediately whirred, expanding to a size that could house his body. He overturned the cauldron and immediately swallowed himself inside. With a subtle thud, the Divine Cauldron completely covered Zhi Xuan in an inverted position on the ground, protecting him for the coming explosion.

  The three remaining Eternal Killing Temple assassins, who had witnessed their comrades annihilated and drained, paid no heed to their enemy's actions. In the Blood Sacrifice Formation, they had reached the point of no return. Their spiritual essence surged wildly, distorting the Heavenly Laws around them and creating a vortex of chaos. The bodies behind their transparent robes began to swell, and death runes radiated outward, no longer to kill the enemy, but to detonate themselves—a final attempt to destroy an unreachable foe.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  Three Consciousness Transformation explosions erupted in succession. The resulting shockwave was far stronger than the combined physical attacks of the Giant Earth Scorpion. A storm of corrupt spiritual essence and death energy swept across the plain, destroying the surrounding rock formations and sending clouds of grey dust into the sky. It was a declaration of brutal and total defeat. In the center of that storm of destruction, the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron, overturned on the ground, vibrated violently.

  The Four Seasons resonance on its surface exploded outward, absorbing and purifying the shockwaves, but even the ancient artifact could not withstand the force of three Consciousness Transformation suicide explosions without cost. The weight of the blast pressed the Cauldron deeper into the grey earth. After the storm subsided, only silence remained. The Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron slowly stopped vibrating.

  WHUSHH!

  Zhi Xuan lifted the Cauldron with ease, as if its weight were merely cotton. He emerged from beneath the Cauldron, his body enveloped in an undisturbed, somber black aura. His Tattered Hood was slightly tilted, and on his tattered grey robe, there were several small holes caused by the leaking explosion energy.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  On Zhi Xuan's cheek, blood flowed thinly—it was damage from internal pressure caused by the shockwave, not external damage. He took a long breath, releasing the Divine Cauldron and letting it return to its normal size in his palm. The Cauldron was slightly warm, a sign that it had performed its task well.

  He looked around and waved his hand upon seeing a scroll tucked away in the area where the robed figures had all died, breaking the seal protecting the scroll and opening it in the air. Immediately, Zhi Xuan's face hardened upon seeing information about Young Master Gu and the reason he was being hunted. This was none other than the work of Xu Sheng.

  "That dog's tail, Xu Sheng truly paid a high price for this," Zhi Xuan growled, his teeth clenching as he guessed who had done this. Only Xu Sheng could do this with his reputation and seniority in the Thousand Skies Sect. "I will collect this debt when I return."

  Zhi Xuan's face hidden behind the hood was now set in a hard line. He no longer showed cold arrogance, but a pure and piercing killing intent, a manifestation of the Devil Laws now seeping into his bones. The information in the scroll was not just a name, but an inevitable declaration of war.

  "He did not just want me to die in the desert," Zhi Xuan murmured, his voice hoarse and dangerous. "He wanted me torn to pieces, claimed by the Eternal Killing Temple so his tracks would be clean. Xu Sheng, your realm is indeed high, but your intellect is as rotten as mud."

  Zhi Xuan clenched his jaw. He could have ignored this, focusing on his primary mission, but someone who even paid a high price for his life, especially a fellow senior in the sect, and more importantly, the direct threat to his existence from the Eternal Killing Temple, could not be overlooked. This was karma that had to be paid in blood.

  Zhi Xuan funneled his divine sense, scanning the scroll that now crumbled into ash in the air. He had absorbed every rune and every word. The scroll's content was an execution order faintly signed by a high entity in the Eternal Killing Temple, and most strikingly, a horrifyingly large sum paid anonymously—an amount only an internal faction of the Thousand Skies Sect could afford.

  "Even if the Great Supreme Elder protects you," Zhi Xuan hissed, glancing back toward the direction of the Thousand Skies Sect, which was very far from where he stood now. "I will still kill you when I return from this mission."

  Zhi Xuan stepped forward and reclaimed his focus, passing the remains of the rock formation ruins that now stood as silent witnesses to the brutality of the Seven-Star Killing Formation. The grey earth was now filled with traces of death blades and thin dark red stains, but the remnants of the corrupt life essence had been fully absorbed.

  He did not waste a single second harvesting the remnants around the explosion crater. The thirty Slaughter Seals now engraved beneath his skin pulsed with a calm and powerful rhythm, as if they had reached a solid foundation, resting momentarily before demanding a greater spill of blood. He stepped forward toward the looming Great Emperor's Tomb; the ruined black pyramid radiated a deep aura of oppression.

  "The Great Emperor's Tomb," Zhi Xuan murmured, feeling just how oppressive the tomb was. There were no Five Element cultivators here; all their realms were suppressed to Consciousness Transformation and below. Truly an oppressive Law, much like what he had once felt in the Primordial Ancient City. "The tomb of the Great Emperors, where danger and heritage coexist."

  Zhi Xuan stopped for a moment, looking up to stare at the pyramid shape that was so tall it seemed to support the sky and the earth. It carried the burden of tens of thousands of years that still oppressed the present, giving the understanding that even a figure from ancient times who dazzled an entire era must ultimately fall into silence and be buried in the remnants of their will.

  The ancient runes covering the black pyramid pulsed slowly, radiating a decayed Supreme Law. This Law no longer aimed to protect, but to oppress every essence of life that dared to approach. Zhi Xuan felt his own spiritual essence suppressed, as if an invisible hand were choking his meridians. He waved his hand and pressed down a transparent Four-Directional Blood Shield.

  He slowly stepped forward; the Four-Directional Blood Shield was enough to let him breathe comfortably without the tension of such blatant and unbridgeable oppression. He funneled his divine sense and looked at the spiritual map given by Zhu Qinglan, seeing the small dot where the entrance to the Divine Stone Mine lay—a place safe enough not to touch the Great Emperor's Tomb directly.

  Zhi Xuan stepped with a disguised speed. Every step felt like a challenge to the invisible oppressive Laws. The Four-Directional Blood Shield, formed from his pure spiritual essence, pulsed slowly, resisting the pressure that tried to tear it apart. He moved to the side of the Tomb, where his spiritual map showed the hidden entry point.

  There, behind two twisted rock pillars, lay a faint illusion formation. The formation did not radiate strong fluctuations, precisely because of the oppressive Supreme Law of the Great Emperor's Tomb. Anyone trying to use complex detection techniques would attract the attention of the Tomb's own oppression.

  Zhi Xuan, relying on the spiritual map and his new senses supported by Xiao Die, did not use complex detection. He only moved forward with cold conviction. As he approached the illusion formation, he saw the subtle traces left by Tu Yan's caravan—remnants of wind-blown dust and small cracks in the compressed earth.

  With a cold touch from his fingertips, Zhi Xuan pressed into the illusion formation. The formation should have rejected him or triggered an alarm, but Zhi Xuan used highly pure spiritual essence, copying the weak fluctuations left by Tu Yan.

  The formation vibrated for a moment, as if recognizing the weak password, and then, with a subtle whir that was almost inaudible, it opened a gap large enough for one person to pass. Zhi Xuan wasted no time. He stepped into the gap. The light around him dimmed drastically, replaced by a damp and cold darkness.

  The illusion formation closed behind him with absolute silence. He was now in a narrow passage sloping downward, a corridor carved into the rock of the Great Emperor's Tomb. The air here was very cold, carrying the smell of moss, metal, and dense spiritual essence—the essence of the divine stone.

  "The Divine Stone Mine," Zhi Xuan murmured. On his wrist, the Thousand Feather Silk Bracelet pulsed slowly, as if the Little Moth enjoyed the essence-rich atmosphere. Zhi Xuan funneled essence into his hand, calling forth a dim spiritual light to guide him.

  The passage was long and winding. On the corridor walls, Zhi Xuan could see ancient rune carvings now almost entirely covered by moss and dripping water. These runes were not Supreme Law runes, but runes used by miners and Tomb guards in the past. After walking quite a distance, the passage widened, revealing a large cavern dominated by the sound of clinking metal and shouting. This was the Divine Stone Mine.

  The sight before him was one of suffering and greed. The cavern was lit by flickering torches, and inside, the dozens of remaining spiritual slaves, dragged by Tu Yan's caravan, were now tied to chains that were much thicker and stronger. They were forced to break the rock veins embedded in the cavern walls.

  Every blow of their hammers produced sparks of dense spiritual essence—shards of divine stone. Watching over them were guards far stronger than Tu Yan's. They wore light armor, their faces cold, and their eyes radiated an unrefined Consciousness Transformation aura. They were the Mine guards, cultivators sent to oversee the slaves and ensure the flow of divine stone did not stop.

  In the corner of the cavern, Zhi Xuan saw Tu Yan and his remaining guards negotiating with an arrogant-looking mine guard. Tu Yan handed over the remaining slaves, received some spiritual stones, and immediately turned back, an expression of relief on his face for having disposed of the problematic commodity.

  Zhi Xuan hid behind the shadow of a rock, watching. He was not interested in Tu Yan, who was now returning to the desert. He was interested in the heritage behind this mine. Zhu Qinglan's spiritual map showed that the Extreme Yin-Yang collision point, where the Seven Lotus Yin Fruit grew, was behind this mine cavern. The fruit had to grow in a hidden place, beyond the reach of mortal greed and under the cruel Laws of the Great Emperor's Tomb.

  Zhi Xuan let Tu Yan and his guards pass; they stepped back into the passage where he had entered. After their departure, Zhi Xuan emerged from the shadows. He no longer needed to hide his presence from the weaker guards. He only needed to find the path leading deeper.

  The calm and clear hum immediately filled Zhi Xuan's Sea of Consciousness. "Master, the divine stone essence in this place is too wild. However, on the back wall, behind the thickest rock vein, there is a strange warmth. It is an inverted Natural resonance. A gap, not man-made, but a gap created by the pressure of the Yin-Yang energy behind the Tomb."

  Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes, staring in the direction Xiao Die pointed: the deepest part of the cavern, where the divine stone vein shone the brightest. There, surrounded by hammers and chains, stood two arrogant Consciousness Transformation cultivators. They were the final wall before the warmth Xiao Die described.

  "A Natural gap," Zhi Xuan hissed, a thin smile returning. It was perfect. There was no formation to be broken, only a wall to be brought down. "Very well, Little Moth. You have shown the way. Now, let me clear the trash before me."

  Zhi Xuan would not put on a grand show of violence. He could not use his Heavenly-Blood Body Law openly in the spiritual essence-dense Divine Stone Mine; doing so would disrupt the energy flow and attract higher guards. He would use a subtler, crueler way, the way he had often used in the past.