Your Spell Version is Too Low!

’The effect of Devouring Essence has been enhanced. It can even faintly extract a sliver of Innate Divine Rhyme!’

With a flick of his finger, Qi Yun summoned a ball of Demon Fire to incinerate Ling Jiao’er’s withered corpse, a look of surprise on his face.

The Blood Essence transferred from the White Bone Skeleton just now had contained an extremely faint sliver of Innate Divine Soul.

Although the amount was pitifully small, it had genuinely strengthened his Innate Divine Rhyme by a fraction.

’I have a chance to break through to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer now!’

He subconsciously clenched his fists, a red glint flashing in his eyes.

Before entering the Peach Garden, even if his Skull Curse had possessed this ability to extract Divine Rhyme by draining his victims to the bone,

he would have been like a clever housewife trying to cook without rice.

But things were different now. The Three Sects were besieging the Holy Sect, and there were probably more Three Sect Disciples in the Peach Garden than there were Holy Sect Disciples!

’That’s a whole lot of free Cultivation and Innate Divine Rhyme just waiting to be harvested.’

A plan began to form in his mind. Qi Yun flicked his sleeve, turned, and with a wave of his hand, released Shen Fan and Du Yunian from under the iron vat.

With Ling Jiao’er dead, the Hehuan Secret Technique affecting them was also lifted.

However, it seemed the two of them still retained memories of their time under the Hehuan Secret Technique’s control.

Shen Fan seemed fine, merely touching his slightly flushed cheeks subconsciously. The corners of his mouth crept up in an irrepressible smile, and his gaze was distant, as if he were still savoring something.

Du Yunian, on the other hand, looked much worse.

His round, bald head paired with his ashen face made him look exactly like a peeled century egg.

"If you dare say a word about this, I’ll kill you," Du Yunian threatened Shen Fan in a low voice after coming to his senses.

But Shen Fan, patting his own chest, wasn’t about to indulge him. He shot the "century egg" a sidelong glance and chuckled.

"You’re so tough. Why don’t you go ’remind’ our Champion Scholar, too?"

"Shut up!"

Du Yunian snorted coldly and turned his head away to watch Qi Yun walk toward the statue, his mouth twitching.

’As if I fucking would!’

Arriving before the statue, Qi Yun, who had gathered the full 50,000 Spirit Points after draining Ling Jiao’er, eagerly offered them to the statue.

He exchanged them for the divine object that could alter one’s aptitude!

As Qi Yun’s Spirit Points instantly dwindled to a mere few hundred, a ball of light with a heavy aura, emitting a faint crimson glow, landed in his hand.

The light dissipated, revealing a blood-red, cicada-shaped pendant about three inches long.

This Jade Cicada’s eyes were two Profound Crystals, its back was faintly inscribed with the pattern of the innate bagua, and its abdomen held nine apertures.

It was weightless in his hand, feeling as if it might spread its wings and fly away at any moment.

’So this is the divine object that can change my aptitude... the Crimson Cicada Embryo Storage!’

As Qi Yun stared at the Blood Jade Cicada Pendant in his hand, information about the divine object slowly surfaced in his mind.

This was a single-use divine object crafted by the Blood Transformation Divine Sect of the Ancient Demon Path.

The Jade Cicada’s interior was constructed according to the principles of the Golden Mansion’s Can Tong Qi, creating a pattern of Water and Fire in Harmony.

The Profound Crystal eyes acted as "Li Fire" to refine impurities and resentful thoughts, while the Blood Jade body acted as "Kan Water" to nurture pure Primordial Qi.

The absorbed Essence Qi would undergo eighty-one natural refinements within the cicada’s abdomen. Muddy Qi would be expelled through tiny pores in its feet, while Pure Qi would condense into Jade Marrow.

When the entire Jade Cicada turned a warm yellow, its nine apertures would seal themselves, and the bagua pattern on its surface would merge into a chaotic circle. At that point, one could hear the faint sound of tides when holding it.

This signified that the Crimson Cicada Embryo Storage had matured.

One only had to swallow it, and the Supreme Essence stored within would flush through the body’s meridians in the form of a Golden Treasure Rejuvenation Pill, reshaping one’s foundation and thereby improving their aptitude.

’I can finally shed the label of "dull aptitude"!’

Clutching the Crimson Cicada Embryo Storage, Qi Yun’s gaze burned. A hint of killing intent stirred, and a tyrannical, ferocious Evil Qi suddenly spread out like a bitter wind in the dead of winter, causing the temperature within dozens of meters to plummet.

"I almost forgot about you two..."

His gaze shifted to Shen Fan and Du Yunian. Qi Yun seemed lost in thought, the flashing red light in his eyes carrying a cold severity.

"Champion Scholar, we..."

Seeing the coldness creeping into Qi Yun’s expression, Shen Fan and Du Yunian tensed up.

In the Holy Sect, discarding someone after they had outlived their usefulness was as common as drinking water.

There was no doubt about it; the Champion Scholar before them absolutely intended to kill them.

"I plan to explore deeper. Are you coming with me, or will you go your separate ways?" The expected death sentence didn’t come immediately. Qi Yun just asked in a placid tone.

"We wouldn’t dare delay you any further, Champion Scholar. We’ll go on our own," Du Yunian said hurriedly, a forced smile plastered on his face as he clamped a hand over the mouth of a hesitant Shen Fan, who had been about to speak.

"Alright."

Qi Yun chuckled softly and strode toward Shen Fan and Du Yunian.

TAP... TAP... TAP...

Each clear footstep was like a hammer blow to Du Yunian’s heart.

With every step closer, the fat on his face trembled uncontrollably, and more and more cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

Only after Qi Yun brushed past them and walked straight toward the path leading to the lower level did Du Yunian finally exhale a long-held breath.

It was as if a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders. The back of his robes was already soaked through with cold sweat.

"By the way... you two were of some help to me in the Peach Garden this time. Once this is all over, come find me at the Seventh Outer Mansion. I’ll have a reward for you."

Qi Yun had paused, his voice carrying back to Shen Fan and Du Yunian.

"It was a trivial matter, we wouldn’t dare take credit. You are too kind, Champion Scholar." Du Yunian’s heart tightened. He hurriedly bowed in response, trying to refuse.

"It’s settled. Not showing up would be a sign of disrespect." Without giving Du Yunian a chance to refuse, Qi Yun left them with those words and departed the fifteenth level, heading downward.

Once he was certain that the monstrously powerful Champion Scholar had truly left, Du Yunian finally relaxed. The back of his robes was almost completely soaked in sweat.

"All this time, this Champion Scholar’s strength has been far beyond our imagination," Du Yunian said, a lingering fear in his eyes as he lifted a sleeve to wipe the sweat from his face.

"Isn’t that a good thing? We’ve formed a positive connection with him now. If we see him again in the future, we’ll at least be on speaking terms, right?" Shen Fan smiled, pursing his lips as he gazed in the direction Qi Yun had disappeared.

"You want to see him again?"

Du Yunian snorted, plopped down on the ground, and fanned himself with his sleeve.

"That man is two-faced, cunning, and vicious.

On top of that, he’s far too scheming, his killing intent is too strong, and his luck is too good. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

All of these things defy the natural order.

He won’t live a long life.

Getting too involved with him will only bring us harm.

Once this is over, you and I should focus on our cultivation and strive to enter the Inner Mansion as soon as possible. We shouldn’t get involved in anything else."

Shen Fan listened to Du Yunian without a word, his chin tilted slightly upward, a faint, inscrutable smile playing on his lips.

...

「The Twelfth Level of the Peach Garden」

Nearly sixty cultivator disciples from the three Demon Sects—the Hehuan Palace, the Zombie Alliance, and the Yellow Springs Netherworld—were in the middle of a relentless siege, hunting the twenty-odd surviving Holy Sect Disciples they had surrounded.

A storm of strange, evil Magic rained down: poisonous fog, Corpse Qi, ghostly apparitions, bewitching sounds... they were using every vicious attack in their arsenal.

Most of the Three Sect Disciples wore cruel, mocking smiles, like cats toying with mice.

The prolonged siege and the clear disparity in strength had already assured them of victory.

"Satisfying! How truly satisfying!" a Zombie Alliance Cultivator cackled wantonly. His zombie, covered in green fur, had just viciously torn through a Holy Sect Disciple’s Body Protection Technique, heavily wounding him.

"They all say Holy Sect Disciples are shrewd schemers and brilliant strategists.

I never thought I’d see the day when we’d have them trapped here like turtles in a jar, ready to be slaughtered at will.

Today, we’ll collect some interest on the debt from Da Wu Mountain."

The besieged Holy Sect Disciples in the center were all injured, their faces ashen with despair.

Time and again they tried to rally their strength and charge outward, attempting to break through the encirclement, but they were brutally suppressed by the enemy’s absolute superiority in numbers and firepower, only suffering more casualties.

Their defensive perimeter shrank smaller and smaller, until they were practically shoulder to shoulder.

Disciples kept falling with bloodcurdling screams, some melted into pools of pus by Poison Techniques, others torn apart by zombies, and still others having their souls drained by Ghost Dao Techniques.

Just as the Three Sect Cultivators were preparing to annihilate the remaining Holy Sect Disciples in one final push,

a tide of skin-crawling cackles surged from all directions, instantly drowning out all other noise on the battlefield!

Then, to everyone’s astonishment, a sky-blotting wave of white bone skulls swept in.

Each skull burned with a Corpse Poisoning Yin Fire that was ghastly green with a hint of blood red. The cold, evil energy they radiated caused the temperature of the entire twelfth level to plummet.

The moment this tide of white bones appeared, it precisely avoided the Holy Sect Disciples and, with an overwhelming force that crushed everything in its path, slammed into the ranks of the Three Sect Disciples.

In an instant, it swept away seven or eight of them.

Before anyone else could cast a spell to save them, several shriveled corpses were tossed out—their life force was gone, their forms withered, their Blood Essence completely drained.

Expressions of absolute terror and disbelief were frozen on their faces.

The sudden attack plunged the once-chaotic battlefield into a deathly stillness.

The swarm of cackling white bone skulls flying through the air slowly parted, creating a path.

A young man dressed in the robes of the Holy Sect’s Outer Mansion strode slowly out from the path. He held a Jade Cicada in one hand, a smile on his lips. Facing the Three Sect Cultivators, who outnumbered him dozens of times over, his eyes held not a trace of fear, but rather satisfaction.

"I believe I heard someone say... ’satisfying’?"

WHOOSH—

In an instant, all eyes swiveled in unison to the Zombie Alliance Cultivator who had been laughing so wantonly just a moment ago...

...