Divine Transcendence

Boom!

A violent impact spread out, creating huge cracks on the ground as fierce winds howled, shaking the entire dungeon.

In terms of strength, the white ape ultimately had the upper hand. With a loud "bang," the wooden vine’s giant palm exploded into a hole about three meters in diameter, centered around the white ape’s fist.

The white ape darted through the shattered wooden palm and in a flash, was upon the golden ugly tiger, seizing its neck and biting down hard on its throat with a gaping maw.

With a "crack," the golden ugly tiger’s neck bone was brutally snapped, its body shuddered, and its life force completely dissipated.

Such a pity for the golden ugly tiger, a formidable being among spiritual beasts, to be humiliated and bitten to death by the likes of Hua Zhi and the white ape, two anomalies.

Hua Zhi, infuriated by the white ape’s intervention, immediately burst from the ground, lunging at the white ape as its vines shot out like crossbow bolts.

The white ape, not one to show weakness, charged towards Hua Zhi. Just as the battle between Hua Zhi and the white ape was about to erupt, a yellow light flashed between them, and Yuan Ming’s figure appeared out of nowhere, arms extended to both sides.

"Stop!"

Hua Zhi’s vision blurred, and suddenly it found itself above an endless sea, waves rolling and sea breeze blowing.

"The master’s illusion?" Hua Zhi was taken aback.

A force pushed it back involuntarily, and as its vision returned to normal, it found itself back in the dungeon, retreating several meters.

Hua Zhi’s grip on the golden ugly tiger’s giant palm loosened, and the white ape held the tiger’s corpse in its arms, greedily feasting.

"Master, you’re playing favorites, I want some too!" Hua Zhi cried out in grievance.

"The black aura carried by that ugly tiger seems to benefit the white ape greatly. Let it have the corpse. You’ve already absorbed a lot of black aura in the Snake King Valley’s underground palace. I’ll make it up to you later, okay?" Yuan Ming said.

The white ape, now seemingly mad, clutched the golden ugly tiger’s corpse, refusing to let go, prompting Yuan Ming to make this decision.

"Hmph, I’ll let it slide this time for the master’s sake," Hua Zhi said with a disdainful glance at the white ape, reluctantly agreeing.

"Why do both you and the white ape fancy this black aura so much?" Yuan Ming asked curiously.

"I don’t know, I just really want to absorb it when I see it," Hua Zhi replied.

Yuan Ming fell silent, then shook his head, choosing not to dwell on it any longer, and looked at his right hand. He was holding someone—it was Gu Qiulong, who had just had his leg bitten off and was knocked unconscious by the golden ugly tiger. Yuan Ming had grabbed him while using the illusion to stop Hua Zhi and the white ape from fighting.

Yuan Ming plunged a needle into Gu Qiulong’s abdomen, shattering his dantian and crippling his magic power.

Gu Qiulong’s face twisted in pain, but still overwhelmed by the Enchanting Incense, he did not wake up. Yuan Ming placed his hand on Gu Qiulong’s head and used a soul-searching technique, his expression quickly turning grave.

Gu Qiulong was no ordinary figure; he was a direct descendant of the Precious Spirit Sect’s Gu family, far more important than a collateral member like Gu Qiuming.

Gu Qiulong’s lineage boasted a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, who held sway in the entire Precious Spirit Sect. This Nascent Soul stage being was none other than Gu Qiulong’s grandfather, who doted on Gu Qiulong for his decent talent and sweet words.

As for the reason Gu Qiulong and his companion came here, Yuan Ming found out through soul-searching. After being scolded by his sixth uncle, Gu Qiulong harbored thoughts of revenge against Gu Qiuming.

When he discovered that the Winged Bird Egg Gu Qiuming was incubating was a mutation, greed took hold of him. He first attempted to buy it from Gu Qiuming, who flatly refused, so he took advantage of Gu Qiuming’s unpreparedness to subdue him and brought both him and the egg to Shuiyun Temple.

Shuiyun Temple, a branch of the Precious Spirit Sect, had been in decline for generations and was barely maintaining itself. The temple master, only a Qi refining cultivator, lent the temple’s array to Gu Qiulong out of respect for his status.

To keep things secret, Gu Qiulong also sent away everyone in the temple. Yuan Ming’s eyes narrowed; this Gu Qiulong was greedy and shameless, daring to covet his Winged Bird Egg. He deserved death, but killing him outright could cause trouble, given his Nascent Soul stage ancestor.

However, letting him go could also lead to significant trouble. Yuan Ming had already dealt with the three bald men Gu Qiulong had sent to watch him. What to do with Gu Qiulong?

***

After pondering for a moment, Yuan Ming came up with a plan.

He first thoroughly cleaned up the traces of battle in the dungeon, then took out Xu Changqing’s corpse. Using several corpse-controlling talismans, he revived fresh blood and vitality in Xu Changqing’s body, making his hair and skin appear almost normal, as if he were merely a person deep in slumber.

"These corpse-controlling talismans are quite effective," Yuan Ming thought with satisfaction, then took out Xu Changqing’s golden snake sword and Gu Qiulong’s yellow short halberd and green feather fan.

He activated all three magical instruments at once, causing them to clash violently within the dungeon, quickly leaving slash marks on the ground and walls.

The golden snake sword shot out, piercing through Gu Qiulong’s heart. With his heart impaled, Gu Qiulong’s body shuddered violently and soon was lifeless.

The yellow short halberd also came crashing down, cleaving Xu Changqing’s head into several pieces, creating the illusion that the two had perished together.

This arrangement wasn’t particularly clever, but it might confuse any investigators. Given Xu Changqing’s status, his death alongside Gu Qiulong might cause the Precious Spirit Sect to hesitate in their pursuit of the murderer.

As for Gu Qiulong’s two magical instruments and the storage bag at his waist, Yuan Ming didn’t leave them behind, taking them for himself, regardless of what the Precious Spirit Sect might speculate.

After a fierce battle in the dungeon, he had to leave quickly before the people of Shuiyun Temple noticed.

Yuan Ming put Hua Zhi and the still-feasting white ape into the spiritual beast bag and approached the stone platform. The array on the platform had already stopped, and the black fledgling was restrained by Gu Qiulong’s white net magical instrument, lying on the platform.

The entire dungeon was filled with toxic incense. The young winged bird, newly hatched, couldn’t resist like the golden ugly tiger and was still unconscious.

Yuan Ming quickly checked with his spiritual consciousness and was relieved to find that the bird was only unconscious and otherwise unharmed.

He had risked being pursued by a Nascent Soul stage powerhouse and had done all this for the young winged bird. If it had been harmed, it would have been all for naught.

Yuan Ming took out a new spiritual beast bag and carefully placed the fledgling inside, then headed to the front of the dungeon.

Gu Qiuming had not been injured in the recent struggle. Yuan Ming scanned with his spiritual consciousness and quickly raised an eyebrow, shooting out a blue light that formed into the shape of a hand, tearing off a yellow rune talisman from Gu Qiuming’s back.

Gu Qiuming’s magic power began to recover.

Yuan Ming picked up Gu Qiuming and left Shuiyun Temple far behind, setting him down in a secluded place. Once awake, Gu Qiuming could easily break free from his chains.

Yuan Ming left a note: "Gu Qiulong is dead, leave Leizhou quickly." He left five hundred spirit stones in Gu Qiuming’s storage bag. As for what Gu Qiuming would choose to do, it was up to him.

Then, summoning a white jade flying shuttle, Yuan Ming flew towards Xiaohu City, quietly entering the city.

***

Carefully avoiding everyone, Yuan Ming returned to his residence at number 86, activated all the arrays, and placed a silver token on the ground.

Rich silver light emerged from the token, quickly spreading throughout the room, soon engulfing it completely.

Yuan Ming finally relaxed a bit, reclining on the bed and meticulously reviewing the day’s events from beginning to end.

From meeting Gu Qiuming to finding the Zhenling Pavilion, then to his sect, meeting his sixth uncle, and killing Gu Qiulong, there was nothing that could reveal his true identity.

He usually kept a low profile, and selling incense was mostly handled by Hu Tu and Muyang. There were few in Xiaohu City who knew him, and even if Gu Qiuming went back and confessed everything, he wouldn’t know Yuan Ming’s residence. It wouldn’t be easy for the Precious Spirit Sect to find him.

Considering Gu Qiulong’s attitude towards Gu Qiuming, and the extra spirit stones in the storage bag, Gu Qiuming would likely be long gone by now.

As for the temple master of Shuiyun Temple, discovering Gu Qiulong’s death in his temple, he probably had no choice but to flee. After much deliberation, Yuan Ming decided not to leave Xiaohu City but to wait and see how things unfolded.

He took out Gu Qiulong’s storage bag and delved into it with his spiritual consciousness, his eyes lighting up.

Gu Qiulong, indeed a Foundation Establishment disciple of the Precious Spirit Sect and favored by a Nascent Soul stage grandfather, had quite the wealth, with over two thousand spirit stones alone.

Other items included a green jade slip, a purple invitation, a two-foot-tall jade chest, several magical instruments, and over ten bottles of Four Spirits Elixir and other elixirs.

Yuan Ming first picked up the green jade slip, immersed his spiritual consciousness in it, and his eyes revealed a hint of surprise.

The green jade slip contained the Precious Spirit Sect’s secret beast-controlling technique called "True Beast Mirror," similar to the beast-controlling arts of the Southern Border, involving the implantation of beast-controlling runes within the bodies of demonic beasts.

However, the True Beast Mirror had many ingenious ideas for subduing demonic beasts, far superior to the beast-controlling arts taught by the Three Cave Masters, though it didn’t mention much about beast-controlling itself.

Yuan Ming quickly saw that most of the jade slip’s content was about introducing the demonic beasts that could be turned into spiritual pets in the cultivation world, detailing their magical abilities, habits, and so on, greatly broadening his horizons.

He searched carefully but, unfortunately, didn’t find the origin of Hua Zhi. He did, however, come across the record of Gu Qiulong’s golden ugly tiger.

The beast was called "Scale-Tooth Tiger," a metal-attribute spiritual beast capable of unleashing various metal-attribute attacks and fond of consuming metallic spiritual materials.

Yuan Ming quickly finished reading about the beast, frowning slightly. The jade slip made no mention of the black aura emitted by the Scale-Tooth Tiger. Could it be that the tiger was a mutated spiritual beast?

Yuan Ming didn’t dwell on this and hastily skimmed the rest of the content, putting down the jade slip to study in detail later.

He picked up the purple invitation, which read "Tianxiang Auction" in large characters, with the date marked as two and a half years later.

Upon seeing this, Yuan Ming’s thoughts stirred.

Having lived in Xiaohu City for some time, he was quite familiar with the local situation and had heard of the renowned Tianxiang Auction. It was a triennial auction event agreed upon by the major cultivation forces of Leizhou, where any cultivator with the means would seek their desired items.

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