Spirit Realm Chapter 507-511

Chapter 507: Sudden Change!

“The six Pure Soul Springs I refined are no longer useful to me.”

The Thunder Crystal Beast let out a long breath.

The electric flames and arcing lightning that shrouded the Pure Soul Springs transformed into rainbow light and were swallowed by the thunder spirit.

The power protecting the six Pure Soul Springs disappeared, suddenly leaving them exposed.

A pristine, refreshing soul aura radiated from the thunder lagoon.

Song Tingyu and the others sitting around the thunder lagoon immediately became alert, their eyes bright with joy.

They could sense the wondrous presence of the Pure Soul Springs.

All of them were unable to suppress their curiosity. They turned and craned their necks to look down into the thunder lagoon..

Shocked by the aura of the Pure Soul Springs, Qin Lie instinctively looked up and said, “Throw me a few jade bottles.”

Du Xiangyang and Luo Chen immediately became nervous with excitement, happiness leaping to their faces. They hurriedly reached for the spatial rings and were about to take out some jade bottles to hold the Pure Soul Springs.

However, at that same moment, a sudden change took place!

When the electric flames and the arcing lightning were removed from the Pure Soul Springs, leaving nothing to restrain their clear soul auras from being released…

The Soul Suppressing Orb in Qin Lie’s forehead seemed to detect it.

Like a third eye opening, a bright light abruptly shone from his forehead.

From their position above Qin Lie, the others were temporarily blinded by the bright light. They couldn’t see what was happening in the lagoon.

This turn of events also stunned the Thunder Crystal Beast.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Whoosh whoosh whoosh!”

As if moving of their own accord, the six Pure Soul Springs flowed toward Qin Lie’s forehead.

The Soul Suppressing Orb consumed all six streams of energy in the span of a few breaths, then receded back into Qin Lie’s forehead, going dormant.

Then, almost as soon as the Soul Suppressing Orb disappeared from sight, the Demon Sealing Tombstone emerged from Qin Lie’s spatial ring on its own.

Seven rays of light that resembled divine chains shot from the Demon Sealing Tombstone, flailing around the surroundings.

They seemed to be looking for something, an action that left Qin Lie dumbstruck..

The seven chains of pure light explored the thunder lagoon, eventually locking on to the Thunder Crystal Beast.

Before Qin Lie could react, the seven chains of divine light latched tightly around the Thunder Crystal Beast. Qin Lie could only watch in shock as the Demon Sealing Tombstone slowly pulled the Thunder Crystal Beast into it.

In the end, the thunder spirit transformed into a bolt of lightning that surged through the chains and disappeared into the tombstone.

All of this occurred in a flash.

First the Soul Suppressing Orb released its blinding light, seizing the Pure Soul Springs before going back into hiding.

Then the Demon Sealing Tombstone flew out, searched the area, and sealed the Thunder Crystal Beast after failing to find anything else.

As the light in the thunder lagoon dissipated, Du Xiangyang and the others were once again able to see inside of it… but first they noticed that the lightning in the sky had grown less furious.

Qin Lie raised his head to look up.

The sky was devoid of its usual booming thunder. Even the swathes of lightning that resembled dragons had charged back into the abyss they had come from, disappearing from sight.

A deafening rumble emanated from deep underground. The Forbidden Land of Thunder seemed to be experiencing an earthquake of great magnitude, deep cracks appearing as the ground shook.

The Forbidden Land of Thunder’s wondrous formation was collapsing.

The perpetual thunder and lightning was finally coming to an end.

All because the thunder spirit had been sealed.

“Qin Lie! What happened?” Song Tingyu shouted in shock.

“I…”

“He took the Pure Soul Springs!” Luo Chen sneered. “All of them vanished in that bright flash of light!”

“No, that can’t be right!” Du Xiangyang shook his head. “We haven’t even given him the jade bottles yet! Did he have enough jade bottles to store every single one of the Pure Soul Springs?”

“He definitely had more than he led us to believe!” Luo Chen yelled, his expression icy..

He was sure that Qin Lie had taken all of the Pure Soul Springs for himself. He thought that Qin Lie created that blinding light so they wouldn’t be able to see him take them. He believed that Qin Lie didn’t want to share.

What he didn’t know was that the Soul Suppressing Orb in Qin Lie’s forehead had consumed the six Pure Soul Springs.

“I didn’t take them,” Qin Lie said, narrowing his eyes. He searched his mind and discovered that six streams of energy were uncontrollably flowing toward depths of the Soul Suppressing Orb he had yet to explore.

Qin Lie was just as confused as everyone else, and he didn’t know why the Soul Suppressing Orb would act so strangely at such a critical moment.

But he didn’t want to waste time trying to explain the situation.

“I’ll explain what happened to the Pure Soul Springs when we have time. Right now, all of you need to come down here and help me gather the soul crystals!” Qin Lie shouted up to them. “Since the thunder spirit has been sealed, all the thunder and lightning in the Forbidden Land of Thunder will gradually dissipate. It’ll be difficult for me to achieve a level of strength like before! Black Voodoo Cult, the three great families, Celestial Artifact Sect, Ten Thousand Beast Mountain… even the eastern barbarians will return after realizing that something has happened. We don’t have much time!”

“Get the soul crystals first!”

“Focus on what’s important!”

“I believe Qin Lie!”

“Quickly!”

Du Xiangyang and the others quickly reached an agreement.

Even Luo Chen knew they couldn’t delay the matter a moment longer. He stopped trying to interrogate Qin Lie and immediately jumped into the thunder lagoon alongside the others.

Many things changed after the Thunder Crystal Beast was sealed. Like a fire at the end of its lifespan, the electric flames and arcing lightning that originally populated the thunder lagoon gradually died out.

The thunderous vibrations, originally furious and unceasing, slowly became calm like an ocean after a storm.

All six of Qin Lie’s group landed at the bottom of the lagoon without a hitch.

Not all of the bright soul crystals scattered throughout the bottom of the lagoon were the same quality. Some were full of soul power, bright a translucent, while others weren’t as bright and contained impurities within them.

Yet even soul crystals with impurities were worth as much as cities in the Land of Chaos.

The smaller soul crystals in the lagoon were the size of walnuts, while the bigger, extremely valuable ones were the size of a person’s head.

“There must be at least a thousand soul crystals…” Excitement shone in Xie Jingxuan’s eyes.

She hadn’t said a thing about the Pure Soul Springs. As soon as she landed, she moved about the muddy floor of the lagoon, using her spatial ring to gather soul crystals.

Everyone else jumped into action as well. They knew that now was not the time to talk, and instead they competed against each other to see who could gather the most soul crystals.

Qin Lie was among them, but didn’t immediately move to pick up the soul crystals from the floor of the lagoon.

Taking a deep breath, Qin Lie first worked to calm himself. He refrained from using his soul to examine the Soul Suppressing Orb and instead moved to take care of matters in front of him.

Qin Lie looked at the eight thick logs of Thunderblitz wood. These logs of wood were extremely tall, protruding high into the sky like the Sealing Obelisks. Wrapped around each log were threads of silver metal. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the wood held patterns that seemed to have been formed naturally. The grain of each piece of wood resembled patterned lightning and looked mysterious and profound.

In order to capture the thunder spirit alive, it had taken a lot of effort for the eastern barbarians to gather these eight logs of Thunderblitz wood. Each one was thousands of years old and extremely valuable.

Even though they were valuable to begin with, the logs of Thunderblitz wood had consumed enormous amounts of thunder and lightning from the thunder lagoon. As a result, each log contained an abundance of thunder and lightning energy.

“These pieces of wood are top quality thunder and lightning spirit materials! They can be used to make Terminator Profound Bombs!”

Qin Lie’s eyes shone brightly.

As Luo Chen and the others focused all of their energy on gathering soul crystals, he shoved all eight logs of Thunderblitz wood into his spatial ring.

Once all eight logs were inside of his spatial ring, he put away the Demon Sealing Tombstone. Using his mind consciousness to inspect the ring, he discovered that the space within was full.

Qin Lie’s spatial ring could only hold so much. Twelve Sealing Obelisks, eight logs of Thunderblitz wood… all of these were enormous. If Qin Lie added anything else to them, the limits of his spatial ring would be exceeded.

“I have to get a high grade spatial ring,” Qin Lie thought to himself.

There were thousands of soul crystals on the floor of the thunder lagoon. However, with everyone scouring the lagoon for them, the floor was swept clean in just half an hour.

The bottom of the lagoon was promptly picked clean.

Qin Lie concentrated on sensing his surroundings. Just as he was about to explore deeper into the lagoon, his expression changed.

The bottom of the thunder lagoon could be considered the center of the Forbidden Land of Thunder. After the thunder spirit was sealed, the Pure Soul Springs were taken, and the soul crystals were cleaned out, distinct vibrations emanated from underground.

“Run!” Qin Lie shouted.

Everyone in his group looked at him with confused expressions as though they weren’t satisfied with their current profits. They seemed prepared to continue searching the area.

“The people of the three other forces, as well as the eastern barbarians, will probably be back soon,” Qin Lie explained. “Also, the thunder lagoon is going to explode soon.

“This place is about to explode?” Du Xiangyang asked in disbelief.

“Yes, it’s going to.”

“Then what are we waiting for?!”

“Let’s get out of here!”

“Run”

The seven of them soared from the bottom of the thunder lagoon, quickly ascending. Upon reaching the surface, Qin Lie chose a random direction to fly in and everyone followed.

Chapter 508: Putting A Matter To Rest

Just fifteen minutes after the departure of Qin Lie’s group, blinding arcs of lightning and intense, thunderous rumbles erupted from the depths of the thunder lagoon.

“Boom!”

The thunder lagoon became a bright flash of light, a brilliant explosion of sparks bursting from its center. All the remaining traces of thunder and lightning energy dispersed in the commotion.

This reduced the thunder lagoon to an enormous, smoldering pit hundreds of meters deep. The wondrous scene from earlier was gone. There were no soul crystals or Pure Soul Springs to marvel at.

An hour later, the martial practitioners of Black Voodoo Cult, the three great families, Celestial Artifact Sect, and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain finally arrived at the smoldering pit. All of them took in the ruined land, stunned.

“Where’s the thunder lagoon? Why is there a huge pit where it used to be?”

“What happened? Where are the eastern barbarians?”

“There are intense fluctuations of thunder and lightning here! The thunder lagoon must have exploded. But… where are the soul crystals and Pure Soul Springs?”

“Did they get destroyed in the explosion? Did Qin Lie or the eastern barbarians take them? Damn it!”

Huang Zhuli, Ye Yihao, and the others gathered next to the enormous pit, ordering their subordinates to venture into it and search for clues about what happened.

Soon after, their people returned, but all they could do was shake their heads in the face of their leaders’ expectant gazes.

“I don’t know what happened here. The thunder lagoon is in ruin, and the soul crystals and Pure Soul Springs were nowhere to be found,” someone said, head bowed.

Everyone present started to curse and smoke came out of their ears. Hatred boiled within each and every one of them.

All except for Chu Li, who stood among them.

After observing the pit that used to be the thunder lagoon, he silently left.

As a member of Terminator Sect, Chu Li could easily recognize the power of thunder and lightning. He was also aware of Qin Lie’s abilities.

After examining the area with his mind consciousness, he had faintly detected Qin Lie’s presence. He was certain that Qin Lie had something to do with the decimation of the thunder lagoon.

Gripping a Heavenly Sword Mountain token, Chu Li left without a word and tried to sense Qin Lie’s location.

A few minutes after Chu Li left, the tokens at the waist of every martial practitioner began to ring furiously.

“The eastern barbarians are returning!”

Everyone looked amongst each other, their faces grim with realization.

“The eastern barbarians outnumber us, and once Yan Min and Sen Ye join forces, their offensive potential will multiply.” Huang Zhuli’s eyes flashed with malice. “Our Black Voodoo Cult has fought against the eastern barbarians for years. We know what they’re capable of. Since thunder lagoon has been destroyed, we no longer have a reason to fight them to the death.”

Feng Yiyou and Yu Men nodded.

After exchanging looks with each other, all of them beat a decisive retreat in a direction opposite from the eastern barbarians.

All three groups joined together to form one larger group as a precaution. They were afraid of being attacked by the eastern barbarians, so they didn’t dare to split up.

They wanted to be prepared for any unforeseen circumstances.

Qin Lie’s group sped through a remote corner of the Forbidden Land of Thunder, moving away from the destroyed thunder lagoon as fast as lightning. The eyes of every person in the group flashed with irrepressible joy..

The sky above them, which used to be a thunderstorm that occasionally flashed with lightning, was now a dull gray. Lightning no longer rampaged through the air.

The Forbidden Land of Thunder hadn’t experienced this kind of calm in tens of thousands of years.

“Follow me.”

At some point, Xue Moyan had moved in front of everyone to lead them.

“We shall take a detour to the Forbidden Land of Ice. The Land of Buried Gods lies within the Forbidden Land of Ice, so it is unique in and of itself,” she explained as she sped along.

It could be said that, to a certain degree, Xue Moyan and Chu Li were familiar with the Graveyard of Gods. She could more or less tell which way to go because the thunder spirit had been sealed. As a result, the Forbidden Land of Thunder became normal and no longer inhibited other types of spirit energy.

Qin Lie and the others weren’t familiar with the area, so they didn’t have a problem with following her.

After a few days of travel, all of them had used up pretty much all of their spirit power. They found a random place to stop and used spirit stones to recover.

Once their spirit energy had been replenished, they continued to journey according to Xue Moyan’s guidance, almost never stopping to rest.

A few days later, they arrived at the border of an icy mountain range.

“Over there!” Xue Moyan came to a sudden stop and pointed into the distance.

Everyone’s gazes traced her finger to the location she was pointing at.

Distant, snow-capped mountains stretched as far as the eye could see.. Trees covered in ice accentuated their enormous, jagged shapes, composing a silver-tinged world of ice and snow.

A small wind blew across the group, bone-chilling cold piercing into them like icy knives.

And this was just the outer edge of the Forbidden Land of Ice.

All of them looked at each other. Aside from Qin Lie, everyone else was trembling from the cold.

Instinctively, they formed their individual shields of light.

“It’s so cold… this frigid air soaks all the way down to the marrow of my bones. If I don’t wrap my body in spirit energy, I’d quickly go numb. Even my tendons would freeze and become ice!” Du Xiangyang exclaimed, his chin pressed against his chest.

Crimson flames covered his body, and he exhaled hot air. It was clear that he couldn’t tolerate the cold.

The Forbidden Land of Ice truly didn’t suit him at all.

Du Xiangyang was only skilled in fire spirit arts. Most of his life had been spent in hot places, using the heat to cultivate, and intense flames to refine his body.

Luo Chen and the others shrouded themselves in their shields of light. All of them stood at the border of the Forbidden Land of Ice. They flashed with light, almost as if they were wearing glittering armor.

Once again, Qin Lie was an exception.

Just like in the Forbidden Land of Thunder, Qin Lie didn’t shield himself from the elements, instead completely exposing himself to the snow and ice. He allowed the bone-chilling cold and the frigid winds to engulf him.

Yet he smiled happily. He was relaxed, clearly comfortable with his situation.

“Big Brother Qin, a-are you not afraid of the cold?” Pan Qianqian looked at him in shock. The cold had made her face as red as an apple. “If too much cold energy enters your body, it will interfere with the circulation of your spirit energy. If we encounter any enemies, you won’t be able to launch attacks effectively.”

“Don’t worry about him.” Song Tingyu smiled brightly. “He has thick skin. Cold energy of this level will only be beneficial for him.”

Xie Jingxuan nodded slightly.

Their nonchalant attitudes shocked Pan Qianqian.

“He’s fine,” Xue Moyan said in a small voice. “Qin Lie is also skilled in Frost Spirit Arts…”

After secretly examining him with her mind consciousness, she smiled calmly and explained, “Qin Lie has three frost natal palaces.”

Pan Qianqian’s eyes flashed with surprise. “Huh?! Why do you cultivate so many different spirit arts? Aren’t you afraid that they’ll clash?”

“It doesn’t seem to be a problem for now,” Qin Lie said reassuringly and smiled.

Then, in the next moment, he went silent, clearly contemplating something.

Luo Chen’s brow furrowed.

Everyone was able to guess what Qin Lie was thinking about and instinctively became quiet.

However, just as Qin Lie was about to tell them what he was thinking, Luo Chen spoke up.

“Don’t bother,” he growled. “None of us were any help when it came to acquiring the Pure Soul Springs. Even taking the eastern barbarians or the three forces into account, we weren’t helpful enough for our efforts to be considered important.”

Luo Chen was cold and proud, but he wasn’t unreasonable. He had a lot of time to go over things while they were traveling.

During their journey to the Forbidden Land of Ice, he had gone over everything in his mind and came to a realization. He, Du Xiangyang, Xue Moyan, and the others had almost no effect on the struggle for the Pure Soul Springs in the Forbidden Land of Thunder.

In other words, even if they hadn’t done anything, Qin Lie would have done everything the same way.

Rather than providing coal during a snowstorm, what they had done was the same as gilding a flower.

At most, their help entitled each of them to large amounts of soul crystals. It did not earn them a portion of the Pure Soul Springs.

Luo Chen had his own code, his own perspective on how rewards should be distributed.

Now that he had finally thought everything through, he was relieved. He believed that Qin Lie taking all of the Pure Soul Springs was a logical outcome.

—Luo Chen thought that they were rightfully his.

“Ugh…” Du Xiangyang groaned, a weird expression on his face. He scratched his head in embarrassment, suddenly making the situation somewhat awkward.

After pausing for a moment, he shook his head and said, “I hadn’t expected you to be so wise, Luo Chen. Compared to you, I… I was so fixated on those Pure Soul Springs.”

Before Luo Chen had spoken up, Du Xiangyang actually felt upset too. He thought that Qin Lie shouldn’t have taken all of the Pure Soul Springs.

Ever since Qin Lie parted ways with Terminator Sect in the Forbidden Land of Wood, Du Xiangyang had staunchly stood by his side.

He had thought that following Qin Lie would definitely be better than following Terminator Sect.

Reality soon proved his choice to be the correct one. Qin Lie had found the thunder lagoon and discovered the Pure Soul Springs inside of it.

Du Xiangyang had thought that maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to get one of them…

Yet, when Qin Lie admitted to taking all of the Pure Soul Springs, Du Xiangyang had been angry.

—He thought that he deserved to have one.

However, once Luo Chen expressed such a logical view of the situation, Du Xiangyang realized that he hadn’t actually been much help to Qin Lie.

Luo Chen was right.

From Qin Lie’s perspective, the efforts of everyone else in the group did not equate to coal during a snowstorm. They had simply gilded a flower.

Taking that into consideration, the soul crystals were more than enough compensation.

Chapter 509: Absolute Frost Concept

“It’s not that I want to keep the Pure Soul Springs for myself, but… for the time being, I can’t take them out and give them to you,” Qin Lie said, spreading his arms helplessly.

That was all he could tell them.

When the electric flames and arcing bolts of lightning disappeared from the thunder lagoon, allowing the refreshing aura of the Pure Soul Springs to escape, the Soul Suppressing Orb emerged from his forehead without warning.

Everything happened too quickly.

The Pure Soul Springs disappeared into the Soul Suppressing Orb before Qin Lie could even think. It was only after the fact that he realized what happened.

At that time, both Du Xiangyang and Luo Chen had been standing at the edge of the thunder lagoon,. As a result, the light of the Soul Suppressing Orb’s appearance had blinded them, preventing them from seeing what took place at the bottom of the lagoon.

Because of that, they assumed that he had taken the Pure Soul Springs for himself.

“I trust Qin Lie,” Xue Moyan said, establishing her position. “And I also don’t think we played a role deserving of any Pure Soul Springs.”

“I am of the same opinion,” Xie Jingxuan added.

Song Tingyu pursed her lips into a smile, clinging to Qin Lie’s arm of her own volition.

It was obvious that Qin Lie had her unconditional support.

After hearing Luo Chen’s opinion, Du Xiangyang had internally put the matter to rest. Now that Xue Moyan and Xie Jingxuan had also expressed their thoughts, it suddenly appeared as if everyone accepted the fact that Qin Lie took all the Pure Soul Springs for himself.

Since no one had a problem with it, they no longer needed to pursue the matter.

“B-but…” Pan Qianqian seemed like she wanted to say something.

Yet Xue Moyan cut her short. “Enough!”

Pan Qianqian sighed and bit her lips, reluctantly falling silent.

“What is it?” Qin Lie asked.

Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, Pan Qianqian ignored Xue Moyan and found the courage to speak. “If… if we aren’t able to take the Spring of Life back from Xuang Zhuli, it’ll be difficult for Sister Xue and her mother… to recover. With a Pure Soul Spring, however, Sister Xue would be able to ask the sect master to help her exchange it for multiple Springs of Life. This way, the… problem… plaguing Sister Xue and her mother can be… resolved.”

Pan Qianqian revealed the reason for her apprehension.

Xue Moyan shook her head. “Losing the Spring of Life is our fault. We already owe Qin Lie far too much.”

“I know, b-but… that doesn’t mean you should just stop living. The Spring of Life can save you…” Pan Qianqian said, her voice faltering.

Qin Lie frowned and pondered for a moment. Then he said, “Let’s look for a place to properly recover and try to use the soul crystals to increase the strength of our souls. We don’t have to venture deeper into the Forbidden Land of Ice just yet.”

“Sure.” Everyone immediately agreed.

They searched for a place to sit down and recover, eventually settling for a secluded spot in a snow-covered forest at the edge of the Forbidden Land of Ice.

Winds carrying shards of ice ravaged the land, howling like the sound of metal clashing against metal. It sounded as if the frigid air could cut deep into a person, down to their very bones.

Everyone in Qin Lie’s group took shelter in their respective shields of light. Not long after they sat down to recover in the icy forest of pine trees, they found themselves covered in snow.

Even the shields of light surrounding each of them were besieged, turning them into a group of faceless snowman.

Qin Lie was no exception.

Instead of summoning his own shield of light, he exposed himself to the freezing elements of the Forbidden Land of Ice.

Soon enough, a thick blanket of snow covered him as well.

Before beginning the process of recovering, however, he first delved deep into the Soul Suppressing Orb with his mind consciousness.

The misty space inside of it was vast and never-ending, as boundless as it was desolate.

Qin Lie’s mind consciousness became a faint shadow that roamed within that space, and he eventually arrived at the hovering spirit diagrams.

The four diagrams, Spirit Gathering, Spirit Storage, Strengthening, and Amplification, resembled four grand paintings that stretched through the sky. A myriad of fine, delicate spirit threads crisscrossed to form worlds of intricate wonder.

At the same time, another world existed in this space. This world hovered nearby, its visage cold and icy.

This world was the frost concept that used to be hidden within the Eye of Frost. It was a profound painting formed by the absolute frost concept, the one that originally sealed the elites of the Giant Spirit Race in the land underneath the Arctic Mountain Range.

This painting of the absolute frost concept had served as Qin Lie’s guide, having helped him figure out the secrets of the Frost Arts and form three frost natal palaces in his dantian’s spirit sea.

Qin Lie initially entered the Soul Suppressing Orb to search for the Pure Soul Springs and find out where they’d gone. However, seeing the painting that the Ice Emperor had left behind left him in shock.

For years, this painting of the absolute frost concept had lain hidden inside of the Soul Suppressing Orb like a dead object, devoid of energy.

It only emanated an aura of profound coldness during the few times that Qin Lie entered the icy land beneath the Arctic Mountain Range to cultivate.

Yet, when his wisp of mind consciousness arrived at this place, Qin Lie discovered that cold mist enveloped the painting. Translucent, icy white beams aimlessly flowed within it.

The absolute frost concept seemed to contain some sort of magic.

This painting of the absolute frost concept was the end result of gathering all of the frost concept that the Ice Emperor left behind.

Within the Graveyard of Gods, the Forbidden Land of Ice consisted of enormous icy boulders, freezing winds, snow-covered mountains, and endless amounts of swirling sleet.

The Forbidden Land of Ice clearly had a lot in common with the Arctic Mountain Range of the Scarlet Tide Continent.

Of course, compared to the Arctic Mountain Range, the Forbidden Land of Ice was ten times colder.

Focusing on the painting, Qin Lie discovered that even the lingering cold of the land beneath the Arctic Mountain Range couldn’t compare to that of the Forbidden Land of Ice.

“Could the cold air of this place have caused these changes in the absolute frost concept?” Qin Lie thought, clearly confused.

“Krak!”

Icy rocks shattered as dazzling rays of rainbow light shot from Qin Lie’s spatial ring, scattering the snow that coated him.

The noise startled Qin Lie, jolting him out of his careful observation of the absolute frost concept within the Soul Suppressing Orb.

Song Tingyu and the others were also startled, and they looked at him in surprise.

Their abrupt movements broke the snow that encased them, causing it to slide to the ground.

Seven rainbow lights circled the Demon Sealing Tombstone as it hovered above Qin Lie’s head. Three drops of azure liquid dripped down the length of the tombstone, each containing a shocking amount of thunder and lightning energy.

One by one, the slid off of the tombstone and fell toward Qin Lie’s head.

Upon closer inspection, one would realize that each drop of azure liquid carried the figure of a small Thunder Crystal Beast. This was exactly the same as the blood essences that held small Fire Qilins inside of them.

Just as the three drops of azure liquid were about to touch Qin Lie’s hair, he raised his hand.

The three droplets splashed against his palm, quickly soaking into his hand and merging into his blood.

Waves of violent thunder and lightning energy rippled from the droplets, each containing the aura of the Thunder Crystal Beast.

Everyone watched this scene with strange looks on their faces.

They could obviously tell that the three drops of azure liquid had come from the Demon Sealing Tombstone!

This meant that, every time Qin Lie used the Demon Sealing Tombstone to seal one of the seven spirits, he benefited greatly.

At that moment, Du Xiangyang thought about the past, immediately realizing where Qin Lie’s blood essences came from.

“Seems like being the master of the Demon Sealing Tombstone and sealing the seven spirits has been very good to you, Qin Lie…” Du Xiangyang said, green with envy.

Luo Chen, on the other hand, felt bitter.

“The Demon Sealing Tombstone…” he whispered regretfully.

Luo Chen had once stolen the Demon Sealing Tombstone from Qin Lie and even spent a long time researching it.

Not only did he fail to gain anything from the Demon Sealing Tombstone, it had even flown back to Qin Lie as soon as he brought it into the Graveyard of Gods.

It was painfully apparent that the Demon Sealing Tombstone considered Qin Lie its master. Whenever he sealed a spirit, the tombstone refined its essences and offered them up to Qin Lie.

Then, using these essences and some miraculous tempering method, Qin Lie used them as if they were a part of his own body.

Once the three droplets of thunder and lightning energy vanished into Qin Lie’s palm, the Demon Sealing Tombstone returned to the spatial ring once more.

Throughout this entire process, Qin Lie’s eyes had been closed.

He ignored the people around him and sensed the three droplets of thunder and lightning energy in his blood, nurturing them.

With a thought, he used the Blood Refinement Art, intent on making them his own blood essences—just like he did for the essences of the fire spirit and the wood spirit.

Qin Lie began the refinement process immediately.

“The Blood Refinement Art…! Making the blood essence your own…” Xue Moyan’s eyes lit up.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

After those five days, Luo Chen and the others brimmed with immense soul energy, having used the soul crystals empower their True Souls.

After using up a portion of the soul crystals, each of them could feel that their True Souls had solidified and become stronger. Their soul perceptions also had a greater range.

All of their soul energies had clearly improved considerably.

At the same time, Qin Lie had spent the past five days refining the three drops of azure liquid into his own lifeblood essences.

He had imprinted them with his soul imprint so that they became a part of him.

“Let’s give it a try.”

Qin Lie issued a mental command, causing the three newest blood essences to emerge from his body at the same time. All three resembled azure gemstones.

With another command, the six remaining blood essences floated out of his body to join the other three.

Nine blood essences of varying colors floated in front of Qin Lie, all dazzlingly bright.

Three were a burning scarlet, three were a verdant jade, and three were a shocking azure.

Chapter 510: Merge!

The nine blood essences floating in front of Qin Lie had been created using the Blood Refinement Art. Each had been refined from the essences of the fire spirit, the wood spirit, and the thunder spirit, then merged into his own blood.

The gem-like drops of blood gently radiated rings of bright, beautiful light.

Every blood essence shared a miraculous connection with Qin Lie. When he examined them with his mind consciousness, he could even tell that they possessed basic intelligence.

It was as if they were completely new forms of life that had just been brought into existence. Simply sensing them gave him an indescribable feeling.

“These nine blood essences came from the fire spirit, wood spirit, and thunder spirit. The Demon Sealing Tombstone gave them to me after refining the essence of each spirit.”

Qin Lie didn’t bother hiding the truth as he examined the blood essences with glee. Each one looked like a gemstone.

“Blood? Every single one of them… are blood essences?!” Pan Qianqian cried out in surprise.

To Pan Qianqian, these blood essences were clearly dazzling gemstones that contained sparks of beauty.

“The energy within them is incredibly powerful and refined,” Du Xiangyang said. He was incredibly envious of Qin Lie.

Luo Chen sighed and shook his head slightly, eyes filled with regret.

“What miraculous lifeblood essences… One has to temper them by nurturing them with their own blood? I wonder how many other mysteries lay hidden within them…” Xue Moyan exclaimed in wonder.

All of a sudden, the Soul Suppressing Orb concealed inside of Qin Lie’s forehead appeared once more.

An extremely strong force of attraction emanated from the orb in waves, forming an intense suction effect.

The nine gem-like blood essences turned into rays of light, instantly flying into the Soul Suppressing Orb.

Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the Soul Suppressing Orb vanished back into Qin Lie’s flesh. However, the powerful suction never stopped.

Qin Lie’s expression twisted in amazement as he realized that the blood in his veins frantically surged toward his head.

Like a powerful vacuum, the Soul Suppressing Orb in his forehead swiftly drained his blood.

When Qin Lie tried to form his soul consciousness, he discovered that the soul energy of his True Soul seemed to be fading rapidly. The Soul Suppressing Orb seemed to be draining it as well.

“This is bad!”

Scared out of his wits, Qin Lie immediately focused all of his mind consciousness and examined the Soul Suppressing Orb.

He saw that wisps of his blood were vanishing inside of it, heading toward an unknown area he still couldn’t reach.

Suddenly, exhaustion bore down on Qin Lie, a sign that his soul energy was swiftly depleting.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, Du Xiangyang, Luo Chen, Xue Moyan, and Pan Qianqian were frozen, watching the scene unfolding before them. They stared in shock as a strange third eye appeared on Qin Lie’s forehead, protruding from his flesh then opening. Sucking in and devouring the nine blood essences, that eye resembled a black hole capable of consuming everything in existence.

At the same time, they could see the terror in Qin Lie’s face.

This meant that all of this had caught Qin Lie unaware. He couldn’t control what was happening to him!

It was only then that everyone truly believed Qin Lie’s explanation from earlier. He really did want to share the Pure Soul Springs with them, but he couldn’t control the changes within his own body.

The extraordinary changes occurring inside of Qin Lie shocked everyone. They had no idea how they could help him.

“H-his face is getting paler and paler!” Song Tingyu cried anxiously.

“He’s running out of blood!” Since she cultivated the Blood Spirit Art, Xue Moyan could immediately tell what was wrong with Qin Lie after quickly examining him. “He’s lost at least a fifth of all the blood in his body, and it’s still being sucked out of him!”

“All of his blood is flowing to his forehead! Xie Jingxuan exclaimed softly.

“His soul energy is also being drained, look at his eyes!” Du Xiangyang shouted.

Everyone looked and Qin Lie’s fear-filled eyes. They were clearly dimmer than before.

This meant that Qin Lie’s soul energy had been greatly depleted in this short amount of time.

“He needs to replenish his blood and his soul energy as quickly as possible!” Xue Moyan cried.

Without hesitation, she took out several dozen high quality soul crystals from her spatial ring and poured them onto the snow-covered ground at Qin Lie’s feet.

“Qin Lie!” she yelled. “Extract the soul energy from the soul crystals as quickly as possible! You need to replenish your own!”

A moment later, Song Tingyu also sprang into action, taking out high quality soul crystals of her own and putting them next to Qin Lie.

“His blood!” She rushed to his side frantically, attempting to bolster Qin Lie’s life force with her own spirit energy. “How are we going to replenish the blood in his body?”

“It’s no use,” Xue Moyan said, shaking her head. “None of our blood is compatible with his.”

“Then what should we do?!” Song Tingyu shouted.

Xue Moyan didn’t answer her. She didn’t know what to do either.

In this frigid, snowy land, Qin Lie sat in an upright position, a thick layer of ice forming on his body.

It was as if he had transformed into an ice sculpture.

His face grew increasingly pale, his eyes becoming dimmer and dimmer. He seemed to be slowly dying.

Song Tingyu and the others surrounded him, anxious and concerned, but they didn’t know how to help him.

Some time later, Xie Jingxuan’s eyes lit up. “H-his blood and his soul energy seem to have stopped depleting.”

After taking a few seconds to sense Qin Lie’s condition, Xue Moyan regained her calm. “He’s lost a lot of blood, but it seems as though that draining effect has truly stopped. He isn’t getting any worse.”

This information allowed the group to relax a bit.

Everyone continued to huddle around Qin Lie, frowns covering their faces. They refused to let down their guard in case another disaster struck.

Inside of the Soul Suppressing Orb, Qin Lie’s wisp of soul shadow ventured into its depths. As usual, he could only see the spirit diagrams. However, in addition to that, he could see a steady stream of his blood and his soul energy flowing toward the space beyond them.

There seemed to be a door behind the spirit diagrams. It was sealed, preventing him from sensing the mysteries it kept within.

Yet it didn’t affect the flow of blood or soul energy.

Qin Lie was well aware of the fact that the six Pure Soul Springs, the nine blood essences, his blood, and his soul energy had been absorbed into the space behind that door.

He didn’t know what was going on behind that door, but he had the strangest feeling. It felt as if all of these elements were being gathered in one place and… were merging together.

What on earth would happen after the Pure Soul Springs, the nine blood essences, his blood, and his soul energy merged together?

Qin Lie didn’t know the answer to that question.

After examining the Soul Suppressing Orb’s interior for a bit longer, Qin Lie gradually withdrew his mind consciousness.

Then he opened his eyes.

“I’m fine,” Qin Lie said to Song Tingyu and the others. “I just lost a lot of blood… and a portion of my soul energy. I’ll probably need some time to recover.”

“Th-those changes… what in Spirit Realm just happened?” Song Tingyu asked, fraught with worry.

Qin Lie shook his head, a bitter smile on his face, then said, “I can’t explain it, nor do I actually understand it, but I think I’ll find out after some time.”

He decided to wait for everything in the Soul Suppressing Orb to merge together.

He wanted to see the end result.

……

Chapter 511: Nurturing the Soul

At the edge of the Forbidden Land of Ice.

After cultivating using the soul crystals, Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, Du Xiangyang, Luo Chen, Xue Moyan, and Pan Qianqian were in high spirits.

“Soul crystals truly are amazing things.” Joy filled Pan Qianqian’s face as she gripped a soul crystal. “Even with her status in Illusory Demon Sect, it’s extremely difficult for Sister Xue to obtain soul crystals.”

Xue Moyan nodded slightly.

Unlike spirit stones, soul crystals weren’t supplementary spirit materials that were commonly seen in a powerful force. Xue Moyan and Luo Chen were both illustrious individuals in Illusory Demon Sect and Heavenly Sword Mountain. They were the ringers of their respective sects.

Yet even they struggled to acquire soul crystals to aid in cultivating their True Souls while they were in the Netherpassage Realm, the stage in which condensing one’s True Soul and increasing their soul energy was most important.

Even people with the status of elder within the nine great Silver rank forces could not always temper their souls using soul crystals.

Soul crystals were expensive, and although the nine great Silver rank forces did have some soul crystals stored away, they were usually used to help martial practitioners whose souls were damaged. Soul crystals could help such martial practitioners stabilize their souls and maintain their realms.

If Luo Chen didn’t have the luxury of constantly cultivating with soul crystals, there was no way people like Pan Qianqian or Du Xiangyang could!!

Song Tingyu and Xie Jingxuan came from the Scarlet Tide Continent, and soul crystals were even rarer in Profound Heaven Alliance. It was unlikely that Song Yu or Xie Yaoyang had the opportunity to cultivate using soul crystals, let alone their daughters.

Each person in Qin Lie’s group had acquired a sizeable number of soul crystals from the thunder lagoon. They could clearly sense their souls getting stronger as they continued to temper their souls, empowering them with the energy from the soul crystals.

“From here on out, breaking through each realm will rely on the transformation of one’s soul!” Du Xiangyang exclaimed excitedly. “From the Netherpassage Realm to the Fulfillment Realm… the Nirvana Realm and the Imperishable Realm… the benefit that these soul crystals will have on our cultivations will show itself more prominently in the future!”

Everyone’s eyes were alight with passion.

“I originally thought that we’d never run out of the soul crystals we gathered from the thunder lagoon,” Pan Qianqian said. Then her voice became tinged with regret. “But now that I look at the amount we have now… It may not necessarily be enough.”

“Soul crystals aren’t things that anyone would say that they have enough of,” Du Xiangyang said with a shrug. “Unfortunately, the Pure Soul Springs are even more valuable.”

All six of them subconsciously glanced at Qin Lie.

Qin Lie sat on the ground nearby, frozen in a thick layer of ice. While they talked amongst each other, he appeared to be an unmoving, human-shaped ice sculpture.

After absorbing the Pure Soul Springs and blood essences, a switch in the Soul Suppressing Orb seemed to have been flipped, causing it to extract his blood and his soul energy. This made Qin Lie feel incredibly weak once he awakened from his trance.

Qin Lie was currently in the process of replenishing his soul energy with the soul crystals that Song Tingyu and Xue Moyan gave him.

When everyone looked at him, he opened his eyes and laughed bitterly. Then he said, “The Pure Soul Springs, eh…? I don’t what’ll happen to them in the future.”

“We understand.” Du Xiangyang smiled, thought to himself for a moment, and then said, “You can use the soul crystals to replenish your soul energy, but how will you replenish your depleted blood supply?”

“Qin Lie cultivates the Blood Spirit Art, so every single drop of blood in his body contains a terrifying amount of blood spirit energy. After losing so much blood, it’ll be impossible for him to recover all of it in a short time. Well, unless we capture some powerful spirit beasts and construct a blood pool. He’d be able to use a pool of spirit beast blood to recover.”

As the heir to Blood Fiend Sect, Xue Moyan possessed a deep understanding of the miraculous Blood Spirit Art. She glanced at the white world around her and shook her head. “There probably aren’t any spirit beasts here. Even if we could find a single one, it would most likely be the ice spirit. We also don’t have the means to construct a blood pond.”

“It’s fine, I have a way to replenish the blood in my body.” Qin Lie smiled slightly.

Xue Moyan suddenly shot him a look. “You do?”

“Mn.” Qin Lie took a brief moment to think before saying, “I can use the bloody aura of the Demon Sealing Tombstone. With it, I’ll be able to quickly create more blood!”

“The Demon Sealing Tombstone possesses a blood aura?” Xue Moyan asked in shock.

“It does!” Qin Lie exclaimed.

As he said this, Qin Lie moved his mind consciousness, and rays of bright, icy light flooded the ice encasing him.

“Crack!”

The thick layer of ice around his body instantly shattered.

Qin Lie struggled out of the ice and summoned the Demon Sealing Tombstone from his spatial ring, causing it to land in the snow in front of him.

He reached out and touched its surface with his finger, softly circulating the Blood Spirit Art.

Seven rainbow lights shone from the Demon Sealing Tombstone, its ethereal chains twisting restlessly within. Wisps of thick blood aura gushed out of the tombstone like a breached dam and mingled with the godly light.

Everyone had been watching closely, eyes glued to the Demon Sealing Tombstone, so all of them reacted the moment its thick blood aura gushed out.

Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, and Du Xiangyang wore expressions of envy.

Luo Chen’s complexion, on the other hand, became a gloomy pale.

When he previously had the Demon Sealing Tombstone in his possession, he tried to touch it. However, before his fingers could ever make contact with its stony surface, he was always sent flying by a terrifying force.

He tried again and again, but he was just repulsed over and over. In the end, although extremely reluctant to do so, he admitted defeat.

The Demon Sealing Tombstone ultimately never acknowledged Luo Chen.

The Demon Sealing Tombstone currently stood before Qin Lie and he could use it to cultivate, extracting its blood aura and using it to replenish his lost blood.

A complicated mix of feelings washed over Luo Chen.

“What a pure blood aura! Qin Lie… c-can I give it a try?” Xue Moyan bit her bottom lip, expectation welling in her eyes.

Since Xue Moyan cultivated the Blood Spirit Art as well, she could sense the surging blood energy within the blood aura of the Demon Sealing Tombstone. If she could find a way to use that energy while she cultivated, she would be able to raise the blood spirit energy in her blood to new heights with the Blood Spirit Art.

“Go on ahead,” Qin Lie said generously.

Xue Moyan walked over, her face filled with joy, then reached out her tender, pale hand and slowly approached the Demon Sealing Tombstone.

The instant the middle finger of her hand was three inches away from the tombstone’s surface, a ray of bloody light erupted from it. The light forced Xue Moyan’s delicate body backward, pain appearing on her face.

After stabilizing herself, Xue Moyan let out a soft sigh and shook her head helplessly. “It’s rejecting my aura.”

“You were better off than I was. Back when the Demon Sealing Tombstone was in my possession, it blasted me away more than tens times in a row,” Luo Chen said bitterly. “It wasn’t until I was severely injured that I decided to give up. Now that I think back, I still don’t know why…”

It was obvious that Luo Chen still hadn’t completely accepted that outcome.

“It appears as though the Demon Sealing Tombstone only allows its master to use it.” Du Xiangyang rubbed his chin, then suddenly asked, “How did you get the Demon Sealing Tombstone to acknowledge you as its master, Qin Lie?”

“Maybe I got it to acknowledge me when I got hurt and accidentally spat a mouthful of blood on it.” Qin Lie himself wasn’t sure. “Who knows?”

“It was that easy?”

“Mn.”

“You’re ridiculously lucky.”

“Hehe.”

After this simple back and forth, everyone in the group was either envious of regretful. Yet they were no longer curious about the Demon Sealing Tombstone.

In the meantime, Qin Lie continued to replenish his blood using the Demon Sealing Tombstone’s blood aura. It took him six hours before he finally managed to refine some blood.

“Shall we attempt to enter the Forbidden Land of Ice?” Du Xiangyang suggested.

Nobody rejected the idea.

For the next few days, Qin Lie’s group summoned their respective shields of light and ventured deeper into the Forbidden Land of Ice, enduring bone-chilling winds.

The deeper they went, the colder it became.

Their speed gradually slowed because they constantly had to stop and replenish their spirit energy, which they were always using to keep their shields of light up continuously.

Qin Lie, on the other hand, completely exposed himself to the elements. His body could still endure the intense cold of the Forbidden Land of Ice on its own. The frost natal palaces inside of him had been filled to brim with refined frost energy a long time ago, and even now, it continued to gradually take in more.

Every time the group stopped to recover spirit energy, he was either using the blood energy of the Demon Sealing Tombstone to refine more blood for himself or replenishing his soul energy using the soul crystals.

A few days later, just when he replenished half of the blood he lost and restored around sixty to seventy percent of his soul energy, the powerful suction force of the Soul Suppressing Orb started up again.

Like a giant beast that only devoured soul energy and blood, the Soul Suppressing Orb opened its bloody maw once more. Just like before, Qin Lie’s soul energy and blood flowed into the Soul Suppressing Orb.

Once the process began, Qin Lie immediately dropped to the icy ground with a pained look on his face. Helplessness flashed through his eyes as he passively endured his soul energy and his blood draining out of him.

This time, the Soul Suppressing Orb’s merciless absorption lasted for an hour.

However, the blood that Qin Lie had refined and the soul energy he had used the soul crystals to replenish… had been completely absorbed.

This latest bout of draining had thrown him back to where he started a few days ago, exhausted of both soul energy and blood.