The other two top factions in Jiancheng, upon discovering that Sky Domain Sect's two Spirit Condensation Realm Great Powers had both died by your hand, and that even Zhang Quanjian, a Late Spirit Condensation Realm cultivator, had failed to escape, gained a profound understanding of your strength.
Seeing how you dealt with the Sky Domain Sect disciples, they naturally fell silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to move or even say that you had done anything wrong. At the same time, they immediately sent sect Elders to befriend the Ye Family, presenting great quantities of treasures before departing.
You showed no reaction to the actions of these two factions. Though you knew that there were surely people among them who had committed every kind of evil, you had not seen it yourself. Moreover, the two factions had not provoked you for the time being, so you had no plans to attack them.
Of course, the main reason was that Jiancheng's true great power was the authorities—the City Lord's Mansion. You could claim that your attack on Sky Domain Sect had been forced self-defense because they had seized your blessed land, which was understandable. But if you attacked the other two major factions without cause, there was no guarantee that the Prefect and Cishi of Yang Prefecture would not move against you.
After settling Sky Domain Sect's miscellaneous affairs, you once again emptied the sect's ill-gotten wealth and treasury, turning it all into the Ye Family's foundation. The treasury happened to contain quite a few Precious Herbs needed to refine High-grade Earth Grade Nirvana Treasure Pills. Combined with what you had collected before, you only needed to gather the remaining three Earth Grade Treasure Medicines to assemble all the materials for refining Nirvana Treasure Pills.
Under your cultivation, Zhang Tianhuo had already become capable of skillfully refining Earth Grade Low-Rank Treasure Pills several years ago. He could now easily refine Earth Origin Treasure Pills. Although High-grade Earth Grade Nirvana Pills were difficult to refine, given Zhang Tianhuo some time, he would surely be able to produce them as well.
You had complete faith in Zhang Tianhuo's talent for alchemy. After all, you intended for him to refine Heaven Grade Treasure pills for you in the future, and even Saint-grade Saint Herbs many years from now.
After all, Zhang Tianhuo was no longer merely your disciple; he was also your son-in-law. Compared with having an outsider refine pills for you, one of your own was undoubtedly more trustworthy. You had watched this child grow up, after all.
In the 140th year, after Ye Ping'an, Ye Pingjing, and Ye Chen absorbed the Bloodline Essence produced after your breakthrough into the Spirit Condensation Realm, their cultivation rose greatly once more.
Among them, Ye Chen was the first to break through into the Void God Realm. Ye Ping'an advanced to the Late Heavenly Origin Realm, while Ye Pingjing also raised her cultivation to the Mid Heavenly Origin Realm.
That same year, with Ye Chen, a new Void God Realm expert, assisting you, you no longer needed to stand guard so tirelessly. Ye Chen could handle many matters himself.
In the 205th year, your realm advanced to the Mid Spirit Condensation Realm. After more than a century of slow improvement, your Thousand Mountains Twilight Snow finally broke through into the Return to Simplicity Realm, greatly increasing your strength.
In the 213th year, the Holy Land Relic appeared within Yang Prefecture once again. Having long been prepared, you were already waiting there half a day before the Secret Realm opened. The moment the Holy Land Relic opened, you entered without hesitation.
This time, you had no interest in any other treasures, not even Earth Grade Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. At top speed, you headed for the teleportation array from your memories. Upon entering the inner-area room, you once again stored away the High-grade Earth Grade Calming Heart Bed, the High-grade Earth Grade Sun Moon Pot, several hundred years' worth of Heavenly Dao Tea Leaves, the Mid-grade Earth Grade Alchemy Furnace, and the three Low-grade Heaven Grade Longevity Pills placed near the furnace.
After collecting these treasures, you also took out the original copy of the Earth Grade technique Gathering Yuan Art and the Half-Saint Artifact Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard. You held the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard in your hand rather than placing it into a Storage Treasure, because you would still need it for your later searches through the inner area.
This time, your strength was sufficient to support exploration of the relic's inner area. Even if you encountered a powerful enemy, with the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard in hand, escaping would not be much of a problem.
That was also why you had not brought Ye Ping'an and Ye Chen, the two children who had already broken through into the Void God Realm. Their strength was not enough for them to explore the relic's inner area.
After leaving the room, unlike the first time, you encountered a Late Spirit Condensation Realm Ghost Soul the moment you stepped outside.
Only powerful Martial Artists above the Void God Realm could possibly give birth to Ghost Souls in certain locations. If corpses were not properly dealt with and absorbed enough yin energy, the likelihood of them transforming into Ghost Souls would increase greatly. Ghost Souls and Specters were most numerous in Extreme Yin Lands. In such places, whenever a corpse was left untreated after death, Ghost Species would be born.
The strength of a Ghost Species at birth was related to its strength in life. The stronger it had been while alive, the stronger the Ghost Species would be. Most Ghost Species that emerged possessed no intelligence and acted solely on instinct. Only a very small number of rare Ghost Species were exceptions, and only these rare Ghost Species could be called Ghost Cultivators, with the potential to cultivate.
Aside from these rare Ghost Species, all other normally born Ghost Species were incapable of cultivation. They remained at the realm they had possessed before death for their entire existence. Moreover, Ghost Species were generally somewhat weaker than ordinary Martial Artists, but their abilities were impossible to guard against. A moment's carelessness could easily result in considerable losses.
The Ghost Species you encountered after leaving the room appeared to possess no intelligence and was merely an ordinary one. You did not wish to cause too great a commotion, and your time was precious. Only by searching ahead of everyone else could you maximize your gains and ensure that no one competed with you for them.
You skillfully used the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard's second ability and swiftly trapped the Ghost Species. Before it could break free, you attacked with all your might. In less than half a quarter of an hour, the powerful Ghost Species scattered between heaven and earth, the kind that could never be revived.
After dealing with the Late Spirit Condensation Realm Ghost Species, you spent ten years of Lifespan to use the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard to locate the correct direction where you could find treasures. With the enhancement of Lifespan, the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard's ability increased drastically. Though it was still inferior to its peak state, its predictions could no longer be wrong.
Following the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard's guidance, you traveled west. After passing through two forests and flying over dozens of great mountains, you arrived outside a room. Your eyes lit up at the sight of it. During all your time in the relic, you had rarely seen living quarters, and most such places usually contained worthwhile gains.
There was an array outside the room. You used the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard again and found the array's weak point. Although the array before you was of an extremely high grade, it had endured the erosion of countless years, and its energy had long since become far weaker than it had initially been. Furthermore, no one controlled it, so you easily used the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard to break open the array.
You had not expected to encounter a treasure just after arriving here, for you sensed that this array itself was a Half-Saint Artifact-level formation, quite extraordinary indeed.
Just as you had expected, this Holy Land Relic had actually opened several times before. Yet although several people had discovered this room, none had been able to open the array. When they entered the relic, the array's power had not yet weakened so severely, and the room's energy supply had still been adequate. Nor were they skilled in formations, and they lacked a treasure like the Heavenly Mechanism Chessboard to help them find the array's weak point, break through it, and obtain the treasures within the room.
After seeing through the array, you found a Medicine Field. Due to the passage of time, these Precious Herbs were all extremely old. Even ordinary herbs, provided they had survived until now, would possess tens of thousands of years of medicinal potency and would not be low in grade.
Although many spirit herbs in this Medicine Field had died, many still remained. Most had reached the Earth Grade of Precious Herbs. There were twenty-three Heaven Grade Precious Herbs that you recognized alone, along with more than ten that you did not recognize. You knew little about Saint Herbs and only identified three common varieties, which you had seen in ancient records. You had never seen the other two. Sure enough, knowledge was power; one only regretted the lack of learning when the need arose. Once you returned, you would certainly gather large numbers of books and study herbal knowledge.
Before you continue