The Might of Lawbreaking

Boom!

Under Ye Shaochen's control, the Spirit-Seeking Ruler transformed into a crystalline giant ruler over ten feet long. Carrying the force to split mountains and sever rivers, it smashed into the water manor's protective formation.

"This formation is rather interesting. Could it be that beyond this door lies the hidden treasure manor my senior brothers and sisters once mentioned?"

As Ye Shaochen watched the dark, mysterious water wall ripple in layer after layer, there was not the slightest irritation in his eyes at failing to break it after so long. Instead, they gleamed with the fervor of a hunter spotting rare prey.

Born into a great sect, his knowledge was naturally extensive, yet even he found the formation before him quite remarkable.

Not only could it use water's yielding force to deflect most of the Spirit-Seeking Ruler's power, it could also generate layer upon layer of illusions, making truth and falsehood impossible to distinguish.

If he had not cultivated the ocular art Golden Eyes That Pierce Delusion, which could see through reality and illusion alike, he would likely have needed to use one of his trump cards to break this formation.

It was precisely because of this that he believed a hidden treasure manor left behind by some predecessor lay concealed beneath the formation.

"If I can truly find a treasure or two of heaven and earth, that will save me the trouble. I can simply bring them back and offer them to Master."

With that thought, Ye Shaochen stopped probing and let out a low shout.

"Open!"

In an instant, the spiritual power within Ye Shaochen surged into the Spirit-Seeking Ruler like floodwaters bursting through a collapsed dam, and an arcane pattern emerged upon the ruler's body.

This was the prototype of the divine ability he had painstakingly cultivated for years—[Lawbreaking]!

"Go!"

Ye Shaochen pointed with a finger, and the crystalline giant ruler crashed down upon the dark, mysterious water wall.

Rumble...

The water manor's formation shuddered violently as the crystalline giant ruler smashed through layer after layer of water walls, revealing a gate built of blue stone behind them.

Yet before he could make out the patterns on the gate, the breached water wall reassembled at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Tch.

This thing works when it feels like it."

Ye Shaochen frowned. His [Lawbreaking] divine ability prototype had two effects.

The first was to enhance power.

The second was to ignore purely spiritual-power-based methods, including but not limited to spells, secret arts, and formations.

The former was all right, as it could steadily increase a certain amount of power.

Taking a nascent magic treasure as an example, ordinarily, a fully refined nascent magic treasure could unleash roughly twenty percent of the power of a magic treasure wielded by an ordinary Core Formation cultivator.

But once enhanced by [Lawbreaking], its power could rise further, to around thirty percent.

Yet compared with the stable enhancement effect, the latter effect was entirely different. It was as erratic as a madman with a blade, and did not activate every time.

"Again!"

Ye Shaochen activated the Spirit-Seeking Ruler once more and struck three times in rapid succession.

Although the dark, mysterious water wall could reassemble itself, under the ceaseless barrage of rapid strikes, it was ultimately smashed completely through, and the crystalline giant ruler landed upon the blue-stone gate.

Rumble!

With a tremendous crash, the blue-stone gate instantly shattered into pieces.

Though he still had not triggered the effect that ignored spiritual power, relying on the might of the nascent magic treasure enhanced by his divine ability, Ye Shaochen had still easily broken the Starlight Water Wall Formation seven or eight parts out of ten.

However, Ye Shaochen did not immediately enter the water manor.

He had tracked his way here all the way from Ten Thousand Stars Mountain, expending quite a bit of spiritual power in the process.

And although a divine ability prototype was powerful, it consumed an enormous amount of spiritual power.

Moreover, activating a nascent magic treasure was already no small burden on the spiritual power of a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator. At present, less than thirty percent of his spiritual power remained.

"When I came down the mountain, Eldest Senior Sister repeatedly warned me not to act rashly once my spiritual power fell below thirty percent. Otherwise, I might place myself in the perilous situation of exhausting it completely."

The thought flashed through his mind. Ye Shaochen recalled the Spirit-Seeking Ruler, landed atop an enormous stone slab at the bottom of the pool, and flipped out a jade bottle. He poured several round pills into his mouth.

"I'll restore my spiritual power first. The hidden treasure manor isn't going anywhere."

Ye Shaochen was truly large-hearted. He directly closed his eyes and focused his mind, beginning to breathe and regulate his energy, utterly unafraid that someone might seize the chance to ambush him.

And not long after he entered meditation, an ambusher truly appeared!

The pool water, which had been relatively clear moments ago, quietly turned pitch-black. Black water carrying a thick, fishy stench seeped down from above, staining the water as it came.

Immediately after, a colossal creature arrived, wrapped in surging poisonous water.

Only upon closer inspection could one see that it was a centipede more than a hundred feet long, with a thousand legs.

Every segment of its carapace gleamed with an eerie green chill. Hundreds of pairs of vicious legs churned the water, and wherever it passed, aquatic plants withered and rocks corroded!

The thousand-foot centipede swiftly approached Ye Shaochen's location, clearly intending to launch a sneak attack.

But before it could come within thirty zhang of Ye Shaochen, a sword cry suddenly rang through Longevity Pool.

A streak of azure sword light shot out from Ye Shaochen's abdomen. Looking closely, one could see a palm-sized flying sword within that radiance.

The thousand-foot centipede was not overly alarmed by this. It let out a piercing hiss as venom surged across its body, forming a thick poisonous shield.

This was its innate talent—the Thousand Poison Shield.

The Thousand Poison Shield contained a potent venom. Not only could it corrode the spiritual essence of cultivators' artifacts and treasures, it could also greatly weaken spell attacks.

The thousand-foot centipede was exceedingly confident in its innate talent, believing it could easily block this streak of sword light.

Yet in the next instant, terror appeared in its compound eyes!

Whoosh!

The azure sword light did not pause in the slightest, effortlessly piercing through the Thousand Poison Shield the centipede had been so proud of.

There was no expected sizzling of venom corroding an artifact, nor was there any thunderous roar of spiritual power clashing.

That thick poisonous barrier, capable of withstanding the full-force blow of a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator, seemed not to exist at all before the azure sword light. It was simply ignored.

"How is that possible!?"

That was the thousand-foot centipede's final thought.

The next instant, the azure sword light pierced through the solid carapace atop its head in a single strike.

Chh...

With a soft sound and the crisp crack of shattering shell, the thousand-foot centipede's enormous body instantly stiffened. It watched helplessly as its head was cleaved in two!

Only after taking that sword strike did the thousand-foot centipede understand just how terrifying it was.

Its power had actually reached roughly forty percent of an ordinary magic treasure's, more than twice as strong as a typical embryonic magic treasure.

That was why Ye Shaochen had dared to restore his magic power so openly, unafraid of ambushers.

He was a sword cultivator and possessed a sentient flying sword capable of protecting its master on its own. That sword could even independently invoke the embryonic form of the Lawbreaking divine ability, with an even higher chance than when he invoked it himself of triggering the effect that ignored magic power.

Hiss!

Under the shadow of death, the thousand-foot centipede's massive body writhed wildly, its inky poisonous blood instantly dyeing the entirety of Longevity Pool black.

But its miserable wails quickly weakened, for that single sword strike was rapidly extinguishing the remnants of its life force.

Meanwhile, the palm-sized sentient flying sword had already spun lightly through the water and slipped back into Ye Shaochen's dantian.

At the bottom of the pool, only the thousand-foot centipede's massive corpse slowly sank. Its hundreds of pairs of vicious legs twitched a few times before falling utterly still.

From beginning to end, Ye Shaochen had not even opened his eyes. He continued breathing and regulating his qi, swiftly restoring his magic power, as though nothing had happened.