Soul Fusion; Stone Spirit Advances

The brightly lit room was eerily quiet.

Ye Jingcheng, who had just returned from the restaurant, sat on the bed with a serious expression. As the head of the family, he had to be responsible for the future of the Ye Family.

He picked up his cup, took a sip of Floating Cloud Tea, and tried to clear his mind.

The conversation with Ye Haicheng and other Clan Elders in the restaurant all pointed to the impending crisis.

Unfortunately, the source and timing of this crisis remain unknown, making it impossible to devise the best solution.

Clearly, either the Ye Family is being targeted, or they haven't yet qualified to be seated at the table for a meal.

But for the Ye Family, preparations must be made in advance.

Ye Haicheng's meaning was clear: he wanted to abandon Eastern Region Taihang Commandery Yan Kingdom and allow his Lineage to break away.

All eyes are now on the Ye Family.

As long as the Ye Family doesn't have the power to overturn the table, they'll be dragged down sooner or later.

The "golden cicada shedding its shell" method is indeed the best approach, but how to preserve the Ye Family's mortals and cultivators is a huge problem.

The Ye Family doesn't have many cultivators, only a little over a hundred, and even including those from Hidden Peak, there aren't many.

However, there are hundreds of thousands of ordinary people. It would be unacceptable to slaughter them in the Yan Kingdom, and it would be extremely difficult to do so in the Azure Cloud Sea Region, where Beast Tides are very frequent.

But neither Turtle Ancestor nor his Grotto-Heaven were suitable; they were too small.

Ye Jingcheng pondered for a long time but still couldn't find an answer, so he could only shake his head and suppress his thoughts.

Fortunately, the real crisis has not yet materialized. As long as the Xu Family and Chu Families persevere, the Ye Family will be fine.

After all, the appearance of Tianfu True Person at the Ye Family's restaurant would send a signal to the others.

Otherwise, it wouldn't just be the Pill Pavilion and the Weapon Shop that appeared in Taihang Marketplace this time.

"It all comes down to strength!" Ye Jingcheng focused his mind, preparing to begin the soul fusion process.

In his view, when you don't know what to do, improving your skills is definitely the right thing to do.

Having considered this, he stretched out his palm, and as a flash of spiritual light appeared, three Five Poison Bees landed within it.

He waved his hand, and three Five Poison Bees rose up and buzzed around in the air several times, arranging themselves in several formations before gracefully landing in Ye Jingcheng's palm.

Only after confirming that the divided soul was complete did Ye Jingcheng feel at ease enough to begin forming the incantation.

This is, after all, the first time the soul has been divided into three paths, so we must be careful when fusing the souls now.

A burst of inspiration appeared, and a mysterious soul force was activated.

One by one, the Five Poison Bees began to dim.

Each time the Five Poison Bee Bees dimmed, the soul power in the room increased by one point.

After the three Five Poison Bees dimmed and fell completely silent...

Ye Jingcheng took out another Jade Soul Pill and swallowed it. Instantly, an even stronger surge of soul power filled the room.

Most of the day had passed before Ye Jingcheng finally opened his eyes.

He immersed his Divine Sense into the Stone Spirit Grotto-Heaven, and after testing it, his face lit up with joy.

The effect of this soul fusion was extremely obvious. His already powerful Divine Sense almost reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment at this moment.

He even felt that if he took another step forward, he could touch the third-order Divine Sense.

That's why he didn't hesitate to take a Jade Soul Pill.

I just wanted to see if I could break through to the Purple Mansion Divine Sense in one step.

However, because he had consumed a considerable amount of Jade Soul Pills Jade Soul Pill, their effect on him was now negligible.

It only has some advantage in restoring soul power.

If he wants to break through to the third level of Divine Sense, he needs to split and merge his soul at least once more.

Fortunately, after this soul split, he could still use three or four top-grade magic Law Artifact without any problems.

Although encountering Purple Mansion might still leave them with no chance of victory, at least they would have more power to protect themselves, and activating their Talisman Treasures would be faster.

Furthermore, he used the Great Turtle Aura-Hiding Art, so even ordinary Purple Mansion cultivators probably wouldn't be able to tell that he was hiding anything.

As for Golden True Person, Ye Jingcheng still had some self-awareness.

In the Cultivation World, arrogance is an extremely foolish thing, and Ye Jingcheng would naturally not do such a thing.

After sensing the changes in his own Divine Soul, Ye Jingcheng began to refine the three Spirit-Breaking Needles in his sea of consciousness anew.

When he was at Soaring Cloud Peak, he had only had time to stabilize his cultivation after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, but he hadn't had time to completely change his methods.

This Spirit-Breaking Needle needs to be refined again.

Although his current Divine Sense has not reached the strength of a third-tier Purple Mansion, it is several times stronger than before.

The newly refined Spirit-Breaking Needle is naturally even more powerful.

Even if it doesn't severely injure a Purple Mansion cultivator, it can at least deliver a fatal blow to Foundation Establishment peak cultivator.

By the time all the rituals had been completed, only a little over half the night had passed, with one day still remaining until the grand competition.

Ye Jingcheng then began feeding Stone Spirit the Shi Fang.

The Spirit Materials inside the Shi Fang had been almost completely collected two years ago, and his Lineage sent them all to him as soon as he left his secluded courtyard.

He hesitated to feed Stone Spirit the Shi Fang because Stone Spirit's intelligence was insufficient at the time.

But two years later, Stone Spirit's intelligence has grown considerably.

However, before feeding Shi Fang, he needed to take out all his Spirit Beast Spirit Insects and put them into his Spirit Beast bag, leaving only the Five Poison Bees inside for experimentation.

After all, the advancement of the Stone Spirit would most likely affect the Grotto-Heaven as well. If he used spirit medicine during the expansion, he wouldn't be so heartbroken, but if any of his four natal Spirit Beasts died, he would be worried.

After completing these steps, Ye Jingcheng took out the various mineral materials from the Stone Spirit.

Unlike the advanced version of the elixir, the Shi Fang only requires the Stone Spirit to absorb spiritual energy in a specific order.

Of course, the Stone Spirit is now quite intelligent, so it doesn't need Ye Jingcheng to give it the spiritual energy in the correct order. It only needs to give a command to let it absorb the spiritual energy in a specific order.

After absorbing most of the spirit ore, the entire Stone Spirit Grotto-Heaven became even more profound, and its aura began to change.

As you can see, faint dark patterns have begun to appear on the surface of the Stone Spirit, something Ye Jingcheng couldn't see before.

This means that Stone Spirit's bloodline is being activated.

At this moment, Ye Jingcheng also sensed the aura of the Stone Spirit, which was actually comparable to that of a second-stage early-stage Demon Beast.

In other words, the Stone Spirit is actually equivalent to a second-tier low-grade Stone Demon.

After advancing, based on the experience of Spirit Beasts, there is a high probability that they can advance to the mid-stage of the second tier, and may even gain new Secret Method.

Of course, even without that, he would be satisfied if the Stone Spirit's spatial Grotto-Heaven could become much larger.

This way, his Linghu Project could begin.

With the Spirit Lake, Ye Jingcheng can raise some spirit fish. In the future, he won't need to feed his Spirit Beasts with Spirit Beast meat every day; he can provide them with space to hunt.

All that's needed is to train their melee combat skills and prepare the elixirs in advance.

Besides, Ye Jingcheng was also curious about what Secret Method abilities he would gain after the Stone Spirit became sentient.

After all, now that the Stone Spirit has enough intelligence, it can also support the Beast Communion.

However, the advancement would take time. After seeing that Stone Spirit was on the right track, Ye Jingcheng closed his eyes to rest and quietly studied the Wood Scenery Pill and the Earth Return Pill.

Now that both the Jade-Scale Flood Dragon and the Crimson Flame Fox have entered the late stage of the second tier, the gap between Water Attribute spiritual power and Fire Attribute has widened again. At this moment, Ye Jingcheng needs to maintain balance and also pay close attention to the Golden-Scaled Beast and the Four-Colored Cloud Deer.

After all, both beasts have now completed their bloodline advancement and have considerable potential.

Both beasts have recently increased their demand for Spirit Cuisine and elixirs.

Previously, even low-grade second-tier elixirs had minimal effect.

In the Chu Family's shop, Chu Tianfen and Chu Xiyu other.

The two men looked both helpless and angry.

After a long silence, Chu Tianfen finally spoke:

"Have arrangements been made for the core members of the Lineage to disperse?"

"Yes, arrangements have been made to disperse them, but Ancestor, is there really no way for us today?" Chu Xiyu was still somewhat unwilling.

After decades of hard work and accumulation, they have become the Purple Mansion Lineage, only to have it all come to nothing in the end.

"There's nothing we can do. Xi Yu was arrested because our Spirit Artifact business was exposed, but the real truth is that rumors are circulating in all the countries that the Eight Desolations Sect's treasure has fallen into a secret Grotto-Heaven in Taihang Commandery!"

"Unless the secret treasure appears, neither the Xu Family Ye Families will be spared!"

"That's not just the opinion of the Taiyi Sect alone, but the opinion of the entire Eastern Region!"

"Otherwise, why do you think the Taiyi Sect allowed the Jin Family and Kong Families to establish branch families? It's because the Zhong Family encountered trouble, and the Taiyi Sect made a concession. Or perhaps Taiyi Sect True Person has been stationed in Taihang Commandery!"

"And why do you think Tianfu True Person appeared at the Ye Family Restaurant in Taihang? If something happens to the Ye Family, and he has a treasure in his possession, who will he ultimately turn to?" Chu Tianfen felt somewhat powerless. When he knew nothing, he still had a glimmer of hope.

But when he learned everything, he felt only powerlessness and suffocation.

Powerful beings can deduce things through Law Treasure, so their credibility is not low.

At the same time, and most importantly, the Taiyi Sect has not produced Nascent Soul Cultivator for a century.

The group was testing the limits of the Taiyi Sect.

"It's a pity that my Chu Family knew about these things, and it was through the Jin Family!"

The day passed quickly.

Ye Jingcheng opened his eyes and saw that Stone Spirit was still in the process of advancing. He then set up an Array to allow Stone Spirit to continue breaking through and advancing, while also having Stone Spirit close his Grotto-Heaven.

The secrecy surrounding the Stone Spirit has already been proven; the only possible exposure is when the Grotto-Heaven opens.

Given the current state of the Grotto-Heaven, even if it remains unopened for a month, the life-sustaining substances and Spiritual Qi within Grotto-Heaven will be sufficient.

Therefore, Ye Jingcheng was not worried at all.

He didn't put it away, though; it was best to avoid affecting the Stone Spirit's advancement if possible.

As long as the Grotto-Heaven is not opened, even if a cultivator discovers the existence of the Stone Spirit, they will only think of it as an ordinary stone demon, without the ability to create a spatial Grotto-Heaven.

Just then, a voice transmission Spirit Talisman came from outside.

Seeing this, Ye Jingcheng opened the door and went out.

I happened to see Ye Xinghe, Ye Haicheng, and Ye Jingyong all here.

"Patriarch, it's time to depart!" Ye Xinghe said, as today was the appointed day.

Ye Jingcheng nodded, but he hesitated for a moment because he didn't see Taihao Master.

"Taihao Master is already in Severing Harmony Valley!" Ye Haicheng immediately recognized what Ye Jingcheng was looking for.

Ye Haicheng then led the four of them towards Severing Harmony Valley.

The Spirit Boat they used was the same Iron-Controlling Boat they had come in.

Severing Harmony Valley is not far from Taihang Marketplace, and for cultivators of the Purple Mansion realm, this distance seems even shorter.

The Spirit Boat accelerated twice, and soon the outline of Severing Harmony Valley came into view.

It was a secluded valley.

It was utterly desolate inside, like a dead valley.

But Ye Jingcheng knew that Severing Harmony Valley had some history.

It is said that in the past, tens of thousands of cultivators perished here.

They were all wiped out by the Beast Tide.

This place also frequently attracts Devil Cultivators and blood cultivators, and corpse cultivators also often appear here.

Of course, all the truly valuable treasures in Severing Harmony Valley had already been looted, and even the spirit corpses with any value had long been dug up.

The entire valley was now filled with Sha Qi and utter desolation.

Choosing this location for the fight itself indicates that the competition is extremely risky.

"Brother Taihao!"

"Senior Taihao!"

Ye Jingcheng and the others soon spotted several figures above the valley.

One of them was none other than Taihao Master Ye Jingcheng was extremely familiar with.

The other side did indeed arrive quite early, and it seemed they had even made some preparations in the valley to prevent any hidden enemies from appearing.

Ye Jingcheng and the others immediately bowed in greeting.

In the distance, there was also Qian He, and two other Taiyi Sect Purple Mansion cultivators whom Ye Jingcheng did not recognize.

These four people clearly represent four groups within the sect.

The Chu Family's absence likely indicates that their vested interests within the sect have collapsed or even turned against them.

As Ye Jingcheng and the Taihao Master, three Spirit Boats began to appear in the distance.

The Spirit Boats of the Xu Family and Ye Haicheng possessed similar auras.

But the Spirit Boats of the Jin Family and Kong Families appeared enormous.

Moreover, its aura seemed to be equivalent to that of a third-tier Treasure Ark.

Ye Jingcheng, Ye Haicheng, and the others watched with a hint of envy.

Although the Spirit Boat and the Treasure Ark differ by only one character.

However, the Treasure Ark can be nurtured within the Purple Mansion, and at crucial moments, its explosive speed is extremely terrifying, far surpassing that of the Spirit Boat.

Even in the Cultivation World, some cultivators, in order to improve their survival ability, chose Treasure Ark as their natal magic Law Treasure after breaking through to the Purple Mansion.

Thus, cultivators of almost the same or even higher cultivation levels could not catch up with him.

This also led to a legendary tale of immortality.

"The auction is tomorrow, so let's get started without delay. First, let's have a friendly spar between Fellow Daoist Xu Chunlin from the Xu Family and Fellow Kong Yulong from the Kong Family!" Jin Zongliang was the first to speak.

He wasn't very interested in this competition either.

It was almost destined, upon hearing Jin Zongliang's words.

Xu Chunlin and Kong Yulong also stepped forward.

Xu Chunlin was currently clad in spirit armor, fully armed, and holding two offensive Law Treasure in his hands.

One is Swordsmanship, and the other is Flying Binding Rope Law Treasure.

For the Xu Family established family like the Xu Lineage, the benefits they had previously gained were considerable; otherwise, it would be extremely extravagant for a Purple Mansion cultivator to possess even one Law Treasure!

Xu Chunlin possesses three items, all of which are for defense and offense, with his natal magic Law Treasure being the Flying Binding Rope.

The difference between a natal Law Treasure and an ordinary Law Treasure is easy to recognize. A natal Law Treasure is absolutely compatible with the attribute Cultivation Method and shines with spiritual light.

On the other hand, Kong Yulong was different; he was holding three Thunder Spears.

Although the Thunder Spear was not his natal magic Law Treasure, Thunder Attribute Law Treasure are inherently more destructive than ordinary attribute ones.

"Golden Thunder Spear!" Xu Chunlin exclaimed in alarm, also filled with apprehension.

Kong Yulong smiled upon seeing this.

"I advise you to admit defeat!"

He said that, but the speed at which he activated his True Essence was incredibly fast.

The Golden Thunder Spear was immediately unleashed and shot towards Xu Chunlin!