Ten-Thousandfold Returns for Taking Disciples: Starting from Battle Through the Heavens, Part 12

"Break!"

A full quarter of an hour passed before a brilliant gleam flashed in Qin Hao's eyes, and the soul power within his sea of consciousness erupted completely.

Every secret rune on the scroll in his hand bloomed with dazzling light at the same time.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound followed, as though something had shattered. The ancient scroll, previously covered by seals, finally revealed its true form.

No wonder the owner of this storage ring never opened the scroll's seal. I didn't expect the seal to require one's soul realm to reach the Spirit Realm before it could be broken!

Soul Cultivation Technique, Soul-Devouring Art! The Powerful God-Slaying Thorn

Fortunately, Qin Hao's soul realm had just undergone a transformation and entered the Spirit Realm. Otherwise, he would have been equally helpless before it.

Now that the seal had been broken, a curious expression appeared on Qin Hao's face. He clearly wanted to see just what had been placed under such a powerful seal.

His soul power immediately entered the scroll as he began examining the information within.

"Hiss..."

"This, this is!?"

"A soul cultivation technique! It's actually this!"

However, once Qin Hao saw the contents of the scroll clearly, he completely lost his composure. He sharply inhaled, and the expression on his face became utterly spectacular.

Shock! Stupor! Disbelief!

In the end, it all turned into boundless ecstasy.

At that moment, he did not even know how to describe his feelings. It was like being handed a pillow just when he was dozing off.

When his soul had completed its transformation earlier, he had already thought that, if given the chance, he would definitely seek out a soul cultivation technique.

Yet having read the original work, he also knew perfectly well just how precious and rare soul cultivation techniques were.

On the current Dou Qi Continent, soul cultivation techniques had nearly been lost to history. Their value was practically comparable to Heaven-tier cultivation techniques and Dou Skills.

Qin Hao had always desperately desired soul cultivation techniques and Dou Skills.

Yet he had never expected this surprise to arrive so suddenly. A soul cultivation technique had simply appeared before him out of nowhere.

Only now did he understand why such a powerful seal had been placed on the scroll. Given the power and rarity of soul cultivation techniques, no seal could possibly be considered excessive.

From the information, he learned that the soul cultivation technique sealed within the scroll was called the Soul-Devouring Art!

It was an exceptionally powerful, yet somewhat... evil cultivation technique. Yes, evil.

As its name implied, it was not difficult to see that the Soul-Devouring Art was indeed a soul cultivation technique and could indeed strengthen one's soul. However, it did so by devouring the souls of others.

If this thing were placed in a cultivation world, it would unquestionably be a demonic cultivation technique.

But as a transmigrator, Qin Hao was not someone rigidly bound by old conventions. His moral boundaries were extremely flexible, and he never defined an inanimate object as righteous or evil.

Especially something like a cultivation technique—there was even less such thing as righteousness or evil.

To put it in the common view of people from later generations, cultivation techniques themselves were neither righteous nor evil. Only people were. Used for good, they were good; used for evil, they were evil.

Moreover, as a modern man, he had never claimed to be a good person. Or rather, among people from the future who lived in an age of information explosion, there were hardly any absolutely good people.

To some extent, the vast majority of modern people were egoists, and Qin Hao was no exception. Thus, he definitely did not have any moral obsession.

Besides, there was an organization called the Hall of Souls and a race called the Soul Clan on the Dou Qi Continent. In his eyes, they practically existed solely for his benefit.

The Hall of Souls had collected so many soul bodies. Rather than letting them benefit the Soul Clan or Hun Tiandi, he might as well take them for himself.

Once he became strong enough in the future, he would not mind paying a visit to the Hall of Souls' branch halls and helping the souls captured by the Hall of Souls attain complete release.

Furthermore, after reading the cultivation method of the Soul-Devouring Art, Qin Hao formed a suspicion. This thing might very well have originated from the Hall of Souls or the Soul Clan.

Of course, aside from the Soul Clan, there was another possibility—the legendary Devouring Spirit Clan. The methods of the Soul-Devouring Art were somewhat similar to theirs.

But regardless of this cultivation technique's origins, nothing could shake Qin Hao's resolve to cultivate it.

It was no exaggeration to say that after cultivating the Soul-Devouring Art, Qin Hao's strength would undergo another enormous transformation.

That was because the Soul-Devouring Art came with a powerful soul Dou Skill known as the God-Slaying Thorn.

The God-Slaying Thorn continuously condensed one's soul power into a sharp thorn, directly attacking the enemy's soul and making it impossible to guard against.

With his current Spirit Realm soul, if he unleashed the God-Slaying Thorn, even an ordinary Dou Huang would suffer a crushing defeat.

If he went all out, even a Dou Zong would stumble.

However, while the God-Slaying Thorn was powerful, it was not without limitations.

Each use consumed soul power. Compared with Dou Qi, soul power was far more difficult to replenish.

Thus, the God-Slaying Thorn could not be activated and squandered freely like other Dou Skills.

This method could only serve as a trump card for catching enemies off guard. Even so, it was clearly an enormous gain for Qin Hao.

Just like before—if he had possessed such a domineering technique as the God-Slaying Thorn while being pursued by that sixth-tier magical beast, he would not have been forced to flee in such sorry shape.

After a long while, he finally managed to calm his excited emotions and carefully put away the scroll.

Only then did his gaze turn toward the two notebooks beside him.

Without hesitation, he picked up one of the notebooks and slowly opened it. Countless densely packed words entered his sight.

Qin Hao began carefully reading the information recorded in the notebook.

It took only a short while for Qin Hao to finish reading all its contents.

The owner of this storage ring really was an alchemist!

This notebook recorded the life story of the storage ring's owner. Through its contents, Qin Hao gained a general understanding of the owner's background.

The owner of the storage ring was named Jiang Heng. He was neither from the Black-Corner Region nor the Northwestern Continent, but from the Central Plains.

However, he was not from any major faction in the Central Plains. He came from a minor family in Cloudmist City of the Central Plains, and the strongest member of the family was merely a Dou Wang.

Such a family would be considered fairly strong in the Northwestern Continent, but in a place like the Central Plains, even within a single city, a Dou Wang family was no more than third-rate.

Jiang Heng possessed decent talent and aptitude in alchemy. With his family's support, he became a fifth-tier alchemist.

Later, while traveling abroad, he happened to obtain a map.

Following the map's guidance, he successfully entered an ancient ruin. Within the ruins, he discovered the cave estate of an alchemist named Cang Xuanzi.

After tremendous effort, he finally obtained the treasures Cang Xuanzi had left behind.

Those treasures included Cang Xuanzi's alchemy inheritance, the medicinal cauldron he had left behind, and a mysterious scroll.

According to the notebook, Cang Xuanzi had been a powerful eighth-tier alchemist, and one of the very best among eighth-tier alchemists.

Although Jiang Heng had obtained the inheritance of an eighth-tier alchemist, his aptitude limited him, and he ultimately only reached the level of a sixth-tier alchemist.

The medicinal cauldron Cang Xuanzi left behind was precisely the one Qin Hao had seen earlier.

As for the cauldron's name, Jiang Heng had named it the Azure Profound Cauldron in Cang Xuanzi's memory.

Though the Azure Profound Cauldron was not listed on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking, it was undoubtedly among the finest medicinal cauldrons below that ranking. Across the entire continent, it could be considered an exceptionally rare treasure cauldron.

As for the mysterious scroll, it was the ancient scroll Qin Hao had opened earlier, the one sealed with the Soul-Devouring Art.

Qin Hao quickly set down this notebook. To him, it held no great value.

Finally, his gaze fell upon the last notebook, which looked even more ancient. It was precisely Cang Xuanzi's alchemist inheritance, which Jiang Heng had obtained from Cang Xuanzi's cave estate.

To Qin Hao, this notebook was the most precious item within the storage ring. After all, it contained the inheritance of a top-tier eighth-tier alchemist.

Without the slightest hesitation, Qin Hao carefully opened the notebook and began studying its contents with even greater attention.

Compared with the previous notebook, Qin Hao spent nearly an entire hour reading this one before he barely managed to go through all of its contents.

"Phew..."

"So this is the inheritance of an eighth-tier alchemist... It truly is terrifying!"

After a long while, Qin Hao could not help but exhale deeply. The shock and excitement in his eyes could not be concealed.

Although Qin Hao had been an alchemist before this, his alchemist inheritance had always been one of his weaknesses.

But now, he had actually obtained the inheritance of a top-tier eighth-tier alchemist. To him, it was simply an enormous surprise.

Did not Yao Chen, the old master in the ring of the original work's protagonist Xiao Yan, reach only the level of an eighth-tier alchemist even at his peak?

This alone showed the immense value of a top-tier eighth-tier alchemist.

Besides containing countless pill formulas of various grades, this notebook also recorded all kinds of alchemy insights. It was absolutely a complete inheritance from a top-tier eighth-tier alchemist.

The number of pill formulas recorded in the notebook far exceeded Qin Hao's imagination. Quite a few were clearly ancient pill formulas, the kind that had nearly disappeared from the continent.

After obtaining this eighth-tier alchemist inheritance, Qin Hao believed that with his talent and hard work, his alchemy would definitely undergo a qualitative leap within a short time.

"How was it? Did you gain much?"

After seeing Qin Hao finish examining everything, Zi Yan could not help stepping forward and asking curiously.

"I gained a great deal. The things in this storage ring are very important to me," Qin Hao said.

"Crimson Qilin [Twin-Winged Scarlet Qilin King], you did very well this time! These things are very useful to me. I definitely will not treat you unfairly in the future!"

Immediately afterward, Qin Hao suppressed the excitement in his heart and turned his gaze toward the Twin-Winged Scarlet Qilin King, speaking with a look of approval.

He truly had not expected such immense gains here. First a soul cultivation technique, then the inheritance of a top-tier alchemist—this was simply a heaven-sent opportunity.

Who would have thought that subduing the Twin-Winged Scarlet Qilin King on a whim would bring him such tremendous gains?

By now, the increase in combat power brought by subduing the Twin-Winged Scarlet Qilin King had become comparatively less important.

"You overpraise me, Master. It is my honor to be able to help you! I hope your alchemy improves soon!"