Venerable Profound Ice! A Sudden Windfall! / Divine Weapon, Burning Heaven! Arrival in Wutan City!

The Netherworld Poison Flame before him differed from the Green Lotus Core Flame from earlier. The Green Lotus Core Flame had possessed some intelligence, but this Netherworld Poison Flame had previously been refined by a soul body, so its intelligence had naturally been erased.

Thus, it was collected by Qin Hao without the slightest resistance.

He then released the Twin-Winged Scarlet Qilin King and had him watch over Qinglin and Xiao Yi Xian while also standing guard for him.

After arranging everything, Qin Hao did not hesitate. He sat cross-legged on the ground and began frantically absorbing and refining the soul origin within his body.

Although this soul body's origin had suffered severe losses over a long period of time and had also been heavily injured by Qin Hao just now, leaving it with less than one-tenth of its peak strength—

It had been a Dou Zun-level existence in life, after all, and its soul had reached the Spirit Realm. At its peak, its soul realm had certainly been much stronger than Qin Hao's, who had only just entered the Spirit Realm.

Therefore, this soul origin was undoubtedly an immense tonic for him.

As the Soul-Devouring Art continued to devour the enormous soul origin and merge it into his own soul, Qin Hao's soul power began to soar.

At the same time, aside from the increase in soul power, Qin Hao noticed that as he continuously devoured and refined the other's soul origin, streams of unfamiliar information flooded into his mind.

Almost instantly, Qin Hao understood. If nothing unexpected had happened, this information should have been fragments of the soul body's memories.

However, Qin Hao was currently devoting all his energy to devouring and refining the soul origin, leaving him no time to sort through the chaotic memory fragments in his mind.

"Buzz!"

No one knew how much time had passed. As the final trace of soul origin completed its fusion, Qin Hao's body trembled slightly. Then, the soul aura around his entire body seemed to undergo some kind of transformation, surging severalfold in an instant.

Clearly, his soul realm had broken through once again, advancing directly from the Spirit Realm Early Stage to the Spirit Realm Mid-Stage.

The remaining origin of a single soul body had allowed Qin Hao's soul realm to break through. From this, it was not difficult to see that this soul body had been extremely powerful in its prime, likely among the strongest ranks even among Dou Zuns.

Profound Ice Venerable! A Sudden Fortune!

Only after completing the devouring and refinement did Qin Hao begin organizing the complicated information that had appeared in his mind.

These were the memories of the soul body's entire life, so the amount of information was immense.

Fortunately, Qin Hao's soul realm was powerful enough. Otherwise, if an ordinary person suddenly gained such an enormous amount of memories, their head would probably have burst long ago.

"So that's how it was! It was the ancestor of Ice River Valley... I never expected that old bastard to have such an identity!"

After a long while, once he had completely sorted through the information in the soul body's mind, Qin Hao finally understood the other's origins.

To Qin Hao's surprise, this soul body had an extraordinary background. He was not from the Northwestern Region, but from the Central Plains.

Moreover, he was the ancestor of Ice River Valley, a first-rate force in the Central Plains. Known as the Profound Ice Venerable, his seniority was even higher than that of Ice River Valley's current valley master, the Ice Venerable.

At his peak, his cultivation had reached the realm of a Seven-Star Dou Zun. A Seven-Star Dou Zun was a high-level Dou Zun; in the absence of a Dou Saint, he could absolutely be considered a regional titan.

After all, most of the renowned Dou Zuns in the Central Plains were only low-level Dou Zuns on the surface. There were not many mid-level Dou Zuns at all.

For example, the famous Wind Venerable had only been around a four- or five-star Dou Zun at most when he appeared in the original work. Thus, the Profound Ice Venerable was undoubtedly a major figure.

After refining the other's memories, Qin Hao also learned why he had appeared here.

It all began with a forbidden secret art of Ice River Valley.

This secret art was specifically related to the Calamity Poison Body. Ice River Valley possessed a secret technique capable of cultivating an Acquired Calamity Poison Body, using special methods to artificially create one.

However, this secret technique was extremely dangerous. Describing it as a near-death experience would not be an exaggeration.

In the original work, the Ice Venerable, the valley master of Ice River Valley, had successfully cultivated an Acquired Calamity Poison Body.

Yet while the Acquired Calamity Poison Body was powerful, it was clearly nowhere near a true Innate Calamity Poison Body. That was why, after discovering that Xiao Yi Xian possessed a Calamity Poison Body in the original work, the Ice Venerable had spared no effort in trying to capture her.

The Profound Ice Venerable before him had been the same. Like the Ice Venerable, he had also cultivated an Acquired Calamity Poison Body.

To further strengthen his Calamity Poison Body, the Profound Ice Venerable came up with a method: finding a poison-attributed Netherworld Poison Flame and using its power to strengthen the Acquired Calamity Poison Body until it reached a level comparable to an Innate Calamity Poison Body.

It had to be said that his luck was indeed good. He had actually found the Netherworld Poison Flame, which had been discovered in an ancient Netherworld Poison Marsh within the Cloud Empire.

Naturally, the Netherworld Poison Flame was eventually refined by the Profound Ice Venerable.

He then began using the power of the Netherworld Poison Flame to strengthen his Acquired Calamity Poison Body.

However, he had never imagined that he would lose control. Under the catalysis of the Netherworld Poison Flame, the power generated by the Acquired Calamity Poison Body within him directly ran wild.

The Profound Ice Venerable instantly suffered a terrifying backlash. He did not even have time to return to Ice River Valley to enter seclusion before accidentally discovering this cave within the valley.

That was right. The cave on the valley cliff had not been excavated by the Profound Ice Venerable. When he arrived, there had only been a skeleton within the entire cave.

He had directly continued digging toward the mountain's interior from a corner of the cave.

To be safer, he had taken out several items and casually tossed them beside the skeleton, disguising the place as the cave dwelling of an expert who had passed away in meditation.

He had even opened up a small medicinal field to conceal the traces he had left behind.

That way, he believed that even if someone found this place, they would not discover that there was another world beneath the cave.

It had to be said that his plan was good, but unfortunately, even the most meticulous plan had its flaws. Qin Hao found the loophole.

After the Profound Ice Venerable finished arranging everything, the Calamity Poison Body within him completely lost control. In the end, he suffered a cultivation deviation and passed away in meditation within the stone chamber, remaining there until Qin Hao arrived.

At the same time, Qin Hao's complete refinement of the Profound Ice Venerable's memories meant that he had obtained the Profound Ice Venerable's complete inheritance.

The value of an inheritance from a high-level Dou Zun was naturally self-evident.

The only thing Qin Hao found regrettable was that the techniques and Dou Skills mastered by the Profound Ice Venerable were mostly ice-attributed.

The highest-ranked among them had reached the Earth Rank High Grade. Unfortunately, Qin Hao possessed fire with wood attributes, so he could not use any of the other's powerful Dou Skills at all.

He could only find suitable people to exchange them with in the future.

Suppressing his thoughts, Qin Hao slowly opened his eyes.

"Master!"

When they saw Qin Hao finish cultivating, the Twin-Winged Scarlet Qilin King, Qinglin, and Xiao Yi Xian all hurried forward and asked with concern.

"Mm. How long did I cultivate?"

Qin Hao asked.

"A little over a day, I think!"

Xiao Yi Xian replied.

After hearing Xiao Yi Xian's answer, Qin Hao slowly nodded. His gaze then fell upon the Profound Ice Venerable's skeleton before finally settling on one of the bones of his right hand.

A dark storage ring was visible there. It was the high-grade storage ring used by the Profound Ice Venerable, containing most of his wealth.

His spiritual power instantly entered the storage ring, and everything within immediately appeared in his perception.

Although he had already gained a rough understanding of the storage ring's contents by refining the Profound Ice Venerable's memories, he still could not help feeling excited upon seeing them with his own eyes.

As a Seven-Star Dou Zun, the Profound Ice Venerable's wealth was naturally unimaginable. Almost nothing he had collected was ordinary.

Techniques, Dou Skills, all kinds of materials, rare treasures, medicinal herbs, and more. Aside from the medicinal herbs, however, many of the other items did not suit Qin Hao's attributes.

Still, because the other had cultivated an Acquired Calamity Poison Body, the storage ring contained quite a few poisonous creatures, venomous insects, poisonous herbs, and poison-attributed treasures.

When the time was right, he could give these things directly to Xiao Yi Xian.

Overall, Qin Hao was extremely satisfied with this harvest. It had even far exceeded his expectations. He had made a fortune in one stroke and suddenly become rich.

"Oh, right..."

At that moment, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Qin Hao's mind, and his consciousness entered the storage ring once more.

The next instant, a flash of light appeared before Qin Hao, followed by an ancient crimson-gold saber. It was one of the treasures collected by the Profound Ice Venerable.

Divine Weapon Heaven-Burning! Arriving at Wutan City!

The Earth Rank Dou Skill Qin Hao had obtained earlier, Eight Desolations Fire Dragon Slash, required a weapon to unleash its greatest power.

Qin Hao had previously considered finding a suitable weapon, but he had never found one. The crimson-gold saber before him clearly suited his needs perfectly.

This saber had been obtained by the Profound Ice Venerable while exploring ruins. Its material was incredibly sturdy; even a full-force strike from a Seven-Star Dou Zun like the Profound Ice Venerable could not leave the slightest mark on it.

It was also incomparably sharp, absolutely worthy of being called a divine weapon. Unfortunately, the Profound Ice Venerable was not skilled with sabers, and this saber had been forged from fire-attributed materials, making it a fire-attributed divine weapon.

It was completely unsuitable for the Profound Ice Venerable, so it had remained in his storage ring all this time.

Finally, Qin Hao's gaze fell upon the saber's hilt, where two ancient seal-script characters were engraved.

Heaven-Burning... Not bad. What a domineering name. In that case, from now on, it shall be called the Heaven-Burning Blade!

Qin Hao thought to himself.

"What a powerful fire-attributed divine weapon!"

After circulating his Dou Qi and testing it, Qin Hao's gaze toward the Heaven-Burning Blade became increasingly fervent.

After testing it, he discovered that the Heaven-Burning Blade had a powerful amplifying effect on fire-attributed Dou Qi, increasing its power by at least twofold. If he used a saber-type Dou Skill, the amplification effect would definitely be even greater.

"Not bad, not bad! I never expected another unexpected gain! Thank you for your support, Profound Ice Venerable, my top supporter!"

Qin Hao thought mischievously. With such a suitable divine weapon in hand, his strength had clearly increased once again.

Next, Qin Hao transferred everything from the Profound Ice Venerable's storage ring into the World Ring.

"Xiao Yi Xian, you can have this high-grade storage ring. The mid-grade storage ring I gave you before was a little too low-grade!"

After finishing everything, Qin Hao directly handed the storage ring to Xiao Yi Xian.

"A high-grade storage ring! Master, isn't this too precious?"

Xiao Yi Xian could not help asking.

"It is nothing more than a storage ring. The one I gave Qinglin before was also a high-grade storage ring. You are both my disciples, so naturally I should treat you as equally as possible!"

Qin Hao waved his hand.

"Oh, and this Nine-Colored Poison Manual. I found it in the storage ring just now. It is an upgraded version of the Seven-Colored Poison Manual! Take it and study it properly!"

Immediately afterward, Qin Hao also gave Xiao Yi Xian the system-returned Nine-Colored Poison Manual.

"Thank you, Master!"

After hearing Qin Hao's words, Xiao Yi Xian did not put on any false airs. She respectfully accepted the storage ring and the Nine-Colored Poison Manual, speaking with a grateful expression.

``` "Ding! The host has bestowed one high-grade storage ring upon disciple Xiao Yi Xian. Return conditions met! Thousandfold return triggered! Obtained one cubic measure of World Crystal!"

"Hmm? World Crystal? What is that?"