Wen Qingye picked up the unremarkable stone surrounded by Top-grade Primordial Stones. With no time to think further, he continued to race ahead.

RUMBLE!

Rubble rained down heavily.

"BANG!"

Wen Qingye met it with a punch, instantly shattering the massive boulder.

Just then, however, it felt as if the sky itself were collapsing. Alarmed, Wen Qingye leaped forward and rolled.

RUMBLE!

Following the deafening crash, an abrupt silence fell.

"HUFF... HUFF..."

Wen Qingye gasped for breath. ’If I hadn’t been a split second faster, I’d probably be a corpse right now.’

Even for Wen Qingye, that brush with death left a lingering fear in his heart.

Wen Qingye leaned back against a large boulder and took out the Spirit-Devouring Stone.

The stone in his palm looked perfectly ordinary and unremarkable.

But this stone was quite famous even in the Immortal Realm. The Spirit-Devouring Stone was also known as the Evil Stone.

If a Spirit-Devouring Stone were forged into a weapon, the weapon would gain the ability to absorb Primordial Qi. It would ferociously drain it from a person’s body or even other weapons, using the stolen energy to relentlessly strengthen itself.

If one had to assign it a grade, the Spirit-Devouring Stone would be considered a treasure of the Emperor Peak at the very least.

"This trip was more than worth it," Wen Qingye chuckled, looking at the Spirit-Devouring Stone in his hand.

After putting away the Spirit-Devouring Stone, Wen Qingye took out the Stone Beast Pearl and one of the nine Profound Pearls. The Profound Pearl before him had faded from its original milky-white to a dull white.

This discoloration was due to a massive loss of its Primordial Qi Essence.

Wen Qingye sat down cross-legged and entered a meditative state, remaining perfectly still as he began to circulate the Longevity Technique.

The thirty-sixth Great Circulation.

The seventy-second Great Circulation.

The three hundred and sixtieth Great Circulation.

He sat in meditation like this for dozens of days.

.......

A Stone Beast emerged from its lair and slowly began to move forward. It was quite powerful, with a cultivation at the Yin-Yang Realm Second Level.

Today, it trotted out full of smug satisfaction. This was the depths of the Four-Eyebrow Mountain Mine Cave, but there were always some foolish, overconfident humans who would wander in and become its next meal.

Suddenly, the Stone Beast caught a tantalizing scent up ahead. It felt its blood begin to boil with excitement.

The Stone Beast galloped wildly in that direction, its four hooves kicking up a cloud of dust.

After rounding a corner, the Stone Beast suddenly froze!

Myriad rays of light shot out from ahead. Threads and streams of starlight filled the air, and the piercing aura made the Stone Beast’s entire body go cold. Its fur stood on end. This presence was several times more terrifying than the Yin Yang Realm Third Layer Demon Beast it had once glimpsed from a distance.

HUMMM!

The air vibrated as faint ripples spread out. The ground began to crack, turning into motes of starlight. The starlight shattered and transformed into a white mist, which then dispersed, sweeping out in all directions. Then, the surrounding rubble began to shift violently, creating a great CLATTER.

The Stone Beast stared at the person sitting cross-legged. The aura surging from his body was so powerful that the beast felt its own heart begin to tremble uncontrollably.

Witnessing this, an oppressive, invisible pressure settled over the Stone Beast’s heart.

’Run!’

It was the only thought in its mind.

Wen Qingye’s eyes snapped open. Seeing the fleeing Stone Beast, a faint smile touched his lips.

His cultivation had advanced once more. He was now at the Peak of the Refining Spirit Tenth Layer, unrivaled in the Refining Spirit Realm.

The path behind him was completely buried, so Wen Qingye could only continue forward—the very direction from which the yin wind assailed him.

’The death qi here is so thick,’ Wen Qingye mused, his brow furrowing. ’Did something incredibly powerful die here?’

Most people weren’t very sensitive to death qi, but Wen Qingye’s perception of it was exceptionally keen.

A yin wind is formed when an overabundance of death qi gathers and attempts to disperse. The wind carries this death qi, which can interfere with a person’s Heart Spirit. It can also seep through skin and flesh, making it extremely potent.

He walked for an entire hour before he knew it. Wen Qingye felt increasingly uneasy, and the hairs on his arms stood on end.

’There’s resentful energy!’

Wen Qingye took a sharp step back, holding his sword horizontally across his chest.

Under the gaze of his Spirit Communication Eye Secret Technique, he could see specks of eerie purple light surging toward him from all around. This was the death qi.

Wen Qingye’s body trembled as surging Primordial Qi swirled across its surface, preventing the surrounding death qi from getting near him.

The farther forward he walked, the denser the death qi became.

The eerie glow in the air also grew thicker, transforming from scattered motes into a steady stream. But without exception, it was all held at bay by the Primordial Qi protecting Wen Qingye’s body.

’This death qi isn’t very condensed. It seems whatever is in there has been dead for quite some time,’ Wen Qingye thought, observing the ceaselessly emerging glow.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Suddenly, Wen Qingye felt as if his heart had been struck several heavy blows. He saw an eerie glow constantly flowing out from underneath a stone not far ahead.

The stone had a dark, black luster. It had clearly been steeped in death qi for countless years, causing it to undergo a mutation and become a Ghost Stone.

"Peerless death qi breeds mystery over a thousand years; a Netherworld Ghost Stone secretly links the realms."

A Ghost Stone is formed when an ordinary stone is corroded by death qi over many years. Rumor had it that these stones were a medium for communicating between the Yin Realm and the Mortal Realm, which led to numerous legends about them.

Of course, Wen Qingye knew perfectly well that a Ghost Stone could indeed communicate with the Yin Realm. However, the process required other, far more complex steps; the Ghost Stone itself was merely the simplest component.

Wen Qingye walked over to the Ghost Stone, placed his hands on it, and pushed.

The Ghost Stone was pushed aside. Instantly, the purple, eerie glow surged out like a torrential, unstoppable flood.

’The corpse must be buried in this soil. I wonder if the resentful energy within it has condensed to form a Corpse Ghost? And if it has, what level of Corpse Ghost would it be?’

Wen Qingye frowned at the thought, but he was also deeply curious about what lay buried here. ’What sort of injustice occurred here?’

’Hmph. Even if it is a Corpse Ghost, I’ll see how it measures up.’

With that, Wen Qingye slapped his palm onto the ground.

"BANG!"

Dust flew several meters into the air as countless grains of sand billowed up. A crater had appeared where his palm had struck.

Then, Wen Qingye took up his sword and began to slowly scrape the surrounding dirt aside. As he cleared the earth away, the eerie glow grew ever more intense.

"CLINK!"

Suddenly, Wen Qingye felt his sword strike something hard.

"SWISH!"

With a flick of his wrist, he gave a light pry with the blade.

And there...

A white bone appeared before Wen Qingye.