Chapter 25

Lin Mu gave Fang Ling a golden sword talisman, which was almost the most powerful protective item he had now. Just a moment ago, Fang Ling even thought of using this golden sword talisman to kill both the Corpse and the Venerable Master.

However, he did not expect that the golden sword talisman would break into two pieces upon colliding with the Venerable Master's short knife, which was full of yin energy.

"Boy, you think you can match my Mystic Yin Knife with just a talisman! Now, die!" As the Venerable Master spoke, he flicked his fingers, and the short knife shot toward Fang Ling like lightning.

When the knife was still three feet away from him, Fang Ling felt a cold chill envelop his entire body, rendering him completely immobile.

He could only watch helplessly as the short knife split him in two.

Fang Ling felt death was so close to him!

The Venerable Master did not care about Fang Ling's death at all. This boy dared to sneak attack him, and he truly deserved to die! He even thought that letting the boy die so easily might be too merciful.

"Thud"

At the moment this thought arose, the Venerable Master felt a chill in his chest and abdomen. In his last moments of consciousness, he saw a hole appear in his chest.

A black hand emerged from the hole.

The Venerable Master was not unfamiliar with this black hand.

He tried to turn his head to confirm his judgment, but his head could no longer move.

With a forceful push from the Corpse's hand, the Venerable Master's body split into two.

Fang Ling did not feel any joy at the death of this formidable enemy. At this moment, he was staring intently at the black short knife that had already reached him.

Could he be so unlucky to kill the Venerable Master and then die by his knife?

The knife's light was as fast as lightning, and under the yin energy, Fang Ling could not move at all!

Death was the only path for Fang Ling at this moment!

"Clang"

A clear metallic sound rang in Fang Ling's ears, and with this sound, the Mystic Yin Knife fell to his feet.

Fang Ling moved his body with great difficulty and felt that his entire body was drenched in sweat.

This was truly a moment of life and death!

The black Corpse stood quietly beside Fang Ling. In the dim light, Fang Ling could even see the look of disbelief in the Venerable Master's eyes.

After taking a few quick breaths, Fang Ling pushed the fear in his heart to the back of his mind and reached out to pick up the black knife.

This black knife was not too heavy, but touching it gave a feeling of almost freezing. Fang Ling intended to observe the black knife carefully, but after a few breaths, he could not bear the yin cold of the knife.

Reluctantly, he put the black knife into his small storage bag and picked up the golden sword talisman.

The golden sword talisman, now in two pieces, had no trace of spiritual energy and looked no different from ordinary yellow paper.

Fang Ling sighed and carefully stored it away.

The decaying smell made Fang Ling focus on the Corpse again. Thinking of the purpose of his visit, he began to search the cave.

Although the outside of the cave was not large, the inside was spacious. At the deepest point, twelve black coffins were arranged in a circle.

Fang Ling looked and saw that the eleven Corpse inside the coffins were intact.

Without delay, he used the same method to re-refine the eleven Corpse.

With twelve Corpse of the seventh layer and above appearing in the cave, the decaying smell became even stronger. However, facing these twelve Corpse, Fang Ling felt a surge of joy. With these twelve Corpse, he was confident he could take on a cultivator of the seventh layer of Qi Cultivation.

"Collect!"

With a thought, Fang Ling directly stored the twelve coffins and ten Corpse into the Xijiao Yanchen Map. The other two Corpse were placed at the cave entrance as a warning.

The burning torch illuminated the cave like daylight, and it also illuminated Shen Mufeng's emaciated and terrified body. Although the story of the Nine-Transcendence Dao Pill was mostly false, Fang Ling still decided to search him.

"The *Vajra Palm* and *Giant Spirit Hand* are not much different from the *Light Splitting Sword Technique*. Practicing them is not very useful!"

"Ten thousand gold notes, this Shen Mufeng is quite wealthy!"

"Hey! What's this?" Fang Ling held a jade token and examined it carefully. The jade token was only the size of a palm, with many tiny characters written on it.

After staring at the characters for a while, Fang Ling's face showed a look of wild joy: the formula for the Nine-Transcendence Dao Pill!

The discovery of this formula made Fang Ling extremely excited. After all, his most critical goal now was to break through the seventh layer of Qi Cultivation. With the formula for the Nine-Transcendence Dao Pill, breaking through the bottleneck of the seventh layer would be a matter of course.

Thinking about the content of the formula, Fang Ling pondered for a moment and then focused his gaze on Shen Mufeng.

Although he was not very clear about this man's background, one thing Shen Mufeng did not lie about was that he had the Nine-Transcendence Dao Pill.

Memorizing the formula on the jade token, Fang Ling used his hands to crush it into a pile of jade powder, which fell to the ground.

From Shen Mufeng, Fang Ling received a pleasant surprise, which made him look forward to what he might find on the strange Venerable Master. After a thorough search, Fang Ling found a small storage bag on the Venerable Master.

This storage bag was twice the size of the one Lin Mu gave him, equivalent to a room.

Inside the storage bag, there were many items piled up haphazardly.

Fang Ling flipped through them and found that, apart from some clothes and gold, what truly caught his attention were a few small bottles of pills, a long jade block, and several books.

Picking up a small bottle, he saw the words "Python Sinew Pill" written on it. Opening the bottle and pouring out a pill, a spicy smell hit his nose.

What was the effect of this medicine?

Fang Ling did not dare to consider himself a divine farmer. He carefully examined it and then put the pill back into the small jade bottle.

The other bottles were labeled "Gold Essence Pill" and "Jade Spirit Pill."

Putting down the jade bottle, Fang Ling picked up the long jade block. There were no marks on the jade block, but it emitted a faint glow in the torchlight.

Could this be a jade slip used by cultivators to record information?

Fang Ling's mind raced, and he used the method he remembered to read the jade slip: *Mystic Yin Great Essence Technique*.

After reading the content of the jade slip, Fang Ling fell into deep thought.

The jade slip recorded the first three layers of the *Mystic Yin Great Essence Technique*.

Cultivating the *Mystic Yin Great Essence Technique* to the third layer could result in the formation of a Golden Core.

Fang Ling's current cultivation, the Yuan Cultivation Technique, could only reach the Foundation Establishment stage, while the *Mystic Yin Great Essence Technique* was clearly several levels higher than the Yuan Cultivation Technique!

Fang Ling was tempted, but he ultimately suppressed his desire.

He had already cultivated the Yuan Cultivation Technique to the fourth layer. If he were to start over with the *Mystic Yin Great Essence Technique*, it would be counterproductive. Moreover, in half a year, the time for the various sects to select disciples would arrive, and he could not afford to miss it.

"This cultivation technique would be suitable for Sister Ying to practice!"

Muttering to himself, Fang Ling began to flip through the other books.

After more than an hour, Fang Ling put down the books and looked at the Venerable Master, who was now in two pieces, with a complex expression.

This expression contained surprise, disbelief, and admiration...

No matter in his past or present life, Fang Ling was a proud person, and it was not easy for him to genuinely admire someone.

However, the Venerable Master, now properly called Wang Chengxian, made Fang Ling truly admire him.

*Wang Chengxian's Dao Seeking Record* was not a secret cultivation technique but a record of Wang Chengxian's journey to seek the Dao.

This record detailed Wang Chengxian's Dao-seeking journey. Despite his mediocre talent, he had not yet broken through the seventh layer of Qi Cultivation. However, through decades of focused research, especially after obtaining the Mystic Yin Knife from a dying cultivator, Wang Chengxian found a path that no one else had taken.

*Blood Refinement and Treasure Forging Technique*!

According to Wang Chengxian, the human body itself is a treasure, and the outside world is also a treasure. If one cannot use the treasure within, one should use the treasure outside!

This theory already made Fang Ling admire him, but what made him even more impressed was that Wang Chengxian found a path of blood refinement.

This path involved using the blood refinement method he discovered to establish a blood connection between the cultivator and the magical tool, thereby enabling the control of the magical tool.

In the eyes of normal cultivators, this method of refining magical tools was considered a heretical path. After all, if one does not cultivate properly, one's lifespan is short, and after a hundred years, one would be nothing but a handful of dust. Cultivators would not choose this method.

However, it gave those with ordinary talent, who could never advance to the seventh layer of Qi Cultivation, a chance to control magical tools.

Wang Chengxian, before his death, was still at the sixth layer of Qi Cultivation, but with the Mystic Yin Knife he had blood-refined for many years, he could at least match a cultivator at the eighth layer of Qi Cultivation.

He was a man who broke the conventions!

Killing this man, Fang Ling did not regret it, as his own life was more important.

But a person who could forge their own path was always admirable!

Fang Ling bowed to Wang Chengxian's body and used the Shocking Rainbow Sword to dig a grave outside the cave, burying Wang Chengxian's body.

Summoning the Mystic Yin Knife from his storage bag, Fang Ling carefully examined it. It was because of this short knife that Wang Chengxian took a different path of heart refinement, but he also paid a price for achieving it!

The extremely cold Mystic Yin Knife, when blood-refined by Wang Chengxian, invaded his body with yin energy, and he had to drink human blood every day to alleviate the cold poison.

Although Wang Chengxian mentioned in *Wang Chengxian's Dao Seeking Record* that he had found a way to prevent the yin energy from invading, Fang Ling still had some reservations.

He did not want to drink blood to warm himself like Wang Chengxian, but the Mystic Yin Knife deeply attracted him.

After a brief moment of thought, Fang Ling decided to store the Mystic Yin Knife first and took out a bottle of Python Sinew Pills. According to *Wang Chengxian's Dao Seeking Record*, this medicine was highly beneficial for cultivators from the fourth to the sixth layer of Qi Cultivation.

Wang Chengxian used this medicine to advance from the fourth to the sixth layer!

Fang Ling would not let such a good medicine go to waste!

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