Translator: AnubisTL
As these words echoed, the Five Elements Spirit Saint finally realized he was facing a saint ancestor from the demon realm.
"Demon realm... saint ancestor..."
"Behold my Earth Essence Body!"
With those words, the Five Elements Spirit Saint, his face still pinned by the Formless Saint Ancestor, began to transform into earth.
In an instant, the corpulent figure vanished from the Formless Saint Ancestor's grasp, replaced by a body of mud.
Staring at the handful of yellow clay in his palm, the Formless Saint Ancestor paused, then muttered to himself, "So he also cultivated the Five Elements Escape Technique. He certainly knows how to make a quick getaway."
His gaze sharpened as he turned toward the direction the Five Elements Spirit Saint had fled.
The Five Elements Escape Technique was notoriously difficult to track and decipher. It allowed the user to vanish into earth, submerge into water, or conceal themselves within wood, making it unparalleled for escape.
However, activating this technique came at a steep price. During the escape, the user's cultivated Five Elements energy would rapidly drain.
At best, this could result in a setback in mana and a significant loss of cultivation progress. At worst, it could cause a direct drop in cultivation realm.
Given the Five Elements Spirit Saint's already severe injuries, forcing this technique would likely lead to even more dire consequences.
"Very well," the Formless Saint Ancestor murmured. "I have more pressing matters at hand. I won't pursue him for now."
"But these other little insects won't escape my grasp."
With that, the Formless Saint Ancestor took a single step, unleashing his extreme speed, and vanished from the spot in an instant.
Moments later, the four Nascent Soul cultivators who had accompanied the Five Elements Spirit Saint were all dead.
He pressed his hand to each of their faces in turn, absorbing their entire beings into himself.
In the next instant, the Formless Saint Ancestor's previously featureless face reformed, now bearing the exact likeness of the four cultivators.
The faces of the four deceased Nascent Soul cultivators had been completely stripped away, leaving them faceless and featureless.
"Hmm?"
Having plundered the fates of the four cultivators, the Formless Saint Ancestor, who had been about to depart, suddenly halted.
With a wave of his hand, a cyan spirit pearl and an earth-yellow spirit pearl flew out from the bodies of two of the cultivators.
The Formless Saint Ancestor shook his head with a silent chuckle. "The five elements spirit pearls... to acquire four so easily is quite unexpected."
As he spoke, four distinctively colored spirit pearls orbited his hand in a swirling dance. Among them, the crimson pearl representing the Fire Spirit Pearl was the most complete in form, yet its luster was the dimmest.
The other three pearls, though fragmented in structure, radiated brilliant light and pulsed with abundant spirituality.
The supreme treasure of the Human Realm, the five elements spirit pearls, had been effortlessly obtained by the Formless Saint Ancestor.
Though at his current level, such treasures held little significance for him.
After all, these were merely the five elements spirit pearls of a Minor World, lacking the allure of greater realms.
As a Demon Realm Saint Ancestor, even a wisp of his true body's qi mechanism could crush the entire Human Realm into collapse.
He represented the forbidden existence at the very end of the Great Dao.
After collecting the four spirit pearls, which were better than nothing, the Formless Saint Ancestor returned to the entrance of the Soul Nurturing Secret Realm.
He frowned slightly as he surveyed the scene, then sighed. "The opportunity has passed. Now I must recalculate the heaven's will to find the next opportune moment. I wonder when that will be."
Closing his eyes, the Formless Saint Ancestor patiently resumed his calculations.
Though the mental strain was immense, he persisted tirelessly.
Finally, after several days, he deduced the next time window for secretly entering the Soul Nurturing Secret Realm.
"Twelve days from now... Hmm, good things come to those who wait. A little extra time won't hurt."
He didn't anticipate any complications arising in such a short period. Even if Li Qing possessed the rare Void Chaos Destiny, it was impossible for him to undergo a complete transformation in just over two weeks.
Thus, the Formless Saint Ancestor continued his vigil, patiently awaiting the arrival of the appointed day.
In the frigid, desolate World of Eternal Night, an oppressive stillness hung heavy in the air.
The End of Dao Era had persisted for countless ages, its duration blurring in Li Qing's memory since his return to this realm.
With urgent matters pressing, he couldn't afford to linger elsewhere. He immediately began refining his artifact refinement techniques.
The spirit treasure Li Qing was refining this time was a killing sword, a type of magic artifact that had always been favored by cultivators in the cultivation world.
For Li Qing, this was by no means a difficult task.
However, the killing sword he intended to refine was different from ordinary spirit treasures. A mere spirit treasure would not meet his requirements.
In the future, he planned to refine a sword formation diagram inscribed with a killing formation, truly merging sword and formation into one, its power capable of slaying immortals!
"Using Geng Metal as the primary material, this first killing sword shall be named the Immortal Slaughtering Sword."
"This sword embodies pure slaughter. To confront the Formless Saint Ancestor, we need a spirit treasure with such extreme killing power."
With these words, Li Qing retrieved a segment of Geng Metal from his storage bag.
The metal was substantial, more than enough to refine a killing sword.
Instead of rushing into the refinement process, Li Qing closed his eyes, striving to enter a state of spiritual clarity.
In his mind, the principles of combining formation art and artifact refinement surfaced.
As he meditated, his thoughts gradually clarified, and his train of thought finally became smooth and coherent.
"That's it! Some formations require activation through formation flags. Perhaps I can consider using the killing sword to serve the function of a formation flag."
"Once the four killing swords are forged, I'll refine the killing formation diagram based on them."
"It'll be similar to the combined magic artifacts I refined before, but this time, it will be a spirit treasure."
When the killing formation diagram and the four killing swords are finally refined, the four peerlessly terrifying killing swords will merge with the formation diagram. Once activated, their combined power might truly be capable of slaying immortals!
As his artifact refinement strategy gradually crystallized, Li Qing finally opened his eyes.
Boom!
He channeled mana to ignite the spirit fire within his body, enveloping the Geng Metal in its searing flames.
Under the intense heat of the spirit fire, the already razor-sharp Geng Metal seemed to grow even sharper.
This artifact refinement process was destined to be lengthy, but fortunately, time flowed three times faster in the World of Eternal Night, so he didn't need to worry about time constraints.
Beneath the eternal night illuminated only by the Red Moon, the blazing flames flickered rhythmically, radiating waves of scorching heat across the surrounding frozen landscape.
In this End of Dao Era, Li Qing couldn't be certain if the refinement would succeed.
But he had no other choice. If he wanted to break free from his current predicament, his only hope lay in this endeavor.
(End of the Chapter)
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