Yuan Ming quickly walked over to Li Xia’s side and caught his head before it hit the ground. He intended to use the Soul Searching technique to uncover the identity of the Black River God.

However, before he could perform the technique, Li Xia’s soul suddenly exploded, releasing a wisp of black smoke that swiftly disappeared into the earthen wall above Quicksand City.

Yuan Ming’s face darkened slightly. He knew this was likely a trick set up by the person behind Li Xia, but there was nothing he could do. With a sigh, he picked up the orb and storage bag from Li Xia’s corpse. The believers and onlookers around him raised Li Xia’s head high.

“I am the emissary of the Dark Moon God. The false god’s minion has been executed on the spot. The light of the Dark Moon God shines upon the earth; the good are protected, and the evil are punished. Remember this well.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a strong silver-white light burst from his body, enveloping him and lifting him into the full moon hanging above. Hua Zhi also released the crowd, surrounded by a halo, and flew into the moon.

Witnessing this miraculous event, the crowd was awestruck by the power of the Dark Moon God, cheering fervently and with renewed faith.

In a corner of the crowd, Yuan Ming nodded at the scene, then slowly dispelled the illusion and retrieved Hua Zhi and his insect demon underling before turning to leave. He returned to his residence in the inner city.

“Leave the rest to Hu Ji. How did I do, Master? Wasn’t my performance great?” Hua Zhi eagerly sought praise as soon as they returned.

Yuan Ming nodded, not sparing his approval. “I think you were born for this kind of thing. What do you want?”

“I don’t want anything, just please don’t make me stay in the spirit beast bag anymore. It’s too dark in there…” Hua Zhi pleaded immediately.

Yuan Ming thought for a moment. Hua Zhi had become more human-like and disliked bitter cultivation. He grew faster when cultivating freely in the wild. Previously, near Wangyue City, due to the scarcity of demon beasts, his strength hadn’t improved much in five years. Now, in the Black Wind Desert, teeming with demon beasts, it was better to let him out.

With this thought, Yuan Ming nodded. “Alright, but don’t go too wild outside. Stay close to Quicksand City and be careful. The Black Wind can be troublesome.” Hua Zhi quickly agreed. Yuan Ming then took out a talisman and a set of black clothes to cover his body.

“This Avoidance Talisman cost me a lot in the city. Whether it works, even the seller couldn’t guarantee. Only wealthy Foundation Establishment cultivators would buy one just in case.”

Yuan Ming didn’t need to leave the city often, so it was suitable for Hua Zhi. Knowing the value of the talisman, Hua Zhi felt even more grateful and close to Yuan Ming. He took the items, bid farewell, and left with his insect demon underling. Yuan Ming then took out the orb Li Xia had held.

The orb was a high-grade magical artifact. After playing with it for a moment, Yuan Ming put it away and checked Li Xia’s storage bag.

There wasn’t much inside, just some elixirs, spirit stones, and a palm-sized black gourd. The gourd was made entirely of Nine Nether Ming Iron, cold to the touch, and intricately carved with two scenes: one side depicted a blazing sun with countless cultivators and mortals worshipping beneath it, and the other side showed a high-hanging dark moon with a faceless figure sitting cross-legged beneath it, holding the moon as if trying to grasp it, surrounded by countless wailing spirits fighting like in purgatory.

“This is Nine Nether Ming Iron!” Yuan Ming exclaimed softly, examining the gourd. His Soul Extinguishing Sword was also made of this rare material.

This iron was extremely precious, and the gourd being entirely made of it suggested that Li Xia’s backers were formidable.

Yuan Ming took out the gourd and tried to activate it but found it required a special technique to use.

He then probed it with his spiritual consciousness and was surprised to find it stored a large amount of wish power.

Yuan Ming was astonished. This gourd could store wish power!

Besides the Stealing Heaven Cauldron, he had never seen anything that could store so much wish power. Usually, only incense ashes could hold a small amount.

Could this black gourd be a treasure similar to the Stealing Heaven Cauldron?

But apart from being made of Nine Nether Ming Iron, it lacked intricate runes and was only a magical artifact.

He extended his spiritual consciousness to carefully sense the inside of the gourd and soon discovered a thumb-sized white object at the bottom, resembling a jade fragment.

The jade fragment emitted an attractive force, causing all the wish power in the gourd to revolve around it. Occasionally, some wish power would stir, but the Nine Nether Ming Iron shell of the gourd would contain it, preventing any from leaking out.

Yuan Ming realized that the gourd’s ability to store wish power was due to the jade fragment, with the Nine Nether Ming Iron shell merely serving as a container.

What was the origin of this jade fragment that it could attract wish power?

He tried to extract the wish power but found he couldn’t move it at all, only able to look on enviously.

He then attempted to probe the jade fragment with his spiritual consciousness. As he approached, he felt a strong pull, drawing his consciousness into the fragment and quickly severing his connection with it.

This pull was exceptionally powerful, far surpassing that of the Soul Extinguishing Sword.

Yuan Ming was greatly shocked. After studying it for a while, he found that he couldn’t utilize the wish power inside or extract the jade fragment without destroying the artifact.

With a sigh, he reluctantly put it away and pondered the matter of the Black River God.

Moreover, through his recent attempts, he confirmed that he could only absorb wish power generated for himself. Wish power generated for others was useless to him and couldn’t be mobilized.

Yuan Ming thought for a moment but couldn’t come up with any immediate solutions. He decided to adopt a wait-and-see approach, focusing on improving his cultivation and strength.

With this in mind, Yuan Ming sat cross-legged, summoned the Stealing Heaven Cauldron, and began absorbing wish power. Streams of wish power flowed in from all directions, gathering in the cauldron, significantly more than before. Over time, as the image of the Dark Moon God he had crafted took root in people’s hearts, and with Hu Ji’s talented management, the collected wish power steadily increased. The recent blow to the Black River God cult had been particularly effective.

This would surely accelerate his cultivation of the Death Moon method. As he thought this, he controlled his soul division to absorb all the wish power, rapidly increasing his soul power. Over a month passed in the blink of an eye. In the secret chamber, Yuan Ming, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, suddenly stopped absorbing wish power. A transparent soul crow flew out from his forehead and circled the room.

The transparent soul crow had grown significantly larger and its soul power had increased, though it seemed less agile than before.

“This Heart Cleansing Formula is truly strange. Reaching the second level already has such a significant impact on the soul,” Yuan Ming muttered to himself.

The soul division had been practicing the Heart Cleansing Formula, reaching the second level with the aid of abundant wish power.

Like the Death Moon method, the Heart Cleansing Formula had six levels.

The soul division’s consciousness was already weak, and the Heart Cleansing Formula’s effect of eliminating emotions made it even weaker. However, this was beneficial, as the soul division would remain under his control. Reaching the second level also allowed him to attempt a secret technique.

Yuan Ming retracted the soul division into his sea of consciousness, quickly forming hand seals. The soul power within the transparent soul crow surged, and a crack appeared in the middle, rapidly widening and deepening.

“Split!” Yuan Ming commanded softly. The transparent soul crow split into two halves, which quickly transformed into two slightly smaller transparent soul crows. This was the soul division technique recorded in the Grand Elder’s jade slip, requiring the Heart Cleansing Formula to reach the second level. Yuan Ming felt intense pain in his sea of consciousness, as if it were being split by an axe, far more painful than the soul splitting caused by the Soul Extinguishing Sword’s backlash.

He gritted his teeth and endured, his body trembling until the pain subsided.

“I didn’t expect the soul division technique to be so costly. Splitting the soul division is already this painful; splitting the main soul would be unbearable.”

Yuan Ming was filled with lingering fear. He sensed the two transparent soul crows, noting that their abilities to roam and possess were intact. He nodded inwardly, satisfied that the Grand Elder’s jade slip was accurate. With two soul divisions, he could accomplish more, and as he continued to refine wish power, the number of soul divisions could increase. If he ever reached the Grand Elder’s level of having hundreds of soul crows, he wouldn’t fear even if the entire Changchun Temple pursued him.

Yuan Ming waved his hand, and Zuo Qinghui’s body appeared on the ground. Over the past six months, the transparent soul crow had rarely possessed Zuo Qinghui, and although the body remained alive, its mana had nearly dissipated. Yuan Ming controlled a soul crow to enter Zuo Qinghui’s body.

His eyes regained color, and he sat up. Yuan Ming then had Zuo Qinghui sit cross-legged and practice the Golden Shadow Sword Art.

The surrounding spiritual energy began to flow into Zuo Qinghui’s body.

A transparent soul crow-possessed Zuo Qinghui could cultivate, indicating that the body had fully recovered and was no different from a normal person. With his soul division in control, Zuo Qinghui could serve as a special avatar.

Moreover, Zuo Qinghui had dual metal and water spiritual roots and was originally a Nascent Soul stage cultivator. Although his Golden Elixir had shattered, he still had potential and was worth nurturing. Yuan Ming accelerated the Golden Shadow Sword Art’s operation, finding it unusually smooth, as if it wasn’t the first time practicing this technique.

The spiritual energy quickly converted into mana, accumulating in Zuo Qinghui’s dantian.

“Even though his soul was extinguished, Zuo Qinghui’s cultivation experience remains in the body,” Yuan Ming noted. This was beneficial, as Zuo Qinghui’s talent and residual experience would allow his cultivation to progress rapidly.

“Take these elixirs and use them to quickly improve your cultivation.” Yuan Ming handed over several bottles of Qi Refining stage elixirs.

The insect elixirs he had were too potent for Zuo Qinghui to handle at the moment.

Zuo Qinghui took the elixirs and went to another room to cultivate on his own. Yuan Ming also sat down and began practicing the Nine Elements Formula.