It had been nearly 2,000 years since the founder of the Celestial Pole Sect established the sect on Dongting Mountain.

The Supreme Elders of each generation had guarded the Demon’s Den for so long, and they had encountered demonic energy surging up, but not a single demonic creature.

Not to mention the terrifying Ancient Demons.

As such, there was a high chance that there were no Ancient Demons or demonic creatures in the Demon’s Den.

The founder of the Celestial Pole Sect was most likely guarding against the leak of demonic energy.

It was unknown how deep into the ground the Demon’s Den was. If there was remnant devil energy inside, it wouldn’t dissipate on its own as time passed. Instead, as time passed, the more they would fuse together, making it difficult to eliminate.

Therefore, Wu Qifen and the other upper echelons of the Celestial Pole Sect were wary of the demonic energy.

Now that Su Jingxing, the Martial Sage, had joined them, they felt even more at ease.

The Demon’s Den concerned the safety of the entire Yu Nation. As long as one was a citizen of the Yu Nation, they would not want to see the demonic energy leak out.

Under such circumstances, Su Jingxing got along very well with Wu Qifen and company.

Therefore, he released the demonic energy from the demonic ball back into the Demon’s Den. Before leaving, Su Jingxing casually mentioned that he had heard that there was a treasure in Dongting Mountain called the Seven-Colored Heaven Crystal. He wondered if he could exchange for one or two pieces.

When Wu Qifen heard this, he immediately sent someone to bring three pieces and said that they would be gifted as “specialties”.

The Seven-Colored Heaven Crystal was indeed precious. It could gather the power of the universe, cleanse one’s mental will, as well as all emotions such as seven affections and six desires. It was an important treasure to condense a Divine Embryo.

But compared to a friendship with the Martial Sage, it was nothing.

Putting everything else aside, just the Transcendent-grade alone gave him a lifespan of 360 years.

For such a long period of time, as long as the Martial Sage occasionally took care of the Celestial Pole Sect, the sect would make a killing.

Things would not forever be smooth sailing for a thousand-year sect.

There were also similar factions that were enemies with the Celestial Pole Sect.

Only, the other parties were not in the Yu Nation.

With the protection of the Martial Sage, it was equivalent to finding a solid trump card.

A mere Seven-Colored Heavenly Crystal was nothing, even though only one or two Seven-Colored Heaven Crystals would only be produced every 10 years.

…

Wu Qifen and the others were secretly excited to get to know the Martial Sage.

Su Jingxing, who had easily obtained the Seven-Colored Heaven Crystal, was also overjoyed.

The Essence Soul left Dongting Mountain and caught up to its main body. When it put the Seven-Colored Heaven Crystals into the palm space, it also took out four cards.

These four cards came from the heretic Luo Jinhong, the long-haired old woman he had killed, and the two Supreme Elders whose corpses had been left at the entrance of the Demon’s Den.

Four people, two True Essence Cards with nine and 16 years of cultivation respectively.

One Deduction Card, five deduction chances, with a 70% chance of success each time.

This success rate and number of uses were surprising.

As expected of a Supreme Elder of the Celestial Pole Sect, an expert who created his own ultimate technique. Only he could give such a Deduction Card.

He should be able to complete the deduction of the Tiangang Demon Suppression Hand with this Deduction Card.

And that was indeed the case.

Su Jingxing couldn’t wait. He unlocked the card and deduced the Tiangang Demon Suppression Hand. He successfully filled in the gaps in this soul skill and patched up two-thirds of the content.

Originally, there was only the first half of the manual. This time, there was an additional section.

Su Jingxing sensed carefully and realized that he could cultivate it now.

Of course, it would take Su Jingxing a lot of time and a few Martial Arts Practice Cards to cultivate the Tiangang Demon Suppression Hand on his own.

It was unknown if there were any Martial Arts Practice Cards among the tens of thousands of cards extracted from the Luori Prefecture.

There were too many cards, so Su Jingxing endured it for now.

He held the fourth card in his hand, which was the card he had extracted after Luo Jinhong’s death.

After reading the information, his pupils constricted abruptly.

The Heavenly Demon Card!

The card he extracted from Luo Jinhong’s corpse was actually a Heavenly Demon Card.

Another new card.

The “Mixed Bloodseeker Corpse” that the notification indicated was different from Shi Zhinie’s Inferior Bloodseeker Corpse.

He had obtained a Regeneration Card from the latter for organ regeneration.

Luo Jinhong actually gave a Heavenly Demon Card.

The function of the Heavenly Demon Card was both magical and powerful.

After unlocking it, it could turn a person into a demon!

Moreover, the person would be a demon who retained his consciousness with explosive power that he himself could control at will.

Su Jingxing had seen the lethality and destructive power of Luo Jinhong as a demon.

After the Heavenly Demon Card was unlocked, the transformed demon would only be stronger than Luo Jinhong.

It was just that the duration was too short.

After the transformation, he only had three minutes.

Once three minutes were up, he would lose this ability.

In other words, the Heavenly Demon Card was a one-time use card.

Even so, Su Jingxing couldn’t help but click his tongue inwardly.

Transforming into a demon, this would be a great killing weapon if used well.

Su Jingxing took a deep breath to suppress his excitement and put the card away.

He kept the Heavenly Demon Card and True Essence Cards as backup for now.

The last of the four treasures needed to forge the Kingdom Defending Jade Seal was still missing.

Among the four treasures, the Soul Return Stone was the most important.

It was the key to absorbing the citizens’ faith and mental power.

Xia Cangxuan only had one unverified clue about the Soul Return Stone.

This clue pointed straight to the Black Flame Cave!

Black Flame Cave, north of the Yu Nation, past Hong Nation, an area between Yue Nation and Guang Nation.

It was a famous forbidden area on the Eastern Continent, a perilous land…

Wait!

Suddenly, Su Jingxing remembered something.

If he remembered correctly, the hidden contents on the last page of the Nine Steps Trampling Heaven secret manual was not martial arts, secret abilities, pill formulas, or important secrets.

It was a passage and a map.

The map pointed to a land of peril.

That land of peril was not in the Yu Nation. Instead, it was located north of the Yu Nation, in a region between two large nations.

There was a paragraph attached to the secret manual that introduced the danger zone and the perilous land within.

One of the sentences had once moved Su Jingxing. He still remembered it clearly.

“Although the treasures in the land of peril can help one enter the Transcendent-grade, do not go there without entering first-grade. Remember! Remember!”

Su Jingxing was stunned.

Now that he thought back about it, he also connected it to the clue provided by Xia Cangxuan.

He could not help but be shocked.

“Could the treasure in the land of peril that the Wei Family’s ancestors mentioned be the Soul Return Stone?”

Su Jingxing was bewildered.

“No, the function of the Soul Return Stone is not to advance a person to the Transcendent-grade.

“This treasure must be something else.

“But the land of peril that the Wei Family’s ancestors mentioned is clearly the Black Flame Cave!”

The Black Flame Cave was a famous perilous land in the Eastern Continent.

There were precious treasures and also fearsome dangers inside.

Previously, Su Jingxing had planned to give it a visit after he reached the first-grade.

From the looks of it, he had to bring it forward.

The ancestors of the Wei Family warned their descendants not to go to the Black Flame Cave unless they were in the first-grade.

Su Jingxing’s main body was in the third-grade, while the Essence Soul had to guard the Void World, both of them were not suitable candidates.

But there was no problem with the Blood Doppelganger!

What was the most important thing about the first-grade?

It was not true essence cultivation of more than a hundred years, nor was it a Martial Art True Intent that could be released and remain active outside of the physical body for a long period of time.

It was a Divine Embryo!

The Divine Embryo was the manifestation of the fusion of the physical body, true essence, and soul into one.

In this state, one’s aura was restrained to the extreme, defense had reached perfection, and strength had climbed to the peak.

It was the peak period of a martial artist!

Yet.

No matter how strong he was, he was still a mortal body. How could he compare to the theoretically immortal Blood Doppelganger?