Perhaps because this area was better preserved, the number of blood corpses was extremely low. In turn, the power of the defensive arrays they faced increased dramatically.
The Heaven Soul Sect was, after all, one of the Archaic Era's hegemonic powers.
Even the lingering remnants of its arrangements were difficult for the two of them to fully bypass. The identity tokens were one correct method.
Half the time it takes an incense stick to burn later.
Heaven Soul Sect Scripture Pavilion.
When Wang Yu tried to step forward, a pale gray barrier suddenly rose, blocking him. The two exchanged a glance, then pressed their tokens against it at the same time.
The barrier rippled like water. As they moved forward, it swallowed them like a gentle wave.
His vision darkened for an instant. Next, Wang Yu found himself on the tenth floor. Long Yiran was no longer beside him.
The situation was clear: the tokens determined which floor one could access.
Focusing his gaze, he took in the state of this level.
Jade slips hung evenly on the walls. The space was far more expansive than it appeared from outside. Most jade slips were a gray-black color, a sign their power had faded.
Just as he expected.
When Wang Yu reached out to touch one, it crumbled into fine powder, drifting away.
He couldn't help but sigh.
"Time truly is a terrifying force."
The principle of jade slip transmission lay in the characters and insights recorded inside using spiritual sense, usually prepared by cultivators for convenience.
Too much time had passed. The spiritual sense within had dissipated, not replenished in time, causing the jade slip itself to decay.
Looking at it this way, the most primitive recording methods seemed safer.
Sweeping his gaze along,
Most jade slips on the walls were damaged, but a few had survived. When he used his spiritual sense to draw the information from them, absorbing it fully,
The jade slips fulfilled their final purpose of transmission, turning to dust.
"Not bad."
This gain alone was enough to satisfy Wang Yu. They were almost all high-level techniques for applying spiritual sense, accompanied by the insights and experiences of ancients.
Spiritual Sense Threads, Soul Capture and Thought Reading, Mind Telekinesis, Soul Impact, Meditation for Soul Strengthening, Spirit Servitude and Ghost Capture, Soul Devouring to Nurture Thought... countless methods.
They thoroughly perfected his crude application methods on the soul path. These high-level techniques were things he could study for a lifetime—true foundational treasures!
Though not offensive secret methods, the rewards were absolutely substantial.
And this was only a part. It was hard to imagine how far the Heaven Soul Sect's research into the soul path had reached at its peak.
Aside from those spiritual sense application techniques,
There was one complete fourth-tier secret method, and one incomplete secret method of undetermined grade.
The former—**Heavenly Infant Soul Seizure Rebirth Method**!
An incredibly profound soul-seizing secret method, usable only by Nascent Soul cultivators. According to the description, it could perfectly remold one's own physical shell within another's body.
Seeming like soul seizure, it was actually borrowing a shell for rebirth. Seizing a newborn infant was most effective, even extending one's lifespan by a full century—truly overbearing.
It must be noted: ordinary soul-seizing arts simply could not extend a Nascent Soul cultivator's lifespan. If seizing at one thousand years old, only six hundred years of life would remain.
This method could seize an infant's lifespan.
Of course, it was only effective the first time. A second use could not merge the remaining lifespan. Wang Yu didn't think he would ever use this method.
But that didn't stop him from learning it.
The latter—**Soul and Spirit Annihilation Death Ray**!
An incomplete soul-path supernatural ability. The incompleteness wasn't too severe. Judging by Wang Yu's knowledge, what remained was at the third-tier level.
Completing it would make it at least fourth-tier, possibly even stronger.
After taking stock, joy rose within him.
"Heaven Soul Sect True Disciple... actually had this much authority? Or is the owner of this token special?"
He leaned toward the latter possibility.
After clearing the floor, the center held a black octagonal stone platform, only knee-high, making it look like a meditation platform.
Its side bore faded ancient script. Wang Yu strained to make it out for a while before joyfully confirming.
"The complete Ancient Soul Art. It's indeed here."
Fortunately, it wasn't a legacy stored in a jade slip; otherwise, he might not have been able to complete it.
Hesitating for a moment, Wang Yu sat cross-legged upon it.
The Ancient Soul Art automatically began to circulate, as if triggering something. Each time he completed a cycle, a passage of scripture naturally appeared in his mind.
It was precisely the third-tier content and meaning. Discovering the octagonal platform's wonderful use, Wang Yu settled in, continuously completing the legacy.
Until an anomaly occurred.
Niwan Palace.
This was where a person's soul resided. All of Wang Yu's cultivated spiritual sense power was here, looking like a misty, gray expanse.
Hundreds of pitch-black paper boats drifted in the mist. They revolved around a shimmering, iridescent azure light cluster, like a protective layer.
This was the initial manifestation of **Soul-Carving Evil Boat Curse**.
Around the azure light cluster was a ring of white light—Wang Yu's cultivated **Heaven Soul One Qi** secret method.
It could boost spiritual sense power, protect the Niwan Palace from intrusion by external evil, and also had the effect of purifying the Niwan, so comprehensive it was almost excessive.
Meanwhile.
Within the azure silk-thread light cluster was a faint silhouette of Wang Yu. This wasn't his soul, but the mystical trait formed by perfecting the Ancient Soul Art—**Ancient Soul**!
As the art was continuously completed, the Ancient Soul grew brighter. The silhouette showed signs of solidifying. But a crisis followed.
Within the mist shrouding the Niwan, rustling sounds arose. The sensation was very familiar, like whispers in his ear.
Unclear, indescribable.
Yet it gave a very irritating feeling. Wisps of black energy emerged on the Ancient Soul's surface, transforming into faces full of malice.
Howling, they dispersed the spiritual sense around the Ancient Soul. The black paper boats and Heaven Soul One Qi showed no reaction. But Wang Yu's consciousness suddenly widened its eyes.
Heavenly Demon Malice!
He was all too familiar with this power. He never expected the Heaven Soul Sect legacy to be closely related to the legendary Heavenly Demons.
Immediately, the octagonal platform transmitted a method for refining Heavenly Demon Malice to enhance the soul's origin.
Wang Yu instantly hesitated.
After cultivating **Demonic Fetus Mystic Origin Secret Curse**, he deeply understood the terror of this Heavenly Demon Malice.
A single misstep could lightly twist and corrupt one's personality; heavily, it could result in the malice seizing the physical shell, vanishing without a trace from then on!
For absolute safety, he never actively absorbed Heavenly Demon Malice to nurture the demonic fetus, using only the Placement Slot for growth.
"The demonic path is indeed extreme, but the effects are truly powerful."
While he hesitated, the ghostly faces surrounding the Ancient Soul, failing to be refined, developed soul-devouring thoughts, beginning to gnaw at Wang Yu's Ancient Soul.
"Damn!"
Without hesitation, Wang Yu cleared all six Placement Slots, loading them all with this segment of the Ancient Soul Art cultivation secret method for the emergency.
Sure enough.
With a sixfold efficiency boost, the Heavenly Demon Malice arriving from nothingness were captured one after another.
Transforming into black beads, they finally formed one hundred and eight beads, hanging around the Ancient Soul's neck, strikingly resembling a string of prayer beads!
Wang Yu frowned deeply. Did the Heaven Soul Sect legacy also obtain Buddhist remnants? One from the Archaic Era, one from the Ancient Era, separated by tens of thousands of years. It wasn't impossible.
Unaware how much time had passed, when the octagonal platform's legacy was complete, Wang Yu immediately exited his cultivation state, restoring his Placement Slots while his expression turned dark and inscrutable.
He had succeeded.
The complete Ancient Soul Art was a fourth-tier, top-grade soul-path cultivation art, sufficient to support a cultivator in cultivating fifth-tier spiritual sense. But its perfection effect was to refine the **Ancient Soul** into a **Second Nascent Soul**!
Using spiritual sense as material, Heavenly Demon Malice as bone, and part of Wang Yu's soul as the root, shaping a Second Nascent Soul—a top-tier soul-splitting technique in this world.
The two were indistinguishable from each other. If Wang Yu's main body died, the Second Nascent Soul would become the main body.
It seemed incredibly powerful, but it actually touched upon Wang Yu's taboo.
Splits most feared developing independent consciousness, especially when using something as extremely dangerous as Heavenly Demon Malice. To a certain extent, disturbance was almost one hundred percent.
The Ancient Soul Art's value plummeted for him!
"*Sigh—*"
Wang Yu let out a long sigh, rising gracefully from the octagonal platform. To control three corpses in battle, his spiritual sense must break through again.
Otherwise, he could only control one third-tier refined corpse at a time.
What else could he do? Cultivate it first!
Anyway, for the next one or two hundred years, don't think about reaching perfection. Without breaking through to Nascent Soul, a Second Nascent Soul was even more impossible.
Besides, there might not be a lack of solutions in the future. He felt that, similarly using Heavenly Demon Malice, the Mystic Origin Demonic Fetus was more profound and superior.
He just didn't know its source. Perhaps there would be a chance to ask the Nine Swords Evil Lord personally someday.
With the art perfected, Wang Yu also gained a batch of spiritual sense secret methods, pill formulas, soul artifact and magic treasure forging methods... these.
They were basically upgraded versions of the second-tier Ancient Soul Art, primarily third-tier, with fewer fourth-tier secret methods. One even utilized the Second Nascent Soul—better than nothing.
Mountain-Searching Demon Seeking—Third-tier: Ten Thousand *Li* Manifestation Tracking!
The range of the gray-white visual field expanded further. Consumption increased, allowing for more detailed probing. Within a certain range, even the patterns on a mosquito's wings could be seen clearly.
Ordinary concealment arts were basically useless. It could penetrate most environmental obstructions, like earth, mountains, thick fog, and so on.
Soul-Shattering Finger—Third-tier: Soul Annihilation Finger!
An upgraded version, its power greatly increased. Nothing special. If he had to say, it gained memory erasure functionality. By controlling the strength, one could erase memories without harming the soul.
Heaven Soul One Qi—Third-tier: Heaven Soul One Qi!
With the art's advancement and completion, these secret methods also transitioned smoothly. Since Wang Yu had cultivated them to perfection, progress on the upgraded versions would be very fast.
A few months to reach Minor Achievement—a benefit from prior accumulation. After all, third-tier spiritual sense secret methods still had some difficulty to cultivate.
But it was faster than cultivating third-tier secret methods from scratch.
He was confident that within a dozen years, he could progressively advance them to Major Achievement. For perfection, he could only rely on the Placement Slot. He truly lacked the energy for it.
As for pill formulas, needless to say; the cost of one set of ingredients grew increasingly precious. Some ingredients he hadn't even heard of. But if he wanted his spiritual sense to quickly break through to mid-third-tier, pill assistance was indispensable.
Regarding soul artifacts and magic treasures.
Glazed Soul Lantern—Third-tier: Eight-Grade Soul Lotus Treasure Lamp!
Soul-Suppressing Seal—Third-tier: Nether Tiger Ghost Prison Seal!
And a new **Soul-Dispersing Evil Whip**, and the fourth-tier soul artifact magic treasure **Ancient Soul Sword**—all high-end goods, difficult to forge quickly.
**(End of Chapter)**