Upon finishing the first piece in the jade slip, Qin had a general understanding, which aligned closely with some of his previous speculations. The description from this disciple surnamed Wang merely served to solidify his existing thoughts.

He continued reading.

The second piece in the jade slip was titled "Yin Xuan [Ghost Cultivation Technique]". This was an exceptionally complete cultivation method for ghost cultivators. It included:

"Shedding Shell Technique." After the physical body dies, not all Nascent Souls can escape the flesh. Once the body succumbs to death, if the Nascent Soul fails to escape promptly, it will become tainted by corpse qi, leading to the disintegration and death of the Nascent Soul. The Nascent Soul must break free from the corpse within a few hours before it begins to decay. This Shedding Shell Technique is the quickest method for escaping the physical form. Generally, the stronger the Nascent Soul, the easier it is to break free from the body.

"Ghost Cultivation Art," which involves cultivating the Nascent Soul without relying on a physical body. After losing their flesh, cultivators must rely on special terrain, such as yin-rich locations, to absorb their spiritual energy, which aids in the growth of the ghost cultivator's Nascent Soul strength. Ghost cultivators must also undergo tribulation.

"Body Seizure Technique," detailing how to seize the physical body of weaker cultivators. This technique is not truly part of the path of ghost cultivation but rather a means to reclaim a body and continue the path of fleshly immortal cultivation. It is believed that any cultivator who understands the Body Seizure Technique would prefer seizing a body over embarking on ghost cultivation.

However, the text mentioned that deploying this Body Seizure Technique came with significant limitations. It could only be performed on individuals possessing spiritual roots; attempting to seize the body of a mortal without spiritual roots would result in instant self-detonation. Furthermore, a successful seizure would drastically deplete one's lifespan, with a loss of twenty to thirty years being common, and sometimes even over a century. Playing with body seizure hastened one's demise.

Ye Qin glanced over the "Yin Xuan [Ghost Cultivation Technique]," engraving the Profound Yin [Ghost Cultivation Method] into his mind, but did not linger on it. This was a ghost cultivation technique; since he wasn't dead, he certainly wouldn't practice it.

Unless he met an unfortunate end one day, this particular method would be of use.

Seeing the Body Seizure Technique, Ye Qin rubbed his nose, recalling an incident. When he was in Xiuxian City, that Nan Tianba had attempted to use the Body Seizure Technique against him, nearly causing him grave harm. He wondered what connection the Nan family had with the several-thousand-year-old Profound Yin Sect. Perhaps there was some lingering tie.

The third section of text in the jade slip was a "Bone Refining Art."

Bone Refining Art was a branch of artifact refinement. However, this was no ordinary Five Elements artifact refinement.

Ordinary artifact refinement involved the Five Elements: refining raw materials like ores, metals, wood, etc., into spirit artifacts and magic tools.

This Bone Refining Art, however, specialized in using bone and flesh as materials to forge spirit artifacts and magic tools.

It detailed methods for refining corpses into various types of zombies, or for refining skeletal remains into puppets, and so on.

Ye Qin frowned. Judging by the "Yin Xuan [Ghost Cultivation Technique]" and the "Bone Refining Art," the Yin Xuan Sect was clearly an evil faction dedicated to studying these sinister and ghostly arts. It was no wonder that millennia ago, the Yin Xuan Sect was annihilated by the combined forces of major immortal cultivation sects like the Great Luo Sect and the Beast Spirit Sect. After the sect's destruction, the vast majority of its techniques were lost or stolen. This complete Bone Refining Art from the Yin Xuan Sect was considered rather rare.

Ye Qin felt no negative emotions towards zombies and skeletons themselves, but using the bones and flesh of the dead for refinement always evoked a sense of disgust and repulsion in his heart.

Nevertheless, he had to admit the Bone Refining Art was a valuable thing. Besides human bones, the bones of monstrous beasts could also be refined. He thought of his Bat King Wings, and his heart stirred slightly, causing him to examine the Bone Refining Art more closely.

Half a day later.

Ye Qin awoke from his contemplation of the jade slip.

The Bone Refining Art of the Yin Xuan Sect was indeed exquisitely profound. It allowed for the refinement of complete monstrous beast carcasses into puppets controllable by divine sense. It also allowed for refining only a portion of a beast into a spirit artifact.

Of course, bone artifacts were not something any cultivator could simply forge. The prerequisite was possessing Yin Fire; only Yin Fire could be used to refine these bone artifacts. Ghost cultivators could emit Yin Fire, and some yin-rich locations also possessed existing Yin Fire.

His Bat King Thorns and Bat King Wings were likely crafted using this very Bone Refining Art. It seemed the cultivators of the Great Luo Sect possessed quite a few secret techniques from the Profound Yin Sect.

Ye Qin chuckled quietly.

Once he reached the Foundation Establishment stage, if he acquired superior refining materials from monstrous beasts, he wouldn't need to seek help from the artifact refiners of the Great Luo Sect. He could directly forge them into spirit artifacts. This would be quite convenient, saving him from attracting further trouble over spirit artifacts.

After finishing the jade slip, imprinting it deeply in his mind, he tucked the slip into his storage pouch.

Ye Qin rose, a calm and detached smile gracing his face, and murmured to himself, "Now, it's time to explore the caverns, find the richest ore vein, and dig up as many spirit stones as possible. Otherwise, in a few more days, with the number of cultivators in this cave surging, things will become difficult."

He opened the eight map scrolls, located the area with the densest concentration of spirit stone deposits, and then sped toward that ore vein. This vein was quite deep; it would likely take several days to traverse.

Several days later.

Ye Qin was sprinting through the ore vein when he suddenly stopped at a fork in the path, casting a cold glance behind him. Dozens of feet behind him, the figures of five women in white robes, swords in hand, were pursuing him through the mine tunnels. He could even hear their ragged breaths.

Ye Qin’s gaze was sharp, tinged with annoyance.

In truth, he was quite unlucky. Not long ago, while passing through a mining tunnel, he had accidentally encountered a small squad of female disciples from the Crescent Moon Sect. Seeing he was alone, these female disciples rejoiced and immediately gave chase.

In a way, this was understandable. It was normal for trial disciples from different immortal cultivation sects to fight amongst themselves, weakening the strength of opposing sects. If it were the Green Pill Sect, they would do the same.

However, regardless of who was being pursued, displeasure was inevitable.

Ye Qin was extremely annoyed at that moment. If he hadn't possessed the map scrolls, knowing the general layout of most tunnels, leading them in circles, he might have already been cornered by this squad of Crescent Moon Sect female disciples within the tunnels.

He didn't wish to engage these five female disciples from the Crescent Moon Sect in a fight. Right now, all he wanted was to quickly mine spirit stones, plant spiritual herbs in his Purple Mansion, and then refine Foundation Establishment Pills. Killing five ordinary female disciples from the Crescent Moon Sect offered him no benefit.

Yet, these five women in white were being too relentless. They were clinging to the chase tenaciously. If he were truly provoked, he wouldn't hold back his hand.

Ye Qin glanced at the fork ahead. Passing this junction meant entering the area covered by another map scroll, and it was only a day’s journey from the mining spot he was heading towards.

He decided to resolve the situation here, so he stopped.

"Stop running, halt!"

The pursuing women in white from the Crescent Moon Sect cried out repeatedly, chasing him with swords in hand, perspiration dripping from their exertions. Seeing that Ye Qin had indeed stopped, they were somewhat surprised, landing ten feet away and glaring furiously at him. They had chased this disciple in green from the Green Pill Sect so laboriously. They simply couldn't fathom why this disciple moved so quickly, like a slippery eel navigating any passage without ever being blocked by them.

Ye Qin looked at them coldly. "You've chased me for an hour; haven't you chased enough? Are you not going to stop unless you kill me?"

The leading woman, who was somewhat flirtatious and tall, thrust out her delicate chest and held a high-grade spirit sword, declaring proudly, "Boy, toss your spirit artifacts and storage pouch onto the ground immediately, then surrender obediently, and we might spare your worthless life. Otherwise, don't blame us sisters for being impolite."

Ye Qin was secretly amused. "Oh? What kind of 'impolite' will it be?"

Behind the tall woman, several voluptuous and alluring women from the Crescent Moon Sect stared at Ye Qin with fiery phoenix eyes, giggling. "Senior Sister Yuan Ping, this brat must have taken a liking to you. He's waiting for you to be 'impolite' to him!" "Why don't you grant him his wish, Senior Sister."

They likely assumed that with five of them—all cultivators at the eighth or ninth layer of the Qi Refining stage—against just one person, victory was certain. They were confident they could eliminate the Green Pill Sect disciple, which is why they spoke so carelessly and playfully.

Of course, though their words were unrestrained, their hands never relaxed; they were already prepared to launch spell attacks.

"What nonsense are you spouting!"

The tall woman glanced back at her seniors and juniors, stamped her foot, a hint of shy anger crossing her charming face, and then glared at Ye Qin again. Wielding her spirit sword, she prepared to attack him. "Seeking death! Kill!"

Four spells simultaneously shot towards Ye Qin.

Ye Qin watched their actions with cold eyes, securing a small golden sword, several inches long, in his hand, shaking his head with a slight sense of pity.

A beam of golden sword light shot up and sliced through the air, spiraling. The fireballs, water arrows, ice cones, and wind blades aimed at him were all shredded by the golden light, leaving not even dregs behind. They certainly didn't manage to wound him. What good did numbers do? Four spell attacks were no match for the might of a single magic artifact.

"Gold-elemental magic artifact!"

The tall woman, who was charging toward Ye Qin with her sword, saw a golden sword light hovering just a few dozen feet in the air before her. She was instantly shocked, her face contorting into an expression of utter horror.

"You are a high-ranking disciple of the Green Pill Sect?! A misunderstanding, merely a misunderstanding, stop your attack!"

She shrieked desperately, stumbling backward in fright. The power of the magic sword was something her high-grade spirit sword could never hope to resist.

At that moment, she held a sliver of hope. She still had four martial sisters; if they could use their spells to restrain this Green Pill Sect disciple, preventing him from focusing his attack, she might still have a chance to escape.

Her companions were indeed doing just that. Although horrified, they still launched another barrage of spells to buy time for their sister to flee.

Ye Qin looked at her retreating figure with a cold gaze, his eyes holding only emptiness.

"Misunderstanding?! Don't you think it's too late?"

He channeled a surge of mana into the sword light. The golden, sharp beam in mid-air suddenly flared brilliantly and shot towards the flirtatious woman.

At such close range, the charming woman in white only had time to raise her spirit sword to block the terrifying radiance that made it impossible to open her eyes.

"Crack!"

The charming woman looked at her high-grade spirit sword with utter despair as it shattered piece by piece. She was completely powerless to stop it. Next, the golden beam tore through her protective barrier and struck her chest.

However, to Ye Qin's surprise, it didn't pierce through her chest but was blocked by some kind of spiritual armor or silk armor. The small golden sword, depleted of mana, flew back into Ye Qin's hand.

Severely injured, the charming woman spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying back, caught by her senior and junior sisters. Although not dead, serious injury was unavoidable.

Ye Qin was preparing to unleash the golden sword again, intending to deliver a severe warning. But he suddenly froze, almost cursing out loud. He saw behind the five female disciples of the Crescent Moon Sect, the figures of yet another squad of women in white robes appeared.

Why were there so many Crescent Moon Sect disciples here?

Had this entire area of ore veins been taken over by the Crescent Moon Sect?

Ye Qin inwardly cursed his bad luck. Without a second thought, he immediately turned and fled toward the fork in the path.

It was a joke. Dealing with five cultivators at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, he could still use the flying sword artifact to intimidate them, perhaps killing one or two to establish authority and scare them away from pursuing him. But against ten cultivators at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, he should flee first. If he got entangled, it would be his turn to be slaughtered.

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