The sheer astonishment on the little golden figure's face, upon seeing that flying sword, was no less than Ye Qin's shock upon encountering a Nascent Soul.

For he knew that when the Golden Armored Guards searched Ye Qin’s physical body, they had found absolutely no Origin Spirit magical artifacts within him.

Later, that stray wisp of divine consciousness, in its rash intrusion into the Purple Mansion, was swiftly annihilated by Ye Qin's quick sword strike before it could transmit any information to the Sacred Emperor. Thus, although the Sacred Emperor knew his wisp of divine consciousness had been destroyed by Ye Qin, he had no idea how Ye Qin had accomplished it.

Believing Ye Qin possessed no artifacts, the Emperor, enduring the agony of the ten-thousand-foot golden light emanating from the four Soul Suppressing Pillars, was driven to rush into Ye Qin's body for possession. Yet, he had not anticipated that Ye Qin possessed an Origin Spirit artifact.

The appearance of this Origin Spirit artifact completely overturned his prior calculations. Origin Spirit artifacts are somewhat unique; they require no magical power (Fali) and can be propelled directly by the vital energy of the Origin Spirit itself. Even though Ye Qin was bound by the Immortal Binding Ropes and all his Fali was sealed, this did not impede his release of the Origin Spirit artifact.

The power unleashed by an Origin Spirit artifact is devastatingly fierce; even a Nascent Soul cultivator would not dare to meet it head-on. After all, a cultivator's Origin Spirit is inherently fragile. If struck directly by a flying sword artifact, even a Nascent Soul level spirit, without any protection, would be cleanly bisected and utterly finished.

The little golden figure felt a profound sense of dread when Ye Qin spat out a fire-element Origin Spirit artifact.

It rapidly recalculated the possibility of possession. To simultaneously withstand the pressure of the four Soul Suppressing Pillars and this Origin Spirit flying sword, given its current speed of movement, rushing to Ye Qin’s physical body for possession had become impossible. Due to a few minor miscalculations—the destruction of the Golden Armored Guard’s wisp of divine consciousness, and the existence of that flying sword—the difficulty of his possession plan had skyrocketed, leading to its near collapse.

He decisively retreated, intending to withdraw into the ice coffin and return to his own physical body.

However, just as it was difficult to rush out, it was equally difficult to retreat.

Under the immense pressure of the myriad golden lights from the four Soul Suppressing Pillars, it could only advance at a crawl, moving perhaps two inches at a time—a pitifully slow speed.

Conversely, the speed of the Southern Bright Vermillion Fire Sword was immense, and Ye Qin himself was not suppressed by the Soul Suppressing Pillars. The more intensely the pillars suppressed the Sacred Emperor's Nascent Soul, the lighter the burden became on Ye Qin. Furthermore, fighting for his life, he struck without reservation, pushing the Southern Bright Vermillion Fire Sword to its maximum potential.

The little golden figure watched with utter helplessness as, before it could reach the sanctuary of the ice coffin, the colossal flying sword slashed down directly toward its head. "When was it that this Emperor, even facing a mid-stage Nascent Soul and two early-stage Nascent Souls alongside a hundred Golden Core cultivators, did not take them seriously? Now, I have fallen to the point of being suppressed by a mere early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator wielding a single sword overhead. Alas! The world has changed, becoming increasingly arduous!"

The little golden figure sighed, then exhaled a breath toward the flying sword.

Indeed, the fiercely blazing Southern Bright Vermillion Fire Sword was instantly deflected by several inches by the vortex of pure vital energy created by that single breath.

With a sharp clang, the Southern Bright Vermillion Fire Sword grazed past the little golden figure, striking the ice coffin fiercely but failing to inflict any damage upon the figure itself.

"Ah!"

Ye Qin was momentarily stunned... A single breath from a Nascent Soul cultivator carried truly formidable force. By the time he managed to manipulate the flying sword for another strike, the little golden figure had already leisurely returned to the Profound Ice Pavilion.

The ice coffin ceased vibrating and grew still. With its target gone, the dazzling golden light of the four Soul Suppressing Pillars slowly dimmed, returning to their usual appearance.

Ye Qin hastily retrieved the Southern Bright Vermillion Fire Sword and repeatedly struck the Immortal Binding Ropes around his body. After several dozen cuts, he finally severed the bonds. Then, he leaped up, drifting several dozen zhang away to put distance between himself and the altar, confirming his safety.

Only after ensuring his safety did Ye Qin gaze back at the ice coffin on the altar, and the four Soul Suppressing Pillars surrounding it, still showing signs of lingering terror.

These four pillars, originally artifacts the Sacred Emperor intended for warding off the Great Heavenly Tribulation, had been turned by his enemy into a perfect tool for his own suppression, sealing both body and spirit within this ice coffin. If not for these pillars today, Ye Qin had no idea what the final outcome would have been.

This result was far better than the absolute worst-case scenario he had envisioned, which was the Sacred Emperor’s Nascent Soul successfully invading his Purple Mansion. If that had happened, he would have been truly overwhelmed and utterly helpless, as the pillars here suppressed the Emperor's Nascent Soul, limiting its strength, but there was no artifact within the Purple Mansion capable of matching it.

Though Ye Qin had escaped immediate disaster, the sense of crisis had not lessened. The Sacred Emperor had been forced back into the ice coffin, but who knew when it might attempt to break out again? The next time, the Emperor would surely have found a countermeasure.

Moreover, although the Golden Armored Guard puppet had ceased movement and entered dormancy, Ye Qin worried whether the Sacred Emperor’s divine consciousness might reawaken it.

The thought sent a cold sweat down Ye Qin's spine, and he dared not linger in the palace for another moment, turning quickly to flee. Only by leaving this underground imperial mausoleum could he secure any safety. He intended to use the passage to exit this incredibly perilous tomb.

Ye Qin left the inner palace, carefully skirting the dormant stone puppets and flying thunder kites along the way, stealthily emerging from the ruined city sector to reach the entrance of the passage where the group of cultivators had originally entered the imperial mausoleum.

Staring at the passage exit, Ye Qin froze instantly. To his astonishment, the tunnel had been completely sealed off by surging magma. Crossing through that magma was utterly impossible.

"I must have stayed too long recuperating in the ruins and missed the five-day deadline to leave," Ye Qin mused, shaking his head in distress after a moment of contemplation. "This passage only opens once every forty or fifty years, when the alignment of the sun and moon shifts and the magma tide recedes to its lowest point. Must I truly remain sealed in this imperial mausoleum with that terrifying Sacred Emperor for forty or fifty years?"

Since leaving the underground mausoleum was impossible and he had to continue contending with the Sacred Emperor, Ye Qin quickly accepted the situation, ceasing his worry over the confinement.

The worst-case scenario was the Sacred Emperor’s Nascent Soul invading his boundless void, causing chaos within his Purple Mansion. If the Emperor possessed the ability to shatter the light halo over his Natal Origin Spirit Tablet, then there was nothing Ye Qin could do anyway.

What worried him most were other matters.

Ye Qin was not afraid of starving to death within the mausoleum. He carried dozens of low-grade spirit stones; as long as he had spirit stones, he could cultivate enough food within his Purple Mansion to survive forty or fifty years without issue.

However, to advance his cultivation, he required sufficient spirit elixirs.

Cultivating spirit herbs and refining elixirs within the Purple Mansion consumed vast quantities of spirit stones. The several thousand low-grade spirit stones he carried would last him, at most, about a year before being completely depleted. After that, he would be unable to cultivate further, and the remaining decades in the mausoleum would be utterly wasted time.

If he had a stable supply of spirit stones, Ye Qin would not care where he cultivated—even being neighbors with the Sacred Emperor was inconsequential. But forty or fifty years without a spirit stone supply would severely stall his progress, rendering his future cultivation path extremely uncertain, which was something he absolutely could not accept.

This was the true source of Ye Qin’s distress.

After some thought, he suddenly recalled the tribute offerings presented by the Sunset Sect Master, Shi Hanyang, to the Sacred Emperor—a large storage bag containing one thousand mid-grade spirit stones, equivalent to nearly one hundred thousand low-grade stones.

Considering how long the Sacred Emperor had been trapped underground, he must have amassed countless tributes, many of which were likely spirit stones.

This realization brought a sudden surge of energy: if he could acquire those spirit stones, it should be enough to support his cultivation for the next forty or fifty years, perhaps even more than enough.

Ye Qin immediately flew back to the inner palace hall and located the Golden Armored Guard. He had personally witnessed all the tributes received by the Sacred Emperor being stored in a Sumeru Ring held by this guard.

Since the wisp of divine consciousness the Sacred Emperor had left in the guard was destroyed by Ye Qin, the guard had remained silent and motionless near the altar until now. Ye Qin returned to the hall, puzzled why the Sacred Emperor had not used his divine sense to reawaken the puppet.

Still, this was perhaps for the best, saving him the trouble of figuring out how to escape detection.

Ye Qin approached the Golden Armored Guard to retrieve the Sumeru Ring from its hand.

However, he found the ring tightly locked onto the guard's finger, impossible to pry off. To Ye Qin's frustration, it was also an artifact bound by a divine sense of ownership.

This meant only the Sacred Emperor’s divine sense could open it; no other cultivator could. Unless Ye Qin’s divine sense could surpass the Sacred Emperor’s and directly erase the ownership mark, he could not open the Sumeru Ring. Given Ye Qin’s current cultivation, this was clearly impossible.

Ye Qin even tried using his Origin Spirit artifact, intending to slice off the Golden Armored Guard’s golden finger. After spending half an hour hacking away, it was still futile. The golden armor of this ninth-rank Golden Armored Guard puppet was simply too resilient to damage.

Ye Qin fell into despair. Was he truly destined to be sealed in this underground mausoleum for forty or fifty years, guarding a Sumeru Ring filled with countless tributes, yet unable to access a single spirit stone?

"Little brat, what are you doing? Why are you back after just leaving?" a hoarse, middle-aged male voice spoke mockingly from the ice coffin on the altar. "And you dare tamper with this Emperor's wealth right beside me? You have quite the nerve!"

"Your Majesty, you ask what is obvious," Ye Qin replied, momentarily unconcerned, as the ice coffin on the altar showed no movement, allowing him to continue pondering how to open the Sumeru Ring on the Golden Armored Guard. "You are sealed within the ice coffin, and I am sealed within this underground mausoleum. This tomb is only dozens of li in circumference; where else can I go? There is little difference between being outside the palace and inside it. This is precisely what Your Majesty desires, is it not?"

"This Emperor has forty or fifty years to consider how to take your shell, so naturally, I am pleased you are still alive and well. If you are bored, then wander freely within My Emperor's palace. Furthermore, My Emperor’s Sumeru Ring contains many precious medicinal herbs. You can use them to sustain yourself or enhance your cultivation. If you desire them, I can offer them all to you. You need not thank this Emperor; after all, this body will be mine sooner or later. Ensuring you don't starve is the least this Emperor should do," the hoarse voice from the ice coffin stated calmly, exuding an air of absolute certainty as if the previous failed possession attempt had left no negative impact whatsoever.