The Inner Cores were within the jade box. There were five of them. What was even more astonishing was that upon closer inspection, He Yiming realized all five Inner Cores were from Saint Beasts, and moreover, they represented the complete set of the Five Forms.

Sensing the varying strengths within these cores, He Yiming was inwardly astonished. Within these few Inner Cores was contained an incomparably potent life force. The Inner Core of the Black Vulture King Saint Beast seemed like a child compared to these, the difference vast.

He Yiming pondered for a moment and instantly understood. Whatever the identity of this Divine Dao expert, ordinary Saint Beasts would hardly warrant his attention. Anything that caught his eye and was collected by him must be extraordinary. Though the owners of these five Inner Cores were not Divine Beasts, they were certainly among the absolute apex of the Saint Beast ranks.

He sealed the jade box and placed it back into his spatial storage. He Yiming then opened the final book.

What was recorded in this book was not some martial arts manual, but the travels and observations of this Divine Dao practitioner. He Yiming began reading, word by word.

Unsure how much time had passed, He Yiming finally let out a long breath and closed the volume. This book chronicled matters from the Divine Dao era. Some of its contents left He Yiming deeply reflective.

It turned out that even during the Divine Dao age, not every Divine Dao cultivator possessed heaven-defying treasures like Divine Artifacts. For the vast majority of Divine Dao figures, possessing a top-tier High-Grade Divine Weapon was the pinnacle; Divine Artifacts or their imitations were things one could only dream of.

Reading this, He Yiming couldn't help but feel immense fortune—having the Treasure Pig by his side had indeed brought him incredible luck. Without the Treasure Pig, acquiring the Nine Dragon Furnace and the three Thunder Claps would have been utterly impossible.

The book also documented some personal details about Zhou Minghua. He originated from the Five Elements Sect, but the sect’s ultimate treasure, the Five Elements Ring, was not in his possession; it rested with the current Sect Master of the Five Elements Sect, another Divine Dao cultivator. Therefore, he intended to forge an imitation of the Five Elements Ring.

The most crucial components for the imitation Five Elements Ring were five Five Elements Saint Beast Inner Cores, each corresponding to a different attribute. The true Five Elements Ring utilized the Inner Cores of the Five Elements Divine Beasts. In antiquity, the founding ancestor of the Five Elements Sect, whose divine abilities were unmatched, had used various means to collect the five Five Elements Divine Beast Inner Cores. No one else, apart from that transcendent master, had ever managed such a feat.

Though Zhou Minghua was a Divine Dao cultivator, he was vastly inferior to the founding ancestor, so he settled for the next best thing: hunting down five peak Saint Beasts and taking their Inner Cores. However, after gathering the five Five Elements Inner Cores, he inadvertently discovered this Heaven and Earth Sacred Fruit. Consequently, he abandoned everything else and waited here quietly. Yet, he never anticipated that the maturation period for this Sacred Fruit would be so prolonged; it remained half-ripe even on the day he died.

Reading this account, He Yiming was naturally thrilled. The Five Elements Ring he currently held, while an imitation Divine Artifact, clearly lacked the embedded Saint Beast Inner Cores. After all, the one who forged the imitation Five Elements Ring was merely a Venerable; how could they possibly gather the Five Elements Saint Beast Inner Cores? Now, embedding these five Five Elements Saint Beast Inner Cores into the ring would undoubtedly enhance its power significantly, making it a true imitation Divine Artifact. Of course, it would still be incomparable to the genuine Five Elements Ring embedded with five Divine Beast Inner Cores.

Furthermore, Zhou Minghua’s book noted that upon arriving at the East Sea, he had brought four Sarira relics. Due to an accident, one was lost, leaving him with only three. This loss caused him profound heartbreak and regret. He Yiming, however, felt no regret, as he was certain that the Thunder Claps, the treasured possession of the Immortal Spirit Mountain lineage, was the very one Zhou Minghua had misplaced.

He placed the book into his necklace storage as well and hung the necklace around his neck. He returned to the golden skeletal remains and, after a moment of hesitation, spoke, "Brother Bai, give me the head section of the Great Guan Blade."

Bai Lingba asked no questions and simply detached one of his arms. A flash of light erupted from the arm, instantly transforming into the first section of the Great Guan Blade.

He Yiming took the blade, bowed deeply once more to the remains, and murmured, "Senior, you have passed. As they say, you bring nothing with you when you come, and take nothing when you go. Your junior will bury you, taking only the Sarira from your brow."

After reciting a few blessings, He Yiming held his breath, channeling his inner True Qi into a furious circulation. Starting with Water, it converted to Wood, then Fire, then Earth, culminating in a full-force strike of the Metal element.

Vast True Qi instantaneously converged at the tip of the blade, slicing toward the center of the skull’s brow. A faint sound of fracturing echoed sharply. He Yiming slowly sank to the ground, and only after a short while did the limp, powerless sensation gradually recede.

Although the strike was immensely powerful, He Yiming had controlled it with perfect precision, concentrating all the force onto a single point, successfully cracking the center of the skull. With a gesture of summoning, a golden light flew out from the fractured brow and instantly settled into He Yiming's hand.

The moment this Sarira entered his grasp, his entire arm trembled slightly. This was not the Sarira of a Venerable, but one belonging to a Divine Dao expert. Its color was not white, but emitted a faint, golden-yellow luminescence. Compared to ordinary Sarira, this one was noticeably larger and contained a formidable power that even made He Yiming feel a sense of dread.

After studying it for a while, He Yiming’s eyes lit up. He recalled everything he had read in the Blood Condensation Scripture. The incredibly powerful, fiercely malevolent Blood-Red Mist Man described in the Scripture was formed by refining this very type of special Sarira. Before seeing this Sarira, He Yiming had assumed those relics were collected from Venerables, but upon encountering the Divine Dao Sarira, he understood their true origin.

He Yiming’s face suddenly paled. The thought that the Mist Man possessed so many Sarira from Divine Dao experts made his heart pound wildly. But it was precisely this that likely granted the Mist Man such terrifying and inconceivable divine abilities.

He Yiming rapidly calculated his options. According to the Blood Condensation Scripture, the best relics for forging a true Blood Condensation Being were the Great Sarira taken from the brow. However, gathering one hundred and eight Great Sarira was no simple task; at least for the current He Yiming, it was impossible. But if the Great Sarira were insufficient, a substitute using seventy-two relics could be forged. Among these seventy-two, only twelve Great Sarira would be required. Although the resulting Blood Condensation Being would lack the full potential of the perfect form, it would at least be comparable to a Venerable. Furthermore, due to the Mist Man's unique constitution, ordinary Venerables would find it difficult to handle unless faced with a nemesis like lightning.

He took out all the Sarira on his person and counted them. He had obtained sixteen Great Sarira from the sixteen corpses in the cave dwelling, twelve Great Sarira from the Ancient Demon's Blood Condensation Being, and one Great Sarira discovered in the Black Vulture King's nest. Adding Zhou Minghua’s Great Sarira brought the total to thirty.

He Yiming’s gaze flickered as indecision clouded his mind. The Blood Condensation Scripture stated that acquiring thirty-six Great Sarira, combined with seventy-two ordinary Sarira, would yield a formidable power. He had never intended to forge such a monstrous Blood Condensation Being, but now that he possessed nearly enough raw materials, abandoning the endeavor felt like too great a waste.

After long contemplation, He Yiming carefully put the Sarira away. He placed the thirty Great Sarira together and the remaining hundred-plus smaller Sarira separately. After a fierce internal struggle, He Yiming had made a rather distasteful decision—a decision he would never have considered before. However, the more he witnessed, the stronger his desire to elevate his own strength became. Now, for this goal, he was willing to stop at nothing.

He decided that upon returning, he would go grave-robbing. The Ancient Demon, Crazy Dai, and the master-disciple pair Lin Yi-Wu on Penglai Immortal Island accounted for four Great Sarira. Once back on the mainland, he would travel to Ghost Cry Ridge, where two more graves awaited. Once he retrieved those six Great Sarira, he would have the thirty-six Great Sarira needed. As for the lesser Sarira, he possessed far more than the required seventy-two, so he didn't need to worry about those. However, he would not breathe a word of this plan to anyone; if it were discovered, who knew what kind of trouble it would cause.

He dug a deep hole in the room and buried Zhou Minghua’s body within it. Since Zhou Minghua had died waiting for the Heaven and Earth Sacred Fruit, He Yiming buried him near the large pond, presuming that even in the afterlife, he would not find it a cause for complaint.

Glancing around, He Yiming finally arrived beneath the stone tablet. He swept his blade like the wind, instantly erasing all the inscriptions on the stone surface. This way, even if someone entered this place, they would never suspect that the Heaven and Earth Sacred Fruit had fallen into his hands. Finally, he cast one last deep look at the cave dwelling, scooped up the Treasure Pig, and turned to leave.

Bai Lingba followed silently behind him. The two retraced their steps back to the area shrouded in purple mist. With a slight twitch of his ears, He Yiming located the positions of Chu Haozhou and White Horse Lightning. He smiled faintly and approached them, stopping a short distance away. Both were sitting with their eyes closed, slowly absorbing the surrounding purple gas. He Yiming gave Bai Lingba a slight nod, handed the White Pig over, and then sat down cross-legged, commencing the absorption and cultivation alongside Chu Haozhou and White Horse Lightning...

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