"I merely did not wish to waste effort, not because I feared you. Since you desire a contest, then let us have one."

The anger of True Person Chaotian flared, and with a gesture, he summoned his grand divine artifact.

"Kun Tu Xuan Pin Pearl! Go!"

True Person Chaotian roared, and a glistening, deep-yellow dharma bead flew into mid-air before suddenly shooting toward Ye Qin.

This was a fourteenth-tier pearl that had gathered the quintessence of the innate earth spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth, refined into a great divine artifact of the earth element. Though this Xuan Pin Pearl was only the size of a fist, it weighed over a million ju, heavier than an entire massive mountain.

Within several li in every direction, the ground turned a dusty yellow, and everything seemed to fall into a suspended animation.

Launched forth, this pearl alone was capable of obliterating a mountain ten thousand zhang high.

Ye Qin appeared not to notice the pearl's might. He manipulated his eight flying swords to guard the perimeter around him, remaining motionless and showing little reaction.

Seeing this, True Person Chaotian was overjoyed. Once his Xuan Pin Pearl struck Ye Qin's flying swords, it would instantly shatter Ye Qin's minor divine artifact swords. The vast disparity in artifact grades was insurmountable; victory in this battle was surely his.

It was then that Ye Qin glanced at True Person Chaotian with a peculiar expression—a look seemingly mixing pity with a touch of commiseration.

"What does he mean, pitying me? When I have beaten you down, we will see who pities whom!"

True Person Chaotian’s eye twitched slightly upon seeing Ye Qin’s look, and the evil fire in his heart surged. He poured his full strength into his hand seals, and the Xuan Pin Pearl hurtled toward Ye Qin without hesitation.

Ye Qin did not use his eight flying swords to block the Xuan Pin Pearl at all. He withdrew the swords, then extended a hand and waved it forward. The Xuan Pin Pearl abruptly vanished from the world—completely and utterly gone, as if it had never appeared.

"What is happening? Where is my Xuan Pin Pearl?"

True Person Chaotian’s divine sense entirely lost contact with the pearl. His full-force strike had landed on nothing. He was shocked into immobility, utterly bewildered. This grand divine artifact of his, possessing infinite power, had never been seized by another cultivator before.

Ye Qin smiled faintly. Only then did his eight flying swords surge out, instantly suppressing the stunned and helpless True Person Chaotian on the spot.

The Xuan Pin Pearl had already appeared on his Purple Mansion Floating Island.

He had almost never used such a method before—using his Purple Mansion to directly collect an enemy's artifact—in order to avoid revealing the existence of the Purple Mansion. But now that the cultivators of the Huasheng Temple on the Southern Demon Continent knew he possessed an extremely potent spiritual treasure, there was no need for further concealment.

Under the bombardment of the Purple Thunder within the Purple Mansion, the Xuan Pin Pearl shattered, breaking apart into great masses of dense earth spiritual energy.

An artifact of this magnitude, refined by True Person Chaotian over decades or even centuries, was difficult to re-cultivate. Ye Qin found it inconvenient to use, so he simply converted it into pure earth spiritual energy.

Huangfu Bing'er, watching from the side, understood clearly that Ye Qin’s Purple Mansion was at work.

Qingqiu Li was simply stunned, unable to decipher the mystery.

"Little Qing, go and take his storage bags as well! I used my spiritual treasure as the stake for this match, so you must put up all the wealth you possess as the price for the contest. You lost."

Ye Qin said plainly.

Qingqiu Li had been following him under the guise of being a maidservant since arriving on the Southern Demon Continent. Now that he was a mid-stage Soul Transformation cultivator, the pretense of this maidservant could finally serve a purpose. Qingqiu Li was currently at the Nascent Soul stage, a full generation below him.

"Before, you called me Senior Qingqiu; now you call me Little Qing," Qingqiu Li grumbled inwardly, shooting Ye Qin a reproachful glance, yet she cautiously stepped forward to collect True Person Chaotian's storage bags.

Searching a Soul Transformation cultivator was still dangerous.

Ye Qin was unwilling to let Bing'er take such a risk.

"My Xuan Pin Pearl..."

True Person Chaotian’s face turned ashen. Having lost his grand divine artifact, he did not resist, allowing Qingqiu Li to take his several large storage bags and accompanying accessory artifacts. Ye Qin’s eight flying swords were held to his throat; he had no capital left to resist.

"This duel has no restriction on life or death. If I kill you, the other cultivators will have nothing to say!" Ye Qin said coldly. "But I will not kill you. You will swear a Blood Curse never to reveal any detail of this battle, before or after, to anyone—everything you witnessed, including your losses after defeat. Once you swear the oath, I will let you go."

"I, True Person Chaotian, swear by the Blood Curse never to leak any detail before or after this battle. If I violate this oath, may Heaven strike me down!"

True Person Chaotian had accepted his fate. He bit his finger and traced a Blood Curse in the void before him. Soon, the curse gradually sank into his body and vanished. If he violated the oath, the curse would activate, making life worse than death.

Qingqiu Li handed the large storage bags and accessories to Ye Qin. "Not bad; you are quite wealthy. Go on!"

Ye Qin probed the storage bags with his divine sense, nodded in satisfaction, and retracted his eight flying swords.

True Person Chaotian fled from a jungle passage, his spiritual light flashing, speeding away from the Blood Devouring Forest.

Ye Qin immediately transferred the contents of the large storage bags—a huge quantity of Demonic Beast Origin Crystals, raw materials, dharma artifacts, and treasures—into his Purple Mansion, where the Purple Thunder bombarded and cracked them down into spiritual energy.

The Five Elements spiritual energy clouds within the Purple Mansion had been nearly depleted.

Now greatly replenished, vast clouds formed again over the five floating islands, generating dense vital energy rain under the effect of the Purple Thunder.

Ye Qin’s Nascent Soul steeped in the vital energy rain, frantically absorbing the boundless energy.

"Sixth Layer of Soul Transformation!"

In just a short while, Ye Qin's Soul Transformation cultivation soared again, surging toward the late-stage Seventh Layer of Soul Transformation.

His Purple Mansion space required massive replenishments of spiritual matter—the more, the better. However, Ye Qin had no immediate idea where to acquire such vast resources. The wealth held by Soul Transformation cultivators was indeed immense. This was precisely why he proposed the one-on-one challenge with the Gray Egg spiritual treasure as the stake.

Outside the Blood Devouring Forest, hundreds of Soul Transformation cultivators awaited the result. Many were gathered in small groups, whispering about how they might finally seize that mysterious spiritual treasure. Seeing True Person Chaotian emerge, looking utterly defeated, the cultivators immediately knew he had lost to Ye Qin.

"True Person Chaotian, why did you lose so quickly? Did you see what kind of treasure that young man held?" sneered a big man in black robes.

True Person Chaotian’s status was quite low, and he had few friends among the Soul Transformation cultivators, so most didn't take him seriously.

"If you want to know what spiritual treasure it was, why don't you go in and see for yourself?!"

The man in black’s taunt instantly enraged True Person Chaotian.

He hadn't seen Ye Qin’s spiritual treasure; on the contrary, he had been completely stripped bare by Ye Qin. Several of his large storage bags, a grand divine-tier artifact, and a considerable number of minor divine-tier artifacts, along with mountains of Demonic Beast Origin Crystals, raw materials, and ores, had all fallen into Ye Qin’s hands.

That was his accumulation of over a century. The loss was catastrophic, enough to make him vomit blood, yet this man in black dared to mock him.

But due to the Blood Curse, True Person Chaotian could not speak of these things.

Even without the Blood Curse, he wouldn't have spoken. Why should he be the only one to suffer misfortune?

If misfortune must strike, everyone should suffer it together. If everyone was plundered by Ye Qin, perhaps that would soothe the hatred in his heart.

True Person Chaotian glared resentfully at the yellow-robed man who mocked him and sneered, "And what capability do you, True Person Leihuo, possess? Go inside and try to seize that spiritual treasure if you have the guts! I suspect you won't fare much better."

"Very well, let me go in and see what skill True Person Ye truly possesses to defeat you so quickly."

The man in black did not hesitate. After delivering a mocking remark, he charged into the Blood Devouring Forest.

The other Soul Transformation cultivators continued to wait.

True Person Chaotian gave a cold laugh and found a spot to sit cross-legged, waiting to watch the show.

Soon, after only half an hour, the man in black emerged from the Blood Devouring Forest with a grim expression.

"True Person Leihuo, what happened!"

"How did you lose?"

"Was the defeat too shameful to speak of?"

Several Soul Transformation cultivators immediately stepped forward to question him.

However, the big man was now mute, finding a place to sit down in silence. He shook his head at every question, offering no information, not uttering a sound. His face looked so grim it seemed ready to drip water, leaving all his pent-up frustration with nowhere to go.

"What is wrong with him?"

The Soul Transformation cultivators were all puzzled.

Judging by True Person Leihuo's current expression, the arrogance he had displayed earlier was completely gone. His challenge to Ye Qin inside the Blood Devouring Forest must have ended in a setback identical to True Person Chaotian's. He had lost in a very short time but seemed neither injured nor having expended much vital energy or magic power. The manner of his defeat was strange.

"Of course, I lost... As for how I lost, hehe, you'll find out when you go in and fight! True Person Leihuo, are you still capable of laughing now? You mocked me before! It seems your skills are nothing special either!" True Person Chaotian scoffed.

"You! Why didn't you mock..." The man in black roared in anger and shot True Person Chaotian a fierce glare.

But he immediately seemed to recall something and swallowed the rest of his words. He had been forced to swear a poisonous Blood Curse, preventing him from revealing any aspect of the battle externally. True Person Chaotian should be under the same restriction, unable to explain the situation to others.

The big man now understood why True Person Chaotian had become so enraged and embarrassed earlier. Anyone suffering such a defeat—inexplicable, accompanied by the robbery of decades or centuries of wealth—would surely find it unbearable.

The Soul Transformation cultivators were top-tier figures dominating the Southern Demon Continent; they were unwilling to concede defeat without a fight.

Since True Person Chaotian and True Person Leihuo had lower strength, their defeat was perhaps understandable. Naturally, stronger Soul Transformation cultivators entered the Blood Devouring Forest to continue challenging Ye Qin and seize the spiritual treasure.

In just a few short hours, more than a dozen Soul Transformation cultivators had entered the forest one after another.

When they entered, nearly all of them wore expressions of arrogance, either because they were absolutely confident they could not lose.

But when they emerged, every one of them looked dejected, without any further bold declarations, preferring silence instead.

These defeated Soul Transformation cultivators occasionally exchanged glances and surprisingly felt a sense of kinship—a feeling of "sharing the same plight." Indeed, being defeated was embarrassing enough. For a Soul Transformation cultivator to have his artifacts and the vast wealth within his storage bags cleaned out by someone else was an even greater humiliation. Fortunately, they were all equally disgraced and financially ruined, so no one had the standing to mock the others.

The defeated Soul Transformation cultivators did not warn those who had not yet entered; they merely watched with schadenfreude as the next challenger went in, waiting for another unfortunate soul to join their ranks.