"Hey!" The Lion Venerable, known for his most explosive temper, roared suddenly and pointed forward. A surge of demonic fire hissed towards the skeleton.

A flash of green light erupted, the demonic fire, potent enough to melt a mountain to ash, burst into countless sparks after barely brushing past the remains. From within the pure gold skeleton, a dense white light emanated, within which vast swathes of white lotus flowers could be vaguely perceived. The lotus petals fluttered though there was no wind, and it seemed as if drops of sweet dew were falling from their cores, radiating a vibrant life force as if they were truly alive.

The Bone King opened his mouth wide, and Gu Chen felt as if his saliva was about to drip out.

The Bone King groaned, mumbling, "Golden bone and jade flesh, protected by white lotus—these are the remains of a Buddhist High Monk who legendary attained the Bodhisattva fruit! Junior Brother Lion Venerable, you should keep that Void-Breaking Pill. If senior brother can absorb this Bodhisattva skeleton, breaking through the current realm will be as natural as water flowing downstream!" Little Daoist Zhang rolled his eyes upon hearing this, while the Corpse Emperor burst into hearty laughter. If this Golden Body of the Bodhisattva were delivered to other sects within the Asian Dao Alliance, Buddhist disciples would venerate it day and night, while other Daoist disciples would merely treat it as a rare treasure to be stored away in a vault gathering dust. Only the Bone King could maximize the efficacy of these remains, converting all its energy into the unique demonic power characteristic of the Bone King. Furthermore, the Bone King's singular demonic arts could integrate this Golden Body, making his own physique even more indestructible.

Gu Chen’s entire attention, however, was fixed upon a dilapidated, golden Sarira Stupa, standing two chi and four cun tall, positioned before the skeleton. The precious pagoda was pale gold, each tier one cun high, engraved with countless tiny, sesame-seed-sized Buddha statues. Despite their minuteness, these statues were intricately detailed and lifelike, with faint white radiance subtly emanating from their eyes. Numerous beams of white light converged around the pagoda, forming a curtain of white light that firmly enveloped the structure.

The doors and windows of every tier of the pagoda were open. Through these openings, a sea-blue bead could be seen floating within the small chamber of each tier. From bottom to top, there were twenty-four tiers, and thus, twenty-four beads. These beads appeared devoid of their spiritual essence, their surfaces dull and lusterless. Moreover, the surfaces of the beads were covered in countless large and small cracks.

It wasn't just the beads that were cracked; this Sarira Stupa was also missing sections of wall here and had several sharply upturned eaves broken off there. It looked as if a pagoda molded from flour had been fiercely beaten with chopsticks by a child, utterly battered and shabby, resembling nothing more than junk from a refuse pile, utterly unremarkable. Tigress Granny had the sharpest eyes; while others were focused on the Bodhisattva skeleton, she had already snatched up the Sarira Stupa. With a flick of her right hand, she infused a stream of demonic power into it. The green demonic energy instantly stained the pagoda a ghastly green, and the light shooting from the eyes of all the Buddha statues also turned to a chilling, mournful green. Tigress Granny instantly cycled through dozens of hand seals onto the pagoda, but the structure showed no change whatsoever.

Sullenly tossing the pagoda to the ground, Tigress Granny cursed, "This should be a top-tier treasure, but its main body is severely damaged, and the internal restrictions have long been completely destroyed. The spiritual essence within the treasures is also utterly ruined. What a pity, what a pity." The pagoda tumbled and rolled until it stopped near the toe of Gu Chen’s boot. He bent down and snatched it up.

Looking at it, Gu Chen instinctively recalled the pagoda in the star map depicted on the Xilisto Crystal people's altar—the one with dozens of figures flying down toward it. If he wasn't mistaken, they were the same object.

Gu Chen could even surmise the origins of this golden skeleton, the pagoda, and the Xilisto Crystal people. Pluto was likely the secret base established by the owner of this golden skeleton or the sect behind him for nurturing innate spiritual beings. The Xilisto Crystal people were likely the servants manufactured by him or them to perform various menial and coarse tasks. Something must have happened later, most likely an invasion by external enemies. Consequently, the master of the golden skeleton perished in battle, the pagoda was severely damaged, and the spiritual energy within the pagoda leaked out, benefiting these Xilisto Crystal people who were merely intended for rough labor.

It must be that the spiritual essences within those twenty-four blue beads were merged by the Xilisto Crystal people, which is why they developed crystal spheres with powerful extraordinary abilities within their bodies. "What a pity, truly a pity." The Bone King was already impatiently pouncing towards the golden skeleton, hugging it excitedly and twisting his body. Gu Chen gently brushed the utterly ruined treasure, only able to sigh. He truly wondered what kind of supreme artifact it was originally to have spawned such a marvelous race as the Xilisto Crystal people, but now, the treasure lay covered in dust, its former glory lost forever.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Gu Chen felt a violent tremor within his Sea of Consciousness.

Within the boundless expanse of his Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness, the Taiji vortex, encircled by the myriad Heavenly Stars, suddenly quivered. From the two fish eyes of the vortex, two wisps of hazy white Qi suddenly surged out, flowing down Gu Chen's arms and pouring into the stupa. With a crisp crackling sound, the delicately carved Buddha statues on the pagoda shattered, exploding into countless golden motes of light that slowly permeated the structure. The pagoda transformed into a battered, twenty-four-tiered structure of pale yellow, possessing an ancient, solemn form devoid of any external ornamentation.

The two wisps of white Qi retracted into his body. The pagoda, its external appearance transformed, dissolved into a stream of pale yellow airflow that closely followed the two white wisps back into Gu Chen’s body. To outsiders, it looked as if Gu Chen had crushed the pagoda in his grasp, with some residual fragments of light falling through his fingers onto the ground.

The Corpse Emperor glanced at the remnants of the pagoda that Gu Chen had 'squeezed' and sighed, "A fine artifact, what a pity."

A colossal thunderclap echoed within Gu Chen’s Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness. In the very center of the massive Taiji vortex, a dim, anciently styled pagoda floated silently. The Taiji vortex rotated slowly, and with every rotation, a faint current of air slowly flowed into the pagoda. Streams of various colored lights also flowed out from the bodies of Zhao Yi and the five hundred men of the First Camp of the 'Zhen' Division, merging into the pagoda. Essentially, about one-tenth of the cultivation gained by Zhao Yi and the others during their practice was absorbed by the pagoda.

As for Gu Chen himself, more than fifty percent of the five-colored Qi generated by his five internal organs was swept away by the pagoda, causing the speed of his soul's fundamental transformation to slow slightly once more.

The countless stars revolving around the Taiji vortex simultaneously flashed a faint golden light. In that instant of starlight flashing, Gu Chen seemed to suddenly sense a mysterious connection between himself and the Heavenly Stars, but this marvelous sensation lasted only a fleeting moment before vanishing completely. He could no longer perceive the existence of the Heavenly Stars.

Even the Corpse Emperor only achieved the power to manifest the Stupid Peak to borrow the strength of the Sanxing (Three Stars of Slaughter, Ruin, and Wolf); with Gu Chen’s current cultivation, commanding the Heavenly Stars was currently impossible.

The pagoda remained suspended silently within Gu Chen's body. After a long, long time, when Gu Chen and the others left the divine hall and returned to the Scavenger Fleet, the pagoda seemed to have absorbed enough energy. An invisible fluctuation slowly spread out from within the pagoda, gradually integrating into the bodies of Zhao Yi and the others. Zhao Yi and the others, who were seated in meditative cultivation, suddenly shivered. The speed at which their primordial spirits repaired seemed to increase slightly, and fragments of long-forgotten insights into the universe and creation suddenly appeared in their minds.

The invisible fluctuation was extremely faint, perceptible only to Zhao Yi and the others. Gu Chen merely felt a sudden clarity in his mind, as if a thin veil had been pulled back before his eyes, revealing the red flowers, green leaves, blue mountains, and clear waters hidden behind it. In this moment of clarity, Gu Chen's soul's fundamental essence grew stronger yet again.

Traveling from the deep underground of Pluto back to the surface took over ten hours. During this journey, the pagoda emitted three invisible fluctuations in total. Each time, Gu Chen's body trembled slightly, his soul’s fundamental essence grew a bit stronger—not to mention that the surging Qi within his body seemed much clearer and easier to control.

Gu Chen told no one about the anomaly; he merely exchanged a significant "look" with the five Xin Jia brothers.

On the flagship Scavenger Ship No. 1, a dozen Roman nobles were furiously shouting at the Big Beard Commander. In the hangar bay beside them, one thousand alloy crates were neatly arranged, containing the one thousand Xilisto Crystal people acquired from this latest hunt. The tallest Roman insisted that the Big Beard Commander open the alloy crates for their inspection. The Big Beard Commander, chewing on a thick cigar, adopted the mannerisms of a street hooligan and wildly cursed back, refusing to open the boxes. "According to our principle of mutual supervision, you only have the right to count the number of Xilisto Crystal people we hunted; you have no right to open the crates," the Big Beard Commander firmly upheld the principle. "But we were unconscious for a period; we suspect you hid some of the hunted Crystal people during that time. You must not only open these emergency cryo-crates for our inspection, but you must also thoroughly search all thirty of your hunting vessels!" the Roman roared furiously. "Otherwise, I will lodge a formal protest against you regarding this matter!"

A few Hardwood Company soldiers dragged the corpses of several mutinous soldiers past, leaving long streaks of blood on the ground. The Roman’s expression shifted slightly as he looked at the lifeless bodies.

Gu Chen descended from the transport shuttle; the Corpse Emperor and the others used their divine abilities to slip into the cabins of the Scavenger Ships to rest, having no interest in dealing with these Romans. Hearing the Roman’s clamor, Gu Chen burst into uproarious laughter: "Hahaha, I swear by the name of God, the number of Xilisto Crystal people we hunted this time is exactly one thousand, and they are all low-level ones! We absolutely did not secretly hunt extra Crystal people; otherwise, may the Great Heavenly Lord punish me!"

Striding up to the Roman, Gu Chen bowed elegantly with a smile and said, "Esteemed gentlemen of the Hallm family, please take note of one thing: Mr. Pol Pot has not yet acquired enough Xilisto Crystal people, and as for us... are you unaware that we just experienced an internal rebellion? Not just on the warships, but the ground forces too—they all rebelled... We have just suppressed this revolt; how could we possibly have the leisure to secretly hunt more Crystal people?"

... It feels like the vocabulary for making things sound overly verbose and flowery is too limited and simplistic... but I cannot manage the task of speaking eloquently without purpose?

So, everyone, let's be straightforward and smash the flowery language before the 'pig head' even reaches out!