"Ancient Evil Little Madman didn't gather enough of the Taiyin Profound Pearl into his embrace… he lacked the power to drive it, but this treasure accelerated his cultivation speed to the extreme!

Although the power cultivated by the Taiyin Profound Pearl is of the extreme Yin attribute, the Great Desolation Scripture has this distinct advantage: cultivating the Great Desolation Scripture completely disregards the attribute of one's true qi; it is a miraculous technique that purely emphasizes innate **aptitude, completely unconcerned with qi attributes!

The True Lord of Taiyin let out a despairing, heaven-rending howl: "Damn it! Why would such a supreme treasure remain in this realm? The Haotian Pagoda, the Haotian Pagoda. It suppresses ten thousand treasures, shatters ten thousand treasures, contains all things, and gives birth to all things—the Haotian Pagoda! It can break through all restrictions in the world, yet all restrictions in the world cannot break it! This realm's fortune, this child's fortune—Heavens above!"

Gu Xiechen’s mood soared. "The Haotian Pagoda? It seems to be another astonishing thing? How could such a treasure be lost on Pluto? Truly strange!

The True Lord of Taiyin cried out frantically again: "Strange, bizarre! This Haotian Pagoda is a supreme treasure that stabilizes the Thirty-Three Heavens. Strange indeed, why does it carry the scent of a Buddhist restriction? However, the method of this Buddhist restriction is utterly subpar. Could it be that this treasure also fell into the hands of those bald monks from Buddhism?"

Gu Xiechen’s heart stirred slightly. Wasn't that the case? Before this pagoda followed Gu Xiechen, wasn't it covered in Buddhist statues and relics, and placed before a golden statue of a Bodhisattva?

"Very clever, you guessed correctly again. But still no reward whatsoever!"

Gu Xiechen smiled faintly. The Soul Treasure Pearl swiftly flashed with dazzling, piercing light. Within the Shenhun (Divine Soul) chapter of the Great Desolation Scripture, he found an extremely malicious and fierce soul-refining technique. This method could forcibly devour the true spirit of others' souls and seize all their memories. Of course, this required the opponent's true spirit to be far weaker than one's own!

Boundless joy surged into Gu Xiechen's heart. He pointed at the dim true spirit of the True Lord of Taiyin and commanded: "Xin Jia, beat him until his own mother wouldn't recognize him! Oh, don't kill him."

Xin Jia laughed wildly: "Your Excellency, rest assured, your subordinate knows what to do."

The five Boundless Divine Chains shook, and thousands of glittering iron chains instantly transformed into a vast net, wrapping the True Lord of Taiyin within.

The True Lord of Taiyin shrieked and shot upward, attempting to flee Gu Xiechen’s Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness, but this was Gu Xiechen’s territory. Having lost his natal magic treasure and depleted his last sliver of immortal power, the True Lord of Taiyin had not the slightest chance of escape. Especially with Gu Xiechen, the landlord, glaring watchfully nearby. In the blink of an eye, the True Lord of Taiyin was beaten down into a mere wisp of pure spiritual consciousness.

Colored light flickered above the Soul Treasure Pearl. A massive suction force emanated, and the True Lord of Taiyin's spiritual consciousness rolled into Gu Xiechen’s Soul Treasure Pearl. A massive stream of data once again flooded into his consciousness.

Indeed, the True Lord of Taiyin was not bragging. Although his cultivation method lacked the breadth, complexity, and all-encompassing nature of the Great Desolation Scripture, the Taiyin True Scripture he practiced was absolutely a top-tier cultivation method. If the Great Desolation Scripture earned the character "Broad," the Taiyin True Scripture earned the character "Refined." This technique started from the very foundation of a person—meticulously cultivating the primordial spirit, tempering the magic power, and ultimately transcending the Five Elements, remaining outside the Three Realms, attaining great divine abilities and wisdom. Upon achievement, one would be untainted by dust, unstained by filth, pure, free, and unrestrained—truly a supreme method in the lineage of immortal cultivation.

The Taiyin True Scripture was like a perfectly crafted, peerless work of art, whereas the Great Desolation Scripture resembled the colossal stone statues of Easter Island: ancient, heavy, yet lacking a bit of refinement.

Almost as soon as the memories of the True Lord of Taiyin were merged, Gu Xiechen made the decision most beneficial to his development: delve deeply into the Taiyin True Scripture while concurrently practicing the myriad techniques of the Great Desolation Scripture as auxiliary knowledge. With his foundation solidified, the various application techniques of the Great Desolation Scripture would come naturally, without the slightest difficulty.

Especially since he was already accustomed to the Snow Soul Divine Gang; freezing people into blocks of ice had become a peculiar hobby of his. The Taiyin True Scripture, as its name implied, cultivated the innate wisp of supreme Yin and extreme cold Taiyin Qi, which aligned perfectly with Gu Xiechen's disposition.

Countless profound characters flowed into Gu Xiechen's memory like a tide, and he silently savored the mysteries of the Taiyin True Scripture.

The Scripture was divided into Upper, Middle, and Lower Volumes, corresponding to the three major realms: the Mortal Realm, the Immortal Realm, and the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

The Human Volume was divided into three chapters. Completing the first chapter was equivalent to the strength of a peak Void Realm mortal. Completing the second chapter yielded the strength of a high-level Loose Immortal. If the third chapter was successfully cultivated, one could attain the Dao Fruit of an Earth Immortal or even a Celestial Immortal within the Mortal Realm. Especially cultivating this method with Gu Xiechen's innate body, the path was perfectly smooth without any obstacles; even heavenly tribulations would not descend, allowing him to enter the Celestial Immortal realm directly.

The Earth Volume was divided into thirty-three chapters, corresponding to the Thirty-Three Heavens where the Heavenly Court was situated, from the First Heaven, Taihuang Huangzeng Tian, to the Thirty-Third Heaven, Yuqingjing Qingweitian. With every chapter successfully cultivated, the immortal power and primordial spirit would multiply several times, even tens of times. If one could complete all thirty-three chapters of the technique, they would possess the cultivation of an ancient Grand Unity Golden Immortal. Even in the Heavenly Court that once ruled the Three Realms, they could occupy a high and prominent position as a regional commander.

The Heaven Volume contained only one chapter, which was exquisitely profound and subtle to the extreme. If one could cultivate to the level of the Heaven Volume of the Taiyin True Scripture... Cultivating this volume brought about earth-shattering changes to everything from the ** body to divine abilities and magical power. Its profound mysteries were too numerous to be described in detail... In the memory of the True Lord of Taiyin, any immortal who reached the cultivation equivalent of the Heaven Volume of the Taiyin True Scripture was no longer bound by the Heavenly Court and could freely establish cave dwellings within the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, enjoying boundless freedom.

As for the rest of the True Lord of Taiyin's memories, they were largely uninteresting. These immortals who lived in seclusion were, by popular definition, ultimate homebodies. Apart from three or five deeply etched mortal enemies, there was genuinely nothing else important in the True Lord of Taiyin’s recollection. Every day was cultivation, comprehending the Heavenly Dao; comprehending the Heavenly Dao, cultivation—this was entirely a robotic existence.

"If this is what they call (Free and Unfettered Immortal)... I’d rather just mill about on Earth!" Gu Xiechen rapidly finished devouring the memories of the True Lord of Taiyin, unable to help but lament with a bitter smile: "Immortals like this are no different from the dead. What is there to yearn for?"

However, there was one small piece of information in the True Lord of Taiyin's memory that interested Gu Xiechen: access restrictions to the Ice God Palace in the Eternal Brightness Domain of the Taiyin Realm in Dongyuan Huayingsheng Tian, as well as the location of his treasury storing various rare items. If he ever reached Dongyuan Huayingsheng Tian, "Bing Chen" wouldn't mind taking these things for himself. Of course, contemplating these matters now was far too premature. Gu Xiechen held little aspiration for achieving immortal cultivation himself. His life goal remained becoming a successful businessman. Furthermore, how many years had it been since a cultivator achieved Ascension from the Earth's Daoist world? Gu Xiechen held little interest in this matter.

This was the life of the True Lord of Taiyin. The volume of information in his memory was less than that of an ordinary fifteen-year-old youth on Earth today. At least an ordinary person had experienced joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure; a fifteen-year-old youth had likely fallen in love and even shared intimacy with a beloved; if unlucky, they might have even fathered a child! And the True Lord of Taiyin? Despite being an ancient immortal dating back to the Primordial Chaos, his life experience was truly...

"As tasteless as plain boiled water!" Gu Xiechen sighed deeply. "Even those so-called life-and-death enemies—what were the reasons? Wasn't it just about who ate the peaches first or last at the Peach Banquet? How could that breed such deep hatred? Inexplicable, senseless. If you people tried business, you’d lose your underpants! Don't you know that harmony brings wealth?"

After fiercely despising the emotional quotient, even the IQ, of the True Lord of Taiyin, Gu Xiechen let out a forceful breath.

Although the natal spiritual consciousness of the True Lord of Taiyin was faint, its nature was incomparably pure. After devouring this wisp of spiritual consciousness, Gu Xiechen's own Soul Treasure Pearl gained an opportunity for sublimation and condensation. The breath he exhaled subconsciously was a stream of fragrant, rich, five-colored air—the essence condensed from his own soul origin.

As this breath escaped, the countless rolling golden stars within the Thirty-Three Heavens Immortal Registry Artifact trembled simultaneously. A few stars in the Grand Cycle Star Map lit up, and four golden stars suddenly separated from the Taiji Qi Vortex, rapidly swooping towards the mass of five-colored airflow expelled by Gu Xiechen’s Soul Treasure Pearl.

With a crack, four purple lightning bolts materialized out of thin air in the Purple Mansion. The four purple lights struck the five-colored airflow, instantly shattering it into four pieces of equal size.

The four golden stars rapidly integrated into the four pieces of five-colored airflow, and in the blink of an eye, they began to spin rapidly. Simultaneously, Gu Xiechen’s body, as if by instinct, demanded a strong influx of world spiritual energy. The speed at which his body absorbed external spiritual qi, clear qi, and turbid qi soared several times over again.

The four vortex-like masses of five-colored airflow whistled out from Gu Xiechen’s brow, carrying four streams of powerful spiritual energy drawn from within him, and hovered in the empty command cabin.

The surrounding clear qi and turbid qi surged into the four masses of five-colored airflow like a flood released from a breached dam, and gradually, four tall and imposing figures vaguely took shape within the airflow. However, the speed at which their bodies formed was much slower than that of Xin Jia and the others. No one knew how much spiritual energy they had absorbed before they showed any tendency to fully manifest.

Gu Xiechen paid them no mind; they were all under his control anyway. No matter what illustrious figures materialized this time, it would only bring him benefits, not harm.

Glancing briefly at the four indistinct figures within the five-colored airflow, Gu Xiechen closed his eyes and began cultivating the first chapter of the Human Volume of the Taiyin True Scripture. The Taiyin Profound Pearl vibrated excitedly a few times, continuously sending streams of bone-chilling cold currents into Gu Xiechen’s meridians.

The Taiyin True Scripture cultivated the innate Taiyin Qi, and the true essence cultivated was the incomparably condensed and extremely Yin and cold Taiyin Profound Gang. With the help of the Taiyin Profound Pearl, the first step in condensing the Taiyin Profound Gang for Gu Xiechen was utterly devoid of challenge. He had only been meditating for less than thirty minutes when the first stream of Taiyin Profound Gang condensed within his body.

Slowly, the Taiyin Profound Gang grew denser, continuously merging with the five-colored airflow seeping out from Gu Xiechen’s Soul Treasure Pearl, transforming into his own true essence.

Time passed second by second. Within the innate body, there were no impediments; wherever the true essence passed, it was smooth and complete. Moreover, the outside world provided a continuous supply of rich spiritual energy. Gu Xiechen’s cultivation speed could be described as progressing at a thousand li per day. In just seven days and seven nights, Gu Xiechen recovered his former peak true qi cultivation, and even improved upon it by more than a hundredfold.

At this point, Gu Xiechen's true essence cultivation was equivalent to that of a cultivator at the peak of the Golden Core stage. However, because the Taiyin True Scripture was an ancient innate secret text and differed inherently from the cultivation methods of the current Daoist world, his body had not condensed a Golden Core. All his true essence and magical power were concealed within every part of his body.

Added to this was the incredible mystery of the innate body. Externally, he looked no different from a stone or a clod of earth. At this moment, even if the Corpse Emperor used his full power to detect Gu Xiechen’s condition, he would not discover Gu Xiechen’s true cultivation! The gap between the innate and the acquired is this vast!

The nature of the Taiyin True Scripture was Yin and cold, and the Taiyin Profound Gang was the most subtle and contained energy. If Gu Xiechen hadn't intentionally released his aura, he would have appeared as an ordinary person externally.

The black light curtain still enveloped the Primordial-level warship as it sped forward. Gu Xiechen had no recourse but to diligently cultivate inside the battleship. Internally, he cultivated the Taiyin True Scripture; externally, he benefited from the incomparably abundant innate-level spiritual energy, coupled with the comprehension of the Heavenly Dao gained from the True Lord of Taiyin’s memories. After one month, his cultivation advanced to the peak of the Nascent Soul level. However, he still had neither condensed a Golden Core nor formed a Nascent Soul.

Golden Cores and Nascent Souls are both paths of the acquired Dao. Which innate immortal has a Golden Core? Which has a Nascent Soul? The Five Qi are full in the chest, and the Three Flowers are gathered at the crown—this is the innate immortal state!

One day, just as Gu Xiechen was circulating the one hundred and eight great cycles, a chilling white light condensed in his eyes that refused to dissipate. Suddenly, the four masses of five-colored airflow before him rapidly contracted inward, and four imposing figures, ten feet tall, with green faces and bared fangs, strode out.

The four men looked around, pondered for a moment with knitted brows, circled Gu Xiechen several times in confusion, and then suddenly realized. They formed a line and knelt on one knee before Gu Xiechen.

"Your subordinate, the Great General guarding the South Heaven Gate of the First Heaven, Taihuang Huangzeng Tian, Virudhaka, the Heavenly King Mo Liqing, pays respects to Your Excellency!"

"Your subordinate, the Great General guarding the South Heaven Gate of the First Heaven, Taihuang Huangzeng Tian, Dhritarashtra, the Heavenly King Mo Lihong, pays respects to Your Excellency!"

"Your subordinate, the Great General guarding the South Heaven Gate of the First Heaven, Taihuang Huangzeng Tian, Vaishravana, the Heavenly King Mo Lihai, pays respects to Your Excellency!"

"Your subordinate, the Great General guarding the South Heaven Gate of the First Heaven, Taihuang Huangzeng Tian, Dhritarashtra, the Heavenly King Mo Lishou, pays respects to Your Excellency!"

The Four Heavenly Kings stared blankly at Gu Xiechen. Gu Xiechen stared blankly at the Four Heavenly Kings.

Since establishing contact with the Corpse Emperor and the Nine Nether Dao, Gu Xiechen had studied ancient myths and legends extensively. Coupled with his childhood study of Daoist canons by Gu Yi Menchuan Chi, he was familiar with the names of the Four Heavenly Kings. It was precisely because he knew their names that he was so shocked he froze stiff, unable to even speak.

Xin Jia and his brothers were merely Yellow Turban Warriors. What were Yellow Turban Warriors? In Eastern mythology, they swept the floors, grew vegetables, carried water, and tended the fires—they did all the dirty, arduous work. When dealing with the Yellow Turban Warriors, Gu Xiechen felt no pressure.

But when the famous Four Heavenly Kings from myth and legend suddenly appeared before him, Gu Xiechen truly felt nervous!

He let out a couple of dry coughs, slowly raised his hand to wave, and said faintly: "All four of you, please rise. I will be relying on you heavily from now on!"

Yes, relying on them heavily from now on. The Four Heavenly Kings—these were genuinely powerful generals. In future fights, they would be his shields; in business negotiations, they would be his senior assistants; when collecting debts, they would be his professional debt collectors!

In the foreseeable future, Gu Xiechen was determined to ruthlessly exploit the remaining value of these four brothers. If he didn't squeeze them dry, how could he be called a successful businessman? What kind of capitalist? Especially since these four required no salary. They were such a bargain!

"Please rise, please rise, quickly!" Gu Xiechen jumped up excitedly, diligently helping the four imposing figures to their feet: "Today, Xiechen has gained the four of you, much like King Wen gained the beautiful Shang, or Han Xin defected to Liu Bang. Having the four of you!"

Excited in his heart, Gu Xiechen found it hard to express the torrent of thoughts.

The Four Heavenly Kings had clearly just reformed their bodies; the damage to their primordial spirits was even more severe than that of Xin Jia and his brothers. Essentially, apart from their names and some basic instincts, they remembered very, very little. Therefore, when Gu Xiechen staged his act of valuing talent, the four brothers just smiled foolishly, with a very simple and innocent smile.

Suddenly, the black light curtain that had been pushing the Primordial-level warship for months outside the vessel disintegrated. The Primordial Clear Qi and Primordial Turbid Qi slowly merged, undergoing earth-shattering changes.

With a loud whoosh, like the heavens collapsing, the black light curtain outside instantly vanished. The clear qi and turbid qi mixed together, condensing into countless colorful small mountains and giant stones, which chaotically flew alongside the warship. Many more small mountains and giant stones flew aimlessly toward the four directions of the subspace, quickly disappearing from sight.

The Four Heavenly Kings cried out in unison. Mo Liqing roared: "Your Excellency, why are you not quickly collecting these numerous innate materials? Your subordinates’ personal weapons are missing, and we urgently need suitable treasures!"

Gu Xiechen abruptly turned his head to look out the viewport—wasn't that so? Those small mountains and giant stones were all various innate materials recorded in the Exotic Treasure Record that he had obtained. Presumably, the location where the black hole and the giant star had exploded was now too far away. The clear qi and turbid qi had lost that explosive outward force and naturally condensed inward, thus generating so many innate materials.

Now, the Daoist world on Earth fought bloody battles over a slightly better piece of Acquired Five-Element Essence Gold. If they saw this immeasurable amount of innate materials here, it would be a wonder if they didn't suffer heart attacks!

Gu Xiechen screamed: "Quickly, quickly collect them!" He was flustered and panicked for a moment.

Putting aside other materials, right before his eyes, just outside the viewport, hundreds of Sky-Tempered Blue Crystals, varying in diameter from several zhang to tens of zhang, flew past. If he collected all these, how many infinitely powerful main cannons could be built in the future?

Gu Xiechen risked it all. Surrounded by the Four Heavenly Kings, he fearlessly walked out of the warship’s hatch and furiously began sucking up the countless innate-level materials around him using the Small Qiankun Pouch!

This is where the might of the innate body showed itself. Ordinary people would have turned to ashes in the subspace long ago, but Gu Xiechen stood directly in the subspace. Not only did he feel no discomfort, but he could breathe freely as if swimming in water. No one knew where the oxygen came from in the subspace for him to breathe, but he did so, and his body felt perfectly comfortable, even more exhilarating than breathing pure oxygen!

The Qiankun Pouch performed a huge service this time. After spending more than ten hours, Gu Xiechen finally filled the pouch to the brim.

The Four Heavenly Kings did not waste this opportunity either. They employed a wondrous Qiankun Jiezi (Universe Seed Space) magic, directly storing massive amounts of materials into a strange space between their palms. The materials they collected were no less than Gu Xiechen’s!

Gradually, the terrifying spatial turbulence outside the warship subsided, and countless innate materials vanished into the boundless subspace. The speed of the Primordial-level warship slowly decreased. Two days later, the Primordial-level warship encountered a natural warp point and shot out of it.

As soon as they returned to normal space, Gu Xiechen saw a dark, filthy rock planet hurtling toward them. The warship slammed into the planet, its rear end leading and its nose trailing. Flying out of the subspace, the warship’s speed was terrifyingly fast. This impact caused it to burrow a full hundred kilometers deep into this rock planet, which had a diameter of over twenty thousand kilometers.

After a violent jolt, Gu Xiechen roared in exasperation: "It’s over, this is completely over! How am I supposed to get back?"

The Primordial-level warship had completely lost all its electronic equipment and all kinetic energy; it was now just an empty shell resembling a warship. And this shell was buried over a hundred kilometers deep in this rock body. Just getting this thing out from under the thick rock layers was a massive undertaking, let alone finding the way back to Earth.

As he sighed towards the heavens, Gu Xiechen saw a pure white small spaceship slowly flying by several hundred kilometers away through the dust-covered viewport.

"Ah, there's hope!"

Gu Xiechen clapped his hands and laughed heartily: "There's hope! Four Heavenly Kings, heed my command!"

Mo Liqing and his brothers snapped to attention immediately, shouting loudly: "Your subordinate is here!"

Gu Xechen waved a hand, and the five Xin Jia brothers, along with five hundred troops, surged forth. Gu Xechen let out a triumphant laugh. "Today, we'll start by hijacking a convoy!"

He pointed at the small spaceship crawling slowly ahead and roared.

"Take it down for me!"