Within the spatial transport tunnel, a pressure heavier than Mount Tai surged toward Gu Xichen from all directions.

He chuckled a few times, completely unconcerned by the pressure. The so-called Supreme Yin Qi was the ultimate in softness and yielding. After cultivating the Supreme Yin Scripture, Gu Xichen’s Innate Body had also acquired the characteristics of Yin Qi. No matter how immense the external pressure, it could not inflict any actual harm upon his **. The sheer fortitude of the Innate Body far surpassed what others could imagine.

He traversed the pitch-black spatial tunnel as if strolling through a garden. Gu Xichen stepped out of the dark passage and into a ball of bright light ahead.

A heavy punch hurtled toward his face, accompanied by a harsh, strange cry: "Die!"

He flicked his sleeve. A surge of soft yet resilient Supreme Yin Qi firmly wrapped around the incoming fist. Gu Xichen gave his right arm a gentle shake. It was as if a dam that had held back a monstrous flood for years had suddenly burst; a formless, traceless, yet supremely violent power erupted from his sleeve. The person before him shrieked and was swept several li away by that single sleeve motion.

"Eh? Flying Waterfall Sleeve?" Hanba exclaimed in surprise.

Gu Xichen replied faintly, "It seems that is its name. Hmm, water is fundamentally soft, yet it can hide the infinite might of a ten-thousand-foot waterfall. I quite like this technique."

Flying Waterfall Sleeve, also known as the Supreme Yin Flying Waterfall Sleeve, was the proud creation of the True Monarch of Supreme Yin. It was the culmination of a perfect fusion between body techniques and spellcraft. A single sleeve strike not only carried the force of a colossal waterfall but also concealed countless Kui Water Yin Thunders within. Billions of lightning sparks could rise and vanish at will. Once unleashed, the struck person felt as if they had been plunged into the bottomless abyss beneath a cascading waterfall, constantly assailed by countless Yin Thunders, perpetually entangled and strangled by endless waves. Its destructive power was immense. Among the deities and sages of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, this technique was a renowned divine ability, ranking just below the legendary 'Universe in a Sleeve.'

The flung Yun Hua shrieked and thrashed wildly on the ground. Gu Xichen laughed heartily, "Senior Brother Yun Hua, even if you wanted to hoard all the spoils, must you greet me with a punch? Hmm, let me see, this is quite a place, a truly fine place!"

Countless zombies of various fur colors stood arrayed in a circle, their fierce, icy eyes fixed intently on Gu Xichen. Over ten thousand corpses lay scattered across the ground, their blood collecting into a small pool. Under the murmuring incantations of a few black-furred zombies, nearly a hundred bodies were slowly beginning to struggle to their feet, a chilling, eerie corpse energy gradually coalescing within them, seeping outward to spread into the surroundings.

Gu Xichen shook his head, taking in the palace structures before him. With a clean, sharp sweep of his right hand, he declared, "Good things are best shared—half for me, half for you, Senior Brother, how about it?!"

Caught off guard and swept away, although Gu Xichen hadn't unleashed the subsequent Kui Water Yin Thunders, the sheer, tough, binding force of the blow had nearly shattered Kan Hua’s frame. Covered in dust and grime, he crawled up, howling to the heavens, "Why is it that wherever there’s benefit, you show up? Fine. As you say, half for you, half for me. Better the spoils stay within the family."

Gu Xichen clapped his hands and laughed, about to agree, when Hanba suddenly jumped out in a fury. She shrieked, "I found this place! Why should you two split it?"

Shrugging indifferently, Gu Xichen nodded without apparent offense, "Then alright, a three-way split. All treasures found are divided into three equal shares. We three each take one portion. However, this grotto…"

Hanba immediately cried out, "The grotto is mine! This entire grotto belongs to me!"

Looking askance at Hanba hopping around like a delicate young lady whose prized handbag had just been snatched, Gu Xichen helplessly covered his forehead. Women, regardless of status, time, or place—they were always a headache! Sighing, Gu Xichen gritted his teeth and said to Hanba, "The grotto is yours, but the treasures inside…"

Hanba aggressively stepped forward a few paces, her voice ringing with anger, "I discovered this place! If I haven't earned merit, I’ve certainly put in the hard labor. So don't even think about touching my share!"

He let out a wry chuckle and opened his mouth to speak, but Hanba quickly added, "Even if you had found this place, there's a rule of first come, first served. So stop trying to take advantage of me. Giving you one-third of the treasures is already a sign of my magnanimity; I’m not arguing with a mere child."

"Alright, alright. Deal, deal. The grotto is yours, and all the treasures are split three ways among us!" Gu Xichen raised both hands in surrender, smiling helplessly.

"Heh heh!" Hanba smiled contentedly.

"Heh heh!" Seeing Hanba smile with satisfaction, Yun Hua also smiled happily. The sentiment, 'Your happiness is my happiness,' was perfectly embodied in Yun Hua at that moment.

A few clumsy, furry hands reached out to paw at Gu Xichen’s body. Gu Xichen’s eyes rolled back, and a swirl of Supreme Yin Blazing Fire suddenly surged from his Dantian throughout his body, enveloping him in a layer of greyish-white ice-flame nearly a foot thick. The moment the hairy hands touched him, their furry bodies instantly turned into a mass of viscous ice shards. Countless pure white ice crystals sprayed from within them, slowly drifting away on a gentle breeze. Hundreds of nearby hair-covered zombies that touched the ice crystals were instantly frozen solid into transparent Black Ice.

Shoving aside the frozen zombies blocking his path, Gu Xichen smiled wryly at the stiff-faced Hanba. "What’s wrong? Aren't we going to look for treasures?"

Hanba nodded stiffly, then let out a cold snort, "I recognize the cultivation technique you practice, I recognize it... But, I seem to have forgotten... though, Flying Waterfall Sleeve... how do I remember that?"

Gu Xichen merely smiled and remained silent. The effects of the Supreme Yin Scripture were truly astonishing. While others cultivated true essence or immortal power, the Supreme Yin Scripture, especially aided by the Supreme Yin Mystic Pearl, cultivated the most terrifying Supreme Yin Blazing Fire in existence. Anyone who had witnessed this cultivation method could never forget it.

However, Hanba, much like Xin Jia and the others, must have lost a significant portion of her primordial spirit? That was why she remembered the Flying Waterfall Sleeve from the scripture but couldn't recall the name of the Supreme Yin Scripture itself.

Gazing at the massive complex of palaces ahead, whose halls were clearly arranged according to the Four Symbols and the Nine Palaces Bagua formations, Gu Xichen frowned. Within his Soul Treasure, he possessed countless volumes of knowledge regarding formations, but this knowledge was excessively profound. What he currently mastered was only the foundational formation knowledge taught by Zhao Yi, along with some derived variations.

"Leave professional matters to professionals. My job is just to play the role of the Chief Steward."

Six streams of purple light poured out around Gu Xichen. Xin Jia and his five brothers, along with Zhao Yi, strode forth from the light. Hanba's eyes suddenly lit up, and she instinctively lunged a claw toward Xin Jia’s body. Gu Xichen let out a cold snort. With a sweep of his right hand, a dense, chillingly tenacious Supreme Yin Profound Barrier, accompanied by the faint roar of a tsunami, rolled toward Hanba. This casual sweep appeared unremarkable, yet Hanba could not avoid the movement of his sleeve.

"You brat!" Hanba cried out in alarm. Trapped by the surging water waves, she was violently lifted several hundred meters high by the rotation of Gu Xichen's sleeve, her graceful body tracing an uncontrolled, massive parabola before she flew over a dozen li away. With a 'Bang~ Splash,' accompanied by the muffled roar of water, ten brilliant blue arcs of lightning exploded around Hanba. Like a sock in a commercial washing machine, she tumbled and spun within the continuous wave impacts, finally slamming heavily onto the ground headfirst.

"Hey! Honored Superior, magnificent!" Xin Jia and his five brothers, plus Zhao Yi, cheered and clapped excitedly.

Gu Xichen inclined his head modestly toward Xin Jia, then quickly winked at Yun Hua.

"Hey! This woman just needed a good thrashing! If you don't beat her for three days, she’ll tear the roof off! Where have the traditional virtues of Chinese women gone?" Yun Hua snickered while trotting eagerly toward Hanba, who was reeling, dizzy, and in excruciating pain from the devastating Kui Water Yin Thunder explosions. "Oh my, Ancestor Master, what's wrong? Oh dear, your hairstyle is ruined! Tsk tsk, does your body ache? Hee hee, let me give you a massage?" While Hanba's eyeballs were still spinning, Yun Hua solicitously inserted his hands under her armpits, vigorously attempting to lift her up. However, the position of his two hands seemed exceedingly strange, as the majority of his palms rested squarely upon the pair of high mounds on Hanba's chest.

A dull thud sounded. Gu Xichen closed his eyes, unable to watch. "Just as expected!" he muttered helplessly. The enraged Hanba delivered a punch to Yun Hua’s jaw, sending him flying out over thirty li like a leaf in the wind, blood spitting from his mouth, nearly out of the boundary of the grotto.

"Grand Ancestor Mistress, I meant well!" Yun Hua’s neck was twisted at an odd angle, the back of his head almost touching his spine. With great effort, he managed to wrench his head back into place.

"Damn you!" Not knowing when she had learned it, Hanba fiercely thrust her middle finger at Yun Hua. Then, she rushed fiercely toward Gu Xichen, pointing a finger at him and roaring, "Brat, don't get too arrogant! When my powers recover, you’ll see what’s coming!"

"Oh? Is that so?" Gu Xichen laughed heartily, and two white strange lights suddenly shot from his eyes. Accompanied by the sound of water waves like mountains collapsing and seas overturning, a pillar of Supreme Yin Blazing Fire, tens of zhang high, erupted from Gu Xichen. Before Hanba could react, Gu Xichen pointed a finger—which was practically touching her nose—at her, forming a peculiar hand seal.

"Chie!" With a strange incantation, Gu Xichen glared fiercely at Hanba.

Hanba’s primordial spirit suddenly shook violently. She shrieked and recoiled backward like she had seen a ghost, rushing several li away. Trembling, she pointed a shaking finger at Gu Xichen and screamed, "You, what evil spell did you use?" Following the chant, Hanba instinctively sensed a strange connection forming between her and Gu Xichen—as if the most vital part of her primordial spirit was held in Gu Xichen’s grasp, ready to be scattered into ash with a mere flick of his finger.

"You don't need to know why. You only need to know what to do from now on!" Gu Xichen, having just grasped a certain sinister curse from the Great Desolation Sutra, felt completely elated and laughed, "From now on, treat Xin Jia and his five brothers as your own elder brothers! If you dare show them the slightest disrespect, I will annihilate your primordial spirit and cast your true spirit into the Eighteenth Level of Hell, allowing you no reincarnation for eternity!"

"Hmph!" Hanba immediately forgot the sense of deterrence Gu Xichen had just imposed. She scoffed coldly, "On what grounds? Do you even possess the ability to open the Samsara path to the eighteen hells?"

Gu Xichen was silent for a moment. He concentrated, flipping through the vast ocean of curses and spells within the Great Desolation Sutra. Only then did he slowly nod, "Not yet. Once my cultivation breaks through the first chapter of the Supreme Yin Scripture, I will be able to perform the Demon Hand Sealing the Divine Primordial Spirit. Then, snatching your true spirit to send to the Eighteenth Level of Hell will be as easy as turning my hand."

"Demon Hand Sealing the Divine Primordial Spirit?" Hanba's rosy complexion instantly turned deathly pale. Clearly, fragments of her incomplete primordial spirit contained memories of this technique.

The arrogance that had previously fueled her instantly vanished. She obediently shut her mouth, daring not to utter another word.

Pointing toward Yun Hua, who was sneaking closer like a thief, Gu Xichen said coldly, "Yun Hua is my Senior Brother, and he has always taken great care of me. I do not wish to see you getting 'handsy' with him!"

"That's unfair!" Hanba roared. "What about him getting handsy with me?"

Gu Xichen glared, sneering coldly, "It is Heaven's Mandate for a man to harass a woman! It is even more Heaven's Mandate for a male zombie to harass a female zombie! In short, he can touch you, but if you dare touch him, I will let you experience the suffering of having your soul tempered by Supreme Yin Blazing Fire! This matter is non-negotiable!"

Hanba was so enraged her head seemed to smoke, and eerie corpse energy spewed from every pore. She was furious enough to burst her lungs. Yun Hua gazed at Gu Xichen with eyes that looked pink with adoration. In that moment, he felt he could die for Gu Xichen—though, technically, he wasn't alive now. As for Xin Jia and the five brothers, plus Zhao Yi, they looked upon their 'Honored Superior' with the worshipful gaze of believers looking upon their God. This 'Honored Superior' was truly remarkable! He dared to threaten Hanba? He dared to threaten Hanba in this manner? He dared to threaten Hanba with such shameless words?

"That’s amazing!" Xin Jia exclaimed sincerely. "Even our former Supreme Marshal didn't dare speak to a Star Lord like that! Truly amazing!" His clothes shifted, restoring the Daoist crown, robes, crane cloak, and cloud boots left by Daoist Wu Chen. He stood with his hands behind his back, coldly observing Hanba, "You should realize by now. Your original body has gone God knows where. This body of yours is merely a wisp of a residual spirit registered in the Purple Cloud Immortal Registry of the Thirty-Three Heavens. It was only due to a marvelous artifact that you borrowed a wisp of my soul origin to re-condense form."

Suffocating pressure radiated from Gu Xichen, pinning down the head of the smokingly angry Hanba. Hanba’s face paled, and she staggered backward in fear, her body trembling violently like a lamb chilled by the cold. Gu Xichen sneered mercilessly, "Even if you finally burrowed into Kan Hua’s body, using a wisp of his primordial spirit as a seed to reshape your true form, your life and death are still controlled by me."

He tapped Hanba with a finger. Gu Xichen said, "Your life and death are in my hands... However, for Yun Hua's sake, I won't pursue this. From now on, you are not to touch a single hair on Yun Hua's head... Teach him the Corpse Scripture quickly, or I will not be kind to you!"

"Impressive!" Xin Jia and the brothers gave him another thumbs-up.

"A life mentor!" Yun Hua looked at Gu Xichen with pure admiration, while his right hand sneakily grabbed Hanba's sleeve and gently tugged it a few times: "Ancestor... A wise man avoids a direct clash. Why don't you temporarily swear a Soul Vow and agree to Junior Brother Xie Chen’s terms? Hey, if you swear on your Natal Primordial Spirit that you will teach me the Corpse Scripture, then I promise I won't force you!"

Hanba remained silent.

Xin Jia and the brothers remained silent.

Gu Xichen rolled his eyes. This Yun Hua was truly shameless. Should he perhaps also demand Hanba swear a Soul Vow that she must marry Yun Hua, and he absolutely wouldn't force her to marry? This fellow's shamelessness had reached a supreme level. Gu Xichen felt that a dozen of himself combined wouldn't match Yun Hua's single degree of shamelessness.

Shaking his head, Gu Xichen turned and walked toward the grand archway made of red coral, tens of zhang high, standing before the main entrance of the grotto. This archway was inlaid with countless red jewels of various sizes, emitting a warm, gentle heat that spread outward. Within the range of the red light, there was not a speck of dust, nor the slightest hint of moisture or foul odor. At the center of the archway was a plaque, inscribed with three large characters in ancient Gold-Drum script: Heavenly Works Hall!

"What arrogance! Heavenly Works Hall! Heh!" Gu Xichen scoffed.

Just as he was about to step into the grotto to see what lay inside, Hanba’s hysterical roar echoed from behind: "You hag will fight you to the death!"

A dull thud sounded, as if a heavy artillery shell had torn through the air, rushing toward the back of Gu Xichen’s heart with a muffled roar. Gu Xichen instinctively flung out a retaliatory Flying Waterfall Sleeve. In these past few days studying the Supreme Yin Scripture, he found the Flying Waterfall Sleeve to be the most useful technique. Even with only a Golden Core cultivation level, he could use it. In the future, when he reached the power of the True Monarch of Supreme Yin, the technique's might would scale with his cultivation. Moreover, this sleeve strike carried no trace of worldly smoke or fire, perfectly aligning with the Daoist charm cultivated by his Innate Body.

With a great 'whoosh,' a vast expanse of water waves suddenly poured from Gu Xichen’s sleeve. Hanba, whose entire body was spewing the Corpse God Fire, punched through Gu Xichen’s sleeve. The Daoist robe left by Daoist Wu Chen disintegrated into countless fine fragments shaped like butterflies, scattering in the wind amidst a muffled, thunderous sound. This strike utilized Hanba’s Natal Corpse Fire, possessing power so immense it neared the absolute limit this mortal realm could withstand. Although Daoist Wu Chen's artifact refinement skills were high, the material used for this set of robes was merely ordinary acquired material, and his cultivation was only at the peak of the ordinary Void Realm. Under Hanba's enraged blow, the robe naturally could not withstand such tremendous force and was completely destroyed.

Shattered along with it were Gu Xichen’s crane cloak and cloud boots. Of the set of Daoist garments left by Daoist Wu Chen, only the Green Jade Daoist Crown remained intact; the rest were utterly ruined.

Hanba’s long hair flew wildly above her head, and crimson flames rolled around her body. Staring intently at Gu Xichen, she laughed fiercely, "You dare threaten this old woman? I’ve destroyed your clothes; now what methods do you have left!"