A few dozen breaths later, the three youths in purple robes were all sprawled on the ground, unable to rise again.

Zong Shou's strikes had been extremely insidious; while there wasn't the slightest scratch on their faces or skin, the damage within their bodies was extensive.

Everything on them had been thoroughly plundered. The two outer-sect Dharma protectors were alright; they hadn't possessed much to begin with.

The purple-robed youth, however, was utterly pale. The small Qiankun Pouch he carried held treasures and spiritual materials worth at least ten million fourth-tier beast cores—yet he bit down hard on his lip, remaining silent.

"Spirit and martial cultivation, mastering sword intent!"

Even an idiot could tell that this person's status within the sect must be extraordinary, at the very least not inferior to his own.

How could he have actually believed that this person's cultivation was entirely a disguise using illusory arts?

"Is this the Spirit Jiet Ring? Indeed a fine thing, a fourth-tier magic treasure, not bad!"

Zong Shou was currently examining a crimson iron ring. He had only acquired a few such spatial treasures late in the era of the God Emperor's Game.

It seemed that the five-hundred-zhang space was only the smallest function of this item; it was due to the purple-robed fool's low cultivation that its full capabilities could not be exerted.

Once fully unfolded, it should possess a space of at least five thousand zhang in radius. Within, at least nine Heavenly Veins had been condensed, allowing it to function as a mobile cultivation grotto for practice.

Naturally, if used within this Azure Life Dome, it would also be excellent for blackmail, extortion, or outright robbery.

Satisfied, he slipped the item onto his hand. Then, Zong Shou produced a token.

It clearly bore the inscription: 'Xuan Yang Sect, Eighth Generation True Disciple, Li Zhe.'

"So, a True Disciple after all. In the Xuan Yang Sect's sixth generation, there seems to be an elder named Li. Truly a sin, a sin—"

While speaking of sin, Zong Shou carelessly tossed the token away.

Li Zhe had recovered some strength by then, his eyes slightly red as he glared fiercely at Zong Shou: "I know your identity is certainly not low within the Azure Life Dao. But for robbing me today, are you not afraid of my grandfather's decree? You don't even need to move; with just one sentence, you could be utterly annihilated! Return my things, and I, Li Zhe, can pretend today never happened—"

His words abruptly ceased as Zong Shou suddenly produced a token of his own and flashed it before Li Zhe's eyes.

Li Zhe's pupils instantly contracted to pinpricks. On that token were clearly the characters for True Disciple, but it was a Third Generation True Disciple of the Azure Life Dao!

The True Disciples of this generation were equivalent to the direct successors of the Three Sects and Six Gates. Moreover, a Third Generation disciple’s seniority surpassed his own grandfather by a full three generations!

This person was so young; did that not mean his predecessors were beings from the Immortal Dao of at least several thousand years ago?

"How is this possible?"

Then, in the next instant, Zong Shou’s light laughter sounded: "Why don't you address me as Great-Great Martial Uncle? Grand-Uncle?"

Li Zhe's face immediately twisted, feeling a surge of suffocating frustration that he couldn't vent.

He looked back with slight resentment at the Spirit Jiet Ring now on Tan Qiu’s hand, knowing that he most likely wouldn't get it back.

It was his own fault to begin with. If he reported this to his seniors, a reprimand from the sect, even stripping him of his True Disciple status, would be the mildest outcome.

If it came to a contest of backing influence, he was likely no match for this Tan Qiu.

Zong Shou, however, couldn't be bothered with the youth anymore. He had secured the benefits and had no desire to further torment these three miserable fellows.

With a clear conscience, he flicked his sleeve slightly, activating the Spirit Jiet Ring and dissipating the small pocket of space.

He then proceeded toward the Azure Life Dome while counting the spirit stones and beast cores inside the small Qiankun Pouch.

In but a moment, the corner of his lip quirked upward. His fortune was indeed quite good. Losing the mulberry, he gained the elm—a gain to balance a loss.

With a thought, a small box appeared in his hand. Within it, a fluffy young beast was sleeping soundly. It seemed to have been born only recently, its aura a low-rank fifth-tier, slightly inferior to the Profound Yin Turtle.

However, this little beast was a Stone Qilin! The progeny of the true Qilin, the rarest and most seldom-seen of the Five Spirit Beasts. Furthermore, this Stone Qilin inherited the purest Earth element bloodline and had not been bound by a Spirit Contract to any master.

Despite being low-rank fifth-tier, the value of this beast actually surpassed that of the Profound Yin Turtle!

He just shook his head slightly. If he used this creature to trade for the Phoenix Egg, plus some extra items, he would likely agree—why bother with such effort?

※※※※Returning to Courtyard One of the Jia character designation, when Zong Shou tossed the young Earth Qilin to Chu Xue, the girl was nearly ecstatic to the point of madness.

She then felt a pang of trepidation; her Young Master had entrusted her with two of the most precious spirit pets in succession. Could she ever repay him in the future? Why was he treating her so well?

Zong Shou, completely oblivious to his handmaiden's worries, walked directly into his quiet chamber. First, he set out the custom-ordered ninth-tier artifact refining furnace, then tossed all one hundred-plus ores that Han Xi had picked up from the carcass of the Gold-Swallowing Beast into the crucible in one go.

Next was starting the fire. Although Zong Shou didn't know artifact refining, he was well aware of the potency of Fire Essence Stones.

He carefully dropped in just two. Once ignited, two clusters of scorching flames erupted, causing the surrounding air to instantly turn intensely hot.

But even after a full half an hour, those black stones with silver striations showed not the slightest sign of melting.

Zong Shou raised an eyebrow and cautiously touched one of the black stones with his hand enveloped in True Qi. It felt icy cold, without a trace of warmth.

He tentatively added several more Fire Essence Stones and ignited them together. But as the ninth-tier refining furnace itself began to warp almost to its melting point, those stones merely grew slightly warm.

Zong Shou was slightly astonished, then fell into deep thought.

"Refining without melting, even with Fire Essence Stones? Could this truly be that material? Even a Profound-rank spiritual material should have melted by now. This thing is hard and heat-resistant—could it truly be that? But these two items should never be found together—"

The spiritual objects of the Heaven and Earth were divided into four grades: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow. Profound-rank spiritual gold could already be used to forge Law-grade weapons! After the spirit tide had been sluggish for nearly ten thousand years, such materials were quite rare in the Cloud Realm.

He was certain that this black metallic ore, even among Profound-rank materials, was extremely precious and rare. It was a rare refining spirit material from his memory.

However, what shocked Zong Shou even more at this moment were the silver threads visible on the ores. If his suspicion was correct, this was the primary reason the ore could not be melted.

After pondering for a moment, Zong Shou took out several porcelain bottles and poured all their contents into the crucible.

These were all essence blood collected from the carcasses of seventh-tier Fire Birds, including some possessing the bloodline of Divine Beasts, which Zong Shou had gathered, originally intending to use them for other purposes.

Now, without a hint of preciousness, he poured them all into the crucible.

Moments later, the black ores began to melt, quickly turning into a batch of scalding solution.

Zong Shou froze for a moment, then took another deep breath—it really was the legendary 'Heavenly Gold Blood Silver.' But why would this material be mixed with this Black Crystal Iron?

As this thought arose, he felt Han Xi, nestled in his sleeve, struggling, trying to fly out.

Zong Shou didn't stop her, letting her dart out from his sleeve. Then, the tiny silver-white figure rushed directly into the furnace.

Burning with silver-white, sacred flames, it showed no fear of the scorching heat inside the crucible, stepping onto the surface of the crimson Black Crystal Iron liquid.

In the next moment, threads of silver-white were seen being drawn out of the solution by Han Xi.

First, they coiled, and then they began to merge into the silver shell covering Han Xi! With every thread integrated, the luster of the shell became more brilliant, inscribed with more peculiar spiritual runes, making this shell, which resembled human heavy armor, even more dazzling.

What was even more shocking was that the two pairs of blade-arms had lengthened slightly, the blade edges appearing sharper, and serrations had grown on the back of the blades, chilling anyone who looked upon them.

Zong Shou's eyes held more clarity. The Demonic Fire Crystal Ant devoured all things. Legend held that it relied on the numerous ores and spiritual stones deep underground to increase its strength, tier, and the toughness of its carapace.

This innate divine ability, Han Xi should have inherited, though the method was different, much more discerning. For example, the Black Crystal Iron, considered extremely precious and hard to obtain by artifact refiners, was likely no better than garbage in Han Xi's eyes.

And the 'Heavenly Gold Blood Silver' was probably the first spiritual material it chose to strengthen its own body.

Zong Shou's gaze grew somewhat strange. This little thing truly lived up to its birth amidst calamitous, malevolent energy; the first spiritual gold it chose to enhance itself with was this exceptional.

This Heavenly Gold Blood Silver was even rarer than Black Crystal Iron, often occurring alongside several other types of spiritual gold. Since humans discovered this spiritual gold, it had been accompanied by various ominous legends.

It required a great deal of Divine Beast blood to refine. Once forged into a weapon, it would likely result in countless deaths, eventually becoming a malevolent weapon.

It possessed a peculiar power, especially against creatures of the Divine Beast lineage, capable of restraining even Divine Beasts at the Saint Realm.

Moreover, it was incomparably sharp; after the first melting, it required ten times the heat to melt it again, and it could even absorb some characteristics from Divine Beast blood, which is why it was listed among the world's Hundred Strange Golds.

This was what he had read in books in his later life; as for the exact details, he truly didn't know.

Han Xi’s body was not large, and after absorbing for about half an incense stick's time, she was satisfied. She happily circled above the solution, then looked toward Zong Shou, sending a stream of intent.

Zong Shou understood and, without objection, opened the Spirit Pet Pouch, allowing the six Eight-Winged Flying Ants to fly out.

These flying ants were ultimately only sixth-tier, and they dared not charge into the furnace like Han Xi, hovering outside instead. With Han Xi's assistance, they began to integrate the remaining silver threads bit by bit into their carapaces.

(To be continued) RQ