Zong Shou was equally troubled, yet he maintained a façade of composure.

In truth, withdrawing from the Qin Emperor’s tomb right now would have been the most prudent and wise decision. However, those twelve bronze figures were something he refused to abandon, no matter what.

But with powerful enemies lurking nearby, the chance of wresting those figures away was slim to none.

Instead, he faced the very real danger of being cornered, killed, and having his legacy extinguished.

Within the Qin Emperor's tomb, his Kingly martial arts were useless, as if he were in enemy territory.

The only trump card he possessed that could possibly contend with a Saint-realm cultivator was the Zhouji Mingshi Shu (Book of the Apex Worldly Fate).

He had no way of gauging Shen Yuexuan's true strength. Yuan Wushang’s Jade Puppet could perhaps hold off one opponent, allowing Zong Shou to manage the other. Although Chuxue held the divine artifact Blood Moon Saber, she was not yet a true match for a Saint-realm expert.

And beside them lurked Su Xiaoxiao, the Saintess of the Demonic Path, whose allegiance remained nebulous and ambiguous.

While their combined strength seemed adequate, how could Li Biexue dare to orchestrate this situation without absolute certainty of victory?

If a true fight broke out, Zong Shou knew he would inevitably be the loser.

Even if he managed a victory, it would be a Pyrrhic one. They would lose nearly half their number to injury, leaving them utterly depleted to face Yin Yuzhongxuan afterward.

Beyond the Zhou Shu (Zhou Book), the only other resource he could rely upon were the three strands of immortal power residing within his physical form.

Reflecting on this, a thought suddenly struck Zong Shou—he had almost forgotten about the Dark Epiphyllum.

The Dark Epiphyllum he possessed before was naturally insufficient for heavy use. But once nourished by the Spring of Creation and the Underworld (Zaohua Mingquan), it became something genuinely worth anticipating.

With this in mind, Zong Shou immediately addressed Shen Yuexuan, "Sir, that Nine-Aperture Origin Stone—could you refine it into a weapon embryo within a hundred days, without damaging its inherent spirituality?"

"A weapon embryo? Does Your Majesty intend to borrow the strength of this treasure?"

Shen Yuexuan paused, then seemed to grasp the implication. He mused, "This presents some difficulty, mainly due to the lack of a suitable flame for refinement. However, the Nine-Aperture Origin Stone naturally possesses nine apertures, bringing it infinitely close to a naturally formed divine treasure. I can attempt to carve it first, trying the carving techniques of the Mohist school—"

Knowing Zong Shou possessed the Zhou Shu, which could accelerate time, Shen Yuexuan immediately understood the significance of the "hundred days" mention.

One hundred days provided more than enough leeway.

Zong Shou nodded slightly upon hearing this. The carving technique he mentioned was a lost branch of the Mohist school from the Cloud Wilderness era. They believed that all things in heaven and earth possessed an inherent 'nature' (wuxing). Rather than forcibly merging and refining them, one should elaborate upon their original form. This method used carving to elicit the inherent laws within various materials.

This technique had fallen into obscurity because it demanded impossibly high standards for both the artificer and the materials.

However, this method seemed perfectly suited for the Nine-Aperture Origin Stone.

In truth, even if the stone's spirituality was damaged, it didn't matter. His own life took precedence; he could only apologize to Master Xuan Shuang later.

Once refined into an embryo, he could leverage the power of the Nine-Aperture Origin Stone. Although he hadn't cultivated the Yuansheng Lingxi Jue (Origin Life Aura Art) himself, his World-Shaking Spiritual Art (Hanshi Lingjue) contained the core essence of that technique.

Perhaps, in the end, he could deliver a surprise to those orchestrating events.

Therefore, the immediate priority was finding a location sufficiently hidden—one that wouldn't be disrupted by the tomb's Two Extremes Dragon Gathering Formation, nor easily discovered by others. Then, he would dedicate all his effort to converting their recent gains into tangible personal strength.

Zong Shou couldn't help but lift his gaze upward. It seemed they would have to return to the false tomb layer above them.

At this time, anyone with even moderate power should already have descended into the layered true tomb.

The upper levels should be quiet now. And even if disturbed, he could likely resolve any intrusion in the blink of an eye, without causing any perceptible ripple.

And then there was that one thing—the Scent-Stealing Spirit-Seeking Gu.

Evading the tracking abilities of that Gu worm would also be a significant challenge. Fortunately, he only needed to hide for a single day, which he believed was achievable.

No sooner thought than done, Zong Shou willed it, and a stick of purplish-red agarwood appeared in his hand.

As it burned, smoke immediately billowed out, which Zong Shou then constrained with focused energy, enveloping the five of them.

This was another item acquired from Kong Rui; his father-in-law had provided quite a few useful things.

The item in his hand was called the Evil-Warding Purple Aura Incense. It emitted a special scent imperceptible to humans, but detectable and detested by all ant-beast species.

Even the Scent-Stealing Spirit-Seeking Gu would not be exempt.

Since he could not completely mask his own scent, he would simply make the Gu unwilling to seek him out.

Unfortunately, although the Evil-Warding Purple Aura Incense was not the most supreme treasure in existence, its global yield was extremely limited.

The reason he dared to expend it lavishly to shroud all five people was Zong Shou's uncertainty about which person’s vital aura the Gu had locked onto—especially Su Xiaoxiao, whom he could not afford to neglect.

The latter seemed to sense Zong Shou's intentions, putting on an expression of aggrieved compliance. She knew that any act of defiance now might invite Zong Shou’s suspicion, perhaps even murderous intent.

In her eyes, she desperately concealed her shock and confusion: Was this truly the technique of the Supreme Primordial Devil? But if the goal was to surround and kill Zong Shou, why release her and bring her to his side?

She vaguely sensed that something was amiss, feeling as if she had forgotten something crucial from her memories—

Yet, upon meticulous recall, Su Xiaoxiao could remember nothing, only a persistent sense of unease.

Retreating back into the Qin Emperor's true tomb proved far easier than entering. In just a moment, the five of them had ascended to the upper level.

Then, Shen Yuexuan located a secluded, hidden chamber on that floor where they could take refuge.

With the aid of the Illusory Heart Realm and Zong Shou’s illusionary arts, the possibility of detection by others became infinitesimally small. The Evil-Warding Purple Aura Incense continued to swirl around the exterior, isolating the five figures’ auras.

Once everything was secured, Zong Shou immediately produced the Zhou Shu. He first gave Su Xiaoxiao a cold, sneering look before shattering all the captured immortal stones, guiding the contained spiritual energy into that divine artifact codex.

This time, Zong Shou chose the hundredfold time differential without any regard for consumption: one day was stretched into a hundred.

"It is the Zhouji Mingshi Shu?"

Su Xiaoxiao’s eyes were filled with astonishment. She understood the meaning behind Zong Shou's glance—it was both a warning and a deterrent!

Grief immediately welled up within her heart. Fortunately, she had anticipated such a situation before employing the Primordial Devil's Seven Emotions Art.

Thus, Su Xiaoxiao did not feel overly dejected and still managed a smile. "This peerless divine text that countless people dream of actually resides in my beloved's hands. It is truly unexpected that outsiders have no inkling of its existence—"

She was further startled to discover the temporal shift occurring around them, causing her pupils to contract sharply. "Time acceleration, a hundredfold differential? I see! With this, my Primordial Devil's Seven Emotions Art can be elevated by another half a level!"

Zong Shou paid her no mind. Was it truly possible that no one was aware of the Zhou Shu? Hardly.

Zong Weiran had ventured alone into Yinlong Canyon and returned safely before hiding himself in the Sunken Cloud Sea.

The major sects were already intensely focused on the whereabouts of the Zhou Shu and the mystery of Zong Weiran's life or death.

Now that Zong Weiran had not perished and had reached the Divine Realm within just a few short years, that news had likely already reached the Cloud Realm.

The leaders of those sects and schools were hardly fools; on the contrary, they were peerless geniuses. They could certainly deduce partial truths about the Zhou Shu's location.

The reason they hadn't attempted to seize it was twofold: first, there had been no opportunity; second, after the battle in the Azure Vault of All Beings, the experts of the various sects were subdued and dared not harbor intentions of seizure.

Saint-realm cultivators’ paths were already fixed; apart from those whose cultivation methods related to time, the others held little desire for this divine artifact codex.

As for everyone else, most were keenly aware of their inferior strength and had completely abandoned the thought.

Therefore, the concerns surrounding his use of this artifact were diminishing. Zong Shou immediately entered meditation, slowly separating the three Dark Epiphyllum flowers within his soul from his Sea of Consciousness, gradually moving them outside the Shenxiao Acupoint.

Half an hour later, when Zong Shou reopened his eyes, he saw three black flower buds resting in his palm.

Perhaps sensing the environment, which they instinctively craved, the black buds began greedily absorbing the surrounding yin-evil, frigid energy the moment they appeared.

However, Zong Shou instantly and forcefully suppressed the Epiphyllum’s instinct to devour. Although these baleful energies laden with dark aura could certainly promote the Dark Epiphyllum's growth, they were ultimately destined to integrate into his own Sea of Consciousness. Absorbing this lingering resentment would only tarnish the purity of his primordial soul.

Since the three Epiphyllum flowers could not absorb the local baleful energy, and they were detached from Zong Shou’s Sea of Consciousness, they showed signs of immediate decay.

With a flicker of Zong Shou’s thought, a porcelain bottle appeared beside him. He extracted three drops of the Spring of Creation and the Underworld (Zaohua Mingquan) and dripped them onto the Dark Epiphyllum flowers.

The flower buds immediately swelled slightly, and strange spiritual patterns emerged on their petals, like those of the deeply thirsty encountering sweet rain. They unceremoniously drew all the spring water into their closed cores.

Black spiritual light flickered and shuttled; nourished by the liquid that intertwined the opposing primal forces of life and death, more and more spiritual patterns appeared. The previously pure black color began to fade, the edges gradually shifting to pure white.

As time progressed, the flower buds became increasingly vibrant.

"This Spring of Creation and the Underworld is truly a potent tonic for this Dark Epiphyllum—"

Zong Shou’s spirit lifted slightly. Just one drop had produced a change in the Epiphyllum that was astonishingly pleasing.

"Judging by this spiritual efficacy, the Epiphyllum should mature and complete its mutation in forty-nine days at most."

One drop per day meant a total of one hundred forty-seven drops would be needed.

The total supply of the Spring of Creation and the Underworld was around twelve hundred drops. Gong Xinran had been eager to trade them all away, but firstly, the net worth of this Underworld Princess had been almost entirely emptied by the five of them, leaving few truly compelling treasures. Secondly, Zong Shou was worried about not having enough Spring water to facilitate the Epiphyllum’s mutation, so he reserved a full four hundred drops.

Now, it seemed that was more than enough; he still had over half remaining.

After being watered, the Dark Epiphyllum only needed to be returned to the Sea of Consciousness and nurtured with his own divine thought each day.

Nothing else required attention; he only needed to wait for the Epiphyllum to grow and transform on its own.

Zong Shou continued his introspection. He planned to use the remaining time to temper and strengthen the immortal power within his physical form.

However, thinking of the surplus Spring of Creation and the Underworld, Zong Shou fell into contemplation once more.

—The primal force of life and death, and his own primordial spirit true form had also integrated the laws of life and death.

Could he use this Underworld Spring water? (To be continued)