The Power of Creation and the Netherworld Spring both possess the ability to grant or take life; absorbing them might advance one's cultivation, yet it carries the grave risk of transforming the cultivator into a half-dead monstrosity.

However, Zong Shou’s ambition lay in the very laws of life and death contained within it.

Nurtured over eons, what was once ordinary spring water had gradually become a divine artifact. It must have condensed countless essences of natural law within its depths!

Yet, what intrigued him most at this moment was how these two opposing forces—life and death—could coexist.

Zong Shou drew a single drop of Creation Nether Spring water to his fingertip, probing it meticulously with his spiritual sense.

Gradually, his brow furrowed. The liquid was dense and unified; the primal forces of life and death were thoroughly interwoven.

Discernin the structure within would not be difficult, but truly grasping the essence of it might require a century of dedicated effort.

Zong Shou shook his head slightly; that was simply not worth the investment. Even if he left the Qin Emperor’s Tomb, he would not pursue such a path—it was too great a waste of time.

“No! There must be a flaw within this—!”

The moment his spiritual sense withdrew, Zong Shou recalled that the Creation Nether Spring in his hand was merely a byproduct, condensed through a fortunate confluence of circumstances.

Although its effects were comparable, since it forcibly united the powers of life and death, it could never achieve the stability and flawless, true merging found in naturally formed entities.

He immediately poured more divine consciousness into it, filtering the spiritual patterns and laws contained within, bit by bit.

Only moments later, Zong Shou experienced a sudden surge of delight.

Without hesitation, he activated it using his true force, causing the points of disharmony—the flaws—to erupt and magnify infinitely.

A chain reaction followed: the laws within the Creation Nether Spring began to collapse section by section, and the forces of life and death started to conflict.

They repelled each other, even neutralizing one another.

In the span of a single breath, the Creation Nether Spring in Zong Shou’s hand dissolved into a bubble, dispersing into motes of light that vanished into the void.

A look of surprised elation dawned in Zong Shou’s eyes; this was precisely the result he desired.

By triggering the explosion, the resulting conflict and opposition of forces within the Creation Nether Spring caused numerous spiritual pattern structures to spontaneously manifest. The secrets of life and death merging were completely unveiled before him as the Nether Spring water disintegrated.

Unfortunately, the things contained within were simply too numerous. So vast that even straining his soul-sense to its limit, he could only record a fraction, grasping only a small part of the understanding.

It was much like when he observed the scenes of the Primeval Era; even after experiencing the vision from the World Observation Platform again using thousands of years of his lifespan, the recorded details amounted to less than one percent. The remainder could only be deduced and calculated later through his own efforts.

The Creation Nether Spring, of course, could not compare to that, yet it too held infinite mysteries.

However, Zong Shou still had over two hundred drops of the Nether Spring available for use, until he could fully comprehend the secrets of life and death contained within.

“It is fortunate that this is not the complete Creation Nether Spring; if it were the true Nether Spring water, I might find myself utterly helpless—”

Zong Shou greedily absorbed every minute detail, exhausting his power to penetrate the marvels of life and death.

In his previous life, the last technique he practiced was the Nether River Death-Bringer Sword, which utilized the power of nether-death to injure foes.

In this life, however, primarily due to Lin XuanShuang’s infusion via the Spiritual Connection Dream method, his mastery over the force of life—the 'Life' Divine Art—had deepened significantly.

But the knowledge acquired was forcefully implanted; much of the profound secrets of life that Lin XuanShuang had experienced, he truly could not yet comprehend.

His understanding of the power of death remained superficial, and the Nether Death Sword Intent he commanded was still stuck at the late stage of the Soul Realm.

But now, aided by this Nether Spring, not only were the numerous life mysteries instilled by Lin XuanShuang systematically unlocked, but hundreds, even thousands, of death laws that were usually difficult to perceive were brought into his spiritual vision.

And the secret of the co-existence of life and death forces was completely revealed to him, like a bride stripped of all concealment.

Greedily deducing and realizing all this, he remained immersed until he could glean no more insight, at which point Zong Shou gradually awoke.

The chamber was completely dark, but Zong Shou calculated precisely and realized that about a day had passed since he entered meditation.

“Truly wondrous. If I can fully grasp this, I might master another rather potent divine ability—”

His Dao Foundation was not built upon the method of life and death; any power gained from this would have to be utilized as a divine ability.

At this moment, the other four individuals in the chamber were also busy with their own tasks.

Shen YueXuan was already carving the Nine Aperture Origin-Generating Stone, while Su Xiaoxiao was absorbing the Essence of Desires’ Malice.

The so-called Seven Emotions were Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Pleasure, Love, Hate, and Desire. The Six Desires referred to the desire to see, hear, smell, taste, touch, and think—a person’s craving for sensual pleasures, food, and life itself.

Emotion and desire—the Seven Emotions and Six Desires—were inherently unified and inseparable.

The Essence of Desires’ Malice brought forth by Gong Xinran was legendarily the concentrated malice formed from the desires of the dead spirits from the Netherworld above.

Absorbing a large amount of the Six Desires’ Malice could indeed significantly enhance Su Xiaoxiao’s Primordial Devil Seven Emotions Art.

Yuan Wushang, meanwhile, was focused on crafting spiritual talismans. His one-tenth share of the Essence of Desires’ Malice had allowed him to trade for many materials from Gong Xinran, including a considerable amount of beast hide.

Chu Xue was also diligently meditating, her expression rare in its seriousness; she had clearly been alarmed by the news Gong Xinran brought earlier. She was striving to purify her true force spirit-soul and advance her cultivation while wholly immersing herself in comprehending the Blood Moon Saber.

—Given this girl’s comprehension speed, perhaps setting too high an expectation is unwise.

However, if she genuinely managed to grasp anything, it would certainly bring pleasant surprise.

Chu Xue awakened her Spirit-Martial Union only after reaching the Seventh Tier. Though she could not summon immortal power prematurely like Zong Shou, the strength of her internal world far surpassed cultivators of the same rank. Every bit of mastery she gained over the Blood Moon Saber meant a corresponding increase in her combat prowess.

Zong Shou glanced over but paid it no further mind. He still took out the three Dark Asphodel Flowers and dripped the Creation Nether Spring onto them.

Fortunately, he had awakened at the timely moment and had not missed the window for watering the flowers; otherwise, he would have been troubled.

If the supply of primal energy was insufficient during their mature mutation phase, these three flowers would likely suffer from congenital deficiencies.

He continued this pattern, watering the flowers once every twenty-four hours with the Nether Spring, and then spending a drop of the Creation Nether Spring for meditation and comprehension.

Forty-nine days passed in the blink of an eye. The Dark Asphodel Flowers grew increasingly white, with faint hints of rose developing within.

It was impossible to discern that these three flowers had absorbed countless energies of life and death, nourished by the purest dark malevolent energy, and grown from the deepest darkness.

They were vibrant with life yet carried a dense aura of death.

Initially, the surface of the flowers displayed countless spiritual pattern threads resembling human veins, but these gradually faded away.

After forty-nine days, the flower buds contracted tightly, sinking into complete dormancy.

Zong Shou knew this meant the Dark Asphodel Flowers had accumulated sufficient power and were beginning their mutation.

When they bloomed again, the process would be complete.

Zong Shou felt anticipation but remained deeply engrossed in studying the Creation Nether Spring.

Initially, it took him an entire day to digest the mysteries of a single exploded drop.

But now, it often took only two hours to consume a new drop of the Creation Nether Spring.

This was because he had completely mastered the secrets contained within. His current use of the Creation Nether Spring was merely for supplementing and refining.

On the sixtieth day, Zong Shou briefly awoke for a moment.

“Hmm? Someone has already breached the main tomb chamber? How fast—”

Sixty days accelerated by the Curse Book equated to only about seven or eight hours outside.

To overcome successive layers of obstacles and enter the main chamber indicated a formidable level of strength.

However, at this moment, Zong Shou sensed that beneath the layers surrounding him, countless entities were beginning to 'awaken.'

Several among them possessed exceptionally potent auras, nearly comparable to the Saint level.

“Could those be the Terracotta Warriors?”

Zong Shou immediately shook his head; no, it seemed to be more than just them.

He knew that everyone currently within the inner tomb was likely about to encounter catastrophic trouble.

Forcing entry into the Qin Emperor’s main chamber was equivalent to kicking over a hornet’s nest. Zong Shou felt uneasy, vaguely sensing that the premature opening of the Qin Emperor’s Tomb might bring a huge calamity upon the beings of the Cloud Realm.

Especially as his comprehension of the power of life and death grew, the clearer he sensed the location of the main chamber—it felt as if an immensely powerful heart was beating violently, reviving.

Thump, thump—

Zong Shou frowned deeply. Could it be that the First Emperor of Qin had truly not died? Could he return to life? What a joke!

Filled with immense doubt, Zong Shou forcibly suppressed the urge to interfere and re-entered his meditation.

This time, he did not fully open his eyes until the spiritual energy within the Chronicle of the Cosmos was entirely depleted—

“Gathering of the Yin River, Gate of the Nine Hells. This sword pierces the Nether, announcing your demise!”

A massive Nether Gate suddenly burst open behind him, and Zong Shou’s body began to transform.

His hair instantly turned bone-white, the color drained from his face, and the arm gripping the sword withered.

But unlike before, when Zong Shou used the Nether River Death-Bringer Sword, he remained a living being, separate from the deathly sword, which left an irremediable flaw in the technique.

At this very moment, however, he was completely integrated within it. Following the flow of the Nether River, Zong Shou’s figure drifted forward, spectral and phantom-like. The sword in his hand was unpredictable, carrying a potent deathly force.

After a few breaths, he stopped. As the Nether Gate closed, Zong Shou’s entire being shifted from death back to life, recovering his original form.

“This is the Way of Life-Death Conversion! The power of my Nether River Death-Bringer Sword has increased by at least tenfold!”

Without the method of Life-Death Conversion, the Nether River Death-Bringer Sword could at best be considered an eighth-rank Earth-Piercing martial art. After achieving the Death-Life transformation, it was at least an eleventh-rank divine ability.

Because when one art is mastered, all arts are mastered. With Zong Shou’s current mastery of the Dao of the Sword, any swordsmanship put into his hands, with minor modifications, could become a peerless divine technique.

However, the Nether River Death-Bringer Sword, due to its inherent flaw, had been one Zong Shou was forced to set aside.

Naturally, the benefits of comprehending the Unity of Life and Death extended far beyond this. The Nether River Death-Bringer Sword was merely one part, and the most trivial at that.

At the same moment, Zong Shou felt an intuition.

“It has matured?”

The Dark Asphodel Flower must have completed its mature mutation half a month ago. He had simply been too focused on his spiritual efforts to notice.