It wasn't Shen Yuexuan's words that were amiss, nor was it his suggestion to employ artifact formations instead of the Dao Soldier Grand Array. It was the two Taishang Miedu Zhenjing rubbings lying before him.

Zong Shou was still studying these items and had not put them away.

At that moment, they emitted a faint, dark crimson spiritual glow, so dim it was easily missed if one wasn't paying close attention.

"This thing seems to be absorbing the killing intent in this place?"

Focusing his sense upon it, Zong Shou confirmed that wisps of anomalous energy were indeed being drawn toward this incomplete scripture from the very fabric of the battlefield.

It was precisely the dense aura of slaughter generated by the ongoing conflict.

Zong Shou froze. The Taishang Miedu Zhenjing possessed such a function?

However, he had never used the Taishang Zhuma Turu in battle before, so it was only natural that he hadn't discovered this mystical ability.

Zong Shou fully unfurled both rubbings and immediately noticed that the innate Geng Jin Qi within the Taishang Zhanxian Zhenjing, which was in the process of transforming into Flying Daggers of Immortal Slaying, had already seen more than half of its mass fundamentally change form in mere moments, turning into pure white light that flowed within the image.

The other rubbing, the Taishang Zhuma Turu, had also undergone some changes.

New spiritual patterns had appeared within the image, interwoven with the original runes and restrictive markings. Yet, they existed independently, showing no connection to the established structure. In Zong Shou's eyes, they were entirely superfluous additions.

He hadn't paid them much attention before, being more focused on the Taishang Zhanxian Zhenjing. If he could accelerate the generation of Flying Daggers by absorbing killing intent, he would undoubtedly gain another trump card for survival.

But after just a short while, Zong Shou’s pupils constricted. A flicker in his peripheral vision revealed that those spiritual patterns were still continuing to generate. The more killing intent the rubbing absorbed, the more intricate and profound these patterns became.

And upon closer inspection, if he could isolate just the newly generated markings—

Zong Shou's heart instantly began to race!

It was a grand array, comprising seventy-two pillars, and it even included the corresponding cultivation mantra.

If it were just that, Zong Shou wouldn't have been so shocked. What made him unable to ignore it was that this array, and this Dao Soldier technique, were precisely the rudimentary framework for the Dao Soldier Grand Array and cultivation method he had been devising for the Saint Fire Silver Ants.

And it was the most reliable iteration in his mind!

At this moment, the Taishang Zhuma Turu was clearly perfecting this framework, bit by bit filling in the flesh upon the bare bones.

Zong Shou cast everything else aside, his gaze fixed intently on the image.

However, after only half an hour, the spiritual markings on the rubbing, which had already reached at least a seventy percent completion rate, suddenly collapsed en masse. Then, chunks of the exterior vanished completely from the Taishang Zhuma Turu.

"As expected, it's insufficient. There are still numerous flaws—"

Zong Shou sighed softly, realizing that this Taishang Zhuma Turu could no longer calculate further.

A fundamental error existed, meaning no amount of deduction would yield a result. How could designing an entirely new Dao Soldier Grand Array from scratch be so simple?

"The array calculated just now must have been inferred from the intention I held moments ago. In that case, one function of this Taishang Zhuma Turu is to deduce formations by absorbing killing intent? And the Taishang Zhanxian Tu accelerates the transformation of Immortal Slaying Qi?"

A flash of joy crossed Zong Shou’s eyes. Without hesitation, he took out a piece of talisman paper of decent quality.

With a mere thought, countless patterns manifested on the paper. He casually handed it to Shen Yuexuan. This was the spiritual pattern structure from when the calculation had reached thirty percent completion. It was usable, though its destructive power would be somewhat lacking. It was simple enough to execute as an artifact formation without any hidden consequences.

Shen Yuexuan took the talisman and examined it closely before nodding. "Half a day should suffice! If we could borrow His Majesty's Chronos-Count, it could be done even faster—in less than an hour—"

"So quickly?" Zong Shou felt a slight surprise. Even with the finest quality Fire Source, forging a magical treasure was no simple task.

Speaking of Fire Sources, the white hole he witnessed in that vast, boundless world should have been the pinnacle. Yet, it took him over ten days just to refine a single Dragon Tooth Sword of the Divine Realm. And strictly speaking, the Imperial Dao Dragon Tooth Sword wasn't even a complete Immortal Weapon.

"A single magical treasure naturally requires considerable time. But if broken down and forged as spiritual artifacts, it becomes much simpler," Shen Yuexuan shook his head. "Seventy-two spiritual artifacts—how difficult can that be?"

He directly took out a top-grade artifact to refine, one that contained its own inherent fire seed. Shen Yuexuan deliberated for a moment, selected a few materials, and began the forging process.

The wooden puppets possessed rudimentary intelligence; they didn't require his constant manipulation, only routine repairs. Among the six of them, he was the most relaxed, second only to Lin Xuanxuan.

Zong Shou stopped inquiring further and activated the Zhouji Mingshi Shu to accelerate the process. It was merely a temporary measure anyway; he would assess its effectiveness later. If it proved unsuitable, he would simply discard it.

Then, narrowing his eyes with a slight smile, he looked toward Lin Xuanxuan. "Martial Aunt, do you happen to have any innate Geng Qi on hand? Could you lend me a little for my junior martial sister?"

Lin Xuanxuan glanced lightly at the Taishang Miedu Zhenjing in Zong Shou's hand and frowned slightly. She had noticed this item earlier. Zong Shou had forcibly dispersed several precious innate Geng Jin Qi masses and poured them into it. The material was extraordinary, but she couldn't quite tell what it was to warrant Zong Shou valuing it so highly.

However, she didn't hesitate for long, tossing two orbs of light directly over. After all, this man was the sovereign of a nation, the Crown Prince of the Fen Kong Lu Family, and the future Buddha of the Buddhist Sect—his prospects were limitless; he certainly wouldn't be unable to repay such a small debt.

"This was something I found for your junior martial sister, intended to be used after gathering the Five Elements to forge her a Five Elements Feather Fan, which would better harmonize the power of the Five Elements. Since you need it now, I’ll give it to you first. However, in the future, you must repay her with Heavenly-rank Geng Jin Qi."

Heavenly-rank?

Zong Shou's face immediately crumpled. The two masses of innate Geng Qi he just received were merely Earth-grade spiritual treasures. This borrowing and repayment was far worse than usury.

But he did not refuse. He dispersed these two masses of Geng Jin Qi as well and let the Taishang Zhuxian Tu absorb them. Then, channeling his True Power, this time consciously, he began to draw in the surrounding killing intent.

The so-called killing intent was, in essence, the manifestation of murderous will. Cultivators could usually perceive it clearly through spiritual arts and assess the auspiciousness or misfortune to some degree, judging the number of hostile combatants and the strength of their morale.

With millions of Corpse Fiends gathered here, the killing intent was incredibly dense.

However, Zong Shou soon realized that the ability of these two rubbings to absorb killing intent had limitations. It hadn't increased much, even after he poured in his True Power.

"This ability to absorb killing energy must originate from the beast hide used to create these two rubbings; it's an innate divine power. What kind of divine beast was this? So ferocious?" Zong Shou's face was full of astonishment. The original function of this beast hide should have been to absorb killing intent and malevolent power, manifest it as armor, and protect itself. Such a divine power could bring disaster to the world!

A True Realm being? Perhaps not. Even a Zenith Realm entity might be capable of it—

Then, did it die naturally, or was it hunted down? And who could possibly kill this divine beast that had already merged with the Dao and attained true form?

Furthermore, these two rubbings, having absorbed a large amount of killing energy, were faintly fluctuating, the ripples not ceasing for a long time. Looking at the situation, it seemed they sensed something.

"Could it be that within the Qin Emperor's Tomb, there is another rubbing? The induction is extremely faint, suggesting it's either hidden in an extremely concealed location, isolated by a spiritual array restriction, or it’s currently in someone else’s hands, inside a Sumeru space! But how could it be such a coincidence? No, this shouldn't be coincidence—"

Zong Shou's thoughts stopped there. Outside the Altar, the torrent-like sound of iron hooves rang out again.

A patrol force of a hundred thousand cavalry, which had been circling nearby, slightly adjusted its formation and charged toward the Altar once more. This time, the momentum was even fiercer and more violent. The three leading figures were all generals wielding long sabers, their strength comparable to Saint-rank martialists. They plunged into the array like an incredibly sharp arrow. Wherever their sabers swept, everything yielded. Every array banner was forcefully severed. The icy aura emanating from beneath their mount beasts extinguished the golden flames. And the trajectory of the hundred thousand cavalry formation pointed directly beneath the Altar.

"Kill!"

With a hoarse, unpleasant sound like a broken gong issuing from the leading Corpse General, roars erupted from the ten thousand black-armored cavalry behind him.

"!"

The momentum of the entire cavalry formation instantly surged to its peak. A colossal figure resembling a Demon God manifested behind the hundred thousand riders—majestic in appearance, broad in stature, clad in a black imperial robe, wearing a twelve-planked crown, and standing upon nine colossal dragons swirling beneath his feet.

"Now this is trouble!"

At this moment, even Shen Yuexuan, who was forging spiritual artifacts, temporarily stopped and frowned as he looked down. How could his hundred Immortal-rank Shield Puppets possibly stop a charge of a hundred thousand cavalry? They weren't Dao Soldiers—even if the six of them joined forces, they could likely only hold on for a moment.

But in the next instant, Lin Xuanxuan moved again. She took out a lamp made of blue jade, within which seven blue spiritual flames burned. Lin Xuanxuan plucked one flame with her finger and tossed it casually out toward the area beneath the Altar. In just the time it took to breathe, an immense surge of frigid ice energy spread in all directions.

The ground rapidly formed three inches of solid ice, and several thousand cavalrymen at the forefront of the distant formation were completely frozen. The cold air continued to expand, engulfing the Heavenly Gang Sword Soldiers and making it impossible for them to advance an inch.

Shen Yuexuan immediately understood; possessing such a divine object explained why Lin Xuanxuan was so completely composed.

However, a faint cracking sound echoed from a distance—the three leading Corpse Generals were forcibly breaking free from the ice. Immediately following them, the bulk of the Corpse Army cavalry surged out of the ice.

Zong Shou's eyebrows twitched. Without hesitation, he took out a Mother-Son Falling Leaf Saber. He had already imprinted a portion of the Immortal Slaying Diagram into it. Now, he drew out some of the killing intent from the rubbing and poured it into the saber. With a mental command, the silver blade light slid out from his sleeve.