"Refine!"

Xu Ping wasted no time and opened his mouth to exhale.

A Nascent Soul True Flame the size of a fist slowly flew out from his mouth.

The True Flame swelled in the wind, instantly transforming into a fiercely burning cyan flame, completely enveloping the imprisoned Thunder Spirit.

Sizzle——

Roar!!!

A shriek so harrowing that it seemed inhuman echoed from within the flames.

In the True Flame, the Thunder Spirit twisted and struggled madly, releasing more violent thunder in an attempt to resist.

However, under the Nascent Soul True Flame, it was all in vain.

...

Eastern Nanchuan Realm, Ghost Mist Forest.

This is a forbidden region devoid of any sign of life.

The ever-present gray-black mist shrouded the entire mountain range like a massive coffin.

The mist was not vapor but a blend of pure Yin Sha ghostly energy and the underworld power emanating from subterranean Yin veins, corrosive to the bone and soul, capable of defiling Magical Treasures and eroding life force.

This place is a prime Yin Vein Spiritual Land, a paradise for ghostly cultivators, but an endless hell for living souls.

Deep within the forest lie countless buried bones, giving rise to many ferocious ghostly creatures, and even Nascent Soul Cultivators dare not enter lightly.

At this moment, a dark Escape Light, almost merging with the ghostly mist, silently pierced through the natural ghost miasma that could shatter the souls of Golden Core Cultivators, landing in the heart of the forest.

The ground here was an ominous black, as if soaked in blood for millennia.

Strange altars made of white bones were scattered around, with a nauseating stench of decay and pure Yin energy permeating the air. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The Escape Light converged, revealing the emaciated figure of the Nine Nether Elder.

In his sunken eye sockets, two ghostly flames burned brightly, surveying the dense ghost mist and the surging Yin Vein Power beneath, a satisfied expression on his withered face.

"Gathering the Yin Sha of ten thousand ghosts, channel the Nine Nether Yellow Springs..."

"Not bad, not bad, just what I need." His hoarse voice echoed in the deathly silent forest, like the wind in a tomb.

He sat cross-legged at the center of the largest white bone altar, beginning to form intricate and bizarre Dharma Seals with his hands.

As the seals changed, an attraction like a black hole emanated from him, and the ghostly energy and Yin Sha of the entire Ghost Mist Forest frantically converged towards him.

Countless fierce ghosts and malevolent spirits hidden within shrieked in terror, involuntarily drawn out.

They transformed into streams of pure Yin Soul energy, merging into the Nine Nether Elder’s body and the white bone altar being reforged beneath him.

His refining wasn’t merely absorbing energy but aimed to, with supreme ghostly Divine Techniques, thoroughly refine the core of the Yin Veins and countless ghostly creatures of the Ghost Mist Forest, making them part of his grand plan.

The gray-black ghost mist churned violently as if ancient giant beasts were wailing and struggling within, the entire forest trembling slightly under his refining.

This process was clearly not the work of a single day.

...

Time flew by, years passed swiftly.

Two whole years slipped by quietly.

Valley of Ten Thousand Demons, underground chamber of Blue Water Peak.

The scene within the chamber had changed drastically from two years ago.

What was once a harmonious place filled with Spiritual Qi was now permeated with a violent, destructive, yet endlessly vibrant contradictory aura.

In the center of the chamber.

Xu Ping remained seated on the Cold Jade Bed, but the aura around him fluctuated violently like the eye of a storm.

In front of him, the Canghua Divine Wood Sword hovered in the air, its blade no longer a simple azure, but transformed into a strange chaotic form.

Within the sword, countless miniature purple Thunder Dragons seemed to roar, gallop, and struggle.

They released destructive Thunder Power, furiously clashing with the sword’s body, trying to break free and regain their liberty. That was the original Thunder Spirit’s final rebellion against being refined.

Yet the sword’s own Wood Element Law, sustained by Xu Ping’s vast Mana, transformed into countless resilient azure Dao pattern chains, tightly entwining, penetrating, and merging with the rampant thunderbolts.

Life and destruction, nourishment and ferocity, two utterly different, even mutually repelling forces, were being forcibly fused in a nearly brazen manner.

The process was fraught with danger and torment.

Xu Ping’s face was slightly pale, his forehead dotted with fine beads of sweat.

His Divine Sense was highly focused, like the most precise carving blade, guiding the Wood Element Law to assimilate the violent thunderbolts.

His Mana, like a never-ending river, continuously poured into the sword, maintaining this fragile balance and suppressing the Thunder Spirit’s repeated counterattacks.

The process was indeed arduous!

This original Thunder Spirit was incredibly powerful, though lacking in intelligence, the thunder essence it contained was of extremely high quality.

Fortunately, his Divine Sense and Mana were sufficient to suppress the Thunder Spirit.

This day.

Buzz!

A grand sword chime, as if from a primordial era, suddenly resounded from within the Canghua Divine Wood Sword.

This sword chime was not just clear and melodious but carried a majestic and awe-inspiring thunderous authority, causing ripples to spread through the entire chamber space!

On the sword body, the chaotic intertwining azure and purple light suddenly became restrained and stable.

The previously violently struggling purple Thunder Dragon phantoms were no longer rampaging, submissively merging into the sword’s textures, transforming into profound and mysterious purple lightning patterns.

At the blade’s edge, a cold glint appeared, not the icy sheen of metal, but a kind of sharpness that could seemingly rend the void.