In the forest, Lin Zheyu shouted in a low voice, "Open!"

His spiritual sense twisted into a single strand and surged into the storage pouch. The restrictions inside these two storage pouches were far stronger than those of ordinary ones, and Lin Zheyu had to expend quite a bit of effort before finally opening them.

Lin Zheyu shook his head slightly and thought to himself, My spiritual sense is still too weak. What a pity that in the immortal market, there are no affordable and practical techniques for cultivating spiritual sense.

Most of the techniques available in the immortal market were low-tier. Anything of a higher level was outrageously expensive, far beyond what Lin Zheyu could afford. Currently, he only had two ways to strengthen his spiritual sense. One was to improve his overall strength, thereby driving the growth of his spirit and soul.

The other was to use the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art to actively strengthen his spirit and spiritual soul. This technique was closely tied to the cultivator's physique. The stronger the body, the better the results.

Lin Zheyu planned to wait until he had successfully cultivated the Primordial Golden Body before using Origin Force to further enhance it. That way, he could achieve the greatest growth in spirit and spiritual soul with the least expenditure of Origin Force.

Thinking back on the previous battle, Lin Zheyu felt a lingering chill of fear in his heart.

I need to pay more attention to defense in this area. Luckily, the other guy wasn't strong. Otherwise, that brief lapse during the fight would have been enough to kill me.

Fortunately, the two were not particularly strong, and his defenses had reached an astonishing level. Their attacks could not deal him fatal damage. Otherwise, in that single moment of distraction, he might have regained his senses only to find himself already dead.

Within his sea of consciousness, Lin Zheyu's spiritual form extended its palm. Forty-two strands of martial cultivation true intent spun above it, forming a miniature vortex. This was the method he had just used to deal with Qian Baiyan's spiritual attack.

Lin Zheyu gazed at the floating true intent and fell into thought.

Techniques involving the soul in the immortal market are all absurdly expensive, and they don't even look that powerful. Perhaps I can start from martial cultivation true intent instead.

Ever since advancing to the Force Transformation realm, he had not cultivated any additional martial cultivation true intent. Training true intent was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and a single strand did little to improve his strength. But when many strands of true intent worked together, they could produce surprisingly effective results.

Just like in the recent battle. Lin Zheyu did not know any soul spells. Even within his sea of consciousness, where he held a strong advantage, a single mistake against a soul attack could prove disastrous. Fortunately, he had cultivated many strands of martial cultivation true intent. Their effects were not impressive on their own, but within his sea of consciousness, they displayed considerable power.

Previously, although he had read many martial cultivation manuals, he had only absorbed the knowledge or practiced them briefly. He had not cultivated them deeply or condensed their corresponding true intent.

Lin Zheyu now felt he should devote more effort to martial cultivation true intent. Even if it did little to increase his overall strength, it would at least improve the defensive capabilities of his sea of consciousness and soul, preventing him from being caught off guard by cultivators skilled in soul secret arts. He shook his head slightly and cleared his thoughts. His spiritual sense probed into the storage pouch.

After a quick look, Lin Zheyu could not help but grin and think, "These two seem quite wealthy. Hm? What's this?"

A look of surprise suddenly appeared on Lin Zheyu's face.

Two round objects, each about the size of an infant, flew into Lin Zheyu's hands. These bead-like items emitted strange energy fluctuations. Just holding them made his heart tremble, as if he were grasping something extremely dangerous.

"What terrifying energy. Could these be some kind of treasure?" he murmured.

From the beads, Lin Zheyu sensed an overwhelming amount of energy, far beyond that of low-grade spirit stones. If used as energy for Origin Force, it would likely sustain him for a long time.

I'll store them first and bring them to the immortal market next time... no, I'd better not. An innocent man becomes guilty by carrying a treasure. These things are clearly extraordinary. If exposed, they might bring trouble.

The energy contained within these two beads was simply too overwhelming. Just holding them made him feel uneasy and on edge.

***

Time flowed as water, and more than four months had passed. At the immortal market, Lin Zheyu strolled leisurely through the stalls. Aside from the two strange beads, he had sold everything he took from that earlier kill, exchanging it for four hundred eighty-three low-grade spirit stones.

Still, finding a suitable technique proved far too difficult. Whenever he had time, Lin Zheyu would wander the immortal market, hoping to come across something worthwhile. At the same time, he kept an eye out for easy prey. If someone foolish enough showed up, he could take the opportunity to make a quick profit and fill his empty storage pouch.

"How much for this Nether Severing Demon Scripture?" asked Lin Zheyu as he stopped at a stall.

It was another demon art. Techniques and arts in the immortal market were outrageously priced, and the cheap ones were all trash. After spending so much time browsing, his standards had risen.

Those low-grade immortal cultivation techniques held little value. As for truly good techniques, they cost at least ten mid-grade spirit stones, far beyond what he could afford. So he had no choice but to settle for demon arts instead.

"Eighty low-grade spirit stones," the stall owner said without even looking up.

Lin Zheyu tried to bargain and said, "So expensive! It's just an ordinary demon art, and you're charging this much? Fifty."

The stall owner glanced at Lin Zheyu and said coldly, "There's a reason for the hefty price. The Nether Severing Demon Scripture was created by a Golden Core realm expert, meant to train deathsworn and refine powerful puppets. It's true that corpses refined risk breaking free and rebelling when encountering powerful demons, but this technique was still created by a Golden Core realm expert. Even if it can't be cultivated, it holds significant reference value."

After all, eighty low-grade spirit stones were no small transaction. Seeing that Lin Zheyu seemed interested, he could not help but say a bit more.

Lin Zheyu pressed and said, "Make it cheaper. It's a technique that can't even be cultivated. Sixty spirit stones."

"Not for sale," replied the stall owner, lowering his head and ignoring him.

Lin Zheyu was speechless. He had run into another stubborn seller. With no other choice, he paid eighty spirit stones for the Nether Severing Demon Scripture. After flipping through it briefly, his eyes lit up. With his discernment, he could tell at a glance that this technique was far from ordinary.

After this period of experience, Lin Zheyu was no longer a novice in the cultivation world. From what he knew, when yaos and demons first appeared in ancient times, many powerful figures pioneered various cultivation paths, most of which ultimately failed. Demon arts were created by the most radical among them. They believed that if they could not defeat yaos and demons, they should join them, attempting to use demon arts to transform themselves into beings suited for survival in the demon realm.

In the end, however, this path proved unworkable. Demon arts fell into use as methods for cultivators to refine others into demonic puppet corpses.

After putting away the Nether Severing Demon Scripture, Lin Zheyu wandered the market a while longer, but gained nothing more.

Night fell, and bright moonlight spread across the land. A burly figure suddenly appeared within the forest. A streak of blue light flashed suddenly. As if he had anticipated it, Lin Zheyu shifted sideways in an instant.

A roar erupted beneath his feet, and Lin Zheyu vanished from his original position in an instant.

"Not good, he's an expert! Retreat!"

Alarmed shouts rang out in the forest as three figures split apart and fled in different directions.

Lin Zheyu's lips curled slightly and muttered, "Run? How could I let the prey in my hands escape?"

He had finally hooked a fish, though this one swam rather fast. Lin Zheyu could only chase one and ignore the others. He locked onto a single target, the distance between them steadily closing.

The target's voice came through spiritual sense transmission, saying, "Spare others when you can. If you keep chasing, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Under the bright moonlight, a vicious look surfaced on the man's face. While maintaining his escape technique, he rapidly formed seals with his hands. Spirit power surged within his body, disrupting his movements and slowing him. His face gradually turned pale, and a drop of cold sweat slid down his forehead.

Suddenly, a dark blue flame appeared before the man. It radiated a bone-piercing chill, and the surrounding temperature dropped instantly, as if it could freeze a person's soul from the inside out.

"Go!" the man shouted in a low voice. With a push of both hands, the dark blue flame shot toward Lin Zheyu, reaching him in an instant.

Boom!

Just as Lin Zheyu tried to use his movement techniques to evade, the dark blue flame exploded, turning into a sea of fire. Unlike ordinary flames, it was bizarre, combining extreme cold and extreme heat at once.

Lin Zheyu frowned slightly. "What kind of bizarre flame is this?"

The moment the flames engulfed him, they burrowed into his body. In an instant, Lin Zheyu's body turned half red and half blue.

Lin Zheyu's brows knitted tightly. His muscles bulged, veins stood out, and golden runes surfaced across his body.

"Die!" shouted Lin Zheyu with a cold expression. He endured the pain tearing through his physique and did not slow down.

Boom! 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

His speed reached its peak. That brief delay had already allowed him to rapidly close the distance with the man. The Setting Sun saber swept through, slicing across the man's back. In his horrified gaze, his upper body slid off at an angle, the cut as smooth as a mirror.

Lin Zheyu frowned as he looked at the corpse and said to himself, "Even after his death, this dark blue flame still won't disperse?"

His body alternated between extreme cold and heat. In some areas, his blood was frozen solid by the chilling cold, while in others it boiled from the intense heat. The dark blue flame even threw his true origin into disarray, forcing him to expend considerable vitality to suppress it.

Lin Zheyu looked toward the southeast and said coldly, "Since you're already here, why hide? Show yourself."

At this moment, he could no longer spare attention for the flame inside him. Though troublesome, it was nothing more than that.