Wu Taichu was getting carried away by his triumph.

One had to understand, the Heaven-Stepping Sect’s sole Tier Four Spiritual Artifact was its ultimate foundation. For thousands of years, it had been stored in the sect’s deepest sanctum, never to be used except for the preparations made for Lin Hao.

The reason was simple: Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts were simply too precious.

But now, with two Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts and one Tier Three Spiritual Artifact in his hands, it was hard for him not to get carried away.

"Hahaha, this is incredible! After this battle, who would dare look down on our Heaven-Stepping Sect?" an elder laughed heartily, feeling utterly vindicated.

"Exactly! Did you see them? Those three elders from the Zhengyang Sect were trembling like beaten dogs," another elder chimed in.

It wasn’t just Wu Taichu; the elders were getting carried away as well.

They had originally thought the Heaven-Stepping Sect was about to be wiped out, but in the blink of an eye, the situation had been completely reversed. The joy of snatching life from the jaws of death was exhilarating enough, let alone such a monumental victory.

"The Suo Demon Sect! They sent all their elites, and they were all annihilated! Sect Leader, let me take some men and conquer the Suo Demon Sect!" an elder exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement.

Wu Taichu nodded. Even the Suo Demon Sect’s leader had come here, so their sect was now an empty shell. They could take it down without breaking a sweat.

Countless disciples followed the elder, marching in a great, imposing procession toward the Suo Demon Sect.

Watching this scene, Wu Taichu trembled with excitement.

He had thought it was a sect-destroying disaster, yet they had achieved the greatest of victories without losing a single soldier.

At this moment, the sect was united as one, their spirits soaring.

And all of this was thanks to Lin Hao!

Wu Taichu turned to Lin Hao, about to offer his thanks, but he found Lin Hao’s face deathly pale, with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Handing the Spiritual Artifacts to Elder Gu, Wu Taichu rushed to support Lin Hao.

"Martial Ancestor, what’s wrong?" Wu Taichu’s concern was written all over his face.

Lin Hao shook his head without answering, gesturing for Wu Taichu to let him go.

Then, Lin Hao slowly sat down and began to regulate his breathing on the spot.

Though the actions had seemed simple, they had consumed a great deal of Lin Hao’s essence, qi, and spirit. He had paid a heavy price.

From Chu Tiandu’s memories, Lin Hao knew that the Heaven-Stepping Sect had nine secret realms of gods and demons, and the withered secret realm was one of them.

Beneath the underground palace within that secret realm, the Divine Soul of one of the ten great vicious beasts, the Heaven-Sundering Rhinoceros, was suppressed!

The Heaven-Sundering Rhinoceros had been slain by Emperor Hongtian, but the Great Emperor had left behind a wisp of its Divine Soul, suppressing it beneath the underground palace.

By using a Secret Technique to activate the Divine Stele on the God-Attesting Platform, one could release that wisp of Divine Soul.

Lin Hao’s original intention was to never let the three Zhengyang Sect elders leave. However, he discovered that although the wisp of the Heaven-Sundering Rhinoceros’s Divine Soul was suppressed by the Great Emperor, it had absorbed the blood essence of countless Martial Artists and was showing signs of becoming uncontrollable.

If he used it again to kill the three Zhengyang Sect elders, allowing it to absorb the blood essence of three Soul Gathering Realm experts, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Left with no choice, Lin Hao had to give up and scare the three away instead.

The process sounded simple, but it was exceptionally dangerous.

If not for the fact that Lin Hao possessed an emperor’s art and his Dantian birthed chaos, the tens of thousands of people here would have likely been turned to dust.

Lin Hao’s meditation to regulate his breathing lasted for a full half-day.

When he awoke from his meditative state, only the important figures of the Heaven-Stepping Sect remained on the God-Attesting Platform.

And the elder who had led the expedition to annihilate the Suo Demon Sect had already returned.

"Martial Ancestor, you’re awake." Wu Taichu was the first to notice, and he quickly reached out to help Lin Hao up.

WHOOSH...

Lin Hao exhaled a turbid breath, still shaken by a lingering fear.

It wasn’t because of the powerful enemies who had attacked, but because he had misjudged the terrifying nature of the Heaven-Sundering Rhinoceros Divine Soul.

’I absolutely cannot use it again until I have absolute power.’

Lin Hao made a silent decision in his heart.

"Martial Ancestor, the Spiritual Artifacts... these Spiritual Artifacts are a bit tricky."

A Tier Four Spiritual Artifact, not to mention in the Southern Border Prefecture, was considered a Divine Artifact among Divine Artifacts even in the entire Cangnan Empire.

Just now, Wu Taichu had been so carried away that he had forgotten to think. While waiting for Lin Hao, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong.

For the four great sects of the Southern Border Prefecture, possessing even one Tier Four Spiritual Artifact was the limit. Yet the Zhengyang Sect had used two at once, and if you included the previous Annihilation Demon Saber, that made three.

Three Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts should absolutely not appear in the Zhengyang Sect at the same time.

"Are you trying to say there’s a power behind the Zhengyang Sect?" Lin Hao said.

Wu Taichu was taken aback for a moment, then nodded.

’So Lin Hao had already thought of it.’

"Let me see," Lin Hao said, taking the Spiritual Artifacts from Wu Taichu.

He then began to examine the artifacts.

「Meanwhile, a thousand li from the Heaven-Stepping Sect」

The three Zhengyang Sect elders who had fled from the Heaven-Stepping Sect in disgrace were gathered together.

Their expressions were as ugly as they could possibly be.

"Senior Brother, when we go back, how are we going to report this?" an old man with a Fu Manchu mustache asked the white-haired elder.

The white-haired elder’s face was grim. "What else can we do? We’ll report it as it happened. The Heaven-Stepping Sect is the lineage of an Emperor Venerable; we were too careless. Let alone us, even if the Sect Leader had come in person, he wouldn’t have fared any better. He won’t blame us."

"Senior Brother, I’m not worried about that. We lost the Spiritual Artifacts. How are we going to explain that to the Saint Institute? You know how much effort we put in to establish a relationship with them. Now that the Spiritual Artifacts they lent to the sect have been lost by us, when we go back..." A flicker of fear crossed the eyes of the elder with the goatee.

As soon as he said this, the elder with the Fu Manchu mustache also paled. Then his eyes lit up, and he said:

"I heard that Lin Hao offended the Sanqing Sect and the Mingjia Villa in Red Beauty City. Plus, the son of the Danling Sect’s Cao Ba is still in the Heaven-Stepping Sect’s hands. We can go to these three sects and stir things up to get them to act. The three Spiritual Artifacts have the Saint Institute’s unique imprint on them. If they dare to use them, they’ll surely suffer a backlash from the artifacts."

"Fool! The Heaven-Stepping Sect has that vicious beast. Even without using those three Spiritual Artifacts, they can ensure none of them return. Once the news of our defeat spreads and they find out we used them, our sect will likely be attacked by all of them at once!" the goatee-bearded elder scolded.

"Then what should we do?"

Finally, the white-haired elder spoke up. "Those three Spiritual Artifacts have the Saint Institute’s unique imprint. Besides the Saint Institute, no one can see through it, and no one can undo it. After the Heaven-Stepping Sect gets them, they’ll just treat them as treasures. For now, news about the Spiritual Artifacts won’t get out."

Hearing this, the other two elders nodded.

"At the Heaven-Stepping Sect, after we appeared, even Wu Taichu had a look of despair. This shows he can’t command the power of that Heaven-Sundering Rhinoceros. The only one who can is Lin Hao. We’ll start with him!" A murderous glint flashed in the white-haired elder’s eyes; he clearly hated Lin Hao to the core.

"Senior Brother, you mean..." the other two elders asked.

"Lin Hao is extremely important to the Heaven-Stepping Sect. We’ll capture Lin Hao alive and trade him for the Spiritual Artifacts!" the white-haired elder said in a low voice.

The other two elders’ eyes lit up, but they immediately asked doubtfully, "Our faces have already been seen, and with our cultivation level, our vital energy is too vigorous to be easily concealed."

"There is a power that, as long as you can afford the price, dares to assassinate even Spirit Transformation Realm experts," the white-haired elder said with a chilling smile.

"The continent’s number one assassin organization, the Netherworld Hall!" the two elders cried out in alarm.

The Netherworld Hall was mysterious and unfathomable, its influence spreading across the continent. Forget the sects of the Southern Border Prefecture; even the five great divine sects of the Cangnan Empire didn’t dare to offend it. However, the price they demanded was not something ordinary people could afford.

"This is a monumental humiliation! No matter the cost, I will have that little bastard Lin Hao torn to shreds! You two head back to the sect first. I’m going to find the Netherworld Hall!" After speaking, the white-haired elder’s figure vanished.

Back at the Heaven-Stepping Sect, Lin Hao had no idea that someone was going to such great lengths because of him.

He casually fiddled with the Spiritual Artifacts. The three artifacts suddenly blazed with brilliant light, and then a single character appeared on all of them at once.

Refine!

Seeing this character, Lin Hao’s eyes narrowed. He murmured, "Interesting."

"Martial Ancestor, you know which power this character represents?" Wu Taichu asked, greatly surprised.

Lin Hao nodded, then spoke three words: "Jinglian Saint Institute!"

"Ah!" Wu Taichu cried out in shock.

Lin Hao was rather surprised. "You know of it?" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"I heard that girl Lan Xin mention it. Her grandfather seems to have a connection to the Jinglian Saint Institute?" Wu Taichu recalled Lian Lanxin’s words.

Lin Hao nodded. "The Jinglian Saint Institute specializes in training Artifact Refiners. Her grandfather might have come from there."

Wu Taichu sucked in a sharp breath.

Artifact Refiners were even more precious than Alchemy Masters. A single Artifact Refiner would be fought over by even the five great divine sects of the Cangnan Empire. A power that specialized in training Artifact Refiners... just how terrifying would that be?!

In fact, Wu Taichu was still underestimating the Jinglian Saint Institute.

Because even in the Divine Demon Destruction Domain, the Jinglian Saint Institute was a power that could not be taken lightly.

Lin Hao never expected that the Jinglian Saint Institute also existed on the Celestial Yang Continent.

"The Lian family... Jinglian Saint Institute..." Lin Hao murmured, lost in thought.

Finally, Lin Hao looked up, a brilliant smile spreading across his face.

"These Spiritual Artifacts are too crude. You hold onto them for now. Once we’ve gathered the materials, we’ll melt them down and reforge them." Lin Hao tossed the three Spiritual Artifacts to Wu Taichu as if they were trash.

Wu Taichu’s mouth twitched, a look of shock flashing in his eyes before disappearing.

These were Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts, which required at least several hundred years of nurturing, yet Lin Hao called them crude.

His tone was boundlessly arrogant.

But after witnessing Lin Hao’s methods, Wu Taichu no longer had the slightest doubt in his words.

"Elder Gu, Elder Rong, Elder Xuan, you three can use these Spiritual Artifacts for now." After taking them, Wu Taichu tossed them to the three elders.

At this moment, Spiritual Artifacts that were considered Divine Artifacts among Divine Artifacts in the Cangnan Empire seemed to have become ordinary weapons.

"There’s no need. Today’s battle will surely send waves across the empire. With the Heaven-Sundering Rhinoceros as a deterrent, no power will dare to cause trouble at the Heaven-Stepping Sect for a while. I think Elder Rong and Elder Xuan should just take them and go mining," Elder Gu said, shaking his head and refusing the kind offer.

If any other power heard his words, they would surely cough up blood.

Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts were Divine Artifacts in the empire, but in the Heaven-Stepping Sect, they were being relegated to mining tools.

Lin Hao nodded as well. "That’s not a bad idea. Using Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts to mine Flowing Light Divine Stone will be much faster. With them, I can send you into the secret realm first."

"It looks like the Suo Demon Sect has been taken. We desperately need that mining secret realm right now. Elder Gu, I’ll trouble you to garrison the Suo Demon Sect. I will give you a Spiritual Artifact."

As Lin Hao spoke, he stepped forward and took the Spiritual Artifacts back from the two elders’ hands.