No one present understood Artifact Refining, so naturally, they had no idea what a "living artifact" was. Therefore, they felt nothing when they heard the young man’s cry of alarm.

However, almost everyone knew what a Spiritual Artifact was.

The moment this beast-clad youth spoke, he offered Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts—an unlimited number of them.

It was insane!

This time, everyone was shocked, including Song Xinchuan.

Even for the five great divine sects, Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts were a rarity.

Forget Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts; even Tier One Spiritual Artifacts could only be claimed by those at the rank of Hall Master or above. Spiritual Artifacts were simply that precious.

As for Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts, only elders were qualified to possess them.

Now, this beast-clad youth had dared to make such a statement for a mere necklace. It was easy to imagine how valuable the necklace was in his eyes.

Everyone’s eyes burned with fervor as they stared at the necklace.

With this necklace’s appearance, the shapeshifting hairpin and the bracelet both paled in comparison.

On the Wind and Cloud Platform, Yu Mengru’s eyes also widened in utter astonishment.

She had never imagined that a necklace from Lin Hao could be so precious.

Worth a countless number of Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts. The thought made her heart skip a beat.

If every sister in her sect had a Tier Three Spiritual Artifact, the Misty Palace would undoubtedly leap to become the number one sect among the five great divine sects.

However, she wasn’t completely blinded by the massive potential gains. She looked to Lin Hao, seeking his opinion.

Lin Hao smiled. "It belongs to you now. You have the right to decide what to do with it."

"I like this necklace very much. I won’t trade it." In the end, Yu Mengru bit her lip and refused the young man’s offer.

The beast-clad youth looked disappointed. He then turned to Lin Hao and asked, "Sir, do you know the Artifact Refining Grandmaster who created this living artifact? On behalf of the Jinglian Saint Institute, I sincerely invite him to be our guest."

"He’s very busy," Lin Hao said with a shrug.

The youth looked disappointed but didn’t give up. "Then do you have any more necklaces like this? On behalf of the Jinglian Saint Institute, I would like to trade Spiritual Artifacts with you for one."

"Someone who can refine a necklace like this can’t refine Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts? Besides, who knows if the Spiritual Artifacts from your Jinglian Saint Institute have been tampered with. I’ve heard they all have unique imprints. I have no desire to die without knowing why."

Hearing Lin Hao’s words, the beast-clad youth’s expression changed drastically. He forced a smile and said, "You must be joking."

At that moment, the beast-clad youth wished he could slap himself twice across the face.

’Would an Artifact Refiner capable of creating a living artifact even care about Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts? How could I have been so stupid!’

’There’s a mysterious Artifact Refining Grandmaster from a higher realm backing Lin Hao...’

’No, I have to report this to the Saint Institute as soon as possible.’

Having made up his mind, the beast-clad youth said no more and retreated.

On the Wind and Cloud Platform, Mo Qianwu stepped forward. "A banquet has been prepared for this evening. Everyone, if you would please follow me."

What he had thought would be a sect-destroying disaster had been effortlessly resolved by Lin Hao. Mo Qianwu couldn’t help but inwardly applaud his own brilliant decision.

At this moment, his face was flushed with excitement, and his voice boomed with energy as he spoke.

Many people in the audience exchanged glances, seeing the same understanding in each other’s eyes.

The appearance of Lin Hao’s necklace, along with the Crystal Stones and refined iron he had previously acquired, made many people realize that the Heaven-Stepping Sect must have a heaven-defying Artifact Refiner in its midst.

If he could refine a necklace worth countless Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts, then creating Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts themselves would naturally be a trivial matter.

And with so many Crystal Stones and so much refined iron, once the refining process began, one could only imagine the results...

No wonder Mo Qianwu was acting this way. He had clearly latched onto a powerful backer.

With that thought, the crowd surged toward the Wind and Cloud Platform. They began to cozy up to Mo Qianwu, acting as if they were old friends, regardless of whether he could even hear them.

In an instant, the area around the Wind and Cloud Platform descended into chaos.

The beast-clad youth, Luo Zhonglou, and Song Xinchuan were simply swept aside by the human tide.

The trio, who had been so arrogant just moments before, now had no presence whatsoever.

The three of them said nothing. Led by the beast-clad youth, they departed in disgrace.

「That night, the Danling Sect was brightly lit.」

Lin Hao had been forced to drink an untold amount of alcohol. Though he used his Cultivation Technique to refine most of it, he still couldn’t stomach any more.

Halfway through, he quietly slipped away. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

When a tipsy Lin Hao returned to his courtyard, he found that not only was Meng Qing present, but Yu Mengru was there as well.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in, little drunkard." The moment Lin Hao stepped inside, Yu Mengru greeted him with a wide smile, her tone like that of a young wife waiting for her husband to come home.

Yet she seemed completely oblivious to how she sounded.

They say alcohol is a catalyst for passion, and it’s absolutely true.

Meng Qing and Meng Ru were both peerless beauties with somewhat similar features. Meng Ru was lively, while Meng Qing was serene.

At this moment, this pair of stunningly beautiful sisters was right before his eyes, more beautiful than any flower. Lin Hao found himself completely captivated.

"Hey, I’m talking to you," Yu Mengru said, walking up to Lin Hao and waving a hand in front of his face.

That snapped Lin Hao out of it.

"Hand it over," Meng Ru said, holding out her hand to Lin Hao.

"What?" Lin Hao was puzzled.

Yu Mengru rolled her eyes at him. "Stop playing dumb. I gave you the spoils of war I collected just now. What, are you thinking of keeping it all for yourself?"

Only then did Lin Hao remember that the girl had extorted the storage spiritual rings from their defeated opponents.

Taking out the three storage spiritual rings, Lin Hao handed them over.

Yu Mengru took them gleefully, but a moment later, her expression tightened.

She couldn’t open them.

Storage spiritual rings had a special method of recognizing their owner. After being worn for a long time, they would become attuned to the owner’s will. If the original owner’s will hadn’t dissipated, opening them was extremely difficult.

"Damn it, this is infuriating! How dare those three play such dirty tricks!" Yu Mengru’s face flushed red with anger as she pouted.

Lin Hao stood to the side, secretly laughing to himself.

"You have a way, don’t you?" Unexpectedly, Yu Mengru caught his expression.

"Well..." Lin Hao drew out the word, preparing to keep her in suspense.

The next moment, he found Yu Mengru hugging his arm.

"My dear brother, I know you can do it. Help your big sister open them, pretty please?" Yu Mengru said, shaking his arm as she hugged it. Her breath was as fragrant as an orchid as she spoke into his ear.

"Yes, yes, I can!" he answered in a hurry.

Yu Mengru let go, a faint blush on her pretty face. "Then hurry up and tell your sister how."

Lin Hao felt a sudden sense of loss, but one look at Yu Mengru’s expression sent a shiver down his spine, making him almost forget how to think.

He began to explain as he worked, and in no time at all, he had opened all three storage spiritual rings.

Yu Mengru was ecstatic and dumped out the contents of all three storage spiritual rings in one go.

The resulting pile nearly filled the entire room.

The contents of the three rings were incredibly rich. There was everything from clothes and medicinal pills to Spirit Grass and Crystal Stones.

After tossing aside all the useless things like clothes, Yu Mengru turned to Lin Hao and said, "Since you helped open them, you get a share of this too."

"Oh." Lin Hao nodded. ’So she wanted to divvy up the spoils,’ he thought.

Glancing at the pile of items, Lin Hao found he wasn’t interested in most of it. He decided to just let Yu Mengru do as she pleased.

"This is my sister’s, this is mine, and this is yours." Yu Mengru was incredibly excited as she sorted the various resources into piles. She consistently gave the largest and best shares to Meng Qing and herself, leaving Lin Hao with the leftovers she didn’t want.

Lin Hao simply watched with a smile, not saying a word.

"Xiaoru." Meng Qing, watching from the side, couldn’t take it anymore. She noticed that many of the items Meng Ru had given to her and their pile were things she didn’t recognize, which wasn’t the case for Lin Hao’s pile. It was obvious that all the good things had been kept from him.

"Sister, don’t worry about him," Yu Mengru said, pointing to her chest. "A man who can give me something like this isn’t going to care about these little things."

She had tucked the necklace inside her clothes, so she was, of course, referring to it.

"But..."

"No buts! Come on, Sister, help me sort," Yu Mengru said dismissively, her eyes gleaming with greed.

Yu Mengru was right. Lin Hao took a quick glance and confirmed there was indeed nothing that caught his interest.

Since Yu Mengru wanted them, he was happy to let her have them.

As he watched, Yu Mengru casually tossed a small booklet from her hand over her shoulder.

The booklet fluttered lightly, landing on the floor almost silently. Its old pages flipped a few times before settling closed.

Bending down to pick it up, Lin Hao took one look, and the fogginess in his eyes instantly cleared.

On the cover of the booklet were five large, ancient words: Sword Devours All Under Heaven.

The characters were complex, with many strokes, clearly a product of a bygone era. The script of the Celestial Yang Continent had, over millions of years, evolved from complex to simple.

’Wait... I feel like I’ve heard this name somewhere before,’ Lin Hao thought, frowning.

The large amount of alcohol he had been forced to drink had slowed his train of thought.

Finally, Lin Hao looked up and uttered four words: "Celestial Sword Holy Land."

Thousands of years ago, Chu Tiandu was besieged by the allied forces of the righteous and demonic factions in the Divine Demon Destruction Domain. He fell from the peak of the Divine Demon Mountain and somehow ended up on the Celestial Yang Continent.

In that era, although the Heaven-Stepping Sect was still the number one sect on the Celestial Yang Continent, it was a truly grand age, with the emergence of Holy Land Secret Sects and Alien Races.

Below the rank of Emperor Venerable were the Saints.

Ten thousand years ago, Hongtian of the Heaven-Stepping Sect achieved the rank of Great Emperor. He single-handedly suppressed all other Martial Artists, preventing anyone in the world from becoming a Saint.

Even after he ascended, his oppressive might lingered over the world and did not dissipate until his eventual fall.

Only after Emperor Hongtian’s fall did Saints begin to appear on the Celestial Yang Continent.

Legend has it that the Holy Lands and Secret Sects were all founded by these Saints.

The Celestial Sword Holy Land was one of them, and this "Sword Devours All Under Heaven" was its ultimate Secret Skill.

Lin Hao hurriedly flipped it open, only to be met with bitter disappointment.

This copy of "Sword Devours All Under Heaven" was incomplete. It was only half of the manual, and what’s worse, it was the second half.

If he had the first half, Lin Hao could have attempted to deduce the rest. But with only the second half, he was powerless.

SIGH.

Lin Hao sighed and put it away.

Although he had only flipped through it briefly, Lin Hao had already grasped the profound principles of "Sword Devours All Under Heaven."

Its techniques were exquisite and unparalleled, surpassing all the sword moves Lin Hao had ever seen. Even the Evil-slaying Sword Skill, of which he had only learned two stances, seemed slightly inferior in comparison.