A moment later, after Zhang Ling finished soul-searching, he crushed the gray Nascent Soul with a sharp snap of his hand, turning it into wisps of smoke that dissipated cleanly.
Thus, this powerful Void Demon True Lord vanished from the world.
Such an old monster would never willingly become a slave. He was also proficient in many secret techniques, with unparalleled methods and schemes. Keeping him would be like sleeping with a tiger; it's better to eliminate him for peace of mind.
Zhang Ling muttered to himself expressionlessly. A flash of yellow light enveloped him and the Xuan Turtle as they headed towards the place where the battle had occurred.
He had obtained a lot of information from the soul-searching technique he had just used.
The gray Nascent Soul's claim about his identity was true; he was indeed the Void Demon True Lord who had been quite famous hundreds of years ago. This person came from the Holy Demon Gate and had served as the Grand Elder of Myriad Manifestation City for over five hundred years. His main cultivation technique was a powerful Demon Transformation Great Art, and he was also proficient in many ghost path secret techniques, making him extremely powerful.
However, during the opening of the Heavenly Abyss eight hundred years ago, he entered the deepest part, seemingly to search for some treasure, and accidentally entered a restriction set up by ancient cultivators, suffering severe injuries and the destruction of his physical body.
Only his Nascent Soul escaped, but it later encountered a powerful enemy and suffered further injuries, so he hid in the lava canyon on the second level of the Heavenly Abyss Secret Realm to recuperate.
The illusionary realm he had accidentally entered in the lava canyon was a temporary protective formation he had set up.
These were just scattered pieces of information obtained from the soul-searching technique, and Zhang Ling glanced over them briefly. He was more concerned about the Four Direction Flags and some of the secret techniques this person possessed.
However, disappointingly, this old demon possessed many secret techniques, but they required corresponding cultivation methods to be used. The Demon Transformation Great Art he mainly cultivated was a legacy technique of the Holy Demon Gate.
He only gained a rough understanding of the Demon Transformation Great Art through the soul-searching technique. There seemed to be some kind of restriction in his soul, making the information in this area vague.
This was likely some kind of restriction from the Holy Demon Sect to prevent the leakage of their inheritance. Many ancient sects would set up corresponding poisonous oaths or restrictions.
Zhang Ling played with the yellow flag in his hand and gained a good understanding of this Four Direction Flag. It was not an ordinary magic weapon, but a formation flag.
It was related to an ancient grand formation, the Ten Directions Clear Turbid Formation.
The name of this formation gave Zhang Ling a sense of familiarity. Then he remembered that during the treasure hunt with Huo Long Shangren and the others, in the Ice Fire Jade Mine, among the treasures found on a puppet's body, there was a scroll that seemed to record this grand formation.
They hadn't studied it carefully at the time, and Madam Cao suddenly snatched the scroll.
Now that he thought about it, it was indeed a bit strange. Madam Cao's identity was a cultivator from the Snow Moon Tower. There, Zhang Ling also killed the crimson monster and obtained a mysterious iron piece.
Madam Cao seemed to say that the crimson monster was originally a cultivator from the Blood Moon Tower who had stolen the Blood Soul Cauldron.
The mysterious iron piece recording the refining method of the Blood Soul Cauldron, the Blood Soul Cauldron that could clear turbid Qi, the mysterious Snow Moon Tower, and this Four Direction Flag used to set up the Ten Directions Clear Turbid Formation, all seemed to be closely related to the Heavenly Abyss Secret Realm.
The Ten Directions Clear Turbid Formation was no ordinary formation. According to the information obtained from the soul-searching technique, it was a sealing grand formation set up by ancient cultivators, the core formation in the deepest part of the Heavenly Abyss Secret Realm for suppressing turbid Qi.
There was more than one Four Direction Flag; there were a total of eight, used to assist in setting up the Ten Directions Clear Turbid Formation and seal off a space. It was said that when all eight Four Direction Flags were deployed together, they could easily seal off a space of ten thousand miles.
No wonder the gray mist released by the Four Direction Flag had the power to compress and imprison space.
In addition, the complete Ten Directions Clear Turbid Formation also required five spiritual treasures as core formation eyes to absorb vast amounts of heaven and earth spiritual energy and suppress turbid Qi.
Coincidentally, Zhang Ling had seen two of these five spiritual treasures himself: the Qian Ling Cauldron used by the White Jade Skeleton and the Wood Cauldron that had appeared in the Hidden Demon Valley.
The five spiritual treasures were identical in style, all cauldron-type spiritual treasures, called the Five Elements Spiritual Cauldrons. They were specially crafted by ancient cultivators at great cost.
These ancient secrets were known to very few people. He didn't expect to learn about such secrets by soul-searching the gray Nascent Soul.
Zhang Ling sighed, but after ten thousand years of evolution, it seemed that several of the Five Spiritual Cauldrons had been lost and were no longer in the Heavenly Abyss Realm.
The same was true for the Four Direction Flags.
He couldn't help but think that the outbreaks of turbid Qi every few hundred years might be greatly related to these treasures.
A moment later, Zhang Ling returned to the place where he had fought the gray Nascent Soul. He first found the jet-black bone claw and examined it carefully.
There were many crimson spiritual patterns on it, and he could also sense a special spiritual pressure. This bone claw was not made of ordinary spiritual bone and had an extraordinary origin.
It was a section of an ancient giant's palm that the gray Nascent Soul had brought out from the depths of the Heavenly Abyss Secret Realm.
Legend has it that the cataclysm in the Flowing Cloud Sea region in ancient times was caused by a fight between an ancient giant and a monster with wings on its back.
He also obtained a lot of information about this from the gray Nascent Soul's soul-searching.
According to the information this old demon knew, the ancient giant and the winged monster seemed to have perished together, and their corpses were also sealed in the secret realm.
Neither of these two creatures were from this world. Even after their death, their bodies were invaluable rare materials for cultivators, so naturally many people coveted them.
After pondering for a moment, Zhang Ling flicked his finger, and a spiritual force struck the bone claw. The bone claw shone jet-black and lightly slashed in the air, several sharp claw rays ejected out, instantly cutting a large area of earth and stone into fragments.
As spiritual force was continuously injected, the bone claw transformed into a ten-zhang-sized object, and with a loud boom, directly slammed a deep pit into the earth and stone beside him.
The surrounding earth and stone were not ordinary earth and stone; they were all aggregated in one place by the earth dragon formation he had set up, and their hardness was several times greater than ordinary bluestone.
And in his feeling, this bone claw only activated about 10% of its power. If it were fully activated, its power would be at least ten times stronger.
Destroying a mountain with one strike would definitely not be a problem.
Moreover, this treasure had not yet been fully refined. Thinking of this, Zhang Ling suddenly flipped his hand and took out a white ring.
This was a storage ring that had dropped out after he killed the gray Nascent Soul. This was the gray Nascent Soul's storage treasure. A sweep of his divine sense caused a gray light to flash on the ring, blocking his divine sense.
There was still a layer of restriction on it.
He sneered and increased the strength of his divine sense. At the same time, a spiritual light struck the ring. After a few breaths, with a clear sound, the ring trembled, and the restriction on it was broken by him. His divine sense swept inside, observing many things inside.
Zhang Ling roughly scanned it and immediately revealed a look of great joy.
There were many treasures inside, with more than twenty magic weapons alone, and several ancient treasures. Then there was a large pile of spiritual stones, mostly middle-grade spiritual stones piled into a small mountain.
The rest were many rare materials. With a move of his divine sense, Zhang Ling took out a walnut-sized dark gold stone.
This object seemed small, and its weight was also extremely light in his hand. But a sword light struck it, and a layer of golden light lit up on the dark gold stone, easily deflecting his sword light.
"It's actually a piece of Geng Gold."
This was a top-notch material. Adding a little to a magic weapon could make the magic weapon extremely hard. Just this small piece was of immeasurable value.
And in the ring, there were two more pieces of similar size.
In addition to the three pieces of Geng Gold, there were also rhino horn stone, blood jade, and several other spiritual mine materials of similar value. The value of so many top-notch materials was immeasurable.
These were all auxiliary materials for re-refining the black bone claw.
This Void Demon True Lord seemed to be proficient in the art of refining weapons. In order to enhance the power of the bone claw, he specially researched a set of re-refining methods.
In addition, to re-refine the bone claw, he also needed Taiyi Gold Crystal, the heartwood of ten-thousand-year-old mysterious wood, purple refined copper, and five or six other spiritual objects that were basically extinct.
The bone claw's power was already not weak, but it was only a semi-finished product. If he collected these materials and re-refined it, this old demon estimated that the bone claw's power could reach 40% of the power of a spiritual treasure.
40% of the power of a spiritual treasure, just thinking about it was absolutely shocking.
That being said, this semi-finished bone claw could also be considered a pseudo-spiritual treasure. Plus, with the Four Direction Flag that could imprison space, these two treasures could greatly increase his strength.
This time, he not only solved the hidden danger but also had such a harvest, Zhang Ling was secretly delighted.
A moment later, he put away his thoughts and left the mountain belly with the Xuan Turtle. Although their battle time was not long, the commotion they caused was not small.
Especially the power generated by the self-explosion of the corpse bear might attract the attention of others, so it was better to leave quickly.
At the same time, he also learned from the gray Nascent Soul's memory that this old demon was indeed seriously injured. Not long ago, he was besieged by two groups of people. Coincidentally, Zhang Ling had dealt with both of these groups.
One of the groups was actually the big-headed monster he had met when he was still in the late stage of the Golden Core realm.
The other group was the one that came in with Jin Yu and other demon cultivators, Old Man Wan and that Moon Fairy in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
These two groups seemed to be after the Four Flags in the gray Nascent Soul's hand.
Moreover, from the gray Nascent Soul's memory, he learned that during the outbreak of turbid Qi decades ago, this person had sneaked into the treasure house of Myriad Manifestation City and stolen many treasures.
The three pieces of Geng Gold of different sizes in the storage ring were the materials he had stolen at that time.
This old demon was originally the Grand Elder of Myriad Manifestation City hundreds of years ago, and he knew a lot about the formations and restrictions of Myriad Manifestation City, so it was not surprising that he could sneak into the treasure house.
Many of the materials used to re-refine the bone claw were obtained from the treasure house of Myriad Manifestation City.
It was just that when he left, he accidentally revealed his figure and fought with that Moon Fairy.
The gray Nascent Soul was seriously injured, and the strength he displayed when he fought him was not his full strength. Otherwise, he and the Xuan Turtle combined would not have been able to gain any advantage.
Zhang Ling pondered in his heart and quickly escaped from the mountain belly.
When he got outside, he found that most of the mountain had collapsed, and smoke and dust were everywhere. This was the commotion they had caused.
His figure swayed, and he turned into a streak of light and flew towards Qiong Hua Mountain with the Xuan Turtle, planning to meet up with Ye Zimei and the two women and leave this secret realm.
Zhang Ling was already extremely satisfied with this harvest. But just as he left more than ten zhang away, his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he quickly glanced at a distant direction.
Then a ball of black mud appeared in his hand. With a wave of his magic, the black mud turned into a ball of white clouds, covering him and the Xuan Turtle together. Their figures were instantly hidden in it, concealing themselves.
Just after he finished doing this, two streaks of light flew from afar, approaching the mountain where the gray Nascent Soul was hiding in the blink of an eye. The figures in the light were a female cultivator wearing a mask and a messy-haired old man, precisely the Moon Fairy and that Old Man Wan.
These two people actually came here too, obviously for the gray Nascent Soul.
Zhang Ling didn't want to face two cultivators at this moment, one of whom was a strong man in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
After fighting with the gray Nascent Soul, he had consumed 20% of the spiritual power in his body, which was nothing, but he had used the Soul Shocking Thorn twice in a short period of time, and his divine soul was a bit weak.
The gray Nascent Soul had already been killed by him. It would be difficult to escape if he encountered these two people at this time. After thinking about it, he decided to hide temporarily and leave after these two people left.
Zhang Ling thought beautifully, but he saw that after the Moon Fairy approached this side, she just glanced at the collapsed mountain below, and her eyes suddenly turned, quickly scanning the surroundings.
Then she stared at the cloud where he and the Xuan Turtle were hiding.
Zhang Ling's heart thumped, thinking that this woman could see through the disguise of the Illusion Mud. At this moment, he happened to meet the Moon Fairy's gaze.
This woman was wearing a goldfish mask, and her appearance could not be seen clearly, but the pair of strange double pupils glowing with golden light gave people a sense of being seen through the secret.
Just when Zhang Ling was not sure if this woman had really seen through his trace, the Moon Fairy's cold voice came over. "The two Taoist friends are hiding in the dark, could it be that they want to be detrimental to the two of us."
While the Moon Fairy was speaking, her eyes were staring at the cloud they were hiding in. Zhang Ling suddenly determined that this woman had really seen through his figure, and he couldn't help but curse in his heart.
Knowing this, when he found these two people coming, he and the Xuan Turtle directly left quickly, maybe they could avoid trouble. Now it was a bit difficult to get off the tiger.
"Who is hiding here and not coming out."
Old Man Wan shouted sharply, and with a wave of his hand, a ten-foot-sized white rainbow flew directly towards the cloud where Zhang Ling was hiding.
Faced with the attack, Zhang Ling smiled bitterly, and a yellow light was shot out, turning into a yellow light shield. The white rainbow hit it, making a loud noise.
His and Xuan Turtle's figures also emerged, with a somewhat ugly expression.
Zhang Ling really didn't think that the magical power of Illusion Mud could be seen through. He looked at this Moon Fairy a bit higher in his heart.
"There are really people hiding here. Eh, Taoist friend Xuan Ling, why are you here, and who is this Taoist friend." At this time, Old Man Wan gave a soft eh, it seemed that his shot just now was just a subconscious action. Seeing Zhang Ling and Xuan Turtle appear, this old man was stunned for a moment.
The Moon Fairy did not look at Zhang Ling and the two, holding a transparent jade bottle in her hand, from which a few golden flames floated out, flying towards the collapsed mountain below, and instantly merged into it, disappearing.
This woman seemed to be casting a spell to explore the situation in the mountain. Seeing this, Zhang Ling's heart moved and he let Xuan Turtle speak. "So it was the two Taoist friends, Taoist friend Jin has been looking for the two for a long time."
"Oh, you haven't broken the restriction of Black Water Pool yet."
Hearing Xuan Turtle's words, Old Man Wan also said in surprise.
Based on his guess, Jin Yu and the others should have already broken through the restrictions at Blackwater Beach. However, the reason this demon cultivator was here, accompanied by another cultivator, made him feel somewhat suspicious.
"In that area of astral winds, we were forced to separate. We only recently reunited. Why haven't you two fellow cultivators joined us and are instead wandering around here? Could it be that you've lost your way and don't know the direction of Blackwater Pond?" The Xuan Turtle didn't directly answer Old Man Wan's question, but suddenly asked this.
Old Man Wan stroked his beard, his brow furrowing slightly, and he didn't answer immediately.
