“Hey!”
Suddenly, Chi Ying flashed forward, snatching the chess piece into her hand. “I was the first to pick this up, so it’s mine!”
“Heh…”
Shen Mu gave a light chuckle, showing no desire to compete for it.
After all, immortality was too far off for him, so the chess piece held little significance.
He turned to the still-standing “black cross,” reaching out to touch its surface, sensing the faint, ferocious killing aura emanating from the Nether Phoenix Sword, his brows slightly raised.
Then, he forcibly steadied his slightly unsettled mind, his lips moving as he began chanting the Soul Refining Incantation…
Invisibly, Shen Mu felt his soul enter a special state, instantly shrugging off the influence of the sword’s ferocious aura.
“Phew…”
Looks like this incantation works pretty well.
With a thought, Shen Mu commanded the Myriad Transformation Divine Essence to form a thin, inky-black film tightly binding the sword, restraining its movements.
Then, cautiously, he gripped its hilt.
Buzz!
The Nether Phoenix Sword trembled, releasing waves of intense killing intent, resisting Shen Mu.
“With most of its origin damaged and still so hard to tame, calling you a savage beast is spot-on,” Shen Mu said confidently, his gaze resolute as he tightly gripped the hilt.
Ignoring its fierce resistance, he lifted it, examining and stroking it closely.
It was a fine sword—just too hard to control.
He’d need to reach the Spirit Transformation Realm and comprehend his own true intent to have a chance at fully mastering it.
Sigh…
Guess I’ll have to take it slow.
Swish, swish…
Shen Mu swung it a few times, nodding slightly, then stored it in his storage ring.
Next, he released the still-unconscious Golden Toad from the spirit pet bag.
“You’ve slept long enough. Time to wake up.”
Slap!
Shen Mu delivered a heavy smack to its mountain-like, bulging belly, eliciting a crisp, elastic sound as its body twitched.
Yet, the toad slept on like a dead pig, unresponsive.
“Causing me this much trouble and still sleeping so soundly…” Shen Mu didn’t hold back, directly activating the slave spirit seal on its forehead.
“Croak!”
The Golden Toad let out a pained cry, its eyes snapping open. It leaped up forcefully, only to crash into the dome again, plummeting to the ground…
The fall was brutal.
But thankfully, its thick hide meant the fall caused no real harm.
The real pain came from the soul-wrenching agony of the slave spirit seal.
“Master, have mercy! I won’t do it again!” The Golden Toad groveled before Shen Mu, clutching its head, begging repeatedly, fully embracing its role as a spirit pet.
“Looks like you know what you did.” Seeing its clarity, Shen Mu stopped activating the seal.
“My nature makes me greedy for treasures, so I got carried away by its influence…”
“I’ll be extra careful next time!”
Shen Mu sighed helplessly, no longer wanting to scold the toad. He waved his hand. “Go look around and see if there are any other hidden spiritual items here.”
“Yes! Yes!”
The Golden Toad quickly complied, glancing at the now-empty altar. “Master, that ominous sword…”
“I’ve already taken it. Want me to show it to you again?” Shen Mu said calmly.
“No, no, no!” The toad hurriedly refused. With the painful lesson fresh in its mind, it dared not harbor any greed for the sword.
“Senior Brother…”
As Shen Mu waited for the toad’s findings, Lin Yuhe gently tugged at his robe, her voice soft as a mosquito’s hum.
“What’s up?”
“There’s an array’s aura down there.” Lin Yuhe pointed at the still-glowing purple-red abyss.
“An array?”
The trio approached the abyss they hadn’t paid much attention to, peering down together…
It was an endless expanse of purple-red light, its depths obscured, carrying a faint warmth against their faces.
“…”
Shen Mu gazed into the abyss for a moment, his eyes thoughtful.
Could it be…
This is why the yin aura here remains so dense?
“Is there really an array aura down there?” Chi Ying asked.
“Yes, no mistake. I’m quite sensitive to array fluctuations,” Lin Yuhe confirmed.
Whoosh!
With that assurance, Chi Ying dove straight down without a hint of hesitation.
“…Sigh~”
Shen Mu could only sigh helplessly, no longer wanting to comment on this dragon girl’s boundless action-oriented nature.
“…”
Chi Ying flew through the bottomless abyss for a long time, finally spotting specks of fiery red spiritual light.
“There’s something down here!”
Her eyes lit up with uncontainable excitement as she accelerated toward the faint red glow.
“Looks like this trip wasn’t for nothing.”
Soon.
Her purple-red vision cleared, revealing clusters of purple-red crystals on the surrounding rock walls.
Translucent and exquisite, their interiors held thread-like patterns, radiating warm spiritual light.
“These must be the source of that strange glow…” Chi Ying stopped before a cluster, touching its surface.
The icy-cold sensation made her eyes widen instantly!
“Such pure yin aura!”
She sensed a dense, flowing yin aura within the crystal, its potency rivaling some top-tier yin-attribute spiritual crystals.
“There’s got to be something bigger down there.”
Chi Ying’s expression grew more delighted as she dove deeper.
And as expected, she wasn’t disappointed.
After flying further, she saw a massive array of interwoven black patterns slowly rotating, seemingly eternal.
The specks of fiery red light came from an obscured fiery red area beneath the intricate array patterns.
“That little girl’s senses were spot-on. There really is an array down here.”
Chi Ying paused in midair, hesitating slightly as she rubbed her chin.
Let’s test it with something else first.
For safety, she tossed a spiritual stone into the array.
Whoosh!
The stone passed through the patterns without resistance, proving the array wasn’t hostile.
“Hm, seems safe.”
Chi Ying flew closer to the array…
But as she neared a certain range, she was suddenly seized by a mysterious, powerful suction force.
“Oh no! Something’s off!”
“Ugh…”
“No!!”
With a despairing wail, her body was uncontrollably pulled into the fiery red area.
Meanwhile.
Taking advantage of Chi Ying’s exploration, Shen Mu sat calmly by the abyss, speaking to the girl beside him.
“Tell me about it… the special experience that left you with that psychological trauma.”
“…”