Just as Mo Tianxiao had expected, the massive chaos involving tens of thousands of cultivators would not end so easily. In fact, as time passed, even more cultivators would be drawn in to fight over it.
After all, this was a complete mineral vein. If someone managed to seize all of it, their race might gain a Dharma Treasure of the Earthly grade.
Every Earthly Dharma Treasure was a prized artifact that any race would keep in reserve. Even obtaining just one more would be an extraordinary gain.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. The Human Emperor Banner had already refined more than a million lingering spirits of demonic resentment.
Only lingering spirits above the Saint Realm were qualified to become “family” within the Human Emperor Banner. As for the weaker ones, they could only be refined into nourishment, serving as supplements for the other brothers.
“It’s time to leave.”
Mo Tianxiao held the Human Emperor Banner in his hand. Feeling the icy, sinister aura emanating from it, he could not help but marvel. “It really is a wonderful place. Coming here this time was absolutely the right choice.”
With the Human Emperor Banner alone—a supreme weapon of slaughter—he could likely stand undefeated within the Dao Mastery Realm. Not to mention the endless supply of lingering spirits of demonic resentment here.
“Tianxiao, we’ve confirmed that three locations contain large veins of Demonic Origin Star Ore. Let’s go.”
“Alright.”
Mo Tianxiao put away the Human Emperor Banner, confirmed the direction, and prepared to plunge straight into the black mist.
But the very next moment, a streak of light shot upward from the dense black fog below, stopping directly in front of him.
“Damn it! Those cursed Flame Spirit bastards—do they really think the Thousand-Armed Race is so easy to bully?!”
The Thousand-Armed cultivator, who had been about to charge back down, suddenly froze. Noticing the bewildered Mo Tianxiao before him, it frowned deeply.
“How is there a human here? And only a little ant at the early Dao Mastery Realm?”
“Hey, human! Is this a place you’re qualified to be? Come over here and die!”
Its body was like a small mountain—bloated and massive, with countless long arms growing from its back, packed so densely together that even Mo Tianxiao felt a shiver of trypophobia. Its enormous head had only one gigantic eye and a toothless mouth, making it look exceptionally bizarre.
The Thousand-Armed cultivator, at the peak of the Dao Mastery Realm, saw Mo Tianxiao and promptly forgot about fighting over the Demonic Origin Star Ore. Instead, it turned its attention to him.
A mere human, and only at the early Dao Mastery Realm, dared to intrude upon their territory. How could a dignified cultivator of the Thousand-Armed Race tolerate such a weak human competing with them for resources?
After only a single exchange of glances, the Thousand-Armed cultivator decided to deal with this human first.
“Sorry, coming through.”
Then, in the next instant, an afterimage flashed past the Thousand-Armed cultivator’s side.
“Boom!!!”
The terrifying explosion instantly dispersed much of the surrounding black mist. Before the enormous Thousand-Armed cultivator could even comprehend what had happened, its entire body had already exploded into a cloud of blood.
Only its divine soul remained, its gaze blank and bewildered—before it too was casually drawn into the Human Emperor Banner.
“No time to play with someone like you.”
In one seamless motion, this fortunate member of the Thousand-Armed Race achieved the lifelong aspiration of countless cultivators: immortality.
Without wasting any time, Mo Tianxiao set off alone in search of mineral veins.
Traveling by himself, he felt considerably more at ease. Along the way, every Demonic Origin lingering spirit he encountered was refined into the Human Emperor Banner without exception.
The Human Emperor Banner’s power steadily increased, and the members of the Happy Family grew rapidly in number as well.
In the blink of an eye, several years passed.
Liya and the other tens of thousands of cultivators finally finished dividing up the hundred-mile-long vein of Demonic Essence Star Ore.
“Hmph! A bunch of ants who only know how to use their cultivation to bully others. If we were at the same realm, I would surely be invincible!”
Mo Xingtian had only managed to seize an amount of Demonic Essence Star Ore comparable to what had been in the previous mine tunnel, and his expression was exceedingly displeased.
His cultivation was currently only at the mid-stage Dao Proving Realm. Though he was capable of fighting above his level, there was a limit to how far he could cross realms. The fact that he had managed to seize such a quantity of Demonic Essence Star Ore in the face of so many experts already proved how extraordinary he was.
Unfortunately, Young Master Mo held himself to extremely demanding standards.
“Fortunately, we managed to obtain a little Demonic Essence Star Marrow. It still isn’t enough, but we have time to search for more elsewhere.”
Liya and Chris’s group had also gained something. Although they had failed to secure any Demonic Essence Star Ore, Liya had managed to obtain a piece of Demonic Essence Star Marrow.
Looking at the brick-sized lump of softened stone in her palm, which emitted a faint green glow, Liya was quite satisfied.
Though small, this piece was worth more than all the Demonic Essence Star Ore Mo Xingtian had seized combined.
“Let’s go. We’ll call Brother Mo and continue searching elsewhere for Demonic Essence Star Ore.”
Without wasting any time, the group returned to the place where they had first parted ways to look for Mo Tianxiao.
“Where is Brother Mo?”
When they arrived at their meeting point, there was not a single living figure in sight—only the demonic resentment remnants that had gathered there once more.
“Hahaha! Don’t tell me that human brat was killed by those remnants? As expected of a weak human. It would be one thing if he couldn’t win, but he couldn’t even run fast enough.”
The moment Mo Xingtian failed to spot Mo Tianxiao, his mood immediately soared. Without that human obstructing his view, he felt a hundred times better than he had after seizing all that Demonic Essence Star Ore.
“Impossible! Brother Mo knows the remnants’ weakness. Why would he deliberately charge into their territory? He must still be nearby. Let’s search together.”
Liya frowned slightly and instructed Chris and the others to search the surrounding area.
After all, the ancient realm was shrouded in black fog. Once one entered the fog-covered area, even divine sense became useless. Perhaps Brother Mo was waiting for them somewhere within the mist.
Ideals were beautiful, but reality often refused to follow the course people imagined.
They searched for three whole days, combing through a vast area of the surroundings, yet they still found no trace of Mo Tianxiao.
“Stop looking. Without our protection, how could that brat possibly survive in a place like this? He must have died long ago.”
Mo Xingtian wore a mocking expression. “My time is precious. I have no intention of wasting it on him. I presume the Feather Spirit Clan hasn’t achieved its objective this time either?”
“Are we really going to keep wasting time here?”
At those words, Liya clenched her fists, and her expression darkened.
Before coming here, she had promised that she was bringing Brother Mo to seek opportunities—and that she would make sure to bring him out safely. But now...
Regret filled Liya’s heart. If she had known this would happen, she would have left one guard behind to protect Brother Mo. For the sake of this small piece of Demonic Essence Star Marrow, she had lost a true friend. The joy she had felt at obtaining the Star Marrow vanished in an instant.
“Miss Liya, perhaps Young Master Mo left because he had other matters to attend to. Or perhaps he encountered danger and was forced to flee this place. Just because we haven’t found him doesn’t mean he’s dead.
How about we search for Young Master Mo while looking for the Devil Origin Star Ore?”
Chris offered his suggestion. Although he did not believe Mo Tianxiao was someone destined to die young, the current circumstances suggested that the latter was most likely in grave danger. Even if he was still alive, a cultivator at the initial stage of the Dao Mastery Realm could lose his life at any moment.
The Feather Spirit Clan’s objective on this expedition was to find enough Devil Origin Star Ore to forge a complete earth-grade Dharma treasure. They could not afford to waste too much time.
Liya fell silent for a moment. Then, with a frown, she said in a low voice, “For now, that’s the only way.”
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
