Chapter 76: Breakthrough, a New Calamity Character on the Sheep Skin Scroll!

The sky darkened, the stars rose, starlight surged like tides, and the sea was a blaze of brilliance and tranquility—a perfect time for murder and arson.

Chen Zheng, however, sat upright upon a mass of black clouds, cultivating.

As numerous pills and treasures were refined, the circulation speed of his true Qi within surged by hundreds of times in an instant.

It kept crystallizing!

Then the crystal shards melted rapidly, turning into liquid that flowed like dark golden magma.

This is the stiff Qi.

At the moment his true Qi transformed into stiff Qi, his flesh, blood, and bones intertwined with the stiff Qi, merging like water and milk, causing the Nether King True Body to begin changing.

It became extremely supple!

Finally, Chen Zheng entered the third tier of Divine Skill, the Yuan Gang Realm.

"I feel so soft."

Chen Zheng sensed the mysteries of the new realm, a strange expression flashing in his eyes.

After the breakthrough, his body was exceedingly flexible, and his head could rotate a full 360 degrees without blind spots.

His mouth could even bite any part of his own body!

Especially when his whole body is soft like a lump of cotton, the stiff Qi, once filled, turns as hard as divine steel.

Softness and hardness are governed by the heart!

As long as stiff Qi flows endlessly, he can remain hard forever.

"I've heard there's a treasure called Fa Crystal Jade Stone that can replenish a cultivator's magical power; as long as one has enough of these stones and keeps absorbing them, the magical power will never run out…"

Chen Zheng suddenly fell into contemplation.

He quickly shook his head and began examining other changes after his breakthrough.

The mass of his stiff Qi is five times that of his true Qi; now a single horse's strength can match the former five horses.

The quantity reaches thirty‑two thousand horses.

It should be noted that ordinary Divine Skill Fifth Tier Celestial Being Realm cultivators wield magical power equivalent to ten thousand to thirty thousand horses.

Yet Chen Zheng, having just ascended to the third Yuan Gang Realm, has already shattered the limit of Fifth Tier Celestial Being Realm cultivators.

Coupled with his exceptionally high magical power mass, he can essentially sweep aside cultivators of this realm.

And while refining numerous pills earlier, he discovered something valuable among a heap of bottles and jars.

They were three jet‑black pills.

According to records across worlds, this pill is a top‑grade treasure of earth level, the Taiyi Sect's exclusive Mad Demon Life‑Shortening Pill.

Although the pill cannot increase a cultivator's cultivation, it contains a raging primordial Qi; once ingested, it agitates the body's essence, Qi, spirit, blood, and soul, causing them to boil and boosting magical power five to tenfold for a short period.

Consequently, the damage to the cultivator's body afterward is severe, reducing lifespan by a hundred years.

Moreover, a cultivator can only take one in a lifetime; a second pill loses its effect.

As for why Yao Dian and others previously did not take the pill to boost magical power, it was because Chen Zheng acted too swiftly, leaving them flustered and without time.

The three Mad Demon Life‑Shortening Pills could only be given cheaply to Chen Zheng.

"Not bad, this is a trump card; even a Divine Skill Sixth Tier Unification Realm cultivator won't intimidate me. The Taiyi Sect has helped me greatly."

Chen Zheng's face showed a look of satisfaction.

He also sighed that the Taiyi Sect truly lives up to being the foremost of the immortal path, always sending him abundant gifts.

He didn't even know how to repay them.

Great kindness feels like a grudge; he can only continue killing.

When there is no one left in the Taiyi Sect to kill, the grudges naturally end.

"My cultivation has broken through; the Five Prisons King Cauldron should now be within my grasp."

Chen Zheng left the place, soaring continuously above the sea, hurrying toward the location of the Death Island Lord.

At the same time, he used his mind‑spirit to scan the Sheep Skin Scroll deep within his thoughts.

Just as he had ascended, the Sheep Skin Scroll once again displayed a calamity character.

The character was "Pao". "Pao? I just reached the Yuan Gang Realm, my body can be soft or hard—so a 'Pao' character appears just now?"

Chen Zheng muttered.

He didn't think much about it for the moment.

He sensed that the Death Island Lord was ahead.

There lay a canyon stretching hundreds of li, its cliffs jagged, shoals treacherous, waves roaring, black mist billowing—a clear great formation.

That's normal; these sea pirates often raid and plunder, and are constantly being shouted at to be struck.

If the stronghold weren't concealed and arrayed with formation, it would have been slain long ago; it couldn't have survived until now.

Yet such a mere great formation cannot block Chen Zheng.

He, like last time on Ghost Scourge Island, exhaled in one breath and forced the mist to disperse.

Below, an island emerged.

This novel you to.

In the island's center stood a palace of pearlescent splendor, its gate bearing the three characters "Death Palace".

"You dare chase me onto my Death Island? Hmph, now that I hold the Five Prisons King Cauldron, you're courting death!" a sinister voice echoed from the palace.

Simultaneously, a great cauldron surged upward from the palace, mighty beyond compare, charging straight at Chen Zheng.

This cauldron towered dozens of zhang, like a small palace; its walls were entwined with raging stiff Qi, generating a fierce wind as if millions of fiery horses were galloping and trampling.

Standing atop the great cauldron was a man with a goat‑beard, a face dark purple‑black, his cruel gaze fixed on Chen Zheng—if not the Death Island Lord, then who was he?

He was not the slightest bit afraid of Chen Zheng.

Indeed, the Five Prisons King Cauldron is an unparalleled treasure, its power immense and rare; even affluent Taiyi Sect disciples are few who can possess it.

Although Jue Ming Dao Zhu could not unleash much power, he was still able to contend with a cultivator of Shentong Wu Chong.

Moreover, when he was earlier on Ghost Sha Island, he fled relatively early, did not see Chen Zheng slay Yao Dian and others, and thought he only had a Seven Killer Gourd.

That gourd isn't even worthy to carry the shoes of the Five Prisons King Cauldron!

"I'll gladly accept the Five Prisons King Cauldron."

Seeing the great cauldron about to hit him, Chen Zheng was not startled but delighted; he reached out, and a massive hand of condensed Vigorous Energy formed, seizing the cauldron.

"Oh no, how could he be this strong!"

Jue Ming Dao Zhu felt a chill run down his spine, and he was almost flung away by this immense force.

Moreover, once Chen Zheng grasped the Five Prisons King Cauldron, no matter how he tried to activate it, it couldn't budge an inch.

He felt something was wrong, quickly darting into the cauldron's opening; as long as he hid within its inner space and shrank back, all methods would be unable to invade, and Chen Zheng could do nothing about him.

But just then, Chen Zheng's hold on the Five Prisons King Cauldron's Vigorous Energy giant hand trembled slightly.

Jue Ming Dao Zhu was instantly shaken into disarray, his stance unsteady, and he fell out of the cauldron's opening, where Chen Zheng reached out and seized his neck.

"No… don't kill me, I know a huge secret, the secret to obtaining a Dao artifact!" Jue Ming Dao Zhu begged for mercy, his eyes wide with terror.

"A Dao artifact?"

Chen Zheng halted the motion of releasing true fire to burn this person to death, and said with interest: "What secret? Speak."

"You must swear a Dao-heart oath never to kill me, or I won't tell you." Jue Ming Dao Zhu gritted his teeth and proposed a condition.

Hearing this, Chen Zheng's expression turned cold; unwilling to waste words, he immediately released blazing true fire from his sleeve, engulfing him.

"Ah..."

Jue Ming Dao Zhu was scorched until his whole body turned black and charred, suffering immensely; moreover, small knives of condensed fire kept slicing off the flesh that had just been cooked on his body.

Each time a piece was cooked, a piece was cut off.

It was literally worse than death.

"Ah… I'll speak, I'll speak. Two days ago, among our Forty Great Bandits, the Immortal-Slayer Bandits and Moon-Piercing Bandits and other formidable figures sent word, ordering these bandits to gather on Shadow Island in three days to undertake a major task; if we succeed, we can obtain a Dao artifact."

(End of chapter)