Chapter 270: Cultivating a Living Burial Tomb, Burying a Lineage-Ending Grave

After Qian Chen had a conversation with Xin Xin Shisan Niang, aside from pointing out the matter of the earth-aperture spirit cave, he did not speak of anything else.

He did not even mention how to break the Five Thunders Transforming Extremity Great Array jointly set up by the Lei and Jin families, but simply continued to refine the eight great halls cast from Iron Mother Primordial Embryos.

Seven days later, as the Five Elements Divine Thunders within the Lei Hai boiled once more, the five-colored thunder light rolled over the eaves, tiles, and beams of the great halls like rolling pearls.

When the thunder ceased, the entire iron hall radiated a cohesive momentum, sitting there as black and heavy as a mountain peak.

The two foxes atop the Magnetic Peak, seeing the strange state of these iron halls, were secretly clicking their tongues in endless wonder.

The primordial embryos of these iron halls were Iron Mother Magnetic Peaks tempered by primordial magnetism and thunder fire within the Lei Hai; they were gold and iron of the same texture as the fist-sized piece of Iron Mother Primordial Embryo that Xin Shiliuniang had coveted in the past. It was just that the piece Xin Shiliuniang had wanted was only the size of a fist, used as scrap material for refining sword embryos, whereas the Iron Mother Qian Chen used to forge the great halls were each a small mountain peak a hundred feet tall.

Although he had only refined nine layers of seals with the help of the Lei Hai's power, an artifact using such materials, even with only nine layers of seals, was sufficient to suppress artifacts whose seal levels far exceeded its own. Xin Xin Shisan Niang had secretly taken a few looks and felt that even if she brought her entire family fortune, she might not necessarily be able to withstand a single suppression strike from these iron halls.

Just the materials alone—the foundation she took pride in could not earn enough for them even in another fifty years.

As the eight iron halls emitted a devouring force, swallowing the surrounding rolling thunder malevolent qi clean, the ninth layer of seals was also perfected. Connected by chains of primordial magnetic divine iron, the eight iron halls became a single entity. Arranged in the formation of the Innate Eight Trigrams, they surrounded the Supreme Eight Scenery Furnace. The seals of the eight iron halls merged into one, becoming a top-tier artifact with seventy-two layers of Earthly Fiend seals perfected.

"When it comes to artifact seals, Heavenly Dipper seals are better; one can use them as one wishes with just a little refining, and they require fewer layers for the artifact to be perfected. But Heavenly Dipper seals usually can only be refined by one person, unlike Earthly Fiend seals, which not only allow several fellow Daoist friends, or even an entire sect, to refine them together, but can also combine the seals within several different magic treasures through various secret methods."

"That is why there is the saying: Heavenly Dipper seals are first in spiritual connection; Earthly Fiend seals are first in convenience!"

Qian Chen sighed slightly.

Most of the artifacts on his person were Heavenly Dipper seals; this was his first time testing his skills with Earthly Fiend seals. In a short span of twenty days, he had opportunistically refined a perfected artifact, which showed the convenience of this type of seal.

Xin Xin Shisan Niang looked with some surprise at the eight iron halls, which possessed a cohesive momentum and seemed to carry an ancient aura. She frowned slightly and said, "If these eight iron halls are formed into an array to suppress, they should be able to hold down the Lei Hai and not let the Five Thunders Transforming Extremity Great Array run rampant."

Qian Chen reached out and summoned the Heaven-Luo San, his thumb rubbing the seven Profound Heaven Star Stones embedded in the handle. He swept his sleeves to drop the eight iron halls into the Supreme Eight Scenery Furnace, then tucked the Eight Scenery Furnace into his Sleeve Universe.

He reached forward and invited her: "Xin Shisan Niang, aren't you curious about what methods I have prepared to deal with those great clans?"

Xin Xin Shisan Niang smiled and said: "It is what I desire; I would not dare to ask!"

Qian Chen summoned two white deer. He himself rose and straddled a young, robust male deer with towering horns. With the master in front, the two mounts dared not play any clever tricks. Xin Xin Shisan Niang finally had the fortune to sit on the back of the little female deer that had brought her there that day.

Qian Chen's Flying Cloud Pocket carried four honest Western Kunlun slaves. Most eye-catching was the half-stone, half-wood coffin carried on the shoulders of the Western Kunlun slaves, upon which were painted many pictures of immortals—there were four Bodhisattvas, a Daoist priest carrying a sword... They circled out from the other side of the Magnetic Peak, honestly following behind the two.

Xin Xin Shisan Niang couldn't help but take a few extra looks at the four people carrying the coffin. What kind of approach was this? It had completely baffled her.

She chased after Qian Chen, letting the white deer beneath her run at its own pace.

The backs of the two white deer were extremely stable, with not a hint of discomfort; they were worthy of being the mounts favored by many Nascent Soul True Immortals of the higher realms.

What made Xin Xin Shisan Niang feel anxious was that Qian Chen did not drive the deer toward the depths of the Lei Hai, toward the Primordial Magnetic Divine Peak where the spirit cave was located, but instead sank into the Lei Hai, brushing past the infinite thunder and lightning.

Passing through the ten-mile-thick thunder sea cloud layer, they arrived at the bottom of the Primordial Magnetic Earth-Aperture.

This was the place where the underground gloomy tunnel qi and the gloomy, heavy qi settled. Descending another fifty miles, they saw a layer of faint black mist, like water, permeating this bottomless abyss.

Qian Chen reminded her: "This is the underground heavy, turbid, nether qi. It can blind the soul, confuse the five senses, erode spiritual energy, and shake the Dao foundation; the further down, the more severe it becomes. I have a dharma lamp that can avoid it; fellow Daoist, you must not easily leave the range covered by the dharma lamp."

Having said this, Qian Chen flipped his wrist and took out an ancient bronze lamp from his sleeve. The silver-headed human figurine bronze lamp was exquisitely and uniquely styled; the bronze figurine with black gemstones embedded in its eyes stood on a pedestal, holding a snake in each of its left and right hands. The snake in the right hand supported a high-pillar lamp tray, and the snake in the left hand connected the upper and lower lamp trays.

The bronze lamp was simple and unadorned, carrying a trace of witchcraft—this was an ancient object from the Left Treasury, said to be an artifact unearthed from the tomb of a feudal prince of the ancient Zhong Shan State.

Because the essence of this type of artifact was a funerary object, it was shunned by the powerful, so it had always been hidden in the Left Treasury. Even though its quality was good, it never had a chance to stand out.

The eyes of the ancient bronze lamp's silver-headed human figurine stared at the lamp tray in its hands. The firelight ignited by the merman lamp oil emitted a clear, gloomy light. Wherever it reached, the black mist of nether qi was driven away and retreated. The two traveled a long way through the black mist; the nether qi around them had become so thick it could not be dissolved, and even this ancient lamp could only cover ten feet.

Xin Xin Shisan Niang looked back, only to see that the four Western Kunlun slaves carrying the coffin had already disappeared without a trace; she did not know if they had already been lost in this nether qi.

At this moment, a long sword slid out from the Heaven-Luo San in Qian Chen's hand. The seven Profound Heaven Star Stones on the hilt emitted a faint light, outlining the shape of the Big Dipper on the blade.

At the direction of the Big Dipper's mouth, a point of starlight flickered from afar.

Xin Xin Shisan Niang saw clearly that the direction was exactly the depths of the Lei Hai, which should be where the spirit cave was located.

Thinking back now, that day when they went deep into the Lei Hai, they had all intentionally or unintentionally ignored the Profound Heaven Star Stones on the hilt, thinking they were just dharma guides for pointing the way.

These seven Profound Heaven Star Stones were likely supreme treasures for finding dragons and fixing apertures.

In the past, they were embedded in the Profound Heaven Demon-Slaying Sword, passed down by the Daoist lineage of the True Martial Great Emperor, and were secret treasures bestowed upon the descendants of the Profound Heaven Palace to subdue the Blood Demon. To be favored by Qian Chen and re-refined into the hilt of the Affectionate Sword, how could it be so simple?

The Profound Heaven Star Stones were true objects of the higher realms, spirit stones native to the Purple Tenuity Star Realm. Not only did they have the ability to break and subdue demons, but they could also correspond to the Big Dipper above, serving as supreme treasures for guiding the breaking of arrays.

Only a sword hum was heard. The light of the Big Dipper on the blade revolved around the North Star transformed by the spirit cave. As the sword body turned, the blade aligned with the dipper handle, pointing to a dark, mysterious place within the black mist.

Xin Xin Shisan Niang exclaimed: "Where is that?"

Qian Chen smiled slightly: "The place where the creation spirit mechanism in the earth-aperture gathers became the spirit cave. Then, besides spiritual energy, there is also gloomy, dark, dead, absolute, resentful, and filthy qi between heaven and earth. Where did they go?"

Xin Xin Shisan Niang said with a trembling voice: "Opposite the spirit cave, there is also a demon cave?"

"Yin and Yang generate each other, accompanying and completing each other. Where there is a spirit cave, there is naturally a demon cave. It is just that the demon cave goes deep into the bottom of the earth-aperture, even more hidden and difficult to find than the spirit cave. Moreover, the demon cave gathers the seven poisonous qi of gloomy, dark, dead, absolute, resentful, filthy, and toxic, breeding demon lords. Except for the demon path regarding it as a treasure land, it only has harm for cultivators like us. Originally, this demon cave was what I left for..."

Qian Chen sighed and did not continue.

The birth of the Thunder Pearl would inevitably be accompanied by a tribulation. Originally, this demon cave was the tribulation Qian Chen left for it, but now it showed signs of a human tribulation erupting. With the human tribulation and demon tribulation combined, it added a hundredfold danger. Qian Chen had to plan a little for it.

He left behind a secret treasure where danger and opportunity accompanied each other.

Following the direction pointed by the Big Dipper, the two soon arrived in a demon abyss. Countless demon qi transformed into demon infants and demon ghosts, shuttling through the demon abyss, emitting bursts of soul-stirring wails. The demon qi took shapes like centipedes with a hundred legs, like evil dragons, and there were all kinds of demon lords with ugly and ferocious faces.

Seeing Qian Chen and the other riding white deer and coming, those countless demon lords swarmed up, the heavy demon shadows numbering more than several hundred.

A huge one-horned ghost head, with a full face of curly whiskers, sprayed green ghost fire from its eyes; there was a Rakshasa woman with a mouthful of yellow teeth like nails, flying and pouncing on all fours.

Xin Xin Shisan Niang was horrified to see that countless demon objects had already surrounded them. Qian Chen, who was walking in the very front, seemed to disappear into the sea of demons in an instant.

Xin Xin Shisan Niang's tail revealed itself without her knowing. Although she was calm on the surface, the fur on her tail exploded like a fluffy scarf, showing the terror in her heart at this moment.

But right there amidst the heavy demon shadows, seven points of starlight suddenly flashed, transforming into the Big Dipper, circling upward. Immediately, a sword light like a long rainbow shocked the sky, bursting forth from the demon shadows.

The cold sword light tore through the boundless darkness, like a bolt of lightning illuminating the demon abyss.

The centipede demon dragon that Xin Xin Shisan Niang saw was carefully sliced from the middle, its body split into two exceptionally symmetrical halves.

The huge one-horned ghost head had its horn chopped off...

The heavy demon shadows were all torn apart by that sword. Countless demon lords wailed and vanished. At this time, Xin Xin Shisan Niang finally saw Qian Chen's location. The long sword in Qian Chen's hand, named 'Affectionate', had sword light that was cold and ruthless, slaying who knew how many demon lords beneath the sword.

His left hand pinched a red lotus. The demon monsters bred by the demon qi, as if hating their parents for not giving them two more legs, fled toward the hidden parts of the demon abyss!

"A mere demon cave!" Qian Chen said coldly: "Do you know how many demon lords I have slain beneath my sword?"

Under a sharp shout, the demon abyss was swept clean.

"Boom!"

Qian Chen waved his sleeves and smashed out the eight iron halls, which landed in the center of the demon abyss, the huge vibration like a mountain collapsing. The eight iron halls were as heavy as mountains, suppressing the situation and primordial qi of the demon abyss, emitting a deafening roar... He waved his hand again and struck out eighty-one ancient bronze human figurine lamps, arranging them on the road they had come, illuminating the path leading to the demon abyss.

Bronze human figurines in various postures—standing, half-squatting, dancing, holding weapons—emitted a gloomy candlelight from the lamp trays on their bodies... like a tiny, insignificant lamp in the deepest night, like a boundary dividing the edge of the Yin and Yang worlds.

"Fellow Daoist, this is..."

"Cultivating a tomb to bury those who plot against the spirit cave. It is a custom from my hometown that we must let guests have a good time. Since they have come, if we don't bury them in such a good feng shui treasure land, wouldn't that be too neglectful?" Qian Chen sneered.

He looked back behind him and said calmly: "Old monster of the Jin family, are you satisfied with the tomb I have built for you?"

"If you are still not satisfied, who else are you thinking of? I will let him come to accompany you!"

Xin Xin Shisan Niang also looked back, seeing a blurred shadow slowly becoming clear on that lamp path. The four Western Kunlun slaves carrying the coffin had ghost qi that was dense and gloomy; they did not look like living people at all, but they did not block the nether qi. Instead, they used magic to change their state, carrying the coffin and slowly walking onto the lamp path of the nether road.

Hearing Qian Chen's words, that coffin not only did not feel happy, but instead shook violently, as if someone inside was roaring in unwillingness. ===== CHAPTER 271 =====