Chapter 742 743: Five-Star Martial Soul

Even a Martial Sovereign at the Tier Eight Third Layer would find it difficult to withstand the refining power of the Purple Wound Flame.

As for a Nine Heavens Martial Emperor, it wasn't that the Purple Wound Flame was inadequate, but rather that Ye Xuan's current cultivation was still a bit lacking. He probably couldn't pose much of a threat to one.

"From this moment on, I can finally use my flame power without any worries."

Ye Xuan smiled faintly, extremely satisfied.

After refining the Purple Wound Flame, Ye Xuan's next goal was to raise the level of his Life Martial Soul.

He first took out a Tier Seven Soul Crystal. He had obtained this Soul Crystal back in the Celestial Capital Prefecture; it came from a Tier Seven Plant Element Profound Beast called a Ghost King Vine.

The slightly dark green Ghost King Vine Soul Crystal appeared in Ye Xuan's hand. Under his refinement, it was quickly absorbed by the Life Martial Soul.

Strands of Soul Power merged into Ye Xuan's Life Martial Soul. The originally three-foot-long Life Martial Soul began to grow rapidly. At the same time, a fourth star ring started to vaguely form outside it.

Four feet!

Five feet!

When the Life Martial Soul grew to five feet, the Ghost King Vine Soul Crystal shattered with a CRACK. The Soul Power within it quickly dissipated. At this point, the Life Martial Soul's fourth star ring had only half-emerged.

'It's still not enough, as I expected.'

Back when his Life Martial Soul broke through to Three-Stars, Ye Xuan had absorbed the Soul Crystal of a Tier Six Celestial Vine Tree. When its life force proved insufficient, he had to absorb a Tier Seven Immortal Grass to finally form the third star ring.

Therefore, Ye Xuan, who had anticipated this, wasn't anxious. Instead, he quickly took out several Grit Crystals and began absorbing them rapidly.

These Grit Crystals were what the Little Purple Mink had obtained from the body of the King of Grit. Each one contained extremely potent life force, making them perfectly suited for the Life Martial Soul's breakthrough.

A rich life force merged into the Life Martial Soul. The fourth star ring gradually became clearer, and the five-foot-long Life Martial Soul continued to grow slowly.

Finally, at six feet, the Life Martial Soul stopped growing. The fourth, dark red star ring gradually sharpened, then formed completely.

The emerald-green Life Martial Soul swayed in the void, its brilliance flowing as it radiated an extraordinary, divine charm. It was incomparably beautiful.

SQUEAK SQUEAK!

The Little Purple Mink suddenly appeared, basking in the aura of the Life Martial Soul with an intoxicated expression.

'This little guy.'

Ye Xuan shook his head. After his Life Martial Soul broke through to Four-Stars, he could clearly feel that it had become much stronger.

After resting for a moment, Ye Xuan took out another Soul Crystal.

As soon as the emerald-green Soul Crystal appeared, a dense life force emanated from it.

It was the Tier Eight Soul Crystal he had obtained from the Restriction Array earlier.

'The Tier Seven Ghost King Vine let the Life Martial Soul break through to Four-Stars. This unknown Tier Eight life Soul Crystal should be able to get it to Five-Stars as well.'

Ye Xuan's gaze was resolute. Following the method for advancing a martial soul, he began to absorb the Tier Eight Soul Crystal.

BOOM!

The moment Ye Xuan started absorbing it, the originally gentle Life Martial Soul suddenly became violent.

RUSTLE RUSTLE.

The leaves on the emerald-green vine trembled madly as astonishing streams of life soul power surged from the Tier Eight Soul Crystal into the Life Martial Soul.

Seven feet!

Eight feet!

Nine feet!

Ten feet!

This time, the Life Martial Soul grew to a length of ten feet before stopping. The emerald-green vine became even more resplendent, circulating with an astonishing divine rhythm. Facing his own Life Martial Soul, Ye Xuan actually felt the urge to look up in reverence.

RUSTLE RUSTLE!

The leaves at its base trembled. The Life Martial Soul seemed to be trying to convey something. It was like a deity—graceful and delicate, yet utterly invincible.

At the same time, the fifth star ring clearly emerged, forming perfectly.

'What on earth is this Soul Crystal? To think it possesses such power!'

Ye Xuan was secretly astonished. Based on past experience, an ordinary Tier Eight Soul Crystal shouldn't have been enough to get his Life Martial Soul to Five-Stars. He had already prepared the remaining Grit Crystals, but who would have thought they wouldn't be needed? His Life Martial Soul had already broken through to Five-Stars.

Strange and complex patterns appeared on the Life Martial Soul. Faint golden shimmers emerged on the originally emerald-green stem, flashing dazzlingly.

"Go!"

Suddenly, Ye Xuan directed it with a thought.

SWISH!

The ten-foot-long Life Martial Soul shot out like a bolt of lightning, effortlessly punching a hole in the rock wall ahead. It was as easy as a sharp blade piercing tofu.

'So strong. Its power should be no weaker than the full-force strike of a Third Layer Martial Sovereign.'

Ye Xuan was ecstatic. Back when his Life Martial Soul was only at Three-Stars, it could pierce Seventh-level materials. Now that it had reached Five-Stars, its power had actually increased to this extent.

"Haha! From now on, besides the Endless Molten Flame, I have another trump card."

Ye Xuan was overjoyed. Although the Life Martial Soul's power was decent at Three-Stars, it was, after all, only three feet long, making it difficult to attack others.

But now it was different. If he were fighting a powerful expert, a sudden strike from the nearly ten-foot-long Life Martial Soul would be enough to throw other Martial Artists into a panic and kill them on the spot.

In addition to its attack power, the Life Martial Soul's healing ability had also clearly grown much stronger after reaching Five-Stars. The dense life force gave Ye Xuan the feeling that even if his arm were severed, it could grow back.

However, as an Alchemist, Ye Xuan knew very well that this was definitely just a feeling. Regenerating a severed limb was beyond the scope of healing. On the entire Celestial Profound Continent, only a few legendary treasures could accomplish such a feat.

CRUMBLE!

Just then, a piece of rock fell from above Ye Xuan, landing right in his hand.

"Huh?" Ye Xuan was about to toss it aside when he suddenly noticed something strange about the rock. After sweeping it with his Profound Sense, he was instantly startled.

'This rock... its capacity to hold Profound Sense is surprisingly good. It's almost equivalent to a Tier Six material.'

Ye Xuan was in disbelief.

He knew this was just an extremely ordinary piece of rock from the cave. How could it have such a property?

He quickly stood up and ran his right hand along the cave wall. He was shocked to discover that all the rock in the entire cave was just like the piece that had fallen—it possessed excellent conductivity for Profound Sense. In terms of rarity, it was no less valuable than the Tier Six material, Molan Stone.

Ye Xuan's Profound Sense radiated rapidly through the cave.

One kilometer!

Ten kilometers!

Fifty kilometers!

All the way to the very limit of his Profound Sense, every rock was the same, without the slightest difference.

Ye Xuan was utterly aghast, completely dumbstruck.

He knew that a single piece of Tier Six material was nothing to the current Ye Xuan. The crucial point, however, was that all the rock in this entire underground palace was comparable to Tier Six material. That was somewhat hard to believe.

'What is this place?'

Ye Xuan felt as if a flash of lightning had streaked through his mind. He had vaguely grasped something, but when he tried to examine it more closely, it remained unclear.

'Forget it. I'll worry about what this place is later. First, I need to get out.'

Ye Xuan shook his head. He had already wasted a lot of time here and had no idea what was happening in the outside world.

CROAK!

Ye Xuan had just reached the tunnel exit when Xiaohai and Erhei excitedly flew over, circling around him.

In the two days that Ye Xuan had been cultivating, Xiaohai's and Erhei's injuries had clearly healed completely. Moreover, their auras had become much deeper than before, giving off a sense of latent, terrifying power.

Apparently, the Demon Stone and the demonic Evil Qi had given the two beasts a tremendous boost.

"Let's go. We'll head up and take a look."

Recalling Xiaohai, Ye Xuan immediately sat on Erhei's back and flew up toward the top of the cliff.

The cliff was extremely deep. Erhei flew for more than the time it takes to burn an incense stick before finally reaching the surface.

Ye Xuan stood in the sky and looked down. The place he had flown out from was an immense, canyon-like abyss. The tunnels were located on the cliff faces at the canyon's edge.

Inside the canyon, demonic Evil Qi swirled below. The further down one looked, the denser it became, until it was pitch-black and bottomless. Above the canyon, however, there wasn't a trace of demonic Evil Qi.

What surprised and puzzled Ye Xuan was that the sky here was also gloomy and overcast. He couldn't see its ceiling at all, as if it were covered by some kind of dome.

And ahead of him stretched a vast expanse of black earth.

"Quick, I heard there are a lot of mineral deposits here. Let's hurry and find some."

As Ye Xuan was lost in thought, WHOOSH WHOOSH, two figures suddenly flew out of the canyon.

Both of them were at the Tier Eight Second Layer. They were startled to see Ye Xuan above the canyon, and then they shot a wary glance at Erhei, who was under Ye Xuan's command.

The two didn't approach him just because his cultivation seemed low. Instead, they transformed into two streaks of light and flew off in the opposite direction from Ye Xuan.

They didn't come to him, but Ye Xuan chased after them, blocking their path in an instant.

"What do you want? We just got here through the tunnels and don't have any treasures on us. There's no point in stopping us."

one of the Martial Sovereigns, dressed in green, said nervously. The other Martial Sovereign drew his weapon, his face also tense.

Ye Xuan rubbed his nose. 'This is the first time I've ever seen Martial Sovereigns get nervous just by looking at me. My cultivation is only showing as Tier Seven Second Layer, after all. Is Erhei really that intimidating?'

Ye Xuan cupped his fists and said, "Gentlemen, I mean no harm. I just wanted to ask what you meant by 'mineral deposits' just now."

The green-robed Martial Sovereign frowned. "You just got here? Didn't your sect's senior tell you before they went into the Abyss?"

"The Abyss?"

Ye Xuan was completely confused. 'Isn't this mysterious place some kind of ancient demon land? Why do these two Martial Sovereigns seem so familiar with it?'

The green-robed Martial Sovereign could see that Ye Xuan wasn't pretending. He immediately pointed to the bottom of the canyon and said, "The sect senior who brought you here is far too irresponsible, aren't they? Did your sect's Martial Emperor senior go down there? And then just left you behind?"

Ye Xuan was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

The green-robed Martial Sovereign was rather speechless. "You must have come through the tunnels in those ruins, right? After coming out of the tunnels, you appear in this canyon. But this canyon is filled with a black mist that can bewilder a Martial Artist's mind and drive them insane. That's why we all call it the Abyss."