As a crisp and piercing cry came from within the dark clouds, the surging thunderclouds grew violently more intense, with silver lightning flashing wildly.

Boom, rumble!

Accompanied by the dense sound of thunderbolts, about two dozen thick bolts of lightning shot down from midair, creating a forest of lightning that struck a stretch of jungle over a hundred feet away.

In an instant, the lush undergrowth turned to nothing, the ground blasted with deep holes, and clumps of soil were flung into the air, leaving the whole area of the jungle two feet lower than the surrounding terrain and the ground scorched black.

Yuan Ming's face showed an expression of shock; the destructive power displayed by the lightning called down by the thunderstorm had exceeded that of second-level demon beasts, and even third-level demon beasts might not be capable of such an act. Could the lightning summoned by the Winged Bird truly be this powerful?

After a moment of thought, he realized that the majority of the lightning forest had been produced naturally by the Rain Ruins Swamp, complemented by the rainy weather, which gave the Winged Bird the advantage of the environment. Reliant solely on its own demonic power, it would be impossible to unleash such terrifying thunder strikes.

Lei Yu emerged from the dark clouds, his size having visibly increased a lot, now reaching a length of one and a half zhang, with the purple lightning patterns on his body appearing even more vivid; he looked extraordinarily majestic and now fully possessed the elegance of a second-level demon beast.

Yuan Ming raised his hand for a beckon, and Lei Yu glided down, landing on Yuan Ming's shoulder in the blink of an eye, issuing a cheerful chirp, as if flaunting to Yuan Ming.

Naturally, Yuan Ming offered some encouragement, and then instructed Lei Yu to demonstrate some of his various abilities.

After breaking through to the second level, Lei Yu's flying speed had increased significantly, and his stamina had also improved substantially. The power of the Thunder Strike Divine Ability emitted from his mouth had consequently increased greatly as well.

Furthermore, his spiritual intelligence seemed to have made no small progress, with the ability now to convey some relatively complete information.

Yuan Ming nodded secretly; by this moment, Lei Yu had indeed become a reliable assistant to him.

He put Lei Yu into the Spiritual Beast Bag, brought out the White Jade Shuttle, and headed off toward the northwest direction.

…

Yuhe City is a medium-sized city located at the southernmost edge of Zhao Country, bordering Da Jin.

After Yuan Ming arrived in the city, a little inquiry soon led him to the location of Xu Xinyang's shop.

He announced his name, was led into the inner room by shop attendants, and then saw Xu Xinyang.

Upon seeing Yuan Ming, Xu Xinyang did not speak, but waved his hand over a table beside him.

A flash of red light passed and three magic artifacts appeared on the table—the Black Needle, the White Jade Belt, and a splendid golden shield that dazzled the eyes.

Yuan Ming's breath hitched for a moment. He first picked up the Black Needle and scanned it with his Divine Sense, his eyes quickly lighting up with joy. Then he picked up the White Jade Belt and the golden shield, his face showing even more elation.

The Black Needle had already become a top-grade magical tool, the White Jade Belt had clearly been repaired, and as for the golden shield, although it was only a high-grade magical tool, it seemed quite impressive.

Although he had boldly asked the other party to refine two top-grade magical tools for him at the beginning, he actually understood that this was an exceedingly difficult task. Otherwise, with the other party's skills in Artifact Refining, he wouldn't have only managed to refine eleven top-grade magical tools up to now. To have succeeded with one now was already very rare.

"This Black Needle was already known for its speed and stealth, but against strong opponents or powerful defensive magical artifacts, its offensive edge was slightly lacking. Therefore, I added an 'Armor Breaking' rune to it, making it the twelfth top-grade magical tool I have refined in my career. As for the two gems on the White Jade Belt, I have re-empowered them to restore their spirit, and inscribed 'Gale' and 'Wind-breaking' runes anew," said Xu Xinyang.

"Thank you, Master Xu! To have all three magical artifacts refined in just twenty days far exceeds my expectations. Master Xu's Artifact Refining skills are indeed extraordinary. I am familiar with the Gale Rune, but what does the Wind-breaking Rune do?" Yuan Ming quickly expressed his gratitude, then asked with some curiosity.

"When one is moving rapidly, the faster you go, the greater the wind resistance you face. The Wind-breaking Rune can disperse the airflow resistance caused by high-speed movement, allowing your speed to reach new heights," Xu Xinyang explained.

"I see, thank you for the guidance, Master Xu," Yuan Ming said, nodding slowly.

"As for this Dragon Scale Shield, I actually put the most effort into it. These scales should be from a Golden Flood Dragon, with exceptionally abundant Gold Attribute Spiritual Power. Unfortunately, the person who harvested these Flood Dragon's Scales originally did not do so correctly and damaged its foundation. I used eight pieces of high-grade Gold Attribute Spirit Material to integrate into it, but I wasn't confident that it wouldn't be damaged after inscribing the fourth rune; therefore, I only refined it into a high-grade shield. However, its defensive power is almost on par with top-grade ones," Xu Xinyang added.

Hearing this, Yuan Ming was delighted and thanked him again. Once he paid the remaining six thousand Spirit Stones, he bid farewell and left.

He didn't linger in Yuhe City, heading straight for Wangyue City.

…

Like Little Lake City, Wangyue City is a city of cultivators, named after being backed by the Wangyue Mountain Range.

Wangyue Mountain Range is a rather large mountain range to the north of Zhao Country, stretching thousands of miles.

With abundant mineral resources within Zhao Country's borders, the Wangyue Mountain Range was no exception, having once possessed several large spirit stone mines and spiritual material mines. However, these were completely mined out over a hundred years ago.

After continuous exploitation since ancient times, the Wangyue Mountain Range had been dug full of holes and was greatly depreciated in value, its Spiritual Energy gradually dwindling. Therefore, it was abandoned early on by the cultivation sects within Zhao Country's territory. Only certain Loose Cultivators occasionally entered the mountains to seek treasures.

Although the mineral treasures of the Wangyue Mountain Range were exhausted, it was still richer with nature's spiritual energy compared to ordinary mountain ranges. Since it was far from the influence of the large Cultivation Sects of Zhao Country, it became a lawless land where many Loose Cultivators chose to reside and established Cave Mansions.

In a cave dwelling somewhere within the mountain range, within a stone chamber around thirty to forty zhang in size.

A White Eagle stood on a stone pillar, resting with its eyes closed.

This place was arranged with a platform resembling an altar, about two to three zhang high, with ten or so stone steps on each side. The platform was inscribed with a black array, and right in the center, a black weapon about two feet long, resembling both a sword and a knife yet neither, was suspended in mid-air.

Around the array, according to the Eight Diagrams Directions, stood eight black spirit wood poles, from which strands of Yin Qi seeped out, all converging onto the black strange sword.

The black Sword Qi swallowed and spat ceaselessly, looking exceptionally spiritual, as though it possessed spiritual intelligence.

"The Soul Extinguishing Sword Energy has already stabilized in its initial stage, not in vain have I put in so many years of effort," Sha Hao stood before the array, carefully observing the black strange sword floating within, and muttered to himself.

As he spoke, he took out several sticks of black Yin Wood from his storage bracelet, replacing one in the array where the Yin Qi was thin, then took out a silver-white bell, the Soul-Attracting Bell, and gently shook it towards the direction of the black strange sword.

With a sound of an ethereal bell echoing, a smoke-like Soul Power dispersed from within the Soul-Attracting Bell, seemingly drawn by some invisible force towards the array, wrapping around the black strange sword like threads.

The moment this smoke touched the black strange sword, it was absorbed like clay oxen into the sea. Simultaneously, the Black Sword's body trembled slightly, emitting bursts of joyful and clear ringing.

There wasn't much Soul Power within the Soul-Attracting Bell, and it was quickly drained, causing the strange sword to also subside into silence.

"The souls of Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators are just too weak. It was all because of that Hagon messing up my plan. Otherwise, with Lu Shen and Bai Ye's Divine Souls to nourish it and a few more souls from those in the Foundation Establishment Stage, the Soul Destroying Sword would have been finished refining by now! Now that my identity has been exposed, even Chang Chun Temple will be on my heels!" Sha Hao put away the Soul-Attracting Bell, somewhat indignant, as he spoke to the White Eagle beside him.

"It's a pity that the tracking of the Soul-locking Pearl can only last three days. Otherwise, I'd definitely kill that Hagon. With such a strong soul from a Soul Cultivator, my Soul Destroying Sword could have been perfected!" Sha Hao's eyes were cold as he took out a white Round Orb and played with it.

The white Round Orb emitted a faint flow of Yin Qi, with three points of light suspended inside.

"It seems these three guys won't appear for a while. The tracking is quite tight at the moment, you go patrol around the cave mansion more, and see if there's anyone suspicious," Sha Hao said and turned to leave the stone chamber.

The White Eagle soared and flew out of the stone chamber.

...

At the same time, in another secret valley more than ten miles away, Yuan Ming sat cross-legged in a cave, resting with his eyes closed.

The ground shone with a yellow light, and Hua Zhi's head popped out.

"Have you investigated clearly?" Yuan Ming asked, without opening his eyes.

"I've had those under me thoroughly scout the ten-mile radius around Sha Hao's cave mansion, and found nothing unusual. It seems this Sha Hao is quite arrogant and does not believe he will be discovered, hence he hasn't prepared any means against his adversaries. Only that White Eagle is continuously patrolling the sky, but it won't suspect anything," Hua Zhi reported.

Listening to this, Yuan Ming nodded slightly.

Sha Hao's hiding place was indeed well concealed—it would be incredibly difficult to discover it if not for Yuan Ming's possession by Black Incense.

"There's a formidable demon beast hibernating beneath Sha Hao's cave mansion. I took the risk and scouted; it's a Second-level Demon Snake with the ability to tunnel through the earth. It's likely Sha Hao's spirit beast, in charge of guarding the cave mansion," Hua Zhi added.

"A Second-level Demon Snake that can tunnel through the earth? Leave this beast to you, then. Proceed as planned," Yuan Ming raised his eyebrows slightly as he spoke.

"Rest assured, Master," Hua Zhi confidently replied, diving back into the ground and disappearing.

"Sha Hao... must be eliminated. Otherwise, he will be a never-ending trouble." After Hua Zhi left, Yuan Ming opened his eyes and murmured to himself.

Having finished speaking, he stood up, changed into a set of black clothes, and put on the Thousand Mechanism Mask.

His appearance rapidly changed, and within a few breaths, he had transformed into a middle-aged man with a square face.

He then applied the Hidden Element Technique to conceal his aura and sped toward the direction of Sha Hao's cave mansion.

Yuan Ming had been in the Wangyue Mountain Range for several days now. Relying on his possession by Black Incense and with the help of those inconspicuous small demon beasts under Hua Zhi, he had smoothly located the exact position of Sha Hao's cave mansion.

Yet, since Sha Hao was so powerful, Yuan Ming did not rashly approach, preferring to make detailed preparations here first.

Sha Hao and he had already forged a deadly enmity, and his identity as a Soul Cultivator was also known to the opponent. He could not afford to fail this hunt!

...

Inside the cave mansion, the Divine Power around Sha Hao rose and fell erratically, seemingly cultivating some kind of Divine Soul Secret Technique.

Suddenly, a low growl came from underground, echoing within the secret chamber.

Sha Hao opened his eyes and took out a blue Round Mirror from his bosom, pinching and pointing on it.

The Round Mirror glowed with a dim blue light, revealing the figure of a middle-aged man.

"Eh? This man looks somewhat familiar; he seems to be Manager Liao of Five Thunders Pavilion in Wangyue City. Could it be that he followed my trail here? No wonder yesterday, when I returned from the market, I faintly felt someone was tracking me," Sha Hao muttered to himself with a turn of a cold expression in his eyes.

"No matter what Five Thunder Sect it is, since you've come to my doorstep, then I will unceremoniously reap your Divine Soul," he sneered and got up, walking outside.

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