Yuan Ming was very satisfied with Xu Che's reaction and immediately left the Stealing Heaven Tripod.

He made a hand gesture to activate the Shura Stone Tablet and arrived at the crimson square inside the Extreme Fire Territory, heading straight into the dark palace on the left.

Inside the palace was a tall Artifact Refining Room, with a three-zhang-tall Artifact Refining Furnace placed in the central position, which was the secret refining chamber of the Shura Master.

On the other side of the square was a dark hall, a cultivation fire chamber containing strong Fire Attribute Spiritual Power, where one could practice Fire Attribute Divine Abilities twice as effectively.

Similar places existed in the Cold Martial Realm and within the Nine Nether Mirror. These three areas were opened by the Shura Master for the cultivation of various secret techniques and Divine Skills.

Yuan Ming looked at the Artifact Refining Furnace, which was shaped like a gourd, larger at the bottom and smaller at the top, with patterns of the sun, moon, and stars painted on its body, and nine orifices on the lid.

This furnace was made of unknown materials, shone brightly all over, with layers of spirit light flowing over its body like clouds and mist. From the orifices on the lid, streams of red spirit light resembling flames burst out intermittently, condensing into various spiritual birds and beasts, appearing very lively.

Below the Artifact Refining Furnace on the ground was an intricate Earth Fire Array with a nearly transparent orange flame burning at its center, yet not much heat was radiating out.

"Pure Yang Flame! The Shura Master really left me a lot of good stuff," Yuan Ming thought to himself.

The Pure Yang Flame could be considered the dream fire for Artifact Refiners in the Cultivation World, with astonishing power, completely contained, and even more rare was its gentle nature, which made it most suitable for Alchemy and Artifact Refining.

This Artifact Refining Furnace, called the Sun and Moon Flame Sunrise Furnace, combined with the Pure Yang Flame from this place, not only had a very high success rate, but the Magic Treasures refined were also of excellent quality.

The Shura Master had refined the Night Parade of Hundred Demons and the Cold Moon Ring here many years ago.

Yuan Ming took out a black gourd and the piece of Nine Nether Iron and threw them into the Sun and Moon Flame Sunrise Furnace, using hand gestures to control the Pure Yang Flame to refine the two materials.

The Nine Nether Iron was exceptionally hard, and it had taken him ten days to melt it previously. Now, with the Pure Yang Flame, he was able to melt both materials in less than half an hour, turning them into a pool of black molten iron.

Yuan Ming placed the Soul Destroying Sword into the furnace and applied the "Same Material Compression Method" to fuse the black iron into the sword body.

Three days and nights later, a new Soul Destroying Sword was born.

This sword didn't differ much from the previous one in appearance, but the Spiritual Power within had increased substantially. The sword's body was permeated with a dark glow, as if it could absorb one's Divine Soul.

Yuan Ming was secretly delighted. The Sun and Moon Flame Sunrise Furnace and the Pure Yang Flame were indeed extraordinary. Not only did they perfectly incorporate the newly acquired Nine Nether Iron into the Soul Destroying Sword, but they also refined the sword again, eliminating many impurities and producing a much purer spirit light.

He took the sword into the Stealing Heaven Tripod and sat on the White Jade Lotus Platform, starting to inscribe new runes stroke by stroke.

Yuan Ming chose the new rune "Annihilation."

The Soul Destroying Sword began to tremble with a "humming" sound, but with the increase in Yin Power within the sword, it didn't crack as before and was quickly inscribed.

Yuan Ming took a deep breath, channeled his Mana into the sword body, and began the Enriching process.

Time passed moment by moment, and in the blink of an eye, a day and a night had passed.

As the door to the Artifact Refining Room opened, Yuan Ming stepped out, his face slightly pale, indicating significant consumption, but his expression was filled with excitement.

The Soul Destroying Sword had been successfully refined and also had the "Annihilation" rune inscribed on it as he had wished. It circled and danced around him, shooting out black Sword Qi.

With six runes inscribed on the Soul Destruction Sword Rune Array, not only did the sword gain the "Annihilation" ability, but the power of the sword itself had also greatly increased. Each strand of Sword Qi emitted powerful fluctuations, much stronger than before.

Yuan Ming's figure flickered and disappeared. In the next moment, he teleported near the Black Tower within a forested area beside a lake that was several miles wide.

The lake rippled with a faint gray fog, which contained a whiff of chilling demon energy, making the temperature around the lake much colder than other places.

Yuan Ming made a hand gesture, and a black Sword Qi entered the lake.

A few breaths later, with a "splash," a giant python thick as a water barrel and dozens of zhang long, akin to a Flood Dragon, rolled out of the water, breaking the surface of the lake.

The python's scales shone an icy blue, appearing like Cold Jade, with a surrounding dense demon energy that had already reached the third level.

The Black Tower's space was vast, and the Shura Master kept many demon creatures here, including Third-level Demon Beasts. The Blue-Scaled Python before him was one of the most distinguished among them.

This demon, known as the Blue-Scaled Python, had scales that were incredibly hard and resistant to Magic Treasures. It was also venomous, posing a difficult challenge even for Core Formation Stage cultivators.

The Blue-Scaled Python's pair of green eyes stared at Yuan Ming on the shore and let out a roar.

The water near it erupted loudly as a crystal-clear water column, several zhang thick, was suddenly ejected towards Yuan Ming with intense force, stirring up a gale.

Yuan Ming stood still, not moving. However, the Silver Banner before him spun slightly, materializing in front of him and emitting strands of silver light with nearly half of the banner apparently melting into the void.

He grabbed the Silver Banner and gave it a gentle tug, causing the space in front of him to twist suddenly.

The huge water column was abruptly deflected, as if someone had fiercely pulled it through mid-air, directing it towards the trees to Yuan Ming's right, flattening a large swath of the forest.

As Yuan Ming pointed upwards, a surge of black light burst from the Soul Destroying Sword above his head, forming a black vortex several zhang large, which began to spin with a rumbling noise.

A tremendous suction force emerged from the black vortex, sweeping across a range of several dozen zhang.

This was the characteristic of the Nine Nether Iron to absorb souls, coupled with the power of the Six Rune Array. Yuan Ming had given it a name, "Soul Absorption Vortex."

The soul absorption vortex enveloped the range of insects, birds, and even the fish swimming in the lake; they all shuddered, their divine souls leaving their bodies, being sucked into the black vortex, turning into lifeless corpses.

The Blue-Scaled Python was also enveloped by the soul absorption vortex; its body trembled, its divine soul quivering nonstop, seemingly about to leave its body as well.

But the Blue-Scaled Python was, after all, a third-level demon beast; compared to ordinary demon beasts, its divine soul was also strong and barely withstood the devouring of the soul absorption vortex.

Yuan Ming's eyebrows raised slightly; he spurred the annihilation rune into action.

In the next moment, the form of the Blue-Scaled Python froze, feeling as though its snake eyes had plunged into endless darkness.

At this time, it couldn't see anything, hear any sound, smell any scents; its divine sense was also swallowed by the darkness, unable to sense anything, as if it had fallen into the deepest depths of the Nine Netherworld.

A great fear rose in the heart of the Blue-Scaled Python, and its already unstable divine soul could no longer hold on.

"Whoosh," a phantom of a large snake flew out from within the snake's head, directly entering the soul absorption vortex and being instantly shredded.

Without the control of its divine soul, the body of the Blue-Scaled Python powerlessly sank to the bottom of the lake, having lost all signs of life.

A trace of surprise crossed Yuan Ming's eyes; the annihilation rune was indeed formidable.

He had originally thought the effect of this rune was to weaken an enemy's five senses and divine sense. From the situation just now, the annihilation rune directly severed the Blue-Scaled Python's five senses and divine sense.

Although the Soul Destroying Sword had only six runes inscribed on it, the "curse" and "annihilation" runes were astonishingly powerful, each worth two or three ordinary runes.

Just with its ordinary sword qi power, the current Soul Destroying Sword was certainly not inferior to a magic treasure with nine runes. If you added the "curse" and "annihilation" two extraordinary runes, the potential of the Soul Destroying Sword was even harder to estimate.

Yuan Ming waved his hand and swept up the corpse of the Blue-Scaled Python, tossing it into the Shura Blood Devouring Map.

The Blood Devouring Map rumbled, quickly melting the body of the Blue-Scaled Python, refining it into a stream of pure qi-blood.

Yuan Ming then sat down cross-legged by the lake, took out the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill classics, and once again looked through them carefully.

Now that everything had been dealt with, it was time for him to thoroughly examine the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill.

He pondered over the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill three times carefully, confirmed there were no mistakes, and then according to the records, he slowly circulated his qi-blood.

The Shura Blood Devouring Map floated above his head, a stream of pure blood light flew out of the map, merging into his body.

A look of pain appeared on Yuan Ming's face, as the entrance of the blood energy made his entire body feel as if it was being sliced by numerous dull knives, the pain reaching deep into his marrow.

Even with his current state of mind, he couldn't bear it; his body trembled like a sieve.

"Indeed, there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world! The more powerful the skill, the more difficult it is to cultivate. The Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill can directly refine others' qi-blood, making rapid progress, yet one has to endure torture-like suffering!" Yuan Ming let out a miserable groan, hurriedly circulated the Heart Cleansing Technique, combined with his Emotion Manipulation Ability, and finally managed to barely suppress the excruciating pain.

Time trickled by, and half a day passed in a flash.

Yuan Ming ceased his cultivation, his face deathly pale, his eyes also revealing a look of fatigue.

However, this ordeal was not in vain. His body had become much more robust. With a flex of his muscles, patterns reminiscent of elephant skin faintly appeared on his skin.

At this rate, it wouldn't take long for him to achieve the first layer of the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill, developing the copper skin.

The qi-blood of the Blue-Scaled Python inside the Shura Blood Devouring Map was not entirely used up, but Yuan Ming didn't continue to practice.

The pain of the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill cultivation was too intense. Right now, both his body and divine soul were at their limits; he needed a good rest.

Yuan Ming activated the Shura Stone Tablet and moved to the Medicine Garden, starting to circulate the Nine Elements Technique.

The rich Wood Attribute Spiritual Energy from the surroundings gathered, and his body rapidly recovered.

As for his divine soul, Yuan Ming had already taken back the soul-splittings within Xi Ying and Yan Sijing, refining their Desire Power with the Heart Cleansing Technique to recover from the exhaustion of the divine soul.

In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.

A loud and clear roar resonated within the Medicine Garden. There were no traces of mana fluctuations within it, yet it was as if a giant elephant was bellowing, shaking one's spirit.

The green mist in the Medicine Garden was stirred into ripples, the wind and clouds rolling smoothly.

A good while later, the roar finally subsided.

Yuan Ming stood up; his entire skin was marked with clear black patterns, which were precisely the demon image patterns formed upon the perfect completion of the first layer of the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill.

He cultivated the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill, his skin akin to that of the demon image—extraordinarily robust, much stronger than the copper skin of ordinary Body Cultivators. His stature had now grown by a head, and his hands and feet had also swelled in size.

Yuan Ming vanished from the spot with a flicker and then reappeared out of thin air next to a dark red tree several yards away. His fingers formed into claws, and with a light scratch—

The bark of the dark red tree cracked, and a large chunk of the red wood beneath was torn off.

Joy flashed in Yuan Ming's eyes. This dark red tree was no ordinary wood but was known as "Iron Plow Wood." It contained the power of the Five Metals, harder than some minerals, and was material for building warships and Flying Boats. Yet, in his hands, it was as fragile as tofu.

This was merely the first layer. If he could cultivate the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill to the Innate Body, or even the Tongqiao Body, his strength would be unimaginably powerful!

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