Qin Haishan clutched the Jade Slip, transforming into a long streak of light and vanishing into the clouds.
A day later, atop a cliff, the void suddenly tore open. Qin Haishan, his red robes billowing, appeared between the vast heavens and earth.
This was a cliff.
Before the cliff, a Sea of Clouds churned, vast and endless.
And behind him, mountains stretched on and on, forming a massive range.
There was no sign of the so-called Kunlun Valley.
"Was I tricked?"
This was Qin Haishan's first reaction!
A millennium of savings, wiped out in a single day, all for a scam!
Qin Haishan's eyes rolled back, and he nearly fainted on the spot.
"Senior would not deceive me. He would not deceive me." Qin Haishan clutched the Jade Slip tightly.
The Master of Heavenly Secrets Pavilion could see into his heart and deduce everything about him. He was definitely a reclusive, mighty figure.
How could such a person possibly trick him?
Besides, and most importantly, even if the Master of Heavenly Secrets Pavilion had tricked him, Qin Haishan wouldn't dare go back.
The terror of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion still made Qin Haishan's heart palpitate with fear.
Before Ye Xu, he was like a child seen through completely, unable to hide a single thought.
"There must be a mechanism."
Qin Haishan recalled Ye Xu's words.
The Kunlun Valley Secret Realm had apparently not yet manifested.
He gazed at the roiling Sea of Clouds, which was like a vast, green ocean, submerging everything.
Qin Haishan's Divine Thought enveloped the surrounding world.
Suddenly.
He sensed something unusual.
Hidden within the Sea of Clouds was an extremely obscure aura. Moreover, the density of the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth was vastly different from the outside world—it was incredibly rich.
Boom!
Sensing this difference, Qin Haishan's Magic Power surged. With a thought, a Peak-Grade Spirit Treasure appeared in his palm—an ancient bronze sword.
As a Demigod, a Peak-Grade Spirit Treasure was the best weapon Qin Haishan could currently wield.
Clang!
The sword hummed. Qin Haishan raised it and slashed down. A pillar of sword qi, like a three-hundred-meter divine sword, cleaved into the Sea of Clouds, striking at the strange anomaly.
Rumble!
The next moment, the Sea of Clouds parted, seemingly split in two by the single strike.
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Qin Haishan's strike had torn open the void. As if splitting the heavens and earth, a massive Void Crack stretched across the Sea of Clouds, and a majestic torrent of Spiritual Qi erupted from it like a volcano.
"Such dense Spiritual Qi!
Senior truly didn't deceive me!"
Qin Haishan laughed heartily. Even the sacred cultivation grounds of the Heavenly Heart Sect could not gather such dense Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth.
He looked toward the Void Crack and activated an ocular divine ability, his eyes turning a purplish-gold.
Behind the crack lay immortal mountains and a sea of clouds, a sacred paradise, like a realm of immortals.
Qin Haishan's heart pounded with excitement, and he could barely resist the urge to charge into the Secret Realm immediately.
However, Qin Haishan suddenly remembered that Kunlun Valley was protected by the Great Five Elements Sword Array. This array could even slay gods, let alone a mere Demigod.
Qin Haishan immediately took out the Jade Slip and read it carefully once more, committing the secrets of the Great Five Elements Sword Array to memory. After ensuring there was not a single mistake, he flew into the Void Crack.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The moment Qin Haishan stepped into Kunlun Valley, his aura was detected, and the sword array activated.
Five divine lights shot into the sky. The immense Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth condensed into an endless torrent of five-element sword qi—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—as runes danced across the heavens.
The void was branded with Five Elements Runes, and five divine pillars that connected heaven and earth stood in the four cardinal directions and the center.
This was the source of the array's core power.
The Five Elements Divine Pillars.
Qin Haishan, having mastered the array's secrets and knowing the location of the Gate of Life, carefully dodged the streams of sword qi after entering the Great Five Elements Sword Array, navigating the danger without mishap.
His entire body was tense. If he were hit by even a single strand of sword qi, he would be crippled, if not killed.
"What a treasure."
Qin Haishan gazed at the Five Elements Divine Pillars.
"If I become a god," he thought, "I must pack up this entire array and take it with me."
Qin Haishan was filled with ambition.
Once he ascended to the Heavenly God Realm and mastered a divine-level grand array, he could be considered a titan in the Southern Wastelands, standing on equal footing with sect masters.
He passed through the array and finally saw the full view of Kunlun Valley.
This Secret Realm was situated in a basin, the former site of the Kunlun Sect.
A millennium had passed. The divine halls and palaces were almost all dilapidated and decayed. Only faint outlines remained, hinting at the former glory of the Kunlun Sect.
Qin Haishan felt a wave of emotion.
He had not yet been born when the Kunlun Sect was destroyed.
However, he knew many of its secrets.
This was a sect that had once stood among the giants. Legend had it that they offended a mysterious Saint and were tragically annihilated overnight.
"Only a powerhouse at the Saint level could silently wipe out a titan sect without destroying its Sect-Protecting Grand Array."
Qin Haishan murmured.
After all, even a Divine King at the Creation Realm wouldn't have been able to crush a titan sect, with all its resources and heritage, without meeting any resistance.
Qin Haishan descended upon the ruins of the Kunlun Sect. As far as his eyes could see, almost no vegetation grew.
A terrifying power lingered in these ruins, capable of annihilating all life. Even after a thousand years, this power had not dissipated.
"This is definitely a Saint's Power!"
Qin Haishan was horrified. He didn't dare step into the Kunlun Sect's ruins, fearing he might trigger a remnant of the Saint Divine Ability and have his soul scattered.
The item he sought was not within the ruins of the Kunlun Sect.
Following the information in the Jade Slip, Qin Haishan headed southwest.
Toward the Kunlun Sect's medicinal garden.
A moment later, Qin Haishan saw a medicinal garden spanning over a hundred acres.
The garden was filled with exotic flowers and rare herbs. Treasure medicines and Medicine Kings were countless.
And in the center of the garden.
A skeleton stood perfectly straight.
Its bones were like cast gold, shining brilliantly. But Qin Haishan noticed that the golden bones lacked any Law Imprint.
Undecayed after death—this meant the skeleton had been a god in life.
The fact that its Law Imprint was erased meant it had suffered an irresistible injury before death, causing its very essence to be obliterated, leading to its complete demise.
Qin Haishan's focus was not on the skeleton.
He was interested in the divine medicine in front of it.
A divine lotus, over nine feet tall with a stem like gold, was in brilliant bloom. Its golden petals were half-open, forming what looked like a Lotus Throne.
Atop the Lotus Throne were seven golden Lotus Seeds.
The aura of the Lotus Seeds was extremely profound, containing an immense divine power.
Qin Haishan was incredibly excited, his blood boiling fiercely.
The Seven Stars Heavenly Treasure Divine Lotus.
The ultimate goal of his journey.
This item could help him ascend to godhood.
"This must be the god from the Kunlun Sect. After he was killed, his divine blood nourished the Seven Stars Heavenly Treasure Divine Lotus, which evolved over a thousand years to become this divine medicine."
Qin Haishan thought to himself.
"Senior is truly a master of strategy, his powers are vast."
A sense of awe for Ye Xu spontaneously arose in Qin Haishan's heart.
In that instant, he even began to think about his future.
Since Ye Xu could divine all matters under heaven and knew everything, he could surely deduce opportunities to become a Divine King, or even a Saint. As long as I cling to Ye Xu's thigh, becoming a god and an ancestor will be a certainty.
In a flash of thought, Qin Haishan had already planned out his future path.
All his painstaking cultivation was nothing compared to a single fortuitous encounter.
As long as he could get his hands on enough treasures, he could obtain even more resources!
Qin Haishan pushed aside his distracting thoughts.
He looked at the skeleton and chuckled. "Although its Law Imprints have been erased, it's still a Divine Bone. Combined with other materials, at the very least, it can be forged into a Sub-Divine Weapon."
With a wave of his large sleeve, he collected the golden skeleton.
Qin Haishan channeled his Magic Power to pick the Seven Stars Heavenly Treasure Divine Lotus.
A millennium of essence from this divine medicine was concentrated in its seven seeds. To break through to the Heavenly God Realm, Qin Haishan needed to consume these seven Lotus Seeds.
"Moon-Grabbing Hand!"
Qin Haishan swept his large hand forward. The world suddenly dimmed, and the light of the Seven Stars Heavenly Treasure Divine Lotus abruptly faded.
With the divine ability unleashed, all seven Lotus Seeds fell into his hand.
He sat down cross-legged and popped a Lotus Seed into his mouth.
Generally, a divine medicine needed to be refined into a pill to preserve its essence to the greatest extent, but Qin Haishan couldn't wait.
He was going to break through to godhood right here in Kunlun Valley.
After becoming a god, he would plunder everything from the Kunlun Sect, including the Great Five Elements Sword Array, to use as resources for his second trade with Ye Xu.
If Ye Xu knew, he would surely be overjoyed.
In such a short time, he had cultivated a loyal customer.
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