In the stunned gaze of the crowd, the Ancestor passionately offered his soul blood, handing it over to the masked man.

"Ancestor Tianqing, you..."

The Sect Master of the Five Spirits Sect looked incredulous. She couldn't believe that the Ancestor Tianqing, whom she had always respected, would surrender so easily.

Ancestor Tianqing ignored her.

The masked cultivator accepted the soul blood and chuckled, "Hehe, it seems the Five Spirits Sect has some smart people. Fellow Daoist, you can serve as a commander and have priority in resource allocation."

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist!"

Ancestor Tianqing was overjoyed and quickly nodded.

This caused an uproar within the Five Spirits Sect.

Ancestor Tianqing's voluntary submission and the acquisition of a leadership position, along with his sycophantic demeanor, disgusted everyone to the extreme.

"Tianqing, that traitor!"

"He must have been bribed."

"To become a dog for the Divine Puppet Sect, what a disgrace!"

Various thoughts flashed through everyone's minds, their faces flushed with anger, but they dared not speak out.

Tianqing seemed to know what everyone was thinking and sneered, "I know you want to call me a traitor. Go ahead, call me that."

"I have fought and bled for the Divine Continent Star, risking my life without regret. Yet you live in cowardice, stabbing me in the back. Who is the real traitor here?"

Ancestor Tianqing's words were extremely harsh, plunging the entire scene into silence.

"The Divine Puppet Sect is the largest sect on the Divine Continent Star, the main force against the Sea Star. If you don't join them, do you plan to join the Sea Star, the Merman Clan?"

Tianqing squinted his eyes, a cold gleam flashing through them.

Sect Master Lingxue quickly said, "Ancestor, handing over your soul blood is equivalent to giving up your life. No matter what happens in the future, you must obey them. We can fight against the Sea Star, but we must never give up our soul blood!"

Her words resonated with many.

"Exactly!"

"If the Merman Clan dares to invade, we will fight to the death, but we cannot entrust our lives to others!"

Many ancestors echoed her sentiment.

Throughout, the masked cultivator from the Divine Puppet Sect remained seated, indifferent to the crowd's arguments. He had anticipated this situation from the start.

Gradually, more and more people handed over their soul blood, joining in, reaching a third of the total.

The rest remained unmoved, determined not to yield.

Just then.

A fierce wind suddenly sounded from afar, and the sky lit up with brilliant lights converging toward the back mountain. The lights were vibrant, like a rainbow.

The Spiritual Qi in the world surged abruptly, rushing toward the back mountain, creating various phenomena of heaven and earth. It was like a hundred birds facing a phoenix, like ten thousand horses galloping, like a flying dragon in the sky, leaving everyone in awe.

"Five-colored lights?" the crowd exclaimed.

The masked man from the Divine Puppet Sect suddenly stood up, squinting his eyes, and said, "Is there still someone in the Five Spirits Sect who hasn't come out?"

His voice was icy, filled with intense killing intent.

He had already ordered everyone to gather at the sect's square, including those ancestors in seclusion. Now, someone was still missing, which was a blatant defiance!

"Senior, everyone from the Five Spirits Sect is here, no one is hiding!" Lingxue quickly explained.

The masked man smirked coldly, indifferent to whether the claim was true or false. As long as he found an opportunity, he wouldn't mind making an example.

Immediately, the masked man flew toward the back mountain at high speed.

"Quick, follow him!"

The people of the Five Spirits Sect hurriedly followed.

Crossing a mountain, they entered the inner sect's forbidden area, and a sense of foreboding gripped their hearts.

"This is... the sect's ancestral shrine!"

Lingxue's face was solemn as she looked at the white-bearded elder beside her.

This was the guardian of the ancestral shrine, whose cultivation had reached the Great Perfection of the Elemental Infant stage, one of the three strongest in the Five Spirits Sect.

But at this moment, the guardian elder was equally bewildered, unaware that someone was still here!

Before long, the masked man from the Divine Puppet Sect arrived at the ancestral shrine.

Feeling the intense spiritual power fluctuations ahead, he didn't rush forward but instead shouted arrogantly, "I give you the time of a stick of incense to come out, or die!"

Though he appeared angry, he was inwardly ecstatic.

"Someone is refining a magical treasure here. Judging by the aura, it's close to a fifth-tier. Perfect! I was just in need of a handy magical artifact. Truly, heaven is helping me! Hahaha!"

The masked man was overjoyed inside, but his face revealed nothing.

Inside the ancestral shrine.

Xu Hei's artifact refining was nearing its end. The Star-Moon Sword had turned a wooden hue, exuding a rich life force, accompanied by the sound of thunder, embodying the essence of life and death, the cycle of yin and yang.

Above him, various phenomena of heaven and earth appeared, extremely awe-inspiring, but no thunder tribulation was drawn.

Xu Hei used the Demon God Cauldron, suspended above, to shield the Dao of Heaven's sensing, so that the heavenly tribulation wouldn't be triggered until the treasure was revealed.

The heavenly tribulation was not only a tempering but also a trump card!

Xu Hei could wait to use it against enemies, catching them off guard.

This was just an initial use of the Demon God Cauldron, with many functions yet to be developed. At the Divine Transformation stage, the cauldron would reveal its true power as a divine artifact.

"Ten breaths left. If you don't come out, you know the consequences!"

Outside the ancestral shrine, the angry shout came again.

Xu Hei ignored it, considering it no different from an ant's noise.

"Collect!"

Xu Hei raised his hand, and instantly, the various phenomena of heaven and earth converged, absorbed into the Star-Moon Sword.

The Five Elemental Spiritual Qi in the world also rushed in, pouring into it, and the Star-Moon Sword emitted a dazzling multicolored light, possessing five attributes.

After a long time, the powerful spiritual power fluctuations gradually subsided, and everything returned to calm.

The brown Star-Moon Sword fell into Xu Hei's hand, appearing as an ordinary wooden sword. It was like a Divine Transformation stage cultivator, who seemed no different from a mortal to a low-level cultivator.

"Fifth-tier magical treasure, accomplished!" Xu Hei exhaled.

This was the first fifth-tier magical treasure he had personally refined, the Five Elemental Star-Moon Sword.

In fact, Xu Hei had another fifth-tier magical treasure, the Dragon Slaying Sword left by Huangfu Duanlong.

Though both were fifth-tier, this sword was much stronger than the Star-Moon Sword, but Xu Hei didn't plan to use it for now.

"Boom!!"

Suddenly, the formation behind him was shattered by a punch.

A masked man walked into the ancestral shrine. He had been waiting outside for the spiritual power fluctuations to dissipate before entering, ready to reap the benefits of the completed treasure.

"I told you to come out. Are you deaf?"

The masked cultivator stared at Xu Hei, unable to sense a trace of aura from him. He was momentarily stunned, then immediately attacked, slapping toward Xu Hei.