CHAPTER 457: CHAPTER 457, THE ARRIVAL

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Huo Qinghan and his five companions swiftly flashed away, disappearing from their original position, heading towards the small town.

"Brother Chu, should we pursue them?"

Xu Ming flew to Chu Ming’s side and asked. Xu Lie and Feng Yuyan also looked at Chu Ming. In the battle just now, with Chu Ming restraining Huo Qinghan, they were not at a disadvantage. Moreover, over time, they should have won.

"No, we won’t catch up!"

Chu Ming shook his head calmly. The small town wasn’t far from here, and the five of them should have returned to the town by now, where they were untouchable.

"Let’s go back!"

Chu Ming said, and then his body turned into a stream of light, heading towards the town.

The four returned to the town and each went back to their rooms at the inn. They needed to digest the gains from this auction.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Chu Ming took out the Spiritual Profound Undying Needle from his Storage Ring. This four-star Soul Secret Technique was stored in a palm-sized jade token, which was glittering with intricate and mysterious engravings.

Buzz!

The Soul Power within the Sea of Souls began to surge, instantly enveloping the jade token. Strands of mysterious aura flowed out from the jade token, forming intricate characters in Chu Ming’s mind.

"Spiritual Profound Undying Needle!"

Five large characters filled Chu Ming’s mind. Then, he seemed to fall into a gray chaos, where the spiritual power extended like spider threads in all directions.

After a long time, Chu Ming slowly opened his eyes. The power that the Soul Secret Technique could unleash was related to two factors: the grade of the Soul Secret Technique and the strength of the spirit cultivator’s Soul Power.

Spiritual Profound Undying Needle is a four-star Soul Secret Technique with three layers, each having different power.

The First Layer can evolve into ten "Spiritual Profound Needles."

The Second Layer can evolve into a hundred "Spiritual Profound Needles."

The Third Layer can evolve into a thousand "Spiritual Profound Needles."

Spiritual Profound Needles are a type of attack method within the Spiritual Profound Undying Needle, obtained by tempering the soul. If the Spiritual Profound Undying Needle is cultivated to the Transformation Realm, each Spiritual Profound Needle, once unleashed, can instantly tear apart the Soul Power of a powerful warrior of the Guiyuan Realm Seventh Layer.

Although Spiritual Profound Undying Needle has only three layers, each layer grows with ten times the destructive force. Cultivating the Third Layer to the Transformation Realm can threaten powerful warriors of the Guiyuan Realm Ninth Layer.

Sputter!

A sharp pain struck Chu Ming’s mind, as a piece of his Sea of Souls was torn away. He muttered the incantation of the First Layer of the Spiritual Profound Undying Needle, and spiritual power surged, quickly forming a large, green, and ethereal hammer!

Soul Transformation Hammer!

Dong!

A pain as if the soul was being torn apart again came, as the Soul Hammer in Chu Ming’s mind struck heavily on the torn soul fragment, beginning the tempering of the soul.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

A series of knocking sounds echoed in Chu Ming’s Sea of Souls. Everything was ethereal yet felt so real, bringing a throbbing pain to his mind. Chu Ming gritted his teeth and persisted bitterly.

Tempering the Spiritual Profound Needles is not easy. Generally, a martial artist can temper ten times a day before reaching their limit. The soul is a mysterious thing, and persisting too much can lead to unintended consequences and cause permanent damage to the soul.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

A series of tearing pains struck, as Chu Ming tempered over twenty times without feeling a trace of fatigue. On the contrary, a sharp edge appeared in the Sea of Souls, increasingly dazzling.

Buzz!

A green, ethereal needle as thin as a hair shot out from Chu Ming’s Sea of Souls. This was a Spiritual Profound Needle. Each Spiritual Profound Needle is a fragment of Chu Ming’s soul, making it easy for him to handle.

Without stopping, Chu Ming continued tempering the Spiritual Profound Needles until he had tempered three needles, and then a sense of fatigue came from his Soul Power. Chu Ming understood that he had reached his limit in tempering.

Stopping his cultivation of the Spiritual Profound Undying Needle, Chu Ming took out the Sword Gang Remains from his Storage Ring and continued to comprehend the Sword Pattern on it. He had already comprehended half of the Sword Pattern, and now that he had broken through to the Guiyuan Realm, the speed of comprehension greatly increased.

...

Swoosh!

A fiery red figure streaked across the sky over the small town, landing on a hillside outside the town, revealing a cold and arrogant face. Clad in red, Fire Essence power began to boil furiously around her, her body like a black hole, swallowing everything around her.

"Lei Wushuang, you’re still a minute slower than me!"

The proud woman in red turned and looked at a flicker of lightning on the horizon, opening her mouth indifferently.

Sputter!

Instantaneously, the lightning reached within ten meters of the proud woman in red and dispersed completely. A tall and sturdy figure slowly walked out from it, emitting a sense of pressure. This was a young man with a square face, black eyebrows, and lightning flickering between his eyes.

"Haha, Huo Qingwu, speed is naturally not my strong suit, but when it comes to attack, you can’t hold a candle to me!"

The newcomer was none other than the Thunder Spirit Prince, Lei Wushuang, one of the four prodigies of the Eastern Hundred Domains.

The proud woman in red was the Fire Princess, Huo Qingwu.

"Attack? Let’s see who will prevail at this tea ceremony!"

Huo Qingwu raised her eyebrows lightly, her expression somewhat eased. Lei Wushuang’s Thunder Spirit Body was indeed unique in terms of attack, but her Fire Spirit Body was not to be underestimated.

Whoosh!

Huo Qingwu turned into a streak of fire, heading towards the small town. The tea ceremony was approaching, and nearly all the invited prodigies were present.

"I will crush all three of them under my feet this time!"

Lei Wushuang’s eyes flashed with lightning. Special physiques, though categorized into levels, such as Fire Spirit Body and Thunder Spirit Body, were intermediate special physiques. Across the entire continent, high-level special physiques were rare, and the top-tier special physiques numbered only three or four, such as the Great Brightness Body and the Nine Revolutions Undying Body.

Even within the same category of intermediate special physiques, different degrees of development led to varied levels of power.

The Third Layer Thunder Spirit Body is no less powerful than a First Layer high-level special physique.

Swoosh!

As time passed, after Huo Qingwu and Lei Wushuang, several powerful auras streaked across the horizon, landing in the small town.

On this day, a sturdy young man dressed in black streaked across the sky, with a terrifying purple light orb trailing behind him, overwhelmingly domineering, like an emperor descending.

"This guy has been chasing me for three days and nights!"

Gu Mu glanced at the purple light orb not far away, a sinister smile revealing his white teeth like a beast unleashed.

"Once I enter the Black Profound Mountain Range, he can’t do anything to me!"

Gu Mu muttered, his body turning into a stream of light, heading towards the small town.

In the purple light orb, the person known as the "Destiny Prince," Evil Charmless, looked pale and weak, with red eyes and purple lips, emitting an overwhelming power of destiny.