Chapter 31: Death, Soul Refining Sect

If a Nascent Soul cultivator wanted to flee, how could a cultivator who had just entered the Golden Core stage possibly catch up?

Seeing that the Azure Cloud Sect Master's Nascent Soul was about to vanish, the great golden core within your body surfaced involuntarily. The five Thunder Tribulation Marks on the golden core glowed brilliantly.

Suddenly, a thunderous boom!

A bolt of Heavenly Lightning descended from the sky, striking the fleeing Azure Cloud Sect Master's Nascent Soul directly!

Without a physical body to rely on, once a Nascent Soul cultivator's Nascent Soul left the body, it was like rootless duckweed, utterly unable to withstand the power of this Heavenly Lightning.

A dignified Nascent Soul cultivator, the founding ancestor of the Azure Cloud Sect, died just like that beneath the Heavenly Lightning.

You put away your golden core and turned back. There were still quite a few spoils of war left to collect there!

"Uh, ahem, Fellow Daoist, you're back so soon? Did the Azure Cloud Sect Master escape?" A middle-aged cultivator was collecting storage bags from the dead cultivators. When he saw you return, his expression turned somewhat awkward.

You sensed his aura. He was actually a Nascent Soul cultivator as well!

"The Azure Cloud Sect Master's Nascent Soul has been destroyed by me." With that, you extended your hand toward the middle-aged cultivator, your meaning unmistakable.

Seeing your gesture, the middle-aged cultivator could only reluctantly return the storage bags he had collected to you.

A monstrous genius who can kill a Nascent Soul cultivator across realms — best not to provoke him. So the middle-aged cultivator thought.

You put all the spoils of war into your bag, glanced at the middle-aged cultivator, and turned to leave.

"Fellow Daoist, wait! Might I ask where your master hails from?" Seeing that you were about to leave, the middle-aged cultivator hurriedly called out to stop you.

"No sect, no faction. A rogue cultivator, that's all." You glanced at him. "If Fellow Daoist has something to say, speak plainly."

"Ahem, this one is the Soul-Refining Sect Master, Daoist name Qingyunzi. Would Fellow Daoist be willing to join my Soul-Refining Sect?" As if afraid you would refuse, Qingyunzi added, "As long as Fellow Daoist joins, you can directly become an Elder of my Soul-Refining Sect!"

You had some impression of this sect. It was one of the Five Great Sects of the northern Heaven Mystery Continent — the Soul-Refining Sect.

Having nowhere to go for the time being, you thought it over and said, "Becoming an Elder — what benefits does that bring?"

"As an Elder of my Soul-Refining Sect, you would reside in a top-tier cave residence, enjoy top-tier spiritual qi for cultivation, and have whatever cultivation resources you need!" Qingyunzi began his hard sell, afraid of missing out on a prodigy like you who could kill across realms.

"And the price?" You had never believed in pies falling from the sky. Enjoying so many resources — how could you not have to contribute?

"Five years from now, at the Five Great Sects Outer Sect Disciple Grand Tournament, you must cultivate one Soul-Refining Sect disciple capable of taking first place!" Qingyunzi said solemnly.

The Five Great Sects Grand Tournament — you had heard of this matter back in the Body-Refining Sect during your last simulation.

But since you had always stayed within the sect, you were not very clear on the details.

You thought for a moment, then finally nodded in agreement.

Qingyunzi nodded without showing any emotion, but inwardly he was overjoyed.

Earlier, when you crossed your tribulation, Qingyunzi had witnessed with his own eyes the Life-Seizing Origin-Restoring Art you used!

For such a cultivation art, Qingyunzi naturally wanted it as well. But after seeing the fate of the Azure Cloud Sect Master, Qingyunzi did not resort to forceful measures.

As long as I bind you to the Soul-Refining Sect, I will find a way to obtain it! So Qingyunzi thought. At the same time, the Five Great Sects Outer Sect Disciple Grand Tournament was also extremely important. To Qingyunzi, this was killing two birds with one stone.

"In that case, shall Fellow Daoist return to the sect with me now?" Qingyunzi extended the invitation, afraid you might run off.

"No rush. I... this one still has a disciple nearby. Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment." With that, you flew toward Shangguan Lan's position.

"A disciple?" Qingyunzi thought it was bad and hurriedly followed you. When he saw Shangguan Lan, who only had cultivation at the sixth layer of Qi Refinement, Qingyunzi knew he had miscalculated this time.

"Master!" Upon seeing you, Shangguan Lan ran over without hesitation, overjoyed. "This disciple knew it! Master can definitely do it!"

"Yes." You patted Shangguan Lan's head and introduced, "This is the Soul-Refining Sect Master, Senior Qingyunzi."

"Greetings, Senior." Shangguan Lan called out respectfully. With you by her side, she was not afraid at all.

Qingyunzi looked at Shangguan Lan beside you, his expression complicated. In the end, he took out a Mystic-rank middle-grade artifact and gave it to Shangguan Lan as a meeting gift.

Two hours later, you arrived at the Soul-Refining Sect.

Along the way, through Qingyunzi's explanations, you had gained some understanding of the Soul-Refining Sect.

The Soul-Refining Sect was divided into four areas according to cultivation. Outer Sect disciples were on the outskirts of the sect, Inner Sect disciples in the inner perimeter, and Elders and the Sect Master in the central core area.

Beyond that, there was a forbidden zone — the resting place of the Soul-Refining Sect's past Ancestors. No one except the Sect Master was permitted to enter!

Qingyunzi led you on a tour around the sect. After arranging a cave residence for you, he handed you an Elder token and an Outer Sect disciple token, then turned and left.

Shangguan Lan joined the Soul-Refining Sect as an Outer Sect disciple. By rights, she should have lived within the Outer Sect disciple area, but due to your presence, staying in the Elder area was no problem at all.

Entering the cave residence, you sensed the density of the spiritual qi here. It was far more concentrated than the spiritual qi in the Body-Refining Sect!

Moreover, in the Soul-Refining Sect, even if you did nothing every day, you could still reside in the Elder cave residence and enjoy the rich spiritual qi of heaven and earth. Unlike the Body-Refining Sect, you did not have to hand in spirit stones every year.

"Good. From now on, you and I, master and disciple, will stay in this Soul-Refining Sect and seek the Dao of immortality!" With an Immortal-rank cultivation art, paired with this rich spiritual qi of heaven and earth, even without cultivation resources, your cultivation speed would not be slow.

Hearing this, Shangguan Lan nodded and began cleaning the cave residence for you.

Though it was called a cave residence, it actually had quite a few rooms inside, more than enough for the two of you to live in.

While Shangguan Lan was cleaning, you took out all the spoils of war from your tribulation crossing.

You opened the Azure Cloud Sect Master's storage bag first. As a sect master, the treasures inside were naturally plentiful.

Inside, you saw that Soul-Refining Banner that had caused you so much trouble.

You immediately set about refining it. The Azure Cloud Sect Master's Soul-Refining Banner had already reached Earth-rank lower-grade!

Within it, the number of living souls was only several hundred thousand, but all of them were living souls with cultivation!

The Soul-Refining Banner's main soul actually possessed Nascent Soul stage cultivation!

It was this main soul that had severely damaged your Golden Core stage divine sense back then, and it still had not recovered even now.