Chapter 141: Stepping in Ahead of the Rest

The Primordial Supreme Treasure, the Kunlun Mirror, is a marvelous artifact of heaven and earth. Containing the two great rules of time and space, it is capable of shuttling through thousands of realms and epochs.

Within the current Primordial World, quite a few living beings know of the Kunlun Mirror. Speaking of this, one must mention the Dao Ancestor Hongjun. When he was expounding the Dao in the Purple Cloud Palace, Hongjun once mentioned that back in the primeval era, within West Kunlun of the Buzhou Mountain range, there was a Kunlun Immortal Palace. Concealed within it was a treasure that suppressed the palace—none other than the Primordial Supreme Treasure, the Kunlun Mirror. Regrettably, it was stolen during a gathering of ancient immortals and has been untraceable ever since. When speaking of the Kunlun Mirror back then, Hongjun praised it profusely, stating outright that its wonders were infinite and its might unimaginable.

Through the faint clues described by Xiao Kunlun, the artifact spirit of the Kunlun Mirror, Qingxu understood that this Primordial Supreme Treasure was still within the West Kunlun Mountains. After all, the East Kunlun was the Daoist sanctuary of the Primeval Heavenly Lord; wanting to conceal oneself right under the noses of a Primordial Saint is something even a Primordial Supreme Treasure could not sustain for long.

Knowing clearly that immense secrets must surround the Kunlun Mirror, Qingxu was not foolish enough to investigate; this matter was simply not something he could meddle in.

Presently, several lingering perplexities troubled Qingxu's mind: First, what exactly was that sealed azure light within the underground palace of Mount Daba? Second, what were the mysteries behind the Turbid Dragon and the Four Primeval Fierce Beasts, and what schemes were plotted among them? Third, the affair of the White Dragon Daoist stuck in his throat like a fishbone. Fourth, faint traces of the Sovereign of the Free Heavenly Demons. Fifth, the secrets of the Kunlun Mirror and what had occurred in the Primordial Chaos of Great Antiquity? All of these involuntarily stirred Qingxu's curiosity, yet he had no way to unravel them.

Under Qingxu's instruction, Xiao Kunlun closed her eyes, gathered her mind, and sensed the distance and position between the Forbidden Tower and their current location. Forming a two-point directional vector, it took about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before she finished her estimation. She promptly opened her eyes, and her tender, snow-white hands traced mysterious and unfathomable trajectories in the void, forming an arcane diagram and array. This was Xiao Kunlun directly availing herself of the power of the Kunlun Mirror to cast the spell, though she herself understood what was done without understanding the underlying principles.

Threads of space connected in the void, combining into a wondrous diagram about three meters in diameter, within which two bright, golden starlights flickered and dimmed. Seeing this, Qingxu immediately understood that these two starlights represented, respectively, his current location and the location of the Forbidden Tower.

Having suffered a setback once before, Xiao Kunlun had grown wiser. No longer stingy with time, she directly forged a void passage, consuming a massive amount of magical power and spiritual spirit. She chose to borrow momentum, casting the vast majority of the consumption onto the Kunlun Mirror. Previously, when she cast spells, her own consumption was ninety percent while the Kunlun Mirror's was ten percent; now, however, her own consumption was thirty percent while the Kunlun Mirror's was seventy percent. The difference was starkly evident—a point theoretically identical to the Daoist magic casting principles of immortal cultivators.

When immortal cultivators cast Daoist magic, they mostly use their own magical power as a guide, utilizing the spiritual qi between heaven and earth to combine into powerful divine abilities. The quantity of the guide directly affects the strength of the divine ability's might.

As Xiao Kunlun finished tracing the diagram, the two starlights suddenly burst apart. Accompanied by the bursting starlight, the diagram dissipated, and the void before Qingxu revealed a black hole passage whose very end led straight to the location of the Forbidden Tower.

"The divine abilities evolved from the rules of space are truly breathtaking!" Qingxu exclaimed, a trace of yearning for the rules of space inevitably arising in his heart. However, a ten-thousand-li journey must always be taken step by step. His immediate goal was the laws of space; as for rules, those seemed to be something only Primordial Saints could possess!

Rules are like the trunk of a tree, branching out into thousands of luxuriant leaves of laws. The two are closely related and mutually dependent, one being the master and the other the servant.

Only Quasi-Saints have the qualification to possess laws; Great Golden Immortals do not measure up.

***

The spatial passage having emerged, Qingxu stepped into it, with Xiao Kunlun and the Black and White Impermanences following closely behind. As the four of them entered, the passage entrance also closed and vanished, leaving only a ripple fluctuating across the void...

The distant location of the Forbidden Tower was merely a few miles away under Xiao Kunlun's spatial passage, and the four traversed the exit in the blink of an eye.

Upon passing through the exit, Qingxu lifted his gaze and looked around. Not far ahead, an inverted tower foundation came into view. This octagonal tower foundation was dozens of miles in size, currently frozen beneath a thick layer of frost so that its true appearance could no longer be discerned. Within a radius of tens of thousands of miles, strong ghost qi drifted and swirled across the heaven and earth. Scattered across the ground were numerous spiritual essences, the lowest being at the Mysterious Immortal tier, with no shortage of Great Returning Immortal tiers among them. These spiritual essences were round like bowl-sized pearls and jades, their luster revolving and flawless white. Yet upon closer inspection, one could discover a wisp of ethereal mist within them, gathering or dispersing to form ferocious and terrifying malevolent ghost spirits. They wept and howled silently, shaped yet voiceless, while the ghost qi of heaven and earth was continuously absorbed and devoured by these spiritual essences strand by strand.

"Did someone beat me to it?" Seeing the scene before him, how could Qingxu fail to understand? Someone must have taken action and seized the initiative ahead of him.

"According to the information described, there should be tens of thousands of Mysterious Immortal ghost kings, over four hundred Great Returning Immortal Yin gods, and a hundred Great Golden Immortals inside and outside this place. Who could have the guts to do this? It shouldn't be just a single person; it's probably an alliance of a group of powerhouses!" Even if beaten to death, Qingxu would never believe that anyone could wipe out the defensive forces of this Forbidden Tower by their single strength, slaughtering their way all the way through. That would simply be too arrogant and domineering, too utterly disdainful of everything—it was practically the equivalent of viewing the Tongue-Pulling Hell as absolute nothingness!

However, regardless of who had arrived first—whether a single person or a group—Qingxu had undoubtedly struck a massive bargain.

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Qingxu excitedly strode toward the Forbidden Tower. Along the way, he picked up the spiritual essences one by one, operating his magical power to shatter the ghost qi and prevent their rebirth plans (in reality, for Mysterious Immortal ghost kings whose spiritual essences had lost all ghost qi to be reborn, even with all three souls intact, it would take over a century, while those with only the earth and heaven souls would require over a millennium).

"Who is this insanely extravagant fellow? Leaving so many spiritual essences unattended as if discarding trash! Furthermore, the three-soul power within these Mysterious Immortal and Great Returning Immortal spiritual essences is hardly damaged at all; they've merely lost their original source of ghost qi. This level of control is truly astonishing. This person must be a supreme master of ice Daoist magic." Through the lingering trace of icy coldness and the occasional layer of frost on the spiritual essences, combined with the frozen Forbidden Tower, all of this told him that the person who had arrived first excelled in ice divine abilities.

The spiritual essences scattered across the ground were simply too numerous; the tens of thousands of guarding Mysterious Immortal ghost kings, the over four hundred Great Returning Immortals, and the one hundred Great Golden Immortals had none of them been spared. The spiritual essences inside and outside the Forbidden Tower were picked up by Qingxu until his hands grew sore, but it was pain mingled with joy. With these spiritual essences, how much would his heaven and earth souls increase? Moreover, the information regarding the netherworld contained within them was an invaluable treasure!

Presently, Qingxu's heaven and earth souls had improved significantly. Reaching one hundred and twenty percent also marked a limit, but as his cultivation realm advanced further, he could continue. For now, he was merely at the Earth Immortal peak, and below lay the Heavenly Immortal, Mysterious Immortal, and Great Returning Immortal realms, all the way to the Great Golden Immortal, at which point the heaven and earth souls would stabilize and could no longer be elevated by external forces. The volume of spiritual essences consumable along this path was astronomical, but with this windfall from the Forbidden Tower, virtually all problems were resolved.

Having gathered the tens of thousands of spiritual essences outside the Forbidden Tower along with the more than one hundred Great Returning Immortal spiritual essences, Qingxu cautiously descended into the first level of the tower, fearing he might trigger the restraining magic within. However, he quickly discovered that not only were the exterior and interior of the Forbidden Tower frozen, but the restraining magic within had also been frozen solid. He immediately laid aside his worries and easily picked up the spiritual essences one by one. The spiritual essences inside the tower rarely belonged to the Mysterious Immortal ghost king tier, consisting mostly of the Great Returning Immortal and Great Golden Immortal tiers.

The first level of the Forbidden Tower!
The second level of the Forbidden Tower!
The third level of the Forbidden Tower!
......

Proceeding unimpeded all the way down to the ninth level, Qingxu brought his scavenging career to an end. Several tens of thousands of Mysterious Immortal spiritual essences, over four hundred Great Returning Immortal spiritual essences, and one hundred Great Golden Immortal spiritual essences—not a single one missing—had all become Qingxu's private collection. The benefits gained this time were simply too immense, making Qingxu feel as though he were in a dream. Compared to this, his previous gains at Mount Mangdang were mere scum; side by side, even he himself felt ashamed of them.

The seal at the entrance of the Scissors Hell was, just as Qingxu had guessed, frozen solid and rendered utterly useless.

"Could it truly have been a single person?" Descending all the way down the nine levels of the Forbidden Tower, Qingxu also detected something amiss. Through investigating the faint clues, the person who had arrived first was indeed a single individual, and a lingering trace of secluded orchid fragrance remained—she was likely a female cultivator. As for the faint, elusive hint of physical blood and yang qi (something impossible to exist in the netherworld), it did not shock him too much; instead, the facts of *A Single Person* and *A Female Cultivator* astonished him greatly.

"Forget it. Regardless, I am the one who took advantage of *Her*, obtaining such massive benefits for free. If there is ever a chance, I shall repay this favor!" Qingxu was a person who knew how to repay gratitude and inevitably avenge grudges. To say nothing of repaying a trickle of kindness with a gushing spring, at the very least, returning favors on equal terms was entirely unproblematic—with a bit of interest added at most.

Putting aside these thoughts, Qingxu excitedly entered the entrance of the Scissors Hell (a bottomless, pitch-black subterranean cavern) alongside Xiao Kunlun and the Black and White Impermanences, heading toward the second level of the netherworld: the Scissors Hell.

Qingxu was excited because he was one step closer to his Profound Yellow Avatar, and he could also explore the mysterious Scissors Hell. As for Xiao Kunlun, she was likewise excited, though her entire mind was filled with thoughts of roasted meat. She had firmly engraved Qingxu's promise in her memory, constantly reminding him of it. Now about to taste the delicacy, her gluttonous self was naturally thrilled beyond measure. As for the Black and White Impermanences? They were simply ignored.