Chapter 763

Chapter 763: New Troubles

At this moment, Fang Lie had absorbed the soul power of the heart demons, making his soul twice as strong and his divine sense also doubled. With one swing of his whip, the power surged tremendously.

Under normal circumstances, even being struck once by Old Thousand Souls would cause heavy injuries. Not to mention, this was in his current weak state.

Regardless, after Fang Lie struck with his whip, the old man barely had time to let out a heart-wrenching scream before his entire being shattered into pure soul power, swirling around Fang Lie, ready for him to absorb.

However, as Fang Lie was absorbing it, his expression suddenly changed, and he couldn’t help but shout, "Bird Bro, help me! I think I’ve reached my limit! My soul is getting out of control!"

"Isn’t that obvious?" Old Bird scolded. "You just passed through the heart demon trial, and your soul power surged by double. This would normally take time to digest, but you killed a Semi-Immortal with strong soul power. His soul power is at least three times yours now, so in a short time, your soul has increased fivefold! With this huge surge, how could you not burst? Why couldn’t you wait a few days before killing him?"

"Ah~" Fang Lie yelled in regret, "Bird Bro, I was wrong! I just couldn’t hold back! You saw how wicked that guy was; I wouldn’t be able to sleep well if I didn’t kill him!"

"Can you sleep now?" Old Bird chuckled. "You’ll be forever asleep, right?"

"Stop teasing me!" Fang Lie urged. "If you don’t save me soon, my soul is going to burst! Can I come back from such a death?"

"Of course you can!" Old Bird said confidently. "But after you revive, your soul will return to the state it was right after overcoming the heart demon. Both the heart demon’s soul power and Old Thousand Souls’ soul power will dissipate, meaning it will have all been in vain!"

"Dang it, so I would have gone through the heart demon trial for nothing?" Fang Lie complained. "And now that Old Thousand Souls is dead, who will help me trigger the heart demon trials in the future?"

"Just find another high-ranking member of the Soul Split Sect," laughed Old Bird.

"That sounds so troublesome!" Fang Lie sighed, "Plus, there’s so much soul power here; it would be a shame to waste it! You’re so powerful; can’t you think of a win-win solution?"

"Of course there’s a win-win solution," Old Bird smiled. "It’s simple. Just one drop of precious Soul-nourishing Elixir can soothe your raging soul, calming it down so you have enough time to recover slowly!"

"Then let’s go find the Soul-nourishing Elixir!" Fang Lie eagerly said. "I’m not short on money. Just tell me who has it!"

"Hehe~" Old Bird grinned mischievously. "Only Kunlun Mountain has this thing; it takes a thousand years to get just one drop. It’s a secret between the East and West Kunlun, and even ordinary Thunder Tribulation Immortals don’t qualify to obtain it. It’s all controlled by the two Semi-Immortal Sect Leaders. Do you think you can buy it?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Lie was stunned. The East and West Kunlun were his sworn enemies; how could they possibly sell him the treasure? Was this a joke?

Thinking this way, Fang Lie felt incredibly frustrated. "Damn it, that’s basically saying nothing! How could they give me their treasures?"

"Hehe, glad you understand!" Old Bird chuckled. "So, you might as well accept your fate. Isn’t it just a bit of wasted soul power? What’s the big deal? Besides, you found the right method this time. Worst case, you can try again; success will come eventually!"

"Well, you have a point~ Fine, I guess I’ll just start over!" Fang Lie nodded helplessly.

Then, he contemplated taking his own life to avoid suffering. But at the last moment, he suddenly stopped and curiously asked Old Bird, "Bird Bro, can I ask you something?"

"With things at this stage, why are you still asking so much?" Old Bird replied impatiently.

"No, I just want to know why Old Thousand Souls, with his status, would serve Immortal Lan Shan?" Fang Lie asked with a smile. "His skills are all in soul power, and he doesn’t have a high demand for treasures or spirit pills. So what did Immortal Lan Shan use to impress him?"

"Hmm?" Old Bird paused for a moment and then exclaimed, "The Soul-nourishing Elixir! Only a treasure like the Soul-nourishing Elixir, which has a powerful nurturing ability for the soul, would compel Old Thousand Souls to serve Lan Shan! You should know, after swallowing so many souls, Old Thousand Souls suffers from side effects—his soul becomes chaotic and impure, greatly hindering his strength growth. With the Soul-nourishing Elixir, he could refine his soul, remove impurities, and instantly boost his power by a considerable amount!"

"I just saw that while Old Thousand Souls’ soul is strong, it’s still chaotic and has a grayish-black color!" Fang Lie said with a grin. "So it seems the Soul-nourishing Elixir hasn’t been used yet!"

"Lan Shan isn’t foolish, so he wouldn’t let Old Thousand Souls benefit too easily," Old Bird laughed. "If I’m not mistaken, their agreement must be that Lan Shan pays upfront, and Old Thousand Souls has to swear a special oath not to harm you before he can use the Soul-nourishing Elixir!"

"Hehe, if that’s the case, then the Soul-nourishing Elixir should still be with Old Thousand Souls, right?" Fang Lie grinned.

"I’ll see if I can find it!" Old Bird chuckled and vanished into the consciousness sea.

Not long later, he reappeared and casually threw a Jade Bottle to Fang Lie, laughing, "This is too funny! Immortal Lan Shan paid such a precious treasure just to kill you, and now not only did he fail, but he also helped you a lot. If he finds out, he might just spit blood in anger!"

"Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he knows!" Fang Lie said coldly, opening the Jade Bottle and pouring out a drop of viscous, clear liquid, about the size of a longan, with mist swirling around its surface.

"Absorb it!" Fang Lie breathed in deeply, inhaling a wisp of the mist from the surface. Instantly, he felt a comfortable coolness throughout his soul, alleviating some of the initial heat and swelling.

"This is a good thing! With this treasure, I can stabilize my injuries and completely refine away the heart demon’s and Old Thousand Souls’ leftover soul power!" Fang Lie exclaimed excitedly.

"What are you waiting for? Get moving!" Old Bird laughed. "I’ll keep watch over you!"

"Okay!" Fang Lie nodded, then sat cross-legged and directly swallowed the Soul-nourishing Elixir, starting his closed-door training.

A month later, Fang Lie opened his eyes again. His divine light shot out three zhang, and upon touching the secret room’s wall, it silently created two small holes.

The walls here were reinforced with secret methods and contained countless restrictions, even ordinary Seventh-rank treasures would struggle to leave a mark, but Fang Lie’s gaze could penetrate them easily. In fact, his gaze burst forth due to his poorly controlled soul power, showing just how terrifying his soul power had become.

Fang Lie was taken aback and couldn’t help but say, "Wow, I didn’t realize I was this powerful! I could kill anyone with just a stare!"

At that moment, a multicolored rooster suddenly appeared on his shoulder, and Old Bird’s strange voice rang out, "That’s just obvious. You now have Semi-Immortal-level soul power, and you’ve even practiced a method that toughens your divine sense to a steel-like strength. Of course, it’s normal to have such strength in your gaze! Is this really worth making a fuss about?"

"Well, I’ve never experienced it before!" Fang Lie chuckled, then glanced at the corpse on the ground, raising the corner of his mouth and saying, "Old Thousand Souls, old Thousand Souls, aren’t you just seeking your own death? You could have left with the Ninth-Rank Treasure, Spring and Autumn Cicada, but instead, you threw your life away. How foolish!"

After mocking him, Fang Lie began searching the body and found very little worth keeping.

Old Bird remarked, "This guy isn’t exactly a poor soul. Aside from lacking a Ninth-Rank Treasure, he has everything else. Among Semi-Immortals, he’s considered quite wealthy!"

"A poor soul without a Ninth-Rank Treasure still dares to say he’s wealthy?" Fang Lie said dismissively.

"You’re really never satisfied!" Old Bird chuckled wryly.

"It’s impossible not to be greedy!" Fang Lie said with a frown. "You know? After this closed-door training, I found that my Qi Sea finally broke through the iron barrier of 100,000 miles, reaching the level of 100,300 miles, but I also discovered a frightful problem."

"What is it?" Old Bird asked urgently.

"That is, the Immortal Crystals are ineffective for me!" Fang Lie said with a distressed expression. "I started using dozens of Immortal Crystals of various sizes, but I couldn’t break through the barrier. In the end, I had to resort to Blood Crystals containing the true blood of True Cultivators, just to forcefully break the bottleneck and expand my Qi Sea by an additional 300 miles!"

"What?" Old Bird exclaimed. "You needed Blood Crystals containing True Cultivator’s true blood to only increase your Qi Sea by 300 miles?"

"Yes~" Fang Lie sighed. "And I continued experimenting, finding that ordinary Immortal Crystals were completely ineffective; none could increase my magic power at all!"

"Isn’t that a problem?" Old Bird shouted. "Blood Crystals, though not extremely precious, are still items that take centuries to appear! It’s impossible to acquire too many!"

"Even if I could get them, I couldn’t afford them. Each one only increases my Qi Sea by 300 miles. To reach my target of 120,000 miles, how many Blood Crystals would I need? I’d probably have to sell the entire Mo Sect to gather enough!" Fang Lie said with a bitter smile.

"I can’t say if selling the Mo Sect would be enough, but selling you definitely wouldn’t cut it!" Old Bird remarked helplessly. "How could this happen? Without Immortal Crystals to increase the Qi Sea limit, how can anyone cultivate?"

"I don’t know what’s going on," Fang Lie frowned, then said, "While Immortal Crystals don’t work, Blood Crystals do. What’s the difference between the two?"

"Actually, the amount of Immortal Energy they each contain is quite similar and shouldn’t lead to a big difference. If there is a difference, it must be the Heavenly Dao laws contained within the true blood of True Cultivators, the spiritual essence mentioned earlier!" Old Bird said in shock. "Could it be that after surpassing 100,000 miles, one has to absorb materials with spiritual essence to further expand?"