The green-clothed man sighed as he looked at the scene before him.

The strength of Elder San Jue was higher than he had anticipated, and although he still had some strength left, he no longer had much confidence in his ability to kill him.

Just then, within the Stealing Heaven Tripod Space, on the White Jade Lotus Platform, Yuan Ming's eyes suddenly opened wide.

An immense Divine Sense Power immediately radiated from his body, subsequently manifesting outside and enveloping Elder San Jue.

While Elder San Jue was exerting all his power to drive the Sword Formation, planning to wipe them all out in one go, his vision suddenly became engulfed in boundless darkness, blinding him completely.

"It's that rat again!"

His gums clenched tightly, and his hatred for the soul cultivator who had been hiding all this time reached its peak.

Just as he was about to activate his Divine Soul Power and use a secret technique to break the Illusion Array, a voice suddenly echoed in his ear:

"It seems the lessons you've been given are still not enough. Would you also turn against me?"

The moment this voice sounded, Elder San Jue's whole body shivered uncontrollably.

He knew this voice all too well - it was the voice of the Undying Tree that enslaved him.

Over the past millennium, he had been tormented too many times by the Undying Tree. His original spirit of rebellion had been worn away, leaving behind only fear, a fear that had seeped into his very bones toward that immortal being.

This had become a habit.

Elder San Jue suppressed his instinctual fear and looked ahead, only to see that within the darkness, the silhouette of a colossal tree gradually became clearer.

Vines hung down from the tree trunk, and at the bottom, they wrapped around numerous large cocoons.

The topmost one, with an opening that resembled a gaping maw of blood, was constantly opening and closing as if waiting to choose its next victim.

Elder San Jue carefully examined the aura emanating from the giant tree, and there was no mistake – it was indeed that old monster.

"Come back. This is where you truly belong," the voice of the Undying Tree rang out again.

With that call, which seemed to hold a kind of magical power, Elder San Jue found himself irresistibly drawn towards the giant tree, despite the extreme resistance in his heart.

That was the terrifying aspect of "Nightmare." The illusions it brought were not constructed by the spellcaster, but instead, it triggered the deepest fears in the heart of the person subjected to it, drawing them into the illusion.

The Undying Tree, which filled Elder San Jue with fear, was a construct of his own memories and fears; all details, including the aura he perceived, were fabricated by himself, making it impossible for him to see through the illusion.

In essence, his own fear and memory had deceived him.

Caught in the Nightmare, Elder San Jue's consciousness was almost entirely lost, only a fraction of his instinct remained, still resisting obstinately.

His Green Gold Sword Formation could no longer be maintained and vanished without a trace.

The green-clothed man, overjoyed at this development, immediately leaped forward to completely annihilate him.

"Wait, leave it to me," Yuan Ming's voice suddenly rang out in the green-clothed man's Sea of Consciousness.

The latter, momentarily startled, ultimately respected Yuan Ming's wishes and stopped.

At that moment, a streak of Blood Light shot out from Hua Zhi's hand; the Shura Blood Devouring Map unfolded with a "whirring" noise, enveloping Elder San Jue and directly drawing him inside the map.

However, just as Elder San Jue had fallen into the Shura Blood Devouring Map, his Sea of Consciousness suddenly shook violently.

His Divine Soul was engulfed by a force, intending to abandon the physical body and break through the void.

Yuan Ming had already seen this technique in the Jade Scroll provided by Qi Ye; he knew it was the secret technique used by the Undying Tree to control all its wooden puppets, allowing it to summon and directly extract the Divine Soul of its puppets.

If the Divine Soul was retrieved, the Undying Tree could simply spend some time to create another body for the puppet, and once the two were merged, it would be restored as before.

Naturally, Yuan Ming wouldn't just watch it succeed, and immediately summoned Xi Ying to assist. Together, they used their immense Divine Soul Power to forcefully suppress Elder San Jue's Divine Soul, preventing it from immediately flying back.

Outside, Hua Zhi acted swiftly, quickly stepping forward and grabbing the Shura Blood Devouring Map that was flying back.

In the next instant, with a flash of the map, Yuan Ming drew it into the Stealing Heaven Tripod Space.

And just as the Shura Blood Devouring Map returned to the Stealing Heaven Tripod, Elder San Jue's Divine Soul suddenly ceased its resistance.

Yuan Ming was first taken aback, then swiftly realized the situation.

"Haha, it seems the space within the Stealing Heaven Tripod has blocked the Undying Tree's summons; this will save me quite a bit of effort," Yuan Ming laughed heartily.

Then, he transmitted his voice to the green-clothed man and Silver Kong Tree Demon and the others, instructing them to swiftly assist the others in dealing with the remaining Nascent Soul cultivators and Core Formation Stage Tree People.

As they were unable to set up the Wood Emperor Array, the puppets had already suffered heavy losses, with many Core Formation Stage Tree People being eliminated and several Nascent Soul cultivators dead. Now that even their leader, Elder San Jue, had been dealt with, the rest had no more fighting spirit, and they promptly scattered and fled in all directions.

Within the Stealing Heaven Tripod Space, Yuan Ming pressed his hand onto the Shura Blood Devouring Map, and a stream of soul-searching black light penetrated it, probing Elder San Jue's memories.

It was only moments later he withdrew his hand, took out a jade scroll, and engraved upon it a Cultivation Technique — the Nine Elements Technique, which contained all mnemonics from the Qi Refinement Realm to the Returning to Void Stage.

Elder San Jue had been cultivating the Nine Elements Technique, and such an opportunity was rare. Even though pressing circumstances prevailed, Yuan Ming took the time to obtain this cultivation technique.

Yuan Ming refrained from delving further into his memories, and continued to propel the Shura Blood Devouring Map, extracting Elder San Jue's Qi-Blood.

Having reached the Nascent Soul Stage, Yuan Ming's activation of the Shura Blood Devouring Map no longer felt like a child swinging a heavy hammer; the refining process was incredibly smooth. In no time, he completely drained Elder San Jue's Essence Blood and refined it, and his physical body was processed into a Returning to Void Stage Blood Slave.

Feeling the abundant Qi-Blood from Elder San Jue, Yuan Ming could hardly contain his excitement.

He didn't supply his Qi-Blood to the Undying Black Tree, but activated the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill to absorb this extremely pure Qi-Blood Power and refine it into his body.

Outside the tripod, Murong Yanyu, covered in wounds, lay in a mountain depression, the Seven Emotions Zither she was holding had already broken all its strings, yet her facial expression wasn't as panicked as at the beginning, but revealed a sense of relief.

"Given that we follow the same path, make it quick, destroy my Divine Soul. I don't want to return to that dark place and be enslaved by that old monster again," Murong Yanyu said.

"Do you have any last words you wish to be carried back to the sect?" Long Chong asked.

"Everything that needed saying was said when I left the sect, there's nothing more to say. If you can make it back alive, just don't reveal the fact that I was enslaved," Murong Yanyu shook her head and replied.

"Alright, we promise you," Long Chong glanced at the others, saw them all nodding, and then answered.

"Go ahead, thank you," Murong Yanyu said, and then closed her eyes.

Long Chong thrust his spear forward, aiming straight at her glabella, and Shi Yanshi simultaneously swung his brush, writing a "destroy" character in the void that entered her Sea of Consciousness.

Elsewhere, the Green-clothed man had already snapped Tu Shixiong's neck, incidentally destroying his Divine Soul as well.

In the dark space.

"Dead? How could he be dead... Impossible!" The Undying Tree sensed Elder San Jue's death and immediately let out a roar of rage.

When the anomaly was first noticed, it had already attempted to summon his Divine Soul back but failed miserably.

Moreover, the Spiritual Treasure inside it acted up again, and it had to suppress the urge to forcibly exit seclusion; it did not expect Elder San Jue to actually fall.

That was one of its most important sources of strength; such a loss was far heavier than the death of thousands of Core Formation Tree People.

"Just wait, you all belong to me, all mine!" A roar of indignation echoed in the dark space.

...

Inside the Stealing Heaven Tripod Space, Yuan Ming had finally completely refined Elder San Jue's abundant Qi-Blood. His Body Cultivation Realm rose to a new level, and inside his body, his Qi-Blood surged like a tide, breaking through to the Tongqiao Body.

Yuan Ming sat cross-legged, all his acupoints fully opened, and from within the surrounding void, streaks of white light roamed toward him, converging into his body.

That power was both intense and powerful, filled with the righteous and radiant presence of the sun, it was indeed the Power of the Sun.

The acupoints on Yuan Ming's body, like numerous gaping mouths, greedily swallowed the Power of the Sun, making his pores seem bathed in sunlight, receiving the baptism of the True Sun Fire.

As the Power of the Sun infused continuously, his Qi-Blood roared like a dragon in every part of his body, tempering his limbs and bones. His tendons, muscles, and bones were all strengthening at a terrifying rate.

Xi Ying, watching this scene, felt gratified yet couldn't help but worry, and reminded him,

"The Power of the Sun within the Stealing Heaven Tripod is too rarefied, I'm afraid it's not sufficient to bring your Tongqiao Body to perfection, it could leave flaws in your future cultivation."

Hearing this, Yuan Ming remained undisturbed.

With a twist of his wrist, a Golden Crow Divine Arrow appeared in his palm.

Upon seeing this, Xi Ying's eyes brightened, and her worry vanished.

In terms of the purity of the Power of the Sun, the Golden Crow Divine Arrow naturally contained a higher essence than the Power of the Sun in the void outside, and the Golden Crow True Fire inside it was the concentrated essence of the Power of the Sun.

Yuan Ming grasped the arrow, and the surface of the Divine Arrow immediately shone with a dazzling white light. Then, intense flames burst forth from it and spread rapidly, enveloping Yuan Ming completely.

However, the flames that wrapped around his entire body didn't inflict any harm; instead, they seemed to be forging his Physical Body, continuously burning away the impurities within and releasing them as streams of black air from his pores.

Yuan Ming's profound Divine Soul Power and Mana were also drawn into the transformation of his Physical Body.

Time slowly passed, and the flames surrounding Yuan Ming gradually shrank before being absorbed into his body until they completely vanished.

At that moment, Yuan Ming's Tongqiao Body was finally perfected.

His eyes snapped open, bursting with scorching light, and his entire demeanor seemed to have undergone some transformation.

When Xi Ying looked directly at him, she involuntarily felt the urge to shield her eyes, as if she were staring at the blazing sun.

But this illusion did not last long. As soon as Yuan Ming stabilized his realm, his breath became restrained once more, and he resumed his usual appearance.

"How do you feel?" Xi Ying was curious about his transformation and asked.

"Just as you said before, the Tongqiao Body is a threshold for Body Cultivation. After this transformation by absorbing the Power of the Sun, my physique has greatly improved, feeling clear throughout. My acupoints seem to store a vast amount of the Power of the Sun. My strength has increased more than tenfold, and my defensive power has grown substantially. Even taking direct attacks from the Magic Treasures of Nascent Soul cultivators doesn't pose too much of a problem for me now," Yuan Ming flexed his hand and couldn't conceal his joy as he spoke.

"Advancing to the Tongqiao Body requires understanding a conception. Have you comprehended any?" Xi Ying continued to ask.

"Of course," Yuan Ming responded with determined eyes.

"What conception have you grasped?" Xi Ying inquired.

For a Tongqiao Body cultivator, the comprehension of conception is extremely important as it directly determines their future growth direction.

Yuan Ming hadn't been practicing Body Cultivation for long, but he had a solid foundation, and both Magic Practitioner and Soul Cultivation had reached exceedingly high realms, which unexpectedly helped him a lot in comprehending conceptions.

"Shared Fate!" Yuan Ming closed his eyes and, after a moment, spoke.

"Shared Fate?" Xi Ying clearly heard this conception for the first time and repeated it in confusion.

"As the name suggests, my conception can link my life with that of my enemy's, sharing prosperity and suffering together," Yuan Ming looked at his fist and slowly explained.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.