In a dilapidated corridor somewhere in the Palace of the King of Law, Tuof's skin had begun to harden, crack, and flake away like shattered eggshells, while thick black smoke hissed from the fissures. This was because the time limit of the Elysian Nether Earth had been reached, and his soul was about to separate from the Body of the Dark Land.

A moment later, a withered corpse, that of Master Zheng, appeared before Luo Xiu. Back in the King of Law's Tomb, it was through Master Zheng's sacrifice that Tuof had successfully created the Body of the Dark Land and resurrected. After his resurrection, he had planned to use the Eye of the Reaper to prolong his existence and then begin his plan to expand his clan.

Alas, the Eye of the Reaper had been given to Luo Xiu, so Tuof had no choice but to abandon this plan. Fortunately, Luo Xiu knew the Soul Capturing Technique, which could preserve his soul indefinitely.

...

"My lord, I'm in!"

"Hahahaha... this place is wonderful, so lively."

Tuof's cheerful laughter suddenly rang in Luo Xiu's mind. At that moment, Tuof, now a Wandering Spirit, was already inside the Soul Imprisonment Mark on the palm of Luo Xiu's right hand.

Luo Xiu sent a thread of his Divine Sense into the Soul Imprisonment Mark. He found Tuof acting like a great gray wolf in a flock of sheep, chasing the Wandering Spirits that had been trapped inside. Soon after, four more powerful Wandering Spirits flew over from the distance. After greeting Luo Xiu, they entered the Soul Imprisonment Mark. They were the Four Great Spirit Generals.

Luo Xiu asked, "Tuof, how do I cultivate the Reaper's Art you mentioned?"

In the past, Luo Xiu didn't yearn for power, nor would he deliberately pursue it, because back then, he saw everyone else as weak. But now, after losing his cultivation and suffering humiliation at the hands of the Holy Boi Religion, he finally understood how important it was to possess his own strength. He was desperate to obtain it.

...

After resting and adjusting, Luo Xiu began cultivating the Reaper's Art under Tuof's guidance.

The Reaper's Art was a cultivation technique that, for Tuof, only existed in theory. It didn't require storing Spiritual Power in a Dantian or circulating it through meridians. It was also completely unrelated to a cultivator's bloodline or talent. To cultivate the Reaper's Art, one only needed to store Spiritual Power in the Reaper's Charm Script.

Therefore, before he could begin, Luo Xiu needed to use the Aura of the Dead to carve the Reaper's Charm Script onto his body. After much thought, he chose to carve it on his right arm. With the help of Lin Tong and Tuof, it took an entire day to finish the carving.

The so-called Reaper's Charm Script was a type of sigil Tuof himself had created. It worked on a similar principle to the Soul Imprisonment Mark of the Soul Capturing Technique, containing a strange space that could be used to store things in energy form. Although the cultivation method for the Reaper's Art differed from that of a normal Martial Artist, the principle was the same. During battle, one only needed to activate the Reaper's Charm Script to use its power.

Tuof had actually based the Reaper's Art on the Land of Lawlessness. Because the land was influenced by the Eye of the Reaper, its ambient Spiritual Energy had mutated into an unimaginably dense Aura of the Dead. Fortunately, Luo Xiu now possessed the transplanted Eye of the Reaper, which was directly connected to the Land of Lawlessness. This meant that no matter where he was, he could cultivate by directly absorbing the Aura of the Dead from the Land of Lawlessness through the eye.

Furthermore, according to Tuof, Luo Xiu could also use the Eye of the Reaper to enter and exit the Land of Lawlessness at will. Tuof also told him that the power of the Reaper's Art lay in its perfect utilization of the Aura of the Dead, posing a threat to all life. What was truly heaven-defying was that this technique had no so-called bottlenecks—as long as one absorbed enough Aura of the Dead, their realm would directly advance!

This was unlike most Martial Artists, who found breakthroughs increasingly difficult at higher realms. Once they hit a bottleneck, they needed long periods of comprehension to attempt a breakthrough, and some would fail for their entire lives.

However, the Reaper's Art had a drawback: the constant risk of a backlash from the Aura of the Dead. A moment of carelessness could lead to the Aura of the Dead devouring the cultivator's life force, leading to self-immolation. But Luo Xiu's body contained the Qi Huang Medicine Power, which could counteract the Aura of the Dead. Therefore, this drawback was largely negligible, and he didn't have to worry about a backlash.

One could say the Reaper's Art was a cultivation technique created specifically for Luo Xiu.

...

「Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.」

On this day, Luo Xiu finished his cultivation early. He left his room to find Queen Chi Sha playing with Dou Dou and then led her out of the Palace of the King of Law. Although cultivating the Reaper's Art was simple, for a lazy person like Luo Xiu, it was also dreadfully boring. Every day, he just sat there absorbing the Aura of the Dead from the Land of Lawlessness. It was nothing but absorption, absorption, and more absorption—the very definition of tedious monotony. If the Land of Lawlessness had a fishpond, he would much rather be fishing.

"So, that Reaper's Art you're cultivating... what stage are you at now?" Chi Sha asked as they walked along a dilapidated street among the ruins.

Luo Xiu raised his right arm and released a surge of the Aura of the Dead. "If we're judging by Spiritual Power concentration, I should be at the Great Perfection of the Gathering Spirit Realm."

Chi Sha: "..."

She was completely flabbergasted.

To go from nothing to the Great Perfection of the Gathering Spirit Realm in just half a month! Just how absurdly heaven-defying is this so-called Reaper's Art?

In truth, it wasn't that the Reaper's Art was so ridiculously powerful, but that the Aura of the Dead in the Land of Lawlessness was simply inexhaustible.

Luo Xiu continued, "However, I can feel that to take the next step and reach the Core Formation Realm, I'll need to absorb several times more Aura of the Dead than it took to reach the Gathering Spirit Realm."

Chi Sha snorted coldly. "Then why aren't you absorbing it? You have time to ask me to stroll around with you?"

Luo Xiu shrugged and smiled. "Because it's boring. I just wanted to come out and relax, and maybe refine some Wandering Spirits for Luo Ying to absorb. Honestly, compared to all these flashy abilities I have now, I still want my original power back. That's why I need Luo Ying to recover quickly, so she can help me remove the Blood Ban Technique."

"..."

...

The amount of Yin Essence Power needed for Luo Ying's soul to fully recover far exceeded Luo Xiu's expectations. He spent three days capturing and refining every Wandering Spirit in the entire Land of Lawlessness into Yin Essence Power for her to absorb. In the end, it only restored a tiny fraction of her consciousness; the effect was negligible.

Amidst the ruins, Luo Ying stared blankly at Luo Xiu, tears gradually streaming from her eyes. Meanwhile, Chi Sha had already left Luo Ying's body and returned to his.

Looking at the tearful Luo Ying, Luo Xiu sighed helplessly. He wanted to say something but swallowed the words. The current Luo Ying was unable to communicate; she could only cry, not speak. However, he could feel a sense of kinship from her, one that stemmed from a shared bloodline. Therefore, Luo Xiu could conclude that even if Luo Ying wasn't his sister, she had to be a relative from the same clan. Once Luo Ying fully recovered, he would be able to find clues about his own origins through her.

"Don't worry, I will definitely help you recover," Luo Xiu said, reaching out to wipe away her tears. Her Majesty the Queen, you should stay in her body for now.

Chi Sha, however, was reluctant. Even though Luo Ying's body was powerful, she still yearned for her own.

Luo Xiu continued his thoughts, "I've decided to leave this place tomorrow. If I'm not mistaken, those people from the Holy Boi Religion will be waiting outside to snatch my half of the Sea Oracle Map. Given Luo Ying's current state, I'm worried she'll be controlled by them again."

Without a word, Chi Sha silently left Luo Xiu's body and entered Luo Ying's.

Just then, Tuof's voice suddenly sounded in Luo Xiu's mind. "My lord, why do you want the Sea Oracle Map, anyway?"

"I want to go to the seabed," Luo Xiu stated.

Tuof chuckled naively a few times. "My lord, actually, I'm the one who drew the Sea Oracle Map. Back then, I wanted to go to the seabed to see if I could find any trace of His Majesty. It took me seventy years to find the secret path. Then I drew this map and named it the 'Sea Oracle Map' because I thought it sounded nice."

Hearing this, Luo Xiu fell silent. Suddenly, he felt an overwhelming urge to curse.

"Then why the hell didn't you say so earlier?!"

Tuof sounded completely innocent. "My lord, you never asked me before."

Lin Tong was also enraged, immediately grabbing Tuof within the space of the Soul Imprisonment Mark and giving him a thrashing.

"Tuof, you blockhead!"

"..."

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