After falling into what Ye Yuqiao called a "Mud Spirit," Chen Hao tightly grasped her hand, hoping to use Qinggong to carry both of them out of the mire, but the more he struggled, the faster they sank.

"Don't panic!" Ye Yuqiao said, looking at Chen Hao.

Chen Hao nodded. With his undying body, he naturally wasn't worried about himself; his concern was for Ye Yuqiao.

"Use Nether Light to kill this Mud Spirit!" Ye Yuqiao said, her eyes flashing.

"Right!" Chen Hao said, somewhat surprised. As soon as he spoke, a purple-black ray of Nether Light burst forth from inside him, shining directly on the mire that had already reached his waist.

These creatures originally possessed both Yin Souls and Yang Spirits, but after a period of cultivation, the Yin Soul gradually dissolved and settled within, forming a new type of soul essence that allowed them to briefly assume human form. At this stage, such life forms were known as "demons," which, like the cultivated beings called "spirits" outside of the animal kingdom, strived for enlightenment.

If demons and spirits continued to cultivate, their settled soul essence would transform back into new souls. If their cultivation leaned towards benevolence, they would generate a kind of soul similar to the human Yin Soul, but which could extend the life of the Yang Spirit inside them. The Book of Yin and Yang Exorcism refers to this as the Immortal Soul. Demons or spirits at this level of cultivation would undergo a transformation and become known as "immortals."

Conversely, if their cultivation leaned towards malevolence, the soul essence would turn into a soul type that, although similar to the Immortal Soul, needed to absorb human Yang Spirits to sustain life. The Book of Yin and Yang Exorcism calls this the Demon Soul. At this point, the demons or spirits would become fearsome "demons."

Unlike these life forms, humans, who pride themselves as the most spiritually attuned of all creatures, cannot cultivate into immortals or demons; in other words, humans cannot achieve longevity through cultivation. Thus, being born a human is not necessarily a good thing.

The world is fair; maybe you were born superior to others, but that also means the pinnacle you can reach may not be as high as others. However, throughout history, there have been very few demons or spirits that managed to cultivate into immortals or demons.

The Mud Spirit that had trapped both Chen Hao and Ye Yuqiao was a creature with only a Yang Spirit. Nether Light just happened to be lethal only to those with a single type of soul.

So, soon after being struck by the Nether Light, the Yang Spirit of the Mud Spirit scattered, turning into countless particles of Primordial Spirits and Primordial Souls, slowly rising into the air, and the mire that had trapped Chen Hao and Ye Yuqiao also vanished accordingly.

Once free, Chen Hao supported Ye Yuqiao and dusted off the mud from her body, asking, "Yuqiao, are you alright?"

Ye Yuqiao smiled and shook her head.

After that, the two of them continued towards the direction from which the strong Yang Energy emanated.

Not long into their walk, they both felt a warm sensation entering their bodies, driving away the chill of the underground passage.

"This Yang Energy is getting stronger and stronger!" exclaimed Chen Hao, who had never felt such an abundance of Yang Energy before, even more so than the Turtle Spirit Stone he had used to absorb Yang Energy not long ago.

"Mhm!" nodded Ye Yuqiao. "We don't even need to cast spells, for this Yang Energy flows into our bodies on its own! This truly seems like an excellent place for cultivation."

Chen Hao was filled with curiosity about the source of this intense Yang Energy.

As they continued forward, the originally warm and comfortable temperature turned stifling as they approached the source of the Yang Energy. Even after removing his coat, Chen Hao still felt unbearably hot.

Seeing beads of sweat the size of soybeans falling from Chen Hao's forehead, Ye Yuqiao wiped them with her sleeve and said, "You can let the Yin Qi seep into the blood within your body, that will make you feel cooler."

"Right!" Chen Hao said with a look of delighted surprise. He did as Ye Yuqiao suggested, channeling Yin Qi Spiritual Power into his blood, and immediately felt much cooler and more comfortable. "Yuqiao, how come you aren't hot at all?"

"Silly, I have the Nether King's Power in me," she said.

"Oh!" Chen Hao responded, nodding somewhat blankly.

At that moment, the compass in Chen Hao's hand suddenly glowed with a purple light, extremely dazzling, signifying the presence of a demon or spirit with heavy demonic energy nearby.

Soon after, a "rumble" echoed through the underground passage, resembling the sound of the pig demon that had attacked them earlier, though there was no trembling around them.

"What's going to appear now?" Chen Hao anxiously looked around and asked, "And from where will it come out?"

Ye Yuqiao, clasping Chen Hao's arm and moving closer, shouted, "Evil-Banishing Moon Sword, unsheathe!" after feeling the Evil-Banishing Moon Sword in her pocket trembling.

"Ying ying ying!" The Evil-Banishing Moon Sword slipped out from Ye Yuqiao's pocket, with purple light flickering continuously on its blade.

"I'll leave it to you then!" Ye Yuqiao said to the Evil-Banishing Moon Sword.

"Ding ding ding," the Evil-Banishing Moon Sword made a series of crisp, cheerful sounds.

As the sound of the sword echoed through the enclosed, dimly lit passage, with a "bang," the wall to Ye Yuqiao's left suddenly burst open with a clump of soil, and a gnarled old tree root, like the withered, twisted hand of a witch, lunged out from the hole.

In a flash, the old tree root reached the front of Ye Yuqiao's chest!

Fortunately, the Evil-Banishing Moon Sword severed the old tree root in time, otherwise it would have already pierced into Ye Yuqiao's chest.

"Ah!" Chen Hao exclaimed, then immediately summoned the Nether Acupoint above Ye Yuqiao's head. "It's too dangerous, girlfriend, you should stay in here!"

"Mm!" Ye Yuqiao nodded at Chen Hao, then jumped into the Nether Acupoint. Although with her abilities, getting injured here was impossible, she chose to show weakness to keep Chen Hao from worrying, and accepted his request.

No sooner had the Nether Acupoint disappeared from the air in the tunnel than the earthen wall beside Chen Hao was suddenly broken through, and a tree root emerged from inside, stabbing directly into Chen Hao's chest.

"Ugh!" Chen Hao let out a pained cry, then with widened eyes he stared at the Evil-Banishing Moon Sword floating in front of him and hissed, "Hey, Sword Bro, aren't you being a little too partial to beauty over friendship? Don't you care about whether I live or die?"

With a "bang", the wall above Chen Hao's head was struck by an old tree root, and as it sharpened like a dagger to pierce his skull, Chen Hao's left eye immediately emitted a blast of Nether Light that hit the attacking root.

"Ah!" A sharp and piercing scream echoed through the dark tunnel, followed by violent trembling. Lumps of soil and gravel peeled off the walls with each tremor, and yellow dust soon spread throughout the tunnel.

The old tree root that had penetrated Chen Hao's chest turned into particles of Primordial Spirit and Primordial Soul not long after the one above his head had dispersed, and the wound at Chen Hao's chest healed instantly under the effect of the Nether King's Heart!

"The tree spirit that attacked us has been dissolved by your Nether Light," Ye Yuqiao's anxious voice sounded in Chen Hao's mind. "This is not good! It must be a tree spirit over a thousand years old. If it's gone, the surrounding land will collapse. Run, quick!"

"Ah!" Startled, Chen Hao immediately used qinggong and hurriedly fled forward. Just as his figure departed, the ground that lacked the support of the tree roots collapsed with a thunderous noise.

Then, the collapse chased after Chen Hao with the momentum of a falling mountain.

When he came upon an enormous creature emitting golden light, Chen Hao stopped in his tracks, and the pursuing collapse came to an abrupt halt at the junctures of several tunnel entrances behind him.

"Boom Boom!"

It took a long while before the shaking in the tunnel finally ceased.

Chen Hao's gaze was already captivated by the enormous creature before him; standing not far from this huge being, he could distinctly feel a wave of intense Yang Energy!

"Is this a turtle?" Chen Hao murmured, his face full of surprise and disbelief.

The seemingly fossilized colossal creature before him had a stone tail a meter long, and although it was covered with yellow earth and green moss, the dark red luster on it could not be concealed.

Chen Hao approached, and immediately a burning sensation infiltrated his body. If not for quickly dissolving his Yin Qi Spiritual Power into his blood and marrow, the intense Yang Energy radiating from the colossal creature might very well have cooked his flesh!

Looking up, he saw that the massive turtle was about eight meters tall, its raised shell showing signs of aging, and wrapped around by concentric circles of withered tree roots.

"This is an Ancient Xuan Turtle!" said Ye Yuqiao.

After she spoke, a purple vortex appeared in the air beside Chen Hao, and Ye Yuqiao stepped out from the vortex.

"Ancient Xuan Turtle?" Chen Hao looked bewildered. "It's dead, right?"

"Mm!" Ye Yuqiao nodded, then took Chen Hao's hand. "If it's fossilized, of course it's dead! There should be a Turtle Spirit Stone inside it; otherwise, there wouldn't be such strong Yang Energy around here!"

"How big must that Turtle Spirit Stone be!" Chen Hao exclaimed! Suddenly, he envisioned a Turtle Spirit Stone the size of a human head in his mind. He couldn't imagine what he would become if he absorbed all of the Yang Energy from that stone into his body.

Then, holding Ye Yuqiao's hand, Chen Hao walked forward, looking at the giant Ancient Xuan Turtle as if touring a scenic spot.

Coming to the head of the Ancient Xuan Turtle, the two stopped and observed closely. Unlike ordinary turtles, this Ancient Xuan Turtle had a bird's head that shone with the same dark red color as its tail.

After a while, Ye Yuqiao pulled Chen Hao's hand closer to the head of the Ancient Xuan Turtle. Placing their interlocked hands on the turtle's forehead, she said, "Close your eyes and concentrate. Absorb the Yang Energy from the Turtle Spirit Stone inside."

"Okay!" Chen Hao nodded to Ye Yuqiao, and just as he was about to close his eyes, the compass in his other hand suddenly vibrated and flashed with red light!

Chen Hao was greatly shocked!

Because the appearance of red light on the compass meant that a demon was nearby!

At that moment, feeling a strange presence approaching from behind, Ye Yuqiao and Chen Hao both turned around, only to see...

(Dear book-loving friends, due to overtime work and personal reasons, I can only update two chapters today. I will make up for it after taking a couple of days off. Here, Xiao Xiong wishes everyone a happy Valentine's Day. Also, there's a red envelope event happening in the group recently. It's not much, just a token of appreciation. Hope friends who are interested will join.)

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.