Cultivation begins with planting techniques

Chapter 337: Succession Qualification
After all, he is an old ghost who has been sealed in this lava underground palace for tens of thousands of years. Although his identity is mysterious, he is most likely one of the Nascent Soul cultivators who fought in the Tiangong Palace back then.

The reason why it has been able to survive for so long is probably because it is bound by the Tiangong Temple. Although it cannot escape, it is provided with support and maintenance, so it has not been destroyed by the passing of time.

If his current state is truly the result of the fusion of many residual souls, it is possible that in addition to the souls of the elders and disciples of the Tiangong Temple, there may also be the souls of the Nascent Soul cultivators who are besieging them.

After all, even if the Nascent Soul dies and its soul is incomplete, it is not possible for the soul of another ordinary cultivator to merge with it without being destroyed by its higher nature.

In this case, the ancient secrets that this old ghost knows are probably unimaginable.

He probably knows everything about the Tiangong Temple, and there are no real secrets about it.

He, who had occupied his own puppet, seemed to come and go freely, quickly shuttling through the mechanical hall that looked like a huge island and a prosperous city, and flew all the way to the depths of the Tiangong Hall.

Even if there were various chaotic formations blocking his way, he could handle them easily, either by directly manipulating them open and passing through, or by bypassing them early and finding another way.

When encountering a high-level forbidden formation that cannot be avoided, he would even directly search for the remaining quasi-third-level forbidden-breaking talismans from the storage magic tools carried by the puppet as an aid, and then use his own means to forcibly open the channel and pass through it at a high speed.

Li Ye's soul was hidden in the skeleton of the Sky Realm Tree. Seeing the methods he used along the way and the various buildings he passed by, he felt it was a pity in his heart.

Although those places may not be as important as the core buildings of the sect such as the Jiqiao Pavilion, and most of them seem to be severely damaged, they are also likely to be places where some treasures are left. It is a waste for this person to ignore them.

And there is the examination hall.

Although it was mostly destroyed and torn into pieces, it seemed that a considerable part of the main body was still preserved.

Based on what happened when Li Ye encountered the dilapidated examination hall, if he could trigger the examination again, he might be able to directly obtain the fourth level of the Tiangong Sutra through this place...

Originally, he thought that if he couldn't enter the Jiqiao Pavilion, it should be feasible to try his luck here.

But considering that the old ghost is now heading straight into the depths of the giant city, there is no need to think about this plan for the time being.

Let's first see what this old ghost has up his sleeve... Even if we want to use our trump card to severely injure or even wipe him out, we must leave as few hidden dangers as possible.

And the way he casually took his own things and threw out the forbidden talisman as if it were free made Li Ye curse inwardly.

If it weren't for the years of training, the skeleton of the Sky Realm Tree would have developed some magical properties and generated an internal space, in which all his truly valuable trump cards were. Otherwise, according to this old ghost's operation, they would have been destroyed by him long ago!

However, as the old ghost went deeper, Li Ye saw the place he had been thinking about day and night, the Jiqiao Pavilion.

Even though the tower was half-destroyed and showed obvious signs of being broken into and looted, most of the formation's restrictions were still preserved, and it still had considerable power.

The old ghost took a look from afar, but just sighed secretly, and his escape speed did not slow down at all despite the cold wind.

The closer he got to the central core, the more traces of devastating destruction he saw everywhere, and the level of the formations he encountered also increased. However, the formations became more stable and complete, and his efficiency in moving forward became even higher.

He took out a token from his soul body. The pattern on it was intricate and far superior to the disciple tokens that Li Ye had obtained in the past.

It had a miraculous effect in the face of these restrictions, allowing him to pass unhindered and enter the main hall located in the central mountain of Tiangong Temple.

The hall is symmetrical and magnificent in shape, with a unique majesty.

In the hall, a metal sphere composed of countless intertwined rings is quietly suspended. It is an existence called Tiangong Core. Compared with the many dilapidated things in the outside world, it and the hall appear to be intact.

This Heavenly Core connects the entire Heavenly Work Hall's arrays and spiritual energy, serving as the central control center and puppet mind for the entire Mechanical Hall. As the ruler of this place, one can use this Heavenly Work Core to control the power of the Heavenly Work Hall at any time according to their authority.

On weekdays, with its intelligence and spirituality, it can assist the operation of the Tiangong Hall when operating on its own, saving a lot of monks' energy.

It is also the only key to unlock the true core secrets of the Tiangong Temple.

As the old ghost stepped into the hall, he saw the slowly rotating Tiangong Core suddenly stop, and a ray of light was projected from the core and fell on the natal puppet.

At this time, the old ghost restrained his own soul power and revealed the core of the puppet that was sealed by the Tiangong Heart Seal. When Li Ye's mind was swept by the spiritual light, he immediately received feedback!

"No third-level natal puppet has been recorded... possesses Elder Zhou Luning's token... and is a disciple of our sect, verified!"

A cold sound came from the rotating sphere, and then the spiritual light was withdrawn and there was no movement again.

It seemed to be simply distinguishing between friend and foe and deciding whether to attack.

The old ghost seemed to have anticipated this situation. He walked forward calmly, raised the token in his hand, and said loudly:
"Heavenly Core, I have come here to carry out the elders' will. I want to start the inheritance ceremony!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the ring paused, and then its speed increased.

"The person with the highest authority has died... The subsequent qualified successor has also died... The connection with the main sect has lasted for over five thousand years, and the succession authority has been released..."

"As the only survivor in the Tiangong Temple today, the unknown disciple holding the elder token is qualified to inherit..."

"According to the rules of the Tiangong Temple, the natal puppet is the disciple's second incarnation. It has the same authority and responsibilities within the sect and meets the conditions for the succession ceremony..."

"The inheritance ceremony begins!"

As the cold words came out, the rotation speed of the Tiangong Core increased dramatically, and it emitted a black and red light, like a small sun.

At the same time, the entire city shook slightly.

The mechanisms in this hall were changing rapidly, and the ground beneath the Tiangong Core cracked open by itself, revealing a passage that seemed to lead directly underground.

"Hahahaha! It really works!"

The old ghost laughed happily, his voice overlapping and varying, becoming even more eerie under the black and red light that looked like iron and fire.

He looked at the passage and jumped down without hesitation, straight into the depths.

At this point, Li Ye, who roughly knew his plan, had a sudden change of mind.

This Tiangong Temple actually has such rules.

This made him, a cultivator who learned the Tiangong Sutra ten thousand years later, qualified to inherit this palace of mechanisms!
The reason why the old ghost kept wanting to lure people in was that he wanted to control a cultivator who practiced the Tiangong Sutra, so as to bypass the problem that he was a ghost and was not recognized by the central core!

If he really succeeded, he could use his puppet body to take charge of Tiangong Palace again today, and escape from this dark underground cave and be born again!

(End of this chapter)