Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

After a long pause, True Monarch Qingyou finally spoke: "Alright."

"I will bear all the consequences."

The words had barely left his mouth—

The white paper in Han Wujiu's hand suddenly glowed with a blue light.

The mark, which he had held in his hand for many days and checked countless times for no spiritual energy fluctuations, now seemed to be ignited by something.

A bluish light rose from the paper and condensed in the air into a blurry human silhouette.

A young voice came from the light.

"Oh, really?"

Three words, neither too light nor too heavy, like a casual question asked while passing by.

Qingyou Zhenjun suddenly stood up.

Her aura was instantly pushed to its limit, her eyes shone brightly, and the pressure of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator poured out like a tidal wave.

"Who goes there!"

She raised her hand and clenched it, and the bright moon on the dome of the Xuanyou Palace suddenly burst forth with a blinding, cold light.

The entire palace awoke under her power—six fourth-order arrays simultaneously lit up from the ground, the dome, and the four walls, each array pattern dazzlingly intricate.

Twelve fourth-order restrictions emerged from the void, transforming into chains of spiritual light that enveloped the azure light from all directions.

not only that.

Nine figures emerged from the stone pillars in the hall, each exuding the aura of a fourth-tier ghost king. Their faces were either ferocious or numb, and their eye sockets flickered with the unique ghostly green soul fire of the Azure Nether True Monarch.

These are all fourth-tier ghost kings she devoured over the past thousand years, which have been refined into fourth-tier Dharma bodies.

Nine Ghost King Dharma Bodies, six fourth-order formations, twelve restrictions, plus the power of the Xuan You Palace itself.

This lineup, even if it were a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator trapped inside, would only result in death.

However, the blue light only rippled slightly.

Like a pebble thrown into a still lake.

A halo of cyan light spread out from the mark, so gentle as to be almost silent, passing through everything in its path.

The six arrays froze in mid-air, the array patterns stopped flowing, and the twelve restrictions shattered, turning into scattered fragments of spiritual light.

The nine ghost kings froze in place, their soul fires completely frozen.

Even Qingyou Zhenjun himself was suppressed by an invisible force.

She tried to break free, only to find that the surrounding space was also confined.

Spatial rules.

She could only grit her teeth and squeeze out those four words.

The difference between Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation lies in the rules.

An entity that controls the rules of space can, in the blink of an eye, detach the entire palace from the world—her formations, restrictions, and avatar are all trapped in this special space.

Their lives were naturally in the hands of the other side.

Qingyou Zhenjun took a deep breath, suppressing all his fear, and changed his words: "Greetings, Qingyuan Zhenjun."

"Please forgive me, My Lord. My previous plan was entirely my own overestimation of my abilities. All the blame lies with me, and I am willing to bear it all."

The voice in the halo paused for a moment.

"What crime have you committed?"

Qingyou Zhenjun paused for a moment, before he could speak.

The voice said again, "I agree."

She was completely stunned.

Coming to his senses, he tentatively asked, "Our plan... to return to the sect under the True Lord's name?"

"I agree."

The tone was casual, as if he were talking about something trivial.

Before the atmosphere in the hall could recover from its tension, the voice suddenly changed the subject.

"Little one, your name is clearly Qingyou, so why is this palace black?"

Qingyou Zhenjun was taken aback for a moment, then honestly replied, "It was blue when it was refined into a fourth-order magic weapon, but over the years it has absorbed too much Yin energy from the Nether Bone Domain to advance, and it has turned black."

"It doesn't look good."

As soon as he finished speaking, the mark suddenly shone brightly, transforming into a blue sun that hung above the dome.

The sun emitted a warm, gentle blue light, like the morning light of spring.

The entire Xuanyou Palace was bathed in this blue light.

The dullness on the surface of the black crystal pillar faded at a speed visible to the naked eye, revealing the warm, jade-like luster beneath.

The gray dome was covered by a layer of pale blue light, and the artificial moon also turned into a soft jade color under the influence of the blue light.

The entire palace seemed to have been completely transformed, inside and out.

The blue light dissipated.

The hall fell silent.

It should now be called Qingyou Palace.

The voice came down again, its tone a bit lighter: "That's more like it, little guy. So what if you're over two thousand years old? It's the age for hard work."

The young people are so lifeless.

After he finished speaking, the last wisp of green light on the mark disappeared completely, turning back into a mark without any spiritual energy fluctuations, and landed on Han Wujiu's white paper.

The suppression has been lifted.

Luo Ying, the Ghost King, and Han Wujiu regained their mobility at the same time, both panting heavily—although their bodies had been restrained, their consciousness had remained clear.

They heard every word and witnessed the whole process.

The three of them gathered around again, looking at the white paper in Han Wujiu's hand.

The nine demon kings' physical forms have retreated back to the stone pillars on their own.

Even a fourth-tier palace-level magic weapon and a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator had no chance to resist this mark.

After a long pause, Luo Ying finally spoke, her voice somewhat hoarse: "A single mark... suppressed a fourth-grade high-quality magic weapon and a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator."

Qingyou Zhenjun did not respond.

She gazed at the azure dome, remaining silent for a long time before finally uttering only one sentence: "True Lord Qingyuan, unfathomable indeed."

She withdrew her gaze, and her aura changed instantly.

The previous hesitation had been completely suppressed and replaced by decisiveness.

"Since True Lord Qingyuan has spoken, our Qingyou lineage cannot be impolite."

She looked at Han Wujiu, "Wujiu, I heard that Lin Zhao is collecting Ghost Soul Crystals. Send him a hundred Tier 3 Ghost Soul Crystals and tell him to wait a while longer."

She then turned to Luo Ying: "Luo Ying, summon all the Ghost Kings of the Nether Bone Domain for a gathering. I wasn't interested before, but now—"

She paused for a moment, then said, "I want to take control of the Ghost Cultivation lineage and unify the Nether Bone Domain."

Luo Ying hesitated slightly: "Fourth-tier Ghost Kings are unruly and arrogant; I'm afraid some people might be unwilling."

Qingyou Zhenjun turned and walked towards the palace gate, his steps neither hurried nor slow.

The palace doors opened before her, letting in the dim light from outside, casting a half-light and half-shadow on her delicate profile.

"Those who obey me will prosper, those who defy me will perish."

His voice was soft, his tone calm, and he carried a sense of indifference that seemed to come as a matter of course.

"Those who refuse to surrender and harbor disloyal intentions will all enter my Azure Palace to help me achieve the Great Dao of Dharma Body."

---

half a month later.

Han Wujiu returned to the vicinity of the underground palace and placed a storage bag in front of Lin Zhao.

The bag was opened, revealing one hundred Tier 3 Ghost Crystals, each one purified, its soul power pure and without a trace of impurity.

Ten of them were larger than the others and had a deeper color.

Tier 3 Supreme Grade, Ghost Crystal.

If we bring this quantity back to the sect and hand it over to the main body, it will take at least ten years just to digest it.

It is enough to push the divine sense of the main body from the late stage of Core Formation to the peak of Core Formation, and even touch the threshold of Nascent Soul.