Mortal: I really didn't want to be reborn as Zi Ling!

Jin Kui stood in the main hall for a long time, watching Zi Ling's figure disappear at the end of the corridor.

The flame of the ever-burning chandelier flickered gently, casting his shadow long and short across the floor tiles. He stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the open palace door, which lingered for a long time.

"Those who cannot live forever will eventually return to dust after thousands of years."

Jin Kui repeated Zi Ling's words in a low voice, his tone tinged with amusement.

"hehe--"

Laughter echoed in the empty hall:

"I'd like to see if you can achieve immortality."

Jin Kui lowered his eyes, his gaze seemingly piercing through countless barriers, landing on the small figure walking towards her parents.

He wasn't unaware of the unusual state of Zi Ling's dantian.

It is three times larger than that of a normal person.

This discovery made him lose much hope for Zi Ling.

A dantian three times larger than normal means that, at the same cultivation level, she can store three times the amount of magical power as an ordinary person.

Once they break through to the Nascent Soul stage, the Star Palace will have one more top-tier fighter capable of taking on three opponents at once. Looking across the entire Chaotic Star Sea, no one will dare to provoke the Star Palace.

But the prerequisite is that she can break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

With a dantian three times larger than a normal person's, she also requires three times the spiritual energy for cultivation. What others can fill in a year of cultivation, she needs three years to do. What others can gain from one bottle of pills a year's worth of cultivation, she needs to consume three bottles, or even more!

Let alone the Nascent Soul stage, in Jin Kui's view, with the other party's three spiritual roots, there was no possibility of him forming a core within a hundred years.

"Well—it's not entirely hopeless."

Jin Kui's eyes flickered slightly.

He remembered Zi Ling's special physique, which even he couldn't see through.

The degree of harmony between it and the demonic energy was extraordinary.

And that purple fragment of extraordinary origin.

His fingertips are still slightly numb.

Jin Kui's lips curled up slightly.

"If you can truly form your core within a hundred years, why shouldn't I lend you a hand?"

He thought of the Void Heaven Palace a hundred years later, and of that supreme treasure that caused countless righteous and demonic cultivators to fight to the death—the Heaven-Mending Pill.

If this cheap disciple can truly form her core within a hundred years, he wouldn't mind personally taking action to obtain a Heaven-Mending Pill for her.

If the Star Palace had a Nascent Soul cultivator whose magical power was three times that of ordinary cultivators, the entire Inner Star Sea would be as solid as a rock for the next thousand years.

But all of this depends on Zi Ling living to that day.

Jin Kui's smile gradually faded.

He wasn't naive enough to think that the old ghost of Extreme Yin Island would let the matter rest.

That old bastard is vindictive and suffered such a great loss at Zi Ling's hands. Even Jin Kui noticed the extraordinary nature of that fragment, so there's no reason why Ji Yin wouldn't know.

Even with his own warnings, he dared not personally intervene, but he would certainly continue to make underhanded moves.

"hehe--"

Jin Kui laughed again, this time with a more meaningful tone.

"Interesting. Let me see just how good you really are."

After saying that, he turned and left. He had to tell the Twin Saints about his sudden decision to take on a disciple, since their daughter was also his disciple.

Moreover, if that purple fragment could help his senior brothers and sisters break through to the Nascent Soul stage, he wouldn't mind sacrificing this cheap disciple for the future of the Star Palace.

-

at the same time.

Extremely Yin Island.

Wu Chou stood outside the stone chamber, his body hunched over, a fine layer of cold sweat beading on his forehead.

The stone chamber door was tightly shut, and wisps of black smoke seeped through the cracks, exuding a decaying and chilling aura.

In the distance, several collapsed palaces are still being cleared.

The rubble and broken beams formed a small mountain, and several low-ranking disciples were using their magic to move the rubble away piece by piece.

The sea breeze, carrying a salty, fishy smell, rushed in through the gaps in the damaged island-protecting array, causing the tattered flags to flutter wildly.

"Ancestor."

Wu Chou swallowed hard and cautiously began, "Most of the collapsed areas on the island have been cleaned up. It's just the loss—"

His voice grew softer and softer, as if he were afraid of disturbing his ancestor.

After a moment of silence in the stone chamber, the hoarse voice of the Extreme Yin Ancestor could be heard.

"How much was lost?"

Wu Chou hurriedly replied, "No less than a million spirit stones. Moreover... moreover, the key points of the island's protective array have been completely destroyed by that old thief Jin Kui. Ancestor, you are currently in seclusion. If you want to repair it, I'm afraid we'll have to ask Ancestor Hongyue of Hongyue Island to take action, which will be another considerable expense."

Silence fell once again in the stone chamber.

After a long while, the voice of the Extreme Yin Ancestor rang out again, this time speaking much slower, as if he was suppressing some emotion.

"Don't skimp on the spirit stones that are worth spending."

His voice paused, and he seemed a little breathless.

"My divine abilities have reached a crucial point. If it weren't for that damned Jin Kui forcibly landing on the island and forcing me out of seclusion, I could have achieved mastery in ten years at most."

At this point, the voice of the Extreme Yin Ancestor suddenly turned gloomy, as if it were being squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Now I'll have to spend another fifty years!"

Wu Chou felt his back was soaked with cold sweat. He could hear the barely contained anger in his ancestor's words.

Although the anger wasn't directed at him, it frightened him even more than if it were.

Extreme Yin certainly has reason to be angry.

Half a month ago, Jin Kui suddenly visited Ji Yin Island and, without saying a word, shattered the core of the island's protective array. Ji Yin was in seclusion cultivating his supernatural powers when he was disturbed by the terrifying fluctuations of magical power, and almost suffered a qi deviation.

He forced his way out of seclusion, and before he could figure out what had happened, Jin Kui gave him a severe dressing-down in front of all the disciples on the island.

—You people from Jiyin Island know perfectly well what you did on Kuixing Island.

The Sixth Elder is kind-hearted and considers how difficult your cultivation has been, so he only allowed you to stay on the island for a hundred years, which is already a great favor.

—But you dare to lay a hand on the family of the Star Palace Envoy?

—I will settle this score with you today on behalf of the Sixth Elder.

Every word was like a heavy hammer, striking Ji Yin's face.

He couldn't refute a single word of it.

The matter of Kui Xing Island was orchestrated by the Reverse Star Alliance. The Star Palace's decision not to investigate further due to the overall situation was already an act of great leniency. If he dared to utter a single word of dissent, Jin Kui would have every reason to have him executed on the spot.

After all, this wasn't the first time Jin Kui had done something like this.

He could only bow his head, admit his mistake, and promise to compensate.

And he promised not to cause any more trouble for Miaoyin Sect from now on.

For a Nascent Soul cultivator, this humiliation is worse than death.

Ji Yin even suspected that Jin Kui did it on purpose. What "settling accounts for the Sixth Elder" and what "saving face for the Star Palace" were clearly just excuses to warn him.

Otherwise, why would he have to come out of seclusion in person?

Why in front of all the disciples on the island?

This is clearly a case of making an example of someone.

And his extreme yin energy is like that chicken that was killed.

They even forced him to come out of seclusion, just to deliberately interrupt his cultivation and disgust him.

When Wu Chou saw that his ancestor had vented all his anger on Jin Kui, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. It seemed that his ancestor would not find out about his concealment and false report this time.

With those resources, my cultivation level should be able to recover to the mid-stage of Core Formation.

Before he could catch his breath, the extremely sinister voice rang out again, this time carrying an indescribable chill.

Wu Chou was startled, thinking he had been caught red-handed.