He began his journey to becoming a true immortal by causing others to fail their tribulations.

After regaining his confidence, Ding Yuan took out a jet-black bead that emitted black energy, made a hand seal, and a black shadow flew out of the bead.

The shadowy figure looked like a person wearing a black robe, with no facial features, but when it pounced, it could let out a sharp roar.

"Evil spirit? Heretical cultivator?" Xun Yan frowned slightly.

The path of cultivation is diverse, and some people will stop at nothing to pursue so-called power and efficiency.

Evil practitioners are one such example, as many of their techniques and supernatural powers are based on the suffering of others.

For example, they might steal the corpses of deceased cultivators, or even bind their souls for their own use.

Therefore, heretical cultivators are like rats in the street on the Spirit Sea Continent, hated and beaten by everyone.

Not to mention the Misty Sect, even the Joyful Union Sect looks down on evil cultivators. Wherever they encounter them, they will kill them if they have the power.

"This guy is beyond saving, so there's even less of a conscience to interfere with his tribulation, although I don't have much of a conscience either."

Even while internally criticizing himself, Xun Yan's hands moved swiftly.

With a wave of his hand, the magical sword he had previously taken from Liu Kou fell like raindrops once more.

Although evil spirits have no physical form, they are not immune to harm.

Especially when facing cultivators, spiritual power of any attribute can deliver an effective attack.

Furthermore, lightning-type spiritual power is naturally effective against evil spirits.

Therefore, when faced with a longsword imbued with lightning-based spiritual power, even a fierce evil spirit would choose to dodge rather than confront it head-on.

This gave Xun Yan room to maneuver.

However, due to the insufficient number of longswords and the high speed of the evil spirit itself, Xun Yan's attacks never landed on the evil spirit.

However, with the help of the Earth Concealment Technique, even with the evil spirits unleashing their various outbursts, they couldn't even touch Xun Yan's clothes.

The two sides went back and forth like this for a while, with neither side gaining the upper hand.

boom--

After withstanding another tribulation lightning bolt, Ding Yuan couldn't help but smile and say:

"This inner disciple of the Misty Sect is indeed powerful, but he can't deal with my evil spirit in a short time."

Once I successfully overcome my tribulation, I will consume all the pills. Even if I cannot recover to my optimal state, as long as I can recover to about 50%,

"Even with my Golden Core Realm strength, I can easily defeat a Foundation Establishment Realm opponent. It's a bit surprising, but I'll definitely be the victor in the end!"

Just as Ding Yuan was about to burst out laughing, he heard Xun Yan chuckle and say, "It's almost time!"

"Hmm?" Ding Yuan looked puzzled upon hearing this, but he immediately felt a deadly sense of crisis approaching.

Xun Yan raised his hand, and a stream of light suddenly burst forth from the longsword that had fallen to the ground.

It turns out that when Xun Yan used the Ten Thousand Swords Technique, he seemed to have failed to hit the evil spirit, but in fact he had hidden the Twelve Star Heavenly Array Flags in his longsword.

As a magical artifact, the size of the Twelve Star Heavenly Banners can be adjusted.

The largest can flutter in the wind like a flag in battle, while the smallest is only slightly larger than a toothpick, more than enough to be hidden in a longsword.

The longsword appeared to be heading towards the evil spirit, but that was just a side effect; its real purpose was to land at the designated spot.

Now that the Twelve Star Heavenly Array Flags have landed at all the appropriate points, Xun Yan made a hand seal and activated the Nine Heavens Thunder Array.

As the formation was activated, a bolt of pale purple lightning struck down, hitting the evil spirit squarely.

With the blessing of the tribulation thunderclouds, the power of this heavenly lightning was greatly enhanced.

In addition, it has a very strong restraining effect on evil spirits.

After letting out a shriek, the evil spirit vanished into nothingness in the thunderbolt.

As the evil spirit dissipated, Ding Yuan suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood, and his entire body visibly weakened.

In no time at all, he turned into a skinny old man.

The methods of evil cultivators are bizarre and difficult to guard against, but everything comes at a price.

When the spells and supernatural powers of evil cultivators are broken, they often have to suffer terrible backlash.

Ding Yuan is relatively fortunate; some evil cultivators suffer a fate worse than death after being attacked by the backlash.

"You...you..." Ding Yuan gasped for breath, as if he might kick the bucket at any moment.

He never expected that Xun Yan would know formations, especially the most powerful lightning-attracting formation in this environment.

Even more unexpectedly, Xun Yan possessed spiritual artifacts, and a complete set of them at that.

He had been cultivating diligently for nearly two hundred years, and he had never even seen a spiritual weapon, let alone a complete set of spiritual artifacts.

Then he thought, if an inner disciple of the Misty Sect could produce a spiritual weapon, what about those of higher status?

Even without those big shots taking action, the items in the hands of an inner sect elder would probably be enough to completely overwhelm him!

Previously, I had been too narrow-minded, and I became complacent after obtaining the opportunity. Now it seems that I was a bit too arrogant.

Even if they had the opportunity to develop in secret, it might make the Yu Dan Sect better, but trying to challenge the Piao Miao Sect with this would be like an ant trying to shake a tree.

"But why am I so arrogant?" Ding Yuan suddenly thought of a crucial question.

Then he asked himself and answered, "It seems like there's a voice that's always bewitching me, that voice..."

Before Ding Yuan could continue thinking, his soul was wracked with pain, but he was too weak to even scream.

His consciousness grew increasingly blurred until he finally succumbed to complete darkness.

However, although Ding Yuan's consciousness completely dissipated, in Xun Yan's eyes, Ding Yuan changed again.

Black smoke billowed from his body, giving him an even more sinister aura—a pure evil, devoid of any eeriness.

Ding Yuan, his eyes bloodshot, roared:

"You deserve to die! You ruined the blood food I finally found!"

I could have simply waited until he broke through to the Golden Core stage, then taken advantage of his weakness to devour everything he possessed and regain my strength. But now, I have nothing left.

"Since that's the case, I won't let you get away with it!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a thick black mist gushed out of Ding Yuan's mouth and headed straight for Xun Yan.

Xun Yan decisively used the Earth Concealment Technique to create distance, and then raised his hand again, sending down a bolt of lightning that struck the black mist.

Although the black mist was dispersed, it did not disappear; in fact, a streak of blood-red light appeared.

The speed of this blood-red light was extremely fast, and even though Xun Yan was prepared, he couldn't react in time.

Just as he was thinking of using his golden silk armor to withstand the attack, something flew out of his spatial ring on its own—the mysterious leaf that the outer sect steward had given him earlier.

This leaf not only precisely blocked the blood-red light, but also absorbed it all in the blink of an eye.

Xun Yan was surprised by Ye Zi's sudden appearance, while the black mist let out a shocked yet ecstatic sound: "Hahaha! I never expected to find it here!"