131: Seal of the Moon

What this branch, with its mouth, crushed and swallowed, was a broadsword of Qi Warrior Grade.

Now, this branch transformed into the shape of a broadsword.

It emanated waves of astonishing blade Qi Strength,

tearing through the air.

“This should just be one application of the ‘corrosion breath’ ability.”

Xiao Shi mused.

After some exploration,

he came to understand that

the corrosion breath ability was mainly divided into two types.

One type was to directly crush and destroy an object,

thereby allowing it to transform into the object’s shape.

The other type was to corrode and destroy the core of an object, thereby allowing itself to replace the corroded and destroyed core.

Xiao Shi then took out another Qi Warrior Grade weapon.

Through the Tree Shadow, he attempted to corrode and destroy it.

This core corrosion and destruction was silent and extremely difficult to detect.

After being corroded and destroyed,

this Qi Warrior Grade weapon immediately turned into an ordinary, unremarkable weapon.

It no longer possessed any of the characteristics of a Qi Warrior Grade weapon.

And after the Tree Shadow destroyed its core,

it was able to replace its core,

making the weapon completely controlled by the Tree Shadow.

The effect of this ability immediately gave Xiao Shi many ideas.

The first thing he thought of was to use this ability to more comprehensively cultivate the Tree Shadow.

For example, the various materials that he usually dropped after killing enemies

could all be used to strengthen the Tree Shadow through the ‘corrosion breath’ ability.

Under normal circumstances,

these materials would be difficult to apply to the Tree Shadow.

Just like forging materials, they could usually only be used for forging.

Alchemy materials could only be used for alchemy.

Unless the materials were compatible with both,

otherwise, they could only be used in their respective fields.

But now, the Tree Shadow could obtain the effects of these materials through the ‘corrosion breath’ ability.

“Then…”

“As long as I have enough materials,”

“I will be able to comprehensively enhance the Tree Shadow!!”

Xiao Shi’s heart was filled with excitement.

Ordinary people, in terms of cultivating Shadow Seed,

could only cultivate in one direction.

For example, specializing in sharpness, or specializing in defense, etc.

But Xiao Shi could specialize in everything!

This was truly terrifying!

Just thinking about a comprehensively proficient Tree Shadow made Xiao Shi excited.

In addition to this,

the core corrosion and destruction brought by the corrosion breath

also allowed the Tree Shadow to destroy the enemy’s weapons, armor, and important treasures during combat.

Once these important items were destroyed in battle, the entire situation would undergo a major reversal.

At the same time, this also gave Xiao Shi a powerful new combat method!

Xiao Shi was very satisfied with the improvements brought by the corrosion breath.

He still had many high-quality items on him.

After all, a total of fourteen high-quality items had dropped this time.

However, the remaining high-quality items were not very useful to him.

Xiao Shi planned to use all the less useful high-quality items for the expansion of his Qi Vortex.

Although he had successfully activated all his Qi Vortex,

only over thirty of them had been expanded to their Limit Taiyin Qi Vortex.

And Xiao Shi’s goal was to expand all the Qi Vortex in his body to their limit!

In this way,

the items he needed would be extremely numerous.

However, according to Xiao Shi’s conjecture,

expanding the Qi Vortex with high-quality items would definitely be more effective than expanding them with other items.

Perhaps one high-quality item could expand several Qi Vortex to their limit.

Thinking of this,

Xiao Shi immediately began to expand his Qi Vortex using the high-quality items in his hand.

As the high-quality items in his hand were devoured by his Devouring Expansion Vortex Technique and transformed into energy for expanding the Qi Vortex,

Xiao Shi immediately felt that many Qi Vortex began to expand simultaneously.

Just one high-quality item brought about the simultaneous expansion of numerous Qi Vortex.

“No…”

“To be precise, these should be two high-quality items!”

Xiao Shi knew that the reason for such good results, in addition to the power of the high-quality items themselves, was partly due to the mysterious badge!

Among the functions of the mysterious badge,

one was that when using certain items, there would be a double effect.

Although not every use would have a double effect,

there was a certain probability… but when this effect was triggered, it often allowed Xiao Shi to expand his Qi Vortex more quickly.

Now, he had successfully triggered this function of the mysterious badge.

As a result, many Qi Vortex in his body all received a great degree of expansion.

In an instant, ten Qi Vortex directly expanded to their limit!

This greatly shocked Xiao Shi.

After all, such a rate of expansion… he had never experienced before!

Even the Taiyin Spiritual Liquid that dropped when he killed the Eight-Marked Evil Spirit was not this fast in terms of Qi Vortex expansion.

Xiao Shi immediately continued to expand his Qi Vortex using the high-quality items in his hand.

Although not every high-quality item’s expansion would necessarily trigger the double effect of the mysterious badge,

even a single high-quality item could bring about a great expansion.

When Xiao Shi used all the remaining nine high-quality items for the expansion of his Qi Vortex,

he successfully expanded ninety-six Limit Taiyin Qi Vortex!

Under so many Limit Taiyin Qi Vortex,

Xiao Shi’s entire physique underwent a huge change.

He clearly felt that

once he expanded all his Qi Vortex to their limit, his body would transform into a pure Tai Yin Body!

At that time, whether it was his combat power or the execution of Taiyin Arts, there would be a huge improvement.

Xiao Shi was very much looking forward to this.

As long as he could continue to kill Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection and drop high-quality items, it would not be difficult to expand the remaining Qi Vortex to their limit.

However, the expansion of the last main vortex might be different from other Qi Vortex.

The items required might be more.

In addition to this,

the Qi Warrior Grade Martial Emperor Regalia had still not dropped.

This also made Xiao Shi realize that he needed to perform more kills in the Qi Martial Realm.

In any case,

the Emperor's Armor was a must-have!

This represented his goal in every realm of martial arts.

However, there were no more good killing opportunities here now, so he could only look for other killing opportunities outside later.

Swish!

Xiao Shi’s figure flashed out of thin air.

He returned to the path leading to the core area.

Cheng Tianhao and the other four were still surrounded by numerous branches.

They all stayed inside obediently,

not daring to attack and destroy.

After all, their lives were now entirely at Xiao Shi’s whim.

They dared not do anything that would anger Xiao Shi.

As for the four of them, Xiao Shi had already thought of a way to deal with them.

With a thought,

the branches surrounding Cheng Tianhao and the others immediately retracted into the ground.

Cheng Tianhao and the other four looked at Xiao Shi with trepidation.

“Now, I’ll give you a chance to live.”

Xiao Shi said, raising a finger.

“Do not resist, otherwise… you will bear the consequences!”

Whoosh!

Xiao Shi’s figure flashed.

He appeared directly in front of Cheng Tianhao.

His finger, whistling through the air, landed directly on Cheng Tianhao.

Cheng Tianhao’s heart was very nervous.

At the same time, fear arose.

He instinctively wanted to dodge and resist.

But recalling Xiao Shi’s words,

he forcefully suppressed the urge to dodge and resist.

Gritting his teeth,

he made himself stand still.

Chirp!

Xiao Shi’s finger landed directly on Cheng Tianhao’s forehead.

Amidst the convergence of numerous Taiyin Qi Strength,

a special mark formed on Cheng Tianhao’s forehead.

Cheng Tianhao, meanwhile, clutched his head with both hands, his expression pained.

It seemed that this mark made him extremely uncomfortable.

And after Xiao Shi had done all this,

he looked at the others.

With a flash of his figure,

he successively came before the other three.

He used his finger to form a special mark on each of their foreheads.

Although everyone was terrified in their hearts,

they dared not resist.

They allowed Xiao Shi to form the marks on their foreheads.

The mark Xiao Shi formed… was precisely the Taiyin Seal among the three great Taiyin Arts!

This Taiyin Arts was not the same as the Extreme Seal.

The function of the Taiyin Seal was primarily for enslavement!

However, the conditions for such enslavement were extremely stringent.

Especially for enslaving people of the same cultivation level, or people with higher cultivation than oneself, the difficulty would be extremely great.

With Xiao Shi’s current cultivation,

enslaving a Martial Warrior of the Entrance to Martial Realm would naturally be very easy.

However, enslaving these several Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection… and those who had completed the Qi Vortex combination and condensation, the difficulty was somewhat high.

This required them not to resist.

Even the slightest resistance would cause the entire enslavement to fail.

This was also because Xiao Shi had now expanded his Limit Taiyin Qi Vortex to ninety-six, making the execution of this Taiyin Arts much easier than before.

Otherwise, even if they didn’t resist, it would be difficult to enslave them.

Soon,

when the Taiyin Seal on their foreheads stabilized,

the four of them officially became Xiao Shi’s servants under the effect of the Taiyin Seal!

Thereafter,

they would be completely loyal to Xiao Shi.

They could not disobey any of Xiao Shi’s commands.

This was also the only way Xiao Shi could think of to make them keep secrets.

After all, no matter how they promised to keep secrets for him, it was not foolproof.

Xiao Shi didn't trust them.

Only by enslaving them… could he feel at ease.

At the same time, within the Taiyin Seal, Xiao Shi also issued an instruction that once they mentioned anything related to him to others, the Taiyin Seal would directly obliterate them!

Only in this way could Xiao Shi ensure their complete secrecy!

Furthermore,

these four individuals all held certain positions and statuses within the Rapid Shadow Palace.

With these four as his servants,

Xiao Shi could act more conveniently within the Rapid Shadow Palace.

After all, when he himself couldn't reveal his identity, he greatly needed someone to represent him and handle some matters.

This way, he could safely preside from behind the scenes,

without worrying about the issue of his identity being exposed.

As the Taiyin Seal stabilized,

Cheng Tianhao and the other four were no longer in pain.

While they felt subservient to Xiao Shi, they also surprisingly discovered that the marks on their foreheads could bring them some enhancement in strength.

Especially at night,

they could even utilize a portion of Tai Yin Power.

At the same time, they enjoyed the combat power bonus of Tai Yin during the night!

This also made them feel a little better.

“Master, do we need to go to the core area to get the ancient tree crystal now?”

Cheng Tianhao had completely accepted his role as a servant.

He respectfully asked Xiao Shi.

In his opinion,

since Xiao Shi had become their master, the ancient tree crystal naturally belonged to Xiao Shi.

However,

if they were to leave here and the Rapid Shadow Palace learned that the ancient tree crystal was not obtained by one of the five sequence contenders, but by one of the gauntlets, there might be some trouble.

He couldn't help but start to ponder countermeasures for Xiao Shi.

But as soon as he finished speaking,

he saw Xiao Shi suddenly flip his hand and take out an ancient tree crystal, saying,

“I don’t intend to keep this ancient tree crystal. You decide who is suitable to take it.”

As Xiao Shi’s words came out,

Cheng Tianhao and the other four’s eyes all lit up.

At the same time, they felt even more incredible.

After all, in their eyes,

the ancient tree crystal possessed an indescribably astonishing value.

The other party had clearly already obtained it, yet didn’t want it, but instead gave it to them… This made them feel somewhat flattered.

“Remember, our relationship only exists in the shadows. On the surface, not a single bit must be revealed!”

Xiao Shi sternly instructed.

He naturally couldn’t allow his current identity to obtain the ancient tree crystal and thus push himself into the limelight.

The best method

was to choose one of the four of them and make him a Rapid Shadow Palace sequence.

Having a Rapid Shadow Palace sequence servant

would be more beneficial to himself.

“Yes!”

Cheng Tianhao and the other four respectfully nodded.

They understood that this master was not the type who liked to be high-profile, but rather intended to continue hiding himself in the shadows.

Just like how none of them had discovered before that this master actually possessed such terrifying strength.

For a moment,

Cheng Tianhao and the others’ eyes all burned with fervor.

After all, their purpose in coming here this time was for this ancient tree crystal.

Originally, with Xiao Shi’s intervention, they had already given up.

Unexpectedly… the other party gave them this opportunity.

Although their hearts were all filled with immense longing,

no one dared to ask for it.

Xiao Shi glanced at them.

He simply made the decision for them.

“You.”

Xiao Shi directly handed the ancient tree crystal to Cheng Tianhao.

After all, among these four, he had the most contact with Cheng Tianhao and was more satisfied with Cheng Tianhao’s character.

Cheng Tianhao’s breathing hitched.

Looking at the ancient tree crystal Xiao Shi handed over, his heart was greatly shaken.

His hands trembled slightly as he took the ancient tree crystal from Xiao Shi’s hand.

With intense gratitude,

“Thank you, Master!!”

Xiao Shi nodded slightly.

He glanced at the somewhat disappointed other three.

With a flip of his hand,

several more ancient tree crystals appeared in his hand.

“As long as you serve me well, I will naturally give you these ancient tree crystals.”

Looking at the ancient tree crystals in Xiao Shi’s hand,

Cheng Tianhao and the other four were dumbfounded.

They had no idea that the other party had not just one, but several ancient tree crystals.

This immediately caused an incredibly huge impact on their minds.