364: The strongest saint!

Xiao Shi's face was pale.

His entire soul radiated an intense weakness.

Although the black coffin within him had successfully preserved his soul, his current situation was extremely dire.

He could clearly feel it.

The existence within the black coffin had been severely wounded by the emperor soul.

It was no longer able to act.

And the emperor soul, stimulated by the existence within the black coffin, had become even more frenzied and dangerous than before.

With the items and methods Xiao Shi currently possessed,

it was impossible for him to resist the emperor soul in this state.

Previously, the emperor soul had time limitations.

But now, in its current state, the emperor soul no longer had any time limit.

Xiao Shi's predicament was extremely grim.

It was almost a certain death situation!

Just as he was feeling anxious about this,

Boom!!

His body trembled violently again.

Branches, like spiritual snakes, shot out from his body, sweeping towards the emperor soul ahead.

These branches were vastly different from the branches previously displayed by the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree; they were not only thicker, but also adorned with profound and complex patterns that made one dizzy just by looking at them.

Whoosh!

When these branches touched the emperor soul, they immediately wrapped around it.

Even the terrifying power emanating from the emperor soul could not shatter these branches, especially after the patterns on the branches began to glow. These branches seemed capable of bypassing all power, causing the emperor soul's power to become completely ineffective when applied to them.

Hiss!

In an instant,

these branches completely wrapped and enveloped the entire body of the emperor soul.

And from these branches, even more twigs began to grow at an astonishing speed.

However, they did not grow outwards.

Instead, they grew inwards, towards the emperor soul's body.

These new twigs pierced into the emperor soul's body, forming a powerful seal on it.

As a result, even if the emperor soul opened its eyes, its power was confined within its body and could not escape.

The emperor soul's expression was ferocious.

Xiao Shi could clearly perceive the intense emotional fluctuations emanating from the emperor soul.

However, under the entanglement and sealing of these branches, even the powerful emperor soul could only rage helplessly.

Whoosh!

The branches that had entangled the emperor soul coiled back.

Immediately, they carried the emperor soul and integrated it into Xiao Shi's body.

Only then was the crisis resolved.

However, Xiao Shi was still somewhat uneasy.

He quickly inspected the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree within his body.

Buzz!

When his consciousness focused on the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree within him,

his consciousness appeared before an enormous, colossal tree.

The Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, having completed its transformation, was now even larger and more astonishing than before.

Its branches and leaves were like a canopy, and its vines hung like curtains.

Both its branches and its trunk were vastly different from the original Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, becoming a combination of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree and the divine sealing tree that had once sealed the eye of imperial judgment.

However, most of its features still retained those of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree.

What particularly caught Xiao Shi's attention

was a soul body protruding from the trunk of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree—it was the former emperor soul!

The entire emperor soul was firmly sealed within the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, just like the eye of imperial judgment had been previously.

Xiao Shi's eyes flickered at this.

He realized that after absorbing the divine tree's heart from the divine sealing tree, the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree had acquired the sealing ability of the divine sealing tree.

This was an incredibly powerful seal.

Even the eye of imperial judgment, which was a demigod-level forbidden treasure, could not escape this seal.

The emperor soul was strong.

But it had not reached a level beyond demigod.

Therefore, when facing the seal of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, the emperor soul was helpless.

Upon seeing the emperor soul sealed by the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree,

Xiao Shi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree completed its transformation and sealed the emperor soul.

Otherwise, this time would surely have been a fatal situation!

Of course.

The black coffin's earlier intervention was also very important, buying him time.

Xiao Shi gazed at the sealed emperor soul before him.

This emperor soul did not fall into a deep sleep under the seal, like the eye of imperial judgment had previously.

He remained conscious.

His face was ferocious, and he struggled continuously.

However, no matter how he struggled, he could not break free from the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree's seal.

Since the emperor soul could not speak,

Xiao Shi could only perceive the emperor soul's emotions through the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree.

He discovered... that among the emperor soul's emotions, there was an incredibly intense hatred.

This hatred completely overshadowed his greed.

However, Xiao Shi knew that this hatred was not directed at himself, but at the existence within the black coffin.

Previously, upon seeing the existence within the black coffin act, the emperor soul had been greatly stimulated.

From this, it could be seen that there must be some kind of grievance between the existence in the black coffin and the Martial Emperor.

And it was a very significant grievance.

This was why the emperor soul was so intensely stimulated upon seeing him.

All this time, Xiao Shi did not know who the existence in the black coffin was.

His identity remained a mystery.

And there were no clues.

Until this moment.

He finally found some clues.

“Someone who could have such a deep grievance with the Martial Emperor must be a high-ranking figure on the Tianwu Continent, at least a demigod-level existence...”

“Such an existence, of course, was beyond my reach in the past, so it's understandable that there were no clues.”

Xiao Shi felt that now might be the opportunity to figure out who the existence within the black coffin truly was.

Since the mysterious person in the black coffin had such deep ties with the Martial Emperor,

perhaps a part of the mysterious person's memory could be awakened through the emperor soul.

Thinking of this,

Xiao Shi immediately called out to the existence within the black coffin.

However, the existence within the black coffin made no response.

This made Xiao Shi frown.

He felt that the existence within the black coffin seemed to have fallen back into a coma due to the severe injuries it had sustained earlier.

After all, the existence within the black coffin was already in a very poor state.

Its ability to act this time was already its limit; even if it hadn't been severely wounded by the emperor soul, its consciousness would have become even more fragmented.

And after being severely wounded by the emperor soul,

it had completely fallen into a deep sleep.

In that case,

Xiao Shi would not be able to learn its identity through the fragmented consciousness in the black coffin.

However, through this experience,

Xiao Shi had already learned that there was a deep entanglement between the mysterious person in the black coffin and the Martial Emperor.

Perhaps he could follow this clue later.

To investigate the identity of the mysterious person.

Currently, Xiao Shi could only temporarily set aside the mysterious person's identity.

And ponder another question.

“The box I opened earlier, what was inside it should have been a remnant soul of the Martial Emperor...”

“But why would the Martial Emperor specifically leave a remnant soul in such a box, and even shield it with the power of rules?”

Xiao Shi fell into deep thought about this.

He felt that all of this might need to be considered from the perspective of the Martial Emperor establishing this treasure vault.

After all, the Martial Emperor establishing a treasure vault here was, in itself, an unusual matter.

Logically speaking,

the Martial Emperor could have left all the treasures in the vault to the Great Wu Crown Prince, but instead, he chose to hide this treasure vault in this special area... seemingly not wanting anyone to enter here.

“What reason does the Martial Emperor have...”

“Not wanting to hand over the treasures in the vault to the Great Wu Crown Prince, and not wanting anyone to enter here?”

Xiao Shi fell into deep thought.

He pondered that the answer should lie among the treasures in the vault.

Before this,

he thought it was because of the fragment of the celestial compass inside the vault.

He thought the Martial Emperor didn't want anyone to reassemble the tianji plate.

But that alone might not be enough.

Besides the fragment of the celestial compass, there might be other reasons.

“Then it can only be this box...”

Although there were many treasures in this vault,

the truly high-grade treasures were only the fragment of the celestial compass, the Martial Emperors Royal Robe, and this box containing what was suspected to be the Martial Emperor's remnant soul.

Xiao Shi felt that the remnant soul in this box must be related to some major secret he didn't know!

“If someone else entered this treasure vault, or if I didn't have the Martial Emperor Belt to form an emperor soul, what kind of situation would they face after opening this box?”

Xiao Shi suddenly thought of the key point.

From previous experience,

the Martial Emperor's remnant soul in the box seemed to have a great craving for souls.

If he hadn't had the Martial Emperor Belt to form an emperor soul, Xiao Shi felt that the Martial Emperor's remnant soul would most likely have chosen to directly devour the soul of the person who opened the box.

“So that means...”

“The Martial Emperor didn't want people to enter this special area because he didn't want anyone's soul to be devoured after opening this box?”

“Then why did he create such a box?”

Xiao Shi felt that he was still missing some important information.

He looked at the emperor soul now sealed within the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, pondering that if he wanted to know the answer, he might have to find a way through the emperor soul.

It was a pity that the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree could only seal the emperor soul at present.

It could not interrogate him.

At the same time, the emperor soul itself was incomplete and could not speak.

“Since I can't find a way through the emperor soul, then I'll try to study that box...”

With this thought,

Xiao Shi's gaze focused on the box in his hand.

After the box was opened, it no longer had any special features.

However, the box still contained the shielding power of rules.

After some research,

Xiao Shi couldn't find any useful information from the box.

He thought for a moment.

He simply cut off a portion of his own soul, put this portion of his soul into the box, imitating the Martial Emperor.

He soon discovered... that this box seemed to have the function of preserving souls!

It could preserve the soul he put into it very well, preventing it from gradually dissipating due to the soul's incompleteness.

Under normal circumstances,

an incomplete soul body might not have any problems in a short period, but over time, the entire soul would be difficult to maintain and would gradually dissipate.

“Looking at it this way...”

“Did the Martial Emperor use this box to preserve a remnant soul of his own back then?”

Xiao Shi was thoughtful about this.

Although there were still some things he couldn't understand at the moment.

However, this experience made him realize a potential crisis existing within him.

That is, the Emperors Armor... it would not only bring him improvements, but also potentially cause a backlash to himself!

The previous emperor soul was mainly enhanced by the Emperors Armor on him.

This was even without him wearing the Martial Emperors Royal Robe.

Xiao Shi had a strong premonition.

If he had put on the Martial Emperors Royal Robe earlier, then with the enhancement the emperor soul received, he might not have lasted until the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree completed its transformation and would have had his soul devoured by the emperor soul.

Even if the mysterious existence in the black coffin had intervened, it might not have been able to snatch his soul from the emperor soul.

“The Emperors Armor, after all, belongs to the Martial Emperor.”

“It doesn't truly belong to me...”

“If I encounter a similar situation again, I could suffer a backlash from the Emperors Armor at any time!”

Xiao Shi felt that the current Emperors Armor was more like a double-edged sword.

While it could bring him great improvements and enhancements, it could also cause him a backlash.

This made Xiao Shi hesitate about whether he should continue collecting the remaining two pieces of Emperors Armor... He was now worried about one problem.

That is, if he collected all the Emperors Armor, would a crisis similar to this one occur?

Although the Martial Emperor had already fallen,

no one knew if similar remnant souls of the Martial Emperor still existed on the Tianwu Continent.

If these Martial Emperor remnant souls were all malicious towards him, the Emperors Armor would become a weapon for the remnant souls to kill him!

“If I can maintain sufficient strength in the subsequent realms, perhaps I don't need to rush to collect the last two pieces of Emperors Armor.”

“Anyway, these two pieces of Emperors Armor are also difficult to obtain through killing...”

Xiao Shi knew.

In the later Dao Lord Realm and Demigod Realm, there were not many people who could be killed.

It was basically impossible to obtain Emperors Armor through killing drops.

After this crisis,

Xiao Shi felt it was necessary to take precautions.

Anyway, the current six pieces of Emperors Armor were enough.

“Or perhaps...”

“I need to find a way to make the Emperors Armor my own, so that it no longer belongs to the Martial Emperor.”

A sharp glint flashed in Xiao Shi's eyes.

But he also knew.

Achieving this was almost impossible, unless he could reach the Martial Dao Ninth Realm; then, perhaps, he could directly erase the Emperors Armor's ownership, making it his own item.

Soon.

Xiao Shi's soul completed the transformation of this special area, successfully converting it into his own domain.

He also broke through in one go.

Successfully reaching the Saint Realm!

Xiao Shi looked at the Martial Emperors Royal Robe before him; although the Emperors Armor had certain hidden dangers, he still needed its power at the moment.

He immediately reached out.

After grabbing the Martial Emperors Royal Robe, he directly put it on.

Although he had just broken through to the Saint Realm, with the power of this special area and his current Saint-Devil Coexistence body, the moment he broke through to the Saint Realm, he was destined to become the strongest Saint!

There was no need to worry about not being able to wear the Martial Emperors Royal Robe.

Whoosh!

The moment he put on the Martial Emperors Royal Robe, Xiao Shi's other five pieces of Emperors Armor also simultaneously appeared on him.

With six pieces of Emperors Armor,

he directly activated the Martial Emperors Royal Robe's guardian form, activating the nine heavenly dragons on the royal robe to form the Nine Dragons Divine Sky Formation!