Chapter 2417: 2399 Jade Soul Crystal

In a hidden underground cave, Wang Changsheng sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, his brows tightly furrowed.

Through soul-searching Deng Tianyang's nascent soul, he had learned many secrets.

Only a few cultivators of the Deng family knew about the existence of the Heavenly Void Jade Book. Besides Deng Tianyang, Deng Debin was also aware. Whether Deng Debin had informed anyone else would only be known by soul-searching him.

He hadn't expected Deng Tianyang to have such a significant opportunity, having actually visited the Azure Glaze Sea Region and obtained several jade talismans from an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling. Among them, the Black Tortoise Celestial Armor Talisman was particularly special; once refined, it could automatically protect its owner.

Otherwise, Deng Tianyang would have been killed in a single encounter, with no chance to exchange blows with Wang Changsheng.

The jade talismans had many wondrous uses, but unfortunately, their power had been depleted.

Deng Tianyang possessed many valuable items. Besides a Golden Core Divine Crystal, which could be used to condense a Dharma Idol, there were also three top-grade spirit stones and two Soul Jade Crystals. Wang Changsheng intended to continue cultivating the Grand Void Soul Forging Art, which required setting up the Nine Revolutions Soul Forging Array. The array's core magnet needle needed 30,000-year-old Soul-Nourishing Wood as its eye, and each activation of the array consumed a Soul Jade Crystal.

The Golden Core Divine Crystal could strengthen the defense of a Dharma Idol, making it suitable for high-level cultivators practicing Five Elements cultivation methods or Metal-element cultivation methods to condense their Dharma Idols.

The eye technique Deng Tianyang used was the Qianyang Illusionary Eye. This was a technique cultivated later in life. If an enemy was unprepared, they could easily fall into an illusion. Cultivating this eye technique was rather troublesome, requiring Qianyang Grass over 5,000 years old and various other materials to concoct Qianyang Jade Liquid as an aid. To master this technique, a large quantity of Qianyang Jade Liquid was needed, which only a sixth-tier alchemist could concoct.

This eye technique was only effective against cultivators with lower cultivation levels than oneself; its impact on those with higher cultivation was minimal. Nevertheless, it was a useful illusion technique that could prove beneficial at critical moments.

The Deng family currently had only one Void Refinement cultivator, Deng Tianyang, which made them much weaker than the Azure Cloud Sect.

The troublesome part was that some Deng family disciples had joined the Cold Flame Sect.

Deng Tianqi had indirectly caused the death of Wang Liangpu; Wang Changsheng remembered this well. Without a Void Refinement cultivator, the Deng family's protective array wouldn't be able to stop him for long.

Wang Mengbin had been harassed by the Deng family in the lower realm, and Wang Qingfeng had been troubled by Deng Tianqi. With these new and old grievances, Wang Changsheng intended to settle them all at once.

His features blurred as he changed his appearance and departed from the area.

At Dengyun Mountain, within the Deng family compound.

In the main council hall, Deng Debin and over twenty other clan elders were discussing countermeasures. The extinguishing of several clansmen's soul lamps signaled significant trouble.

The Deng family had already activated the prohibitions of their clan's protective array, strictly guarding against strong enemy attacks, and had dispatched a large number of people to notify the Cold Flame Sect's branch. However, they were unsure if the Cold Flame Sect's Void Refinement cultivators would be willing to come.

While Deng family disciples had joined the Cold Flame Sect, their cultivation levels were too low to exert any real influence.

"This matter must be the doing of the Lu family. The young patriarch of the Lu family died at Qinghong's hands, so it must be their old patriarch who acted."

"That incident happened over a thousand years ago. Is the Lu family only retaliating now? Unlikely. It should be the Xueyang Sect. Previously, to seize that spirit stone mine, our Old Ancestor personally intervened and injured their sect leader. Who would have thought they'd get lucky, with four Void Refinement cultivators emerging within five hundred years? With the Old Ancestor's divine abilities, unless ambushed by multiple Void Refinement cultivators, he could surely have led some clansmen out of the encirclement. Second Uncle and the others couldn't possibly all be dead."

"It could also be the remnants of the Ning family. Old Ghost Ning was at the perfected God Transformation stage when he escaped back then. So many years have passed; perhaps he has advanced to the Void Refinement stage."

The Deng family cultivators offered various opinions, none of these elders suspected the Wang family.

The Wang family had no blood feud or conflict of interest with the Deng family; they simply couldn't conceive it was the Wang family.

Deng Debin's brows were tightly furrowed. He now only hoped that Deng Tianyang was still alive. If Deng Tianyang had perished, the Deng family would be in great trouble.

Hostile forces would devour the Deng family. The Deng family had made many enemies over the years, which was unavoidable. There were only so many cultivation resources; if they didn't contend for them, where would they come from? Pies wouldn't fall from the sky, and even if they did, they wouldn't land on the Deng family.

Just then, a streak of green light flew in. The green light was, in fact, a thin, bamboo-like young man in a green robe.

"Seventeenth Brother, weren't you supposed to go seek aid from the Azure Cloud Sect? Why are you back so soon?" Deng Debin asked with a frown.

"Because I, this old man, have returned for revenge. Your Deng family annihilated our Ning family, and today I shall annihilate your entire Deng family."

A cold male voice suddenly rang out. With a flash of golden light, a stout, gold-robed old man abruptly appeared behind the green-robed youth. It was Wang Changsheng, in disguise.

He used a Seven Star Spirit Control Talisman to control a Deng family God Transformation cultivator, concealing his own presence and having the controlled cultivator lead him into the Deng family compound without encountering any obstacles.

If it were the stronghold of a major sect or a large clan, even controlling a low-level cultivator with a Seven Star Spirit Control Talisman wouldn't make infiltration so easy. However, infiltrating the Deng family was not an issue.

"Old Demon Ning? No, quickly, run!"

Deng Debin's expression drastically changed.

He wasn't entirely certain the opponent was their true enemy, as cultivators could seize bodies and re-cultivate.

Wang Changsheng wasted no words. With a flick of his sleeve, thirty-six golden flying daggers shot out, flying straight towards them.

The cultivators present were utterly unable to withstand a complete set of Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasures. Amidst screams, they dissolved into a shower of blood, with numerous miniature nascent souls flying out of their bodies.

Wang Changsheng's figure flickered, and he instantly appeared near Deng Debin's nascent soul, seizing it and performing a soul-search.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Deng Debin had not told other clansmen about the Heavenly Void Jade Book, thus making the risk of its exposure extremely low.

The somewhat troublesome part was that Deng Tianqi and several other elites had already left the Deng family, going into hiding elsewhere. At the time of dealing with Deng Tianyang, Wang Changsheng had feared that Deng family cultivators escaping would attract other high-level cultivators, so he had acted mercilessly. He hadn't expected to "beat the grass and startle the snake." There was no way he could capture all one hundred-plus high-level cultivators.

After killing the cultivators present, Wang Changsheng confiscated their valuables and left a line of blood-red characters on the stone wall: "Blood for blood, tooth for tooth, Ning Hongyu."

Ning Hongyu was a mortal enemy of the Deng family; the Deng family had annihilated the Ning family, and Ning Hongyu had fought desperately to escape the encirclement, his whereabouts unknown ever since.

Having completed these tasks, Wang Changsheng headed straight for the Deng family's treasury.

The Deng family cultivators guarding the treasury were utterly unable to stop him and were quickly killed. When he blasted open the doors to the Deng family's treasury, a stone cavern spanning over one hundred *mu* appeared before him, with rows of shelves laden with vast amounts of cultivation resources.

Wang Changsheng took everything, leaving not a single item behind.

As he exited the treasury, low-level Deng family cultivators scattered and fled. The high-level Deng family cultivators had suffered heavy casualties and would find it difficult to recover their strength. Although Deng Debin had sent people to seek aid from the Cold Flame Sect's branch, Wang Changsheng did not linger. After slaying some high-level cultivators, he departed from the area.

Two hours later, the Cold Flame Sect's Void Refinement cultivators arrived belatedly. By the time they reached the scene, Wang Changsheng's whereabouts were unknown.

Seeing the bloody characters in the council hall, coupled with the confessions of several Deng family members, the Cold Flame Sect's Void Refinement cultivators concluded it was likely Ning Hongyu who carried out the attack. They dispatched people to apprehend him. Furthermore, all forces with grudges against the Deng family were put under suspicion and subjected to investigation.