"Excellent, Heavenly Emperor Ye. I have a premonition that I will soon discover your location.
The future Heavenly Emperor Ye, reborn to come find us... now that is an interesting twist."
Tianluo received the jade slip and spoke lightly.
Not long after, Tianluo arrived at the hidden small space where Lao Xiazi resided and handed the jade slip to him.
"Old Blind One, I trouble you to divine if, among all these living beings named Ye Yunfei, lies the Heavenly Emperor Ye we seek."
"As you wish."
Lao Xiazi took the jade slip and ordered the two young attendants serving him to immediately set up an altar and begin their divinations.
At the same time.
Within a certain unknown dark space, there was neither sun nor sky, only a bleak, lightless gloom.
As far as the eye could see, this world was suffused with a black mist; even the earth was black.
Chains of darkness forged from dark-type laws crisscrossed the sky, forming a vast, shadowy net that hung over this world.
Upon the black earth, numerous strange beings exuding an eerie aura moved about.
In fact, the number of living creatures in this world was immense, reaching into the hundreds of millions.
However, the vast majority seemed cold and emotionless, as if devoid of any life force. Therefore, despite the great number, this world felt utterly devoid of liveliness or warmth.
This was the legendary Dark Realm!
At one location within the Dark Realm stood a tall, black-domed palace. Upon a high seat in the great hall sat a queen of fearsome, awe-inspiring presence!
Around this queen, numerous experts of the Dark Realm stood respectfully.
If Ye Yunfei were here, he would immediately recognize that the queen seated on high amidst the throng of Dark Realm experts was none other than Lü Dandan!
The former young mistress Lü of the Quadripartite Trading House from the Eastern Barrens of the Primordial Continent!
"Your Majesty, Queen!
King Yama of the Netherworld has sent an envoy wishing for an audience with Your Majesty!"
An elderly woman with jet-black skin, wearing a pointed hat, entered the palace, approached Lü Dandan, and spoke reverently.
"Have them get lost. I am preparing to seclude myself for cultivation and have no time to receive them."
Lü Dandan's voice was icy and merciless, each word seeming to carry a strange, magical resonance that echoed within the black hall, unsettling all the surrounding Dark Realm experts.
This newly arisen Dark Queen had, not long ago, swept through the entire Dark Realm with an unstoppable force, conquering it and becoming its new sovereign.
These Dark Realm experts who followed the Dark Queen discovered that her strength was still rapidly increasing!
"Your Majesty, the Netherworld has always had friendly relations with our Dark Realm. The current King Yama of that realm is said to possess power so formidable, he could contend even with the legendary Three Great Heavenly Emperors. Our Dark Realm has always been ostracized by the other worlds of the Three Thousand Realms. We have few allies—the Netherworld is one of them. I believe Your Majesty should place importance on maintaining ties with King Yama."
The old woman bent at the waist and spoke with great care.
She was the Dark Queen's confidant, which was why she dared say things before her mistress that other Dark Realm experts would not.
"I am currently at a critical moment of breakthrough in my cultivation. I will see no one. Even if King Yama himself arrives, have him wait. Everything can be discussed after I break through."
Lü Dandan replied impatiently. Then, with a flicker, her form vanished.
The Lü Dandan present in the hall was actually a doppelganger. The real Lü Dandan was in seclusion within a cavern abode saturated with dark energy and dark laws.
"Why have I felt restless these past days? I keep recalling things from the Primordial Continent.
For me, the Primordial Continent belongs to a past life. Yet there are certain people, certain matters I just cannot let go of.
No, this will affect my cultivation breakthrough!
Everything and everyone from the Primordial Continent... be suppressed!"
Within the cavern, Lü Dandan sat cross-legged, surrounded by swirling black mist. The faint, translucent image of a phoenix floated behind her, appearing and disappearing.
Forcefully suppressing the turmoil in her heart, she began her breakthrough.
Meanwhile, within the Illusory Pagoda, inside the Celestial Gold Race's Forbidden Land on the Feixian Continent.
"The core of the Transform Body into Artifact technique is to treat one's physical body as a magic treasure and repeatedly refine and temper it!
Once the cultivation succeeds, the body becomes equal to a magic treasure—immensely hard, fearfully powerful, capable of endless transformations. One can at will transform the entire body, or any part of it, into various weapons or treasures.
Furthermore, after forging the body into a treasure, it can be further strengthened by continuously devouring other treasures!"
Ye Yunfei murmured to himself, a look of pleasant surprise on his face.
The Transform Body into Artifact technique left him full of admiration!
Next, Ye Yunfei began focusing solely on cultivating this inherited technique of the Celestial Gold Race.
As the quality of his physical body was already exceptionally high, learning any physique cultivation technique in the world posed little difficulty for him. Consequently, his cultivation of Transform Body into Artifact proceeded very smoothly.
Unbeknownst to him, within the Illusory Pagoda, a year had passed.
After a year...
"Over this year, I have refined and absorbed over seven thousand corpses of the Celestial Gold Race!
My Transform Body into Artifact cultivation can truly be considered to have officially begun!"
Ye Yunfei slowly opened his eyes and spoke softly.
"However, this isn't enough. I possess a vast collection of treasures. If I refine and absorb them all, I can push my Transform Body into Artifact to an even higher level!"
Ye Yunfei muttered to himself.
With a rustle...
Ye Yunfei waved a hand, summoning forth a staggering quantity of magical treasures.
The number of treasures Ye Yunfei had accumulated in recent times was truly vast!
After razing the Ancient Yin Valley, he had obtained all the treasures it held, among which Half-Emperor Treasures alone numbered over a dozen!
Later, upon encountering that old man dressed as a soldier and the fat monk, each had gifted him a portion of treasures, including a large batch of magic treasures.
Not long ago, inside the underground palace, the elders of the Celestial Gold Race had also presented him with a generous portion of precious treasures, many of which were magic treasures.
Ye Yunfei selected a large batch of treasures and began devouring and absorbing them.
Unbeknownst to him, over half a year elapsed.
In total, Ye Yunfei had devoured and absorbed more than three thousand treasures!
These included Sentient Treasures, Apocalyptic Treasures, Arcana Treasures, and Mystic Path Treasures!
"I wonder if I can now devour Half-Emperor Treasures!"
Ye Yunfei took out three Half-Emperor Treasures and suspended them before him. Taking a deep breath, he spoke to himself.
If he could devour and refine Half-Emperor Treasures, it would mean the Transform Body into Artifact technique had reached a new level!
Subsequently, Ye Yunfei began to devour the three Half-Emperor Treasures before him!
One month later.
Ye Yunfei finally succeeded in devouring and refining all three Half-Emperor Treasures!
"Now, my body is equivalent to a magical treasure!"
Ye Yunfei opened his eyes and said slowly.
"The most marvelous aspect of the Transform Body into Artifact technique is that the treasures refined and absorbed into the body can be released perfectly intact and used against foes!
This means my physical body now harbors over three thousand treasures!
With the quality of my physique now, even if a Half-Emperor expert were to strike me head-on, it would do me little harm."
Ye Yunfei spoke to himself with an expression of confidence.
The Transform Body into Artifact physique cultivation technique, an inheritance of the Celestial Gold Race, had raised the quality of Ye Yunfei's physical body to a whole new level!