Suddenly.
Flames ignited within Gu Qingfeng's body. This startled Ancestor Lin Chi's soul greatly; he simply couldn't comprehend or figure out how Gu Qingfeng, who possessed neither cultivation base nor Creation, could produce flames. Upon careful sensing, he realized it was actually Divine Sense Flame.
However,
Far from being afraid, Ancestor Lin Chi felt rather pleased deep inside.
Divine Sense is a type of mental power, and Divine Sense Flame is also a type of mental fire.
Powerful Divine Sense Flame could indeed harm the soul, even reducing it to ashes, and it wasn't impossible to refine a soul either, since the soul itself is a source of mental energy.
The reason Ancestor Lin Chi wasn't afraid was because he had tempered his own soul and fortified it with many rare treasures. Coupled with cultivating special soul secret arts, his soul was much stronger than that of other cultivators.
It was precisely because of this that he dared to ignite his bloodline, detonate his physical body, and gamble his life to attempt a soul seizure on such a mysteriously bizarre existence as Gu Qingfeng.
What pleased Ancestor Lin Chi most was that Gu Qingfeng was now actually summoning Divine Sense Flame in an attempt to refine his soul.
In his view, this was simply the most foolish behavior imaginable, not even worthy of being called rookie idiocy.
The Heart-Mind is especially important for cultivators. In a sense, the Heart-Mind is like a guardian deity, protecting not only the body but also the soul.
Once the Heart-Mind loses its guard and one cannot concentrate, Divine Sense will scatter, the spirit will collapse, and consciousness will become blurred.
Whether unleashing divine abilities or refining magical treasures, all require control through Divine Sense. If the Heart-Mind loses its guard, causing Divine Sense to scatter, even if one's cultivation base is high and Creation strong, they would be like a cripple.
Even more terrifying, after the Heart-Mind loses its guard, it's as if the gate guarding the soul has been opened, making it easy for the opponent to invade the Heart-Mind and harm the soul.
In Ancestor Lin Chi's thinking, if someone was trying to invade his Heart-Mind, he would unquestionably tighten his guard on the Heart-Mind without hesitation and definitely would not summon Divine Sense.
Summoning Divine Sense, while not exactly opening the gate guarding the soul, would put the Heart-Mind in an active state, giving the opponent an opportunity.
If the Heart-Mind was compared to a shield and the soul to the person behind the shield, tightening the guard on the Heart-Mind would be like the entire person hiding completely behind the shield, giving the opponent no chance to attack. If one summoned Divine Sense at this time, it would be like attacking the opponent while still hiding behind the shield. In this way, the opponent would have an opportunity.
Seizing this chance, Ancestor Lin Chi spared no cost, operating his soul and unleashing secret arts in an attempt to invade Gu Qingfeng's Heart-Mind.
Ancestor Lin Chi was a senior from the Primordial Era and a patriarch of Dan Ding Valley. Since he could survive for two eras, millions of years, within the Desolate Ancient Era, it was enough to prove his strength. However, when he probed Gu Qingfeng's Heart-Mind, he was dumbfounded.
He was scared witless.
Yes!
Scared witless.
Gu Qingfeng's Heart-Mind was unimaginably vast, boundless and infinite, like the heavens and the earth.
Ancestor Lin Chi had never seen such a boundless Heart-Mind. Not only had he never seen it, he had never even heard of it. He couldn't even imagine that a person's Heart-Mind could be boundless and infinite. This completely exceeded his understanding. If he hadn't experienced it personally, he simply wouldn't have believed it. Even now, experiencing it firsthand, he still couldn't believe it was real.
This...
How was it possible!
Ancestor Lin Chi's soul was like an ant before Gu Qingfeng. Could an ant invade the heavens and the earth?
The answer was certain.
No.
He couldn't dwell on the shock in his heart. Coming to his senses, he didn't dare to attempt invading Gu Qingfeng's Heart-Mind anymore. Just as he was thinking of a way to escape, Gu Qingfeng's Divine Sense Flame had already spread out. Ancestor Lin Chi's soul hurriedly tried to flee, attempting to rush out through Gu Qingfeng's acupoints. But as soon as he moved, he realized his soul was already heavily surrounded by Divine Sense Flame, leaving him with nowhere to flee.
Steeling his heart, Ancestor Lin Chi decided to force his way out through the fiercely burning Divine Sense Flame. He thought that since he had tempered his soul, fortified it, and cultivated soul secret arts, he should be able to withstand the Divine Sense Flame with his powerful soul and break out.
Only when Gu Qingfeng's Divine Sense Flame swept over and enveloped his soul did Ancestor Lin Chi realize he was wrong.
His soul might be very strong, incomparable to ordinary cultivators, but Gu Qingfeng's Divine Sense was even stronger. Not only was it boundless and infinite, it was also vast and endless, continuously flowing, burning Ancestor Lin Chi's soul until it twisted and blurred, with crisp crackling sounds.
Forget breaking out.
Forget resisting.
After being enveloped by Gu Qingfeng's Divine Sense Flame, Ancestor Lin Chi's soul began to burn like ignited dry grass.
He was afraid!
This time, Ancestor Lin Chi was utterly terrified, screaming fearfully, "No!
No!
Don't!
I know the method to open the seal! I can tell you!
Don't refine me!
Don't!" Amidst the heart-rending cries, Ancestor Lin Chi's soul twisted more and more, blurred more and more, without even struggling, it was just burned alive into ashes, utterly annihilated.
Inside the giant cauldron.
Gu Qingfeng stood beside the Artifact Eye, his eyes slightly closed. He hadn't refined Ancestor Lin Chi's soul, not because he was particularly kind-hearted, but because Ancestor Lin Chi's soul simply wasn't worth refining. In other words, he looked down on Ancestor Lin Chi's soul, so he just used a burst of Divine Sense Flame to burn Ancestor Lin Chi's soul clean away.
Of course.
While burning it, he also took the opportunity to separately extract Ancestor Lin Chi's self-consciousness from the soul, holding it in his palm and refining it, thereby obtaining the memories stored within Ancestor Lin Chi's self-consciousness.
At this very moment, he was examining Ancestor Lin Chi's memories.
It must be said,
Ancestor Lin Chi truly hadn't lied; he really was a Supreme Ancestral Patriarch of Dan Ding Valley and had indeed entered the Desolate Ancient Ruins during the Remote Ancient Era.
However, apart from these basic facts, everything else he said was nonsense meant to deceive Gu Qingfeng.
Ancestor Lin Chi said he didn't know this was the Desolate Ancient Ruins, but his memories told Gu Qingfeng he knew perfectly well this was the Desolate Ancient Ruins.
Ancestor Lin Chi said that back then, shortly after the Desolate Ancient Ruins manifested in the Great Desolate Heaven and Earth, they fell into the Endless Sea Beyond the Outer Heaven. This was indeed true, and many people were trapped here because of it. To survive, they ended up killing each other.
It was also exactly as Ancestor Lin Chi said: trapped within the Desolate Ancient Ruins, there were demon monsters who killed people and stole goods, plundering resources, which indeed aroused public outrage and were jointly slain by the crowd. However, the ones who truly killed people, stole goods, and plundered resources weren't others—it was Ancestor Lin Chi.
This old geezer, together with a group of Dan Ding Valley elders, used a mix of coaxing and deception. Not only did they kill everyone else, but in the end, to survive, seize more resources, and absorb more spiritual energy, Ancestor Lin Chi actually killed all the Dan Ding Valley elders as well, seized all their magical treasures, and drained everyone's vital essence.