Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

With a little muscular flexing, Yan Zaizen freed himself of the restraint from the formation. For someone like him whose body was refined to be close to the Qi Unification Realm, it wasn't hard for him to shatter this formation after some effort. In truth, this formation wasn't set up for Yan Zaizen, but for Ying Zhihao who had very little body cultivation, and therefore cannot restrain him for more than a few moments.

Checking his qi, Yan Zaizen discovered it still in a state of constant diffusion. Until the effects were removed either with the antidote or time, he'd be stuck here unable to pilot the skyship.

Wait.

After some thought, he produced a white flame in his hand, and although it wasn't supported by his qi, it was supported by his soul energy. The Unyielding Flame of Life consumes any type of energy from its owner to produce lifeforce energy, even vital or soul energies. As long as it possessed something to feed off of, it'll unyieldingly persist.

He circulated the white flame through his body, completely using its overwhelming lifeforce to combat the toxic components of the qi diffusion powder. It counteracted its effects by cleansing his body with lifeforce energy.

After a while, he could feel the qi in his body become stable. It brought him a sensation of relief, liberating him of his worries. He looked towards the dim-eyed Ying Yimian. Her fate was truly lamentable. He couldn't find any reason to actually care. She brought this about due to her own poor planning and underestimation. He decided to take her end as a lesson for himself.

The first thing he did was decisively ending Ying Zhihao's life with a palm strike to the heart. He could be considered dead, but until his life truly ended, Yan Zaizen wouldn't feel comfortable.

"Do you have any way to contact your family?" He asked Ying Yimian.

After doing the deed, he took the spatial ring off Ying Zhihao's corpse and looked at its contents. His eyes widened in absolute shock. This...this was the wealth that may even exceed the Yan Clan's entire decadal earnings.

"Incredible!" With this, he could apparently buy several skyships and then some more, and if he felt that wasn't enough, he could buy one or two more for fun. His expression made Ying Yimian feel horrible. Her eyes filled with hatred as she stared at him.

What he or Ying Yimian didn't notice, was that a wisp of smoke exited from Ying Zhihao's corpse and silently entered Yan Zaizen's glabella. If one could see it, they would see Ying Zhihao's almost atom-sized soul form within the wisp. It looked blank and without life.

If he had killed Ying Zhihao sooner, she wouldn't be crippled now. That bastard! She inwardly swore she would kill him soon. Especially since, remembering his lustful expression, he'll definitely attempt to ravage her virgin body. When he does, he'll die.

This was her trump card.

She had an exquisite formation placed in her womb, so when she was forcefully taken without permission, it'll activate and instantaneously kill that person with an insidious poison. Since no one would expect it, even Ying Zhihao would've died. Nevertheless, Yan Zaizen.

Unfortunately, it was only enough for one person otherwise she would have used it instead of the qi diffusion powder, and the delivery system was in a unique location for optimal efficiency. She was, however, uncertain as to how he dealt with Ying Zhihao. But that didn't matter now.

Yan Zaizen, however, was not that type of person. "Do you have no way?" He asked again. However, seeing her just look at him with anger and didn't answer, he couldn't help but shrug. If she didn't want to answer, that was on her.

He took the spatial materials on her body without being the least bit courteous. Her wealth was astounding as well. It seems like they robbed their clan on two fronts. One took it from their reserves, while the other took their visible wealth. That's just sad. The Ying Clan was robbed blind by these two people, and they likely don't even have their pants left.

Yet, here he was with all the gains.

He grabbed Ying Zhihao's body and threw it over the skyship out to the area below. A loud thud later, he walked over to Ying Yimian. Seeing him do so, she was anxious that he would kill her instead of taking her sexually. However, Yan Zaizen didn't really plan on doing either. He grabbed her and like trash, tossed her overboard.

A surprised scream and soft thud later, the skyship was powered and disappeared into the horizon.

If she didn't have a way to contact her clan, he had no intention of bringing her back, and he didn't feel like directly killing a beauty either or letting her die so easily. However, leaving them to die, that was another matter entirely, especially since she attempted to kill him. To him, she deserves to suffer.

If she does end up living, it doesn't really matter. No one knew what his real name was, and no one even knew he was from the Yan Clan. They only knew him as Han Zaiji. She was also crippled, and he knew the amount of wealth required to re-establish one's qi foundation was extraordinarily difficult, requiring a ton of resources. Who would be willing to pay so much for a lowly traitor?

That's if she lived.

He also had a profound soul cultivation base that could instantly snuff out the life of an initial-Qi Unification cultivator. What did he have to be afraid of?

"Oh, wait…"

He used his spiritual sense to cover the entire skyship, probing every last bit of it, and found a small spot on the ship that wasn't covered with anything before. He parked the ship temporarily and walked towards the formation. His eyes lit up with surprise.

"Makes sense. Considering it was stolen once, it could be stolen again." This formation released a unique form of energy and was incredibly discreet. With his soul energies, qi and physical strength, he smashed downwards to shatter the formation. The ship shook violently, but it was still undamaged. As for the formation, it was completely and thoroughly destroyed.

His intelligence was rising as well as his own vigilance. If he had just left without checking, they would've tracked him down. He couldn't allow that to happen.

With a chuckle, he returned to the helm and flew the skyship away.

"I still have five months. I should park this baby, cultivate in a location, and then go to the Xuanwu City for the spatial platform. They should be able to send off a skyship as well." He thought a bit and decided. Remembering the map from before, he knew there was a good location to land quietly with little exposure. It was the cove mentioned earlier by Ying Yimian. The Serene Moon Cove that Ying Yimian talked about was real, but Yan Zaizen didn't know if that was the case at the time.

During the flight, Ying Yimian informed him of the cove's existence and where it was on the map. It seemed like a good location to land. As he arrived, he discovered why it was called the Serene Moon Cove. The cove was illuminated by soft moonlight and had a wide cavern filled with it.

It was wide enough to hold the skyship, and there was no one inside. There was a reason for that, but Yan Zaizen didn't think about it too much, merely entering and landing the ship.

He stretched his arms a little with a relaxed expression. The world was finally going his way. He was free and obtained all these spoils without lifting a single finger. If there was ever such a thing like a fortuitous encounter in this world, this was it.

"Hahaha!" His laughter filled the cave. He truly felt satisfied.

Suddenly, he felt a little dizzy. The dizzy sensation turned into disorientation, and then he fell to his knees with weakness. He urged his soul energy, but it seemed like it wasn't responding. His body was still filled with powerful vital energies, and his qi was still filled to the brim with energy, but his soul energy seemed to be going inactive as if under attack. Seeing the situation, he immediately activated the formations of the ship to protect himself.

A soft thud after, he laid there unconsciously on the cold deck. His soul form exited his body, and a swirling black hole now replaced the black dot from before. The moonlight in the cove shone vigorously, but then every ray directed itself towards his soul form. The black hole at his glabella swirled even more intensely, sucking in the vibrant moonlight in the cave towards it.

The soul form's eyes shone brilliantly, and a faint trace of moonlight surged within itself. If Yan Zaizen was conscious enough to witness this, he would be shocked.

"What?!" A voice, filled with desolate horror surged out from deep within the cove.

Ying Yimian had chosen the cove because of a distinct and eerie rumor. The rumor suggested that during the full moon, an extraordinary monster would kill all within the cove. She felt it was the most logical way to entice Yan Zaizen's manly and curious side, seeking to protect the beauty and prove the rumors wrong. She never really intended to go.

However, he wasn't a native of the territory and thus had no idea about the rumors. As for her words or schemes at the time, Yan Zaizen didn't give a flying shit. One could clearly see why with the end result of the entire situation. Even if Ying Zhihao didn't take action, Yan Zaizen would've still been able to kill them both.

The black hole at his glabella immediately started growing in size, sucking in more moonlight within the cove, even the rocks and water of the cove started to be drawn into it by the powerful suction force. The horrified voice sounded out once more, "What the hell is that thing?!"

You see, this monster was a soul form without a physical body, consuming the vital energies of its victims with the intent of reforming its body. Regrettably, only weak individuals approached the cove and thus despite it being more than several decades, he wasn't close to finishing his body. When he saw Yan Zaizen, he immediately used a soul art to attack and invade his soul with the intention to snuff it out, and we all know how that works out for anyone who tries.

Even the Heavenly Annihilation Light had to run away!!

"Wait! Wait!! Wait!!!" The voice tried to plead as its soul was sucked into the black hole. It couldn't resist one bit and felt itself being drawn in. No matter how it screamed, begged, or tried to reason and apologize, the black hole was uncaring. His soul form was devoured as well as all the moonlight that sparkled in the cove.

The soul form released rays of beautiful light, and if one looked closely, they could see a light similar to the Aurora Borealis formed within it. It had a beautiful silver-blue color, and within it was a small inky black shadow and a white flame that danced around each other like lovers.