Cultivation: Immunity to Negative Effects

While speaking, the Demon Bear King had already taken out a Nine Revolutions Soul Reviving Pill, intending to swallow it.

The other Demon Bears were in a similar state, all preparing to heal their wounds as quickly as possible.

BOOM!

But at that moment, instead of answering, Zhang Chi—in control of the Demon Bear’s body—had it suddenly spit out its Demon Pill, blasting it toward the Demon Bear King’s face.

The Demon Bear King was struck instantly. He shrieked in agony and was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string.

Clearly, his severe injuries had slowed his reaction time, and he never would have dreamed that Zhang Chi would ambush him in front of everyone.

"This..."

"What are you doing?"

"Are you crazy?"

The other Demon Bears were all dumbfounded, clearly not having expected anything like this to happen.

BOOM!

But in the next moment, before they could react and before the Demon Bear King had even hit the ground, the Demon Pill detonated violently, unleashing endless light and heat.

Instantly, an immensely powerful shockwave spread out, and countless Low Tier Demon Bears were vaporized in a flash.

When the light dissipated, not a single Tier Four Early Stage Demon Bear had survived.

The few Tier Four Middle Stage Demon Bears were still alive, but they were on the verge of death and had completely lost their ability to fight.

Even the Demon Bear King was in a miserable state.

However, he had his Armor for protection and a high Cultivation level, so his overall condition was slightly better.

"Damn it! How could this have happened!"

The Demon Bear King was filled with anger, fear, and confusion.

It was understandable. The attacker’s actions had been too insane; he and the other Tier Four Middle Stage Demon Bears were completely unable to comprehend them.

What drove him even crazier was that the attacker was already dead, leaving him with no target for his revenge.

As for the entire Black Bear Race, aside from a few Tier Four Demon Bears who had gone off to hunt human Cultivators, nearly everyone else had perished here.

The Demon Bear King immediately prepared to leave with his surviving subordinates.

In their current state, any passing Nascent Soul Cultivator could finish them off completely.

Besides, the Mountain Protection Array should have been destroyed by that massive shockwave.

At least, a good portion of the entire Pill and Artifact Sect ruins had already been turned to rubble.

After all, the self-destruction of a Tier Four Middle Stage Demon Pill was not only immensely powerful, but its blast radius was also enormous.

SWOOSH!

But at that moment, an Array Light Curtain suddenly appeared in the sky, once again enveloping the entire Sect ruins.

Then, thread-like strands of white light descended upon the Demon Bear King and the other survivors, pinning them in place.

Immediately after, a Corpse Puppet and a Flying Spirit Beast finally appeared and charged toward the surviving Demon Bears without a sound.

It turned out that when Zhang Chi had made the Demon Bear self-destruct, he had deliberately deactivated the Array for an instant.

Therefore, although the explosion’s power was immense, it hadn’t damaged the Array.

Now, Zhang Chi was using the Corpse Puppet to reactivate the Array at full power, precisely to suppress the Demon Bear King and the other survivors as a precaution.

"This is bad!"

The Demon Bears were horrified. The Demon Bear King hurriedly took out the Golden Seal, wanting to control the Array, but it had no effect whatsoever.

"Damn it! How can this be!"

The Demon Bear King was both shocked and enraged.

The light from the Array bored directly into their bodies. Combined with their grievous injuries, they were unable to even put up a desperate struggle.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

In the next moment, the Corpse Puppet and the Spirit Beast attacked furiously.

The pair also used Corpse Evil and a poisonous mist, and in the blink of an eye, they had successfully killed the surviving Demon Bears, including the Demon King.

Afterward, the two of them quickly collected the spoils of war and departed from the ruins.

An hour later, a large group of Nascent Soul Cultivators finally flew toward the area.

At their head was the same young Cultivator from before.

This time, however, the number of Cultivators was several times greater than before. Among them were even three Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators, who flew abreast of the young man.

These three—two men and one woman—all looked very young and were also disciples of the three Palace Masters.

As for the Golden Demon Apes and the Demon Bears that had wanted to press their advantage in pursuit, their fate was easy to imagine.

"To think these brutes actually tried to use schemes against us. How ridiculous!"

"Exactly. They’re beasts, after all. They have no idea how formidable the methods of our Desert Divine Palace truly are."

"Those Demon Apes were fools, too. They mobilized their entire force to rescue the Demon Bears, only for us to easily conquer their nest in their absence."

They chatted and laughed cheerfully as they flew.

Only the young Cultivator seemed a bit dejected.

Because the Golden Apes had arrived as reinforcements, he had been forced to retreat with his men and call on his fellow disciples for help.

His fellow disciples had immediately used a Secret Technique to provide swift support, but as a result, he had lost all the credit for the assault on the Black Bear Race and was now in their debt.

"Huh? What’s going on? How did this place become a ruin?"

The next moment, the Cultivators’ expressions changed drastically as they finally arrived above the Pill and Artifact Sect ruins.

They discovered that the Grand Array was gone, and not a single Demon Bear was in sight.

"A Demon Pill self-destructed here!"

"Looks like there was infighting among the Demon Bear Race. A High Tier Demon Bear chose to self-destruct, and the survivors left with the spoils. The main survivor was most likely the Demon Bear King!"

Soon, the Cultivators from the Desert Divine Palace had come to a rough conclusion, even filling in the blanks with their own assumptions.

"Damn it, how could this happen? Does this mean all our work was for nothing?!"

"I left a marker on the Demon Bear King, but now it seems to have vanished. Could he have detected our Desert Divine Palace’s tracking Secret Technique?"

"Forget all that. Split up immediately! One group will scour these ruins and collect any materials they couldn’t take with them. The rest of you, follow me and track the surviving Demon Bears. They must be seriously injured; they can’t have gotten far!"

After that, the Cultivators immediately sprang into action.

However, they soon grew even more frustrated. There were very few Cultivation Materials left; even things like the Mountain Protection Array Banners were gone.

Furthermore, despite searching the area for a long time, they found no trace of any Demon Bears or other presences.

Fortunately, they had already gained a great deal from slaying Demon Beasts earlier, and the ruins’ Inheritance Hall still contained numerous Jade Scrolls. This was enough to slightly stabilize their moods.

---

Meanwhile, Zhang Chi had already directed his Corpse Puppet, along with Flying Dragon No.1 and the spoils of war, far away from the Black Bear Nest.

He had already butchered the Demon Bear corpses, harvesting the most precious materials and Demon Pills.

After all, he had only brought many Storage Bags on this trip, not a Storage Ring.

The Demon Bears were enormous, so it was impossible to take the entire carcasses.

’It’s a shame,’ Zhang Chi thought. ’The Demon Bear King’s body likely has a tracking marker on it from the Desert Divine Palace cultivators. Otherwise, I could have kept it for possession.’

He was in a barren mountain range. He used an Earth Escape Talisman to travel deep underground, where he carved out a cave residence and set up a Tier Four Middle Grade Array. Only then did he feel slightly at ease.

Then, he began to take stock of his spoils.

He found that his gains this time were immense. The various Demon Beast Materials alone were quite numerous.

And these materials were all of a high grade.

This was because the Low Tier Demon Bears had been completely annihilated in the Demon Pill’s self-destruction.

Among the materials, the pelt and other parts from the Demon Bear King were the most valuable, suitable for Refining into Tier Four Upper Grade spiritual pills and Upper Grade Peak Magical Treasures.

Furthermore, the Demon Bear King even had a Storage Ring.

The ring was jet-black and contained a sizable Storage Space. Its quality was inferior to the one Zhang Chi had obtained in the Celestial Repair Sect’s Secret Realm, but it was still incredibly valuable.

After all, a Storage Ring was a special type of Magical Treasure. Even as a Tier Four Refiner, Zhang Chi couldn’t refine one without the specialized materials.

Furthermore, the Storage Ring contained a great deal of Cultivation Materials, most of which were Tier Four.

The other Demon Bears also had Storage Bags. Although some were destroyed in the Demon Pill’s self-destruction, many had survived intact.

Zhang Chi took out all of these materials, piling them up into a small mountain.

Then, Zhang Chi also took out the other spoils he had collected over the years to take inventory and organize everything.

He counted seventeen different types of supplementary Nascent Soul Spiritual Objects, and there was even a complete Nascent Soul Pill.

Of course, this Nascent Soul Pill must have been preserved with a Secret Technique and left behind by the Pill and Artifact Sect.

After all, Demon Beasts had little need for such things, and the Black Bear Race was not particularly skilled at the Refining of Spirit Pills.

There were also some Magical Treasures.

Most were Middle or Upper Grade, but there were three Top Grade items: a Golden Pill Furnace, a Black Cauldron, and the Demon Bear King’s Wolf Fang Club.

But the most precious Magical Treasures were two Celestial Grade items, or rather, two Pseudo-Spirit Treasures.

These were the Pill and Artifact Sect’s Sect Leader’s Golden Seal and the Demon Bear King’s Black Armor.

Zhang Chi had already refined the Sect Leader’s Golden Seal long ago, but he had concealed his ownership. That was why the Demon Bear King had been holding the Golden Seal but couldn’t control the Array, forced to watch helplessly as the Grand Array suppressed him.

There was also a large quantity of Spirit Stones and Spirit Pills.

For example, there were a total of twenty-one Nine Revolutions Soul Reviving Pills.

Furthermore, Zhang Chi was surprised to discover several Tier Four Hundred Skills of Immortal Cultivation Inheritances, including the Puppet and Spirit Plant inheritances he wanted. There were even other inheritances for skills like brewing and cooking.

Of course, what they produced was not ordinary wine and food, but Spirit Wine and Spiritual Food.

Finally, just as he’d hoped, he found more Star Divine Iron. Combined with what he already possessed, he now had enough to refine his Star Sword into a set of seventy-two.

The only thing he was missing was the Spiritual Object needed to nurture the Heaven-Reaching Tree.

But that was to be expected.

After all, those Spiritual Objects were inherently rare.

’Once I get back and sell off the loot I don’t need, I can combine the proceeds with the Spirit Stones I’ve gathered and should be able to upgrade the Eye of the Spirit Spring to Tier Four Middle Grade.’

After finishing his inventory, Zhang Chi waved his hand and put away the spoils, his heart filled with anticipation.

If he sold everything, he would have enough to upgrade his Corpse Puppet to Tier Four Upper Grade.

However, that would exceed the limits of his ability to control it, so he had no intention of doing so.

Besides, improving his own strength was more important.

After that, Zhang Chi took out the Black Armor, refined it, changed its size, and put it on his Corpse Puppet.

Only then did he put away the Array and head in the direction of Beast King Valley.

He decided to completely ignore the lairs of the other Demon Beast powers, like the Golden Apes and Silver Wolves.

The reason was simple: the Cultivators from the Desert Divine Palace had surely gotten to those places first, and he no longer had the time to slowly lie in wait and scheme as he had before.

Fortunately, the Demon Bear nest was the most valuable ruin. By looting it clean, his haul had far surpassed that of any other Explorer.

And so, it was time for him to leave the Oasis Ruins.

After flying for several months, he finally arrived near Beast King Valley.