Eternal Life: I Can Control My Essence Qi-Chapter 141 - 130: Desolate Soul-shaking Divine Light

Chapter 141: Chapter 130: Desolate Soul-shaking Divine Light

"Roster?"

Lao Zhou was stunned for a moment, and once he came to his senses, he quickly said:

"Yes, yes."

He took out a white Jade Scroll from the Storage Bag, wisely refraining from asking further questions, and respectfully handed it over:

"This is the roster of 1,294 miner slaves, please review it, master."

"Mm."

Zhang Yao nodded to indicate, took the roster, and scanned it with his Divine Thought. He nodded in satisfaction and said:

"Alright, you may leave now."

"Come back tomorrow to take away this roster."

"Yes, master."

Lao Zhou responded, bowed in salute, and exited the cave dwelling.

After he left, Zhang Yao maintained his Divine Thought, carefully reviewing the roster in his hand.

This roster not only recorded each miner slave’s name, age, and gender but also their background, reasons for capture, and even included portraits of their appearances.

Among them, thirty-four individuals were marked as Demon Cultivators, all from one family, having dual bloodline connections — both genuine relatives from Human Race bloodline reproduction and same-kind in the sense of Demon Race bloodline.

"Just so few people..."

Zhang Yao frowned; this number was less than he had anticipated.

Because the connections among Demon Cultivators are very close, capturing one usually means dragging out a whole group.

But with such a small number, it suggests this family is likely just small players among Demon Cultivators, and their bloodline level might not be high, unlikely to have Foundation Establishment Cultivators backing them.

"Hmm... still need to find an opportunity to verify it."

Zhang Yao had an idea in mind at this point.

"But before that, I need to thoroughly master the Divine Soul Dao Skill to prevent unexpected situations from happening."

"In studying the Demon Cultivation Bloodline, I must proceed as secretly as possible to prevent any leaks..."

......

The next morning.

Within light yellow bed drapes, Li Shuixian curled up on the large bed, revealing large patches of fair skin, still showing a hint of blush and laziness.

"This thing is indeed interesting..."

Zhang Yao sat by the bed, looking at the Magical Power-condensed screen before him, showing a look of interest.

After a night of deep interaction, he indeed discovered many intricacies of the Blood Curse Technique from Li Shuixian’s body, simulating them with Magical Power, thereby gaining a preliminary comprehensive understanding.

But this Evil Secret Technique aimed at Primordial Energy is his first encounter, and the current progress is still limited.

"Master."

Li Shuixian leaned closer, eyes showing a hint of hope, and couldn’t help but ask:

"Can you really unravel this Blood Curse Technique?"

"It’s hard to say; I am not confident yet."

Zhang Yao shook his head and said:

"Whether it succeeds depends not only on my skills but also on your luck."

Upon hearing his words, Li Shuixian felt somewhat complicated.

Although she had long made a decision, last night, when she was really preparing to move into Zhang Yao’s cave dwelling, she hesitated several times with regret and indecision.

But now, she indeed felt somewhat glad about her choice.

By following Zhang Yao, there is a new hope even if she can’t resolve the Blood Curse Technique on her own within ten years.

"Master!"

At this time, the Array outside the cave dwelling was activated, and a somewhat familiar voice came:

"Zhou Xianhe is here to see the master."

"Wait a moment."

Zhang Yao responded, rose from the bed, and the Daoist Robe hanging beside him automatically flew over, dressing him.

After Zhang Yao left the bedroom, Li Shuixian on the bed also rolled her eyes and quickly got up to dress.

Shortly after, Zhou Xianhe came to the main hall to visit Zhang Yao, the two exchanged pleasantries for a while, and Zhang Yao returned the roster to him, casually asking about the situation in the mining area.

"Thanks to the master’s protection, everything is normal in the two mining areas, among which the Black Jade Ore Vein a few days ago..."

Lao Zhou routinely reported the miner slave matter, a small riot occurred a few days ago, resulting in a few deaths.

Captured miner slaves in Suiyu Mountain have no mention of a sentence; they have only two choices — work until death or be killed on the spot for not working.

Under such high pressure, resistance is inevitable.

"Mm, a few deaths and injuries don’t matter; just remember to contain the situation and not allow it to escalate and cause a chain reaction."

"I remember that this year’s batch of miner slaves is about to arrive..."

Zhang Yao casually reminded a few sentences, obviously not paying much attention.

"Master, Supervisor Zhou, please enjoy the tea."

Li Shuixian, graceful in posture, came holding a Black Sandalwood Tray, placed two cups of Spirit Tea down bending over, and spoke softly.

Zhang Yao made a ’mm’ sound in response, took up the tea cup, drank a sip, and Li Shuixian wisely retreated.

"Uh..."

The stunned Lao Zhou came to his senses, quickly picked up the tea cup, bowed his head pretending to drink tea, yet internally waves surged:

"Well, it seems the rumors are true; Li Shuixian really has attached herself to Lord Qingxu..."

While he felt a bit disdainful, more was envy and jealousy.

The Haihe Association’s industries spread across Da Li, with over a thousand Qi Refining Cultivators under them, yet only a total of ten Foundation Establishment masters.

It can be said that every Foundation Establishment Cultivator enjoys a prestigious status and immense power, able to determine the future and even the life and death of a large number of Qi Refining Cultivators with just one word.

He didn’t know that Li Shuixian was afflicted by the Blood Curse Technique; he only knew that her fate had changed by siding with a Foundation Establishment master!

"With a Foundation Establishment master looking after her, it would only take a word to transfer her away from the mining area in the future."

"If she’s even luckier, she might have a chance to follow Lord Qingxu into the Cangjiang Water Mansion to cultivate after ten years, and even gain greater benefits..."

Lao Zhou, thinking of this, felt even more envious but dared not have further thoughts.

A moment later, after reporting the affairs of the mining area, Lao Zhou respectfully stood up, took his leave, and departed the cave residence.

"You do have a bit of cleverness."

Zhang Yao glanced at Li Shuixian, who appeared before him again, with a calm tone.

"Forgive me, Lord. I’ve been oppressed so often that I acted impulsively with a hot head..."

Li Shuixian spoke with a touch of grievance in her tone, looking pitiable, and said:

"I acted in such a manner of borrowing the tiger’s might without your permission, and I’m willing to accept your punishment."

What she said wasn’t completely untrue.

The position of warehouse supervisor typically had ample opportunities for gain; unfortunately, because of the immense benefits of Suiyu Mountain, the supervision was particularly strict, and no one dared to make a move.

As a mere Qi Refining Cultivator, unlike a Foundation Establishment Cultivator with privileges, daring to covet the assets of Lord Haihe would certainly be a dead end.

This led her to be the weakest in power among the four supervisors, yet bearing the heaviest responsibility, being a scapegoat at the slightest mistake. Now she finally had a chance to flaunt her backing.

"Punishment?"

Zhang Yao glanced at her, waved his hand, and said:

"Alright, don’t let it happen again."

"You may go now."

"Yes, Lord."

A hint of joy flashed in Li Shuixian’s eyes as she respectfully withdrew.

Her usual work was quite leisurely, and supervising the warehouse didn’t require constant attention, giving her plenty of time to train her magical power.

Now, following Zhang Yao, no one dared to interfere, and she could openly slack off in the cave mansion without worry.

In the Quiet Chamber.

After dismissing Li Shuixian, Zhang Yao sealed the Quiet Chamber’s array and began practicing the ’Desolate Soul-shaking Divine Light.’

This is a Divine Soul Dao Skill from the ’Pingdu Twelve Methods,’ specifically targeting cultivators’ divine souls with immense power and almost indefensible unless countermeasures are in place.

This particular Divine Soul Dao Skill was one of the prerequisites for Zhang Yao’s plan.

...

In the blink of an eye, more than two months passed.

On this day, in the cave residence’s Quiet Chamber.

As magical power circulated, a pale white radiance suddenly emerged silently, enveloping the entire Quiet Chamber like a water curtain.

This radiance was identical to the Secret Treasure used by the three Dongge Sect disciples Zhang Yao encountered years ago in the desolate zone at the Da Li border.

"Swoosh!"

The pale white radiance was swiftly retracted, demonstrating superior control.

"Not bad."

Zhang Yao nodded in satisfaction.

After spending over two months, he finally reached entry-level mastery of the ’Desolate Soul-shaking Divine Light,’ far surpassing the progress of the Yellow Talisman Dao.

Although its current power isn’t substantial, making it challenging to use effectively in battles of the same level, it would easily handle some Qi Refining Stage cultivators.

Such as the Secret Treasure he witnessed that day:

The power carried by a disposable Secret Treasure is often much lower than that exhibited by its creator personally, yet it still disregarded all defenses, leaving even the three Qi Refining Perfection Tribulation Cultivator Leaders powerless to resist.

That night, deep past midnight.

"Buzz..."

The underground soil slightly trembled, as a yellow radiance traversed a hundred feet below.

The entire array node of the Haihe Association’s branch in Mountain City, along with those of the two major mining areas, was under Zhang Yao’s control, making it extremely easy to avoid the eyes and ears of others.

In just a moment, Zhang Yao arrived at the Black Jade Ore Vein’s mining area, where his powerful divine thought penetrated through a hundred feet of soil, scanning the surface.

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

The sleepy snores of the miner slaves echoed loudly in their living zone, as practically all of them lay dead asleep.

The mining area’s expanse made it unrealistic to fully equip with arrays, as the cost wouldn’t be worthwhile, resulting in only a few key spots having arrays.

For example, in the resting zone for these miner slaves, an array had been constructed to disperse spiritual qi and suppress magical power, creating an environment similar to the desolate zone, preventing these slave miners from even meditating to refine qi and restore magical power.

They could only mine while barely recovering their magical power, enduring a harsh, grueling day to meet quotas, only to collapse into sleep upon return.

"A truly worse-than-death existence."

Zhang Yao shook his head privately, suppressing a sense of pity, and quietly bypassed the array’s obstacles.

Carrying the control token of the array, he entered the miner slaves’ resting area without alerting anyone, not even the guards outside meditating and refining qi.

Moments later.

Using his divine thought from underground, Zhang Yao locked onto his target, then with a thought, circulated his magical power——

A pale white radiance spread out like a water curtain, covering the bodies of over a hundred Qi Refining Cultivators nearby.

These people were already in deep sleep, entirely unaware of anything happening, and they were plunged into even deeper slumber; with their divine souls suppressed, they wouldn’t awaken even if harmed.

Silently and soundlessly, Zhang Yao maintained the Silence Skill, traversing from underground to a shack.

The shack’s floor was layered with straw, forming a simple large communal bed swarming with about a dozen miner slaves, male and female alike, sleeping haphazardly.

Among them were two cultivators from the Demon Cultivation Clan.

"Let me take a good look..."