“Number ten thousand…”

In this dark red world filled with an air of desolation, a murmured voice suddenly broke the silence.

Qin Ruqing sat cross-legged, and not far from her was a huge fire pit.

This fire pit was a typical example of the “jump into the fire pit” concept—large and spacious, with a suitable temperature, carefully crafted by Qin Ruqing for the wandering souls.

Qin Ruqing called out in a commanding tone, “One, two, one, jump!”

The wandering souls lined up next to the fire pit obediently jumped in one by one.

Qin Ruqing sat leisurely by the side, seemingly effortlessly gaining the power of the rules.

Of course, this ease was only superficial. To achieve this effect, Qin Ruqing had put in considerable effort.

From the first experiment, when the soul jumped through the fire circle, Qin Ruqing realized that the rules of the wasteland could be used in this way.

She then began to think of ways to use this to her advantage.

Although her understanding of the rules was still shallow and not comparable to the barrier of the wasteland city, Qin Ruqing had her own insights.

The wandering souls, no matter how powerful they were in life, were now dead, lacking intelligence.

They were like empty shells, attacking people only by instinct.

Lacking intelligence and driven by instinct was actually beneficial.

As long as she controlled the basic power of the rules within them and provided some guidance, the wandering souls would “obediently follow.”

Of course, this method had significant drawbacks.

Qin Ruqing could only control souls with very little intelligence remaining.

Some souls, in the environment of the wasteland, had relatively high intelligence and even fragmented memories.

Qin Ruqing suspected that deeper in the wasteland, she might encounter souls with complete memories.

She had no way to deal with those.

After the last soul jumped into the fire pit, Qin Ruqing stood up and retracted the life flame from the pit.

“There are no more low-level souls in this area; I need to go further in.”

Qin Ruqing didn’t know how vast the virtual soul battlefield was, but based on her experience, she had not encountered any souls she couldn’t handle, indicating that she was still in the outer regions.

Qin Ruqing had a small goal:

First, gather a whole city’s worth of rule power, then she could think about other matters.

The “other matters” referred to negotiating with the immortals and helping them open the immortal tombs.

While Qin Ruqing worked hard, those nearby began to sense something unusual.

Why were there so few vengeful souls around?

This battlefield seemed like it should have witnessed a small-scale war involving at least ten thousand people.

But now, the souls they could find were either very powerful and difficult to handle or timid, hiding in skeletons and not daring to come out.

The ones noticing this strange phenomenon were two bald monks—no, rather, Buddhist disciples.

One of them, the Child of Light Buddhist, was an old acquaintance of Qin Ruqing.

He naturally appeared with a glowing aura around him, sitting on a halo.

The other was the true Buddhist disciple of the Western Zen School, known as Huineng.

Unlike the Buddhist Child, Huineng wore a simple brown robe and had eyes that seemed empty yet contained the essence of all things.

He walked barefoot across the virtual soul battlefield, measuring the land with his steps.

Huineng told the Buddhist Child not to rush, saying that the wandering souls they would encounter were predetermined. If they were missing here, they would appear elsewhere.

The Buddhist Child nodded thoughtfully but then said, “This scene feels a bit familiar…”

He slapped his forehead and exclaimed, “Oh, it’s her. Only Fairy Ruqing could create such a big commotion in the ancient wasteland.”

Huineng’s gaze remained calm and untroubled.

The Buddhist Child responded, “Right, you didn’t attend the Hundred Clans Conference, so you might not know. Fairy Ruqing was the top performer at the conference. She struck the divine artifact of Mount Buzhou three times and was recognized as a celestial talent.”

He then recounted some of Qin Ruqing’s heroic deeds from the conference.

Huineng nodded and calmly said, “Since you believe that such a powerful fairy is causing this disturbance, we should take a different route.”

The Buddhist Child protested, “There are two of us, so why should we be afraid of her?”

In the battlefield, their team would automatically disperse.

However, as practitioners of Zen Buddhism, they had a way to locate each other due to their shared techniques.

Therefore, the Buddhist Child and Huineng, as a formidable pair, were a strong presence in the battlefield.

Huineng put his hands together and said, “From what you’ve described, it’s clear that this fairy has already established her power. This power is not only her own but also…” He paused, shook his head, and didn’t elaborate further.

“To oppose such power would be harmful to us. Therefore, we should avoid direct confrontation.”

The Buddhist Child touched his chin thoughtfully, “So she’s that powerful after all.” He clearly believed in Huineng’s words.

Huineng was a natural-born Buddhist disciple who hadn’t been seen in their Zen sect for centuries.

According to their abbot, he was born with unusual signs and had a natural perception of all things, making him destined to practice Buddhism.

In simpler terms, Huineng was naturally aligned with a certain great path and could sense heavenly secrets.

“So, we should avoid her and take a different route,” said the Buddhist Child.

He turned his glowing aura mount in another direction, speeding away.

Surprisingly, Huineng, walking barefoot, was able to keep pace without slowing down.

The two figures vanished into the red sandstorm.

Meanwhile, Qin Ruqing, who had just started digging a new pit, suddenly paused and looked in a certain direction.

For a brief moment, she sensed something unusual, but when she tried to focus, the sensation faded away.

It was probably a high-level wandering soul.

Qin Ruqing shook her head.

She was currently not interested in high-level souls.

According to her plan, focusing on quantity was more efficient in the early stages, and only later would she need to focus on quality.

Looking at the newly dug pit, Qin Ruqing clapped her hands and stood up, ready to start a new round of her soul-into-fire game.

She concentrated, catalyzing her Dao Physique to sense the surrounding rule power and apply some guidance.

Because she was so focused, she didn’t notice that the map in her storage bag, made from four celestial-grade tokens, was glowing brightly.

Deep within the immortal tomb, an ancient presence began to awaken and cast a distant gaze in a certain direction.

Although the awakening of this ancient will seemed unremarkable, it sent out an invisible ripple.

This ripple acted like a signal, affecting the souls on the outer edge.

They were swept by the ripple and they bowed deeply toward the depths of the immortal tomb.

The souls kneeling there all had a common characteristic: they were human-shaped, dressed in ancient, simple clothing, and were vastly different from the wandering, fragmented souls outside.

Moving from the periphery inward, the souls became noticeably sparser but increasingly powerful.

They all directed their gaze deeper inside, their eyes filled with shock and awe.

Deep within, some slumbering souls began to gradually awaken due to the disturbance, while the already awakened souls looked towards the two largest graves in the depths and murmured, “The will of the Immortal Master has awakened…”

Outside the Immortal Tomb, people from immortal sects and hidden noble families were guarding.

The younger generation had naturally gone to the Virtual Soul Battlefield for training, as this was the most basic benefit they could reliably obtain.

As for finding complete inheritances, they could only do their best and leave the rest to fate.

Now, those guarding outside discovered that the barrier of the Immortal Tomb was suddenly shaking violently, as if something major had happened inside.

Their faces changed drastically, and they wanted to use magic to find out the cause, but couldn’t find a way.

Feng Qinxue stood with her hands down, watching seriously for a while before speaking, “Everyone, there seems to be a mutation inside the Immortal Tomb. Should we open the seal early?”

The Elder from the Lu family, who had come this time, immediately opposed as soon as the Feng family spoke, “Open it early? We don’t even know what’s happening inside. What if something goes terribly wrong with the Immortal Tomb?”

Feng Qinxue, a formidable woman, snorted coldly and retorted, “If the Lu family is afraid, you can withdraw.”

The Lu family elder fell silent, glaring at Feng Qinxue, clearly unwilling to argue further.

Withdraw?

Joking, right?

With the inheritance at stake, how could the Lu family withdraw?

Withdrawing would just let the Feng family take advantage, right?

Even if the Fifth family were to enter, the Feng family shouldn’t go in alone!

Fifth Sheng, seeing the tense atmosphere, tried to mediate and suggested, “Since there’s a mutation in the Immortal Tomb, although we don’t know what it is, should we call the children over? If there’s really any change, they can respond in time.”

At first, this might sound strange, but it made sense.

Because even if these old folks obtained complete inheritance, they lacked the ability to cultivate it fully.

Only those with top-tier celestial talent could fully utilize the value of the inheritance.

Therefore, calling the younger generation was also to ensure that if there were any changes to the seal of the immortal tomb or an opportunity to enter, the most suitable people could be brought in in time.

Feng Qinxue’s attitude towards Fifth Sheng softened.

With a charming smile, she said, “The clan leader is right.”

Fifth Sheng’s body trembled slightly, and he forced a smile before taking out a bronze bell to summon people.

The Feng and Lu families did the same.

After notifying Fifth Youlin, Fifth Sheng also mentioned the matter to Fifth Lingyu and added:

“And that girl from the Qin family, find her and bring her along too.”

The Fifth family would need her help to unlock the seal.

Fifth Lingyu remained silent for a moment before agreeing.

Qin Ruqing, unaware of the commotion outside, was still focused on her work, diligently collecting souls.

By now, she had dug three “fire pits.” She was almost done with her small goal of “collecting a whole city’s worth of rule power.”

Wiping her sweat, Qin Ruqing said, “Just one more should be enough.”

As she was about to continue, she suddenly sensed something and frowned.

She took out a bronze bell from her storage bag—the one given to her by Fifth Lingyu.

When she connected it, Fifth Lingyu’s somewhat somber voice came through, “Where are you?”

Qin Ruqing instinctively forced a smile, then remembered he couldn’t see her, so she dropped the smile and responded in a playful tone, “What’s up? Are you coming to help me with the souls and collect rule power?”

Fifth Lingyu remained silent for a moment before emphasizing, “Did you seal the bronze bell I gave you?”

He asked where she was because he noticed he couldn’t locate her.

The bell was supposed to help with that.

Qin Ruqing chuckled and replied, “What else would I do?”

Not sealing it and waiting for you to monitor me at all times?

She couldn’t believe he’d think so highly of her trust in him.

Fifth Lingyu’s voice grew colder.

Without further discussion, he said directly, “There might be some changes in the immortal tomb. We need to go there in advance. Tell me your location, and I’ll come pick you up.”

Qin Ruqing responded, “No need. I have some things to finish here. You go ahead, and I’ll join you at the immortal tomb when I’m done.”

Her small goal wasn’t achieved yet.

How could she let anyone interrupt her?

There was silence on the other end of the bell. Qin Ruqing smirked, hung up, and tossed the bell aside.

She wasn’t going to be summoned at will, even by someone of celestial status.

Oh, so you think if you need me, I must drop everything to cooperate with you?

Even though Qin Ruqing had respect for celestial family, she also had her boundaries.

This behavior was well within those boundaries!