After a while, Noah arrived near a structure formed by eight stone pillars placed in a circular shape.
On one of the pillars, a decrepit old man was chained by golden chains while a young girl with a veil covering her face was throwing attacks at the chain in an attempt to break it.
"Old man Meng and his disciple, it seems he came to the Tong Xuan realm and ended up trapped here just like in the original story."
"Master, don't worry! I'll get you out of here!"
Noticing someone coming, the young woman turned to see who it was.
Seeing Noah, she recognized him immediately.
"It's you!
Please help me save my master!"
Before Noah could respond, a spiritual message came to her mind.
"Brat, it's useless to try to save me. Take her away from this place and leave me.
Knowing she is safe will make it so this old man can die in peace."
Sighing, Noah agreed.
He wasn't Yang Kai, he wouldn't be so reckless as to try to save old man Meng, especially knowing the consequences of doing so.
The only way to save him would be to break the pillars but doing so would cause the concealment matrix set up by the demon god to hide the Tong Xuan realm from outer space to break. But more importantly, doing so would cause the demon god's aura to completely dissipate from this world, causing the dormant bone race to awaken, something that would go against his plans.
Noah walked up to Xia Ning Chang and directly knocked her out before carrying her in his arms and looking at Treasurer Meng one last time.
As he left, a person appeared inside the formation. It was none other than a clone of the demon god soul in charge of protecting this place.
"Looks like this old man's inheritance has fallen into the hands of someone rather interesting.
Hehehe, I thought I would at least try to free you."
"Hmp! We're not close enough for him to risk his life to save me."
Lowering his head, Old Meng said no more.
On the other hand, Noah stepped out of the space rift and stood thoughtfully.
Although he was sure that anyone who entered the place would end up like Old Man Meng, he didn't want to take any chances.
"It's too bad I don't know any spells for sealing space passages.
I guess I'll have to use that."
Pulling out an amphora with an eclipse symbol on its lid, he opened it and out from inside came a Djinn.
"I want you to close this and any other space passages leading to the dimension on the other side."
The Djinn listened to Noah's wish and moved around the space passage for a while before it began to close.
The same happened with other passages at different points in Tong Xuan realm.
One of the three stars drawn on the lid of the amphora dimmed, indicating that two more wishes remained.
Re-sealing the Djinn inside the amphora, Noah stored it in his magic gourd before teleporting away.
After reaching the cave where the old coffin slave slept, he pulled Li Rong out and let him talk to him.
Noah wanted to take him with him as some forces had started to gather near the place with the intention of killing him to discover his secrets.
The coffin slave quickly agreed and Noah put him inside his magic gourd before opening another portal and appearing in another cave.
Half an hour later, Xia Ning Chang awoke and looked around in confusion before noticing Noah meditating nearby.
Noah opened his eyes and looked at her before smiling.
"Looks like you woke up."
Xia Ning Chang didn't respond and instead looked around, seemingly looking for someone.
"Master..."
"He stayed in the sealing array."
"But...why didn't you save him? Why did you save me?"
"Sigh, I alone don't have the strength to get him out of that place."
Xia Ning Chang clutched her head and curled up to the side as she cried.
"He...he was my only family.... He was more than a father to me. Without him I have no one else, nothing makes sense anymore..."
Xia Ning Chang suddenly stood up before her eyes became bloodshot.
Raising her hand, she gathered a large amount of qi before attempting to slit her throat.
"Sigh... I originally wanted to recruit you because of your extraordinary talent but it looks like it's not going to be possible."
Noah grabbed Xia Ning Chang's hand before she slit her own throat and knocked her out with one punch.
"Since your will to live is already extinguished, there's no use trying to persuade you.
At least let me put your body to good use."
Pulling the coffin slave out of his magic gourd, Noah carried Xia Ning Chang's unconscious body to the small world inside the coffin.
At the demon god's castle, he called Magna and Lena for a meeting.
"How is the investigation going?"
"We're going well. I think that in about ten years at most, we'll be able to fully develop a cultivation technique for the mana core."
"Hmmm, that's a bit slow but I can afford to wait. Now that the bone race still won't appear that early, waiting ten years before I break through shouldn't be a problem."
"Brother, she is?"
"Just someone who lost her will to live."
Looking at the sleeping Xia Ning Chang, Noah sighed before looking at Lena.
"I'll teach you a new soul clone technique.
I want you to create a new soul clone to possess her body."
Noah put a finger on Lena's forehead and passed her the information of the technique he learned from absorbing the demon god's drop of blood.
"Why her?"
"She's special, she has one of the best physiques in this universe. If it wasn't because she doesn't want to live anymore, I would have done everything I could to get her to join our clan.
That's why I'm doing this as a last resort.
Besides, his special physique is very compatible with you since you're a born alchemist."
"Sigh... It's a pity she can't join us but that's okay."
Lena sat cross-legged and used the soul clone technique, condensing a miniature blue version of herself.
Noah quickly dragged this new soul clone into his spiritual sea next to Xia Ning Chang's soul.
"Where am I?"
"Within my sea of knowledge.
Since you no longer find meaning in life, let me help you bid farewell to this world."
Opening the demonic eye of annihilation, Noah destroyed Xia Ning Chang's soul before instructing Lena's clone to debug his soul essence before putting him into his new body.
"So this is a cultivator? And these alchemy skills..."
The third rank transcendent clone stood up and conjured a few martial skills before asking Noah for a few spiritual herbs.
Grabbing the herbs with one hand, Lena's clone activated his holy medicine physique, turning the herbs into pure energy that gathered in his other hand, condensing into a low-grade holy grade pill.
"You can use this clone to cultivate, as for you..."
Noah looked at Magna and rubbed his chin.
"I can't just give you any body, I'll try to get you one as good as Lena's, in the meantime you'll have to wait."
Magna agreed without objecting, she trusted her master's judgment.
"Well, I'll leave you two alone, I have other things to do, I'll see you in ten years."
Leaving the small world, he put the coffin slave back inside his magic gourd.
Now that the bony race would not come out of their hiding places of their own free will, he decided to finish them off one by one.
And so, seven years passed in which Noah searched the entire northern Tong Xuan kingdom with his demon subordinates for any trace of the Bone Race until he exterminated each one of them.
Finally, he allowed himself to relax by taking a bath while Li Rong massaged him.
"Is the blood gathering matrix ready?"
"Yes, we finished carving it two days ago."
"Good, then tomorrow will be the big show."
The next day, without warning, a meteorite fell from the sky on the floating cloud city, smashing the city lord's palace.
The city lord managed to escape in time but everyone else was killed on the spot.
The huge meteorite at the bottom of the crater began to buzz before exploding into pieces that shot out from all sides, severely injuring some and killing others.
From the core of the shattered meteorite, an orb of golden light rose into the air before transforming into a mysterious black book.
The black book suddenly released a strange energy fluctuation before a protective barrier completely covered it.
At the same time, a fluctuation of bewitching energy began to float in the air, slowly affecting the judgment of some of the cultivators.
"That artifact..."
"Came from the starry sky..."
"It must be something very valuable..."
The city lord's eyes suddenly lit up before he shot towards the book and tried to break through the barrier with everything he had but it was useless.
Due to the commotion caused by the meteorite, many experts came to see what was going on.
As the flying cloud city was a meeting place of the three races, the news soon reached the various forces of each race.
Demon commander Zhang Yuan leapt up from his throne and shot out towards the flying cloud city as he blasted his stage three peak stage saint rank aura.
His four demon generals, seeing his actions, also followed him.
The powers of the other two races sensed the actions of the demons and fearing an attack, shot out to the flying cloud city as well.
The floating cloud city, which was supposed to be a point of non-aggression between the three races, was about to undergo the second largest war this world has ever experienced.
The demon commander and his subordinates stared at the floating black book unblinkingly.
"It's the mystic demon tome!"
"Quickly, help me destroy this barrier before the other experts reach the area."
"Haha! Looks like Brother Zhang Yuan knows what this object is!"
A man with ox horns along with a man with golden horns and a woman with the lower part of a snake stood in the way of Zhang Yuan and his group.
"Right! If you wouldn't mind Brother Zang enlightening us."
The sect master of the High Heaven Sect also appeared on the other side.
"My friends, it seems that we can't resolve this by fair means today."
"Certainly, it seems that item is very precious to you so we won't allow you to take it so easily."
"If your demon race becomes more powerful to our races only death awaits."
"Hahahahahahaha! It seems they want to unite to suppress my demon race. They think we are so weak that you can intimidate us with numbers? I call all members of the demon race! Today begins a new war!"
The always calm and composed Zhang Yuan completely lost his composure. Seeing the mystic demon take blinded him to any other thought other than getting that book.
If he could get it, he would obtain the legacy of the great demon god for which he was willing to sacrifice everything.
In less than a day, the city became a battlefield where members of the three races were constantly taking each other's lives.
What no one noticed was how a matrix many meters below the ground constantly consumed the souls of those who died.
In the center of the matrix, a black-haired man sat cross-legged and absorbed all the remaining souls that the matrix attracted before turning them into pure soul essence.
Instead of consuming it, the man kneaded it into a giant ball that grew larger and larger as more soul essences were purified.