Eternal Country

The Yin-Yang Rings, though only a component of the Yin-Yang Lock, possessed their own formidable power. They could suppress and even annihilate souls. Once they landed on an enemy, they automatically activated their soul-binding and soul-slaying power, inflicting immense damage to the opponent's soul. Even if they couldn't forcibly extract the soul, they could still severely attack it.

The soul governs the body. When the soul suffers, the agony is unbearable. The rats before Yi Tianxing now exemplified this — clutching their heads, screeching in misery. Before him, they were nothing but lambs to the slaughter, utterly defenseless and stripped of all savagery. With a single swing of his Tang saber, he dispatched them one by one, like harvesting wheat with a scythe.

In the blink of an eye, 243 large mutant rats were slain.

As they died, each rat released a Willpower Pearl from its corpse. Yi Tianxing collected them without hesitation, swiftly placing them into his backpack. He also stored several glowing orbs that emerged from the bodies — items to examine later.

Yi Tianxing's saber moved with incredible speed.

Inside him, the power of the True Dragon Qi continually nourished his body, drastically enhancing his strength and making him feel no fatigue whatsoever. It allowed him to strike faster and with endless stamina. Even a single strand of True Dragon Qi could sustain prolonged combat at this intensity. In battle, he moved like the wind.

"The Yin-Yang Rings are indeed effective. They're ideal against foes weaker than me, roughly equal, or even slightly stronger. But if the enemy is too powerful, the rings alone aren't enough — only a fully formed Yin-Yang Lock can handle that. Still, for swarms like these rats, it's absolutely devastating. Killing them is like mowing down weeds."

Each time he killed one of the ferocious rats, the Yin-Yang Ring would drag the soul directly back into his eyes. There, inside the innate Yin-Yang Diagram, it was refined into a new Yin-Yang Ring. The fourth Yin-Yang Lock was visibly taking shape. Usually, it took about seven to eight rat souls to form one ring. Yet even with that ratio, by the time the 243 rats were slain, the fourth Yin-Yang Lock was completely forged — eighty-one interlinked Yin-Yang Rings, shimmering with black and white brilliance, awe-inspiring to behold.

This technique — using the Yin-Yang Rings — was something Yi Tianxing had developed in his recent battles.

Though he had previously formed Yin-Yang Locks and had used them effectively in exorcisms, real combat experience had been limited. Since the Cataclysm, however, monsters now lurked everywhere, and the Yin-Yang Lock alone was no longer sufficient. His innate Yin-Yang Eyes required more time and opportunity to evolve new abilities — something not easily achieved.

So, he turned his focus to the Yin-Yang Lock itself.

Through some experimentation, he discovered that the Lock could separate into individual Rings and recombine at will. Though the Lock was much stronger overall, the Rings retained most of its core powers. While ineffective against powerful opponents, they were perfect for overwhelming weaker, numerous foes.

This battle was his first live test — and the results were a resounding success.

Yi Tianxing now had a powerful new combat technique.

Meanwhile, the rats' screams had drawn the attention of the residents in the building. One by one, they peered out from windows. Seeing Yi Tianxing slice through the monstrous rats as effortlessly as chopping vegetables, their faces showed clear shock. The black-and-white rings pulling souls into his eyes only intensified their awe.

More than two hundred rats fell before him in moments — a breathtaking scene.

"That's Yi Tianxing! Master Yi! I've heard he has incredible powers — can drive out spirits and demons. He's a big name in the exorcism world. I moved into this building just because he lived here. Figured it would be safe from monsters. Looks like I was right!"

"Amazing! That's his true ability? Those black-and-white rings were grabbing the rats' souls? Two or three hundred rats, gone just like that. With someone like him around, our building's the safest place we could be!"

"I heard Master Yi already cleaned out the monsters in the building last night. Killed every creature that broke into homes. It's safe inside now — but outside, the cold is still unbearable. Anyone who steps out is as good as frozen. Not even Master Yi can change that."

Watching the battle, the residents felt a powerful, unspoken sense of safety. That safety came from Yi Tianxing's strength, and the simple fact that he lived in their building.

For now, that meant this building was significantly less dangerous than the world outside.

Their gazes toward him grew more reverent by the second.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!!

The surrounding rats were innumerable. The 200+ he had just slain were only a portion. The rest were still crazed and bloodthirsty. Even witnessing the brutal slaughter of their kin, they surged forward without hesitation — determined to tear Yi Tianxing apart.

"Perfect. I was just worried I wouldn't have enough souls for my Yin-Yang Eyes to evolve. Time to start forming the fifth Yin-Yang Lock."

Rather than feeling threatened, Yi Tianxing was full of anticipation. With the Yin-Yang Rings proven effective, he no longer feared hordes of weak monsters. As long as they weren't unusually powerful, the Rings allowed him to massacre at will.

"Yin-Yang Rings — Suppress!!"

With a thought, rings burst from his eyes at lightning speed — this time not just from three, but four fully-formed Yin-Yang Locks, unleashing a total of 324 Yin-Yang Rings in an instant. They swept outward, instantly binding a new wave of rats, who shrieked in agony under their soul suppression.

Then, the cold harvest began again.

These rats dropped more Willpower Pearls and strange glowing orbs. Yi Tianxing slayed as he moved, advancing to where he had fired his iron arrows earlier. He recovered every arrow he could find — as long as they weren't broken, they were reusable. He also harvested the Willpower Pearls from the corpses of those felled by arrows.

In this methodical kill-and-collect fashion…

Over a thousand rats had now died by his hands.

The flood of souls pushed the Yin-Yang Diagram in his eyes into a frenzy, refining them into pure Yin-Yang energy, feeding into the growing Yin-Yang Locks. In this unending carnage, the fifth Yin-Yang Lock was now fully formed.

But perhaps the rats had been frightened, or perhaps there were simply no more in the area — the attacks ceased. Their blood now drenched the street, the air thick with the stench of death. That smell became a deterrent to other beasts lurking in the dark, who dared not approach.

"Time to go back."

With no more swarms approaching, Yi Tianxing hesitated briefly before turning back toward the building. Now wasn't the time to throw caution to the wind — his current strength allowed him to slaughter hordes, but if he encountered true elites, like the Ghost Soldiers from before...

Just the thought of them made his heart tighten. Any one of them could crush him like an ant.

"I need to increase my cultivation. With the True Dragon Qi powering my Yin-Yang Eyes, I can keep using them for now. As long as I don't run out of Qi, I'm far stronger than before. But cultivation — that's the foundation."

He gathered all the loot and made his way back.

This time, no monsters blocked his path. But the air was still thick with the scent of blood — though it wouldn't last long. Soon, creatures from the dark would arrive and drag away every scrap of flesh, leaving nothing behind.

Click.

Yi Tianxing unlocked the security door and entered the lobby.

"Hmm? They've entered the first stage? Looks like this chaotic world really is a perfect time to cultivate."

As soon as he entered, he noticed three girls — Zhao Ziyan, Tang Zitong, and Chen Xuerou — each surrounded by faint, swirling energy vortexes, drawing in surrounding heaven-and-earth energy, funneling it into their bodies through their navels.

The size of the vortices varied — Zhao Ziyan and Tang Zitong had the largest, Chen Xuerou's was smaller, though not by much. The energy they drew in also had different elemental attributes.

They had completed the visualization step and successfully grasped their Innate Qi. Strictly speaking, that Qi wasn't external — it came from deep within their own bodies. Through visualization, they had drawn it out and begun to open their divine sea, unlocking the latent powers within their flesh.

The special trait of the Sitting Oblivion Sutra was its ability to refine the Innate Qi most compatible with each individual, giving birth to unique innate attributes and personal True Qi.

"Water, earth… and clouds? So these are their special attributes."

To the naked eye, heaven-and-earth energy was invisible. But with his Yin-Yang Eyes, Yi Tianxing could see what others could not. Around Chen Xuerou, it flowed in soft blue ripples — water element. Around Tang Zitong, it was a heavy, deep yellow — earth element. As for Zhao Ziyan… the energy was ethereal, like floating clouds.