Fortunately, the power of low-grade spirit talismans wasn't significant for him. If they had been first-grade talismans coming at him all at once like this, he probably wouldn't have lasted long before being utterly annihilated.

  The black-robed old man was both shocked and furious, barely managing to defend. However, after consecutively casting spells, his cultivation level quickly dropped from the eleventh layer to the tenth layer of Qi Refining. And Leo's spirit talismans seemed endless. The black-robed old man felt a wave of despair. He knew Leo's aptitude all too well; how could a kid who luckily reached the second layer of Qi Refining have so many spirit talismans?

  That remote place, Asgard, also had nowhere to obtain so many talismans. Could it be this guy had some other extraordinary encounter?

  This kid hid it so deeply, possessing a large number of spirit talismans all along without showing a hint, and even that panicked act earlier was just a performance for him. Having roamed the cultivation world for years, he hadn't even detected a clue. The black-robed old man seethed with hatred.

  Thump!

  The earthen shield condensed by the black-robed old man was pierced straight through by several golden spears, followed closely by a few fire arrows. The black-robed old man was startled. In the past, he naturally wouldn't have feared them, but in his soul state, he was extremely fragile. Even getting touched by spiritual fire would have severe consequences.

  "Ah!"

  Just barely managing to deal with the golden spears and fire arrows before him, the black-robed old man's soul couldn't dodge in time and was struck by several subsequent wind blades. Instantly, his soul was sliced into several pieces.

  Fortunately, being cut by wind blades didn't cause his soul to burn like spiritual fire would, otherwise he would have been annihilated by now. However, with this heavy blow, each time his soul was cut, a piece of unconscious soul fragment separated. After all, his consciousness could only attach to one piece; those that were cut off became unconscious fragments.

  Being cut into several pieces brought a soul-deep pain that terrified him. Even more terrifying was that Leo still had spirit talismans in hand, and after being cut several times, his cultivation level had plummeted to the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

  "Trying to escape? Not that easy." Having dealt a heavy blow to his opponent, Leo felt greatly encouraged. Seeing the black-robed old man trying to burrow underground—there must be tunnels he had dug over the past year. No wonder this old monster's cultivation hadn't returned to the twelfth layer after absorbing spiritual energy; it was all consumed on this. Truly treacherous beyond measure.

  "Earthen Spike Technique!"

  Leo slapped out a spirit talisman. Immediately, several earthen spikes emerged from the ground, precisely blocking the path below the black-robed old man's soul, cutting off his retreat.

  "Good disciple, spare, spare my life!"

  The black-robed old man panicked and cried out. Leo's methods made his heart race with fear. Apart from lacking experience and knowledge in the cultivation world due to his young age, this kid's cunning was already no longer comparable to before.

  "Spare you? Did you ever think of sparing me when you were plotting against me?"

  Leo snorted and continued activating talismans, mercilessly attacking his downed foe. The black-robed old man had lost the will to fight. His soul, now in several floating fragments, had autonomous consciousness only in the largest piece; the rest had become ownerless. One piece drifted near Leo. Leo felt an inexplicable attraction to this fragment separated from the black-robed old man. Unconsciously, he opened his mouth and swallowed it.

  The moment he swallowed it, Leo felt his soul seemed to gain a tremendous surge of power. Second layer of Qi Refining, third layer of Qi Refining!

  The speed of advancement was beyond imagination. What was happening? Leo was suddenly jolted awake by this rapid increase. Although he hadn't been in Moonwatch Immortal City for long, he had never heard of anyone whose cultivation improved so quickly.

  Leo naturally didn't know this was because the black-robed old man, in order to successfully seize a body and achieve the best compatibility with Leo's, had consumed the Soul-Binding Fruit. It allowed maximum absorption and utilization of the other party's soul and physical body to enhance one's own power. The Soul-Binding Fruit was a rare treasure in the cultivation world, encountered by chance, not merely through strength; it depended on fate. However, the effect of the Soul-Binding Fruit was mutual. The black-robed old man could use it, and naturally, so could Leo. When the black-robed old man consumed the fruit, he never imagined he would end up like this.

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  Leo didn't notice at this moment that the spiritual energy floating in the air, which hadn't been consumed yet, drifted around due to their battle. A few strands of spiritual energy touched some grass seeds on the ground. The seeds absorbed the energy and, at a visible speed, broke their shells, sprouting small purple shoots. As occasional spiritual energy drifted over, the small purple shoots would grow a bit after absorbing it, stopping once the energy supply ceased.

  "Bastard, that's mine!" The black-robed old man yelled in anger, but currently besieged by several talismans, he couldn't spare any effort to stop Leo.

  "It's mine now." Leo chuckled, not forgetting his purpose despite the spiritual energy drifting in the air.

  "Wind Blade Talisman!"

  Swish, swish! Several wind blades shot out from behind the small fireballs, arriving first and slicing off a few more pieces from the black-robed old man's soul-form.

  The black-robed old man screamed, his cultivation dropping once again, this time to the fifth layer of Qi Refining.

  "You little brat, I'll fight you to the death!" Although his escape speed wasn't slower than Leo's, the attack speed of the spirit talismans exceeded his fleeing speed.

  In despair, the black-robed old man charged forward towards Leo instead of retreating.

  "Dammit, I've run out of Wind Blade Talismans. I should have bought a few more."

  Leo felt quite annoyed. Using other talismans, even if they destroyed the black-robed old man, would also waste a lot of spiritual energy. If he had more Wind Blade Talismans, he could have sliced a few more pieces from the black-robed old man's soul.

  Now, compared to the solid, dense state during his Great Perfection, the black-robed old man's soul had become extremely thin and faint.

  However, it still appeared much denser than Leo's soul.

  Leo narrowed his eyes, cast an Earthen Shield on himself for defense, then activated several more talismans.

  "Fire Net Talisman!"

  "Golden Spear Technique!"

  The black-robed old man let out a fierce shout. Several golden short spears materialized out of thin air, shooting rapidly towards Leo's soul ahead. He was originally an expert at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. Even though he had fallen to the fifth layer, his cultivation was still far higher than Leo's, and his understanding and comprehension of spells were far beyond Leo, who had only cultivated for a year or two. The same spell cast from his hands was significantly more powerful than a low-grade spirit talisman.

  Caught off guard by Leo earlier, now in a desperate counterattack, he was exceptionally fierce. The golden short spears directly pierced several holes in the fire net coming at him and continued to penetrate the earthen shield in front of Leo.

  Unexpectedly, the black-robed old man's death throes were so fierce. Startled, Leo hurriedly dodged the golden short spears, which were already at the end of their force, and consecutively activated two Earthen Shield Talismans as a precaution. Fortunately, he knew the black-robed old man's prowess and had many talismans for self-preservation.

  "Vine Talisman!" "Earthen Armor Talisman!"

  "Golden Hammer Technique!"

  "Water Whip Talisman!"

  "Fire Snake Technique!"

  Talismans and spells flew back and forth between the two. By now, both were fighting with reddened eyes. Leo was determined to eliminate the black-robed old man, while the black-robed old man desperately tried to maintain the fiery curtain, hoping to last until Leo's talismans were exhausted.

  Boom, boom! Spells and talismans collided, their destructive forces scattering everywhere. The black-robed old man's mastery of spells and combat experience ultimately were not something Leo could match.

  In the midst of it, Leo was pierced slightly by a golden arrow from the black-robed old man, pain wracking his entire being, making him tremble. Yet, he endured the pain and continued to counterattack.

  The black-robed old man, who had fallen back to the third layer of Qi Refining, saw the power of his spells diminish further and further. By now, he was only at the early Qi Refining stage; the spells he cast were only slightly stronger than low-grade talismans.

  Crackle! A lightning pillar struck, followed by an exploding fireball that engulfed the black-robed old man's soul. Piercing, miserable screams came from within.

  Leo still controlled a few talismans, searching the area around him. Finding no further trace of the black-robed old man's soul, he finally breathed a huge sigh of relief. Upon second thought, Leo couldn't help but laugh at his own timidity. It seemed the long-term psychological shadow cast by the black-robed old man had affected him.

  Now, within the boundary drifted a large number of soul fragments, all sliced off from the black-robed old man's soul using wind blades and then dispersed. For over a year, the black-robed old man had been his nightmare.

  Now, having removed this sword hanging over his neck, Leo felt a profound sense of relief from the depths of his heart. He greedily absorbed the ownerless soul fragments drifting within the boundary. His own cultivation astonishingly quickly broke through the third layer, then the fourth layer of Qi Refining. Until there was almost no free spiritual energy left within the boundary, he had reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining.

  Truly, great fortune follows great disaster. He had toiled in cultivation for nearly two years, only arduously progressing from the first to the second layer of Qi Refining. Yet now, in a single day, he had not only advanced three consecutive layers but also completed the massive transformation from early to middle stage Qi Refining.

  "Hmm?" While chasing the remaining bit of soul fragment along the drifting direction of the spiritual energy, Leo suddenly saw a cluster of light purple grass at the edge of the boundary—Purple Spirit Grass. This cluster had over ten plants. When that strand of spiritual energy touched the Purple Spirit Grass, it vanished, and one of the plants dropped several seeds, from which small purple sprouts grew from the ground again.

  "So, after absorbing spiritual energy, Purple Spirit Grass automatically drops seeds, which then sprout. But where did this cluster of Purple Spirit Grass come from?"

  Full of questions, Leo searched the area again but found no traces of spiritual materials elsewhere. They must have grown recently; otherwise, if there truly were large quantities, the black-robed old man would have already reached the twelfth layer.

  Could it be from that time he experimented to see if he could bring spiritual materials into this mysterious space? Once, when he brought in a Purple Spirit Grass plant, perhaps he accidentally dropped some seeds here? Then, because the spiritual energy today hadn't been fully absorbed yet, they absorbed the energy and sprouted?

  The Purple Spirit Grass he ingested today had no seeds. To verify this conclusion, Leo specifically left the space to check the remaining Purple Spirit Grass in another jade box. He found it only had one seed; indeed, a few were missing.

  So, spiritual herbs could actually be grown within this space. And as long as there was a supply of spiritual energy, the herbs could rapidly grow from sprouts to maturity. This growth speed was simply unheard of.

  Purple Spirit Grass was the main ingredient for refining Qi Gathering Pills. Previously, it would have been very useful to him. Unfortunately, he was now at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. Even if he refined it into pills, the effect wouldn't be great anymore; Qi Gathering Pills only had decent effects on early-stage Qi Refining cultivators. By the middle stage of Qi Refining, more advanced pills were needed.

  "Looks like I'll need spirit stones again later to buy pill recipes for the middle stage of Qi Refining." Leo smiled wryly. Apart from spirit talismans, his spirit stones were almost depleted. It seemed he needed to earn more spirit stones later and also inquire about pill recipes for the middle stage of Qi Refining.

  "Ah, right. There's still one storage pouch I haven't opened." Leo suddenly remembered among the several storage pouches, the one presumably belonging to the black-robed old man still couldn't be opened. He had been coveting the black-robed old man's golden flying sword for a long time. Moreover, since the black-robed old man could kill the other three, the items in his storage pouch must be extraordinary.