Within the cave, everything was really normal. It wasn’t some treasure ground as Lin Fan had imagined it to be.

　　This cave was sinister and eerie.

　　By the time Lin Fan came to the end of the cave, he caught sight of a black tuft of smoke ramming repeatedly against the wall. He then smirked.

　　“HAHA! Seems like you’re the one who was playing the fool, eh? How’s it now? Do you feel like your life’s coming to an end now?” Lin Fan laughed maniacally.

　　As the saying went, ‘life is always filled with dangers lurking around the corner.’

　　Lin Fan himself had personally gone through a similar experience with this b*stard named Seven Saint. Hence, he had always been wary towards these self-proclaimed powerful beings.

　　Powerful beings were beings that were afraid of death as well. Furthermore, the more powerful they were, the more afraid of death they should be. Why would they toss away an opportunity of a lifetime to some outsider just like that?

　　Given the fact that Lin Fan had a system, nothing could escape his true sight. Deceiving Yours Truly? Dream on, fools!

　　‘How dare he try to pass off a Devil’s Switching Talisman as a Heaven Saint Imperial Talisman? That was shammy to the max!’

　　Back in the past, Lin Fan would always be envious of the different miraculous encounters that the main characters would always seem to come across. However, if he were to think back properly, perhaps none of those main characters were truly themselves anymore after that! Those ‘power-ups’ of the main characters might all have been because they had been overtaken by these powerful beings!

　　Who in the world would give you such a lovely chance encounter for free?

　　“You…!” The black tuft of consciousness snarled at Lin Fan and pounced forward.

　　He was bent on ripping this guy to shreds. Shreds!

　　“Hmph, how dare you act so insolently as just a single strain of consciousness? I wonder who gave you that sort of courage!” With a holler, Lin Fan summoned his Demon City.

　　“Devour him!”

　　The big ancient demon above the Demon City roared wildly. Ripping through the void with a single swipe of his hand, he grabbed out at Patriarch Azure Saint.

　　“I-IMPOSSIBLE! THE BIG ANCIENT DEMON HAS FALLEN LONG AGO! HOW COULD HE HAVE BEEN TURNED INTO A WEAPON? THIS…!” The moment Patriarch Azure Saint caught sight of the big ancient demon, he screamed out in disbelief.

　　The big ancient demon opened his mouth widely. A vortex appeared, sucking the strain of consciousness right in.

　　‘Smelt!’

　　That resilient consciousness of Patriarch Azure Saint struggled within the big ancient demon’s body. However, it was smelted in a matter of seconds.

　　“IMPOSSIBLE…!!!” Those were the last words of Patriarch Azure Saint’s maddened howls as he disappeared into silence thereafter.

　　“Hmph. What a trash.” Lin Fan snorted in disdain. At the same time, Demon City’s power levels rocketed once more.

　　If he were to continue along this way, he might be able to upgrade it into a dao weapon without even gathering the five spirits.

　　Power was the way of the world. As long as he could accumulate enough power, he could even break the normal regulations binding this world.

　　Lin Fan did not know who it was that had set all these rules and requirements that one had to adhere to before upgrading their weapons. As long as he had enough power, he was sure that he could bypass all of these and just forcefully upgrade it up.

　　However, the fact that the Patriarch Azure Saint could recognize the big ancient demon had Lin Fan pretty bewildered. This was to say that the Patriarch Azure Saint must have existed for a really long time now. In fact, he must have existed even before the big ancient demon’s fall, and might have exchanged blows with it as well.

　　‘Even though this Patriarch Azure Saint did not give Yours Truly any experience points, he DID help Demon City level up. This is quite a decent encounter indeed.’ Even though Lin Fan was slightly dejected, he was more than satisfied within his heart.

　　At the same time, he was once again realizing the danger of the path he was treading on. To think that he would be meeting with scammers everywhere he went. Seemed like he really ought to be really careful from now on.

　　If he were to get greedy over some small gains, he might die without even knowing how he did.

　　“Eh? Two bodies?” Checking out his surroundings, Lin Fan caught sight of two corpses within this hollow cave.

　　One of the corpses was buried so deeply in the walls that it was about to fuse together as one with the walls itself. However, it still seemed pristine as new. The moment Lin Fan touched the corpse gently with his fingers, it disintegrated into dust.

　　“That corpse belongs to someone of the human race as well.” The moment Lin Fan touched it, he could tell. The bodies of humans were innately weak. The only way for a human to have their bodies remain without corrosion for eternity was after they had managed to cultivate it to a certain state.

　　Even though the physical body state of that particular corpse was strong, that person had probably expended every single last bit of his energy before dying. In fact, the person might have even activated any other innate potential that was within the physical body state itself. As such, the body had reverted to that of a normal being’s, which couldn’t resist the ruthlessness of time.

　　‘Just who in the world is that?’ Lin Fan was curious as he tossed his glance over at the other wall.

　　There was another corpse. Lin Fan presumed that this should have belonged to Patriarch Azure Saint.

　　This corpse was slightly larger, probably that of an ancient race being’s.

　　The ancient race had an advantage over the other races with their intrinsic strengths. Therefore, even post-death, their pitch-black bones were still lustrous as ever.

　　‘Eh? What’s this?’ Lin Fan’s attention lingered over to a broken shard on the body of the Patriarch Azure Saint.

　　This shard looked pretty normal, without much of a glow. One could not see the difference through physical appearances alone.

　　However, Lin Fan could sense from deep within that this shard was definitely different.

　　VRRRRRRRRR!

　　Suddenly, the Eternal Axe within Lin Fan’s storage began to vibrate.

　　‘What’s going on?’ Lin Fan could not understand at the start. However, he took out the Eternal Axe nevertheless. The moment the Eternal Axe was retrieved, it floated into the air. Emitting a burst of energy from it, the entire shard was encompassed within as well.

　　‘Could this be a shard of the Eternal Axe?’ Lin Fan’s expression changed immediately. The Eternal Axe was a legendary weapon to begin with. The only reason why it’s strength had taken a beating was because it was damaged.

　　But with this supernatural phenomenon, it was evident that this shard had something to do with the Eternal Axe!

　　For the Eternal Axe, there existed the Heaven Splitting Three Stances.

　　Right now, Lin Fan had only learned one of them: ‘Firmament’. Yet, this one skill alone had been extremely beneficial, reaping him a godly improvement in his skills.

　　If this were truly a shard of the Eternal Axe, there should be a second stance within this once they were fused together! And if he could learn this second stance, his power level would definitely spike up once more!

　　Instantly, a burst of light shot forth from the broken shard, presenting an image in the void.

　　Back when the Eternal Axe was damaged, the shard had ripped through the void and was lost between the Heaven and Earth.

　　It was then obtained by a single man from the human race. After relentless hard work over the years, he had managed to craft a longsword out of that shard from the Eternal Axe. The moment the long sword took shape, everything changed as calamity befell the world, turning it into a dao weapon.

　　Eventually, this man from the human race had engaged in a great battle with the ancient race beings. Using overwhelming strength, he managed to overpower this ancient race being. However, he had expended his entire life’s energy as a result of that, and had perished here as well.

　　Each and every one of these scenes were etched within Lin Fan’s heart.

　　This man from the human race wasn’t someone like the Heavenly Emperor Yuan and the others. However, for the sake of overthrowing the ancient race, he had cast his life aside. To that, Lin Fan gave his utmost respect.

　　Shing!

　　The broken shard revolved around the Eternal Axe, not fusing for the longest time.

　　With that, Lin Fan understood something. After such a long time, the Eternal Axe was forced to compensate for the loss of its shard by reshaping itself inherently. As such, there was no longer a place where this shard could fit in anymore.

　　‘Heaven and Earth Smelt, smelt!’

　　Lin Fan did not hesitate as he summoned his Heaven and Earth Smelt and tossed the shard and his Eternal Axe within it.

　　With the Heaven and Earth Smelt, that issue would no longer be an issue.