The figure composed of black threads had originally been confident in blocking that white Divine Punishment, which made countless cultivators tremble in fear—even though it was one of the most terrifying punishments recorded in heaven and earth. Facing such terror, the black figure hadn't shown the slightest panic.
But the moment that mottled Bronze Flying Dagger slashed through the void, the black figure immediately panicked. Even the black threads seemed to tremble uncontrollably and frantically. Making a prompt decision, the black figure instantly disintegrated, transforming into countless black threads that bored into the void and merged with the Great Dao. In almost an instant, all traces vanished completely.
Facing such a supernatural method, Qi Ping's heart shook frantically. This life-preserving method was incredibly strong—directly transforming into millions of threads to merge with the void and the Dao. Among the many spells and manuals he had seen for blood-refining division, consciousness separation, or life-saving clones, they all appeared weak before this method.
And the move was indeed effective. Facing this technique, even the terrifying white divine thunder could only track and annihilate a small portion. It likely couldn't even heavily injure the opponent. However, just as Qi Ping thought the black figure would escape, the Bronze Flying Dagger struck!
The moment the bronze dagger slashed toward the void, the entire world fell into a freeze of time and space! Then, an even more shocking scene appeared: countless black threads were actually dragged out of the void and the Great Dao by the dagger's strike! Subsequently, the threads began to snap inch by inch until they collapsed and vanished!
To Qi Ping's disappointment, the dagger wasn't able to annihilate all the black threads. After destroying the vast majority, the power fluctuation on the dagger disappeared, seemingly having exhausted all its strength. A portion of the black threads took the opportunity to escape.
After the threads left, a black square box appeared in the void. Subsequently, a human Mahayana cultivator with nearly withered blood-qi emerged from the box. With a hand trembling from exhaustion, he laboriously placed the Bronze Flying Dagger into the box. Then, he tore off the only remaining clean piece of cloth from his body and wrote down characters in blood.
Qi Ping saw clearly that those blood characters were the very ones he had seen.
'The black box, the Bronze Flying Dagger, the cloth strip covered in blood script...'
At this moment, the mystery of the black box and the bronze dagger was partially solved. That withered Mahayana cultivator, after cautiously and solemnly placing the dagger and the cloth into the box, devoutly cast the box back into the Star-Sea Continent.
After completing all this, the figure seemed to have finished all its tasks. Once the will supporting him vanished, the entire person began to gradually dissipate. The eyes in that terrifyingly withered face showed one last trace of reluctance. Then, that peak-level Mahayana cultivator vanished into the void with his final lingering attachment. Everything regarding his existence was rapidly erased.
At this point, the scene before Qi Ping's eyes disappeared. However, in the final moment, a special formula appeared in Qi Ping's mind. Although it was just one formula, the laws of the Great Dao contained within were incredibly exaggerated. It took nearly a month for Qi Ping to barely finish accepting the formula. As for comprehending it enough to use it, that would still take a long time.
"Immortal Slaying Dagger, the Immortal Slaying Formula!"
After digesting the formula, Qi Ping finally understood the sequence of events. According to the information within the formula, he had just received a weapon-control method called the Immortal Slaying Formula. The weapon it controlled was that Bronze Flying Dagger! Or rather, the legendary Immortal Slaying Dagger!
According to the description, the Immortal Slaying Dagger was a weapon with immense karma, born specifically to slay immortals. This was its greatest and only purpose. But the eerie part was that every time the dagger was used, it had to devour the essence, spirit, and flesh of a cultivator—and only an extremely rare, special cultivator could satisfy the dagger's needs. Once the dagger devoured satisfactory flesh and essence, it could unleash incredible power, even enough to slay an immortal!
According to the information provided, the figure composed of black threads was an "Immortal"—a Mahayana cultivator who had crossed the threshold of immortality!
'That was an Immortal?'
Qi Ping found this somewhat hard to accept. In his expectations, a cultivator who had stepped past the Immortal Gate should be a transcendent being who lived as long as the world and was untouched by the ages. How could they become so terrifying and eerie? Turning entirely into those horrific black threads—if that wasn't a monster, what was?
'But if viewed from one perspective, that power and survival capability... it isn't overstating it to call it an Immortal. It's just a bit eerie.'
Rather than an Immortal, it was more like a demon or something ghostly; such a description was more accurate. If that was an Immortal, then the Immortal Slaying Dagger was specifically meant to kill such things. Killing such an entity wasn't particularly hard to understand, but the way to control the dagger made Qi Ping's scalp go numb. Sucking dry a person's flesh, spirit, and essence—how was that any different from a sacrifice?
Or rather, why did this dagger have to devour a rare, special existence before it could unleash power? What was the relationship between the Immortal Slaying Dagger and that Immortal?
The doubts were too great. They were so great that Qi Ping's scalp prickled with fear! Consequently, he immediately placed the dagger back into the box and sealed it. He then found a place to completely seal it using the strongest formations and restrictions, leaving a sliver of consciousness to watch over it. Although this dagger appeared extremely powerful, Qi Ping had no intention of keeping it by his side. Who knew if this thing would devour him as well? Such an existence looked at him as if he were a delicacy. Unless absolutely necessary, Qi Ping would never use it.
After completely sealing the dagger and the black box, Qi Ping finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was more comfortable not to have such things beyond his control around him.
'This can be considered a significant harvest! Most importantly, I've finally learned some secrets...'
As he thought of the information he had learned, Qi Ping's gaze became heavy. First, the mystery of why the Star-Sea Continent had no Mahayana-related traces was finally uncovered. It was that mysterious figure composed of countless black threads—the "Immortal" described in the formula. With a single move of those eerie black threads, it had directly erased any trace of Mahayana cultivators from the continent—cultivators, manuals, artifacts... nothing escaped.
Except for that Mahayana cultivator hiding in the black box. But he had only barely escaped! Because after that cultivator left the box, his figure was still being washed away and erased by a powerful force. Even after the dagger annihilated the "Immortal" of black threads, that law of power seemed to still exist. Otherwise, a Mahayana cultivator, even one at the end of his rope, wouldn't have dissipated so completely.
'So... the question is, does that rule-power that erases Mahayana cultivators still exist?'
At this moment, Qi Ping's heart jumped in shock! 'Where is the cloth strip covered in blood script?'
He seemed to have only sealed and stored the dagger; he had forgotten about the tattered cloth covered in blood characters. Now, the cloth seemed to be gone! Qi Ping immediately utilized his Earth Immortal Druid power to seek it out. Such an item definitely couldn't escape his search.
But as breath after breath passed, Qi Ping's face gradually turned grim. He could find no trace of the blood-cloth!
'It really has disappeared!' Qi Ping's expression became incredibly dark. 'The rule that annihilates all things related to Mahayana cultivators must still be active!'
Otherwise, the blood-cloth would never have vanished for no reason. Even Qi Ping's own memory seemed to be deliberately ignoring and forgetting the cloth's existence.
'No, I must record the existence of the blood-cloth.'
Thus, Qi Ping began to use the power of laws to carve the events of today into a piece of tough Mystic Gold Stone... but as he began to write, his face grew even darker. Halfway through the carving, all the marks vanished into thin air, leaving only a pitted piece of stone.
"What was I carving?"
Qi Ping suddenly realized he seemed to have forgotten something. He also forgot what he was recording. All he knew now was that he was recording something very important, but now he had forgotten it!
"Things related to the Immortal Slaying Dagger and the Immortal Slaying Formula... and the Immortal... and the rule left by that Immortal that erases anything regarding the existence of Mahayana cultivators..."
"There seems to be a gap in my memory, seemingly related to the source of the formula..."
"What exactly is it that can erase my memory?"
With a dark expression, Qi Ping immediately began to mobilize his power.
"Sentient Beings of Heaven and Earth, Armor of Sentient Thoughts, protect my True Spirit!"
"Earth Immortal Druid—Earth Immortal Protection!"
"Five-Colored Celestial Light—Celestial Armor Guards the Spirit!"
Qi Ping unhesitatingly applied every force he could manifest to his true spirit consciousness, firmly guarding it at the core. Only at this moment did he feel his consciousness fully restore its clarity. The force influencing his memory slowly weakened and vanished.
'Damn it!'
'After that Immortal composed of black threads erased the existence of Mahayana, that power remained!'
'But how many ages have passed? Is this the power of an Immortal?'
'And the part of the memory I forgot... the gap in my memory is the origin of the Immortal Slaying Formula, and the medium that provided the memory of that battle. Now it has vanished, along with the meaning of its existence. And that black box was the medium that could isolate this eerie rule-power...'
Qi Ping's mood was very heavy. He hadn't expected a small black box to involve so much.
'It seems those layers of protection in my true spirit consciousness cannot be removed in the future. Otherwise, these remaining memories will also be erased one by one.'
Fortunately, within his own Earth Immortal domain, Qi Ping's recovery ability was maxed out, enough to easily replenish the consumption caused by this protective force. The only trouble was that he had to set aside a portion of his consciousness to continuously operate these powers.
'Forget it, I'll just treat it as power-control training!'
'It's good to know this information. At least I won't be killed by this force due to a reckless breakthrough to the Mahayana stage.'
'So, is this the reason why no Mahayana cultivator has appeared or descended upon the continent for so many years? Or perhaps they did descend but were instantly annihilated, making the Star-Sea Continent a forbidden zone for Mahayana cultivators?'
Qi Ping quickly thought of various possibilities.
'But at the current stage, this might not be a bad thing. I am still far from breaking through to the Mahayana stage. If the Star-Sea Continent possesses the power to erase Mahayana, then in the short term, I shouldn't have to face an enemy of this level.'
'And if the Demon Race invades, if their power system is similar to the Mahayana stage, will they also be partially erased? In that case, even if the invading demons are strong, without a Mahayana-level cultivator, the continent's chances of winning will increase significantly.'
Qi Ping estimated this was very likely. Given the strength of the "Immortal" seen in the vision, even the terrifying demons might have to avoid his edge.
'So, as long as I develop for another period, for Unity Stage experts and those below to win against me, they would need a vast number of sentient beings to crush me. But crossing the Sea-Riling Channel is dangerous; the more beings they bring, the more dangerous it is. Combined with a journey that takes years, it will be even harder to kill their way here with a massive army.'
'In that case, this power has actually become a protective charm for our Star-Sea Continent!'
Qi Ping hadn't expected that this force, which severed the foundation of the Mahayana stage, would become their guardian! Without many high-end forces, he wasn't afraid of a mid-to-high-level war. Although the Nine Domains didn't have many high-end combatants, whether it was the Qing-God Army or the continuously expanding Golden Marrow Bees, they were strong enough to sweep through those of the same rank and win with fewer numbers. Both the army and the bees were forces that made Qi Ping feel a sense of awe.
Thinking of this, Qi Ping's temporary aversion to the rule-power that erased Mahayana vanished. Any power that could be utilized right now was a good power. As for the problem of breaking through to the Mahayana stage, he would deal with it when the time came. He believed that by the time he reached the peak of the Unity Stage, his foundation and the development of the continent would be beyond current comparison. Furthermore, by then, he should have opened some of the trade routes to the Myriad Worlds and could obtain some surprising items. All those foundations combined with the Bronze Flying Dagger might solve the problem.
But if possible, Qi Ping would absolutely not use the dagger, for it might be an existence even more eerie than an Immortal...