A spacious palace, with dark stone walls on all four sides reflecting beams of light.

A pile of energy baryte, towering like a small mountain, piled up here, and before this mountain-like baryte stood a black-haired, black-eyed youth.

"Soul-devouring worm, how could I have forgotten about you."

Lin Mo smiled. This soul-devouring worm is a treasure Lin Mo obtained from the Witch Clan. In the Cultivation World, such soul-devouring worms are extremely rare because they can consume large quantities of energy and spiritual energy, like a bottomless pit. Then, after a period, the soul-devouring worm spits out a spirit stone, much like a money-making machine.

Very few possess soul-devouring worms in the Cultivation World, as such rare items are usually in the hands of the strong. Holding them would bring trouble to the weak.

However, those who have a soul-devouring worm never lack money.

"Little one, wake up and eat."

Since obtaining the soul-devouring worm, Lin Mo has let it sleep inside the space ring. After all, spiritual energy is very important to Lin Mo too, and he couldn't afford to use it for feeding the soul-devouring worm, but now things are different.

The energy baryte piled up like a small mountain is impossible for Lin Mo to absorb single-handedly in a short time. Instead of letting Hongmen Ancestor and Yuri benefit from it, it's better to let the soul-devouring worm eat it. When the worm spits out top-grade spiritual stones in the future, Lin Mo can use them.

The soul-devouring worm, regardless of the type of energy it consumes, will spit out spirit stones as long as it's a cosmic energy body. The spirit stones contain no attribute energy and are suitable for most people's absorption.

With this in mind, Lin Mo stirred his thoughts and awakened the sleeping soul-devouring worm.

The soul-devouring worm had signed a soul contract with Lin Mo, and with their minds connected, Lin Mo needed just a thought to wake it or command it.

The space ring emitted a milky white glow that gradually faded, revealing a tiny creature resembling an icy cicada, roughly the size of a thumb, with transparent wings fluttering joyfully as it circled Lin Mo, seeming excited.

"Soul-devouring worm, all this energy is yours, eat it all."

Lin Mo grinned.

Receiving Lin Mo's command, the soul-devouring worm looked at the mountain-like energy baryte with delight. Since Lin Mo had a soul contract with the worm, he could naturally feel its mood changing.

The soul-devouring worm appeared tiny as an ant against the mountain, flapping its wings as it flew to the edge of the energy crystal, opened its mouth, and various energy lights spread out like streaks, flying into its mouth.

The soul-devouring worm's mouth was like a vortex, and as the energy approached, it shrank into a thin line.

"So fast?"

Lin Mo was surprised.

In his past life, Lin Mo had only heard tales about soul-devouring worms and had never seen one. Their rarity was thus evident, but some data showed that mature soul-devouring worms could consume all the energy of a planet within a day, demonstrating their terrifying nature.

However, this soul-devouring worm was clearly in its larval stage, and the amount and speed of its absorption couldn't compare to those of a mature worm. Yet, its performance was astonishing.

In less than twenty seconds, the energy within the mountain-like crystal had been mostly consumed. The stones, once radiant, instantly lost their color, becoming ordinary and plain, like the most common stones.

The soul-devouring worm burped contentedly and flew back into the space ring, satiated with energy and ready to sleep for a long period.

Lin Mo tossed the remaining energy crystals into the space ring, leaving only twenty or so of the mountain-like pile.

"Forget it, these will be left for Hongmen Ancestor and Yuri." Lin Mo laughed.

He already envisioned the rich expressions on the faces of Hongmen Ancestor and Yuri when they came out.

"Oh!"

Suddenly, Lin Mo's gaze tightened.

Though the pile of energy baryte had lost its radiant luster, a golden light continued to exude from it, hidden at the bottom.

"Rise!"

Lin Mo raised his hand, and the golden light buried beneath the stone pile gradually lifted, then hovered in the air.

"Hmm?"

It was a gold sword, roughly palm width, hovering in the air, exuding a faint golden light and containing a sacred aura, but it was a broken sword, missing about a third of the blade.

"Spiritual Artifact First Grade."

Lin Mo exclaimed in delight; this was a first-grade spiritual artifact's broken sword, and though the sacred aura was weak, it still emitted a sun-like warmth.

"Could this be Angel's weapon?" Lin Mo pondered, having found a Scythe of Death in another palace.

"With these two treasures, I can return and reforge the Xuanyuan Sword, possibly breaking through to the spiritual artifact level." Lin Mo waved, storing the Angel's Sword into the space ring.

With everything done, Lin Mo was finally ready to leave.

He walked through the dark passageway towards the outside, experiencing natural light for the first time, blurry but emblematic of hope.

With flying steps, he returned to the palace he had arrived at three months before. Though unchanged, nearly a hundred beasts lounged inside, resting there to avoid the sand streams and falls in the desert, shielded from the constant barrage of sand and lurking dangers outside.

But as soon as Lin Mo appeared, nearly a hundred beasts fixed their gaze on him, revealing their bloodthirsty glow.

"In the past, I might have fled. Now?"

Lin Mo sneered.

An icy blue light sword suddenly appeared in the sky, splitting into two, then four, then eight, forming three hundred light and shadow swords floating over Lin Mo's head. Each light sword glowed a pale blue, occasionally crackling with thunder.

Whew whew whew whew!

Three hundred light and shadow swords merged into blue rays like schools of fish in the ocean, emitting endless sharp cries as they broke through the sky.

The beasts greedily eyed Lin Mo, like hungry wolves staring at delicious lamb, but as the light and shadow swords emerged, their ferocity quickly turned into fear, fleeing in desperation.

"Puff puff puff!"

Beast heads flew, bodies split in two, pierced through by light and shadow swords, accompanied by relentless screams and blood splattering. In a blink, nearly a hundred beast corpses lay inside the palace.

"Xuanyuan Sword, let's go!" Lin Mo grinned, leaping onto the Xuanyuan Sword, hands behind his back, embodying a sword immortal, blazed out of the palace in blue light. Outside, sand and waste clouds raged, but a qi shield formed around Lin Mo to fend off the sandstorm.

A boundless ocean.