I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

Enraged, the Silverwing Star Dragon abandoned its entanglement with the Soul-Locking Chains. Its massive body twisted, and with a flap of its silver wings, it stirred up a whirlwind of star power, slamming its giant claws toward the Boundary-Breaking Cone!

Just as the top-tier star beast and the genius of the Netherworld Palace were fiercely clashing, four other disciples of the Netherworld Palace quickly dispersed, taking up positions at four points around the perimeter of Meteor Lake. Each of them took out a dark blue array flag and began to set up an array. Clearly, they wanted to seal off this area to prevent outsiders from interfering and to create an opportunity for Young Master Youquan to seize the star core's origin.

Qin Yuan hid in the cliff and took in all of this.

"Star Core Origin...Young Master Youquan...quite the schemer." His eyes flashed. When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits. He was equally interested in that Star Core Origin, and judging from the strength of that Silver-Winged Star Dragon, even if Young Master Youquan had the treasure, taking it down would not be easy; it would most likely result in both sides suffering heavy losses.

More importantly, the four Netherworld Palace disciples who had set up the formation were now scattered, presenting a perfect opportunity to defeat them one by one. This would both disrupt their blockade and weaken Young Master Youquan's support.

Qin Yuan made up his mind. He quietly left his hiding place, blending into the environment like a wisp of smoke, and stealthily approached the nearest Netherworld Palace disciple who was setting up an array in the southeast direction.

It was a male cultivator in the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, who was completely focused on activating the array flags and inscribing array patterns on the ground, unaware of the danger that was quietly approaching.

Qin Yuan appeared three zhang behind him like a ghost, without using any spiritual power to cause any disturbance. He simply struck out with a palm, the palm wind condensed, silently imprinting on his vital point in the back.

"puff!"

The disciple's body stiffened abruptly, the life force in his eyes rapidly fading. He collapsed to the ground before he could even utter a scream. Qin Yuan casually took his storage bag and the array flag, and his figure vanished once more.

Following the same method, Qin Yuan silently eliminated the two remaining disciples in the southwest and northeast before the other three Netherworld Palace disciples realized their companions had fallen. The last female disciple seemed to sense something, warily stopping her formation and looking around.

However, it was too late.

Qin Yuan's figure seemed to step out of the void and appear before her. The female disciple was horrified, opened her mouth to scream, and at the same time summoned a bone shield to protect herself.

Qin Yuan flicked his finger, and a subtle yet condensed gust of spiritual energy, arriving before the female disciple, instantly pierced through the bone shield's spiritual light and entered her brow. The female disciple's eyes froze, and she fell backward.

Within a dozen or so breaths, all four Netherworld Palace disciples who had set up the formation perished, without even being able to sound a proper alarm.

Qin Yuan collected the spoils of war and looked up at the site of the fierce battle in the center of the lake.

The battle between Young Master Youquan and the Silver-Winged Star Dragon had reached a fever pitch. The Soul-Locking Chains were wrapped around the Star Dragon's body, relentlessly eroding its stellar power and life force, while the Xuanming Boundary-Breaking Cone continuously attacked the outer defenses of the nebula. The Star Dragon struggled frantically, its silver beams of light, claws, and massive tail bombarding it relentlessly, causing Young Master Youquan's protective aura to falter, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, clearly indicating he too had suffered a serious injury.

"Now!"

A glint flashed in Qin Yuan's eyes. He no longer concealed his intentions and transformed into a streak of azure lightning, rushing straight towards the battlefield in the center of the lake! His target was neither Young Master Youquan nor the Silver-Winged Star Dragon, but rather the Xuanming Boundary-Breaking Cone that was currently impacting the nebula!

His speed was extremely fast, and his timing was perfect. It was the very moment when Young Master Youquan was fully activating the Boundary-Breaking Cone and Star Dragon was also concentrating his power to fight against the Soul-Locking Chain!

"Who is it?!" Young Master Youquan was the first to notice, filled with shock and anger. He never expected that someone could get so close silently and accurately aim at his Boundary-Breaking Cone! He tried to defend himself, but was tightly entangled by the Star Dragon.

Qin Yuan had already arrived at the side of the Boundary-Breaking Cone. He stretched out his right hand, his five fingers covered with a faint layer of nine-colored spiritual light, and directly grabbed at the dark cone!

"You're courting death!" Young Master Youquan roared, attempting to remotely control the Boundary-Breaking Cone to counterattack. The cone shone with a brilliant dark light, unleashing a fierce force capable of shattering boundaries, aiming to crush Qin Yuan's hand.

However, Qin Yuan's palm seemed to ignore the sharp black light. As the nine-colored spiritual light flowed, it actually resisted and dissolved the power of breaking the boundary! He closed his five fingers and firmly grasped the Xuanming Boundary-Breaking Cone in his hand!

The cone vibrated violently in his palm, emitting a resentful buzz, yet he could not break free.

"This thing is mine for now." Qin Yuan said calmly, without even glancing at the furious Young Master Youquan and the somewhat stunned Silver Winged Star Dragon. He turned around and plunged headlong into the center of the swirling nebula—the location of the star core!

"Damn it!! Give me back my magic weapon!" Young Master Youquan's eyes were bloodshot with rage, he was practically bursting with anger. He had painstakingly planned and fought a bloody battle with the star beasts, and was about to succeed, only to have his prize stolen halfway through! And by a disciple of the Taiyi Immortal Sect, whom he despised the most (recognized by his attire)!

He frantically activated the Nine Nether Soul-Locking Chains, trying to temporarily trap the Star Dragon and chase after Qin Yuan. However, although the Silver-Winged Star Dragon wasn't very intelligent, it understood that the human had seemed to have helped it restrain its annoying enemy. Now that it saw Young Master Youquan trying to escape, it wasn't about to give up. With a roar, it intensified its attack, relentlessly entangled Young Master Youquan.

Young Master Youquan was both anxious and furious, yet he was unable to escape and could only watch helplessly as Qin Yuan's figure disappeared into the dazzling nebula.

The interior of the nebula is not, as one might imagine, entirely composed of violent stellar energy. It's more like a small space made of pure starlight, filled with floating fragments of stellar crystals and stellar power so concentrated it's almost liquefied. And at the very center of this space, suspended in a fist-sized cluster of light, constantly shifting through magnificent colors and radiating a breathtakingly powerful stellar energy fluctuation—this is the very core of the star!

As soon as Qin Yuan entered, he felt an unparalleled pressure from the stars surging in from all directions, as if to crush him. His "Undying Body of the Universe Stars" activated automatically, and the star power flowing under his skin dissolved and absorbed most of the pressure, making him feel comfortable instead.

He stared intently at the stellar core's essence, not immediately approaching. Such pure and immense primordial power would likely cause an explosion upon direct contact.

"System, analyze the security plan for collecting the core essence of this star."

[Scanning... The star core's origin is a highly condensed aggregate of stellar rules and energy, containing a faint innate stellar will. Direct acquisition has a 99.9% failure rate.]

[Suggested Solution: Using the "Undying Body of the Universe Stars" technique as a guide, combined with the "Mysterious Origin Suppressing Spirit" method, slowly peel away, guide, and absorb the scattered primordial star power from its outer periphery, gradually refining it. This process requires a significant amount of time and spiritual energy, and necessitates an absolutely quiet environment; it is not recommended to conduct this in this location.]

[Alternative solution: Temporarily seal the contents using a special container (such as one made from 'Star Jade'), then remove it for further processing. The host has been detected to possess a 'Mysterious Netherworld-Breaking Cone' (made of special material, containing some spatial and magical breaking properties). It can be temporarily modified as a rudimentary sealing medium, but can only seal no more than one-tenth of the original essence, and has a time limit (maximum seven days).]

Only one-tenth could he take? Qin Yuan felt a little disappointed, but it was also reasonable. Such a valuable treasure, if it could be taken all easily, it probably wouldn't be his turn.