I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

I determined the direction.

Zhou Yuan piloted the Divine Wind Boat straight towards the abandoned spirit stone mine that once housed the ancient teleportation array.

Now, the situation in Vietnam is on the verge of collapse!

According to the original story, Linghu Laoguai, the Nascent Soul ancestor of Huangfeng Valley, had already secretly planned his escape route. Once the front line completely collapsed, he would lead his elite disciples to evacuate Yue Kingdom.

Most ordinary disciples and peripheral forces will likely be treated as expendable pawns.

Used to delay the pursuit of the demonic cultivators.

Huangfeng Valley, and indeed the entire Yue Kingdom's seven factions, can no longer return.

Whether it was a perilous retreat with the sect or being ruthlessly abandoned and sacrificed, neither was the ending Zhou Yuan desired.

Now, he is single-mindedly focused on using the repaired ancient teleportation array to travel to the resource-rich Chaotic Star Sea, where opportunities and dangers coexist, and to forge his own path of cultivation!

……

Five days later, Zhou Yuan arrived at the periphery of the long-abandoned and buried spirit stone mine with "Qu Hun".

In order to trap and kill them, the demonic cultivators used powerful talismans such as the "Earth-Shaking Talisman," which caused a large-scale collapse of the mine entrance and surrounding area, with rocks piling up and completely sealing off the entrance.

But this didn't stump Zhou Yuan.

He took out the "Earth Escape Talisman" that he had prepared beforehand.

An earthy yellow aura enveloped him and Qu Hun, and as if merging into the earth, they slowly sank into the ground, disappearing into the depths of the mine buried in their memories.

Half an hour later, Zhou Yuan and his companion finally broke through the thick layer of soil and rocks and re-entered the cave where the teleportation array had been hidden.

A familiar scene came into view:

The collapsed mine tunnels on the outside, the remaining traces of the battle, and the ancient, huge hexagonal teleportation array in the center of the cave.

Zhou Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

I finally made it back here before the demonic forces completely occupied Yue Kingdom and might re-explore these abandoned mines.

Next, it's time to wait for Han Li, and... use this time to accomplish that important task.

He first checked the cave's concealment and the warning barriers he had set up. After confirming that everything was in order, he cleared a clean area next to the teleportation array and sat down cross-legged.

Qu Hun was controlled and walked in front of him.

He then took out the ancient jade slip containing secret techniques such as the "Mysterious Yin Corpse Refining Technique" and equipped it to his equipment slot.

[Equipment Slot 3: Ancient Jade Slip (Mysterious Yin Record)]

[Effect 1: Enhanced comprehension of the Blood Spirit Diamond Secret Technique!]

[Effect 2: Enhanced comprehension of the External Avatar Technique (Mysterious Yin Corpse Refining Technique)!]

With the blessing of the jade slip, Zhou Yuan's understanding of the "Mysterious Yin Corpse Refining Technique" improved rapidly.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, repeatedly deduce and digest the knowledge in the jade slip about the steps, tips, and taboos of refining an external avatar in his mind.

The most crucial and dangerous step in refining an external avatar is to split off a portion of one's own divine consciousness and inject it into the prepared body, merging it with the body to form a new core controlled by the original body.

This process is an extreme test of a cultivator's spiritual strength, control precision, and willpower.

However, for Zhou Yuan, these difficulties were greatly reduced.

First, his spiritual strength is comparable to that of the early stage of Core Formation, far exceeding that of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. Although there is some loss when he splits off a part as a "divine division", it is completely within the acceptable range and he recovers much faster than others.

Secondly, as a top-level divine sense cultivation technique, the "Great Evolution Technique" inherently contains methods for precise control of divine sense, allowing him to master the splitting and control of "divine divisions".

Finally, the "Ancient Jade Slip" in his equipment slot provided a terrifying boost to his comprehension of the "Avatar Technique," allowing him to reach an extremely high level of understanding and application of the technique, thus avoiding many potential risks and detours.

After a day of quiet preparation, Zhou Yuan officially began the ritual.

He bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence, which he then used a special technique to infuse into the vital points of the "Qu Hun" body, such as the brow, heart, and dantian.

Then, he formed complex and profound hand seals, and strange black and red runes flew from his fingertips, entering his body and beginning to transform and activate the puppet body, making it more suitable to bear the divided spirit.

When the preparations were complete and dark red vascular patterns faintly appeared on the surface of his body, Zhou Yuan took a deep breath, and a bright light shone from between his eyebrows!

He concentrated all his energy and used the Divide Mystic Technique in the Great Evolution Manual to carefully, as if using the finest scalpel, separate his consciousness from his main spirit.

He guided this "distracted spirit" to slowly drift towards the brow of the lying "Qu Hun".

Distractions flowed like water droplets into a sponge, entering the body's sea of ​​consciousness without hindrance.

Zhou Yuan's main spirit immediately used a secret technique to maintain a clear and close connection with his divided spirit, while simultaneously controlling the divided spirit to begin a deep fusion and control with this puppet body that had been initially refined.

Time passes little by little.

The cave was silent except for Zhou Yuan's even breathing and the occasional, obscure chanting of incantations.

With the blessing of the jade slip in the equipment slot, the refining process went exceptionally smoothly.

The distracted spirit quickly adapted to the new "body" and began to instinctively absorb the spirit stones that Zhou Yuan had arranged around the body, slowly nourishing and strengthening itself, and establishing connections with every inch of the body's bones, muscles, and meridians.

One day, two days, three days...

When the tenth day arrives.

The body of "Qu Hun" lying flat on the ground suddenly twitched its fingers slightly.

Then, her eyelids trembled and she slowly opened them.

Qu Hun slowly and somewhat stiffly sat up from the ground, then stood up.

He moved his limbs and neck, making a slight "click" sound. His movements, which were initially awkward, quickly became smooth and natural.

Zhou Yuan himself opened his eyes, looking at the body before him that was connected to his mind and soul, and that he could control at will, like a limb. A satisfied smile appeared on his face. Success!

With a thought, his avatar immediately took out a large black cloak from his storage bag and put it on. He then took out a plain white mask without any patterns and put it on his face, concealing his features. His tall figure, hidden by the cloak, became even more mysterious.

From now on, this incarnation has a new name—Zhou Tian.

Two more days passed.

At the entrance to the cave, faint fluctuations of magical energy and deliberately lowered footsteps could be heard.

Both Zhou Yuan's true form and his avatar "Zhou Tian" became alert, their gazes turning towards the entrance.

Soon, a familiar figure cautiously slipped through the gaps in the rocks and entered the cave.

It was Han Li, travel-worn but with clear eyes.

When Han Li's gaze swept across the cave and he saw that, in addition to Zhou Yuan, there was another unfamiliar cultivator shrouded in a black robe, wearing a white mask, and whose movements only showed signs of Qi Refining, his steps faltered.

A hint of wariness and doubt flashed in his eyes.

"Senior Brother Zhou, who is this...?"

Han Li stopped a few feet away, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Zhou Yuan and the man in black robes.

Zhou Yuan smiled slightly, stepped forward, and introduced, "Junior Brother Han, no need to be nervous. This is Zhou Tian, ​​my...brother, a trustworthy person, who is coming with us this time."

He had already prepared his explanation.

The black-robed, masked man, "Zhou Tian," nodded slightly at the opportune moment and spoke in a disguised, slightly low and hoarse voice:

"Fellow Daoist Han, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Han Li's eyes flashed as he carefully examined Zhou Tian. Sensing that the other party only possessed the spiritual energy fluctuations of the Qi Refining stage, his vigilance lessened slightly.

In this situation, a Qi Refining stage cultivator poses a limited threat.

However, when Han Li saw this tall figure, he felt as if he had seen him somewhere before.

He cupped his hands in greeting and said politely, "Fellow Daoist Zhou Tian, ​​it's a pleasure to meet you."

In this situation where lives and property are at stake and people have to leave their hometowns, having one more person means more uncertainty, but it may also mean having one more source of strength.

As long as it doesn't affect the use of the teleportation array or his own safety, Han Li isn't entirely opposed to it.

Moreover, Zhou Yuan clearly still holds the initiative.

The two finally reunited in the spirit stone mine.

"Junior Brother Han, was your journey here smooth?" Zhou Yuan asked.

"It went fairly smoothly."

Han Li nodded, a solemn expression immediately appearing on his face. "Senior Brother Zhou, things are indeed as you predicted! The Yue Kingdom's front lines... have been utterly defeated!"

He paused, then added in a heavy tone, "It wasn't a frontal rout, but rather the Spirit Beast Mountain... that betrayed us in the heat of battle, launching a sudden attack from within and tearing apart the core defensive formation of the Seven Factions Allied Forces! This led to a complete collapse and heavy losses! The news has spread, and the entire Yue Kingdom is in chaos..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuan remained calm.

There were not many surprises.

He had long known that Spirit Beast Mountain was secretly colluding with the Spirit Control Sect, one of the six major sects of the Demonic Path, and was the biggest hidden danger within the Seven Sects.

But knowing this, he never thought of exposing or changing anything.

Firstly, he is a nobody, and his words carry little weight. If a Foundation Establishment disciple were to go and tell the higher-ups of the Seven Sects that "Spirit Beast Mountain is an internal traitor," who would believe him?

They might even get bitten back by the Spirit Beast Mountain and bring trouble upon themselves.

Secondly, revealing this matter will inevitably attract the attention and investigation of the seven sects' Core Formation stage and even Nascent Soul stage elders.

This will lead to unimaginable trouble.

Therefore, he could only observe from the sidelines and follow the general historical trajectory.

Anyway, he knew that although the Seven Sects had been defeated, they would not be wiped out.

Under the planning of Nascent Soul cultivators such as Linghu Laozu, Huangfeng Valley and other sects will lead some of their elites to evacuate Yue Kingdom and seek refuge in the sphere of influence of the "Nine Kingdoms Alliance" in the south.

It was an alliance of nine medium-sized countries, powerful enough to rival the demonic path, providing them with a place to live.

For him, the most important thing was to escape safely and head to the Chaotic Star Sea.

"The betrayal by Spirit Beast Mountain was indeed a fatal blow."

Zhou Yuan said slowly, "Therefore, we must leave as soon as possible. Otherwise, once the demonic path completely controls Yue Kingdom, they will reactivate these abandoned mines, and this place will no longer be safe."