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

Zhou Yuan quickly rolled up the python carcass and put it into his bag.

He then began dismantling the array that had been set up around him as quickly as possible.

He took out all sixteen high-grade spirit stones and put the array plates and flags into his pocket.

Once everything was ready, he didn't linger at all, transforming into a streak of light and quickly disappearing into the vast sea and sky.

As for the belongings of the six Core Formation cultivators who were killed on the island—he didn't have time to pick them up at all.

Two hours later.

A sudden gale arose in the sea near the edge of the small island.

Dozens of thick jets of water shot out from the sea surface and soared into the sky!

Immediately afterwards, a large area of ​​seawater rapidly swelled up, as if some enormous creature was about to emerge from the depths of the sea!

"boom--!"

The seawater burst open, and a colossal creature emerged from the waves!

It was a colossal beast, its body nearly a hundred feet long, and covered with dense, red scales that shimmered with an eerie light in the sunlight.

Its head was ferocious and terrifying, with fangs bared in its gaping maw.

This is a genuine dragon!

Moreover, it is a venomous dragon with a notorious reputation among dragons!

Judging from the almost tangible spiritual light flowing across its bright red scales, it is undoubtedly an eighth-level demon beast!

After it surfaced, it raised its head and roared to the sky, emitting a strange howl like the neighing of a horse. The sound shook the surrounding area, startling the fish and shrimp in the sea to flee in panic!

Then, its massive body jolted violently, and it swam toward the island.

Upon landing on the island, its enormous dragon eyes swept across the surroundings, and it quickly detected the lingering smell of blood in the air.

It followed the scent to the battlefield of the previous great battle—

There, only the mangled remains of the Black Horned Python and the Dark Scale Python, as well as the corpses of six human cultivators, remained.

"Were those two vile pythons killed?"

The enormous venomous dragon spoke in a low voice, tinged with surprise, but mostly with anger.

It emitted a terrifying blue light, and its enormous size shrank and deformed rapidly in the light.

A moment later, a humanoid dragon, about the size of an ordinary person, appeared in the same spot.

Its head is still a ferocious dragon's head, but its body and limbs have transformed into a human form.

Its entire body was covered in bright red scales that shimmered with an eerie light in the sunlight, and it trailed a thick dragon tail behind it, swaying gently.

"Although these two inferior pythons have low-grade bloodlines, they are still part of my sea race's combat strength in human form..."

The humanoid dragon's voice was as cold as frost, "Human cultivators, you are going too far."

It sensed the lingering aura in the air, then transformed into a streak of red light and sped off towards the direction Zhou Yuan had left—the direction of Qiyuan Island!

……

On Zhou Yuan's side.

Since leaving that small island, he has been using his escape light at full power, without daring to stop for a moment.

Several days later, he finally saw the outline of Qiyuan Island in the distance.

He flew directly into Blackrock City on the island and arrived at the teleportation stone house built on a high platform.

Inside the stone house, besides the ever-cold Star Palace cultivator, there were two other cultivators in the early stage of Core Formation waiting listlessly.

They were also going back to Tianxing City, but they couldn't bear to pay the teleportation fee alone, so they waited here, hoping to gather seven people to split the seven hundred spirit stones.

"I want to go back to Tianxing City."

Zhou Yuan said to the Star Palace cultivator.

The Star Palace cultivator glanced at him, then at the two Core Formation cultivators, and said indifferently, "There are only three people now. It will probably take another half a day."

"There's no need for that."

Zhou Yuan shook his head and took out five hundred spirit stones directly from his storage bag. "I'll pay five hundred, and you two can split the remaining two hundred, how about that?"

The two Core Formation cultivators were overjoyed upon hearing this!

They only need to pay 100 spirit stones each to be teleported back directly, without having to wait for half a day. It's like a pie falling from the sky!

"Thank you, fellow Daoist!"

The two thanked him repeatedly.

The Star Palace cultivator didn't say much, accepted the spirit stones, and took out three teleportation talismans to distribute.

With a flash of white light, the three figures disappeared into the teleportation array.

……

Tianxing City, the fiftieth floor of the Holy Mountain, the Starry Sky Palace.

Zhou Yuan stepped out of the teleportation array, took a deep breath of familiar spiritual energy, and felt an indescribable sense of relief.

Whatever happens at sea is none of his business.

He stepped out of the Starry Sky Palace, stood on the platform outside, and looked down at the layered holy mountain buildings below, full of vigor and pride.

"This voyage, though risky, has yielded extremely considerable rewards..."

With two Transformation Demon Cores in hand, the probability of forming a Nascent Soul greatly increases!

He had cultivated the Azure Origin Sword Technique for many years and had already reached the ninth level of perfection, with his nascent soul realm firmly established.

Now, there's only one question to consider.

The inner demon of the infant.

Throughout history, countless brilliant geniuses have gone through countless hardships to reach this point, only to be troubled by inner demons at the moment of Nascent Soul formation, thus failing at the last hurdle.

Those who fail to overcome their inner demons, if they are lucky, will experience a decline in their cultivation and will have to go into seclusion from then on.

Those with bad luck may even die and their souls be scattered.

"Inner demons..."

Zhou Yuan murmured a few times, then transformed into a streak of light and flew towards the market.

……

half a month later.

Zhou Yuan walked out of a shop in the market, holding several strings of calming beads in his hand.

This is an ornament made from Qingxin Jade Marrow. Wearing it can calm the mind and soul, and resist the invasion of inner demons.

Although the effect is not particularly powerful.

But this was already a fine item that Zhou Yuan could find in the market.

More importantly, he has an equipment slot.

When he truly forms his Nascent Soul and overcomes the tribulation of inner demons, he can replace all his equipment slots with these calming and soul-soothing items!

With seven strings of calming beads, layer upon layer of blessing, the effect is bound to be amazing!

In addition, he purchased some medicinal herbs in preparation for researching and refining elixirs that could calm the mind.

Everything is ready.

"Next, we'll return to Azure Spirit Island to mine spirit stones and upgrade our equipment slots..."

Zhou Yuan once again stepped onto the Starry Sky Palace and traveled to Silver Shark Island via the teleportation array.

……

Two months later.

Zhou Yuan appeared in a cave inside the mountain on Biling Island.

Yuan Yao, Yan Li, Ouyang Qing, and the transformed Zhou Tian are all still controlling the puppets to mine.

The women were overjoyed to see him return.

Zhou Yuan spent several days with them before joining the mining team.

Several years have passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, in Zhou Yuan's quiet room, the pile of mid-grade spirit stones had reached 100,000!

The spiritual power contained in one mid-grade spirit stone is equivalent to that of one hundred low-grade spirit stones.

These 100,000 mid-grade spirit stones can replace the 10 million low-grade spirit stones needed to upgrade the equipment slots!

Zhou Yuan set up a barrier in the quiet room to isolate everything.

Then, a thought struck him.

"Upgrade your equipment slots!"

The mountain of 100,000 mid-grade spirit stones in front of them vanished without a trace in an instant!

[Congratulations, host! Your equipment slots have been successfully upgraded!]

Current equipment slots: 7

Zhou Yuan opened his eyes, a satisfied smile appearing on his lips.

The seventh equipment slot has appeared.