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

In the instant that the three Mulan sorcerers were shaken to their core by Zhou Yuan's ghostly appearance and astonishing lightning speed, revealing their weaknesses.

A cold glint flashed in Zhou Yuan's eyes.

Act without hesitation!

He didn't give the other party any chance to breathe, adjust, or communicate. He pointed his right hand like a sword and slashed it sharply into the empty space in front of him!

"Clang clang clang—!"

A clear, resonant, and chilling sword cry echoed throughout the space shrouded in sand and dust!

Thirty-six dazzling golden streaks shot out, growing larger as they faced the wind, instantly transforming into thirty-six ancient-style golden flying swords, their blades flowing with pure Geng metal energy and radiating an indestructible sharpness—the very Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords that he had been refining for a long time!

Sword shadows split into beams, the Great Geng Sword Formation!

Zhou Yuan gave a low shout in his heart, and made a hand seal. The thirty-six Gengjin flying swords shone brightly, their blades trembling, and transformed into hundreds of incredibly solid, indistinguishable from real swords, each containing a terrifying killing aura!

In an instant, centered on Zhou Yuan, a dazzling and terrifying net of death swords composed of hundreds of golden streams of light suddenly took shape, accompanied by a shrill shriek that tore everything apart, and descended upon the three mages on the back of the demonic insect in front of him!

"not good!"

"Be careful!"

Grand Master Mulan, who was in the green mist, reacted the fastest. He roared in shock and anger, and the strange green mist that enveloped him suddenly churned and boiled. A bizarre giant hand, made of dense green mist and about ten feet in size, exuding a putrid, poisonous, and nauseating aura, suddenly emerged from the green mist. Its five fingers were spread wide, and without dodging or avoiding, it fiercely grabbed at the golden sword light that was enveloping the sky!

He actually wanted to use a giant hand formed by spiritual magic to directly confront this incomparably sharp sword formation!

"The Great Master is mighty!"

The mage beside him, whose body was crackling with pale blue electric arcs, seemed to be only at the late stage of Core Formation. Upon seeing this, he seemed to have found a pillar of support and immediately cheered loudly while retreating rapidly, trying to create distance.

He was well aware of his own limitations; this level of combat was far beyond his capabilities, and even if he were caught in the aftershocks, his chances of survival would be slim.

The mage, enveloped in dazzling white light, reacted just as quickly.

He let out a low roar, and a streak of white sword light suddenly flew out from the white light, growing larger in the wind and transforming into a giant white sword several meters long. The sword was surrounded by a chilling aura and, with an unstoppable momentum, fiercely slashed towards Zhou Yuan's main body! He actually wanted to use the siege of Wei to rescue Zhao, forcing Zhou Yuan to return to defense in order to break the siege of the sword formation.

However, the next moment, something horrifying happened!

The seemingly mighty green mist hand, imbued with potent poison and corrosive power, was easily cut, torn, and pierced as soon as it came into contact with the dozens of golden sword lights at the forefront, just like a hot knife cutting through butter!

The unparalleled sharpness of the Geng metal sword energy was fully displayed before this flying sword, which was condensed with the essence of Geng metal!

The giant green mist hand held out for less than half a breath before letting out a mournful cry and collapsing, returning to scattered green mist.

The imposing white greatsword clashed fiercely with several split golden sword lights!

"Snap!"

A sickening cracking sound rang out. Under the frenzied attack of the Gengjin sword energy, the white greatsword could only hold out for less than a breath before its blade was covered with spiderweb-like cracks. Then, with a "bang," it exploded into countless white specks of light, completely destroyed!

With his natal magic weapon destroyed, the mage in the white light groaned, the white light around him swayed violently, and his aura instantly weakened by several percent.

Absolute domination! An absolute crushing defeat due to sheer strength!

The combined attack of the Green Mist Grandmaster and the White Light Mage was as fragile as paper in the face of the seemingly casually executed Gengjin Sword Formation!

This is not just a difference in the quality of magical artifacts, but also a complete crushing defeat in terms of the purity of magical power, control of divine sense, and foundation of cultivation techniques!

"How is that possible?!"

Grand Master Green Mist exclaimed in shock, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He is a Grand Master in the mid-Nascent Soul stage! The "Corrosive Poison Ghost Hand" spiritual technique he uses is powerful enough to corrode the magical artifacts of cultivators of the same level!

How could it be broken so easily by the opponent?

What material was that golden flying sword made of?!

The white-light mage was so terrified that he dared not have the slightest thought of attacking again. He desperately urged his escape light, trying to flee deeper into the sandstorm behind him.

"Trying to leave? Too late."

Zhou Yuan's gaze was icy as he locked onto the late-stage Core Formation mage who was rapidly retreating, his body crackling with electric arcs.

Although this person is the weakest, now that we've seen him, why should we let him go?

With a thought, a flash of light appeared at the opening of a spirit beast pouch at his waist.

"roar--!"

A clear bird cry rang out, and a blue figure darted out like lightning, instantly transforming into a winged, humanoid Gale Beast!

The moment it appeared, it locked onto the fleeing Core Formation mage. With a flap of its wings, a gale arose, and its figure transformed into a streak of azure light. With a speed far exceeding that of its opponent, it arrived first and instantly blocked its path. Its sharp claws, accompanied by tearing wind, slashed down fiercely!

"A transformed spirit beast?!"

The pupils of the Green Mist Grandmaster and the White Light Mage contracted again.

In Tiannan, cultivators who can possess transformed spirit beasts are extremely rare, and their strength and background are unfathomable!

What kind of formidable obstacle did they just run into this time?!

After Zhou Yuan unleashed the fierce wind, his movements did not pause at all.

Under his skillful control, the Great Geng Sword Formation split in two. Most of the sword light remained like a leech, clinging tightly to the Green Mist Grandmaster and the White Light Mage, giving them no chance to breathe or unleash stronger spiritual spells.

At the same time, he patted his waist again.

"Roar—! Hiss—!"

The beast's ferocious roar and the shadow's chilling shriek rang out almost simultaneously!

The beast-like creature's massive body was enveloped in billowing corpse-like death energy, and its vertical eye on its forehead was filled with deathly light, ready to be unleashed. Like a heavy chariot, it charged towards the white-light mage whose aura was unstable, with an overwhelming momentum!

Shadow Sha's figure flickered, seemingly merging into the surrounding wind and sand shadows, his aura disappearing eerily. The next moment, streams of dark energy, as cunning and venomous as venomous snakes, attacked Green Mist Grandmaster's vital points from incredible angles, specifically targeting the weak points of his protective green mist.

Besieged on three sides!

Moreover, every aspect of it is extremely dangerous!

Grandmaster Green Mist was inwardly groaning. He wanted to use his magic weapons to fight, but the Mulan Grassland was much poorer than Tiannan, and high-grade refining materials were scarce. The only two magic weapons he had were of ordinary quality. Seeing how sharp the opponent's golden flying sword was, how could he dare to take them out and make a fool of himself?

I fear that I will follow in the footsteps of that white flying sword as soon as I make contact with it.

Left with no other choice, he could only desperately activate his spiritual techniques.

Green mist swirled around him, transforming into layers of vines, poisonous miasma, and ghostly shadows, attempting to block and slow down the sword light, the deathly light, and the shadowy attacks. At the same time, he rapidly chanted incantations and formed hand seals, preparing to unleash a powerful, trump card spiritual technique.

The white-light mage was in a terrible predicament, being attacked head-on by the beast demon and harassed by the fragmented Geng metal sword light. He was struggling to defend himself and was in grave danger.

He could only keep casting some instantaneous defensive spiritual spells to barely protect himself.

However, the white light shield was already on the verge of collapse under the impact of the beast's sharp claws and the Gengjin sword energy.

A ruthless glint flashed in the white-light mage's eyes, as if he had made up his mind. He suddenly bit his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood essence, and his hands formed hand seals at an even faster speed.

The next moment, the white light around him suddenly became blindingly bright, and then split into hundreds of thin, hair-like, yet extremely sharp white light threads, shooting out indiscriminately in all directions like a rain of pear blossoms!

It was his trump card, the instant-cast spiritual technique—"Thousand Rays Break"!

This spiritual technique has a wide coverage area, strong penetrating power, and is activated extremely quickly. It is specifically designed to break through protective auras and dense defenses, and its power should not be underestimated.

"Oh? Instant-cast spirit spell? Interesting."

A hint of interest flashed in Zhou Yuan's eyes. Facing the overwhelming white light rays shooting towards him, he neither dodged nor avoided them. Instead, he raised both hands and rapidly formed sword incantations with his ten fingers like butterflies flitting among flowers, while chanting incantations in a low voice.

Two breaths! Just two breaths!

"Ten Thousand Swords Technique!"

Zhou Yuan let out a low shout, and his aura suddenly changed, with a sharp sword intent soaring into the sky!

In an instant, thousands upon thousands of solid, golden sword energies, each about a foot long, appeared out of thin air around his body!

The sword energy trembled, emitting a "humming" resonance, and converged into an even more vast and terrifying golden sea of ​​swords!

Its scale is several times larger than the hundreds of sword lights that were split off from the Great Geng Sword Formation before! Moreover, the speed at which these ten thousand sword energies condensed and emerged was no less than the "Thousand Light Break" cast by the white light mage!

With immense magical power and pure sword intent, he instantly condensed ten thousand sword energies, crushing everything!

"go!"

Ten thousand golden sword energies, like soldiers commanded by a king, transformed into a destructive golden torrent, rushing headlong into the hundreds of white light threads!

"Hiss hiss hiss hiss—!"

The white light threads and the golden sword energy collided and annihilated wildly in mid-air!

However, the number and power of the white light threads were so insignificant in the face of the torrent of ten thousand golden sword energies! In just one exchange, the hundreds of light threads were completely submerged, crushed, and purified by the golden torrent!

The golden sword energy was unstoppable and its momentum did not diminish. In an instant, it completely engulfed the white light mage who was already at his limit and whose protective white light was extremely dim!

"No--!!"

After a short, piercing scream, the white-light mage and his fleeing nascent soul were annihilated into nothingness by the endless golden sword energy, their bodies and souls destroyed!

"You're next."

Zhou Yuan turned his gaze to the Green Mist Grandmaster, who was already on the verge of collapse and whose green mist had thinned considerably under the triple attack of sword light, death light, and shadow. His tone was calm, but it carried an undeniable killing intent.

Despair finally appeared in the eyes of the Green Mist Grandmaster.

He knew he had no chance of survival today. His opponent was not only ridiculously strong and had endless tricks up his sleeve, but also had a transformed spirit beast and a strange corpse beast to help him. He had almost no chance of escaping.

"Let's die together!"

A madness flashed in his eyes, and he stopped defending, letting several beams of Gengjin sword light pierce through the thin green mist, leaving deep, bone-revealing wounds on his body. At the same time, he completed the last hand seal with even faster speed and pressed it hard against his chest!

He wanted to self-destruct his nascent soul and perish together with Zhou Yuan, or at least severely injure him!

However, would Zhou Yuan give him that opportunity?

Just as the Green Mist Grandmaster's hand seal was about to be completed, a flash of seven-colored light disappeared from Zhou Yuan's eyes.

"The Twelve Stabs of the Divine Court!"

Twelve invisible and intangible sharp spikes, yet imbued with Zhou Yuan's immense divine power, instantly pierced into the Green Mist Grandmaster's sea of ​​consciousness, whose defenses had been greatly weakened by madness and excruciating pain!

"Ugh—!"

The Green Mist Grandmaster's body trembled violently, and the self-destruction seal that was about to be completed was suddenly interrupted. His spiritual power instantly became chaotic, and the protective green mist dissipated, revealing the true face of an old man with a withered face and wearing a green hemp robe. His eyes rolled back, blood seeped from his seven orifices, and his body was stiff, as if he had been frozen in place.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!"

Several streaks of Gengjin sword light swept past, easily severing his limbs and rendering him unable to move. At the same time, Shadow Slayer's shadow energy, like a venomous snake, burrowed into his body, sealing his meridians and dantian.

The deathly light of the beast swept across its body, frantically devouring its life force.

The physical body of the Green Mist Grand Master withered and decayed at a visible rate, his life hanging by a thread.

Zhou Yuan then raised his hand and summoned a powerful magical hand that forcibly pulled out the dim and listless nascent soul from his dantian, sealing it firmly with several restrictive talismans before taking it into his hand.

Thus, of the three attacking Muran mages, two were killed and one was captured!

The demonic insect seemed to suffer a backlash the moment its master was captured, letting out a painful hiss and trying to flap its wings to escape, but its head was shattered by a sharp wind blade from the Gale Beast, and it died on the spot.

The battle, from beginning to end, lasted only a dozen or so breaths.

Zhou Yuan displayed overwhelming power with thunderous force, decisively ending the battle.

Without delay, Zhou Yuan grabbed the imprisoned Nascent Soul of the Green Mist Grandmaster, sat cross-legged in mid-air, supported it with his magic power, and unhesitatingly used the Soul Searching Technique!

The opponent was only at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, and their soul was severely damaged. Faced with Zhou Yuan's divine sense, which far surpassed that of others at the same level, they offered almost no effective resistance. A large number of memory fragments flooded into Zhou Yuan's sea of ​​consciousness like a tidal wave.

He skipped over those irrelevant personal experiences and the local customs of the Mulan Grassland, and went straight for the core information about "spiritual arts".

A moment later, Zhou Yuan slowly opened his eyes, a look of understanding and joy flashing in them.

"I see... The so-called 'rapid spiritual techniques' are essentially an extreme form of 'simplification' and 'mastery'. Cola Novels, this is where dreams begin, and where dreams come true."

Zhou Yuan understood immediately.

The Mage of Mulan drastically simplified the complex runes, incantations, and spiritual energy pathways of many powerful spells, abandoning some of their maximum power and variations.

In return, it resulted in faster casting speed and a lower threshold for mana consumption.

Then, through tedious and arduous practice day after day and year after year, the process of performing this simplified "spiritual technique" is honed into an instinctive muscle memory, thereby achieving an effect that is almost "instantaneous".

This is somewhat similar to the "killing move" in secular martial arts, which does not seek to be fancy, but only to defeat the enemy as quickly and directly as possible.

Because of the scarcity of resources in the Mulan Grassland, they did not have as many rare materials as the cultivators of Tiannan to refine powerful magic weapons, nor did they have as many pills to assist in cultivation. They could only devote more energy and time to the study and hard practice of the "techniques" themselves, which is why they have embarked on this unique path.

"Simplification...practice makes perfect...that's a pragmatic approach."

Zhou Yuan nodded to himself. The simplified ideas, cultivation techniques, and more subtle methods of manipulating the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in these spiritual arts were very enlightening for him.

He already possesses the advantage of having his comprehension enhanced by his equipment slots, allowing him to cultivate spells extremely quickly. If these ideas can be adopted to adapt, optimize, and simplify some of the powerful spells he has mastered, and combined with the infinite mana regeneration from his equipment slots, his combat power will be further enhanced!

Especially for top-tier spells that require charging up but possess devastating power, shortening the preparation time by even a breath or two would be a huge advantage in actual combat.

After the soul search was completed, Zhou Yuan did not hesitate. With a thought, the imprisoned nascent soul was completely crushed by the power of divine sense amidst a mournful, silent shriek, turning into specks of spiritual light and dissipating.

He quickly collected the storage bags left behind by the Green Mist Grandmaster and the White Light Mage, and then had the Gale Beast retrieve the storage bag of the Core Formation Mage.

As for the corpse of the Sumeru worm, although it had some value, it was too large to carry. Zhou Yuan only took the most precious materials from its body and then discarded it.

"This is not a place to linger!"

Zhou Yuan learned from the memories he had searched through the soul that when the group of Mulan mages discovered them, they had already sent out a distress signal and a warning signal to the nearby Mulan army.

Before long, more Mulan mages, and even Grandmaster-level experts, will arrive to investigate.

Without further hesitation, he summoned back Gale, Beast Demon, and Shadow Blade, and placed the Purple Sky Beast on his shoulder. After determining the direction, a flash of spiritual light appeared around him, and he transformed into a faint, pale blue streak of light, rapidly fleeing towards the meeting point agreed upon with Marquis Nanlong and the others.

With the Purple Sky Beast's keen perception of spatial fluctuations, he can better avoid potential spatial traps or hidden sentries along the way.

……

Three days later.

Deep in the Mulan Grassland lies an area of ​​undulating terrain, consisting of several low hills.

The wild grass here is lush and taller than a person, undulating like waves in the wind. Apart from the sound of the wind and the rustling of the grass, it is completely silent and seems to be uninhabited.

A pale blue streak of light flew from the sky, hovered slightly, and then landed on one of the most inconspicuous hills.

Just as the light was about to touch the top of the hill, the space rippled like water, a transparent light shield flashed by and then disappeared, revealing several figures below.

It was the five people who had arrived earlier: Marquis Nanlong, Yun Xiaotian, Wang Tiangu, Lady Tai, and You Gang.

They sat in a circle, meditating, clearly having expended a considerable amount of their magical energy traversing the sandstorm and escaping potential pursuers.

Upon seeing Zhou Yuan land, all five of them turned their gazes toward him, their eyes filled with surprise, curiosity, and a hint of barely perceptible apprehension.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, you've finally arrived!" Marquis Nanlong stood up first, a smile on his face, but a hint of scrutiny lurked in his eyes. "A few days ago, Fellow Daoist Zhou suddenly disappeared in that sandstorm, which worried us greatly. We wonder what happened to you? Did you manage to get through it all?"

"Thank you for your concern, Brother Nanlong."

Zhou Yuan remained calm, cupped his hands in greeting, and said casually, "I just encountered a few ignorant Mulan mages who bothered me. It took some effort to get rid of them, and I also took a detour, so I arrived a little late."

A few Muran mages? Get rid of them?

The Marquis of Nanlong and the others felt a chill run down their spines. Although they hadn't seen the specifics clearly at the time, they had vaguely sensed the intense spiritual energy fluctuations and brief but fierce battle atmosphere that suddenly erupted in the sandstorm.

The one who could make Zhou Yuan, with his level of cultivation, "have to put in some effort" was probably no ordinary mage.

The fact that Zhou Yuan could "casually" dismiss the other party and arrive at the meeting point at almost the same time as them suggests that his strength is probably even greater than they expected.

"It's good that Fellow Daoist Zhou is alright." Yun Xiaotian's dry voice rang out, his gaze sweeping over Zhou Yuan as if trying to discern something, but Zhou Yuan's aura was contained, leaving no flaws.

After waiting for about half an hour, another streak of earthy yellow light flew across the sky, its light somewhat dim and unstable.

Upon landing, Bingkun appeared. However, he was in a rather disheveled state, with his robes torn in several places and stained with blood. His face was pale, and his breathing was weak, clearly indicating that he was seriously injured.

"Fellow Daoist Bing, what is this...?" Wang Tiangu asked, frowning.

"Don't even mention it!"

Bingkun looked annoyed and said in a muffled voice, "I ran into a patrol of Mulan bastards. The leader was a Nascent Soul stage master, and he had seven or eight Core Formation cultivators with him. They set up some kind of damn 'Wind and Fire Sky Formation.' I was caught off guard and suffered a bit of a loss. I barely managed to break through their encirclement and shake them off, even though I was injured."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions grew even more solemn. Even a cultivator like Lian Bingkun, renowned for his physical prowess and close combat, had been injured, demonstrating that the Mulan people's spiritual techniques and coordinated battle formations were indeed not to be underestimated.

They waited quietly for another half day, until it got dark, but there was still no sign of Hu San.

"It seems that Fellow Daoist Hu is most likely in grave danger."

Marquis Nanlong sighed, his brow furrowed. The eight-man team hadn't even reached their destination, and one had already been killed and another injured—this was certainly not a good omen.

"We can't wait any longer."

Yun Xiaotian said in a deep voice, "If something happens to Hu San, it's hard to guarantee that the Mulan people won't search his soul. Although this place is secluded, it's not advisable to stay here for long. If it's leaked, we'll be in dire straits."

Everyone nodded. Although being one person short might increase the difficulty of breaking the barrier, it was still better than being blocked here by a large group of Mulan mages.

Without further hesitation, Marquis Nanlong and Yun Xiaotian determined their direction and once again mounted their escape lights, flying towards the western part of the Mulan Grassland.

Zhou Yuan, Wang Tiangu, Madam Tai, You Gang, and Bingkun quickly followed.

After flying for another half day, when it was completely dark, the seven of them pressed their escape light in front of a desolate, eerie little rocky hill.

This mountain is only a few hundred feet high, and its entire body is composed of rough, grayish-white rocks. Not a blade of grass grows on it. Under the hazy moonlight, it looks like the skeleton of a giant beast lying on the grassland, exuding an aura of loneliness and death.

"This is it."

Marquis Nanlong's gaze swept over the stone mountain, his tone carrying a hint of relief.

He and Yun Xiaotian exchanged a glance, and each took out a small flag from their pockets. The flags were only the size of a palm, emerald green in color, and looked as if they were carved from the finest jade.

The two men, with solemn expressions, held small flags and chanted incantations as they began to perform an ancient and obscure incantation.

As the incantation sounded, two small green flags moved without wind, emitting a soft green halo, and slowly floated up from the two people's hands, hovering in mid-air.

"go!"

Nanlonghou and Yun Xiaotian simultaneously pointed at the small stone mountain.

The two small green flags transformed into two beams of green light, as if they were alive, shooting towards a certain spot on the mountainside of the small rocky hill. They vanished in a flash, disappearing into the hard rock without making a sound.

next moment--

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The entire small rocky hill suddenly trembled violently! A deep, thunderous roar came from inside the hill, as if a giant beast had awakened.

Under the tense gaze of everyone, a huge crack, more than ten feet wide and about thirty feet high, slowly split open from the middle of the small stone mountain facing them!

The crack's edges were neat and smooth, as if it had been cleaved open by an invisible giant axe.

Inside the crack, instead of a dark mountain belly, lies an ancient staircase extending downwards, paved with huge bluestones and inlaid with faintly glowing stones on the stone walls on both sides.

"Walk!"

Marquis Nanlong gave a low shout and, along with Yun Xiaotian, stepped into the crevice and onto the bluestone steps. Zhou Yuan and the others followed closely behind.

As the last person stepped into the crevice, the mountain behind them roared once more. The massive crevice rapidly closed at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually sealing itself completely and restoring everything to its original state, leaving no trace from the outside, as if everything that had just happened was merely an illusion.

The steps descended, seemingly into an unfathomable abyss. The seven walked in silence, their footsteps echoing through the deep passage.

After descending for several hundred feet, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a huge underground hall before them.

The hall was about several tens of feet in circumference and ten feet in height, quite spacious.

But what is most surprising is that the walls, dome, and even the floor of the entire hall all have a pure, translucent, and crystalline texture that emits a soft blue light.

It looks as if it was hollowed out and carved from a single, enormous piece of top-quality blue jade!

The flowing blue light illuminated the entire hall, making it look like a dream, so beautiful it seemed otherworldly, yet it also exuded a chilling eeriness.

Everyone subconsciously released their divine senses, trying to probe the strange blue crystal wall.

"Buzz!"

The moment the divine sense touched the surface of the crystal wall, it was unceremoniously bounced back by a strange energy that was powerful, flexible, yet contained a hidden rebound force!

Even Nanlonghou and Yun Xiaotian couldn't penetrate it with their divine senses, let alone Wang Tiangu and the others.

"Such a wondrous and divine restraint!"

Marquis Nanlong nodded solemnly, "It truly lives up to its reputation. Divine sense cannot penetrate it, and spiritual energy attacks will be absorbed, dispersed, and reflected. Forcing an attack is definitely not the best strategy."

As if to prove his words, the blue stone staircase passage that the group had entered through had vanished without a trace, replaced by the same smooth, mirror-like, shimmering blue crystal wall.

The entire Emerald Hall instantly transformed into a completely enclosed, impasse-free wasteland!

"Brother Nanlong, this is..." Wang Tiangu's expression changed slightly.

"Please don't panic, everyone."

Marquis Nanlong quickly explained, "This is a normal change in the restriction. After we enter, the entrance will be sealed to prevent external auras from intruding or internal spiritual energy from leaking out and being detected by the Mulan people. Three days later, when the restriction here fluctuates slightly and weakens briefly due to our entry, Fellow Daoist Yun and I can activate the two 'Restriction-Breaking Flags' again to temporarily separate the mountain wall and open the exit. Sealing it now will better conceal the noise of us breaking the restriction."

I see. Everyone felt somewhat relieved.

"However..." Marquis Nanlong changed the subject, a troubled look on his face, "Now that Fellow Daoist Hu has disappeared, we have less than eight of us. To use the 'Eight Extremes Locking Yuan' divine sense transformation technique to break the seal, I'm afraid... it will take even longer. Moreover, with one less person to share the burden, the consumption of your divine senses will be even greater."

The atmosphere grew heavy again. The longer the ban was lifted, the more variables and risks would arise.

"Fellow Daoist Nanlong is mistaken."

Lady Tai, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke, her voice hoarse yet filled with confidence, "While this Supreme Divine Restriction is powerful, it doesn't necessarily require eight people. I think there might be other shortcuts that can save some time and effort."

"Oh? What brilliant idea does Lady Tai have?" Marquis Nanlong's eyes lit up.

"I wouldn't call it insightful."

Madam Tai said calmly, "I just think that if someone could produce a powerful enough treasure to break the restriction, or master a supernatural power that specifically counters restrictions, it might save a lot of trouble."

Of course, if someone can truly achieve this single-handedly, shouldn't they also receive some additional benefits?

Marquis Nanlong and Yun Xiaotian exchanged a glance, instantly understanding Lady Tai's meaning. Marquis Nanlong laughed heartily and said readily:

"Madam Tai is right! Rules are rules, but people are flexible. If any fellow Daoist can truly make a significant contribution in this breakthrough, helping us enter the Lost Palace quickly, then when selecting treasures after entering, in addition to my and Brother Yun's priority remaining unchanged, this person will also have one priority selection right after the two of us! What do you say?"

This proposal is undeniably... .

Being able to choose first after the two initiators means you're guaranteed one of the best treasures!

Upon hearing this, Wang Tiangu, You Gang, and Bingkun all showed a flicker of interest in their eyes, but it quickly faded away.

They knew their own limitations; they couldn't even fathom the edge of this restriction, so how could they possibly break it?

"I'll give it a try."

Just now.

Zhou Yuan's calm voice suddenly rang out.