At the age of one hundred, I inquired about the Dao, awakening the supreme spiritual root that shatt

Mu Yinxue smiled knowingly, then waved to a few people not far away.

Before long, the others also arrived in front of Ling Xiu, indicating that they had already reached an agreement.

Ling Xiu followed the others, broke away from the main group, and quietly headed towards the rear of the main hall.

That was the side hall, perched on a cliff.

The group walked to a corner of the cliff, where the vines were so thick that they completely concealed their figures. Sure enough, deep within the vines was a recessed cave entrance.

The entrance to this cave is encased in a formation. Compared to the aura emanating from the main entrance of the white jade steps, the spiritual light here is much dimmer, yet the formation's patterns remain intricate and exquisite.

"The entrance to the side hall is right here!"

Mu Yinxue pointed to the flickering array light above the cave and spoke.

"The nine of us must go all out, find the key points of the formation, and work together to attack the weakest point of the formation."

"As long as we can create a crack, we can get inside!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, making up their minds, and each channeled their powerful magic.

Ling Xiu knew that although the nine people seemed to be working together, they each had their own agendas and were wary of each other.

He dared not relax for a moment, circulating his abundant true essence and deliberately suppressing his cultivation at the mid-stage of the True Condensation realm, so that he would neither appear weak nor too conspicuous.

"Let's attack together!"

Mu Yinxue gave a low shout.

In an instant, the nine people unleashed their unique skills, and various dazzling lights burst forth, all crashing towards the array's halo at the cave entrance.

The array patterns on the surface of the cave trembled violently, and layers of spiritual light rippled outwards, accompanied by a continuous booming sound.

After a full day, the array at the cave entrance shattered with a roar, creating a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through.

The crack resembled two separate semicircles, shimmering with a faint halo of light.

"Please line up in an orderly fashion and enter one by one!"

As soon as Mu Yinxue finished speaking, she took the first step into the crevice.

Ling Xiu did not rush in; he waited until the other eight people had all entered before falling last.

Just as he was about to step into the semi-circular halo, Murong Ye of the Ghost King Sect, who was walking in front of him, suddenly turned around, his eyes icy cold and his killing intent undisguised.

In just a moment, Ling Xiu still clearly caught that intense killing intent.

After passing through the narrow passage, the scene suddenly opened up, and they had entered a side hall of the Nine Heavens Mystic Palace.

This grand hall is shrouded in an ancient spatial array, and its interior space is far more expansive than it appears from the outside.

Inside the hall stand towering pillars, and the walls are covered with murals depicting all sorts of exotic animals, creating a magnificent atmosphere.

Several bronze statues stand in front of the hall, lifelike and awe-inspiring.

The palace buildings, with their carved beams and painted rafters, were exceptionally beautiful. Although they had not suffered extensive damage, they had been eroded by time and were now dimly lit.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is extremely rich, and a strange fragrance lingers in the air, bringing peace to the heart.

A profound and weighty aura emanated from the space, clearly the aura of an ancient treasure.

When they entered the hall earlier, everyone pretended to cooperate, but now that the treasure was in front of them, everyone could no longer suppress their greed.

"Everyone, it's all up to fate. I wish you all good luck."

The first to speak was Murong Ye of the Ghost King Sect. Before he finished speaking, he turned around.

They disappeared from everyone's sight and sped off towards a dark place deep within the main hall.

This person had clearly identified their target early on.

Mu Yinxue glanced around at everyone and chuckled, "Go and seek your own opportunities."

Having said that, she transformed into a streak of light and became the second to depart.

Jiang Yuzhe of the Heavenly Dao Sect, Luo Wei of the Shennong Sect, and others also rushed off to different parts of the main hall.

Only the young couple from the Immortal Couple Sect remained, and they turned to look at Ling Xiu.

"The palace grounds are vast and fraught with countless unknown dangers. Why don't we travel together and look out for each other?"

The woman who spoke was named Zhao Yuxi.

Ling Xiu could clearly sense that she was secretly observing him, and the calculating look in her eyes was impossible to hide.

He bowed respectfully and politely declined, saying, "Thank you for your kind offer, but I am accustomed to traveling alone and acting by myself."

The couple exchanged a glance, their faces showing regret: "In that case, let's give up."

The two stopped pressuring and turned to disappear from the hall.

After everyone had dispersed, Ling Xiu fully extended his divine sense to meticulously examine everything around him.

The Qiankun Xuanhu in his arms trembled more and more noticeably, and a faint guiding sensation came, pointing to a secret passage on the left side of the main hall.

The secret passage was a dimly lit corridor. Ling Xiu did not rush straight in, but approached cautiously and slowly.

The divine sense that had been spread out had already detected that Murong Ye of the Ghost King Sect, who had just left, had returned from the shadows.

This person deliberately concealed his aura, and had been harboring murderous intent just now, clearly regarding me as a thorn in his side.

"Hmph! You haven't even found the treasure yet, and you can't even suppress your murderous intent, already planning to attack me?"

Ling Xiu let out a cold snort, a chilling glint flashing in his eyes.

He pretended to be oblivious and followed the guidance of the Qiankun Xuanhu (mysterious gourd) slowly towards the dimly lit corridor.

This corridor leads directly to the heart of the side hall, with crisscrossing paths inside, deep and narrow, and the dim lighting makes the surrounding atmosphere extremely eerie.

The sensation from the Qiankun Xuanhu grew stronger, and Ling Xiu remained focused and vigilant throughout, steadily advancing deeper into the depths.

The deeper you go, the stronger the aroma of herbs fills the air, permeating the entire corridor.

The fragrance is a blend of the essence of dozens of ancient medicinal herbs. Inhaling it brings a sense of tranquility and exhilaration, causing the body's vital energy to surge, as if one were in a fairyland.

Before long, they reached the end of the corridor, where a half-open white jade archway stood. The rich medicinal fragrance, accumulated over thousands of years, wafted out from inside the archway.

Ling Xiu released his divine sense to investigate and confirmed that there were no restrictions on the archway before gently pushing the stone door open and walking in.

Inside the door was a spacious alchemy room, and the scene that greeted Ling Xiu shocked him.

Inside the room stood a cauldron carved with patterns of immortal herbs and plants.

The alchemy furnace is more than half a person tall, with a simple and unique shape. It is gilded all over and has a dragon pattern carved on the other side of the furnace body. It is obvious at a glance that it is no ordinary product.

Although the furnace was covered in thick dust, Ling Xiu could still sense the extraordinary spiritual light flowing within it, and a rich and mellow aura of alchemy wafted towards him.

"This is actually a top-grade alchemy furnace!"

"Its quality far surpasses that of a Xuan-grade alchemy furnace; it is a top-grade Di-grade furnace!"

Ling Xiu was overwhelmed with excitement at finding such a rare treasure first, his eyes burning with fervor.

What made him even more overjoyed was that wisps of rich elixir fragrance wafted out from the cracks of the alchemy furnace, clearly indicating that the elixir inside had been nurtured for thousands of years, or even perhaps had been dormant for tens of thousands of years.

With a top-grade earth-level alchemy furnace nurturing the pills day and night, the quality of the pills inside must be astonishing.

"This alchemy furnace alone is an incredible opportunity, and with the spiritual pills inside, this trip has been worthwhile!"

Ling Xiu knew that if this treasure were to become known, it would be enough to cause all cultivators to fight over it like crazy.

The pills in the furnace are at least of Earth-grade, and may even be Heaven-grade elixirs.

Heavenly-grade elixirs are only available to those at the Spirit Sea Realm, making them extremely rare.

What kind of elixir could be nurtured in this furnace for ten thousand years?

Full of anticipation, Ling Xiu suppressed his restless emotions and strode forward, about to lift the lid of the furnace.

But he suddenly stopped and turned around to look behind him.

His extended divine sense detected a sinister and cruel killing intent that was sweeping wildly toward him.

Murong Ye had been hiding behind the stone archway, planning to launch a sneak attack when he was distracted and unprepared.

The opponent was certain that this was the moment when Ling Xiu was least vigilant. Before he could even show himself, a powerful force of restraint pressed down on him, intending to lock him in place and render him unable to move.

"Fool, prepare to die! I've wanted to do this to you for a long time!"

Murong Ye no longer concealed himself and burst into arrogant laughter!