Junior Sister must ascend this time!

Shen Qingchen tugged at Lu Xingzhou's sleeve and said through gritted teeth in a low voice, "Alright, stop embarrassing yourself here."

Lu Xingzhou, whose mind was usually filled with Shen Qingchen, suddenly found his senior brother a bit annoying. He pulled back his sleeve, ignoring his senior brother, and continued speaking to Yun Qing:

"Further in is the innermost part of the area, where the demonic beasts are quite powerful. Let us continue to protect you."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mian walked up to Yun Qing in a few steps and said expressionlessly, "My junior sister has us; she doesn't need your protection."

Si Mingche shoved Lu Xingzhou aside with a thud. "Junior Sister, let's go."

Yun Qing glanced down at the jade tablet. The top three were the Immortal Alliance, the Golden Jade Sect, and the Chengtian Sect, followed by the Xuanming Sect, the Sumeru Sect, the Zhenyue Sect, the Yuling Sect, and finally the Biyun Sect, which mainly focused on medical and alchemy cultivation.

She was somewhat surprised that the Buddhist cultivators of the Sumeru Sect ranked higher than the Zhenyue Sect, a sect that primarily focused on physical cultivation. "Is the Sumeru Sect's purification function that strong?"

Gu Changfeng said, "What?! You haven't seen them chanting 'Buddha's mercy' while simultaneously swinging their staffs and wooden fish at people."

After saying that, he rubbed his arms in fear. It was too brutal!

Yun Qing nodded stiffly. This mental state... is perfect for playing with Cheng Tian Sect!

Although Chengtian Sect made it into the top three, the gap in points between them and the first-place Immortal Alliance is still quite large. To take first place, they must surpass the Immortal Alliance, and relying solely on the five of them to fight head-on might not be enough. In this situation, cooperating with Jinyu Sect is a good option.

Yun Qing turned to Shen Qingchen, "We're heading deeper into the inner area next. Would you like to come along, fellow disciples?"

Lu Xingzhou eagerly replied, "Yes! My senior brothers and the others are all willing!"

Shen Qingchen chuckled; he really had no way to deal with this junior brother. "Then let's go."

The group ventured deeper into the inner area, crossing a stream before the terrain began to narrow. The rock walls on either side grew increasingly higher, and the once expansive view gradually transformed into a long, narrow passage, with only a sliver of sky visible overhead.

Shen Qingchen stopped and raised her hand to signal to the others, "The valley ahead may be dangerous, everyone be careful."

Everyone drew their swords to protect their chests, and Si Mingche also took out his Thousand Machine Fan to shield his face. He could lose his head and bleed, but his handsome face could not be harmed.

It didn't take long to cross the valley passage. Although a few third-tier demonic beasts appeared from time to time, they were quickly killed with the cooperation of the disciples from both sects.

After passing through the valley, the view opened up again, revealing a gray-white ruin. Broken stone pillars were scattered everywhere, some still standing, others fallen to the ground, covered by vines and moss. In the distance, there was a half-collapsed stone temple, its outline still relatively intact.

Si Mingche shook his fan. "Could this be the ruins of some sect? This looks like a martial arts arena. Judging by its scale... it must have been a once-powerful sect."

"It should be the Lingxu Sect from a thousand years ago," Jiang Mian said. "This ancient sect was several times more powerful than the current Immortal Alliance, but unfortunately it was destroyed overnight a thousand years ago. The Lingxu Secret Realm is a fragment of its remaining cave heaven."

Si Mingche looked at Jiang Mian in disbelief, "How do you know so much?"

Jiang Mian said in a serious tone, "I came across this while looking for 'One Hundred Ways for Cultivators to Die' in the library, and I just wrote it down."

Yun Qing smiled and patted Si Mingche on the shoulder, "It seems that Third Senior Brother still needs to read more books."

Lu Xingzhou looked at Jiang Mian in disbelief: "One Hundred Ways for a Cultivator to Die? There's such a book?"

"Yes." Jiang Mian said calmly, "The twenty-third one is 'being strangled by an array while rummaging through things in a secret realm ruin.'"

He glanced at Lu Xingzhou and said, "There might be one lying under the rock you're turning over right now."

Lu Xingzhou looked down at the piece of broken tile he had just picked up, paused for a moment, and then silently put it back in its place.

Just then, the group heard sounds of fighting ahead, like the scraping of swords against the stone wall and the whistling of whips cutting through the air.

Yun Qingxin had a sudden thought: Could it be her senior brother and second senior sister?

The sound came from the side and rear of the stone hall, but the exact location could not be seen because of a collapsed stone wall.

Yun Qing didn't hesitate and walked in that direction. Si Mingche and Jiang Mian followed behind her, while Shen Qingchen also led her people around from the other side, approaching the source of the sound from different directions.

After going around the collapsed stone wall, Yun Qing saw several familiar figures, and in front of them were dozens of stone golems.

Those stone golems were about ten feet tall, a head taller than a person. They were made of stones of different sizes, with fine joints, and made a dull rubbing sound when they walked.

They are slow but extremely powerful; a single attack from them can cause a broken bone.

A stone golem was swinging its arm at Pei Shubai. Pei Shubai dodged to the side, and his sword sliced ​​through its body, but only managed to cut off a piece of stone. The stone golem did not stop its movement at all and threw another punch.

Pei Shubai's stamina had reached its limit, and his movements slowed for a moment as the punch came down...

Just as the stone golem was about to smash into Pei Shubai's chest, Jiang Mian appeared in time and pulled him aside, holding his sword horizontally in front of his chest. "Senior Brother, leave it to me."

On the other side, Cen Ning's long whip wrapped around the ankle of a stone golem, and with a strong pull, the stone golem lost its balance and crashed to the ground.

But Cen Ning didn't rest for long before the stone golem used its hands to push itself up and continued to attack her.

Yun Qing lightly touched the ground with her toes and landed in front of Cen Ning. The Wusheng Sword and the "Never Mind" Sword were drawn at the same time. "Second Senior Sister, I'm here."

At Gu Changfeng's feet lay broken or chipped Xuan swords. He took out a new Xuan sword from his storage bag. "These stone monsters have no weaknesses. How am I supposed to fight them? If this continues, I'll really run out of swords!"

"God! Please send someone to save me!"

Si Mingche walked out, fanning himself, and raised an eyebrow at Gu Changfeng. "I've come to save you. Quickly call him Grandpa!"

Gu Changfeng forcefully slashed at the approaching stone golem with his Xuan sword, "I don't need a weak talisman cultivator like you to save me! Get out of here!"

"You said it yourself." Si Mingche made a move to leave.

As soon as he finished speaking, a stone golem's fist came crashing down towards Gu Changfeng. Si Mingche quickly waved his Thousand Machine Fan and threw out several explosive talismans, which blew up the stone golem's fist and stopped its attack.

He glanced at the broken Xuan Sword in Gu Changfeng's hand and couldn't help but ask, "Don't you have a natal sword? Why don't you take it out and use it? Wouldn't it be more powerful?"

Gu Changfeng glanced at him. "My natal sword is my wife! What sword cultivator would be willing to use their wife to cut rocks?"

His voice, neither too loud nor too soft, reached Pei Shubai's ears. Pei Shubai glanced at his Jingfeng Sword and fell silent…

At this moment, Shen Qingchen and the others joined the battle from another direction.

A golden sword light slashed in from the other side, the Crimson Sky Sword striking a stone golem at its shoulder joint, sending stone fragments flying. Lu Xingzhou also led the disciples of the Golden Jade Sect to flank from the side, temporarily disrupting the formation of the stone golems.

Although the stone golem was temporarily restrained, this stone monster was immortal and indestructible. Even if it was scattered by talismans and magical artifacts, it would reassemble itself in a short time.