Ye Chen stepped into the valley shrouded in thick fog. The fog around was so dense that it seemed impossible to disperse, restricting his vision to just a few inches ahead. With each step he took, the soft and moist ground beneath his feet made a slight "puchi" sound, as if telling the mystery and unknown of this place. "Master, this place feels rather strange. I have to be extra careful," Ye Chen murmured to himself in his heart. The voice of Elder Spirit rang out in his mind: "Boy, don't be careless. This ruin is likely to be fraught with dangers." Ye Chen nodded slightly and continued to move forward cautiously. Not far into his walk, he suddenly sensed a powerful fluctuation of spiritual energy coming from ahead. His heart tightened, and he slowed down, approaching the source of the spiritual energy fluctuation slowly. When he got closer, a huge stone gate stood imposingly. The gate was densely engraved with strange runes and patterns, and an ancient and mysterious aura rushed towards him. Ye Chen subconsciously reached out to touch the stone gate. An icy chill instantly spread throughout his body, causing him to shiver involuntarily. Just then, the runes on the stone gate suddenly lit up, and a blinding ray of light shot out, directly at Ye Chen. Ye Chen retreated rapidly. The light narrowly missed his body and then fiercely hit a towering tree behind him, instantly turning the tree into dust. "So close! This stone gate has such a fierce attack!" Ye Chen broke out in a cold sweat in shock. After calming down, he began to carefully observe the runes on the stone gate, attempting to find the way to open it. After some hard thinking, he seemed to have discovered that the arrangement of these runes seemed to follow a certain specific pattern. Ye Chen took a deep breath, concentrated his mind, and mobilized the spiritual energy within his body. According to the pattern he had speculated, he slowly injected the spiritual energy into the runes of the stone gate. With the continuous input of spiritual energy, the light of the runes on the stone gate gradually became gentle. Eventually, the heavy stone gate slowly opened. Behind the gate was a spacious cave. The cave walls were inlaid with countless gemstones and spiritual crystals that flickered with faint light, just like numerous stars, magnificent and beautiful. Just as Ye Chen was about to go forward to inspect, a sharp screeching sound suddenly rang out. A huge monster shaped like a bat dived down from the cave ceiling, carrying a strong wind and directly pouncing towards Ye Chen. This monster had sharp claws like knives and pointed fangs. Strange lights flickered on its wings. Ye Chen quickly brandished his sword to resist. With a "clang", the sword collided with the claws, and sparks flew. Ye Chen felt a huge force coming, and the whole person was knocked back several steps, with his arm feeling numb. "This guy is so powerful!" Ye Chen was secretly shocked in his heart. The bat monster took advantage and continued to attack. At the same time, it opened its mouth and spewed out a black smoke. The smoke instantly spread, and Ye Chen suddenly felt it difficult to breathe, with his vision becoming blurry. Ye Chen did not dare to be slow and immediately executed the spiritual skill "Breeze Formula". A gentle breeze rose around him, gradually blowing away the black smoke. Taking advantage of this gap, he flashed his figure and attacked the bat monster. The sword shadows were numerous, and the cold light flickered. The bat monster was agile, dodging left and right to avoid Ye Chen's attacks, while counterattacking from time to time. Its speed was so fast that Ye Chen was hard-pressed to cope. During the fierce battle, Ye Chen was caught off guard and his shoulder was scratched by the monster. Blood gushed out, staining his clothes. "Damn it!" Ye Chen shouted angrily, and the spiritual energy within him surged like a torrent. He executed his strongest spiritual skill, "Star Sword Technique". The long sword in his hand instantly burst out with countless lights like brilliant stars, illuminating the entire cave as bright as day. Ye Chen brandished the long sword, carrying the force of thunder, and slashed fiercely at the bat monster. The monster sensed the terrifying pressure of this strike and wanted to escape, but it was too late. The sword light flashed, and the bat monster was cut into two, turning into a cloud of black smoke and vanishing into nothingness. Ye Chen let out a long breath and began to search in the cave. Before long, he discovered an ancient secret manual, which recorded a profound spiritual skill. Just as Ye Chen was about to leave the cave, the ground suddenly trembled violently. "What's going on?" Ye Chen's expression changed drastically. From the depths of the cave, a huge python slowly crawled out. The python's body was as thick as a huge pillar, and its scales glistened with a cold metallic luster. Its eyes were like burning fireballs. Ye Chen tightened his grip on the long sword and stood ready for battle. The python opened its blood-filled mouth and spewed out a stream of scorching flames. Ye Chen quickly executed a defensive spiritual skill, forming a solid spiritual energy shield in front of him. The flames collided with the shield, making a deafening roar. The python twisted its huge body and pounced on Ye Chen with lightning speed. Ye Chen dodged sideways and took the opportunity to swing his sword at the python. However, when the sword struck the python's scales, it only left a shallow white mark. The python angrily swung its tail. Ye Chen was unable to dodge in time and was hit hard, flying out like a cannonball and crashing heavily against the cave wall. Ye Chen felt as if all his internal organs had shifted, and the pain was piercing. But he gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand up. "I must not fall here!" Ye Chen's eyes widened, filled with determination. He infused all his spiritual energy into the long sword, and the sword shone brightly. Ye Chen charged towards the python again. After a thrilling life-and-death struggle, Ye Chen finally found the python's flaw and thrust the sword into its left eye. The python howled in pain and rolled and writhed frantically. Ye Chen seized the opportunity to attack continuously and finally succeeded in killing the python. Ye Chen collapsed on the ground, exhausted, gasping for breath heavily.