Yun Ting tries to remember the array of runes but finds it difficult. The shapes of the runes keep shifting, and the array itself changes position, making it nearly impossible to grasp their true form. Even when he comes close to understanding them, they move again, frustrating his efforts.
With perseverance, he finally memorizes the array of runes. Just as he begins to comprehend the array, a voice suddenly interrupts his thoughts.
"I broke it."
Opening his eyes, Yun Ting sees Su Rounan jumping in joy. Lu Yan, clearly annoyed, grabs her shoulder to stop her.
"How did you break the formation?" Lu Yan asks.
Su Rounan blinks. "Oh."
Shi Tian, growing impatient, snaps, "Quickly tell us! The Earth Devil Palace has already broken the formation!"
Yun Ting watches as the others move toward the center. Just then, a vision appears in his mind—a memory of Su Rounan breaking the formation. Without hesitation, he follows the steps and dismantles the array. His teammates do the same.
With the formation broken, they advanced toward the center together.
As they moved forward, Yun Ting continued analyzing the previous formation, trying to comprehend its structure without relying on the method used to break it. His understanding of formations deepened at a rapid pace.
Suddenly, a feeling of unease washed over him—a deep, instinctual sense of danger. Yet, when he looked around, nothing seemed immediately life-threatening. However, he noticed something strange—several of his teammates had abruptly stopped, scanning their surroundings warily. At the same time, the Earth Devil Palace team moved erratically, sometimes sprinting forward, sometimes circling in confusion, as if they were struggling to find stable ground.
A spark of realization flashed in Yun Ting's mind. His instincts screamed at him—something was terribly wrong. Without hesitation, he began moving unpredictably, changing directions at random. Some of his teammates quickly caught on and followed his lead, sensing the hidden threat.
Mere seconds later, the desert sand exploded. Massive sandworms, their bodies encased in thick bone armor, erupted from beneath the surface. The moment they emerged, they released piercing screeches so loud that everyone's ears rang in pain.
The battle began instantly. Each sandworm required at least two or three people working together to engage it. However, their bone armor was nearly impenetrable, capable of withstanding all attacks below the peak of the First Demon Realm. Among his team, only He, Lu Yan, and Liang Ji possessed the strength to break through their defenses.
But merely cracking their armor wasn't enough to kill them. As Yun Ting fought, his gaze locked onto the Earth Devil Palace team. They had already slain two sandworms, and at that moment, Yun Ting saw how they did it—by extracting a large green stone from within the creatures' bodies.
Realizing this, Yun Ting conjured a spark of his vitality flame and threw it onto the sandworm he was battling. Instead of burning the creature outright, the flame moved across its armored body, searching for the green stone. The moment it found the core, the vitality flame spread through the sandworm's veins, connecting with the stone.
The sandworm let out an agonizing screech, thrashing wildly. In its frenzy, it rolled across the battlefield, crashing into other sandworms and causing chaos. As the flame consumed its veins, the sandworm's movements grew weaker until, at last, it stopped entirely.
With this newfound method, the rest of the team swiftly adapted, using their techniques to bring down the remaining sandworms.
Yun Ting retrieved the green stone from the creature's body, feeling its weight—around 10 kilograms, dense and brimming with energy. However, its true purpose remained unknown to them. To find out, they turned their attention to the Earth Devil Palace cultivators, whose leader they suspected belonged to the Dead River Sect.
Observing closely, they saw the Earth Devil Palace cultivators breaking the green stones into small pieces and consuming them. After ingesting the fragments, they immediately sat down to meditate. Moments later, some of their auras surged, indicating they were advancing to the next realm.
Understanding its value, Yun Ting and his team followed suit. As they refined the energy within the stones, Yun Ting completed the refinement of his stomach and lungs, but all of them were halted at 99%. Without refining a spiritual object, they couldn't fully complete the process.
With no time to dwell on it, they resumed their advance, eventually stopping before the second formation blocking their path.
As the formation masters in the team began working to break it, Yun Ting focused on something else. His goal was not to dismantle the formation but to carefully observe and copy all the runes within it. By doing so, he could better understand how the formation was structured and how it functioned.
This time, Su Ronan was not the first to break the formation—another team member managed to do so first. With their combined efforts, the team successfully passed through and continued their advance toward the looming black mountain. At its center stood a massive black palace, now fully visible in the distance.
However, a new challenge arose. A chilling gray wind began to blow, carrying with it a relentless downpour of gray rain. The moment the rain touched them, they felt its corrosive effect gnawing at their energy reserves. The consumption rate for using the Jade Shield ability doubled, making it significantly harder to maintain.
Fortunately, their prior training with the green stones had replenished their energy, and some members had even advanced to the next realm, increasing their reserves. Even so, the relentless assault of the Dead Rain made every step forward a struggle.
Yun Ting felt the strain as well, but as he continued walking, the soul chip inside him completed its analysis. It had deciphered how the Dead Rain corroded the flesh—how it specifically targeted his cells, breaking them down at a microscopic level.
Armed with this knowledge, Yun Ting attempted to make subtle adjustments to his body at the cellular level. Once the modifications were in place, he deactivated his Jade Shield for a moment to test the results. To his surprise, the rate of corrosion slowed by 20%.
Encouraged, he reactivated the Jade Shield, allowing his body to heal while commanding the soul chip to continue its analysis. If he could uncover the full mechanism behind the Dead Rain's effects, he might find a way to resist it entirely.
But as they pressed on, the brutal environment took its toll. Hours passed, and the relentless drain of energy became too much for some of the weaker members. Before the rest of the team could assist them, several collapsed under the combined assault of the Dead Rain and Dead Wind. Their flesh melted away in an instant, leaving behind only bare skeletons—a grim reminder of the deadly nature of this realm.
Despite their losses, the survivors pushed forward. When they finally reached the third formation, only twenty of them remained alive.
Yun Ting's understanding of the Dead Rain and Dead Wind deepened further. With each step, he refined his body's resistance, and now, the corrosive effects had slowed by 60%. Like before, he carefully copied the runes within the third formation, analyzing its structure while the formation masters worked on breaking it. Soon, another team member successfully dismantled the barrier, allowing them to advance once more.
At last, they found themselves just a short distance from the black mountain. From here, they could see the massive stone staircase winding up the mountainside, leading directly to the palace at its peak.
As they neared the base of the mountain, their opponents from the Earth Devil Palace arrived as well. Now, standing face to face, both teams locked eyes in silence, battle-ready and prepared to fight.
But before anyone could make a move, a voice echoed through the air.
"Welcome, everyone, to my master's secret realm."
A pause. Then the voice continued.
"To receive the inheritance, climb the stairs and enter the palace."
"And fighting is not allowed."