```

Lu Yang was very touched by the fellowship of the Five Ancient Immortals.

They had laid down an unprecedented cage to imprison the murderer, which could only be unlocked by the collective power of the Five Ancient Immortals. What grand courage it took, what a masterstroke it was—Lu Yang admired it.

At the moment, Lu Yang had no other thoughts, just one question—without the Time Immortal, how to gather the power of the Five Ancient Immortals?

Fairy Eternity was also stumped by this question. After pondering for a while, she proposed a solution that sounded unfeasible, "Why don’t you become an immortal and form Time Dao Fruit?"

Lu Yang: "..."

Fairy, are you overestimating me?

How difficult it is to master the rules of time! The Time Immortal relied on his identity as the Firmament Tree and traded endless lifespans to slowly grind and exchange time for time, just to control the laws of time.

I’m only eighteen this year; am I supposed to map out my plan to master Time Dao Fruit in advance?

How do I master it? Possess the corpse of the Time Immortal, or do you, Fairy, teach me the laws of time?

"It’s a pity that the fate of Yingtian Immortal and the others is uncertain. Even if they are alive, we don’t know where they are. Otherwise, it would just be a matter of finding them and asking," Fairy Eternity regretfully shook her head, but Lu Yang could tell she was in a good mood.

Previously, they had always been ignorant of the murderer’s identity, suspecting one of the Four Ancient Immortals, but after this investigation, they finally ruled out the possibility of the Four Ancient Immortals and relaxed.

"Alright, time to go back."

The exploration of the deepest layer of the mainland was complete; there was no need to stay any longer.

The human and fairy joined forces; Lu Yang employed Earth Shrinking, gliding through the ground as if swimming.

With a push of his feet and a parting of the layers of soil with his hands, he was like a fish about to swim through the mainland... but he didn’t manage to swim through.

Lu Yang blinked; his technique was perfect, but he just couldn’t swim up.

Gathering momentum, he kicked with his feet and parted the soil layer by layer, like a fish trying to pass through the mainland... and still, he could not swim through.

Looking down at the barrier at the bottom of the mainland, he realized that this very thing was holding him in place.

Seeing Lu Yang’s plight, Fairy Eternity had a sudden realization and remembered something, "Oh, I forgot, there is gravitational pull in this place; you’re being pulled in."

The Four Ancient Immortals were adept at their craft, not just kneading stars into the mainland like putty; during this process, they preserved gravity, or rather, constructed a gravitational array method with magic skills... Regardless, the mainland did have gravity.

"Just use a bit more strength and you’ll make it up," Fairy Eternity encouraged Lu Yang.

Descending was effortless for Lu Yang, only needing to use "Prison Ground" to slow down when sinking too fast.

But climbing back up was far too troublesome.

Having no other choice, Lu Yang endeavored to swim upward.

It took him five days to descend to the core and thirteen days to return to the surface, leaving him gasping for breath.

Fortunately, with Fairy Eternity’s guidance on the direction, he didn’t veer off course; otherwise, he might have ended up in the territory of the Suan Ni Clan or the Qiongqi Clan.

"Your trip took quite some time," Meng Jingzhou, who was meditating on his cultivation, felt Lu Yang’s worm-like progress back to the surface and woke up early.

Lu Yang gave Meng Jingzhou a white look, "If you went down and back up, you’d take just as long."

Third Senior Sister looked curiously at Lu Yang who had appeared earlier than she had anticipated; the Junior Brother’s round trip speed was a few days less than her estimate.

"With such speed, I’m afraid even those in the Nascent Soul Stage would be ashamed," she thought to herself. The Junior Brother was even stronger than she had expected, no wonder the Eldest Senior Sister had chosen him to be the Acting Sect Master.

"How was it? Did you find anything? Senior Sister didn’t deceive you, did she?"

Lu Yang nodded; this journey had yielded great results, but the contents of the discovery could not be shared with others—it was too significant.

```

Moreover, speaking about the Dao Fruit of the Four Ancient Immortals was futile even if you did manage to, because you would forget it as soon as you finished talking about it.

"Now that you’re back, you two stay here while I go outside to check if those old fellows have left," the Third Senior Sister said as she stood up and stretched. She cautioned them not to run around recklessly, as she would be back soon.

Third Senior Sister took a talisman in her hand, which spontaneously combusted. Before their very eyes, she vanished from the spot. She was invisible to both the naked eye and Spiritual Sense.

This was a very advanced Invisibility Talisman that only Fairy Eternity could see through.

About half an hour later, as promised, the Third Senior Sister returned with good news, "They’ve all left; we are safe now!"

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou both heaved a sigh of relief, thankful to be safe at last.

"Where are we heading to now?"

"To the Qiongqi Clan, where I have my second stronghold," she replied.

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou gasped, thinking to themselves that Third Senior Sister was leading them straight into the lion’s den.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"It’s fine. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been to the Qiongqi Clan. No matter how formidable they seem to the outside world, their internal management is rather lax, nothing compared to our Seek Dao Sect," she reassured.

The two followed Third Senior Sister out of the cave only to discover that it wasn’t situated in the mountain but below it. To leave, they needed to climb upwards.

The mountain was enveloped in thick fog and dew, with the muddy path pockmarked with potholes and numerous puddles formed recently after rain.

Suddenly, the Third Senior Sister stopped in her tracks.

"What’s wrong, Senior Sister?"

Pointing at a small puddle, Third Senior Sister instructed, "Jump in after me."

"What?"

Without further explanation, Third Senior Sister leaped into the puddle. Strangely, although it seemed to be just a shallow accumulation from the rain, about two to three inches deep, when Third Senior Sister jumped in, she completely disappeared.

Although puzzled, the two trusted Third Senior Sister and jumped in after her.

Lu Yang felt as if his entire body was submerged in water, plunging into the depths of the East Sea, losing all sense of direction, unable to distinguish north from south. He desperately swam in one direction, then after a couple of strokes, his head popped up lighter, and he clamored out of the puddle.

The scenery around them appeared exactly the same as before they jumped in.

"This is the outside world," Third Senior Sister said with a smile. It was a place she had built upon first arriving in the Demon Territory, and naturally, it contained many secrets since it had remained undetected for so long.

Lu Yang understood that Third Senior Sister had utilized the mountain’s natural rainfall to create an entrance using the puddle and had established a mirrored underground space. They had been hiding in that subterranean space all this time.

"This was the second lesson our master taught us: learning to hide," she said.

Daoist Buyu had taught Third Senior Sister that the first lesson was to flee for your life and the second to hide.

Lu Yang reminisced about the Eldest Senior Sister’s teaching methods: the first lesson involved wielding large pots for acrobatics, the second was taking hot water baths.

It was hard to say which was superior.

"Our destination, the Qiongqi Clan, is one hundred fifty li in that direction," Third Senior Sister pointed out, noting that they would have to cross through a side branch of the Qiongqi Clan along the way.

"Take these two Invisibility Talismans. Light them when we get close to the side branch," Third Senior Sister handed one talisman to each of them.

"Side branch?"

"Yes, it’s the Qiongqi with impure bloodlines. These Qiongqi aren’t eligible to be included in the Qiongqi Clan’s family registers. As you’ve seen for yourselves, the Demon Territory can be dangerous. They live near the Qiongqi Clan, acting as guards and servants," she explained.

"Was the first demon beast we killed a hybrid Qiongqi?" Meng Jingzhou asked quietly.

Lu Yang nodded in agreement—indeed, it was. That was when he, Meng Jingzhou, and Man Gu had gone to eliminate the Tiger Demon, which had mixed Qiongqi blood, a hybrid.