Perils in the ruins reveal hidden mechanisms; the divine power of the wanderer overcomes all difficulties.

The moment the bronze beast head spewed out a blast of freezing mist, Shen Yi grabbed Gao Yao's belt and rolled across the ground.

Three ice shards brushed against their backs and embedded themselves into the ground, the bursting frost weaving spiderweb patterns across the bluestone slabs.

"The seventh paving stone on the left!" Mingyue's fingers holding the bronze compass turned pale white, frost hissing at the edge of her skirt from the remnants of the mechanical beast.

Qingfeng flicked out three talisman papers, their golden light illuminating the dense network of holes on both sides of the corridor—where fragments of human skeletons remained jammed within the dark red rust.

Lieyang's mocking laughter echoed from around a corner thirty paces away, his fiery cloud mark casting a flickering glow along the tunnel walls: "Little Brother Shen, why not crawl out on your knees, and I'll leave your corpse intact?" Qingyu's venomous vines spread along the wall cracks, blooming into eerie purple flowers upon the icy surface.

Shen Yi spat out a bloody froth from the corner of his mouth; every single second the infant lotus phantom maintained itself within the golden mist was draining the spiritual energy from his dantian.

Gao Yao's sword arc deflected three venomous darts. As she spun around, her canary-yellow skirt was torn by an ice blade, revealing a calf instantly patterned with frost.

"Catch this!" Mingyue suddenly tossed over a bronze plate engraved with stellar patterns. The moment Shen Yi caught it, the biting cold nearly froze his palms.

The wandering wisps of golden mist suddenly transformed into tiny serpents, burrowing along his meridians straight toward his heart.

A system prompt exploded in his mind: [Xuantian Cold Pith detected. Spiritual plant mimicry compatibility increased to 72%.]

"Kan position! Li position!" Mingyue's voice trembled slightly.

She was driving silver needles into her own Quchi acupoint, forcefully heightening her eyesight to observe the intricate pathways of the mechanism.

The Vajra Talisman thrown by Qingfeng spontaneously combusted in mid-air; evidently, the spiritual energy here had become so chaotic that even basic talismans could hardly be maintained.

Shen Yi suddenly grabbed Gao Yao's wrist, lunging with her toward a protruding stone stalagmite on the right.

Three crossbow bolts grazed past their hair tips, instantly exploding into ice crystals the moment they struck the wall.

Amidst the splashing ice shards, he caught sight of blood seeping from Qingfeng's Taoist robe sleeve—a wound inflicted by the venomous vines when he pushed Mingyue out of the way.

"Brother Shen, the bronze lampstand in the southeast corner!" Mingyue suddenly screamed.

The magnetic needle on her compass was spinning wildly, a formation that had slumbered for a millennium was awakening.

Shen Yi flicked a thorny vine from his sleeve to entangle the lampstand, but the recoil upon exerting force caused the webbing between his thumb and index finger to burst open.

The golden mist suddenly condensed into stalactite-like shapes hanging upside down. Gao Yao's sword light cleaved into them, producing the crisp sound of clashing metal and stone.

Shen Yi licked his back molar, tasting the metallic blood of spiritual energy overdrawn.

On the system interface, the icon representing the infant lotus seed was cracking.

"Playing God and acting like ghosts!" Lieyang's nine-section whip lashed against the tunnel ceiling, shaking loose icicles that poured down like a torrential rainstorm.

Taking advantage of the moment, Qingyu flicked out three venomous caltrops. The hidden weapons curved unnervingly in mid-air, shooting straight for Mingyue's back.

Qingfeng tossed out a Gale Talisman, only for it to be shredded to pieces by the suddenly reversing spiritual currents.

Shen Yi's pupils constricted sharply. The thorn seeds flying from his sleeve exploded into a green mist in mid-air—these were his last five life-saving Earth-grade seeds.

The moment the venomous caltrops pierced through the green mist, Mingyue forcefully pressed her compass into the central mechanism.

The bronze beast head emitted a teeth-grating grinding sound, and eight golden light chains burst forth from beneath the ground, only to be frozen into ice sculptures halfway by the chilling mist.

The entire corridor began to tilt. Shen Yi grabbed Gao Yao and tumbled into a suddenly materialized secret door, the back of his neck instantly brushing against something icy cold—it was Qingfeng's blood-stained scabbard.

"Brother Shen, the wall patterns are moving!" Mingyue's voice carried a hint of crying.

The twenty-eight lunar mansion engravings on her compass were oozing a golden liquid, which transformed into clawing, snapping vines the moment they touched the ground.

Shen Yi groped for the oil-paper parcel at his waist, only to find that the Five-Spice Concealment Powder had long been soaked through by the frost.

Lieyang's explosive flame talisman detonated outside the door, the heat wave blowing away three paving stones.

Amidst the violent shaking, Shen Yi saw Mingyue stumble toward the central mechanism, her silver needle pointing directly at an array eye shimmering with blue light—

"Wait!" He reached out to grab her, but grasped only empty air.

Gao Yao's startled cry and the system's alarm sounded simultaneously; an existence far colder than the freezing mist was slowly opening its eyes deep within the golden mist.

Shen Yi's fingertips were still stained with the golden liquid from Mingyue's compass, and those droplets suddenly seeped into his skin along his palm lines.

The system interface flashed with a red warning light, yet he broke into a grin: "Little Moon, dare to play a big game?"

Mingyue was sealing the spreading frost patterns on her arm with a silver needle. Hearing this, she rolled her eyes: "When have you ever stirred up trouble without dragging me along?" With a sudden slap, she slammed the bronze compass into a recess in the wall, causing the twenty-eight lunar mansion engravings and the moss in the wall cracks to simultaneously light up with a faint blue glow.

The corridor shook violently. Three bronze beast heads protruded from the dome, spouting golden mist laden with ice shards.

Lieyang team's explosive talismans detonated like duds in this mist, and Qingyu threw out venomous vines in exasperation: "Don't let them activate the array eye!"

"Kan-three, Zhen-seven, Xun-position Gate of Life!" Shen Yi abruptly wrapped his arm around Mingyue's waist, spinning through the air to dodge three ice shards.

The thorny vines he flung from his sleeve coiled around the southeast bronze lampstand, and amidst the system prompt, he poured his spiritual energy into it: "Open for me!"

The Taotie patterns on the lampstand suddenly came alive, writhing as the golden mist throughout the entire corridor was instantly sucked into the beast's maw.

Qingfeng seized the opportunity to toss out five warding talismans, the golden light screen formed by the burning papers temporarily blocking the attacks from Lieyang's team.

"Catch!" Gao Yao suddenly hurled her treasured sword into the air, the pearl embedded in the hilt blooming with cyan light.

Understanding her intent, Shen Yi flicked out a jade lotus seed. The moment the hidden weapon collided with the blade, the bursting spiritual light illuminated the intricate interlocking gear structure inside the wall.

Mingyue took the chance to plunge silver needles into three mechanical nodes, her blood dripping from the ends of the needles only to transform into beads of ice.

Clenching her hair ribbon, she groaned through gritted teeth: "Five breaths left!"

"Three breaths are enough." Shen Yi abruptly pulled open the front of his robe, the infant lotus pattern blooming across his chest spreading up to his neck.

The system prompt for [Spiritual Plant Mimicry · Tier 2] made his pupils gleam with golden light. The instant he stomped his foot onto the ground, a click of mechanical locks releasing echoed from beneath the bluestone slabs.

Lieyang's nine-section whip suddenly pierced through the light screen, the venomous barb at the tip aiming straight for Mingyue's heart.

Gao Yao's flowing sleeves swept around the whip shaft, the canary-yellow silk shredding into dancing butterflies amidst the surging spiritual energy.

Taking advantage of the opening, Shen Yi flicked his finger. A thorn seed hidden between his knuckles embedded itself into the whip shaft, and the instantly blooming poisonous flowers sprayed a cloud of purple mist straight into Lieyang's face.

"It's done!" Mingyue slammed down the final mechanism. The golden mist throughout the corridor abruptly contracted into a sphere of light.

The gears in the walls roared with a sound unheard for a millennium, and eight secret doors swung open simultaneously, the refreshing fragrance of spiritual herbs wafting from one of the passageways.

Qingyu suddenly flicked out five venomous caltrops, but they were knocked down in mid-air by Qingfeng with his folding fan.

The young cultivator, usually so smiling and cheerful, now wore a face as cold as frost: "Tricks of shooting poisoned arrows from the shadows should have been retired long ago."

Just as Shen Yi was about to speak, he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet turn soft.

The system alarms flashed frantically, and he violently yanked the collars of Gao Yao and Mingyue, retreating abruptly: "There's something underground!"

The entire stone wall shattered with a deafening crash. Amidst flying ice crystals and stone debris, a giant beast as white as snow burst out from beneath the earth.

It had the antlers of a deer and the body of a lion, with claws like cold jade. The golden mist wreathed around its body instantly turned into ice shards the moment it touched Shen Yi—it was none other than the guardian spirit beast, Linxi!

"Just in time!" Lieyang grinned hideously, crushing a jade talisman. A fiery cloud barrier enveloped the spirit beast and Shen Yi's team simultaneously. "Today, I'll kill two birds with one stone!"

The roar sent forth with Linxi's head held high shook the icicles loose from the cave ceiling. Its amber beastly pupils locked onto the infant lotus pattern on Shen Yi's chest.

Shen Yi wiped the ice debris from his face, looking at the approaching Lieyang team and the poised spirit beast, and suddenly burst into laughter: "Now this is exciting!"

Gao Yao's sword blade scraped sparks across the ground. As she and Shen Yi stood back-to-back, melting ice water was still dripping from the hem of her canary-yellow skirt.

Mingyue shoved a crimson medicinal pill into her mouth, the needle of the compass in her hand spinning wildly.

Qingfeng flicked open his twelve-ribbed jade folding fan, faint wisps of lightning coursing across its surface.

Lieyang's nine-section whip ignited with a gloomy green flame, and Qingyu's venomous vines wound across the icy surface into a formation.

And high above them all, the third eye of the Linxi was slowly, gradually opening...