Fierce Battle at the Ruins for Rare Treasures, the Free Spirit Returns in Glory Laden with Honors

The temperature in the ice cave skyrocketed the moment the third eye on the glabella of the Ice-Soul Spirit Rhinoceros split open. The hairs on the back of Shen Yi’s neck stood on end, stimulated by two completely conflicting surges of spiritual energy.

He side-stepped to dodge the ice-crystal tail whip lashed out by the beast, and with a reverse thrust of his hand, he shoved Gao Yao toward the direction where Mingyue was standing. "Protect the array core!"

"Still finding the time to play the hero and protect the beauty?" Lie Yang’s nine-section whip grazed past Shen Yi’s ear, leaving a scorched, blackened mark on the glacial wall.

Qingyu’s venomous vines seized the opportunity to wrap around Qingfeng’s ankles, while the lightning radiance flickering across the young man’s folding fan shattered the icy ground into spiderweb-like cracks.

The lion-like paws of the Spirit Rhinoceros crushed the scattered icicles across the floor, and the infant-lotus pattern glowing on its chest and abdomen grew blindingly bright.

Shen Yi wiped away the trace of blood from the corner of his mouth as the notification box of the God-Tier Farming System flashed frantically across his retina:
[Warning! The Ice-Soul Spirit Rhinoceros has entered a berserk state.]

"Shen Yi!" Gao Yao’s startled cry pierced the air, mingling with the ringing of swords. As she slashed apart three sneak-attacking poisonous vines, her butter-yellow skirt was sliced open by a sharp ridge of ice.

The crimson compass in Mingyue’s hand suddenly cracked with two fractures, and the female mechanist bit down on the tip of her tongue, spitting out a mouthful of vital essence. "The *Xun* sector, three inches away!"

Boom—!

Leveraging the thunderstorm whipped up by Qingfeng’s folding fan, Shen Yi vaulted into the air, crushing a handful of freshly harvested Scorching Sun Peppers from his spatial ring into a cloud of powder.

The instant the pungent aroma permeated the air, the golden beam from the Spirit Rhinoceros’s third eye was bizarrely deflected by half an inch, burning a gaping hole straight through the fiery-cloud barrier erected by Lie Yang.

"It's actually afraid of spice?" Shen Yi stumbled half a step upon landing, a piercing agony erupting from his left scapula where an icicle had pierced completely through.

There were still three stalks of Intoxicated Immortal Grass left in his system warehouse—precious spirit plants he had spent half his spiritual energy maturing just last night as a trump card for survival.

"Watch out!" Qingfeng used his folding fan to deflect a poisonous dart thrown by Qingyu for him, and the jade-boned fan instantly began to exude a shroud of black miasma.

Mingyue flung a bronze chain to wrap around her brother’s wrist, and amidst the clicking sound of mechanical gears, a half-inch poisoned blade popped out. "Hold on for thirty breaths!"

The roar of the Spirit Rhinoceros shook the entire ruin until dust and debris rained down in sheets. The vertical pupil on its forehead finally opened completely, and wherever the golden light swept, the ice layer instantly transformed into boiling spiritual springs.

Two Qi-Condensing stage cultivators among Lie Yang’s team failed to dodge in time, and within the blink of an eye, they were vaporized into twin mists of blood.

"Now!" Gao Yao suddenly hurled the jade pendant from her waist, suspending her Ice-Soul Sword above Shen Yi’s head to form a protective frost barrier.

A droplet of blood overflowing from the young girl’s lips dripped onto the red tassel of the sword hilt, making her brows and eyes look all the more fierce and resolute. "My sword intent can still last for half a tea break!"

Shen Yi bit down on his back teeth, tasting the metallic flavor of iron. The system suddenly sent a notification: [Weakness of the Ice-Soul Spirit Rhinoceros detected—the infant-lotus pattern and the vertical pupil possess conflicting spiritual forces.]

He looked over at Qingfeng and Mingyue, who were locked in fierce combat with the poisonous vines; both of their collars were already stained with dark blood.

"Brother Shen, don't worry about us!" Qingfeng suddenly let go of his folding fan, its twelve jade bones snapping into a web of lightning to encase Qingyu.

Seizing the opportunity, Mingyue slammed her compass into the ice floor, and mechanical chains shot out like a nest of serpents to bind Lie Yang’s ankles. "To shatter the vertical pupil, you must use fire!"

Lie Yang’s nine-section whip burned with toxic flames as it shattered the chains, but Qingyu’s poisonous vines wrapped around Mingyue’s neck at that very moment.

Shen Yi’s pupils contracted sharply. He squeezed the juice out of the Intoxicated Immortal Grasses inside his spatial ring, mixing it with the Scorching Sun Pepper powder before scattering it into midair.

"Gao Yao!" he roared, slamming himself directly into the pouncing claws of the beast. Amidst the crisp snapping sound of the frost barrier shattering, the young girl’s sword tip, wrapped in fierce sword intent, thrust straight into the monster's right eye.

The instant the amber beast-eye burst, Shen Yi caught a glimpse of an eerie blue light flashing across the infant-lotus pattern.

Driven into a frenzied, death-throes struggle, the Spirit Rhinoceros swept its lion tail and collapsed half a glacial wall.

Lie Yang seized the moment to break free from the mechanical chains, his nine-section whip striking directly at Shen Yi’s throat. "Hand over the spatial ring!"

Shen Yi leaned back to dodge the toxic flames, his right fingertips brushing against the dissolving body of the Spirit Rhinoceros.

The system abruptly flashed a prompt: [Ice-Soul Spirit Rhinoceros juvenile detected available for collection. Consume all spiritual energy?]

Just as Shen Yi’s fingertips brushed against the dissolving carcass of the beast, the remains suddenly burst into tens of thousands of ice crystals.

He instinctively drew his hand back and leaned away, only to see those ice crystals condensing in midair into the shape of a palm-sized beast—its entire body snow-white, with the vertical pupil on its forehead still retaining an un-faded golden glow.

"A juvenile?" Shen Yi was so stunned by the system prompt that his breath hitched for a beat, his peripheral vision catching Lie Yang’s nine-section whip as it coiled toward the infant-lotus core left behind by the dissipating beast.

Gao Yao’s Ice-Soul Sword barely managed to block the toxic flames, the blood droplets on the sword tassel vaporizing into scarlet mist in the intense heat.

"Collect!" Gritting his teeth, Shen Yi channeled every ounce of his spiritual energy, and a tearing agony instantly wracked his dantian.

The system warehouse erupted with a deep azure radiance, forcibly sucking the struggling juvenile Ice-Soul Spirit Rhinoceros inside.

Almost simultaneously, the tip of Lie Yang’s whip grazed past his neck, leaving a scorched, bloody streak across his collarbone.

The spirit-spring-surging ruins suddenly trembled violently, and the icicles on the vault plummeted down like a torrential rainstorm.

Mingyue grabbed Qingfeng by the waist and rolled into the defensive barrier erected by the mechanical compass, her bronze chains entangling three venomous vines. "Brother Shen! The teleportation array in the northwest corner!"

Gao Yao’s sword tip clashed with Lie Yang’s nine-section whip, sending a shower of sparks flying. The young girl suddenly spun around, pressing close against Shen Yi’s back.

A gentle wave of spiritual energy channeled from her palm into his meridians, and Shen Yi caught the faint scent of plum blossoms mixed with the spicy aroma of Scorching Sun Peppers clinging to her hair.

"Are you insane? You're still channeling spiritual energy at a time like this!" Shen Yi reached behind to grab her wrist, only to be choked into silence by the glare the young girl shot back at him.

Gao Yao’s ice-blue hair ribbon had snapped at some point, and her dark hair brushed against his bleeding shoulder blade. "Shut up and look up!"

The collapsed dome of the ice cave revealed an outer layer of bronze machinery, and amidst the clicking sound of gears, eighteen stone statues holding halberds popped out.

The moment Qingyu’s poisonous vines brushed against the surface of the statues, the mottled bronze armors suddenly lit up with blood-red patterns.

Lie Yang’s expression changed drastically, and he flung out a Fire-Cloud Talisman to force back the two closest stone statues. "Damn it, the ruin's self-destruction mechanism!"

Taking advantage of the chaos, Shen Yi grabbed Gao Yao and lunged toward the northwest corner, where Qingfeng and Mingyue had already activated the array markings at the edge of the teleportation array.

The young mechanist was frantically slotting the crimson compass into the groove of the array core, seven bronze divination tallies fluttering between her fingers like butterflies. "Three more breaths!"

"Stop them!" Lie Yang’s roar, laden with toxic flames, rushed toward them, but upon touching the light barrier of the teleportation array, it bizarrely deflected sideways, reducing the poisonous vines Qingyu had just summoned to ashes.

Suddenly remembering something, Shen Yi shook a handful of emerald-green seeds from his spatial ring—they were precisely the Spirit-Devouring Vines he had soaked in the juice of the Intoxicated Immortal Grass the night before.

The moment the seeds hit the ground and grew crazily, amber-colored mucous began to ooze from the floor of the entire ruin.

Mingyue shrieked as she jumped away, her skirt barely missing the sticky substance. "It's Soul-Dissolving Glue! Touching it will corrode your spiritual energy!"

"Please accept this little gift, Brother Lie Yang." Shen Yi grinned, revealing blood-stained canine teeth, as he hurled the Spirit-Devouring Vines wrapped around three Scorching Sun Peppers straight toward the center of Lie Yang’s team.

The instant the spicy smoke made contact with the Soul-Dissolving Glue, it condensed into a gelatinous, crimson miasma, trapping all the pursuers within the poisonous fog.

Amidst the blinding white light of the activating teleportation array, the last thing Shen Yi saw was Lie Yang’s distorted visage.

The nine-section whip burned with ghostly flames as it cleaved through the miasma, but it was only fast enough to sever a single strand of Gao Yao’s fluttering hair.

When the dizzying teleportation finally ceased, the four of them tumbled down, landing in a cavern blooming with fluorescent mushrooms.

Qingfeng collapsed beside a stalactite, panting heavily, the lightning patterns on his folding fan dimmed to a dull glimmer. "Brother Shen, that juvenile beast..."

"We'll talk about it later." Shen Yi pressed his hand against the slightly warm spot over his spatial ring; the system light barrier was flickering at the edge of his vision: [Juvenile Ice-Soul Spirit Rhinoceros (weakened state), requires Cold Jade Pith for nourishment].

Gao Yao’s fingertips were still pressed against his wrist, but the spiritual energy she had been channeling suddenly halted.

Shen Yi turned his head and met the young girl’s pale complexion. Her left shoulder bore a newly scorched wound, and where her butter-yellow skirt had been torn open, her calf showed burns caused by the Soul-Dissolving Glue.

During the chaos of the teleportation just moments ago, this stubborn girl had actually used her own body to shield him from the aftermath of the toxic fire.

"Are you an idiot?" Shen Yi tore off a strip of his outer robe to bandage her, only to realize his black garments were long since caked with blood and ice shards beyond recognition.

Gao Yao, however, gripped his trembling hand, the corners of her blood-stained lips curving upward. "The expression you made when you caught that juvenile beast... was exactly the same as when you sneaked into my medicine garden to steal vermilion fruits."

Qingfeng let out a sudden snort of laughter, only to grimace in pain a second later.

Mingyue’s hands shook as she bandaged her brother, causing her jade-boned fan to clatter down into the spirit spring beside her feet. "Now that you mention it, Brother Shen really does raise his eyebrows right before he up to no good..."

The cavern suddenly shook violently, cutting off the youthful banter of the companions.

The infant-lotus core in Shen Yi’s embrace suddenly floated up into the air, pointing toward a certain direction deep within the cavern.

The system light barrier timely popped up: [Spiritual energy fluctuation detected in the core area of the ruin; probability of Foundation Establishment fortuitous encounter: 87%.]

"Can you still walk?" Shen Yi shoved the crystal core into Gao Yao’s palm, turned around, and half-squatted down in front of her.

The young girl’s blood-stained fingertips poked at the wound on his back, and as he drew in a sharp breath of pain, she chuckled softly. "Is Master Shen planning to carry me on his back?"

"Or should I just drop you here to feed the monsters?" Shen Yi raised his eyebrows in a feigned display of fierceness, though the tips of his ears felt somewhat hot.

The moment Gao Yao slumped onto his back, a crisp herbal fragrance mixed with the scent of blood lingered near his ear, reminding him of that moonlit night when she had caught him red-handed stealing vermilion fruits.

Mingyue walked at the very front, holding the newly relit crimson compass, its bronze divination tallies guiding the way through the mist of the spirit spring.

Qingfeng limped along, leaning on his folding fan, before suddenly pointing toward a spot on the cave wall and crying out in surprise, "Look at that!"

Amidst the cluster of fluorescent mushrooms, a broken half of a stone tablet gleamed with a faint luster.

Shen Yi squinted to decipher the archaic seal script, and the system automatically translated it onto the light barrier: [...The Three Tribulations of Foundation Establishment, guided by the Spirit Rhinoceros...]

From deep within the cavern came the faint, infant-like cries of a beast, creating a wondrous resonance with the juvenile beast inside his spatial ring.

Gao Yao suddenly tightened her arms around his neck, her breath brushing against his ear. "Put me down. There's something ahead."

Before Shen Yi could retort, he saw the compass needle in Mingyue’s hand start spinning wildly.

An ancient and dangerous aura billowed forth along with the mist of the spirit spring, causing the dormant system in his dantian to emit a shrill alarm—this time, even the light barrier was stained with a warning crimson.