Mortal: My name is Ma Liang, and I also possess a magic brush.

Ma Liang showed no intention of making a move, so he stopped and continued flying forward for about a day.

He used the mirror to investigate again, and this time he discovered that there were countless small islands scattered in the sea directly below, with merchant ships shuttling back and forth between the islands, and many cultivators flying away in the air on their magical artifacts.

Ma Liang immediately concluded that he had finally arrived at the Inner Star Sea.

Ma Liang's purpose for this trip is exactly the same as Han Li's back then.

The outer star sea requires at least a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator to establish a foothold. With his current early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, venturing there would be tantamount to courting death. Therefore, he deliberately settled in the inner star sea first.

He sought to obtain elixirs to improve his cultivation and also planned to take the opportunity to record information about high-level demonic beasts.

He has not been wasting his time over the past five years; he has already planned his next course of action.

He reviewed the key reason why the ritual of offering prayers made him doubt himself.

First, the use of the magic brush was too conspicuous; second, the way of drawing all the monsters on the scroll and carrying it around was too unusual.

Therefore, he set a new rule: from now on, all monsters summoned by his paintings must be put into the spirit beast bag.

The large scroll was only used to seal the talismans, so that in the eyes of outsiders it was just an ordinary talisman scroll and would no longer arouse unwarranted suspicion.

In addition, he realized that he had completely wasted the true potential of the magic pen.

In the past, I was only thinking about using the magic pen to record the diagrams of the great formations and to study how to break them, but I never thought about turning them into practical combat methods.

Now he has finally figured out a completely new fighting style: with his current level of skill, although he cannot draw a top-level formation, he can easily sketch out corresponding trapping formations and killing formations.

There's no need to set up a formation beforehand; simply draw quickly on the scroll with your magic brush, and then throw it at your opponent to catch them off guard.

Realizing he had never noticed such a simple yet deadly move, Ma Liang was so frustrated he wanted to slap himself. He felt his previous research had been a waste of time and energy.

As Ma Liang was pondering, Jingzhe came crawling back, its little mouth agape, looking greedy, clearly hungry and wanting some medicine.

He laughed and called him a "little glutton," then immediately pulled out a handful of Spirit-Feeding Pills from his storage bag.

Ma Liang watched as Jingzhe swallowed the Spirit-Feeding Pill in a few gulps.

"We're leaving this tower, and we probably won't be back anytime soon. I need to make some more preparations."

Although Jingzhe was a level one demon beast, it understood his words, stuck out its tongue, looked at Ma Liang, and then rubbed its head against his cheek.

Ma Liang put all the objects he had drawn by hand over the past five years into his storage bag, and then carried the huge scroll on his back.

At this moment, he held a jade token in his hand, on which was engraved the outline of a tower, which was the binding object of the restriction that controlled the tower.

The pagoda had no name in the original story, so he named it "Tianyuan Pagoda" based on the various stories he had heard in his previous life.

Ma Liang infused a wisp of life force into the jade tablet. The next moment, he and Jingzhe vanished from the elegant room on the seventh floor and reappeared in the hall on the sixth floor.

The hall was still in a mess, and Ma Liang looked toward the place where Xiang Zhili was sealed.

"Senior, I must depart today. I wonder when we will speak again."

"I hope you will bless me with all things going well in the Chaotic Star Sea, otherwise you may be stuck here for a long time."

"I will say it again, I will never take your life, and besides, I don't have the ability to do so now. I will keep my promise from our first meeting and return the 20,000 spirit stones in full when we arrive in the Spirit Realm."

"I always remember kindness. Those 20,000 spirit stones saved my life in my time of crisis. I will remember this kindness."

"If you regain your freedom in the future, I hope you will not make things difficult for me."

He said no more and poured a wisp of life force into the token once more.

In an instant, he and Jingzhe disappeared from the sixth-floor hall, and when they reappeared, they had arrived at the fifth floor, the Fire Domain.

Before leaving, he planned to take one ancient treasure from each floor as a backup. It wasn't that he couldn't take more, but he was worried that taking too many would cause the seal on the Gift of the Direction to loosen.

With that in mind, he began to select from the ancient treasures sealed by the five layers of spiritual shields. He then proceeded to the fourth, third, second, and first layers in turn, taking one ancient treasure of the corresponding attribute from each layer.

For the fifth level of fire attribute, the main offensive weapon is "Crimson Flame Sky Banner".

The four-layered water attribute chose the "Mysterious Water Spirit Shield," which condenses a water curtain.

The three layers of wood attribute were used to create the "Withered Vine Imprisoning Heaven Rope," a spell that can trap and bind enemies.

For the second layer of earth attribute, the "Suppressing Mountains and Shaking the Earth Seal," which weighs a staggering ten thousand jin, was chosen.

The metallic element was chosen as the incomparably sharp "Gengjin Poling Sword".

Ma Liang used his spiritual power to support the six ancient treasures in front of him, along with the Cold Wave Scale Shield he had initially chosen—that water-attribute defensive spiritual shield.

His gaze swept over these ancient treasures, and he immediately felt confident.

"What do you mean, the number one Core Formation cultivator in the Chaotic Star Sea? Once I successfully form my Core, Wen Tianren will be nothing more than a little brother in my eyes!"

He put all the ancient treasures into his storage bag, carefully checked them to make sure nothing was missing, then gripped the jade token and left the Tianyuan Pagoda.

Standing outside the tower, he gazed at the pagoda that he now owned, his eyes sweeping over the broken gate, and he couldn't help but sigh.

"When I have the strength, I will definitely restore you to your full potential."

Having made up his mind, he steeled himself and poured nearly ten years of his lifespan into the jade pendant.

The next instant, the Tianyuan Pagoda became transparent at a speed visible to the naked eye, and finally disappeared completely from sight.

He activated the pagoda's invisibility restriction, and with this restriction protecting him, even if others used their divine sense to investigate, they would not be able to detect him.

Having done all this, he put away the token and shouted loudly towards the vast Chaotic Star Sea below: "Chaotic Star Sea, here I come!"

As the shout faded, he dispelled his aerial magic, his body transforming into a free-falling figure, his arms outstretched like a skydiver, plunging downwards.

Just as I passed through the clouds, I saw a dim yellow curtain of light stretching towards the horizon below. My heart skipped a beat. Oh no!

The inner star sea was completely covered by the protective shield of the defensive array. If it were to crash into it head-on, wouldn't it be smashed to pieces?

Startled and covered in a cold sweat, he hurriedly used his flying technique, but the speed of the descent was too fast. He poured all his spiritual energy into it and managed to stabilize himself just before crashing into the protective barrier, managing to stop his fall.

"Phew, it's finally stable..."

"I was being too reckless just now!"

Jingzhe emerged from his lining, shook its head, clearly startled by the sudden descent.

The little guy glanced up at Ma Liang with an expression that clearly seemed to be complaining, then twisted his body and crawled back into the lining.

After regaining his balance, Ma Liang descended through the air and finally landed on the sea.

Looking into the distance, he spotted a large ship heading towards the protective shield, seemingly preparing to enter the inner star sea's restriction. He immediately flew low towards the ship.

Upon approaching the ship, he scanned it with his divine sense and discovered that it was filled with cultivators, mostly at the Qi Refining stage, while the person in charge was a powerful expert at the late Foundation Establishment stage.

He dared not be negligent in the slightest, landing at the bow of the ship, and respectfully bowing with his hands clasped, saying, "Senior, I apologize for disturbing you! May I have the honor of traveling with you on this ship into the Inner Star Sea? I am willing to pay the appropriate amount of spirit stones as a reward, and I hope you will grant my request!"