I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

"No...it's impossible..." He stared intently at Qin Yuan, who was still standing tall despite only having blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with disbelief and despair. His desperate attack, at such a great cost, had only caused the opponent minor injuries?

Qin Yuan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, looked at Young Master Youquan, and said coldly, "You've used up your tricks? Then it's my turn."

He gave Young Master Youquan no further chance. In a flash, he appeared before the swaying Young Master Youquan, his right hand forming a sword-like shape, emitting pale golden spiritual light as he thrust it straight at Young Master Youquan's dantian! This single strike would completely destroy the foundation of his cultivation!

"Young Master, be careful!" In the distance, the ghostly figure who was fighting with Mu Qinghe saw this and his eyes were bloodshot. He disregarded his own safety and risked taking a blow from Mu Qinghe. He turned into a wisp of black smoke and instantly blocked Young Master Youquan's way!

"Pfft!"

Qin Yuan's finger strike pierced the ghost's chest without resistance, drawing out a spray of black blood. The ghost's eyes quickly dimmed, its life force extinguished, and its body slumped down.

Taking this brief respite, Young Master Youquan suddenly crushed a black jade talisman that he had been hiding in his sleeve!

"Buzz!"

A spatial fluctuation enveloped it!

"Qin Yuan! This is an irreconcilable feud! My Netherworld Palace will never let you go!" The venomous roar of Young Master Youquan echoed through the spatial fluctuations. The next moment, his figure, along with a piece of ice beneath his feet, abruptly vanished! It was actually an extremely precious random teleportation life-saving talisman!

Qin Yuan frowned, scanning the area with his divine sense, but could no longer detect any trace of Young Master Youquan's presence. This teleportation talisman was clearly of extremely high grade, with exceptionally long teleportation distance and excellent concealment.

The remaining ghost demon, seeing its leader flee with serious injuries and its companion die tragically, dared not linger. Despite being injured by Yun Qingyao's cloud-mist sword energy, it also turned into a wisp of black smoke and fled desperately towards another fork in the ice cave, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Qin Yuan didn't give chase. He walked to the ghost's corpse, put away its storage ring, and glanced again at the spot where Young Master Youquan had disappeared. The ghost may run, but the temple will remain; the Netherworld Palace will be dealt with sooner or later.

He turned to look at the Muling Twins and Yun Qingyao. Mu Qinghe had a claw mark on his chest, and Mu Qingyu and Yun Qingyao had also suffered minor injuries and were breathing unsteadily, but were otherwise unharmed.

"Senior Brother Qin, are you alright?" Mu Qingyu asked with concern, her eyes filled with gratitude and lingering fear as she looked at Qin Yuan. In that exchange, if Qin Yuan hadn't blocked most of the power, they would probably have been killed by the aftershocks.

"It's alright." Qin Yuan shook his head, took out a bottle of healing pills and distributed them to the three of them. "Quickly regulate your breathing. This place is not safe to stay for long. Take the Snow Jade Lingzhi and leave immediately."

The three of them took the pills and quickly regulated their breathing. Qin Yuan then walked to the ice crevice, carefully picked the few thousand-year-old snow jade spirit mushrooms, put them into a specially made cold jade box, and handed them to Mu Qinghe.

Mu Qinghe accepted the jade box, deeply moved, and solemnly bowed to Qin Yuanshen: "Senior Brother Qin, I will never forget your great kindness! In the future, if you ever need my help, the Muling Twins of the Qingmu Sect will never refuse!"

"Senior Brother Mu, you flatter me. It's just a matter of mutual benefit." Qin Yuan waved his hand. "Your goal is the Ice Soul Life Spring. Do you wish to continue deeper?"

Mu Qinghe and his sister exchanged a glance, then he shook his head and said, "The commotion just now was too great, and it may have alerted others in the palace, and even attracted more Netherworld Cult members. We have already obtained the Snow Jade Lingzhi, and although the Ice Soul Vitality Spring is good, the risks are too great. We have decided to leave the Ice Palace first and return to the sect's headquarters to send this item back as soon as possible, lest things get complicated."

He paused, then said, "Senior Brother Qin, Senior Sister Yun, why don't we leave together? Young Master Youquan escaped with serious injuries, and the Netherworld Palace will definitely not let this go. There may be more experts lying in ambush outside the palace."

Yun Qingyao looked at Qin Yuan, clearly indicating that she was in charge.

Qin Yuan pondered for a moment. There might be other opportunities deep within the Ice Palace, but the matter of Young Master Youquan could indeed bring trouble. Moreover, he had already obtained one of his main goals for this trip—the Star Core Origin—and had found the Snow Jade Spirit Mushroom for Qing'er; staying in the Ice Palace any longer would be pointless. The "War God's Temple" in the core area was about to appear; that was the real stage.

"Alright," Qin Yuan nodded. "Let's go out together."

The four of them didn't linger any longer and quickly returned along the way. Along the way, they encountered some cultivators who had come to investigate after hearing the commotion. Upon seeing Qin Yuan and the others, and especially sensing the still-powerful aura emanating from Qin Yuan, they all gave way and dared not stop them.

Soon, the four of them passed through the Xuanbing Hall, rushed out of the Ice Crystal Corridor, and left the Ice Palace.

Outside the palace, in the icy valley, the cold wind still blew. Most of the disciples from the Taiyi Immortal Sect, the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion, the Xuantian Sect, and other forces had already left, with only a few scattered individuals still lingering on the outskirts. Liu Suifeng and his group were also gone, presumably having headed to the core area.

Qin Yuan bid farewell to Yun Qingyao and the Wood Spirit Twins. After thanking them repeatedly, the Wood Spirit Twins hurriedly left to return to the Qingmu Sect's headquarters. Qin Yuan and Yun Qingyao took a short break to recuperate before setting off towards the core area of ​​the Lesser Universe Realm—the direction of the War God Temple projection.

Shortly after they left, at the entrance to the Ice Palace, space slightly distorted, and two figures with chilling auras, dressed in black robes, quietly emerged. One of them was none other than Ghost Fiend, who had escaped earlier. The other was a figure whose face was hidden in the shadow of a hood, and whose aura was even more profound and unfathomable than that of Young Master Youquan.

"My lord, Young Master Youquan is seriously injured, Ghost Shadow is dead, Snow Jade Lingzhi was taken away by the people of the Green Wood Sect, and Qin Yuan and that woman went to the core area." Ghost Fiend knelt on the ground and reported with a trembling voice.

The hooded figure remained silent for a moment, then spoke in a hoarse voice like sandpaper: "Useless. Can't even handle a junior at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage." He looked up in the direction Qin Yuan had left, and two crimson lights flashed by in the shadows beneath the hood.

"The Temple of War... Perfect, my grand plan needs to be implemented there. Qin Yuan... an interesting prey. Pass the word down, proceed according to plan."

"yes!"

The two figures vanished silently, as if they had never existed.

……

Qin Yuan and Yun Qingyao traveled at high speed, and after several days, they finally arrived at the core area of ​​the Lesser Universe Realm.

The landscape here is strikingly different from other areas. The earth has a dark, iron-gray hue, as if it had been scorched by flames and then cooled.

In the sky, the light of the three different suns dimmed here, replaced by a faint, chilling aura, as if from an ancient battlefield.

The air was filled with a rich, mixed spiritual energy, interspersed with strong metallic, fiery, and malevolent energies, which made people uneasy.

What is most striking is the distant horizon, where an incomparably majestic, seemingly cast-out giant palace phantom, gradually solidifying from faint to dense!

The palace was incredibly tall, piercing the clouds. Its surface was covered with marks from sword and axe strikes and divine attacks, exuding a desolate, ancient, and incomparably domineering aura! It was the legendary projection of the "Temple of the God of War"!