From Five Animal Exercises to being hailed as a saint and ancestor

The decision has been made, but its implementation is fraught with difficulties.

Their location was no more than a hundred feet away from that inconspicuous crack in the ground as the crow flies.

Normally, it would arrive in an instant.

But at this moment, this hundred-zhang distance is like an insurmountable chasm.

The rift was located at the edge of the central area of ​​the battlefield, where many powerful Star Beasts were still roaming and fighting. The turbulent energy flow was like an invisible blade, recklessly cutting through space.

"Stay close to me, don't make a single mistake!"

Li Han's voice was extremely solemn. He fully activated the Shadow Concealment Technique, which had become even more exquisite after the Divine Bridge Meridian was opened. A layer of dark light, as thin as a cicada's wing, yet seemingly able to distort light and perception, tightly enveloped the three of them.

In such a chaotic energy environment, this light curtain is like a small boat in a storm, which may capsize at any moment.

The three of them, like three ants cautiously crawling at the feet of a giant beast, began this thrilling stealth journey.

Yao Mengkang focused his divine sense to the extreme, maintaining it only within a few feet around him, like the most precise probe, sensing every subtle change in the flow of energy in front of him.

He had to anticipate the trajectories of those chaotic shockwaves and the energy ripples caused by the movement of the Star Beast.

"Three steps to the left, stop!" Yao Mengkang transmitted his thoughts telepathically.

The three of them turned to the side at the same time, and an invisible energy wave generated by the clash between the two eighth-level Star Beasts almost grazed the concealment light screen, silently annihilating a boulder not far away into nothingness.

Cold sweat trickled down the foreheads of the three of them.

"Bend down and take ten slow steps. There are remnants of a spatial rift on your right!" Yao Mengkang instructed again.

They practically crawled forward, their bodies pressed against the scorching ground, and could clearly feel the terrifying vibrations emanating from the battle between the overlord-level beings in the distance.

A Star Beast at the seventh level of the Spirit Sea Realm staggered past them not far in front of them, dragging its broken body. A foul stench hit them. When its huge paws landed, it was less than a foot away from Li Han, who was at the front!

Li Han gritted his teeth and kept the light screen stable, almost stopping his breathing.

Zhou Tiancan gripped the copper hammer tightly, his muscles tense to the limit. He felt as if he were being roasted on a red-hot iron plate, every second an ordeal.

He stared intently at Yao Mengkang's back, entrusting him with all his trust.

The three of them spent nearly half an hour covering a distance of only a hundred feet!

Every step was like dancing on a knife's edge, and every pause meant a life-or-death decision.

When Li Han finally stepped into the deep crevice that could only accommodate one person at a time, all three of them felt completely exhausted.

"Come in quickly!" Li Han shouted, and Yao Mengkang and Zhou Tiancan quickly slipped in.

The entrance to the crack is narrow and winding, extending downwards.

Upon entering, the sounds of battle and energy fluctuations from the outside world seemed to be largely shut out, and an eerie silence descended, with only the heavy breathing of the three echoing within the passage.

Only after confirming that it was temporarily safe did the three of them have the opportunity to examine the underground passage.

The passageway was not formed naturally; the sides and the dome were made of a kind of smooth, jade-like, yet exceptionally hard, dark silver stone, with ancient murals carved on its surface that had long since become indistinct.

With the faint glow emitted by the stone itself, one can barely make out the content of the mural—the trajectory of countless stars.

Nebulae swirl, meteors streak across the night sky, and massive meteorites crash into the earth… The murals are ancient and desolate, carrying a sense of loneliness in the vast universe, as if telling the ancient history of the formation of this secret realm.

"These murals... are extraordinary." Yao Mengkang reached out and touched the cool wall surface, and could feel the faint traces of starlight and Daoist energy remaining within them.

The "stone beads" in the Chaos Chakra instinctively accelerated their rotation, seemingly searching for the incomplete information recorded in these murals.

Although it is difficult to understand for the time being due to too many missing parts, there seems to be a slight resonance with his "Primordial Qi Technique" and Chaos Chakra.

The passage descends downwards, winding and twisting, seemingly without end.

The air was filled with an old, musty smell, but the stellar energy was still rich, even purer than that of the outside world, only less violent and more serene.

The three dared not be careless. Li Han scouted ahead, Yao Mengkang provided support in the middle, and Zhou Tiancan brought up the rear, proceeding cautiously.

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the path ahead suddenly opened up, and at the end of the passage appeared a tightly closed stone door.

The stone gate was simple and unadorned, but it was covered with complex and mysterious runes. These runes were now dim and lifeless, as if they had lost all their energy.

Around the stone gate, a nearly transparent light shield, shimmering with faint starlight, appeared and disappeared, enveloping the entire stone gate and the space behind it.

"A barrier? An array?" Li Han stopped and observed carefully. "The energy fluctuations are extremely weak, almost dissipating, but... the essence of this array is extremely high!"

Yao Mengkang stepped forward, stretched out his finger, and gently touched the light shield.

"Buzz..."

The light barrier trembled slightly, rippling outwards. A faint yet unyielding repulsive force sent his fingers away. At the same time, the "stone bead" within the Chaos Chakra provided feedback.

[Advanced composite protective array (Star Guardian Array), energy reserve less than 1%, multiple structural flaws, core runes intact, defensive essence unaffected.]

"The formation is still operating, but its energy is almost depleted, and there are many loopholes," Yao Mengkang said in a deep voice.

"However, even at the weakest point, we probably won't be able to force our way through." He tried to gather his energy and punched an area on the light shield that was noticeably dimmer than the rest.

With a muffled thud, the light shield shook violently, ripples spread, but it remained sturdy and did not break. Instead, the recoil caused Yao Mengkang's arm to go numb slightly.

Zhou Tiancan, refusing to believe in the superstition, swung his copper hammer to smash it, but Yao Mengkang hurriedly stopped him: "Don't try to force it! This formation has a strong rebound force, and it would be troublesome if it caused some unpredictable changes."

"What should we do then? Did we come all this way for nothing?" Li Han asked, somewhat unwilling.

Yao Mengkang did not answer, but closed his eyes. The "stone bead" spun rapidly, and Yao Mengkang used his divine sense to carefully scan the entire barrier light shield like mercury spilling onto the ground.

A moment later, he suddenly opened his eyes and pointed sharply at an extremely inconspicuous corner at the top of the light shield.

There, several rune lines seemed to have become slightly misaligned due to their age, causing an extremely brief and almost imperceptible stagnation and dissipation when energy flowed to this place.

"There! Follow me!" Yao Mengkang shouted, leaping into the air and using the Five Animal Ape Form to cling to the ceiling of the passage like a gecko. Zhou Tiancan and Li Han, though confused, followed without hesitation.

Yao Mengkang extended his finger, his fingertip gathering a highly compressed yet extremely gentle elemental force, which he precisely pierced the "loophole" node like a scalpel.

Instead of trying to destroy it, he guided it, using that momentary stagnation to embed his own Yuan Power into it like a wedge!

"laugh……"

With a barely audible sound, the light barrier rippled like water, revealing a very unstable gap that could barely allow one person to pass through!

"Quickly! Pass through one by one! This gap can't last long!" Yao Mengkang urged.

Li Han was the first; his figure moved like smoke, instantly disappearing into the air.

Zhou Tiancan followed closely behind, his massive body squeezing through, causing the gap to ripple violently.

Finally, just as the gap was about to close, Yao Mengkang slipped inside!

The moment he entered, the light barrier behind him returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.

The three landed and, before they could even take in their surroundings, were stunned by the sight before them!

This was a quiet room that wasn't particularly spacious, about ten zhang in circumference. However, the furnishings inside left the three, who were used to the grandeur of the Qinglu Academy, completely mesmerized!

The walls, floor, and ceiling of the quiet room are all made of a warm, jade-like material called "Starry Jade," which contains starlight, so that the entire space is bathed in a soft and bright starlight, and is spotless.

In the center of the quiet room is a futon carved from a single piece of "Ten Thousand Year Cold Star Jade," exuding a cool and calming aura.

Embedded in the surrounding walls are several fist-sized "star cores" that slowly rotate like real stars, absorbing and exhaling pure stellar power!

The stellar energy permeating the air was pure, gentle, and abundant, far surpassing the outside world, and even exceeding that of the core area where the Star Skeleton Qilin was located!

Practicing here will yield far more than twice the results with half the effort!

In one corner of the quiet room, there was a jade table with several ancient scrolls made of an unknown material that were neither gold nor jade, as well as a few simple and elegant jade vases.

"This...this is the secluded cultivation place of an ancient powerful being?!" Li Han's voice trembled, filled with unbelievable joy.

Zhou Tiancan stared wide-eyed at the Cold Star Jade Futon and the living star core, feeling as if he were dreaming.

Yao Mengkang was also filled with excitement, but he quickly suppressed his excitement and scanned the entire quiet room.

Although this place is luxurious, the protective array and the layout of the place indicate that the owner has been gone for many years; otherwise, they would never have been able to enter so easily.

Their opportunity may lie here!