Mortal: Starting with the Falling Cloud Sect, I proved my Dao through gacha pulls.

Along the way, wolf-headed puppets appeared one after another, but they could not stop the group in the slightest. They were all blasted into pieces and packed up by Han Li and taken away.

After passing through several intersections, a small teleportation array suddenly appeared before Su Mu and his group. The array sat in the center of the intersection, shimmering with a faint glow, exuding an ancient aura.

"Let's go. We'll be teleported up from here to the second level of the inner sanctum."

As soon as the bearded man finished speaking, he took the lead and stepped into the formation, with the others following closely behind.

After a flash of teleportation light, the group successfully arrived at the second floor of the inner hall.

The layout here is very similar to the first floor, with crisscrossing bluestone passages and interconnected intersections. However, the distances between the intersections are greater, and there are many tricky restrictions and traps in the passages, making it even more dangerous than the first floor.

"What methods did Wan Tianming and his group use to escape so quickly? It seems they were well-prepared for this place!"

After Ji Yin appeared on the second floor, he scanned his surroundings but found no trace of the righteous path members, and his expression immediately darkened.

"So what if they're fast? Let them go first to get the treasure. This Void Heaven Cauldron isn't so easy to obtain; relying solely on the Golden Silkworm is just wishful thinking!"

The bearded man sneered, clearly not expecting Wan Tianming and his group to gain anything.

Just then, Su Mu subtly gave Yuan Yao a wink, and the two quietly slipped away from the crowd.

"I need to help this fellow Daoist retrieve something. I will be delayed for a moment. You may proceed first. I will catch up with you later."

He cupped his hands in a smile to the crowd, and without waiting for their response, he led Yuan Yao straight to the other passage.

Although the bearded man and the others had their doubts, the Void Heaven Cauldron was the most important thing at the moment, so they had to suppress their suspicions and rush towards the depths of the inner hall at full speed.

On the other side, Su Mu and Yuan Yao went through several intersections and only relaxed after confirming that the bearded man and his group had completely disappeared at the end of the passage.

"Alright, Miss Yuan, there are no outsiders here now. We'll need you to guide us to the hidden compartment where the Soul-Nourishing Wood is located." Su Mu turned around, his tone tinged with curiosity.

Yuan Yao gently brushed her jade hand across the storage bag, took out a warm and translucent jade slip, handed it to Su Mu, and smiled sweetly.

"I obtained this jade slip from the young master of Qingyang Sect. It contains all the secrets about the Soul-Nourishing Wood."

Su Mu took the jade slip, and with a slight probe of his divine sense, he instantly discerned the exact location of the hidden compartment.

"It's strange that the Qingyang Sect discovered such a secret at some point and didn't take the Soul-Nourishing Wood."

He felt a little doubtful, but he was too lazy to think about it too much, since the item would soon be in his hands anyway.

After determining their location, Su Mu immediately led Yuan Yao forward, but they had not gone far when several snake guard puppets, unique to the second level, blocked their way.

This puppet has a ferocious and terrifying appearance, with two slender blue and red snake heads, two arms extending from the front and back of its body, and its whole body is covered with thick black scales.

Its two front hands held two short, blue halberds, while its two back hands gripped a long, black whip covered with sharp barbs.

These snake-guard puppets are far stronger than the wolf-headed puppets on the first floor. Not only are their bodies incredibly hard, but their movements are also swift and agile.

The mandrill's sharp claws slashed fiercely at a puppet, leaving only a few deep dents, but failing to destroy it on the spot.

Fortunately, these puppets only fight with their physical bodies and cannot use magic. Their weapons simply pierce through the mandrill's soul without causing any damage.

"interesting..."

Su Mu chuckled lightly, and with a gentle wave of the demon banner in his hand, an overwhelming horde of Yin spirits swept out, filling the entire passageway.

The snake-guard puppets were immediately trapped in a quagmire, entangled by countless evil spirits and torn apart by their souls.

Under Su Mu's instructions, the mandrill focused its attacks on the puppet's vital points in the chest. Before long, it tore open a large hole in the scales, from which emerald green gems rolled out.

Without the core gem, the puppet immediately froze in place, completely losing its ability to move.

Su Mu snapped his fingers and collected several green crystals into his hand, examining them closely.

"Netherworld Beast Crystal...or rather, Soul Stone."

This item can not only power ancient puppets, but also contains pure Yin and Netherworld power, making it an extremely rare cultivation resource for cultivators of the Ghost Path.

He waved his hand to collect all the puppet remains, then turned to look at Yuan Yao, who was secretly alarmed, and smiled slightly.

"Let's go, we'll be there in a few more intersections."

Yuan Yao nodded quickly and followed, her gaze sweeping over the numerous Yin spirits surrounding the two of them. She felt that Brother Xiao in front of her was becoming increasingly unfathomable.

About fifteen minutes later, the two arrived before a heavy, blue stone door. The surface of the stone door gleamed with a faint white light, clearly indicating that it was protected by a powerful restriction.

"This is it!"

Su Mu confirmed that this place was indeed the location recorded in the jade slip, and he and Yuan Yao each took out a fragment of the Void Heaven Map and pasted it on the restriction in front of the door.

Yuan Yao was slightly puzzled. Su Mu had clearly made an agreement with those Nascent Soul stage monsters to go to the fifth floor of the inner hall to retrieve treasures. However, once they entered this door, there would be no way back, and they would have to leave the Void Heaven Palace directly.

Seeing Su Mu's confident expression, she had no choice but to suppress her curiosity and stop asking questions.

After a low hum, the restrictions on the stone door slowly dissipated, and a violent suction force suddenly erupted, directly pulling the two people into the space behind the door.

When they landed again, the two found themselves in a huge stone chamber.

This stone chamber is about thirty or forty feet in size, with a dark blue stone door on each side.

Intricate arrays were carved on the stone gate to the left, shimmering with spiritual light. Beneath the stone gate to the right lay a dilapidated teleportation array, seemingly long abandoned and useless.

In the center of the stone chamber sat a milky white pool more than ten feet wide, its surface shrouded in a faint white mist, the spiritual energy so rich it was almost tangible.

On the stone wall several feet behind the pool, there is a dragon head relief made of white jade. Three or four feet below the dragon head, there is a green groove containing a small pool of extremely thick milky white liquid.

"Eternal Spirit Milk!"

Su Mu's eyes lit up. He quickly walked to the dragon head relief, took out a white jade bottle, and collected all the millennia-old spiritual milk from the trough.

Yuan Yao glanced at it curiously, then looked away and quickly walked to the blue stone gate engraved with the array, her beautiful eyes filled with undisguised excitement.

"Brother Xiao, the thing behind this door should be the Soul-Nourishing Wood, but the array on this door looks quite profound."

Su Mu stepped forward slowly, looked him up and down for a moment, and said with a faint smile, "Miss Yuan, there's no need to worry. This formation is not difficult for me to break."

He offered a word of comfort, then turned and walked toward the central Spirit Eye Spring. He intended to use his magic to take the spring away, but found that the spring had already merged with the restrictions of the Void Heaven Palace and was impossible to shake.

Su Mu shook his head with a slight sense of regret, bent down and scooped up a handful of spring water. A refreshing and unique fragrance instantly spread out, mixed with the purest spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

"Such a large spring of spiritual energy, it would be a real shame not to take a bath in it."

As soon as she finished speaking, Yuan Yao's cheeks flushed red, and her beautiful eyes glanced at Su Mu with a strange look in them.

Brother Xiao's words... could they be implying something to her?