I'm invincible once I descend the mountain; the beautiful CEO is forcing me to get our marriage

The pool was deep and dark, shimmering with a dark green light.

Ye An and Master Guan walked in, but the pool water in front of them automatically parted to the sides, forming a dry passage, so that not even the corners of their clothes got wet.

This is one of the most basic spells for cultivators: the Water-Avoiding Technique.

Master Guan followed behind, feeling that the pressure from all around him increased the further down he went.

He had to circulate his internal energy to resist, and after a while, sweat slowly seeped from his forehead.

He glanced at Ye An, who was walking ahead of him.

Master Ye walked with a steady gait and a relaxed demeanor, as if he were taking a stroll in his own backyard, without the slightest discomfort.

Master Guan was secretly astonished. He was a cultivator who had reached the acquired realm, yet he was already feeling the strain in this deep pool.

Master Ye is indeed unfathomable.

After walking down for an unknown amount of time, Master Guan felt that nearly half of his true energy had been depleted, and he was having some difficulty breathing.

Just then, Ye An stopped in his tracks.

"Come on up."

As soon as they finished speaking, the ground beneath their feet seemed to be lifted up by an invisible force, and they quickly floated upwards.

With a whoosh.

They reappeared on the shore of Shenlongtan.

Master Guan took a couple of breaths, about to say something, but when he saw the scene around him, he was completely stunned.

The sky had turned into midday.

The blinding sunlight shone down from above, and there was no trace of dusk left.

Even more bizarrely, the bodies of the kidnappers who had been lying on the ground, along with the butler and the bloodstains on the ground, all vanished without a trace.

The woodland by the pool was so clean it looked as if it had been carefully swept.

"Master Ye, what's going on here..." Master Guan's voice carried a hint of confusion and unease.

"We have entered the protective formation of the Heavenly Fiend Sect." Ye An's tone was calm, as if he had expected everything before him.

Master Guan was startled.

A mountain-protecting formation?

He immediately tried to walk back the way he came.

But after passing through a familiar grove of trees, what appeared before them was still that deep, dark Dragon Pool.

He changed direction again, but still couldn't get out of the area around the pool; it was like he was going in circles.

"Master Ye, this is a maze." Master Guan stopped and his expression turned serious.

Ye An nodded: "The guide said that some people who go into the mountains get lost and wander around in the forest all night without being able to get out. They must have accidentally triggered the outer edge of this formation."

With his current spiritual strength at the mid-stage of the Innate Realm, he could see through this level of illusion at a glance.

However, seeing through something and cracking it are two different things.

This formation is built upon the mountains and the earth's veins, and it would take a lot of effort to forcibly break through it.

Master Guan pondered for a moment and said, "I know some principles of formations and divination; perhaps I can give it a try."

As he spoke, he took out his compass and began to deduce the location of the "Life Gate" based on feng shui principles.

"No need for that," Ye An stopped him.

He flipped his hand, and the ancient bronze mirror appeared in his palm.

A flash of light appeared on the mirror, and a wisp of ethereal green smoke drifted out, condensing in mid-air into the figure of an old man in a Taoist robe—the very spirit of Master Sun.

When Master Sun came out, he looked around blankly. When he saw the Dragon Pool, his soul trembled and fear showed in his eyes.

"Lead the way," Ye An said succinctly.

Master Sun dared not disobey, bowed deeply to Ye An, and then floated towards an inconspicuous blue stone by the pool.

His soul passed through the bluestone without encountering any obstacles.

Ye An followed.

Master Guan followed closely behind.

The moment his foot stepped onto that bluestone, the scene before him suddenly changed.

The midday sun disappeared, and the deep pool was gone.

They were standing on an old stone bridge.

Below the bridge lies a bottomless ravine, filled with countless white bones, accumulated over countless years.

Most of the bones had turned yellowish-black, but some newer ones could be seen, still with a pale white tinge.

Amidst the dense, towering ancient trees, a flock of black birds suddenly took flight, as if the intruders had disturbed their feeding.

A chilling aura rose from under the bridge.

Looking at the piles of corpses under the bridge, Master Guan felt a chill run down his spine.

He thought to himself, "Truly worthy of being called the 'Valley of Burial Immortals'—a heretical sect!"

Ye An acted as if he hadn't seen it and walked straight to the other side of the bridge.

Master Guan quickly followed.

After walking only a few dozen steps, a huge, smooth, mirror-like blue stone wall blocked their way.

The stone wall has no gaps, it is a seamless whole, as if it were formed naturally.

"I'll do it," Master Guan said, stepping forward.

He took a breath, placed his hands on the cold stone wall, focused his energy in his dantian, and bulged the muscles in his arms slightly, preparing to use all his strength.

But his palm had just touched it, before he could even exert any force.

"Click."

A crisp sound.

The seemingly thick and solid bluestone wall suddenly cracked open from the spot where his palm touched it.

Immediately afterwards, spiderweb-like cracks covered the entire wall.

Boom!

The stone wall crumbled into pieces of varying sizes, like tofu dregs.

Master Guan remained in the same position, frozen in place.

He looked down at his hands, then at the pile of rubble, his face filled with astonishment.

It... just broke?

I haven't even used my full strength yet.

A thick cloud of smoke, carrying the scent of time, billowed up from behind the stone wall.

Ye An raised his hand and waved it casually as if shooing away flies, clearing away the dust in front of him, before stepping inside.

With this step, it felt as if some invisible barrier had been broken.

Soft light shone from within, dispelling the gloom on the stone bridge.

Ye An stood amidst the rubble, gazing at the scene before him, his eyes reflecting glittering light.

Inside was a huge stone chamber, with fist-sized luminous pearls embedded in the walls, illuminating the entire space as bright as day.

Inside the stone chamber, rows of wooden shelves were neatly arranged, filled with all sorts of things.

Master Guan followed him in and, upon seeing the room filled with rare and precious treasures, his breath caught in his throat for a moment.

He heard Ye An in front of him sigh softly.

"The Heavenly Fiend Sect's treasure vault."

Above is an arched stone dome, with a crossbeam at intervals, which is carved with dense cloud patterns and animal face patterns.

As time has passed, most of the patterns have been worn away and become blurred, but you can still see the complexity and exquisiteness of the original structure.

Large and small luminous pearls were randomly inlaid in various places on the walls and dome, making the entire hall well-lit and without any feeling of darkness.

Ye An's gaze swept across the rows of wooden shelves, each shelf displaying various magical artifacts in different categories.

Long swords, short swords, spears, and some strangely shaped gourds, fishing nets, beads... some are still well preserved, while others show signs of rust.

Ye An casually picked up a short sword with a wavy pattern on its blade and lightly flicked it with his finger.

"bite."

With a soft sound, the sword trembled slightly, as if it had been startled awake.

Master Guan followed behind. Although he knew nothing about weapon crafting, he could tell that every single item displayed there was a rare treasure.

Only in the treasure trove of such a cultivation sect could one see so many magical artifacts.

Speaking of quality alone, any one of these mirrors is far superior to the bronze mirror I saw at the auction.

The two walked and stopped, passing through the stone chamber and entering the next level of the main hall.

This hall has only one huge central platform.

There are still many stone shelves on the platform, but this time the shelves seem to be filled with books or similar items.

Ye An's eyes flickered, a peculiar feeling arose in his heart, and with a swift movement, he landed lightly on the stone platform.

"This is... the Nine Nether Soul Devouring Technique, which was famous throughout the world a hundred years ago! And there's also the Profound Yin Guiding Technique, representing the ghost cultivation techniques of the Heavenly Fiend Sect!"

Master Guan, who followed closely behind, suddenly let out a low, suppressed gasp as his eyes were fixed on an ancient thread-bound book on the second shelf of a stone shelf.

"And the Record of the Red Dust of Love? It is said to be a technique used by evil sorceresses to replenish their yin energy, but some people say that this technique was originally a miraculous dual cultivation technique."

"And there's the Paper Doll Scripture, the Wedding Dress Skill... these are all lost true skills."

"If I could cultivate these techniques, would I be able to easily step into the Innate Realm and see the threshold of Foundation Establishment?"

Master Guan was perhaps thinking of the incomplete cultivation technique passed down in his family, and he couldn't help but mutter to himself. Ye An suddenly smiled and said, "Do you think that's possible? If the path to immortality were really that easy, the Heavenly Fiend Sect wouldn't have declined."

Master Guan blushed and nodded somewhat embarrassedly: "That's impossible."

Despite saying that, he couldn't suppress his curiosity and excitement, and reached out to grab the ancient book on the stone shelf.

But his expression changed the moment his fingers touched the cover of the ancient book.

It wasn't that there was any mechanism in the book; rather, the moment his finger touched it, the ancient book turned into powder inch by inch, like paper ash from a fire.

As the legendary "invincible true skill" turned to ashes right before his eyes, Master Guan was filled with heartache and regret.

Ye An's eyes flashed, and he suddenly made a move.

A faint golden light flashed in his eyes.

In an instant, a stone shelf in front of him shattered silently, leaving only dozens of ancient books, floating motionless in mid-air. He enveloped these books with his divine sense, and the books seemed to solidify in amber.

With a thought, Ye Anxin opened the first page of the dozens of manuals that were enveloped by his true essence.

Even though he had used all his divine sense to protect them, the ancient manuals that had been opened still showed signs of turning to ash as the pages were turned.

The speed was much slower than before. If one's eyesight and memory were good enough, it would be possible to quickly jot down the contents of a few manuals before they completely turned to ash.

Seeing this scene, Ye An couldn't help but sigh softly, "Even true skill can't withstand the test of time."

Then, he withdrew his true energy and gently slapped out with his palm.

"call--"

A gust of wind swept across the stone platform, instantly reducing the dozens, nearly a hundred, stone shelves on the platform, along with the countless secret manuals and ancient books displayed on them, to dust. A large wave of gray dust slowly spread outwards.

When the dust settled, the huge platform was empty, leaving only Master Guan standing there, and a thin layer of dust on the ground.

Ye An showed no shame or regret on his face for destroying the entire "Heavenly Fiend Sect Collection" with a casual palm strike.

He simply waved casually at the ground.

A flash of light!

From the dust beneath his feet, a dozen pages suddenly rose up, as if they had come to life, transforming into streaks of light that shot precisely toward him!

He instantly understood; this was what true sifting and refining was all about!

How could a truly top-tier martial arts technique be recorded on ordinary paper that would rot after being left for decades or even centuries?

Of all the martial arts manuals on the high platform, only a dozen or so pages of different materials ended up in Ye An's hands.

Some are made of jade, some of silver sheets, and some of them are as thin as a cicada's wing of gold.

Ye An pieced these pages together and discovered that they contained a complete cultivation technique—the "Taiyin True Scripture"—written in tiny, dense characters.

He speculated that perhaps the founder of the Tian Sha Sect had only obtained a part of the Taiyin True Scripture by chance, and then disassembled the methods within it, evolving them into so many different techniques.

This shows just how powerful the "Taiyin True Scripture" is.

After carefully reading through the entire scripture, he confirmed that this cultivation method was extremely gentle and pure, perfectly suited to Su Wanqing's constitution.

Ye An was satisfied and put all the pages into the jade pendant space he carried with him.

This trip to the Heavenly Fiend Sect has achieved half of its objective.

With the extremely Yin-attribute cultivation technique, the "Taiyin True Scripture," in hand, Ye An felt much more relaxed. He called out to Master Guan and prepared to continue on his way.

After passing through the spacious main hall of the archives, there is a long passageway behind it.

At the end of the passageway was a huge bronze door.

There was no door knocker or keyhole on the door; only a hideous ghost head was carved in the very center.

The ghost head had its mouth wide open, and the inside was a dark hole, leading to who-knows-where.

Master Guan went up and studied it for a long time, pushing and knocking, but the door didn't budge.

"Master Ye, there seems to be a restriction on this door. My true essence was repelled as soon as I got close."

Master Guan reached out his hand again, but instead of pushing the door open, he put it directly into the dark, gaping mouth of the ghost.

Ye An was about to speak up to stop them, but it was too late.

Just as Master Guan's hand was completely submerged in the ghost's mouth, two points of scarlet light suddenly shone from the eyes of the bronze ghost head sculpture!

Instead of opening, the bronze door trembled violently, emitting a piercing shriek like metal rubbing against stone.

"Waaah—"

A ghostly wail, seemingly emanating from the deepest hell, suddenly burst forth from that dark, gaping mouth of the ghost!

The next moment, countless black ghosts, accompanied by mournful shrieks, transformed into a black torrent that surged wildly out of the ghost's mouth!

These vengeful spirits were all distorted in appearance, their resentment soaring to the heavens.

They stretched out their sharp claws, stirring up a foul stench, and pounced on Ye An and Master Guan in a massive attack, intending to tear them to pieces!

"Oh no! It's a trap!"

Master Guan was horrified and felt a chill run through his body.

Faced with such a terrifying tide of souls, he couldn't even muster the slightest thought of resistance.

At the same moment the Yin spirits erupted, the face of Master Sun, who had been leading the way, appeared. At this moment, he was distorted with extreme excitement, and a ferocious laugh spread across his face.

"Hahahaha! You two idiots! We've arrived at the Heavenly Fiend Sect's home turf."

"Enjoy this feast! Your souls will become part of this great formation, never to be reincarnated!"