The small python, which had been following the evil blade's master and grew up under him, was the same giant “dragon” that was now defending the dragon's saliva with its life.

Ling Yun was entirely right in his judgment about the creature. The giant “dragon” couldn't be considered a true dragon given that there were only two small protrusions on its head. It could only rely on the spiritual energy from the dragon's saliva to ensure the growth of its horns and complete the most important stage of its metamorphosis.

At that time, the sudden intrusion by Dugu Mo and his gang from the rocky cave had frightened the giant “dragon”, as it had been a long while since it had seen other humans who were of the same species as its owner.

As it had been following the blade's owner for such a long time, the giant “dragon” didn't harbor any hostility towards humankind. However, Shangguan Jue's self-defense mechanisms were triggered upon seeing such a “gigantic python” after he had come out from the rocky cave. His first reaction had been to strike at the giant “dragon” using the Hook of Separation in his hand.

Ling Yun had heard that the scales of the giant “dragon” were too tough. It was Shangguan Jue who had been unable to damage them.

Although everyone on Dugu Mo's team was highly skilled in martial arts, they were vastly incomparable to Ling Yun in terms of his research into spell formations.

Out of this group of people from ancient martial arts families and secretive sects, there were some who had come in pairs — such as Ximen Gang and Nangong Jian, while others came alone, such as Dugu Mo and Dongfang Ting.

Of course, they had entered the crater at different times, but it all fell within a two-day timeframe. Given the complex structure of the rocky cave and catacombs underneath the crater, they had been fighting on their own after entering it and were thras.h.i.+ng around like headless houseflies. This had been the case until they had met with each other and paired up. Together with Dugu Mo, who was the last to arrive in the crater, they were finally able to proceed on their adventure together.

Dugu Mo could be said to be a young man of extraordinary talent from the Dugu clan. Other than the sword techniques and realms that he had attained far quicker than his peers in the Dugu clan, he had gained mastery of Wuxing Bagua as well as Qimen Armor.

That was why he had been able to identify this place as the Yin Yang Dragon Lock Spell as soon as he had surveyed the terrain from Nancui Peak.

Initially, Dugu Mo had spurned the idea of joining their team. After coming down, however, he had discovered that what lay beneath the crater hadn't been as simple as he had imagined it to be. Not only were there multiple traps, but there were also all kinds of ferocious beasts. Having entered the place to explore it, he felt his energy being drained and didn't even have time to rest.

After Dugu Mo had weighed the pros and cons, he decided to join these people in exploring the Yin Yang Dragon Lock Spell so that they could look out for each other.

If that had been the case, why hadn't Ling Yun encountered any traps apart from slaying some beasts?

Of course, this was because Ling Yun had attained the deepest realm in the course of his research into spell formations. He was deeply familiar with the layout of the Yin Yang Dragon Lock Spell!

Ling Yun chose to enter by the third rocky cave under the crater. After that, he entered the region of the spell and decisively opted to enter the Door of Death. He then intruded into the vampire bat cave to access another place which was about a hundred meters above the Yin Yang Dragon Lock Spell. Relying on the evil Yin energy in its purest form, he knew that the place wasn't the real center of the spell. Subsequently, he decided to proceed ahead and had a smooth journey to the center of the Yin Yang Dragon Lock Spell.

The path that Ling Yun had taken was the Door of Life in the Yin Yang Dragon Lock Spell, so his journey had naturally been smooth and unhindered. He wouldn't encounter any traps as well.

When Ling Yun had reached the center of the spell and was starting to cultivate the Yin-Yang harmony balance with all his might, those who had arrived before him, such as Dugu Mo, were still trying to figure out their way!

Ximen Gang, Shangguan Jue, and the rest of the group were under the leaders.h.i.+p of Dugu Mo, who was only a dabbler in spell formations. Their road was fraught with difficulties — they had to kill beasts and break spells, and six to seven experts had even perished in their midst. After a perilous journey spanning three days and three nights, they had finally managed to arrive at the center of the Yin Yang Dragon Lock Spell.

When they had arrived at the true center of the spell, they didn't even have the chance to catch their breaths before discovering the presence of such a gigantic “python”. It was no wonder that they attacked preemptively out of alarm!

Once Shangguan Jue had made his first move, virtually everyone else had followed suit in an instant. Upon witnessing the attempts of these people in attacking it, the giant “dragon” was naturally provoked to retaliate.

It was at this juncture that Ling Yun had rushed in with Little White. Ling Yun was unaware that the blade in his hand was the Devil's Underworld Essence Blade, and neither did he know whether his “Dragon Scale Knife” was capable of inflicting damage on the giant “dragon”. Hence, he had refrained from attacking the giant “dragon” and had decided not to steal the dragon's saliva. Instead, he hid at the side with Little White.

To a super-sized giant python, which measured close to two meters on the straight length of its body, Ling Yun was only the size of a piece of flesh in its vertebra. In its anger, the creature had focused its attention on attacking Shangguan Jue and his group and had practically ignored Ling Yun.

It was only when everyone had heard Ximen Gang's yell and jumped out of its attacking range to gather at Ling Yun's side that the giant “dragon” consciously turned its huge head.

After such a long time, the giant “dragon” was unable to recall the appearance of the evil blade's owner. However, it could still recognize the Devil's Underworld Essence Blade that Ling Yun was wielding!

Capability was the hard truth. After Ling Yun had broken the weapons of three people, no one dared to obstruct him. Wielding the Devil's Blade in his right hand while secretly gripping steel nails in his left, Ling Yun walked towards the stone doors.

Begrudgingly, Shangguan Jue and Ximen Gang twitched the corners of their lips. They had no choice but to move out of Ling Yun's way and allow him to walk freely. Ling Yun had only severed their weapons a short while ago; if he had truly wanted to harm them, they might not have been able to dodge his attacks.

Ling Yun walked out of their encirclement. Immediately, the people followed him surrept.i.tiously. However, they had split into three forces either by design or accident.

Ximen Gang, Nangong Jian, and Shangguan Jue were in one group, Tie Zhengping and Lei Wenxing had paired up with each other, and Dongfang Ting was a solitary force.

Evidently, not everyone had responded to Shangguan Jue's call when he had shouted out for the crowd to join forces against Ling Yun a short while ago. From that point onwards, in fact, the group had already begun to split.

Right from the start, they hadn't intended to come down together. It was only for the convenience of mutual protection that they had formed an alliance. However, it was essentially a tray of loose sand.

Now that they had arrived at the heart of the spell and knew that the treasure was right in front of them, the group had disintegrated in an instant and had begun to make their respective a.s.sessments of the situation.

Ling Yun clearly perceived the situation behind him — he knew that these people were waiting for him to break the stone door so that they could rush forward to s.n.a.t.c.h the treasures behind the door. However, he wasn't bothered by it.

After a casual demonstration of his ability a short while ago, Ling Yun had already tested out their capabilities. They needed a boost if it was their intention to s.n.a.t.c.h the items under Ling Yun's watch.

Very quickly, Ling Yun had arrived at the stone door on the left. After scrutinizing it, he didn't manage to find any mechanism or b.u.t.ton. When he pushed it gently with his hands, the door refused to budge.

Ling Yun silently activated the Yin-Yang harmony balance. Despite pus.h.i.+ng the door again with all of his might, it didn't budge. He frowned and wondered whether it could be broken with his blade.

In two flashes, Dugu Mo was right beside Ling Yun. He joined him in scrutinizing the door for a long time and had even stomped on the surrounding ground. However, his efforts were futile.

“This is strange. Since there's a door, why can't we find any sort of mechanism? This doesn't seem to make sense…”

The three waves of people behind them had been craning their necks for a long time. However, their disappointment was mingled with delight when Ling Yun couldn't open the stone door. They dashed towards the other two stone doors and began studying them on their own.

“Hey, Ling Yun, I say, are you pretending that you can't open the door? If you're afraid that they'll s.n.a.t.c.h the treasures, you still have me here, so don't worry about it. After you've opened the door, you just need to focus on obtaining the items inside. I'll block the entrance and guarantee that none of them will be able to gain access!” Dugu Mo communicated with Ling Yun via a telepathic signal.

He thought that since Ling Yun had been able to navigate the way to this place by himself, and had appeared to have arrived even earlier than the rest of them, Ling Yun's understanding of spell formations and mechanisms had surely surpa.s.sed his.

Silently, Ling Yun gave a bitter laugh. He wasn't even taking these people into consideration. As soon as he had broken the door and was the first person inside, he could execute the Dragon Fish Phantom Ability to its fullest. Then, all he had to do was turn around, and the entire cache of treasures would be stored in his Spatial ring.

Ling Yun replied lightly, “I'm not pretending, this stone door has been perfectly integrated into the rocky cave wall without revealing any gaps. Moreover, there aren't any mechanisms in its surroundings, so it's virtually impossible to open it using conventional means…”

Dugu Mo was dumbfounded after hearing those words. He couldn't help but remark, “If it really doesn't work, you can just use the evil blade in your hand to split it apart and gain entrance!”

Ling Yun immediately rolled his eyes and sent him a telepathic signal in disdain. “I really don't know how you people managed to come down here. To think about splitting a stone door in the heart of the Yin Yang Dragon Lock Spell — is your brain comprised of paste?”

Although Dugu Mo and his group were unable to sense it, Ling Yun's senses were sharper than theirs and had perceived that there was currently an inexplicable working of the Great Dao apart from the spiritual energy of the dragon's saliva.

Regardless of who it was, as long as the person were to try breaking the door with brute force, he would likely trigger a killing spell in this great spell. Once the trapping spell had turned into a killing one, they could only dream of escaping with their lives.

Just think about it, the original purpose of the Yin Yang Dragon Lock Spell was to trap a dragon; so if even a dragon could be locked up, it was pointless to mention the fate of Ling Yun and the group of people.

The reason that they were still unharmed in this place was because of the spell formation.

“So what can we do? We embarked on an arduous journey over three days and three nights to reach this place, surely we can't be here just to take a look at the giant python, right?”

Dugu Mo was gritting his teeth gloomily and unwilling to accept the situation when he uttered those words.

“What did you say? You guys took three days and three nights to come down here? On what day did you arrive?” Ling Yun turned his head suddenly to ask Dugu Mo.

“It was the night that we had a duel… I tell you, it's not that I didn't keep my promise, but I had been waiting for you on Tiger Cliff then. When I saw that so many people were going down, and you were late, I was anxious and decided to come down directly…”

“I know, I read the message you left me at the metal railing…” Ling Yun gave a small laugh. “After coming down, did you encounter a huge python that had a bucket-sized circ.u.mference?”

Dugu Mo stroked his head as he tried hard to recall. “Are you referring to the one beneath the crater? I encountered it indeed, and I even slashed it twice with a sword…”

Dugu Mo had been encountering so many pythons over the past few days, including those which were even bigger than the one Ling Yun had described. However, never had he expected that the greatest of them all would be in the heart of the spell!

“F*ck, you ran off after slas.h.i.+ng it twice, but it sprayed fire all over my head… In that case, it's already April 9th today?”

Ling Yun had come down on April 6th, so it would logically be the ninth of April after spending three days here.

Little did Ling Yun realize that he had spent three days and three nights to break through to the fourth level of body cultivation. He couldn't help but glance at Little White, who had remained by his side, wondering how it could have persisted for so long.

Dugu Mo shook his head. “You're wrong, I spent an extra day after taking a detour, so it should be April 10th today!”

“Pong!” A shocking sound!

Ling Yun and Dugu Mo were so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn't noticed Ximen Gang and two others raising their palms simultaneously to hit the middle stone door with all their might!

“F*ck! What are you guys doing!”

Ling Yun was greatly shocked at the scene and had shouted in fury.

Just after Ling Yun had spoken, there was an unbearable sound — “Ko-lla” — which instantly entered everyone's ears!