Cave Abode Treasure, Void Swallowing Flame's Fortune

A day later, Lin Yang suddenly erupted with the soul power of the peak Heavenly Realm.

Having devoured the soul of the last Battle Saint, Lin Yang's soul had finally broken through.

"Whew, that felt good. I've finally reached the peak Heavenly Realm." Lin Yang exhaled a gust of air, feeling refreshed. "I'll return to the Xiao Family first. Once I send off the Ancient Clan Three Immortals, I'll go search for the peak Battle Saint's cave abode."

Muttering to himself, Lin Yang tore open space and returned to the Xiao Family.

Xiao Family.

Xun'er's room.

The Ancient Clan Three Immortals were discussing whether they should take Xun'er back to the clan for a visit.

Xun'er had not returned home for more than a decade. Though Gu Yuan never said it aloud, he thought of her every day.

"Three Immortal Seniors, I'm back." Lin Yang lightly knocked on the door.

The Ancient Clan Three Immortals fell silent. Gu Dao opened the door and invited Lin Yang inside, his gaze narrowing slightly. "Little Friend Lin, your soul has broken through?" Gu Dao asked in surprise.

Lin Yang scratched his head without explaining, instead stating his purpose. "A minor fortunate encounter. Three Immortal Seniors, I've already dealt with all the Soul Clan forces lying in ambush. Thank you for coming all this way to help. Senior Gu Yuan is injured, and I fear the Ancient Clan may not be peaceful internally. Why don't you return at once? I'll visit the Ancient Clan another day."

Gu Dao said, "All right. We also wish to return as soon as possible." After a brief pause, Gu Dao made his decision. "Little Friend Lin, Miss Xun'er has not returned home in a long time, so we'll take her back to the Ancient Clan first. If Young Master Xiao Yan is truly sincere, he can simply come to the Ancient Clan and propose marriage."

"Mm, all right." Lin Yang nodded without saying anything further.

"Farewell."

After seeing off Gu Dao, the other two, and Xun'er, Lin Yang informed Xiao Yan before leaving the Xiao Family for the location marked on the map.

The two puppets remained behind to guard the Xiao Family.

Black-Corner Region, deep forest, within a valley.

Lin Yang descended from above and looked down over the land. According to the map, the cave abode lay beneath this valley.

Lin Yang sent his soul power underground, probing several thousand meters deep before indeed discovering a restriction.

However, the fluctuations from the restriction were somewhat weak. It had likely existed for too long, causing much of its energy to dissipate.

But that was perfect for Lin Yang. With the restriction's energy weakened, he would not need much effort to break it.

Lin Yang flashed forward and plunged deep underground.

A few breaths later, he arrived beside the cave abode's restriction.

This restriction was indeed as easily broken as he had sensed. However, Lin Yang suddenly detected a linked formation within it.

If he forcibly broke the restriction, the treasures inside would trigger a destruction mechanism and be directly ruined by immense force.

Lin Yang did not dare act rashly. He calmed himself and began studying the restriction before him.

Half a day later, Lin Yang finally understood the rules of the restriction.

He then dispelled it.

As the restriction vanished, the interior of the cave abode immediately appeared before Lin Yang.

Inside was an independent space.

Medicinal herbs covered the ground, while an iron puppet stood silently in the center of the space with its eyes closed.

Beside the iron puppet was a chest. The treasures should have been inside it.

Lin Yang examined the iron puppet a few times but found nothing extraordinary about it, then stepped into the cave abode.

However, the moment he entered, the iron puppet in the center of the cave abode instantly opened its eyes.

A beam of annihilating light shot directly toward Lin Yang.

Lin Yang was startled and hurriedly dodged aside, but the iron puppet attacked again. It leaped forward, its pair of massive iron fists smashing toward Lin Yang's face.

The surrounding space shattered beneath that punch. Lin Yang twisted aside to evade it, then struck the iron puppet's chest with a Holy Sun Fire Phoenix Palm.

However, the Heavenly Flame did not inflict the slightest damage on the iron puppet. Instead, a recoil force numbed Lin Yang's hand.

Lin Yang's heart jolted, and he hurriedly pulled away.

"What the hell is this thing? It's so tough."

Before he could think further, Lin Yang flashed away again as the iron puppet threw another punch.

Punch after punch came crashing down, leaving Lin Yang in a rather sorry state.

However, amid his repeated evasions, Lin Yang suddenly sensed a fatal weakness in the iron puppet.

There was a spot on its back that was a different color. After carefully sensing it, Lin Yang determined that it was likely the energy core.

After dodging another iron fist, Lin Yang abruptly circled behind the iron puppet and fiercely struck its energy core with his palm.

This strike was indeed effective. The iron puppet froze in place, losing its ability to move.

After succeeding in one blow, Lin Yang slowly let out a breath of relief.

"This fellow has finally gone down."

Exhaling heavily, Lin Yang walked over to the chest and sensed it briefly, discovering that it too had a restriction.

He then slowly studied the restriction, preparing to remove it.

Half a day later, the restriction was finally lifted. Lin Yang opened the chest and found a jade bottle, a scroll, and a map inside.

Opening the scroll, Lin Yang found that it contained the method for controlling the iron puppet.

This fellow possessed strength comparable to an early Nine-Star Battle Saint. It would be of great use as support in battle.

After putting away the scroll, Lin Yang picked up the map. The moment he examined it, he was overjoyed. It was actually a map to the inheritance site of the Artifact Emperor. A line of small characters on the map stated that it had been left behind by the Artifact Emperor's last disciple. After the Artifact Emperor ascended, he was pursued by enemies and forced to hide this map.

The method for opening the inheritance cave abode was also recorded on the map, though it clearly stated that the inheritance trial was extremely dangerous and that those lacking strength should not go recklessly.

Suppressing his excitement, Lin Yang put away the map, intending to go after breaking through to the Nine-Star Battle Saint realm.

He then opened the jade bottle.

A surge of pure energy erupted from the jade bottle, and Lin Yang was instantly delighted. It was actually the blood essence of a peak Nine-Star Battle Saint—four drops in total.

"Four drops of blood essence are enough for me to break through to the peak Eight-Star realm."

"At the peak Eight-Star realm, if I use the Saint Sun Heavenly Flame Transformation, I'll directly possess Nine-Star strength. Even if I encounter Soul Tian Di, I'll have the power to fight him."

Muttering excitedly, Lin Yang sat down cross-legged and began refining the blood essence.

Elsewhere.

After fleeing, Void Swallowing Flame went directly to the Extreme Southern Land.

This place was a paradise for fire-attributed magical beasts. Most were sixth- or seventh-tier magical beasts, with only a few eighth-tier ones, while ninth-tier magical beasts were nearly nowhere to be seen.

In this battle, Void Swallowing Flame had not only suffered severe injuries but had also lost thirty percent of its origin. It had suffered tremendous losses, and its early Nine-Star Battle Saint cultivation had nearly fallen.

Now, it needed to devour a large number of magical beasts to restore its lost origin power.

Thus, the entire Extreme Southern Land was thoroughly transformed into hell. Countless magical beasts were swallowed by Void Swallowing Flame and converted into pure energy to replenish its losses.

Half a day later, after Void Swallowing Flame had just devoured an eighth-tier magical beast, it absorbed the beast's memories along with it.

However, the moment those memories entered its mind, Void Swallowing Flame froze before becoming wildly ecstatic.

This magical beast had actually learned of the place where a heavily injured Half-Emperor magical beast from ancient times had perished. Inside was a Half-Emperor-level physical body.

The location was on South Emperor Island in the Extreme Southern Land, though it was protected by an incomparably powerful seal.

However, judging from the seal's strength in the memories, Void Swallowing Flame determined that after countless ages, the seal had already weakened considerably.

It could probably undo it. Though it was at the Half-Emperor level, that was worlds apart from the Dou Emperor level. It was not impossible to break.

It immediately flew toward South Emperor Island.

South Emperor Island. Void Swallowing Flame arrived at the place where the Half-Emperor had perished.

It was located within a cave on the island.

There was indeed a seal, but it was not linked to a destructive formation like the one Lin Yang had encountered. It could be undone; it would merely take some time.

Half a day later.

The seal was successfully lifted. Void Swallowing Flame's expression brightened as it hurriedly rushed inside.

Within the cave lay a corpse in silence.