Misunderstanding

Zhang Yang led Qingxu to retreat towards the Cloud Firmament Palace, deliberately leaving some traces that looked like they were left accidentally.

In particular, Zhang Yang also took some unimportant personal items from Qingxu, pretending they had been accidentally dropped on the ground...

After entering the Cloud Firmament Palace area, they circled around it and continued forward.

After completely escaping the strongholds of the two major sects, Zhang Yang finally relaxed and happily patted Qingxu, asking, "How did it go? Did you succeed?"

"Look!" Qingxu took out several Law Treasure. "I only took two days because I was refining those materials into the Law Treasure. Don't worry, none of the materials are damaged, and they can still be used later."

"That's great!" Zhang Yang exclaimed happily.

On the one hand, Qingxu really did arrive as promised, which meant that we could trust Qingxu from now on; on the other hand, Qingxu actually managed to get the materials.

Those were materials that everyone in One-Guard Monastery had carefully searched for, and some of them were even extremely precious top-grade materials!

Qingxu looked somewhat conflicted. "We're still missing one more material before we can start refining. I've checked carefully, One-Guard Monastery doesn't have it; it can only be found elsewhere."

"What materials?" Zhang Yang asked.

"Thunder Crystal Stone!" Qingxu's expression turned serious. "This is an extremely important material. You could even say that how much power it can unleash depends entirely on the quality of the Thunder Crystal Stone. This thing is very rare even outside, let alone in the Prodigy Battlefield."

Zhang Yang chuckled and said, "It's alright, we've prepared so many materials. It's just a Thunder Crystal Stone, there's definitely a way to solve it."

Qingxu frowned, pondered for a moment, and then said, "I've thought about it carefully. In the entire Prodigy Battlefield, only the Stone Forest controlled by Return to Origin Temple could possibly produce Thunder Crystal Stone. However, Thunder Crystal Stone are very precious, and even if they had them, they probably wouldn't share them. Return to Origin Temple's Stone Forest is on the other side of the Prodigy Battlefield, several hundred miles away, and it passes through the strongholds of other major sects."

Zhang Yang pondered for a moment before asking, "What is the relationship between One-Guard Monastery and Return to Origin Temple? Could you try to exchange with them?"

"I doubt it!" Qingxu shook his head. "One-Guard Monastery and Return to Origin Temple can only be said to have no conflict, but it's impossible for them to be very close. Besides, we don't have heavenly materials and earthly treasures to exchange for Thunder Crystal Stone!"

Zhang Yang smiled and said, "We have dozens of identity tags!"

Qingxu paused for a moment, looking at Zhang Yang with some surprise.

They're actually willing to give up these identity tokens?

Zhang Yang shrugged. "Let's exchange them first, then we'll take them back later!"

"Let's go check out the Stone Forest first," Qingxu nodded.

Zhang Yang agreed and decided to rest for one night before continuing.

He took an Origin-Returning Pill to continuously restore his spiritual power, keeping it in a state of perfection at all times.

Meanwhile, at Thousand Mechanism Lake, several core members of One-Guard Monastery sat together with serious expressions, looking at the somewhat disheveled Zixu.

"We were careless this time," Zixu said fiercely. "I really didn't expect that Cloud Firmament Palace would have such a powerful figure. He wields two long-range attack Law Treasure, comparable to Flying Sword. Although their power is only that of the weakest Flying Sword, the materials are very ordinary..."

In addition, there is an incomparably powerful magic Law Treasure that can mobilize the Laws of Heaven and Earth on a large scale to form a Thunder Sea.

Conservatively estimated, its power is around that of a fifth-grade Treasure Artifact!

She assumed that the Thunder Sea was formed by Law Treasure.

Ling Xu, with his thin face, slowly said, "Cloud Firmament Palace does have sufficient foundation and such power."

However, it is likely that only one of the most key figures can unleash such power.

Why are these kinds of people being mobilized now?

"By the way, Zixu, why are you going to that place?"

Zixu said helplessly, "Qingxu said he found some precious spiritual materials on that mountain and insisted on going there. Seeing that it was getting late, I had no choice but to go with him."

She looked at everyone and said, "I know you don't really like Qingxu, but his abilities are indeed something we need. By the way, where is Qingxu?"

The group exchanged glances. "Right, where's Qingxu?"

However, when they went to look for Qingxu, they found that Qingxu was gone.

People don't usually pay much attention to Qingxu, so it took a long time for anyone to realize that Qingxu wasn't actually there.

"He should have returned when I was attacked!" Zixu frowned. "Go check where he's staying!"

Soon, the news came back: no one was there!

Everyone was stunned.

Why isn't it gone yet?

"He left for many days last time, I hope he hasn't gone off somewhere again this time?" Ling Xu said.

"This matter is probably not simple!" Zixu frowned. "An important figure from the Cloud Firmament Palace appeared in the area bordering our borders, Qingxu also discovered treasures in that place. Is there any connection between these events?"

After discussing it for a long time, the group decided to go to that mountain tomorrow to find Qingxu.

However, when they went to search, they only found traces that had entered the area of the Cloud Firmament Palace stronghold; Qingxu had vanished without a trace.

After a careful search, they found Qingxu's personal belongings...

Then, One-Guard Monastery sent people into the Cloud Firmament Palace stronghold to demand the release of the people!

But where could Cloud Firmament Palace find someone to hand over?

The two major sects became wary of each other, and the atmosphere was tense.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yang and his group were walking in a barren area.

"By passing through this area, we'll reach the Myriad Spirits Sect's stronghold," Qingxu pointed ahead. "There's a vast forest there, teeming with rare and heavenly materials and earthly treasures —that's the Myriad Spirits Sect's Lost-Trace Forest. Rumor has it that the Myriad Spirits Sect has laid down an array within Lost-Trace Forest; those who enter without knowing how can easily get lost within it and ultimately fall into the Myriad Spirits Sect's hands."

"Oh?" Zhang Yang asked curiously, "Are their formations powerful?"

"Very powerful!" Qingxu nodded. "This was set up by a formation genius six hundred years ago. That formation genius is none other than Li Fangzhou, the current Dao Integration Realm elder of the Myriad Spirits Sect."

Zhang Yang nodded. "I've heard my fourth uncle mention it."

That was one of the Formation Dao cultivators that Biling Zi hoped to learn from.

"So, this Lost-Trace Forest is very troublesome!" Qingxu pointed to the forest stretching for miles in front of them. "Such a large forest, if we try to go around it from the side, it will take us countless days. All that time will be wasted."

Zhang Yang looked at the Lost-Trace Forest; such a large forest would indeed be difficult to navigate around.

As for flying there... do they really think those people from the Myriad Spirits Sect are blind?

If anyone dares to fly over their stronghold, the Myriad Spirits Sect will probably come out to kill them.

Zhang Yang pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "Six hundred years ago, Li Fangzhou's array formation skills probably weren't that powerful, right?"