At the terminus of the Fire Palace lay a square hall. Centered within it was a teleportation array, and standing guard beside the array was a colossal Fire Beast, easily twice the size of the Fire Leopard he had previously encountered—a Tier Four Illusionary Beast.

Beneath its feet, too, rested a blazing treasure casket. This casket was fashioned from Fire Jade, exquisitely carved with numerous intricate patterns, clearly indicating a far superior grade than the boxes he had seen before.

This treasure casket held the ultimate prize of the Fire Palace’s end.

Since the Fire Beast had not been slain and the casket remained unopened, Ye Qin was evidently the first cultivator to reach this destination.

One must remember that among the fifty Foundation Establishment cultivators exploring the labyrinth, several were already at the peak of the Foundation Establishment layer, and many others were at the fifth or sixth layer. Even the esteemed Sect Master Wu and Elder Yan of the Azure Elixir Sect were merely at the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment. High-ranking figures in various sects typically ceased focusing solely on cultivation once the prospect of forming a Core became dim, dedicating their main energies to managing their sects and clans; thus, their cultivation levels weren't excessively high. Most Foundation Establishment cultivators who held real promise for Core Formation were deep in secluded cultivation, rarely involving themselves in the daily affairs of their sects.

Yet, Ye Qin’s cultivation was merely the first layer of Foundation Establishment, placing him at the very bottom rung among all the explorers. For someone of Ye Qin’s low standing to arrive at the end of the Fire Palace first was nothing short of miraculous. Anyone seeing him here would surely have their eyes bulge in astonishment.

Ye Qin himself felt utterly surprised, but a smug smile nevertheless crept onto his lips.

Upon reaching the end of the Fire Palace, he wasted no time. He simultaneously unleashed his three Grade Three magical artifacts—the Soul-Snatching Bell, the Profound Yin Sword, and the Purple Saber—and fiercely assaulted the giant Fire Beast, intending to eliminate the Tier Four creature swiftly and claim the contents of the casket.

As he fought, his mind involuntarily drifted back to the journey that brought him here.

The internal layout of the Fire Palace consisted of numerous divergent passages, all extending toward the center of the palace. Each cultivator had taken a different path. These routes contained countless forks, making it easy to choose the wrong direction and waste valuable time.

Any cultivator who arrived first at the end of the Fire Palace would be confronted with the exact scene Ye Qin now observed.

For ordinary cultivators, the complex, branching paths within the Fire Palace presented a massive hurdle. Merely locating the route to the terminus could consume a significant amount of time. Furthermore, spiritual consciousness within this labyrinth was severely suppressed, preventing large-scale probing of the pathways. Even a cultivator at the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment would have to meticulously trace every passage by hand to confirm its viability.

But these branching paths in the Fire Palace were child’s play for Ye Qin. He could navigate them to the end in the shortest time possible with his eyes closed. In retrospect, it was almost unbelievable, thanks to the Purple Jade Slip he possessed. Within that slip were records of eight miniature labyrinths, perfect miniatures of this very underground maze of the Immortal Fate Palace, with every passage identical.

Although Ye Qin could not use his divine sense to map the paths of the Immortal Fate Palace labyrinth, the topography within the Purple Jade Slip was perfectly clear to him.

With the aid of the Purple Jade Slip, he naturally never took a wrong turn. Coupled with the assistance of the Bat King Wings, he passed through the Fire Palace’s corridors in a very short period. He even managed to dispatch quite a few Fire Beasts along the way, opening at least several dozen smaller caskets. These contained nearly everything imaginable: a common ore, a low-grade spirit pill, an artifact, or a refinement blueprint. These items held some minor monetary value, enough to exchange for a fair amount of spirit stones, though they were of little consequence to Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Despite this, Ye Qin was still the first to reach the Fire Palace's end, something even he hadn't anticipated.

Most of the Fire Beasts within this palace were Tier Three, easily dispatched by Foundation Establishment cultivators. However, the Fire Beast at the end of this palace was Tier Four—one rank higher. This single tier separation was akin to the gulf between the Qi Refining stage and the Foundation Establishment stage, drastically increasing its power. Even magical artifacts would struggle to inflict significant damage upon it.

Nevertheless, Ye Qin had already discovered that the illusionary beasts generated by the palace's restrictive formations possessed no intelligence whatsoever; they knew only how to attack, ceaselessly, with the exact same moves. Killing it was certainly achievable.

Ye Qin had no intention of killing it; he lacked the time. Eliminating the Tier Four Fire Beast would consume at least half an hour, a duration during which other cultivators could easily arrive, jeopardizing his claim to the treasure casket.

Ye Qin expertly lured the giant Fire Beast several dozen zhang away.

Then, with a burst of spatial shifting, he vanished from the creature's sight, reappearing beside the treasure casket. As the giant Fire Beast turned, confusedly searching for his location, Ye Qin swiftly cracked open the exquisite Fire Jade Casket with a kacha sound, eager to inspect its contents.

He looked upon emptiness and felt a sharp disappointment. The Fire Jade Casket was utterly vacant.

... Save for a single, incredibly faint wisp of flame, no larger than a single red bean. It was so minuscule that one could easily overlook it if not scrutinizing carefully.

Perplexed, Ye Qin reached out to retrieve it.

To his astonishment, his hand passed through empty air. The faint wisp of fire went right through his palm. He distinctly felt a weak current of fire spiritual energy flow across his skin, yet he grasped nothing tangible.

"What is this flame? It shouldn't be an illusion; otherwise, I wouldn't feel the scorching spiritual energy."

He examined the Fire Jade Casket more closely and noticed an inscription carved into its upper surface.

Ye Qin quickly scanned the text. It read:

This flame is a fragment of the Origin Fire, discovered by the Ancient Cultivator Sage Guangyu during his travels, unearthed from a deep subterranean abyss in a certain location. It is eternal and inextinguishable, hence also known as the Undying Fire. Sage Guangyu surmised this fire to be the root source of terrestrial flames. However, this nascent fire source had only recently been born and was extremely weak, requiring tens of thousands of years to grow and strengthen. Sage Guangyu brought it back to Immortal Fate City for research, after which it was placed within the underground labyrinth, awaiting a destined individual. This fire possesses no form or substance and cannot be removed by conventional means.

"The Undying Fire!"

Ye Qin sucked in a sharp breath.

Regardless of its origin, any flame in the world eventually extinguishes over time. Even the flames conjured by Foundation Establishment or Golden Core cultivators dissipate into the air once deprived of spiritual energy support. Yet, this tiny source of fire burned continuously—a phenomenon utterly bizarre.

Ye Qin chuckled. Since this was an artifact left by an Ancient Cultivator, he naturally intended to claim it, planning to study it just as the legendary Sage Guangyu had. As for what he might discover, he decided not to worry about that yet.

The only vexation was that he simply couldn't pick up this tiny flame; it passed straight through his palm.

Ye Qin’s face soured. He already sensed the giant Fire Beast charging back toward him. To make matters worse, he heard a sharp shout from a distance—a cultivator was rushing over, intent on stopping him from taking the casket's contents.

Ye Qin gritted his teeth and employed his final maneuver. With a wave of his sleeve, he enveloped the tiny flame with his divine sense and spirited it away into his Purple Mansion. The small fire vanished from the casket.

A look of joy flashed across his face as he instantly flashed to the teleportation array at the end of the Fire Palace.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Qin disappeared from the Fire Palace, entering the next section of the Immortal Fate Labyrinth: the Wood Palace.

In the Fire Palace, only a yellow-robed cultivator and the giant Fire Beast remained. The beast, having lost track of Ye Qin, naturally turned its aggression toward the yellow-robed figure.

This yellow-robed Foundation Establishment cultivator, having been preempted, was already seething with rage, and being harassed by the Fire Beast only fueled his fury. A bolt of lightning erupted from his palm with a deafening boom!, sending the Fire Beast flying dozens of zhang away.

"Damn it! How could someone beat me here first?!"

The yellow-robed cultivator opened the Fire Jade Casket, saw it was empty, and was overcome with immense frustration.

This cultivator was none other than the rogue cultivator alliance member who had guided the others into the maze—a cultivator at the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment. While he belonged to the Rogue Cultivator Alliance that controlled the labyrinth, any item placed within the maze could not be directly retrieved; one had to traverse the labyrinth personally to extract the goods from the caskets within. Moreover, the contents of every casket appeared randomly. Even if one sought a specific relic left by an Ancient Cultivator, there was no guarantee of finding it. This was a rule set by the Ancient Cultivators within the labyrinth's restrictive formations, immutable even by the Golden Core masters of the Rogue Cultivator Alliance.

Most caskets, however, contained only ordinary items. Only at the terminus of each palace segment would a worthwhile treasure appear, and its nature would still be determined by chance.

The yellow-robed cultivator’s gaze swept over the inscription atop the Fire Jade Casket.

He froze, then gasped audibly. He hammered his fist onto the casket, veins bulging on his neck, utterly enraged.

"The Undying Fire! The one taken was the fire left by Sage Guangyu, one of the Eight Great Rogue Cultivator Sages of the Immortal Fate City! Scoundrel, I have traversed the Fire Palace dozens of times and never once encountered it! This is a treasure of the Immortal Fate Palace, how could an outsider take it?"

The yellow-robed cultivator did not hesitate. He shot forward onto the teleportation array at the end of the Fire Palace and vanished, entering the Wood Palace in pursuit of Ye Qin.

The teleportation arrays within the labyrinth were single-user; each person was sent to a different location within the Wood Palace. Even after entering, the yellow-robed cultivator would find it impossible to locate Ye Qin amidst the numerous passages. However, the end of the Wood Palace also contained a single teleportation hall leading to the Earth Palace.

He intended to reach that hall and intercept Ye Qin.