No sooner had Ji Changkong and the White Bone Skeleton vanished within the circular teleportation array than the circle began to crack inch by inch. The strange energy crystals inlaid in the peripheral grooves shattered one after another, disintegrating into dust that scattered into the heavens.

In that brief instant, the circular teleportation array fractured into pieces, and even the compass embedded within it broke apart. Clearly, this teleportation array would never function again.

It was at this precise moment that Huofeng, Xiaohan, Yinji, and Tianlie suddenly materialized in the stone chamber. The four of them glanced at the mangled remains of the circular teleportation array, and their expressions instantly shifted.

"The teleportation array!" Yinji cried out in alarm. "That was the only way to leave this star, wasn't it? Where did that brat use the array to go?"

"Hahaha!" Tianlie suddenly threw his head back and roared, his laughter brimming with self-mockery. "We braved untold dangers to enter here. Each of us has reached the Realm of Ten Directions Heavenly Nirvana Cage, and Huofeng, you were close to stepping into the Realm of As You Wish! Yet we gained nothing, only to be outwitted by a brat who hasn't even solidified his Realm of Subtlety. It’s utterly ridiculous!"

"What's even more laughable is that Jiunan and Tu Tie died in the mouth of the Ancient Giant Crocodile," Yinji added with a bitter smile, his eyes filled with endless regret. "If only we had eliminated that brat earlier!"

"And my 'Flame Thunder Sacred Fire' is gone too," Huofeng muttered under his breath, then turned to Xiaohan with a ferocious glare. "It’s all your fault! If you hadn't stopped me, the 'Flame Thunder Sacred Fire' would be in my hands already. Even if it was only half its power, it would have been enough for me to break through to the Realm of As You Wish!"

Xiaohan’s expression turned sharp. He scoffed, "If you hadn't insisted on letting that brat go first, how could he have escaped our control!" Pointing a finger at Yinji and Tianlie, Xiaohan sneered, "It’s all because you two are too afraid of death! If you had followed him, how could he have slipped beneath the Ancient Giant Crocodile to reach the eighth level!"

"What does that have to do with me!" Tianlie roared back. "The life magnetic field of the Ancient Giant Crocodile was so terrifying that none of us could escape its senses, yet that brat could! How were we supposed to know he could deceive the Ancient Giant Crocodile? The four began to argue fiercely, showing clear signs of nearly coming to blows."

"What is that?" Suddenly, Huofeng walked towards the center of the circular teleportation array. He reached out to touch a fragment of the circular disk and looked toward the direction the broken pointer indicated.

"A directional marker!" Yinji approached to take a look, then gasped sharply. "The Land of Abandonment!"

"The Land of Abandonment?" Huofeng’s face changed. "Are you sure it’s the Land of Abandonment?"

Yinji nodded, a flicker of terror flashing in his eyes. "Absolutely the Land of Abandonment! I am certain! The place that brat went to is the Land of Abandonment within the Death Star Domain!"

"...The Death Star Domain, the Land of Abandonment," Xiaohan murmured, forcing a wry smile. "What good does it do us to know where he went? Which one of us can even leave this star?"

At this statement, everyone fell silent once more.

"Clang!"

Just then, several openings suddenly appeared in the sealed stone chamber, revealing the mountains outside through the apertures.

"The restriction on the Pagoda has been temporarily lifted; we must leave here quickly," Huofeng called out immediately upon seeing the windows open.

"Look!" Yinji suddenly pointed toward the sky outside the window, where two bright spots were slowly emerging. A fierce wave of soul-exploring fluctuation suddenly enveloped the entire star. The bright spots pierced through the void and rapidly flew towards them, their speed increasing with every moment.

"Heavens! Who is that? How can he fly on this star?" Tianlie exclaimed in shock.

Xiaohan took a deep breath and suddenly said, "The force restraining this star seems to be weakening. I can feel it. Perhaps before long, we will be able to leave this star."

A look of pleasant surprise also appeared in Huofeng’s eyes as he nodded. "Indeed! The power imprisoning the entire star is beginning to dissipate. Soon, we should all be able to fly away from this place."

"How could this be?" Yinji wondered.

"It must be related to that brat," Tianlie asserted confidently. "It must be his departure that triggered something, causing the Nine-Layered Pagoda to change, which in turn affected the entire star!"

"That person is coming towards us!" Yinji suddenly felt an intense chill run through him, as if he were being targeted like prey. The feeling was deeply unsettling, and though he wanted to resist, he found himself lacking the strength.

Huofeng and Xiaohan closed their eyes to sense the surroundings, then their expressions suddenly turned grim. They both exclaimed in unison, "The Purgatory Ghost Clan!"

Before the shouts of Huofeng and Xiaohan had fully faded, a bizarre figure suddenly solidified outside the window. Her fingernails were a meter long, covered in strange, intricate patterns. Beside her floated an object radiating oppressive corpse energy.

If Ji Changkong were present, he would have instantly recognized this demonic woman as the master of the Ghost Corpse—a member of the Purgatory Ghost Clan.

The woman arrived, took a deep sniff of the air, and with a swift grasp, directly snatched Tianlie, who was closest to her. Held aloft in one of her hands, her sharp claws were pressed against Tianlie's throat. "Where is he?"

"Who? Who?" Tianlie trembled, fear etching across his face. "Who are you talking about?" Tianlie’s massive body, three meters tall, shook under the grip of her single hand—a scene both bizarre and profoundly incongruous.

The woman seemed unsatisfied with Tianlie’s reply. Her sharp five-fingered hand violently plunged into the crown of Tianlie's skull. A wisp of faint, shadowy soul power drifted out from the top of Tianlie's head and transformed in the void into a series of miraculous, shifting pictures.

In these pictures, Ji Changkong appeared repeatedly. Tianlie's memories concerning Ji Changkong were clearly displayed in the woman's eyes, without the slightest omission.

Tianlie himself, meanwhile, experienced his life force growing weaker and weaker. When the Ji Changkong in the final picture vanished into the water channel within the thatched hut, Tianlie's vital fluctuations abruptly ceased.

The woman flicked her fingers, causing all the images to disappear. She then tossed Tianlie carelessly to the Ghost Corpse floating beside her. The Ghost Corpse immediately seized Tianlie and began to feast voraciously, blood splattering everywhere.

She glanced ahead, her eyes falling upon the shattered compass, and murmured softly, "Went to the Land of Abandonment."

Yinji, usually cruel and ruthless, remained utterly silent now, his body trembling slightly. Huofeng and Xiaohan stared blankly at the sudden appearance of the Purgatory Ghost Clan woman, finding their lips dry and their minds blank as to how to respond.

After reviewing Tianlie's memories, the woman opened her mouth and exhaled a breath of green vapor. This vapor split into three, flashing past Huofeng, Xiaohan, and Yinji in succession.

The next moment, Huofeng, Xiaohan, and Yinji suddenly felt as though something had been added to their soul seas.

"Exterminate the Zack Clan within thirty years. The restriction placed upon your soul seas will be lifted. As long as a single member of the Zack Clan remains alive, you three know exactly what fate awaits you," the woman from the Purgatory Ghost Clan stated coolly. She then took the Ghost Corpse, which had entirely devoured Tianlie, and flew straight up into the sky.

After a long silence, Yinji cursed, "Who was that woman from the Purgatory Ghost Clan? Damn her! Although the Zack Clan isn't powerful, their artifacts are incredibly troublesome. Exterminating them within thirty years is practically demanding the impossible!"

Huofeng, his face grim, attempted to use his flame power to dispel the restriction in his soul sea. Just then, Xiaohan suddenly spoke up, "Huofeng, don't waste your energy. There are very few people in the Vast Star Domain who can undo the restriction she left behind, and those few people we will never get to meet."

"You know her?" Huofeng asked, startled.

"If my guess is correct, she should be the last remaining original Chaos-level powerhouse of the Purgatory Ghost Clan—the Heaven-Reaching Ghost Mother!" Xiaohan sighed helplessly.

"Heaven-Reaching Ghost Mother!" Huofeng was initially bewildered. After thinking for a moment, his face drastically changed, and he exclaimed, "You mean... you mean?"

Xiaohan nodded, letting out another wry smile. "We had better focus on figuring out how to exterminate the Zack Clan. There is no other way!"

Huofeng paused, then nodded resignedly. "It seems that's all we can do. I wonder why she was looking for that brat? Does that kid possess some kind of secret?"

"Who knows," Xiaohan replied, his gaze distant as he shook his head repeatedly.

"Crack! Snap! Crunch!"

A small teleportation array exploded nearby.

Ji Changkong hurried out of it, afraid of being caught in the blast of the shattering array. He immediately drew the Dragon Radiance Longblade and unceremoniously hacked at the remaining edges of the array, ensuring the device was destroyed even faster. He had no idea when Huofeng, Xiaohan, Yinji, and Tianlie might reappear. To prevent them from using another array to pursue him, his first instinct upon landing was to destroy the teleportation mechanism beneath him.

Just as he was about to start, he noticed the array was already cracking on its own. Thinking fate was on his side, he lent a hand, thoroughly obliterating the device until not a trace of the teleportation array remained. Only then did he finally let go and truly relax.

He found himself in a dark, lightless cave, unsure of his location. The White Bone Skeleton that had accompanied him had its eerie eye-flames extinguished after passing through the array, and it lay motionless on the ground.

Ji Changkong stared blankly at the skeleton, pondering what to do with it. He felt it wouldn't do to destroy it, yet the skeleton seemed to share some inexplicable connection with him, leaving him hesitant. Forget it for now; let’s see what I’ve gained.

Shaking his head, he temporarily set aside the dilemma. He reached into his spatial pouch and pulled out the small bell, shaking it with curiosity.

"Jingle-jingle!"

A crisp ringing sound filled the air. The nearby White Bone Skeleton also rose to its feet, two balls of ghost fire reigniting in its eye sockets, staring coldly at him. Ji Changkong felt a chill run down his spine.

"Huh, this bell..." As if grasping something, he first looked at the bell in his hand, then abruptly stared at the White Bone Skeleton, exclaiming in delight, "So that's how it is!"

A: This book is scheduled to conclude next month. I will be writing slower over these last two months, maintaining a pace of two chapters per day. The concluding sections are inherently difficult to draft, necessitating a slower tempo. I ask for your understanding regarding this. Please do not send me monthly tickets; I ask for your indulgence.