"Exhilarating, splendid! I, Murong An, have finally reached this day. My future will see me become an incomparably powerful existence," Murong An roared with laughter.

He couldn't help but drift into fantasy.

He imagined having obtained countless supreme arts and limitless resources from this fortuitous encounter, allowing him to sweep through all opposition, eradicating anyone he met, crushing anyone he encountered. Among the ninth generation figures, no one would be his match. Yes, the first one to deal with must be that detestable brat, Lu Yuan.

After that, he would surpass the Ninth Generation Sword Immortal.

He would surpass Venerable Yuanyuan, proving how profoundly wrong it was for Yuanyuan to support Lu Yuan.

Then, he would sweep across all figures at the Great Dao Realm, vastly exceeding that old wretch, Li Yuanbai.

He seemed to have ascended to the pinnacle of the Jin Kingdom.

"Lu Yuan, what are you? You are nothing but a worm beneath my heel." He was completely immersed in his own delusion when, in that instant, he felt an intensely chilling killing intent wash over him. Murong An, having lived for so many years, suddenly snapped his eyes open, dragged back from his fantasy.

Upon waking, he saw the bone-chilling sword relentlessly bearing down on him, and the face he loathed to the extreme.

How was Lu Yuan here? Wasn't this his fortuitous encounter? He must have come to steal it!

No, this encounter belongs to me.

This was his final thought, because as Lu Yuan brought the sword down, a massive head soared toward the sky before crashing heavily onto the ground. Lu Yuan was currently at the Sixth Layer of Longevity, having formed a Virtual Core; as for Murong An? He was still in the Body Refinement stage. Lu Yuan killing him truly required no second move.

Swish! The Zhenyue Sword slid back into its scabbard.

Murong An died with his eyes wide open.

But whether he died unwillingly or not was none of Lu Yuan's concern. Lu Yuan looked around and realized there were indeed quite a few corpses here. However, Lu Yuan felt a strange question rising: how had the Third Cloud Island Duel Sword Competition ended up behind the Cave of Ten Thousand Poisons? A deep sense of strangeness settled in Lu Yuan's heart.

After searching for a long while, he finally discovered an inscription among the numerous corpses. This inscription was located in a more secluded spot, next to the body of a Great Dao Realm expert.

"The Third Duel Sword Competition is imminent... The Demon Faction is ascendant, with experts continually emerging from their ranks. The Demon Saint Emperor, Ren Du, is particularly bold and strategic, a true overlord. Do any among our Five Great Immortal Sects stand against this man? Though perhaps none can match his scheming... Coupled with so many demonic geniuses at his service, the situation for the Five Arrows Immortal Sect is perilous. Therefore, before the Third Duel Sword Competition, a vulnerability was left on Cloud Island—before the duel, the supreme secret arts of the Kunlun and Qingcheng sects were merged to enter the Cave of Ten Thousand Poisons and establish a bidirectional teleportation array. When the Cloud Island Duel commenced, the bidirectional reversal maze array was activated, luring many demonic geniuses inside."

"Once inside the Cave of Ten Thousand Poisons, regardless of whether they are demonic geniuses or not, they would be trapped here to perish... What a pity that the Demon Saint Emperor Ren Du, being incomparably cunning, avoided this scheme; the one on Cloud Island was merely his substitute. From that point onward, we Grandmasters and experts of the Demon Faction became trapped here, unable to leave. I do not know the state of the outside world, whether the Five Great Immortal Sects still maintain their righteous dominance. Great regret, great regret." The final few characters were messy, the brushstrokes drawn out excessively long, clearly indicating profound sorrow. The remaining inscription read: "The Sixth Generation of Mount Hua, Zhou He of the Sword Sect, left this."

"Venerable Ancestor," Lu Yuan couldn't help but sigh softly, "The Eighth Generation Ancestor Yan rose with immense power and has already swept away the demons. Ren Du is missing. You may rest in peace, even in the Nine Springs." Although this Sixth Generation Ancestor of Mount Hua could not hear him, conveying this news was still worthwhile.

The situation back then, with the powerful demon forces, must have been extremely dangerous.

However, that overwhelmingly strong demon faction was ultimately suppressed by Ancestor Yan's single sword.

Recalling the magnificent sight of Ancestor Yan single-handedly commanding one sword back then filled one with admiration.

Lu Yuan circled the area again and discovered that many characters were indeed carved into the ground.

"The Righteous Immortal Sects are despicable and shameless."

"The Five Great Immortal Sects are utterly vile."

"The Five Great Immortal Sects are shameless and lowly." Clearly, those trapped in the Cave of Ten Thousand Poisons were raging and cursing here, revealing the immense hatred in their hearts.

Since Lu Yuan did not deface the writings left by these individuals, the events of the past had already faded with the wind.

However, he now had matters of his own to attend to. With Tong Bainian, the weakest among the Longevity Ninth Layer, appearing, it indicated a high probability that Yuan Ling had begun his move. As for North Peak, Lu Yuan did not know their current situation, and he ought to enhance his strength to see what measure of assistance he could lend during this impending North Peak tribulation.

Martial Uncle Yuanyuan was naturally powerful, but Yuan Ling was not to be trifled with either. It remained unknown which of the two would prevail in their conflict.

Calculating internally, Lu Yuan began collecting the relics left behind by those involved in the Third Duel Sword Competition.

The relics here were diverse.

The first category consisted of various insights, self-created sword techniques, and cultivation methods left by the distinguished figures: the Venerables, the Sword Immortals, and the Elders. Regarding the sect's inherent cultivation methods, mental techniques, and sword arts, not a single one was left behind. These essential secrets of the sects could absolutely not be left behind; how could the secrets of the sect be passed on externally? However, even if those could not be shared, their self-created sword arts, cultivation methods, and insights could be passed down. Most of these individuals possessed extraordinary skills and unique accomplishments; they were naturally unwilling to let their self-created legacies perish, so they recorded them. Lu Yuan collected these as well, especially the insights and self-created mental techniques of the Venerables, as they might prove immensely useful. He decided to keep them for now.

The second category comprised various types of weaponry. A large pile of their personal weapons and spirit swords remained. Lu Yuan made no move to claim these spirit swords; these swords had accompanied their owners for a lifetime, and he felt no need to take them—it was a sign of respect for the deceased.

The third category consisted of various Soul Stones, Small Soul Stones, Great Soul Stones, and even Soul Crystals. However, not a single Spirit Stone remained. In a place like this, isolated from the outside world, the only way to survive was to continuously replenish with Spirit Stones. They too wished to survive, so the Spirit Stones were completely exhausted, leaving none behind. What remained were items related to the soul, as soul-related items could not provide the primal energy of heaven and earth, offering no benefit in extending lifespan in a resource-scarce environment.

Lu Yuan was not worried about running out of resources. Firstly, he had the Great Sui, which meant he wouldn't starve, and he still possessed many Spirit Stones. This Cave of Ten Thousand Poisons could not hold him; he could leave this place at any moment.

Originally, there should have been various spirit beasts as well. However, before this Third Cloud Island Duel Sword Competition, the members of the Righteous Immortal Sects knew they would never return alive, so the spirit beasts had already been passed on to others, leaving the righteous side with no spirit beasts whatsoever. As for the Demon Faction, they did have spirit beasts, but suspecting it was a plot by the righteous side and fearing there might be another way for them to enter this area, they had detonated all their spirit beasts before their deaths, leaving none behind. Thus, Lu Yuan's gains this time were significantly reduced; there were neither spirit beasts nor Spirit Stones.

But then again, one should know contentment.

The sheer number of Soul Stones here surpassed the sum of everything he had acquired before. Even the Soul Crystals were so numerous; this could still be considered an extraordinary harvest.

Human desire is boundless, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant.

But his heart could not be like that of ordinary men.

Cultivating immortality also requires cultivating the heart. If, after cultivating for so long, one remains greedy, then the time spent cultivating has been in vain.

The fourth category comprised various resources, such as Water of Pure Heaven, Taibai Strange Iron, Star River Sand, Eternal Flame, and others—all necessary materials whose prices were consistently high in the Cultivation World. The quantities here were immense. Lu Yuan looked at the Water of Pure Heaven in his hand, which nearly filled half a room, knowing he probably wouldn't need to search for Water of Pure Heaven again. The Water of Pure Heaven was just one example; there were countless other miscellaneous items. Lu Yuan understood that his profits in this category were also immense.

These four categories covered everything; there was nothing more.

In truth, during the chaos of the Third Duel Sword Competition within the Cave of Ten Thousand Poisons, the mutual combat had shattered many spiritual treasures. Otherwise, given the caliber of the participants in the Third Duel Sword Competition, the relics left behind would have been far more numerous.

After broadly searching this area, Lu Yuan was quite satisfied.

Among these findings, the most useful and valuable were the Soul Stones and similar items.

Lu Yuan immediately sat cross-legged. His main priority now was breaking through to the Seventh Layer of Longevity. Only by reaching the Great Completion of the Golden Core at the Seventh Layer of Longevity would he qualify to contend with Tong Bainian outside the Cave of Ten Thousand Poisons, and formally intervene in the North Peak tribulation.

And reaching the Seventh Layer of Longevity required Soul Stones.

Lu Yuan placed a Soul Crystal between his brows and began absorbing the soul power. Simultaneously, he observed his inner self and felt the Virtual Core within his upper Dantian gradually turning golden, bit by bit. After consuming this Soul Crystal, Lu Yuan felt he had moved closer to the Great Completion of the Golden Core at the Seventh Layer of Longevity.

Next Soul Crystal, then. After using this Soul Crystal, the golden hue atop his Virtual Core grew visibly deeper.

Continuing with the next one, Lu Yuan was being extraordinarily extravagant. To use Soul Crystals one after another was completely unimaginable in the past. Lu Yuan estimated the number of Soul Crystals he possessed and realized he could reach the Seventh Layer of Longevity before exhausting twelve of them.

This realization spurred him on even more enthusiastically.

His soul power grew continuously, and the gold on his Virtual Core deepened. Finally, when only four Soul Crystals remained, he noticed that his Virtual Core had mostly transformed into gold. However, a final, faint layer of hazy color remained fixed there. No matter how much he attacked or tried to transform it, that faint virtual color persisted.

It seemed this was the bottleneck—the threshold for breaking through from the Virtual Core stage of the Sixth Layer of Longevity to the Great Completion of the Golden Core at the Seventh Layer of Longevity.

If he could break through this barrier, the Golden Core would be firmly established.