The Iron Mask Man moved leisurely toward the trembling light screen, flicked a finger, and the screen rippled like water, quivering incessantly.

"The skills of these old friends have certainly improved... much faster than I anticipated!"

Molly offered a slight smile. "Is Uncle Iron Mask facing some trouble? What a pity that the boy refused to come in with us; otherwise, we wouldn't need these old relics!"

The Iron Mask Man turned his head, looking at her for a long moment. "Niece Molly, you truly know a great deal. Did your dead-and-gone master tell you all this? I always said his mind was the sharpest among the six of us. Indeed, he was right..."

"However," a chilling light flashed in the Iron Mask Man's eyes, "some people die precisely because they know too much, and say too much. Do you understand, Niece Molly?"

His tone was casual, yet it carried an icy current of killing intent.

Molly shuddered, lowered her head, and assented.

"Since the Central Palace is open, we cannot keep our friends waiting any longer. Let us proceed!"

The Iron Mask Man didn't glance back at Molly, raised his head, and stepped into the light screen. His form flickered, then vanished.

Molly hesitated for a long moment, bit her pearly teeth, and finally followed him into the screen.

She entered a vast, dark world.

"This... this is..." Even with preparation, she was stunned by the sight before her. A colossal, milky-white pillar of light shot straight into the heavens, and the supposed courtyard had completely vanished. Beneath her feet, it felt as though she stood upon the void of the cosmos.

"This is the core of this Qijie (Wife Realm/Boundary)!"

Even the Iron Mask Man's voice carried a note of reverence and solemnity, almost an aria.

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"Junior Brother, why haven't you entered yet?"

Huo Zhonggu couldn't understand why Feng Zikang was dawdling. Now that the mechanisms of the outer Eight Palaces were fully activated, they could proceed straight to the Central Palace, yet he showed no hurry, calmly sitting on the ground, poring over Demonic Sect scriptures, nodding in appreciation from time to time.

Feng Zikang looked up and offered a wry smile.

"Senior Brother, if I'm not mistaken, that Ninth Courtyard must be where the core of the Profound Realm lies. The other four are dead. Even if the Iron Mask Man takes Molly inside, they likely can't do anything for the moment. They can only wait for us to go in..."

"Why?" Huo Zhonggu was somewhat confused.

Feng Zikang shook his head. "Senior Brother, one cannot succeed in life without reading. The answer is actually quite simple: Three."

"Three?" Huo Zhonggu was even more bewildered. He had no idea what Feng Zikang was talking about. He wasn't asking an arithmetic question; what did this 'three' mean?

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"The third person," the Iron Mask Man raised three fingers. "Now we see who the third person to enter will be..."

In the void, seven light screens remained.

Behind three of those screens, naturally, there was nobody—those were the three palaces they had already destroyed in the first sixty years.

The remaining four screens held, respectively, Superior Monk Kong Chan, Thousand-Hand Butcher Hu Sha, Madam Two-Faced, and One-Eyed Scholar Cui Ke. Among these four, who would be the first to enter?

"Three people?"

Molly finally couldn't help but ask, "My master once said that within the Central Palace, the number is always three. I never understood what that meant—why three people?"

The Iron Mask Man drifted lightly to the side of the central light pillar, gently touched it with a finger, recoiled as if struck by lightning, and let out a muffled grunt as he flew backward.

"As formidable as expected—"

The Iron Mask Man shook his head, then turned back to Molly with a smile. "Have you ever heard the phrase, 'The Dao begets One, One begets Two, Two begets Three, and Three begets all things'?"

This was a famous line from the Daoist classic, the Dao De Jing. Daoism was currently ascendant; the reigning Emperor styled himself a descendant of the Daoist Laozi, and even Buddhism and Confucianism were far from Daoism's glory. The five thousand characters of the Dao De Jing were popular across the land; even common folk could recite a few lines, let alone cultivators? Molly nodded, indicating she certainly knew it.

"Three!" The Iron Mask Man raised his three fingers again, sighing. "In truth, all principles under heaven share a single source. Even if viewpoints differ, their core essence remains fundamentally similar."

In the Daoist view, the world began as chaos, from which the Great Dao emerged. From the Dao came One (the Taiji), which split into Two (Yin and Yang), and Two then transformed into Three—this was the foundation upon which the heavens, the earth, and all things multiply and survive.

And for every school of thought, this number Three was critically important.

In the Demonic Path, Three was the base of all numbers; only Three could evolve the world. To unlock this core location also required a foundation based on Three! Three people—they needed to gather three people to resonate with the core of the Profound Realm and obtain its inheritance.

"So that's how it is..." Molly turned to gaze at the pillar of light shooting into the sky, her heart in turmoil.

"They certainly have patience!" The Iron Mask Man glanced at the four light screens, none of which had moved, a trace of impatience creeping into his demeanor. "Under normal circumstances, they should have rushed over by now. Could it be that they've suffered too much depletion and dare not approach?"

In his calculations, the cultivation of these individuals was just enough to activate the mechanism and rush over. Just one of the four arriving would be sufficient to fulfill the requirement of Three, unlocking the inheritance hidden within the Profound Realm's core.

He had schemed diligently for three hundred years just for this day. Success was imminent, yet he was growing impatient.

Molly observed this and felt a subtle shift in her heart.

"Uncle Iron Mask, do not fret. Perhaps after opening the mechanism, they are exhausted and unable to move—"

"Is anyone there?"

Suddenly, a section of light ruptured, and a bewildered young man stepped through, ignoring the surrounding situation, loudly shouting, "Is anyone here?"

"Feng—Feng Zikang!"

Molly's words were cut off. She stared, stunned, at the young man who had stumbled in—it was none other than Feng Zikang, the military disciple from Dragon-Tiger Mountain! Even the Iron Mask Man couldn't help but be startled. He never could have imagined that the first to enter the core of the Profound Realm would not be Monk Kong Chan, Butcher Hu Sha, Madam Two-Faced, or Scholar Cui Ke, but this young man who hadn't even entered the secret estate!

"You... how did you get in?" Molly asked, wide-eyed. Feng Zikang spotted the two of them now and happily rushed over.

"Sister Molly, Senior Iron Mask, you are here too? Does that mean I entered this secret estate entirely by accident? I inexplicably found myself in a courtyard just now and saw Senior Cui dead before the light screen. Puzzled, I came over to look, and unexpectedly, I see you two. Where are the others?"

Feng Zikang began repeating his old, tiresome fabrications without the slightest hesitation.

"By accident?"

The Iron Mask Man sighed. "Heaven's will. It seems it truly is Heaven's will..."

This young man had actually been drawn into the secret estate by some resonance, and happened to witness the One-Eyed Scholar Cui Ke, who had activated the mechanism and then died. Still, the Iron Mask Man harbored some doubt.

By all calculations, these people should not have died trying to activate the mechanism; he intended to keep them alive. Yet Cui Ke was dead—another unexpected outcome.

Precise planning, constantly marred by unsatisfactory, unexpected results, was truly unsettling.

"We are indeed inside the secret estate. We are waiting for the others, but whether they can arrive depends on fate..."

If Scholar Cui Ke truly died activating the mechanism, then the other three might not escape the same fate. After all, their martial arts differed by only a hair's breadth. Kong Chan, who was originally slightly superior, had already degenerated to a similar realm due to cultivating the method of demonic reliquary transformation.

The Iron Mask Man felt a lingering fear. Had fate not intervened by sending this young man here, his entire plan for today would have been utterly ruined. It was terrifying to contemplate.

However, since Feng Zikang had arrived, he rather hoped his calculations had indeed erred and those bastards had all died clean deaths—that would be a blessing.

At least now there were three people present; the required number to unlock the Profound Realm's core inheritance was complete. This young disciple in the Qi Induction stage would certainly be far easier to control than those old monsters in the Foundation Establishment stage.

When Molly first proposed the idea, the Iron Mask Man had considered bringing this extra person along for this very reason, but it hadn't materialized then. Now, through sheer fluke, the young man had been dragged into the affair.

"Uncle Iron Mask, do we still need to wait?"

Molly's tone was light and cheerful, but the Iron Mask Man heard the underlying implication: those other people were no longer necessary, so why bother caring if they died?

"No," the Iron Mask Man shook his head. "We still have to wait..."

He didn't want any more screw-ups. When opening the Profound Realm core's inheritance, he preferred to spend extra time ensuring those others were definitively dead rather than risk someone else barging in to claim the spoils.

The Iron Mask Man had spent sixty years with them and knew they lacked infinite patience.

Wait! He absolutely had to be more patient than they were.

Feng Zikang inwardly chuckled. How many years had the Iron Mask Man spent concealing his intentions for this Profound Realm? His patience, when finally unleashed, was profound indeed.

The pity was, he could be patient with anyone, but he chose to compete with those four. That was a guaranteed loss.

No one could compete with the patience of the dead, could they?

Feng Zikang chattered away, pestering Molly with many questions. Though anxious, Molly had no choice but to force a smile and explain each one.

Several more hours passed in this manner, and the remaining six light screens remained completely still. The Iron Mask Man’s patience finally reached its limit. The great treasure he had pursued his entire life was right before him. That he could remain so composed for several hours demonstrated a leader of incredibly deep cunning.

At this point, he could be certain that the four outside were surely dead.

Now, it was time to activate the core of the Profound Realm.

He slowly raised his hand.

"Molly, Feng Zikang, the events of today are profoundly mysterious. You will surely benefit..."

"Lend this old man your strength!"