With the sandstorm completely subsided, Han Li immediately saw the place near the mountain pass that had been buried by rubble. A Black-Scaled Elephant puppet was raising its head, its trunk pointing straight into the sky.

At the mouth of its trunk, a lingering white glow was slowly receding, emanating a persistent stellar power.

Han Li couldn't help but sigh; the combat power of these Black-Scaled Elephants, modified and refined into puppets, far exceeded expectations.

It seemed that while the people of Puppet City couldn't match the strength of those from Profound City in physical cultivation, their mastery of puppetry was quite profound. This was how they had managed to survive in the harsh environment of the Scaled Void for so many years, standing on equal footing with Profound City and refusing to yield.

This scene evoked varied expressions from the people of Profound City.

While city lords like E Kui and Chen Yang naturally showed nothing on their faces, the others were in an uproar. Some were visibly alarmed, while others grumbled, believing it was a deliberate act by Puppet City.

Before the people of Profound City could finish their surprise, with a "crack," the roof of a stone hall on the back of another Black-Scaled Elephant suddenly opened, and a tremendous sonic boom echoed through the air.

"Whoosh!"

A streak of black light flashed, and a spear as thick as an adult's arm suddenly shot out, overtaking the already distant Two-Headed Scale Hawk in the blink of an eye and piercing its abdomen.

"Awoo..."

The Two-Headed Scale Hawk let out a long cry, its body plummeting heavily before flapping its wings again and flying away into the distance.

However, after flying only a thousand feet, its body suddenly erupted with a burst of white light, exploding in mid-air.

Clearly, the spear that had pierced it contained a Star Bone of the Exploding Scale Beast.

The aftermath of this minor incident quickly passed, and the Puppet City's队伍 continued its advance. The people of Profound City also rode their Scale Beasts, chasing after them.

...

Half a year later.

On a desolate black stone desert, a fierce wind raged, howling deafeningly.

The sandstorm blotted out the sun, and even though it was midday, the world was as dim as night.

On the ground, a rumbling sound echoed incessantly, and countless boulder-sized rocks were blown about by the wind, colliding with each other with loud crashes.

On the flat, exposed land, two 队伍 were separated by a hundred feet. All the Scale Beasts were gathered together, head to tail, forming two large circles to withstand the raging wind, sand, and flying stones.

On the back of one Scale Beast, the roof of a stone house rattled and shook. Suddenly, a large roof slab was flung up, torn away by the wind and soaring into the sky like a kite.

Immediately afterward, a tall figure stomped heavily on the ground, his body suddenly shooting straight up from the open roof and plunging into the sandstorm.

The xuanqiao light on his legs flared up, and he walked on air, chasing after the slab, riding the wind.

After only a dozen breaths, the figure returned, holding the black stone slab with both hands, his toes tapping in the air and on flying stones, and re-covered the huge roof slab.

After the roof was closed again, the man stood inside, slowly pulling down the hem of his garment that covered his face, revealing an ordinary face. It was Han Li.

He looked at the room with a wry smile. In just over a dozen breaths, a thick layer of sand had accumulated on the floor, and the stone table in the middle of the room had been smashed in two by a flying stone.

"This Black Sand Storm has been going on for more than two months. I wonder when it will end..." Han Li sighed, waving his sleeve to sweep the sand off the stone bed, and sat down cross-legged.

Although at first, when they encountered attacks from Scale Beasts, the two 队伍 often competed with each other, unwilling to be seen as inferior in the eyes of the other, as they went deeper and the environment became more and more harsh, the two sides had to temporarily put aside their grudges and cooperate.

...

Time passed, the journey was long, and several years passed in a flash.

On a vast, boundless plain, a loud horn sounded. The Puppet City 队伍, which had been leading the way, suddenly stopped.

Immediately afterward, the Profound City's Scale Beast队伍, only a hundred feet away, stopped in tacit agreement.

Inside a stone hall on the back of one Black-Scaled Elephant, Han Li and two others were sitting around a stone table.

"Stopped again..." Gu Qianxun frowned slightly upon hearing the horn.

"It seems like we're under attack again. As we've traveled deeper over the years, the spatial pressure between heaven and earth has become stronger, and the Scale Beasts we encounter have become more powerful. The speed of our journey is also getting slower and slower," Xuan Yuanxing sighed.

"I thought I could cultivate in seclusion along the way, but now it's not good. Not only am I interrupted every now and then, but I also have to go out and deal with Scale Beast attacks. Fortunately, killing a Scale Beast yields a Beast Core, so it's not a complete loss," Han Li said with a wry smile.

"Let's go, let's go see what it is this time?" Gu Qianxun stood up and said.

After the three finished speaking, they stood up and walked out of the stone hall at the same time.

Arriving on the back of the Black-Scaled Elephant, Han Li and the others realized that the situation was somewhat different from what they had expected.

The terrain in front of them was unobstructed, and the area in front of them was calm and peaceful. There was no sign of a Scale Beast attack.

Han Li jumped onto the roof of the stone hall, narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked into the distance.

He saw that the space a hundred miles away was clearly distorted. A chaotic spatial rift raged there like a storm, visibly tearing the void apart.

Below the area densely packed with spatial rifts was a ravine of endless depth, stretching out to both sides, with no end in sight.

The abyss was pitch black, and wisps of black mist rose up from within. Every so often, a huge black vortex could be seen, stirring the mist and rotating endlessly, like the eyes of a demon gazing into the abyss.

"What is that?" Gu Qianxun and the others came to Han Li's side and muttered.

"I don't know what it is, but the spatial power it contains is extremely violent. Even though we are so far away, we can still feel strands of tearing force. I hope the 'Great Ruins' we are looking for is not there," Han Li shook his head and said.

As the three were wondering, they saw Chen Yang flying over with Xie Daoren and landing in front of them.

"City Lord," Xuan Yuanxing said, clasping his fist first.

Han Li and the others followed suit.

"No need to be polite. You've all seen the Black Mist Abyss ahead, right? The Great Ruins we're looking for is on the other side," Chen Yang said with a smile.

When Xuan Yuanxing and Gu Qianxun heard this, they looked at Han Li at the same time. They were really afraid of what they would get.

"What do we do now? Do you have a way to cross that chasm?" Han Li asked.

"I don't know yet. City Lord E Kui has already met with Sha Xin. We'll probably have to wait until they've discussed it before we know what the result will be," Chen Yang shook his head and said.

"This Black Abyss is so dangerous. I really don't know what method we can use to get through it," Xuan Yuanxing said worriedly.

"I heard City Lord E say before that this Black Abyss Storm is the weakest it has been in nearly a million years. Even a hundred years ago, the area covered by spatial rifts around it was hundreds of miles wide. Even the area we are standing on now was an impassable place," Chen Yang sighed and said.

"If that's the case, why don't we wait a little longer? Maybe in another hundred years, the storm in this Black Abyss will be nothing to worry about?" Gu Qianxun said hesitantly.

"The Xuan and Wei cities have been monitoring and exploring this place for who knows how many years. Both sides are afraid that the other will enter the Great Ruins first. You must know that a slow step is a slow step. City Lord E Kui originally convened this Five City Martial Arts Competition to select talents to enter the Great Ruins, but he didn't expect Puppet City to take the initiative to come to his door and ask for cooperation. This forced City Lord E's plan to be brought forward by some days," Chen Yang thought for a while and said.

"Now it seems that this Puppet City's主动 request for cooperation is mostly a last resort. I'm afraid that they simply can't cross this Black Abyss in front of them on their own," Gu Qianxun said thoughtfully.

"I don't think it's just that. They don't dare to explore on their own, mostly because they're afraid that the city will be empty and that Profound City will抄了 their rear," Han Li shook his head slightly and said.

"Fellow Daoist Li hasn't been in my Profound City for long, but he seems to know a lot about the situation here," Chen Yang said with a smile when he heard this.

At this moment, suddenly a figure swept up from the Puppet City队伍, crossed a hundred feet in the air, and fell towards this side. The figure was of medium height, with ordinary features, but his aura was extremely powerful. It was E Kui.

As he approached the ground, his hands spread out, and he pressed gently in the void. The momentum of his body's descent suddenly slowed, and he landed as lightly as a feather on the head of that Bull-Headed Scale Beast.

"The people of Profound City, listen to my orders! Continue to move east along the Black Abyss. Pay attention to changes in spatial rifts along the way, and do not stray into them." A voice that was not very loud sounded, but with a mind-shaking power, it penetrated into everyone's hearts.

"It's time to set off," Chen Yang said, and then left with Xie Daoren.

After that, the two 队伍 set off again, one in front of the other, and slowly headed east.

The Black Abyss stretched eastward all the way, and it was not exactly the same along the way. Some places were obviously wider, and the range of spatial rifts above was obviously wider.

Along the way, one could occasionally see some Scale Beasts accidentally entering the range of spatial rifts. They would immediately be drawn into the spatial rifts and directly cut into pieces. Their deaths were very tragic.

There were also some Scale Beasts that were good at flying. While being pursued by their natural enemies, they passed over the Black Abyss and were torn down by the powerful attraction from the huge vortex in the abyss and swallowed into the vortex.

Han Li had personally witnessed a Four-Winged Scale Hawk spreading its wings in the sky a thousand feet above, flying out of the clouds, and flapping its four wings in an attempt to cross the Black Abyss.

As a result, as soon as it flew over the abyss, it was as if it had been hit in the spine by a giant mace. Its body suddenly folded in the middle and fell rapidly, directly smashing into a black vortex.