In Great Ruins, inside a palace.

The palace was vast, spanning hundreds of zhang in all directions. The floor was paved with dark green tiles, and the walls were of the same color, filling the hall with a cold and eerie atmosphere.

In the very center of the palace stood a square altar platform, upon which three figures stood.

The central figure was none other than E Kui. Madam Liu Hua and the hawk-nosed man stood to his left and right, respectively.

The ground near the altar was in a state of chaos, riddled with numerous deep pits filled with shattered puppet fragments, a clear indication of a fierce battle. The outcome was self-evident.

E Kui ignored the surroundings, his gaze fixed on the top of the altar.

The top of the altar was circular, smooth, and flat, covered in densely packed star runes that formed a complex star formation.

In the center of the star formation, a blood-red object was inserted.

Most of it was submerged within the altar, obscuring its exact form.

Dazzling white light emanated from the star formation, forming a white pillar of light that firmly guarded the blood-red object within.

"Fellow Daoist Liu Hua," E Kui said, glancing at Madam Liu Hua.

Madam Liu Hua responded with a nod and busied herself on the altar, rapidly inserting star restriction devices around the formation. At the same time, she took out the Star Ripple Brush and swiftly inscribed patterns on the outside of the formation.

After a full half-hour of work, she finally stopped, having placed another layer of formation restrictions outside the star formation on the altar.

Madam Liu Hua chanted incantations, then flicked her finger, sending a beam of white light from her fingertip.

The formation outside the altar suddenly activated, humming and rotating, emitting streams of white light that plunged into the white pillar of light on the altar.

The white light was not intense, but as soon as it entered the white pillar, it was as if it had encountered its nemesis, rapidly causing the pillar to collapse and reveal the blood-red object within.

"Hehe, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua is indeed worthy of her reputation, easily breaking through the Stellar Sky Pivot Grand Formation," E Kui said with satisfaction upon seeing this.

"City Lord is too kind. Please hurry, as this Anti-Sky Pivot Grand Formation was hastily set up and will soon lose its effectiveness," Madam Liu Hua said modestly.

E Kui nodded upon hearing this, and with a shift of his body, he ascended the altar and walked toward the blood-red object.

The array patterns on the altar were still active. As E Kui stepped onto them, they instantly reacted as if stimulated, emitting a dazzling white light, like countless light arrows shooting toward E Kui.

However, as soon as this white light approached E Kui's body, it immediately dimmed and faded into nothingness, failing to impede his progress in the slightest.

E Kui walked casually, reaching the white object in a few steps. He reached out, grabbed it, and pulled it upwards with force.

The blood-red object emitted a dazzling blood light as it slowly rose.

At that moment, the entire altar began to rumble and shake, and even the surrounding palace trembled.

E Kui paid no attention to the surrounding situation, his face serious. Mystic Aperture light faintly appeared on his arms, indicating that pulling out this blood-red object was not an easy task for him.

The blood-red object was gradually pulled out, revealing itself to be a half-foot-long object, but the blood light on it was too bright to see clearly.

When the last bit of the object was pulled out, a sound like shattering occurred, and all the white light on the altar dimmed, turning the patterns on it gray.

The blood light on the blood-red object also dissipated, revealing its true form: a half-foot-long, ancient key, entirely blood-red, seemingly made of some ancient jade.

The key was covered with countless tiny runes, making it clear that it was no ordinary object.

"The second one," E Kui muttered, looking at the key in his hand.

"Congratulations, City Lord," the hawk-nosed man congratulated.

Madam Liu Hua remained indifferent, saying nothing.

……

At the same time, in a dark underground cave somewhere in Great Ruins.

Blood-red lines were engraved on the stone walls of the cave's ceiling, crisscrossing to form a massive formation.

Strands of blood light emanated from the formation, illuminating the dark space slightly, vaguely revealing figures standing on the ground beneath the formation.

These figures were densely packed, stretching to the end of the line of sight, numbering who knows how many.

The blood-red formation at the top of the cave flickered violently twice, then went out completely, plunging the entire underground cave into utter darkness.

However, at that moment, the eyes of one of the figures standing on the ground suddenly flashed, lighting up two points of white light, and the lowered head slowly lifted.

As if it were a trigger, the eyes of the figures in the underground cave lit up one after another, and in the blink of an eye, the entire cave was illuminated by countless points of white light, like the stars twinkling in the night sky.

……

Han Li and Shi Chuan Kong were naturally unaware of these changes occurring underground.

At this time, they were still exploring deep within the plaza beneath the altar.

The plaza was so vast that the two of them searched for another half a day before finally finding a hidden shrine deep within.

The shrine was no more than a hundred zhang tall, built entirely of huge black stone blocks. It had little external decoration, but the two huge stone doors, tightly closed, were carved with a strange night sky star chart.

"Brother Li, I bet that inside this stone palace, there must be powerful puppets far stronger than before. Do you believe it?" Shi Chuan Kong asked with a smile, looking at the relief on the stone door.

"I won't bet with you. There's nothing to gain from winning, and it's even more unlucky to lose. It's not worth it…" Han Li shook his head.

The two had searched many ruins and buildings along the way, mostly without success. They also encountered some puppets along the way, but they were not very strong and were quickly dealt with.

Han Li looked at Shi Chuan Kong, who seemed to have a gambling nature, and felt that something about him seemed different from before. This subtle change was not about appearance or cultivation aura, but an indescribable feeling.

Han Li knew the reason in his heart, but he never mentioned it again along the way. No matter what Shi Chuan Kong thought, Han Li kept the debt of the ‘Void Shattering Talisman’ in his heart.

"Let's go," Han Li said, putting aside the messy thoughts in his heart.

With that, he took a step forward, pressed one hand against a heavy stone door, and pushed it open with force.

"Rumble…"

Accompanied by a huge rubbing sound, the stone door slid back, revealing a gap wide enough for two people. It was pitch black inside, with a musty odor.

After a brief glance, Han Li entered with the white scimitar in one hand.

Shi Chuan Kong followed closely behind.

As soon as they entered, a flame "whooshed" on the stone walls on both sides of the shrine, and then two lines of fire spread along the stone troughs on the wall, illuminating the entire shrine.

A somewhat sweet smell filled the air, seemingly the scent of burning oil.

Illuminated by the fire, Han Li swept across the entire hall and found that not far in front of them was a rectangular pool of water, not too big or too small. The water in the pool had dried up, and two white stone arch bridges spanned it horizontally and vertically.

The surrounding stone walls were carved with various rosette patterns, with soft yet clear and three-dimensional lines, interspersed with various strange beast patterns, which looked very exquisite and beautiful.

At the end of the shrine stood seven or eight dark stone statues, the two directly facing them in a standing posture.

The statue on the left was a tall demon man with short hair standing upright, a pointed mouth, protruding fangs, wearing a black demon armor, and holding a dark purple staff the height of his eyebrows.

The staff was only the thickness of a child's arm, covered with carved thunder cloud patterns, and seemed to be made of a different material from the statue.

The statue on the right was a slender human woman, with extremely beautiful features, with very lively eyebrows and facial features. Her clothes fluttered, looking as if she was riding the wind in the air, lifelike.

Her hands were held in front of her chest, her palms holding a blood-red key about the size of her palm, reflecting crystal-like light in the illumination of the fire.

Below them, three halberd-wielding warriors were kneeling on one knee, all with the same appearance, revealing their muscular upper bodies, which looked full of power.

Han Li and the other looked at each other and walked down the stone steps in front of them, came to the edge of the pool, each looked at the dry pool in front of them, and walked one after the other onto the stone arch bridge leading to the other side.

As the two walked to the arch bridge in the center of the pool, they suddenly felt the earth under them tremble slightly. They both tightened their hearts slightly and quickly looked around, but found nothing unusual.

"Whir…" At this moment, there was a faint sound of water flowing from under the bridge.

When Han Li looked down in that direction, he found that there seemed to be a spring at the bottom of the pool, from which water was gurgling out, which soon spread to the entire pool.

"This is…" Shi Chuan Kong also said with some doubt.

"It's a little strange, let's go over there first." Han Li frowned and said.

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of water suddenly became louder, and the speed of the spring water gushing out of the pool suddenly accelerated, quickly filling most of the pool.

At the same time, streams of white mist rose from the churning water surface, shrouding the surroundings.

Han Li felt something and looked up at the top, and saw that there were twinkling white lights on the dome of the shrine, which seemed to be a bright star map.

He frowned slightly and took a step forward with Shi Chuan Kong.

With this step, the scene in front of him suddenly changed, and he came to a magnificent palace.

The sound of silk and bamboo strings playing music came from all around. Beautiful women in gorgeous colorful dresses were either holding their arms in front of their plump breasts, or holding a white jade pipa behind their necks above their heads, playing and twisting their waists at the same time, dancing a dance with sharp exotic customs.