Yuan Ming and his two companions closely followed Yan Xiang and his companion, quickly heading towards the peak. Shortly thereafter, they arrived at a slightly more level platform where two grand palaces with golden roofs and red walls stood facing each other at a distance.

Gu Xuanyang and Daoist Qian Bao, who were at the forefront, had already rushed towards the palace on the right.

Around that palace, golden circular arrays emerged on the ground, forming a golden light Forbidden that enveloped the entire building in the manner of a Golden Bell.

Without a word, Gu Xuanyang continuously bombarded the golden light Forbidden with the Golden Turtle Mountain Breaking Strike. Huge palm prints kept beating against the Golden Bell protective shield, causing the Forbidden to tremble violently, issuing "clang clang" sounds of golden iron clashing.

Yan Xiang and Lei He, following closely behind, saw this and did not hesitate to fling themselves at the palace to the left, also beginning to attempt to break the Forbidden.

The two palaces were identical in style, and there was no difference in their Forbidden.

Even under Gu Xuanyang's sustained attacks, the Forbidden had yet to be broken, and Yan Xiang and his companion were falling even further behind.

Yuan Ming and his companions arrived and immediately took action as well.

With the combined efforts of the five, the speed of breaking the Forbidden visibly accelerated. Observing the Forbidden's golden light fading bit by bit, it seemed that in just a short while, they would be able to enter the palace and search for treasures.

Expressions of joy appeared on everyone's faces involuntarily. Gu Xuanyang, on the other hand, had a slightly unpleasant expression and increased the intensity of his attacks.

"Fellow Daoist Yuan..."

As Yuan Ming was exerting himself in the attack, a voice from the Shura Blood Devouring Map Artifact Spirit suddenly sounded in his Sea of Consciousness.

"What is it?" he couldn't help but feel a slight shock, asking the question through transmitted thought.

"This Forbidden is about to be broken, and I have something extremely important to inform you of beforehand," said the Artifact Spirit.

Yuan Ming's attack slowed instinctively, as he sensed something amiss. He was very familiar with the Artifact Spirit's voice but the tone was entirely different from before.

"What is it?" Yuan Ming asked while continuing to use the Magic Treasure to attack the palace's Forbidden.

"After you enter this palace, nothing else matters but the black stick leaning against the wall by the door. It is of utmost importance, and must not fall into the hands of others. Remember, remember," the voice of the Artifact Spirit urged.

"Shura Blood Devouring Map Artifact Spirit wouldn't know these things. Who exactly are you? Have you controlled the Artifact Spirit?" Yuan Ming's voice suddenly turned cold, as he questioned through transmitted thought.

Although not a Cultivator, the Artifact Spirit was also an entity with a Divine Soul. His Divine Soul was growing increasingly powerful, and Yuan Ming could feel that the Artifact Spirit's Soul Wave at this moment was different from before.

"Fellow Daoist Yuan has keen observation, indeed. I am not the Artifact Spirit. I merely have some connection with the Shura Blood Devouring Map and am communicating with you through this treasure. The matter is of great importance; I hope you don't take offense," said the Artifact Spirit with a chuckle.

"Of great importance? Who are you, if I may ask?" Yuan Ming's thoughts raced as he inquired.

"You may call me Qi Ye," said the Artifact Spirit.

"Qi Ye? Please forgive my ignorance; I have never heard of Fellow Daoist's esteemed name. Are you a native of the Eastern Sea?" Yuan Ming asked thoughtfully.

"I come from the Overseas World and am not a person from the Eastern Sea. Naturally, you wouldn't know of me," chuckled Qi Ye.

"Fellow Daoist comes from the Overseas World! The world beyond the outer sea?" Yuan Ming exclaimed in surprise.

"Indeed," said Qi Ye calmly.

Yuan Ming fell silent. He had only heard of one person from the Overseas World, the foreign visitor who had given the Shura Blood Devouring Map to the Shura Master. And now, another such individual had appeared.

Wait, this person just said they had some connection with the Shura Blood Devouring Map, which was how they could control the Artifact Spirit to communicate with him—could it be...

"It turns out the senior is the foreign visitor from Overseas. My apologies for any disrespect. Presently, there are many Cultivators on Three Immortals Island, including several at the Nascent Soul Stage. Why would senior divulge matters of the black stick to me, a mere Core Formation Stage cultivator? With senior's capabilities, even without the Shura Blood Devouring Map as a medium, communication with others should not be difficult," Yuan Ming probed purposefully.

"I divulged this information to you for two reasons. Firstly because you possess the Shura Blood Devouring Map, and secondly, I sensed the aura of the Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill on you and felt some connection between us. As for the others, I do not trust them," chuckled Qi Ye.

With these words, Yuan Ming was almost certain that this individual was the foreign visitor who had entrusted the Shura Blood Devouring Map to the Shura Master.

"I see. Senior must also be on Three Immortals Island at this time, right? Why not show yourself in person?" he inquired.

"Ah, it's not that I'm unwilling, but rather incapable. You must have guessed my identity since you subdued the Shura Blood Devouring Map. To be candid, I am currently trapped on an isolated island and utterly unable to free myself. My reaching out to you, aside from the two reasons mentioned before, is that I hope you could help release me from my predicament for the Shura Blood Devouring Map's sake," sighed Qi Ye as he explained.

"How does senior wish for my help?" asked Yuan Ming after a brief contemplation upon hearing this.

"Speaking now would be of no use; first, you need to acquire that black stick. Once you have it, you will know what to do next. Of course, I won't let you make the effort in vain. As a reward, I will help you obtain a real Spiritual Treasure on Three Immortals Island," Qi Ye offered.

"Spiritual Treasure!"

Upon hearing these two words, Yuan Ming's heartbeat involuntarily quickened.

The significance of this item in the heart of any Core Formation, no, any Nascent Soul cultivator was immeasurable. After all, even a mere imitation of a Spiritual Treasure could exert great power beyond what a Magic Treasure could, significantly enhancing one's own strength, let alone a real Spiritual Treasure.

Although he already possessed the Shura Blood Devouring Map, when it came to treasures like Spiritual Treasures, more was always better.

However, Yuan Ming was not so easily swayed by Qi Ye's tempting words. He could not confirm the truth of what he'd said, nor even the identity of Qi Ye.

Who knows if this is one of the trials of Three Immortals Island?

"If senior cannot explain how you can help me clearly, I think it's better to wait until after we have broken through the forbidden restrictions, and then we can discuss," Yuan Ming said indifferently.

"Fellow Daoist Yuan... I can communicate with you through the Artifact Spirit for only a short time, and if we continue talking, he will discover us. You must trust me, I have no intention to harm you, and you must do as I say, or not only will I remain trapped on Three Immortals Island, but you, Fellow Daoist, will eventually be unable to escape death..." Qi Ye's tone became somewhat urgent, but before he could finish, his voice gradually silenced.

His last words, nearly pleading in tone, made Yuan Ming rather believe him a bit.

However, his reason was always present; he could not simply trust someone he had never met based on their words alone. He remained skeptical in his heart, ready to wait and see what would happen.

"Speaking of which, who is this 'he' that Qi Ye is referring to in his speech? He seems quite afraid of that 'he'," Yuan Ming pondered with curiosity.

As he was musing, the sound of a dragon's cry filled the air, and Golden Transformation Master struck down heavily with his palm, the restriction that had been jointly attacked by several people finally collapsed, unable to maintain itself any longer, and turned into golden light that scattered and shattered.

They were all overjoyed, jostling each other to push open the doors of the great hall and enter.

Almost at the same moment, the great hall opposite also burst open, and Gu Xuanyang and Daoist Qian Bao slipped inside.

After walking through a short corridor, the space in front of Yuan Ming and his companions suddenly opened up, revealing a spacious hall about fifty or sixty zhang in length and width.

The light inside the hall was rather dim, yet it did not affect everyone's vision. Almost at the same time, everyone's gaze was drawn to a golden desk set up in front of them.

On the golden desk lay a wholly red furnace, an ancient dark red painting, a fist-sized red orb, and an exquisitely made red shuttle.

Yuan Ming's gaze was drawn over only for a moment; he immediately subconsciously looked toward the wall beside the door behind him.

Just as Qi Ye had said, behind the door on the right side of the wall, there was an arm-thick, forearm-length black stick, slantingly inserted into a crack in the wall, looking like a dirty fire-burning stick, not at all eye-catching.

Taking advantage of the others' hasty rush toward the golden desk, Yuan Ming quietly pulled the black fire-burning stick from the wall without making a sound, and without even having time to look closely at it, he immediately stored it in his storage magic tool.

And at the moment he pulled out the fire-burning stick, a golden light suddenly lit up in the gap in the wall, and a fluttering golden page flew out from inside.

"This is..." Without any hesitation, Yuan Ming immediately grabbed it, discreetly taking the golden page into the palm of his hand.

As he touched the golden page, it turned into a speck of golden light that entered his palm, and at the same time, a message also directly penetrated his mind.

Yuan Ming's expression slightly changed, his gaze flickered a few times before quickly returning to calm.

Fortunately, the others were currently hotly disputing over the treasures on the desk, immersed in their excitement. None of them noticed Yuan Ming's small movements and the change in his expression at the back.

Yuan Ming's mind sank into his Sea of Consciousness, and he discovered that an additional golden page had appeared there, densely covered with text totaling several thousand words.

In the blank space on the right side of the page, four large characters were written vertically in ancient seal script: "Golden Sunflower Heavenly Book."

"Golden Sunflower Heavenly Book... could this be the Golden Sunflower Heavenly Book?"

Yuan Ming's face remained calm, but a storm had already risen in his heart.

Suppressing his excitement, he began to read the text on the golden page carefully.

The page contained a secret technique known as "Six Jia Qimen." The content was not much, but it was profound. If one did not have a foundation in mathematics, it would not be easy to understand.

Luckily, Yuan Ming had a broad range of knowledge and quickly understood the crux of it. He learned that it was a secret technique based on the Eight Diagrams Directions that incorporated Qimen Changes. It enabled one to take objects out of thin air and also allowed for the swapping of one's spatial position with other things through secret techniques; if applied properly in combat against an enemy, it could lead to surprise victories.

While he was contemplating the "Six Jia Qimen" secret technique, the others had already finished distributing the treasures on the table and had reached a preliminary agreement.

Golden Transformation Master took the red furnace into his bag, Lei He seized the ancient painting, and Yan Xiang got the red orb. The only thing was that when Long Chong tried to take the red shuttle, an accident occurred.

The object was quite odd; when Long Chong grabbed it, its surface flashed with a red light, and it disappeared instantly from his hands.

When Long Chong attempted to grab it again, the object, like a living thing, flashed away, heading toward the direction of the hall's doors.

Yan Xiang was delighted and quickly waved his palm forward. Before his hand could reach it, flames condensed into a red palm which grabbed the red shuttle.

However, just when he thought he had succeeded, the red shuttle within the red palm flashed again and disappeared without a trace.

Golden Transformation Master, who had taken up the red furnace, arrived with a flash, and raised his hand to condense a blue mass of water to engulf the red shuttle. Yet the moment it touched the object, it flashed once more with light and turned into a red beam, heading straight outside the hall at an extremely fast speed.

Standing at the doorway, Yuan Ming instinctively moved to act, but his expression suddenly shifted. The hand he had just raised lowered once again.

At that moment, two figures hurriedly approached from outside the hall, it was Gu Xuanyang and Daoist Qian Bao.

They also noticed the red shuttle speeding towards them, and their faces immediately showed a look of surprise and pleasure, inwardly cursing Golden Transformation Master and the others as useless.

Gu Xuanyang made sealing motions with both hands in front of him, and golden light burst forth from his palms. Unlike the sharp aura when he had performed the Golden Turtle Mountain Breaking Strike earlier, it was now a soft force like golden silk wrapping around his hands.

With his palms pushing forward, a golden vortex sprang from his hands, aiming for the red light.

As the red shuttle neared the golden vortex, it was suddenly pulled in as if jerked forward, despite there being some distance, and crashed directly into the vortex.

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