Yuan Ming, within the space of the Stealing Heaven Tripod, had just approached the enormous Sword Trace Rift in front of the altar when he sensed an intensely fierce aura emanating from within and immediately halted his steps.

He took out several Fire Spirit Peaches from his storage magic tool, which he had previously picked in the Peach Forest, and threw them into the rift.

The Fire Spirit Peaches traced an arc in mid-air before falling into the rift.

The initially calm rift suddenly churned with mist, and before Yuan Ming could see clearly what had happened, he saw that the peaches had turned into dust and vanished in smoke.

Yuan Ming swallowed his saliva, felt a chill in his heart, and immediately stopped, no longer daring to approach any closer.

He walked a distance away and then sat down cross-legged, separating his Divine Sense from his body and extending it outside of the Stealing Heaven Tripod to survey the area beyond the Li Palace.

At this moment, the situation outside had already turned terribly dire.

The group that had just been fiercely battling now seemed to have fallen into a disadvantageous position.

The Golden Transformation Master was surrounded by three black Tree Men over six meters tall, tightly entwined by vines and roots, which had woven into a giant black cocoon, trapping him completely with no hope of escape.

Yan Xiang was still continuously swinging the Mystic Fire Fan in his hand, creating a circular wall of intense flames that kept hundreds of black Tree Men at bay.

His hair disheveled, his body showed clear signs of injury, blood drenched, with even his legs and waist bearing marks of being entwined by tree vines; his overall condition looked extremely grim, evidently nearing his limit.

As for the Golden Cloud Fairy, she had vanished without a trace, leaving one to wonder whether she had escaped or met with some misfortune, while Jin Chao was still struggling in the fierce battle.

The demonic power of Jin Chao's clone had diminished considerably for unknown reasons, and he faced far more Tree Men than the others, already showing signs of exhaustion.

On the other side, Gu Xuanyang, holding the Ancient Bronze Sword, saw patterns on the blade light up, emitting rings of faint azure light. Every strike of his sword released a beam of azure sword light, severing black Tree Men wherever it passed.

However, his expression was not good; wielding his sword, he darted through the army of Tree Men, continuously shattering those ordinary Tree Men, seeking a path to break out.

Yet, those black Tree Men seemed endless, no matter which direction he broke towards; he always met an unending sea of trees, and his attempts to break through were repeatedly thwarted.

"Ha!"

With a long cry from his mouth, he suddenly switched from holding his sword with one hand to both hands. The fluctuation around his body surged dramatically, and with an axe-like chop, he slashed forward.

The Ancient Bronze Sword emitted a sword light hundreds of meters long that fell alongside the blade.

Under the sword light, the void trembled, shattering hundreds of black Tree Men into dust.

A crack about a meter wide appeared on the ground, stretching over a hundred meters, even slashing a huge gap in the distant palace wall.

Seeing this, Gu Xuanyang leaped forward, rushing along the sword trace he had created towards the outside of the palace wall.

The others, seeing this, also found their direction and began to charge towards that side.

Suddenly, from within the nearly completed cocoon, a dazzling blue light shone, followed by sounds of dragon's roars.

Nine enormous Azure Dragon phantoms burst out of the cocoon, bringing with them huge waves, shattering it.

Not far away, the Golden Transformation Master held a green round bead that revealed dragon shadows, riding on an Azure Dragon formed from condensed water waves, flying away into the distance.

But before he could leave the range of the Fire Essence Palace, thousands of black wood fibers flew towards him like rain, forcefully stopping him.

The three Tree Men that had previously trapped him were now sprinting after him, their vines stretching out to each other, entangling and connecting.

In no time, the three black Tree Men merged with each other, ultimately forming a giant nine meters tall.

The giant Tree Man's aura surged, emitting an imposing pressure that had reached the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, its might extremely astonishing.

With one step, covering more than ten meters, it caught up with the Golden Transformation Master, who was being pelted back by the rain of wooden fibers, and a gigantic hand, like a cage, enveloped him.

As a layer of black light shone in its palm, no sign of resistance came from the Golden Transformation Master within that cage.

On the other hand, Yan Xiang, who had consumed a vast amount of mana but had no time to replenish, found the power of his Mystic Fire Fan greatly reduced. Pressed by a dozen Tree Men with wood vine armor on their chests, he was overwhelmed and captured near the flames.

Not far from him, Jin Chao's clone had depleted his strength, unable to muster even a trace of Flame Sun Power, and the power of the flames he released diminished drastically, unable to hold for a moment before being captured by a bizarre Tree Man with three heads and six arms.

One of that Tree Man's palms had formed a vine cage, inside of which was the unconscious Golden Cloud Fairy.

Gu Xuanyang, reaching the breach in the palace wall, felt a glimmer of hope to escape, but suddenly a figure flashed in front of him.

Its appearance was similar to other Tree Men, but it wore a tattered coarse cloth robe and a hat woven from straw, resembling a peasant from the fields.

In other places, Gu Xuanyang might not even spare such a strangely dressed individual a glance, but here it set off alarm bells in his heart, filling him with dread.

At this moment, Yuan Ming, observing this scene with his Divine Sense, was even more shocked.

That person's attire was all too familiar to him; wasn't that Zhao Gui from Qing Gui Village who had offered him tea?

He was actually a Tree Man as well?

"Move aside." Gu Xuanyang gasped for breath and bellowed angrily.

As he shouted, he lifted the Ancient Bronze Sword in his hand again and cleaved towards the bizarre Tree Man.

The latter did not utter a word, nor did it show any signs of dodging. Instead, it charged straight towards him with a speed that was astonishing.

Just as the sword light fell, Zhao Gui's palm suddenly lifted, unveiling a short-handled hoe enveloped in a dull yellow glow, blocking the strike.

With a loud bang!

A ripple of light spread in all directions, and the Ancient Bronze Sword seemed to have struck a mountain, rebounding back with immense force, causing Gu Xuanyang to stagger.

In contrast, Zhao Gui remained unmoved, only slightly sinking his form before rushing forward, pressing his shoulder against Gu Xuanyang's chest.

A surge of yellow light exploded from his shoulder, forming a yellow halo, seemingly revealing a miniature Array.

There was a muffled bang!

Gu Xuanyang's chest sank inward as if struck by a huge rock, blood spurting from his mouth, and his body fell backward like a kite with its string cut, severely wounded.

Before he could hit the ground, Zhao Gui's extended palm transformed into vine-like tendrils that wrapped around him, binding him like a rice dumpling.

In less than half an hour, these Nascent Soul cultivators, who had once dominated the East Sea, were all defeated and captured.

Yuan Ming was shocked and bewildered, unable to understand how these Tree Men suddenly appeared in such numbers, among them some of Core Formation Nascent Soul level.

What puzzled him even more was the nature of Zhao Gui's existence.

Before he could figure it out, another anomaly occurred.

Suddenly, from within the main hall of the Fire Essence Palace, a thunderous noise erupted, and a majestic golden light shot straight out, hovering above the Fire Essence Palace.

Upon sensing it with his Divine Sense, Yuan Ming felt an overwhelming power that made it impossible for him to look directly.

In the dazzling light, an ancient golden Divine Bow emerged from thin air!

The moment the Golden Divine Bow appeared, it seemed as if the majesty of heaven had descended, emitting a pressure that overpowered everything.

The black Tree Men rampaging in the Fire Essence Palace, as if summoned, all turned their gaze toward the floating golden Divine Bow, their bodies involuntarily trembling slightly.

Zhao Gui, dressed like an old farmer and one of the strange Tree Men, after staring at the Divine Bow for a moment, turned with Gu Xuanyang and left.

The nine-meter-tall giant Tree Man holding Golden Transformation Master also followed suit and departed.

Similarly, the two other oddly-shaped Tree Men who had captured Yan Xiang, Golden Cloud Fairy, and Jin Chao Clone also hastened towards the outside of the Fire Essence Palace.

At that moment, a severe fluctuation of Spiritual Power emanated from the sky-bound golden Divine Bow, and a swirling golden light vortex emerged.

From the direction of the Kan Palace, five golden lights rapidly approached, transforming into five Golden Crow Divine Arrows that landed on the bowstring, pulling it taut like a full moon.

The next instant, the stretched bowstring snapped back, making a sound like thunder.

The five Divine Arrows whooshed out, turning into five thick beams of golden light that struck different parts of the Fire Essence Palace.

The arrows landed with a booming sound, continuously exploding!

Threads of fine golden light, like thousands of serpents, burst forth, shooting in all directions. Wherever they passed, hundreds of black Tree Men were pierced by the light, their chests burnt into large crimson holes.

Clusters of black Tree Men fell like harvested wheat, the majority dying instantly, while those Tree Men fortunate enough to survive scrambled towards the palace exit in a panic.

After a round of arrowfire, the divine power of the golden Divine Bow retracted and transformed back into a golden light, returning to the central palace.

Yuan Ming, hidden within the Stealing Heaven Tripod, watched this scene unfold. Although not present at the scene, he couldn't help but feel his heart race.

Although calm seemed to have temporarily returned outside, he did not rush to leave. Instead, he took out Lei He's Storage Bag and began to examine it.

Soon, Yuan Ming took out the black short cone.

Among the Magic Treasures Lei He carried, what interested him the most was the God Bombarding Cone that could be paired with his Thunder God Hammer.

Yuan Ming held the God Bombarding Cone carefully in his hands. Despite being less than a foot long, all-black, and unevenly surfaced as though hammered thousands of times, it felt ice-cold to the touch, with a faint tingling sensation like a mild electric shock.

In terms of material and texture, the God Bombarding Cone was not exactly the same as the Thunder God Hammer, but when Yuan Ming placed them together, the two Magic Treasures inexplicably generated a connection fluctuation.

Trace electric currents led them closer, the two artifacts drawing near like long-lost friends, sharing some ineffable, profound connection.

Without any hesitation, Yuan Ming held the God Bombarding Cone and began to refine it right away.

Before long, after refining the God Bombarding Cone, the gentle electric sensation that came from it had vanished. At the flick of Yuan Ming's finger, bursts of blue electric arcs leaped forth, crackling loudly.

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