When Cao Chenfeng stepped out of the door again, he found himself standing before a series of mountain tunnels, at least a dozen of them. Each cave branched in an unknown direction, and no one could tell where they led.
Closing his eyes, Cao Chenfeng recalled the map Mo Yue had given him, only to realize that this path was not recorded on it.
Thanks to Long Four's antics, the difficulty of passing through the Zanglong Hall had increased. In the end, Cao Chenfeng selected the central path.
To him, there were never many paths. The Dao had only one direction, and the most upright, centered path was always the one he would take.
As soon as he entered, the cave behind him sealed shut and two more openings appeared.
When Hua Lei arrived and chose a tunnel, another four passages appeared. By the time Du Yanran reached the area, sixteen new tunnels had emerged.
Faced with so many entrances, Du Yanran was at a loss. She eventually decided to rely on luck, closed her eyes, and picked one at random.
Without Jian Dan around, her luck was still decent. She happened to choose the second-fastest route toward the final destination.
As more cultivators poured in, the entire Zanglong Hall became lively. All around were scenes of people battling puppets and various spirit beasts.
Cao Chenfeng advanced steadily, cutting down every obstacle, until he reached the Zanglong Pavilion.
He paused at the entrance. In his eyes, this was no ordinary building. It was clearly a dragon's skeleton.
At the skull, there hovered a swirling mass of blood, the size of a goose egg.
Nestled inside the dragon's mouth was a similarly sized, glowing golden dragon pearl.
Any one of these three items was a rare opportunity for any cultivator.
But Cao Chenfeng remembered the tiny line of text at the bottom of Mo Yue's map, written so small it could be mistaken for an insect: Take only one.
So each time he passed a trial, he only took a single item.
Now, before the dragon skeleton, Cao Chenfeng chose carefully. Following the route in his mind, he moved to the dragon's skull and approached the hovering blood orb.
He retrieved a white storage bottle, ready to collect the blood, when the orb suddenly transformed into a miniature crimson dragon.
"Trying to collect me? Let's see if you're up to the task."
With those words, the blood dragon shot into Cao Chenfeng's sea of consciousness.
Cao Chenfeng reacted instantly, activating a Five Elements defensive formation. His soul sphere floated into his consciousness, but the blood dragon wrapped itself around it like dumpling skin over filling.
What followed was a drawn-out mental battle. Cao Chenfeng was shown the life and memories of a five-clawed golden dragon.
The blood sought to feed off Cao Chenfeng's soul, while he used his pure yang constitution and iron will to stay conscious, beginning the process of refining the essence.
Thus began their tug-of-war.
Meanwhile, Hua Xi and Hua Lei arrived at the pavilion and, resisting greed, each chose a separate level to enter and began their final trials.
Du Yanran was the fourth to arrive. With knowledge from her past life, she knew the true treasure was the "True Dragon's Blood," and made straight for it.
Upon seeing the protective formation around the treasure, her face twisted in anger. Someone had beaten her to it.
Gritting her teeth, Du Yanran pulled out a Formation-Breaking Awl. She had gone through great effort to get it from Fan Ji'an, and now she would see just who had taken what was hers.
She formed hand seals and began dismantling the array.
Inside the formation, Cao Chenfeng was locked in mental combat, unaware of the threat outside.
Hua Xi and Hua Lei, sharing a deep sibling bond, soon reunited inside the pavilion. Together, they broke through the True Dragon's Killing Field and successfully obtained the dragon pearl.
Using the floral imprint as a guide, they found Du Yanran. What they saw made Hua Lei wish he could gouge out his own eyes.
Du Yanran had stripped Cao Chenfeng of his robes and was straddling him.
Hua Xi shouted at her brother, "Quick, take her down!"
With a grim face, Hua Lei struck. A single move from his lightning vine destroyed the formation.
Du Yanran hadn't expected her array to collapse so easily. She quickly rolled off Cao Chenfeng.
It was the first time the Hua siblings had seen such shamelessness in a female cultivator. Everything inside the formation had been visible to them through the floral imprint.
Outside, Cao Chenfeng had felt it all. When the array broke, it disrupted his focus and nearly damaged his soul.
When Du Yanran began absorbing the pure yang energy from his body, his expression changed for the first time.
He had anticipated danger in the secret realm, but never from a female cultivator.
Cao Chenfeng was proud and strong. He hadn't even formed his Yuányīng yet. If this woman succeeded, his cultivation would be forever capped at the peak of the Golden Core. He would rather die.
Within his sea of consciousness, the soul sphere wrapped by blood began to heat up as he activated a secret technique from his pure yang constitution. He would burn his essence and perish with the blood and Du Yanran if needed.
His body grew hotter. Du Yanran mistook it for arousal and leaned in to kiss him.
She was interrupted.
"What is the meaning of this?" Hua Xi asked coldly.
A flicker of disdain crossed her eyes. She said bluntly, "What? Couldn't seduce my junior brother so you targeted Cao Chenfeng instead?"
Hua Lei added, "Why waste time talking to her? This shameless woman relies on seducing male cultivators for power. She'll never form a Nascent Soul."
That jab hit Du Yanran hard. She drew her ribbon weapon and launched an attack.
Hua Lei met her head-on with his sword. They hadn't even settled the score over the Beast-Attracting Powder yet.
Hua Xi pretended to assist while guiding Du Yanran away from Cao Chenfeng.
Inside Cao Chenfeng's consciousness, things reached a climax. The True Dragon's Blood was beginning to evaporate.
"Wait, no need to destroy us both. We can talk. You can refine me."
Cao Chenfeng did not stop burning his essence. His body was not as important as letting this Du woman win. That, he would never allow.
"Hey, stop. This won't help you either. Your cultivation will regress. It will be harder to ascend again."
Even the wisp of dragon soul within the blood began to panic.
Cao Chenfeng finally stopped his technique.
"I don't want to refine you. I just want three drops of your blood."
The dragon soul was stunned by how modest the request was. It immediately agreed and separated three drops from its main body, quickly freeing Cao Chenfeng's soul sphere.
Cao Chenfeng returned to his body, eyes opening. He swiftly collected the blood, donned his robes, and drew his sword, charging into the battle.
The Hua siblings had held back, simply stalling Du Yanran. When Cao Chenfeng arrived, they stepped aside.
His expression did not change, but his strikes were vicious and precise.
Du Yanran was instantly overwhelmed. Her twin wood and water roots made her unsuited for combat, and her flawed Yin-Yang cultivation method left her underpowered.
One move, and Cao Chenfeng's sword carved a line across her face. She shrieked.
Before her hand could even touch her wound, the second sword was already upon her.
"Heavenly Sword Nine Forms."
Cao Chenfeng poured his spiritual energy into nine consecutive strikes, each one targeting her vital points. In an instant, Du Yanran was swallowed by a flurry of sword light.