"The Golden Core cultivator who went to explore the Lava Palace… seems to be gone…"
Li Ye's expression was grim as he set aside the jade tablet in his hand, its spiritual light completely extinguished.
"And it looks like he was killed by a force far beyond that of the ten-headed fire beasts!"
He could only make judgments based on a secret sensing technique, and the feedback from the jade tablet indicated that all his puppets had detected powerful Golden Core-level energy before they were instantly destroyed.
But comparing the previously recorded data of the ten-headed fire beasts with this recent feedback, the burst of power at that moment was not something a single ten-headed fire beast could produce.
"Was that Golden Core cultivator besieged by multiple Tier-3 fire beasts… or did he encounter something even deeper within the palace's core like a Nascent Soul-level being?"
The thought made Li Ye's scalp tingle.
If a Nascent Soul entity had truly been awakened, then the entire Lava Palace might have undergone a massive change. Whether it was still even possible to enter was now a real question.
Even if the dead Golden Core cultivator had left something behind and even if the fire beasts hadn't taken it Li Ye no longer dared to go down there!
"…Forget it. I'll wait a while longer…"
"If something really big happened down there, it's bound to show up on the surface eventually. I'll make a decision then."
Suppressing the many thoughts swirling in his mind, Li Ye's gaze flickered, and he chose to stay put for now.
......
Two years passed in the blink of an eye.
Li Ye's figure silently appeared outside a geothermal tunnel he had sealed off long ago an inconspicuous location easily overlooked by others.
Back when the Lava Palace had drawn in numerous cultivators, quite a few had tried to gather local intel and sneak in through remote paths. But either they were stopped by the great array protecting the palace, or if they managed to break through not many ever made it back.
The rest had been frightened off by Li Ye's silent killing of Bihuozi and a group of demonic cultivators, their fates serving as a stark warning.
As a result, apart from the few marked entrances near Tengyun Market, very few cultivators had a clear grasp of the surrounding routes. This place, in particular, remained virtually undiscovered.
"It's already been a year, and there's still no unusual activity underground. Even the expansion of the formation restrictions seems to have slowed down. The fire beasts that killed Bihu Sanren haven't emerged from the palace either…"
"And whoever might have been behind it all… hasn't shown themselves either…"
Li Ye pondered quietly.
Ever since the Golden Core cultivator who had entered the Lava Palace died, Li Ye had waited an entire year without detecting any further disturbances before finally recalling his puppets.
He then reviewed all the data recorded from the moment that Golden Core entered the palace until the very end.
Only then did he fully understand what had happened and confirmed his earlier suspicion: the cultivator was indeed Bihu Sanren, whose lifespan had been nearing its end.
However, the rock puppets Li Ye had deployed had only been stationed at the outer perimeter; they had not entered the main body of the Lava Palace. The high walls and restrictive barriers had prevented them from capturing what occurred inside.
All they saw was a golden light suddenly enveloping Bihu Sanren as flames erupted from his body and he shot out of the palace only to die from his injuries shortly after on a small man-made island.
What puzzled Li Ye, even more, was that no fire beasts pursued him. Observing his condition before death bleeding from all seven orifices, consciousness fading it didn't seem like he was simply overwhelmed by Tier-3 fire beasts.
This confirmed Li Ye's suspicions. Even if Bihu Sanren's remains and belongings were still lying untouched on that small island, Li Ye didn't dare to dive in headfirst.
The Lava Palace ran too deep. If even a Golden Core expert could be silently drowned in it, why would he risk blindly jumping into such peril?
So, he decided to wait another year.
During that time, his puppet techniques thanks to feedback from spiritual farming had reached Tier-3 level. Using numerous Tier-3 puppet components he had previously gathered, he had upgraded his life-bound puppet to a quasi-Tier-3 state.
This improvement is also reflected in his progress in the Heavenly Craft Scripture, bringing his mastery to the second refined layer. His control over his life-bound puppet had improved significantly, especially in terms of range and safety.
Meanwhile, repeated puppet observations had shown no significant changes in the palace. Some daring cultivators had even begun approaching him again to trade for entrance tokens, hoping to hunt fire beasts in the tunnels.
Though dangerous, the Lava Palace still offered valuable fire beast cores. And even if those cultivators only dared roam the geothermal passageways to kill weaker beasts, it was only a matter of time before someone stumbled upon Bihu Sanren's corpse and relics on the island.
Now that all signs pointed to relative safety and activity in the palace's outer perimeter had resumed Li Ye finally decided: no more waiting.
He was here to retrieve Bihu Sanren's belongings.
"Luckily, Thousand Island Water City never sent anyone to retrieve Bihu Sanren's body or possessions…"
"They only did a brief investigation after his death, and then dropped the matter."
Li Ye muttered to himself, "Of course, it's also possible Bihu Sanren made arrangements beforehand and left anything valuable to his disciples…"
"But if even a Golden Core was quietly killed here, it's only logical for his disciples to stay behind and focus on stabilizing the situation in Thousand Island Water City. If they sent more people and suffered more losses, they wouldn't be able to bear it. So this choice makes sense."
As his thoughts churned, his preparations were also coming to an end.
He laid a carefully disguised illusion array over the previously sealed formation, perfectly mimicking the surrounding terrain.
This way, even if his puppet made a commotion while retrieving the body and caught the attention of fire beasts, it wouldn't immediately draw other people to investigate this spot.
Sitting cross-legged, Li Ye held his Qingfeng Sword and condensed more pure green-wood spiritual light, merging it with his protective aura to reinforce his defense.
His spiritual sense was now fully focused on his life-bound puppet, commanding it to rush into the geothermal tunnel and dive underground at top speed.
…
With his current formation skills and puppet power, the outer restrictions posed no real obstacle.
Before long, his puppet smoothly descended into the lava layer, emerging from a remote corner.
"Bihu Sanren died on a building island closer to the central inner region. With the help of his disciple token, reaching that spot carefully shouldn't be a problem…"
"The only real danger lies in the Tier-3 fire beasts lurking in the Lava Palace."
Li Ye mentally noted.
At the moment, there were no other cultivators inside the palace only a few scattered fire beasts wandering about.
Guided by his will, the puppet moved like an extension of himself, carefully selecting the safest path and traversing the building islands one after another.
It moved as if it were returning home smoothly and without pause.
With no detours or unnecessary searching, the puppet reached the island where Bihu Sanren had perished in less than a day.
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