Upon hearing Xuanfeng's words, Lin Feng immediately raised the Spirit Source Fragment high above his head. The blue light emitted by the fragment grew even stronger, like a bright lamp, attracting the Flame Lizard's attention. The Flame Lizard, which was originally preparing to launch another attack, seemed to be drawn by a mysterious force, slowly turning its head towards Lin Feng. The fierce light in its eyes showed a hint of hesitation under the blue light.

"Everyone be careful, be ready to strike at any moment!" Lin Feng shouted a warning to his companions while keeping a close eye on the fire lizard. Su Ran, Xuan Feng, and the Blood Shadow Sect woman all adjusted their stance, gathered their spiritual power, and waited for the best opportunity to attack.

The fire lizard stared at the spirit source fragment, letting out a low growl, seemingly resisting some kind of power, yet unable to suppress its curiosity about the fragment. Suddenly, it pushed off with its forelimbs and pounced towards Lin Feng with the speed of a red lightning bolt. Lin Feng was prepared; the instant the fire lizard pounced, he dodged to the side, simultaneously and swiftly retrieved the spirit source fragment. The fire lizard missed its target, its massive body crashing heavily to the ground, causing the passage to tremble violently once more.

Taking advantage of the moment before the fire lizard could rise from the ground, Su Ran swiftly formed hand seals and chanted, "Ice Binding, Condense!" Thick ice pillars suddenly sprang from the ground, instantly binding the fire lizard's limbs. The fire lizard struggled fiercely, its body ablaze with flames, attempting to melt the ice pillars. The ice pillars sizzled under the intense heat, and water began to appear on their surface, but Su Ran continuously channeled his ice spirit power, temporarily maintaining the shape of the ice pillars.

"Quick, attack its weak point!" Su Ran shouted. Xuan Feng waved his staff, and golden runes shot towards the fire lizard like meteors. The runes exploded on the lizard's body, unleashing powerful force that sent its scales flying. The Blood Shadow Sect woman transformed into a streak of blood light and charged at the fire lizard again. This time, she targeted the spot on the lizard's abdomen where Lin Feng's spear had just slashed it, and her curved blade, imbued with sharp blood spirit power, plunged down fiercely. With a "plop," the curved blade pierced deep into the fire lizard's body, and blood gushed out like a fountain. The fire lizard roared in agony, its flames dancing wildly. The ice pillars finally succumbed to the intense heat and shattered.

Seeing this, Lin Feng immediately took out another Spirit Source Fragment and infused it with Ice Spirit Power. The fragment shone brightly, the blue light and Ice Spirit Power merging to form a strange energy beam that shot towards the Flame Lizard. Struck by this energy beam, the Flame Lizard trembled violently, and its originally fierce flames gradually dimmed. Seizing this opportunity, everyone unleashed their strongest attacks. Lin Feng's Ice Spirit Spear, Su Ran's Ice Greatsword, Xuan Feng's Rune Storm, and the Blood Shadow Sect woman's Blood Spirit Curved Blade—four powerful attacks simultaneously struck the Flame Lizard.

With a deafening roar, the fire lizard finally succumbed, its massive body crashing to the ground and dissipating into a ball of flame. The surrounding sea of ​​fire also seemed to lose control, gradually extinguishing, and the temperature within the passage began to drop rapidly.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they looked at the spot where the fire lizard had disappeared, but they also felt utterly exhausted. The battle had been exceptionally fierce, draining a significant amount of their spiritual energy.

"We've finally taken care of this big guy," the Blood Shadow Sect woman said, wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Yes, thanks to the spirit source fragment in Lin Feng's possession, otherwise this battle would have been much more difficult," Su Ran said, a relieved smile on her face.

Lin Feng looked at the spirit source fragment in his hand, lost in thought: "This spirit source fragment can not only help us find other fragments, but it also seems to have a certain restraining effect on these powerful guardians. It seems that its role is far greater than we imagined."

Xuanfeng nodded: "That's right, but we can't let our guard down. We'll be searching for other fragments, and we might encounter even stronger enemies. Let's rest for a bit, recover our spiritual energy, and then see if we can find any clues about the next fragment here."

Everyone found a place to sit down and began to cultivate with their eyes closed, recovering their spiritual energy. After about an hour, everyone's spiritual energy had almost recovered. They began to search the passage carefully, hoping to find clues related to the next fragment of spiritual source.

At the end of the passage, they discovered a massive stone wall covered with strange patterns and characters. The patterns seemed to depict a grand battle, while the characters resembled an ancient, obscure language.

Xuanfeng stepped forward and carefully examined the text and patterns on the stone wall, trying to decipher useful information from them. As he looked, he gently touched the stone wall with his fingers, feeling the traces of time on it.

“These characters seem to have some similarities to the runes we’ve seen before, but they’re not exactly the same,” Xuanfeng said, frowning.

Lin Feng also stepped forward, using his ice spirit power to try and sense whether there were any lingering spiritual energy fluctuations on the stone wall. Suddenly...

Lin Feng used his ice spirit power to probe the stone wall, and a faint yet peculiar fluctuation of spiritual energy traveled from his fingertips. This fluctuation seemed to have a life of its own, gently entangling his spiritual energy and guiding his perception along the stone wall. As his perception deepened, the originally obscure and incomprehensible patterns on the stone wall seemed to come alive.

In the image, an ancient city stood amidst a desolate landscape, its sky shrouded in dark clouds, with pillars of spiritual energy shooting into the heavens as if defying the heavens. Beneath the city, five fragments, each emitting a different radiance, were faintly visible, placed in different locations. Lin Feng's heart stirred; he felt this might be an indication of the distribution of the spiritual source fragments.

“Look, this pattern seems to indicate the location of the Spirit Source Fragment,” Lin Feng hurriedly called out to the others. Xuan Feng, Su Ran, and the Blood Shadow Sect woman all gathered around. Xuan Feng stared at the pattern, and combining his research on ancient runes, slowly said, “If I’m not mistaken, this pattern indicates that the next fragment should be in a cursed forest. However, the script is too ancient, and I can only barely decipher these parts.”

The woman from the Blood Shadow Sect frowned slightly. "The cursed forest? It sounds dangerous. I wonder what awaits us inside." Su Ran, however, remained resolute. "Whatever it may be, we must find the fragment. It concerns the fate of this continent."

After a brief discussion, the group decided to set off immediately for the cursed forest. Based on Xuanfeng's rough deduction of the clues on the stone wall, they headed east. Along the way, although each person had their own thoughts, they all tacitly remained vigilant.

Several days later, they arrived at the edge of a misty forest. A putrid stench permeated the forest; the trees grew twisted and gnarled, their branches resembling menacing, grotesque hands, appearing and disappearing in the mist. Lin Feng drew his spear, its icy power swirling around it, to pave the way for the group. Stepping into the forest, an eerie silence enveloped them, broken only by the rustling of their footsteps on the fallen leaves.

After walking for a while, the Blood Shadow Sect woman suddenly stopped and said warily, "I feel something is watching us." As soon as she finished speaking, a group of dark figures darted out from all directions. These figures resembled wild wolves, but their bodies emanated an eerie black aura, and their eyes flashed with a ghostly green light. Xuan Feng swiftly waved his staff, and an earthen wall instantly rose, blocking the first wave of attacks from the dark figures.

Lin Feng seized the opportunity, swung his spear, and a beam of icy blue sword energy shot out, striking a dark figure. The figure let out a sharp scream and vanished in a puff of black smoke. Su Ran was not to be outdone, her ice magic transforming into a rain of ice arrows, shooting towards the horde of dark figures. However, the dark figures were numerous, surging forward relentlessly.

While maintaining the earthen wall, Xuanfeng chanted, "Earth Binding!" The ground suddenly rose, trapping some of the shadowy figures within. The Blood Shadow Sect woman flashed into the group of shadowy figures, her scimitar flying, her blood spirit power surging, and the shadowy figures fell to the ground one after another under her attack.

Under the combined attack of the group, the shadowy figures gradually diminished. But just then, a gigantic shadowy figure slowly emerged from the mist. Its body was several times larger than that of the ordinary shadowy figures, and the black aura emanating from it was even more intense, emanating a pressure that made everyone hold their breath.

The enormous black shadow roared to the sky, its voice like rolling thunder, causing the leaves of the surrounding trees to fall in a rustling sound. Then, it stomped its foot, and cracks instantly appeared in the ground, spreading towards the group. Lin Feng quickly gathered his ice spirit power, forming a thick ice shield beneath their feet, temporarily blocking the cracks in the ground.

Xuanfeng knew he couldn't just sit and wait to die. He concentrated all his spiritual power, condensing a huge golden rune at the tip of his staff. The rune shone brightly, illuminating the surrounding mist. "Go!" Xuanfeng shouted, and the rune shot towards the giant black shadow like a meteor. The giant black shadow seemed to sense the rune's powerful force, spewing out a stream of black flames to meet the rune head-on.

The runes collided with the black flames, erupting in a burst of intense light and spiritual energy. When the light dissipated, the enormous black shadow was completely unharmed, roaring as it charged again. Lin Feng, Su Ran, and the Blood Shadow Sect woman exchanged glances and launched their attacks simultaneously. Lin Feng's ice spear pierced the shadow's throat, Su Ran's ice sword slashed at its forelimbs, while the Blood Shadow Sect woman circled behind the shadow, seeking an opportunity to strike its weak point.

The enormous black shadow moved nimbly, easily dodging Lin Feng's spear and Su Ran's ice sword, then slashed its tail fiercely at the Blood Shadow Sect woman. Unable to dodge in time, the woman was struck by the tail and sent flying like a kite with a broken string. Seeing this, Lin Feng's heart tightened, and he pushed his ice spirit power to its limit, causing the ice spirit light on his spear to surge several feet higher.

"Ice Spirit Storm!" Lin Feng roared, unleashing a powerful ice spirit storm centered on his spear, sweeping towards the gigantic black shadow.