The exploration team gazed at the floating palace before them, their hearts filled with both excitement and tension. The palace exuded a mysterious and powerful aura, resembling a treasure trove yet also concealing endless dangers. Its unique architectural style, with walls inlaid with various strange gems radiating multicolored light, appeared and disappeared amidst the dense spiritual energy, like a dream.

The group cautiously approached the palace. When they reached the palace gates, they found them tightly shut. The gates were covered with lifelike bas-reliefs depicting ancient cultivators battling evil forces. These bas-reliefs seemed to possess a life of their own, faintly glowing as the group drew nearer.

The experts from the Linghe Chamber of Commerce immediately stepped forward to carefully examine the runes and reliefs on the gate. They discovered that these runes seemed to form an ancient seal, and breaking this seal required a specific spiritual energy imprint. The disciples of Wanbaoge quickly took out various detection artifacts, attempting to analyze the specific characteristics of the spiritual energy imprint.

After arduous research, they finally found some clues. The disciples of Wanbaoge manipulated their magical artifacts, gathered spiritual power, and infused it into the runes in a specific order. As the spiritual power was injected, the runes shone brightly, the gate slowly opened, and an ancient yet powerful aura rushed out.

Upon entering the palace, one finds a vast hall inside. A huge pearl hangs high from the ceiling, emitting a soft glow that illuminates the entire hall as if it were daytime. Around the hall are various ancient artifacts, including uniquely shaped tripods, exquisitely carved screens, and scrolls exuding a mysterious aura.

However, before the exploration team could examine the artifacts closely, the ground suddenly began to shake violently. From the four corners of the hall, four enormous stone beasts emerged. These beasts resembled lions, radiating an earthy yellow light, their eyes flashing with cold killing intent.

"Be careful! These stone beasts are hostile!" an elder of the Spirit Sword Sect shouted. The sword cultivators quickly drew their swords and formed a sword formation. The sword formation flashed with light, and sword energy crisscrossed as it attacked the stone beasts. The stone beasts were extremely fast; they roared and charged into the sword formation like a yellow torrent.

The stone beasts possessed immense strength; their claws dug deep furrows into the ground. The sword cultivators' sword energy struck the stone beasts, only sending up sparks, but failing to inflict any real damage.

Seeing this, the disciples of Wanbaoge immediately manipulated their magical artifacts to attack the stone beast. The "Flaming Dragon Cauldron" spewed out raging flames, attempting to engulf the stone beast; the "Nine Heavens Thunder Pearl" released lightning power, exploding on the stone beast's body. However, the stone beast seemed to have a certain resistance to fire and lightning; it only paused slightly during the attack before continuing to charge towards the exploration team.

The experts from the Linghe Merchant Guild used various spells to try and interfere with the stone beast's movements. Some cast "Slowing Spells" to slightly slow the stone beast down; others cast "Immobilizing Spells," but the stone beast quickly broke free of its restraints due to its immense strength.

During the fierce battle, Lin Yang discovered that the stone beasts' leg joints seemed to be their weak points. He quickly informed the elders of the Spirit Sword Sect of this discovery. The elders immediately decided to instruct the sword cultivators to change their attack strategy and concentrate their efforts on attacking the stone beasts' leg joints.

The sword cultivators unleashed their fierce sword techniques, streaks of sword energy shooting towards the stone beasts' legs like meteors. Under the combined attack of the group, a crack finally appeared in the leg of one of the stone beasts. As the attack continued, the stone beast's leg could no longer hold on and it collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Seeing this, the other stone beasts became even more frenzied. They charged at the exploration team recklessly, attempting to take them all down with them. The experts from the Linghe Merchant Guild cast a "psychedelic spell," creating an illusory scene within the horde of stone beasts. Some of the stone beasts were affected, falling into hallucinations and becoming sluggish.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the sword cultivators of the Spirit Sword Sect launched an attack and successfully defeated another stone beast. The remaining two stone beasts seemed to realize the danger; they stopped attacking blindly and began to cooperate, attempting to break through the sword formation's defenses.

The disciples of Wanbaoge intensified their attacks with their magical artifacts, the light from various artifacts intertwining to envelop the stone beasts. With everyone working together, they finally defeated the remaining two stone beasts.

After defeating the stone beast, the exploration team continued deeper into the palace. At the rear of the halls, they discovered a staircase leading underground. A thin layer of mist hung over the staircase, and a mysterious light flickered faintly within. The team knew that the further they went, the greater the danger might become, but they were also convinced that the core secrets of the ruins lay below. With trepidation yet unwavering resolve, they slowly descended the staircase, preparing to face new challenges and uncover the truth hidden deep within.