Just as these disciples were hiding in the spatial rift, not far away on the collapsed sand surface, in the rolling magma, Shen Changlin, who was walking on air, stood in mid-air, confronting the giant fire python that had risen and was hissing, their auras growing stronger.

The giant fire python flicked its tongue, and its tail, hidden beneath the magma, lashed upwards, carrying with it a large number of fire sparks!

Shen Changlin narrowed his eyes, formed a hand seal, and dodged the attack of the giant fire python. He twirled the longsword in his hand, and the blade flipped.

But he didn't attack the giant python in the lava, but the void beside him—at this moment, blood splattered everywhere in the place that should have been empty, followed by a muffled groan of pain.

Shen Changlin held the knife in reverse and looked coldly at the void: "Stop hiding, come out, I know someone's there."

"..."

Hiss—

The atmosphere was silent and stagnant in mid-air.

The fiery python's vertical pupils shrank even further; it seemed to have smelled the human scent, and drool dripped from its enormous open mouth.

The giant fire python had been cultivating for hundreds of years and naturally understood human nature. Although it could sense that Shen Changlin was not easy to deal with, it also vaguely sensed that the two groups were not on good terms and that there was a strong sense of tension between them.

The nearly twenty or thirty-meter-long fiery python's vertical pupils narrowed slightly, and then—silently—it shrunk a few inches downwards.

Seeing that Shen Changlin and the giant fire python could not fight, the group hiding in the void finally emerged from the spatial rift, led by the eldest disciple of the Longevity Palace.

The leading disciple of the Changsheng Palace had a deep, bone-revealing knife wound on his arm, clearly caused by a single blow from Shen Changlin.

His face was extremely ugly, and he said coldly, "Shen Changlin, I originally wanted to let you live a little longer, but I didn't expect you to discover us. Since that's the case, then prepare to die!"

"...The Palace of Longevity?"

Shen Changlin narrowed his eyes, his gaze falling on the disciples behind him: "And you people, oh... you must all be disciples from those sects that my master humiliated, right?"

He paused, a slightly mocking smile appearing on the boy's handsome face: "What, are you here to cause trouble?"

"So what if you force your way into the Nascent Soul stage? You're going to die today!"

The eldest disciple gave a low shout, raised both hands, and a red-tasseled spear appeared in his hands, its sharp tip pointing straight down!

Behind him, his disciples also stepped forward in response.

All sorts of attacks came crashing down, but Shen Changlin remained unfazed. He swung his longsword down, the blade light almost slicing through the sky, heading straight for the eldest disciple.

The eldest disciple twirled his spear, using a defensive technique to block the blade's edge, but the aftershock still sent him flying backward.

Upon realizing the power of the attack, his expression changed.

This is not a power that can be achieved by forcibly entering the Nascent Soul stage using resources!

"Be careful, Shen Changlin's strength is not right!"

But the warning came too late. When the disciples' attacks reached Shen Changlin, the figure shattered like an illusion, transforming into swords, spears, halberds, formations, flames, and countless fragments of Daoist energy that attacked simultaneously.

With lightning speed, the disciples didn't even have time to dodge before they were all knocked back!

Not only that, while influencing others with illusions, Shen Changlin's figure suddenly flashed, and when he reappeared, he was already behind the eldest disciple. Everything was so fast that it was as if it happened in the blink of an eye.

The eldest disciple was startled and instinctively retaliated with a backhand thrust.

But Shen Changlin was faster, kicking the eldest disciple directly onto the sand, the sound of the kick cutting through the air was exceptionally loud.

He shot towards the lava like a cannonball.

In mid-air, Shen Changlin glanced at him lightly: "No wonder Master likes to beat people like this, it does feel good."

The eldest disciple, who "has a good feel for things": ...

Beneath the magma, the giant fire python seemed to sense something and suddenly sprang up, like a dog waiting to be fed. It immediately opened its mouth and lunged at the eldest disciple.

"You beast, you dare to eat me?!"

The eldest disciple was furious. He vented his anger at Shen Changlin's mockery on the giant fire python. He spun his red-tasseled spear, and as it fell, the tip pierced through the python's body.

The giant flaming python hissed mournfully, its scaly tail lashing out at the eldest disciple, with Shen Changlin following suit.

The eldest disciple couldn't dodge in time, and the next moment—

He was directly cut down by Shen Changlin's sword and fell into the lava!

The giant fire python, its back pierced, burrowed into the lava, its thick, long body tightly coiling around it and opening its mouth.

Soon, there was no sound from the lava.

Shen Changlin suddenly felt the Hidden Dragon Token in his arms getting warm. He took it out and saw the number "5" appear on it.

Seeing that even the eldest disciple of the Longevity Palace had died a violent death and become a number on Shen Changlin's Hidden Dragon Token, the disciples around who were still preparing to attack turned pale with fright.

Those who were killed or injured by the "Ten Thousand Paths Return to One Technique" were now even the leader was killed.

"Do you want to continue fighting?"

Just as Shen Changlin looked over, the remaining disciples instinctively tried to flee into the distance, but unexpectedly—

The giant fire python, wounded and having eaten a person, was about to sneak back into the lava when its scale-covered tail twitched, allowing it to barely burrow more than ten meters into its body.

The snake's tail was immediately grabbed by Shen Changlin, and then he pulled it directly out of the lava, sending up a shower of sparks.

Then it was thrown straight in front of the fleeing disciples.

With a 'thud,' the nearly thirty-meter-long body of the fire python, which had been used as a 'weapon,' crashed heavily to the ground, its massive head bearing a human-like expression of grievance.

The snake was in so much pain that tears welled up in its eyes.

Meanwhile, the disciples whose path was blocked thought: ...Damn it, why are you crying? We were all scared to death!

But when the young man in the crescent-shaped silver robe with dark patterns floated over their heads and then knelt down on the giant snake's head, the fiery python was so frightened that its scales almost stood on end.

They didn't dare to say anything, cowering like quails.

Shen Changlin looked up, his smile friendly: "Where are you going?"

"..."

"Two choices."

He paused, then raised two long, elegant fingers: "First, I'll kill you all and obtain the Hidden Dragon Token, then you can try to escape; second, you can voluntarily withdraw, hand over the Hidden Dragon Token, and lure the others out, then you can live."

Upon hearing this, the disciples exchanged bewildered glances.

Immediately afterward, someone stepped forward, opened a communication jade slip, and began to call for help. Then, they respectfully handed over the Hidden Dragon Token: "I voluntarily withdraw. I have also left the coordinates of this place with the other members of the sect. They may come when they see this."

"Okay, you can go now."

As Shen Changlin spoke casually, he propped his face up with one hand and waved the other, sending the Hidden Dragon Token flying into his arms.

Without the token, the disciple vanished in a streak of light.

As the saying goes, "Try and you'll die; better to die than to die yourself," so—once the first one, there was a second. The disciples who followed closely behind used various means to send messages to other disciples in their sect. After sending the messages, they obediently handed over their tokens.

Soon, the score on the Hidden Dragon Token in Shen Changlin's hand increased at a visible rate.

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