Chapter 168 Preparation Outside the palace, everyone gathered together, their faces...

Outside the palace, everyone gathered together, their faces solemn and the atmosphere tense.

"If nothing unexpected happens, the demon has already noticed our arrival," Venerable Lotus confirmed after listening to Mu Yuan's retelling.

"He feigned ignorance. Firstly, he was suppressed by Linghe, weakened, and unsure of victory against four Mahayana cultivators. Secondly, he wanted to plot against us, using us as sacrifices to help Zhong Lingyue contract the Netherworld Frost Flame."

Of course, he was not just helping Zhong Lingyue, but was planning to take it away from her after Zhong Lingyue signed the contract.

"So he must have left a backup plan inside the palace. Once we step in, we'll be walking into his trap!"

"What are you afraid of?" The Xuanjian Master swung his sword with a flash, and the sharp sword energy shot straight into the sky, as if to pierce through a mirage. "Let him scheme and plot, I will destroy it with one sword!"

Among the four Mahayana cultivators, his combat power is undoubtedly the strongest. His sword energy can completely ignore the boundaries between reality and illusion and seriously injure the so-called residual soul.

But Venerable Lotus would not let him act recklessly. "Since the demon dares to wait and see, he must have made every possible preparation. If we act rashly, what will happen if something goes wrong?"

Reverend Xuan Jian was about to retort, but was suppressed by her words, "This secret realm has countless resources. Will the Mu family no longer need you when they fight for resources later?" If he lets himself be seriously injured now, then in the later stage, when the time comes to fight for the most precious resources, won't he participate?

Upon hearing this, Venerable Xuanjian was speechless and realized that what Venerable Lianhua said made sense.

When the exploration of the secret realm enters a fever pitch, there will inevitably be a contest between the aristocratic families. One is to compete for those extremely precious resources that are crucial for the Mahayana cultivators to overcome the tribulation; the other is to divide the sphere of influence for the subsequent development of the new secret realm.

Both of these are major events that concern the fate of oneself and the family. Every bit of combat power means more confidence and opportunity.

After preliminary exploration, the scale of this secret realm is so large that it basically reaches the preliminary standard of a small thousand world.

What is even more amazing is that after the meticulous transformation by the ancient god, the secret realm contains countless rare resources, including many ancient treasures that have long been lost, which is a great help to the monks.

The ancient gods also set up various secret methods in the secret realm. Once learned, they are rare inheritances that can be passed down from generation to generation.

Isn’t it the talent and heritage that allow a family to grow to such a scale?

Therefore, occupying a resource-rich territory in the secret realm is particularly crucial for the major families. Undoubtedly, with the powerful strength of the top ten families, they naturally have the right of first choice.

You can choose which ones to choose and which ones not to choose, and there are some rules to follow. You can negotiate, but in the end, it all comes down to your military strength.

The ancient gods divided the cave into different blocks, and the distribution of resources varies. Each one is unique. Although they are all useful, the difficulty of development and utilization is not the same, and the benefits they can bring vary greatly.

Therefore, if you want to get the land you like and suit your own, you naturally need to fight for it.

Furthermore, despite the immense strength of the Ten Great Families, the other great and small families were not without their own threats. If they united, they would undoubtedly pose a considerable challenge to the Ten Great Families.

Therefore, while the ten great families compete with each other, they must also leave behind some people to suppress other families or sects to ensure that their own interests are not violated.

Of course, the ten great families weren't so ruthless as to seize all the benefits for themselves and deny others a share. This approach was clearly unrealistic, unwise, and could easily backfire.

Therefore, the distribution according to merit, contribution, and family strength, and the degree of it, is the key to competition.

The best resources will naturally not be given away easily, even if these resource points were originally discovered by other families.

If this family has two or three Mahayana cultivators who can protect it, then it can barely keep some of its interests.

But if they lack such power, then they'd better offer it up in exchange for some resource points that they can firmly control, which is more practical and safer.

The secret to making other families obey lies in the overwhelming strength of the ten major families. Therefore, each family retains at least six Mahayana cultivators to guard the family.

The resources in this secret realm are so rich that they are hard to come by in a million years, but correspondingly, the risk factor is also staggeringly high.

I heard that a Mahayana cultivator died not long ago. We had just entered the secret realm not long ago and already lost a great general.

If all four of them died here, even if they were only seriously injured, it would be a huge blow to the three families.

It will also put them at a disadvantage in the subsequent battles among the top ten families, forcing them to give up the most tempting piece of "cake".

How is this possible?

Their original strategy was to have Venerable Lotus contract the Netherworld Cold Flame while the others conserved their strength.

After that, the three companies became united and worked closely together to seek the greatest benefits.

Although Venerable Lotus, as the owner of the Netherworld Cold Flame, cannot take action, the power of the Netherworld Cold Flame is enough to intimidate all directions and shock everyone!

The reason why Venerable Lotus was chosen is because Venerable Jingyuan is a cultivator with thunder spiritual roots, and is naturally incompatible with the power of the underworld. I have never heard of ghosts and gods using magic power that contains thunder and lightning, right?

Besides, the thunder element is good at defeating the underworld. He entered the spirit world not to become the lord of the underworld, but to destroy his clan, right?

So it is impossible for him to come together only because he has the root of thunder spirit, one of the nemesis of the Netherworld Cold Flame, and can help Venerable Lotus to subdue the Netherworld Cold Flame.

Venerable Canglan, with a heart as calm as water and detached from the world, has no interest in evil things like the Netherworld Cold Flame. Even other unique and rare resources in the secret realm are nothing more than dispensable in his eyes.

His trip was entirely a family mission, in compliance with the arrangements of the elders of the Wei family.

Of course, if he really came across valuable treasures, he would not be polite and would bring them all back to the Wei family. After all, he had been practicing until now and had enjoyed countless resources from the family, so he should give something back.

In addition, he has been studying the laws of retrospective time and space. Resources related to time and space, especially those involving the laws of time and space, are extremely rare and precious resources.

The Wei family gave him everything they could collect, and it was only right for Venerable Canglan to give back to the family with his own strength.

Therefore, he is one of the fighting forces in this trip to the secret realm, and he seems to be ready to be called upon at any time.

But the Wei family had no intention of sacrificing him, letting him give up the path to immortality and become a ghost or something like that.

The Wei family's ambition is in the fairy world, not in some void realm. The special nature of ghosts and gods greatly restricts him personally and cannot bring any benefits to the Wei family.

Venerable Lotus did this because she wanted to do so. The Lei family did not require her to do so. Moreover, she had made great contributions to the Lei family, and the Lei family did not want her to continue to focus on the family.

Of course she can do whatever she wants!

Therefore, it was assumed that Venerable Lotus would contract the Netherworld Cold Flame, and the others would assist.

But the information we have gathered so far is not optimistic. The Netherworld Cold Flame is already a huge threat, and there is also a demon who has lived for tens of thousands of years. It will definitely be very difficult to deal with it.

Besides, this devil has been trapped here for many years. Even if he doesn't fully understand the situation, it would be easy for him to plot against them.

The four of them could not die here, so Venerable Padmasambhava asked them to be cautious.

"Let's break the Five Yin Seven Star Formation first," Venerable Lotus pondered for a moment and made up his mind.

This formation is too vicious. Once you are trapped by it, you will be like a fish on a chopping board, at the mercy of others.

Wei Mubai nodded in agreement. "As long as I can force Zhong Lingyue to enter and exit this formation for three consecutive days and draw three complete escape routes, I can replicate the entire formation layout."

He knew the Seven Star Formation so well that he could draw it out of thin air without even thinking.

As for the Five Yin Formation, it's even easier. It's just a relatively simple formation.

However, these two formations belong to completely different systems.

The Seven Star Formation draws on the power of the stars and follows the laws of nature; while the Five Yin Formation focuses more on calculating people's hearts and can close people's consciousness and spiritual world.

Although they are both called formations, the difference between them is as huge as a chasm.

This is like the two skills mastered by Taoists, one is feng shui and the other is fortune telling. They seem similar, but in fact they follow completely different methods and principles.

Before this, no cultivator had ever combined the two to form an indestructible formation.

Maybe some people have thought about this, but never did it.

Therefore, Wei Mubai needs to see the specific life route to reversely deduce the difference between the Five Yin Seven Star Formation and the Five Yin Formation and the Seven Star Formation.

If there are differences, the key link points can be inferred.

"We also need to find out why that hall can suppress cultivation," Wei Mubai added.

"Leave this matter to Haitang and me," Mu Yuan volunteered. He and Haitang were in tune with each other, and they could not only communicate silently in their hearts, but also continue to explore through his control after Haitang temporarily lost her consciousness. He could witness everything she explored through Haitang's eyes.

After all, Haitang is now his natal spirit sword, and this special connection allows them to understand each other without much words.

Mu Yuan was not worried about Haitang's change of identity. Since man and sword were one, he should naturally make full use of them. Why should he be so bound by formalities?

Haitang also accepted this change calmly. She did not feel repulsed by the fact that she was a human in her previous life and a sword in this life.

As Mu Yuan's natal spirit sword, she has her own value. She should be used when necessary without being pretentious.

There was no need for much words between the two of them, as they already had a tacit understanding and accepted the change of status without any reservations.

They are in tune with each other, have the same ideas, and are like one. In a sense, they are a match made in heaven and a perfect partner who will never have any disagreements.

With such a tacit understanding, Haitang no longer needs to worry about the impact of the formation and realm suppression on her when exploring, and can move forward without hesitation.

Everything she sees will be conveyed to Mu Yuan in real time through their telepathy.

If she couldn't bear it, Mu Yuan would call her back in time to prevent her from getting hurt.

What's more, as a sword spirit, she can ignore all physical obstacles and explore more deeply and comprehensively.

Having made up their minds, everyone took action.