Outside the Treasure Tempering Pool.

“…Finally arrived!”

Stepping out of the spatial ripples once again, upon seeing the tranquil lake surface that resembled a sapphire from afar, a relieved smile emerged on the weary, fair face of Mei Qingfeng, the Holy Maiden of Calamity Fate Palace.

She glanced down at the ancient bronze array disc in her hand, a heavenly treasure that had dimmed due to excessive use. Recalling the various hardships and dangers faced along the way, this might have been the most challenging secret realm she had ever encountered since her debut.

Several times, she had nearly been trapped in some forbidden traps, exhausting all her trump cards to escape, even at the cost of hundreds of years of her lifespan. Unless she made a breakthrough to the next major realm, she could not hope to recover what was lost.

“Your Highness, shall we proceed now?”

An elder guardian beside her asked softly, his eyes filled with reverence. They had all witnessed the difficulties along the way. To have led the disciples of the sect to this point safely was no easy feat for anyone else. It was clear why the palace master had chosen her as the successor.

“Mm, let’s go in.”

Mei Qingfeng replied, “A large part of the opportunity left by the Mysterious Dao Venerable lies within this Treasure Tempering Pool. With our fortune, we should all be able to gain something.”

Unfortunately, Mei Qingfeng’s good mood did not last long. Upon seeing the numerous female cultivators on the opposite side of the lake, her smile froze on her face.

“Is that… disciples of Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace? How could they possibly… how could they…”

Beside her, several elder guardians were both shocked and furious, unable to hide the cold murderous intent in their eyes.

Despite all calculations, they had not expected someone to have reached here first, especially Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace, a power that had long been in decline. What was even more unbelievable was that they had brought so many people with them, far outperforming Calamity Fate Palace.

“This is impossible, how did they… how did they do it?”

A senior core disciple murmured in disbelief. Even if Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace also had some special methods to sneak into the Divine Fire Hall, the disparity was too exaggerated.

Their side had less than a hundred people, yet the other side had nearly two thousand, and they all seemed to have strong cultivation bases. Even if they wanted to turn hostile, it was not feasible.

“If anyone in this world could do it, it would only be him, right?”

Mei Qingfeng’s expression changed uncertainly as she gazed at the beautiful young man in a purple robe surrounded by stunning female cultivators, who was now intently looking down at the calm lake surface.

The Holy Maiden realized the truth of the matter. Without the protection of his supreme fortune, how could the female cultivators of Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace have arrived here so easily?

What a pity… If only he belonged to her, to Calamity Fate Palace.

Mei Qingfeng sighed inwardly, instructed the guardians beside her, and walked to the edge of the Treasure Tempering Pool to observe the clear azure water.

“Is it them?”

Across the Treasure Tempering Pool, Qing Muling’s eyes lifted slightly, and he saw the people from Calamity Fate Palace, especially Mei Qingfeng, who had always coveted him.

“Do we need to clear them out?”

Ice Falcon Heavenly Lord asked coldly, her disdain for Calamity Fate Palace was evident, and naturally, she did not have a pleasant expression upon seeing them.

Qing Muling looked at Fengxia beside him and asked, “Is it suitable to take action here? Will it trigger an abnormal reaction from the local Dao laws?”

He did not care about the life and death of the people from Calamity Fate Palace, as long as it did not affect his own important matters. If it would hinder the collection of opportunities, then it was also acceptable to endure for the time being.

“Indeed, it is not suitable to take action here, otherwise, we might be sent out of the Divine Fire Hall prematurely, with no chance of re-entering.”

Fengxia said with a serious expression.

“Forget it, let them be lucky.”

Ice Falcon Heavenly Lord shook her head, extinguishing the thought.

Qing Muling did not mind. If his side could not take action, neither could the other side. So, what could be gained next depended on each individual’s fate and fortune.

Sure enough, after a brief discussion, the people from Calamity Fate Palace no longer paid attention to Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace and began to focus on exploring the Treasure Tempering Pool. Since the distance between them was sufficient, they would have time to react if anything unexpected happened.

Qing Muling refocused his divine sense into the depths of the lake, continuing to try to communicate with those powerful auras.

Each aura at the bottom of the lake represented a treasure. Different grades of magical treasures, postnatal spirit treasures, secret Daoist scriptures, rare materials, and artifact embryos… all were possible.

Whether one could resonate with them, draw them out, and successfully collect them depended on the cultivators’ own abilities.

After a while, Qing Muling suddenly felt a tremor in his divine sense. A slightly hot aura rose from the bottom of the lake, bursting into a dazzling divine radiance, lightly leaping out of the water, leaving a beautiful trajectory as it fell into his hands.

“Already got something so soon? Let’s see what good stuff it is?”

Xuebing Xuan and the other women were surprised and happy, but not unexpected. With Junior Brother’s fortune, it was almost a given; it would be abnormal if he didn’t gain anything.

In Qing Muling’s hand appeared an ancient-looking bronze wine vessel, shrouded in a halo, shaped like a divine fern flower, with intricate and beautiful patterns on its surface, and a subtle aura of Dao rhyme spreading out.

“A superior magical treasure-grade wine vessel, capable of nurturing and enhancing the quality and taste of spiritual wine and nectar…”

Qing Muling shook his head slightly. The item seemed of little use, but the material was rare and the crafting technique was decent. After being nurtured in the Treasure Tempering Pool for who knows how many years, it had reached the level of a superior magical treasure.

“Perhaps this is a part of a set of magical treasures? Maybe we need to collect all the parts to understand its full power?”

Yu Lingzhou took it and examined it for a while, analyzing slowly. As an expert in the field of artifact crafting, she had seen countless peculiar magical treasures and was naturally skilled at identifying treasures.

“Then let’s keep it for now and continue trying to see if we can get the rest.”

Qing Muling nodded, stored the bronze wine vessel, and refocused his divine sense into the depths of the water.

Before long, with a flash of divine radiance, Yueyi Heavenly Lord also gained something—a piece of pure white jade armor of medium magical treasure grade.

“It’s better than nothing!”

Yueyi Heavenly Lord smiled reluctantly. To her, this item was like a spare rib, not even worthy of being a collectible, perhaps it could be given as a reward to a favored descendant in the future.

Then, Luo Huan Sister also had good news—a luxurious gold and jade-studded belt with dragon and phoenix patterns intertwined, exquisitely crafted, reaching the level of an exceptional magical treasure, and providing strong protection when activated.

“Junior Brother, keep it, it suits you well!”

Luo Huan’s face blushed slightly as she handed the belt to Qing Muling, quite satisfied with the ideal catch on her first attempt.

“Thank you, Sister.”

Qing Muling did not refuse and accepted it right away.

That brat got ahead of us!

Xuebing Xuan and the other women cursed inwardly but couldn’t say anything, maintaining a congratulatory smile on their faces.

Yu Lingzhou looked around and said, “Since it’s unlikely to come to blows here, why doesn’t everyone try? Whether you can gain something depends on fate.”

Immediately, the many female cultivators became excited and began to try. Thousands of divine senses probed into the depths of the water, causing ripples to spread across the surface.

The advantage of having many people was almost immediately apparent. In just a few breaths, dazzling divine radiance flashed one after another, and Xuebing Xuan, Qi Yalan, Luo Wanqing, and the other women all gained something.

Flying swords, talismans, jade seals, puppets, Daoist robes, hand axes… the variety was endless. The grades varied from exceptional magical instruments to exceptional magical treasures.

For an individual cultivator, getting a treasure was not easy, but due to Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace’s numerical advantage, even if only one in ten female cultivators succeeded, the total number of treasures was still considerable.

However, Qing Muling soon discovered that once a cultivator’s divine sense was projected into the depths of the water, it would be rapidly consumed under the influence of the local Dao laws.

For an ordinary Feather Transformation Realm cultivator, they could last at most a quarter of an hour. Regardless of whether they gained anything, their divine sense would be almost completely depleted and would need a long period of meditation or consumption of pills to recover.

Fortunately, Xuebing Xuan and the other women were at the peak of the Elemental Immortal realm and could last longer, at least an hour without a problem. Yu Lingzhou, Ice Falcon Heavenly Lord, and the other Supreme Elders were even less of a concern.

On the other side, the disciples of Calamity Fate Palace became restless.

“…Strange, how did they get the benefits so easily? Their luck is simply too unreasonable!”

A senior core disciple complained bitterly. He was at the Ascending to Immortality realm, but even after his divine sense was exhausted, he had not gained anything, and the frustration and resentment in his heart were indescribable.

Looking around at his fellow disciples, most were in a similar situation. Only Holy Maiden Mei Qingfeng and two guardians had gained something, but the quality of the treasures was not very good.

“What else could it be? It’s nothing more than relying on Qing Muling’s supreme fortune to help!”

Mei Qingfeng’s voice was cold. Despite her self-control, faced with such a stark contrast, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of anger.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to take action here, and even if they could, they would not have the advantage. So, no matter how resentful and unwilling they were, they could only endure.

As for the situation after leaving here, it was not much different. Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace had brought too many powerful individuals this time, and no ordinary force could contend with them, unless… they temporarily allied with other Dao Lineage powers.

Mei Qingfeng made up her mind, silently took two pills, and began to meditate to recover to her peak state before continuing to try.

Before long, in the hazy light in the distance, the disciples of Dragon Tiger Pill Cauldron Sect appeared, followed closely by a group of cultivators from Azure Fall Divine Sect.

Upon seeing the people from Calamity Fate Palace and Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace, they were surprised but did not react much. After a simple greeting, they chose a spot by the lake and began to test their luck.

With their own special methods, it was not too difficult for them to understand the taboo against fighting here. So, the next thing they could do was to compete in luck.

“So many treasures, but I can only watch, I wonder if I can just dive in and fish for them?”

Among the disciples of Dragon Tiger Pill Cauldron Sect, a young man with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes said, his figure was agile and tall, his aura deep and restrained, his true cultivation already touching the threshold of Elemental Immortal.

“Don’t be reckless, Nephew Yun,”

An elder reminded unhappily, “This Treasure Tempering Pool left by Mysterious Dao Venerable is no ordinary place. The essence of the mysterious water inside has the terrifying power to melt all things. Any living creature that dares to enter will be instantly dissolved, and even the divine soul will not escape. Don’t make such a low-level mistake.”

“Alright…”

Yun Tianyi sighed. As the son of the Supreme Sect Master of Dragon Tiger Pill Cauldron Sect, it would not be a good look if he perished in the Treasure Tempering Pool because of greed.

In the end, he could only, like his fellow disciples, honestly project his divine sense into the depths of the water, trying to communicate with those powerful auras, to see if he could gain the recognition of those precious artifact spirits and thus fulfill his wishes.

A quarter of an hour later, with the distant light changing, the boundless golden Buddha light shone, and the cultivators of Great Brahma Temple finally arrived.

“So it is, this rare treasure land must be fated with our Great Brahma Temple!”

Miao Xin, the leader, looked at the lake surface where divine radiance flickered endlessly, and a calm smile appeared on her peerless face, dignified and graceful, stunningly beautiful.

“Buddha Lord, why are there so many female cultivators from Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace? This is somewhat unreasonable.”

A Buddhist cultivator said softly.

Miao Xin smiled indifferently, “With him there, anything is possible. Moreover, he has a great connection with our Buddhist sect. Perhaps it won’t be long before he will be personally led by me into the sect, enjoying the boundless pure and blissful state!”

The surrounding Buddhist cultivators looked at each other. Even though Miao Xin was skilled at poaching, the man in question was the personal disciple of the Supreme Sect Master of Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace, and Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace and Great Brahma Temple had been close allies for many years. Poaching such a core figure might immediately turn the two sects against each other.

However, Miao Xin did not explain much, just instructed the Buddhist cultivators to start, following the example of other sects’ cultivators, to project their divine sense into the depths of the water and try their fate.

As time passed, the Goddess Sect, Bright Moon Sword Sect, Secret Demon Palace, and other sect powers arrived one after another. Some had more, some had fewer, but none had more than three hundred people.

Perhaps when they entered the secret realm, their teams were much larger than now, but many had perished along the way for various reasons, and now only so few remained.

After these powers arrived, they did not cause trouble, quietly observed the scene, and then busied themselves in an orderly manner.

On the side of Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace, with the continuous flashing of beautiful divine radiance, various treasures of different shapes emerged from the water and flew into the hands of many female cultivators.

Qing Muling alone had already successfully obtained seven treasures, the most valuable of which was a set of five slender flying swords, blood-red as if carved from a whole piece of red jade immortal crystal. When they emerged from the water, the clear sound of sword cries echoed through the heavens, and the swords radiated endless killing intent, reaching the level of exceptional magical treasures.

“It’s a good item, but there’s not enough to go around, after all, there are so many sisters…”

Qing Muling grumbled in his heart, stored the set of flying swords, and continued to work.