He stepped forward until he was standing right in front of the main hall doors of the white-walled palace.

The formation seal was only visible because he had activated his cultivation eyes.

Once he turned them off, there was nothing to see, just a wooden door carved with intricate, abstract patterns. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

I should break this formation seal quickly before anyone notices.

Gu Qinghe raised his hand and lightly touched his forehead. A strand of his soul consciousness essence emerged and floated above his palm, then he flicked the orb forward.

The orb struck the wooden door, triggering the formation seal’s mechanism. The formation revealed itself and lit up, no longer requiring cultivation eyes to be seen.

He had seen thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of formations back when he was Yun Tian. He understood their patterns and scripts, breaking them with ease.

That past knowledge made it simple for Gu Qinghe to study the formation seal before him, though he knew it was far more complex than the one on the altar floor.

His hands moved, forming seals that activated a technique for breaking seals and restrictions.

Five small magical runes appeared behind his back, spinning clockwise, ready to dismantle the formation.

With a pointing gesture, golden runes embedded themselves into the white formation wall before him.

A burst of qi followed, accompanied by a strong gust of wind. His golden runes fully fused with the formation.

Without warning, a pillar of white light shot upward into the sky, forming a dome-like barrier that made Gu Qinghe narrow his eyes.

As expected... This formation has both defensive and offensive mechanisms.

From the altar floor, two snow-stone monsters rose, each about five meters tall.

Their eyes glowed red. One held a mace, the other a sword.

Gu Qinghe reactivated his cultivation eyes and looked closely at them.

Inside their bodies lay formation cores. Destroying those cores would open the main hall doors.

No wonder no one could open this place. Not only is the seal difficult to break, but they’d also have to fight opponents at the Perfect Core Formation level.

One of the monsters moved and hurled its mace at him. Gu Qinghe quickly flew away from the palace entrance, narrowly dodging the attack.

The second monster acted as he passed by, swinging its stone sword in an attempt to cut him down. But Gu Qinghe was far faster than both of them.

He evaded their attacks and realized they relied only on basic physical techniques. That worked in his favor.

It didn’t take long before he formed another hand seal. A massive golden rune appeared in the sky above the palace, still contained within the dome.

Two golden lightning dragons emerged, roaring as they soared downward toward the monsters. With a downward motion of his hand, Gu Qinghe commanded them to strike.

The dragons twisted through the air, carrying powerful bursts of qi. The technique he used was the Two Dragons Shattering the Heavens, a high-quality earth-grade technique.

There were several conditions required to use it, but Gu Qinghe met them all, including a deep foundational understanding of the technique.

With a high-quality earth-grade technique, this should be more than enough to injure them.

BLAST!

The dragons collided with the monsters and exploded. The impact shook the dome, sending out violent gusts of wind.

Black-gold smoke rose into the air. Gu Qinghe waved his hand, dispersing it as his gaze sharpened downward.

His attack had landed, but destroying soulless monsters at the Perfect Core Formation level was no easy task.

He began thinking carefully, searching for a way to defeat them without draining too much qi.

There’s a formation core inside them. Could that method work?

No harm in trying.

Suddenly, his assumption proved wrong. He had thought the monsters lacked technique-based attacks, but he was mistaken.

White runes appeared on their weapons, then aimed straight at him in the sky.

Not good!

He immediately dodged as freezing white beams shot toward him. If even a small part of his body were hit, frost would spread and freeze him completely.

While flying, Gu Qinghe formed hand seals and summoned ten sealing flags.

He had learned this technique while subduing an Emperor-level beast back when he was Yun Tian, just to extract its blood essence.

The situation was similar. Now he was fighting to obtain the formation cores inside these monsters.

However, using the Ten Sealing Flags Technique would consume far more qi than the lightning dragon technique due to its higher grade.

I can recover qi through cultivation, but I’ll never forgive myself if I die here.

His eyes shone with golden light as he thrust his hand forward, sending the ten sealing flags into the monsters’ bodies.

STAB!

Each monster was pierced by five flags. Their movements halted as Gu Qinghe activated the technique, trapping them within a sealing formation.

Golden runes appeared above and below them, immobilizing their bodies and stopping the white beams.

Now, only one final step remained: extraction.

Still hovering in the air, Gu Qinghe formed another hand seal and began pulling the formation cores out of their bodies.

Two white cores, each the size of an adult’s palm, emerged and floated toward him.

Once the cores were removed, the monsters collapsed and shattered. The sealing flags detached and vanished, and the dome barrier began to fade.

Gu Qinghe let out a breath of relief. He flew back to the palace doors, his body nearing exhaustion due to his limited qi.

Once he took whatever was inside, he would activate the altar formation and head to the second mountain immediately.

He guided the two formation cores toward the seal on the door. They fused perfectly, dispelling the formation and opening the entrance.

After taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. As soon as his foot crossed the threshold, the torches lit up, illuminating the chamber.

There were statues shaped like cultivators, twenty in total, lining both sides of the main carpet.

But what truly caught his attention was the object on the small altar ahead. It radiated bright golden qi, with spiritual energy swirling around it.

"Is that... a pagoda?!"