In the end times, many children bring more blessings. I pick up a goddess every day.

"Patriarch!" Upon seeing this, the purple-robed cultivator rushed over, wanting to protect Zhao Qian. But Liu Yang didn't give him a chance at all, turning around and striking him with a palm. The pale blue spiritual energy struck the purple-robed cultivator's chest like a heavy hammer, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood, fly backward, and crash into the wall, where he lay motionless.

The remaining two ambushing cultivators were terrified at the sight and turned to run away without daring to linger. Liu Yang's eyes turned cold, and two ice arrows shot out from his fingertips, accurately striking their hind legs. The two cultivators screamed and fell to the ground, where they were subdued by Su Qingyao, who arrived shortly after.

The passage fell silent instantly, with only Zhao Qian's panting and Zhao Shan's trembling voice remaining.

Liu Yang walked step by step to Zhao Qian, bent down to pick up the Thunderclap Sword from the ground, weighed it in his hand, and then looked at Zhao Qian with a cold smile: "Clan Chief Zhao, now, shouldn't you take me to the depths of the forbidden area to find the Ice Thunder Token?"

Zhao Qian's face was deathly pale. He looked at the Thunderclap Sword in Liu Yang's hand, then at the fallen cultivators on the ground, knowing he had no chance of resistance. He gritted his teeth and nodded with difficulty: "Fine... I'll take you. But the Ice Thunder Token is a family heirloom of the Zhao family. If you take it, the Zhao family is utterly finished..."

"Whether the Zhao family is finished or not has nothing to do with me," Liu Yang said, grabbing Zhao Qian's arm. "Let's go, don't waste time."

With Liu Yang holding his arm, Zhao Qian staggered ahead, each step feeling like walking on a knife's edge. The light grew dimmer as they went deeper into the passage, with only a few luminous pearls on the walls casting long, eerie shadows.

Su Qingyao followed at the back, her gaze occasionally sweeping over the stone walls on either side of the passage—during the fight earlier, she had noticed some blurry patterns carved on the walls, remnants of some kind of formation, though worn almost invisible by the passage of time. She secretly memorized them, thinking that if she had the chance in the future, she might be able to find some clues about the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison from these patterns.

"The forbidden stone chamber is just ahead. The Ice and Lightning Token... is on the altar in the stone chamber." Zhao Qian's voice was a little hoarse as he stopped in front of a stone door engraved with spirit patterns. "This door requires the bloodline spiritual power of the Zhao family to open. Even if you destroy the stone door, it will trigger the self-destruction restriction inside if I don't take action."

Liu Yang's eyes turned cold, and the chill from his fingertips intensified: "Don't try anything funny. If I find anything wrong with you, I'll cripple your cultivation first."

Zhao Qian dared not refute, and could only tremble as he raised his injured hand, placing his palm on the stone door. A pale red spiritual energy surged from his palm, flowing slowly along the spiritual patterns on the stone door. As the spiritual energy was injected, the spiritual patterns on the stone door gradually lit up, emitting a series of "crackling" sounds, and slowly opened to both sides.

Behind the stone gate was a small stone chamber. In the center of the chamber stood a white marble altar, on which was placed a black box. The surface of the box was engraved with ice-blue lightning patterns, faintly exuding a strange spiritual energy fluctuation—the aura of the Ice and Lightning Token.

Liu Yang's eyes lit up instantly. He was about to step forward when he suddenly stopped. His spiritual sense detected a very faint array pattern on the ground around the altar. If he stepped into it rashly, he might trigger a trap.

"What's around this altar?" Liu Yang tightened his grip on Zhao Qian's hand, his tone carrying a warning.

Zhao Qian stiffened and quickly said, "No...it's nothing, it's just a normal protective array. As long as I don't activate it, there will be no danger."

Liu Yang didn't believe him. He carefully scanned the array patterns with his spiritual sense and discovered that this array was of the same origin as the Yin-Yang Spirit Locking Array, but it was more sophisticated than the restrictions outside. If triggered, it would instantly unleash both ice and fire elemental spiritual power, trapping the intruder within. He sneered and raised his hand, slapping a burst of spiritual power towards the altar, which landed precisely on the weak point of the array patterns.

"Om-"

The array patterns lit up instantly, then quickly dimmed, completely losing their effectiveness. Zhao Qian was dumbfounded—he hadn't expected Liu Yang to be able to see through the array's weakness at a glance and easily break the Zhao family's protective array, which had been passed down for many years.

Ignoring his shock, Liu Yang walked straight to the altar and picked up the black box. The moment he opened the box, a chilling aura of lightning rushed out. Inside lay a palm-sized token, half ice-blue and half dark purple, with lightning patterns on its surface moving like living things—it was the Ice Lightning Token.

"Finally found it." Liu Yang gripped the Ice Thunder Token tightly. The spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from his fingertips filled him with joy—with this token, he could find the exact entrance to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison, and might even be able to break the restrictions within.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps, accompanied by fluctuations of spiritual energy, suddenly came from outside the stone chamber—clearly, the Zhao family had caught up with them again. Su Qingyao's expression changed, and she quickly said, "Master, we have to leave quickly! Zhao Qian must have already sent people to fetch reinforcements; if we don't leave now, it will be too late!"

Liu Yang nodded, put the Ice Thunder Token into his storage bag, and glanced at Zhao Qian and Zhao Shan, who was huddled in the corner, a cold glint in his eyes. He had originally intended to cripple their cultivation on the spot to avoid future troubles, but then he thought that killing the core members of the Zhao family would probably arouse the vigilance of other forces in Qingyang City, which would be detrimental to subsequent actions.

"I'll spare your lives for now." Liu Yang sneered, raising his hand to unleash two streams of spiritual energy at the two men, striking their dantian. Zhao Qian and Zhao Shan immediately screamed in agony as a sharp pain shot through their dantian, their cultivation levels instantly plummeting from the Foundation Establishment stage to the late Qi Refining stage—though their cultivation wasn't completely destroyed, they were rendered useless and could no longer pose a threat to him.

"Let's go!" Liu Yang turned around and led Su Qingyao toward the secret passage behind the stone chamber. When breaking the formation earlier, he discovered a secret passage hidden behind the altar, which should be an escape route prepared by the Zhao family in case of emergencies.

As soon as the two entered the secret passage, the shouts of the Zhao family cultivators came from outside. The secret passage was pitch black, with only faint fluctuations of spiritual energy guiding the way. Liu Yang circulated his spiritual energy, condensing a ball of ice and fire at his fingertips to illuminate the path ahead.

The secret passage was long and winding, leading out of the city. After running for about half an hour, they finally saw a glimmer of light ahead. The two quickened their pace and emerged from the passage to find themselves at the foot of Luoxia Mountain outside Qingyang City.

"Phew... We finally escaped." Su Qingyao leaned against a big tree, panting heavily, her face full of relief at surviving the ordeal. "I was really scared just now. If we had been surrounded by the Zhao family, even if Master was strong, it would have been difficult for him to escape unscathed."

Liu Yang remained silent, simply surveying his surroundings. The Luoxia Mountains stretched endlessly, covered in dense forests, where the silhouettes of demonic beasts could be vaguely seen darting about. He recalled Su Qingyao mentioning that there were underground rivers within the caves of Luoxia Mountain, connecting to the Zhao family's forbidden area. Although he knew it was Su Qingyao's scheme, Luoxia Mountain might indeed be connected to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison; he could investigate it in the future.

"Now that we have the Ice and Thunder Token, what should we do next?" Su Qingyao looked at Liu Yang with a hint of anticipation in her eyes—she knew that obtaining the Ice and Thunder Token was only the first step; the real opportunity lay in the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison. As long as she followed Liu Yang, she could get a share of the spoils.

Liu Yang pondered for a moment and said, "The entrance to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison should be near Qingyang City, but the exact location still needs further investigation. Moreover, that place is extremely dangerous, and it would be difficult for the two of us to deal with the crisis inside."

He paused, then continued, "There are three major families in Qingyang City. The Zhao family has already been severely damaged by us, and the remaining Li and Wang families will definitely take the opportunity to seize the Zhao family's territory. We can use this opportunity to find an ally to deal with the subsequent crisis together."

"Allies?" Su Qingyao was taken aback for a moment, then realized, "Master wants to cooperate with the Li family or the Wang family? But they are both local forces in Qingyang City, why would they be willing to cooperate with an outsider like us?"

"Whether we can cooperate depends on whether we have enough bargaining chips." Liu Yang sneered. "If the Zhao family falls, the Li and Wang families will definitely fight each other for the Zhao family's resources. We have the Ice Thunder Token and know the secret of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison. These are our bargaining chips. As long as we offer enough benefits, we are not afraid that they will not take the bait."

Su Qingyao's eyes lit up, and she quickly said, "Master is right! The Li family and the Wang family have always been at odds. After the Zhao family falls, they will definitely fight to the death. We can find the relatively weaker Li family to cooperate with, help them suppress the Wang family, and then have them help us find the entrance to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison. This way, we can solve the problem of allies and also use the power of the Li family to restrain the Wang family. It's a win-win situation!"

Liu Yang nodded; Su Qingyao's thoughts coincided with his. The Li family was the weakest of the three major families, always suppressed by the Zhao family. Now that the Zhao family had fallen, the Li family would definitely want to seize the opportunity to rise again. If they could get his help, they would certainly agree to cooperate readily.

“Alright, let’s go find the Li family.” Liu Yang made up his mind. “But before we go to the Li family, we need to go back to Qingyang City first and find out the movements of the Li family and the Wang family, and see if they have started to fight for the Zhao family’s territory.”

After resting for a while, the two changed into ordinary cultivator's robes and headed towards Qingyang City. As soon as they reached the city gate, they saw it plastered with wanted posters from the Zhao family, featuring portraits of Liu Yang and Su Qingyao, with a reward of five thousand low-grade spirit stones.

"It seems the Zhao family is really desperate, going to such lengths to issue a warrant for our arrest." Su Qingyao looked at the warrant and a mocking smile appeared on her lips. "But this is fine too, it will let the Li family and the Wang family know our strength and make them afraid to provoke us easily."

Liu Yang ignored the wanted poster and walked straight into the city. Although the guards at the city gate saw them, they didn't recognize them because Liu Yang had taught them a lesson before and the two had changed their clothes. They just did a routine check and let them into the city.

As the two entered the city, they found the streets much livelier than usual. Cultivators from the Li and Wang families were patrolling everywhere, and occasionally, clashes broke out between the two groups over territory. Clearly, after the Zhao family's downfall, the Li and Wang families had begun openly vying for the Zhao family's resources.

“This is the Li family’s territory. Let’s go check out the Li family’s restaurant; we might be able to hear some useful information,” Su Qingyao said to Liu Yang, pointing to a building with a “Li Family Restaurant” sign in the distance.

The two entered the restaurant, which was filled with cultivators, mostly from the Li family, who were discussing the Zhao family's affairs.

"Have you heard? The Zhao family's forbidden area has been broken into. Zhao Qian and Zhao Shan have both been crippled. Now the Zhao family is leaderless and in complete chaos!"

"That's not all! I also heard that the one who broke into the forbidden area was an outsider named Liu Yang. He's incredibly powerful; even Zhao Qian's Thunderclap Sword wasn't a match for him!"

"Tsk tsk, this Liu Yang is really something, daring to challenge the Zhao family all by himself. It seems the world in Qingyang City is about to change!"

"Do you think Liu Yang might be a spy sent by another city? What should our Li family do if he wants to seize Qingyang City's territory?"

Liu Yang and Su Qingyao found a corner to sit down, ordered some spiritual food, and quietly listened to the discussions of the surrounding cultivators. From their conversation, Liu Yang learned that although the Li family was currently vying for the Zhao family's territory, they were also wary of him, an outsider, and worried that he might harm the Li family.

“It seems the Li family is still wary of us. If we want to cooperate with them, we need to find a way to dispel their concerns,” Su Qingyao said to Liu Yang in a low voice.

Liu Yang nodded, his gaze sweeping across the restaurant lobby. He noticed a young cultivator in a blue brocade robe sitting in a corner. He had an extraordinary air about him, and the Li family cultivators around him were very respectful to him, clearly indicating that he was a core member of the Li family.

“I have a plan.” Liu Yang smiled and said to Su Qingyao, “Go and invite that cultivator in the blue brocade robe over. Tell him I have something important to discuss with him, about the distribution of the Zhao family’s territory, and also… the secret of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison.”

Su Qingyao's eyes lit up, and she quickly stood up and walked towards the cultivator in the blue brocade robe. She knew that the five words "Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison" had a fatal attraction for any cultivator. As long as she threw out this bait, that Li family disciple would definitely come obediently.

As expected, the cultivator in the cyan brocade robe's expression changed instantly upon hearing the words "Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison." He hurriedly followed Su Qingyao to Liu Yang's table, cupped his hands, and said, "My name is Li Qing, son of the Li family patriarch. May I ask who you are...?"

Liu Yang looked up at Li Qing, a cold smile playing on his lips: "I am the foreign cultivator you were just talking about, Liu Yang."

Li Qing's face turned deathly pale instantly. She subconsciously took a step back and looked at Liu Yang warily: "You... what do you want with me? Do you intend to harm the Li family?"

"Don't be nervous. I'm here to discuss a collaboration with your Li family," Liu Yang said calmly. "With the Zhao family gone, the Wang family will definitely seize the opportunity to take over the Zhao family's territory. With your Li family's strength, you're no match for the Wang family. If you're willing to cooperate with me, I can help you suppress the Wang family and even help you acquire all of the Zhao family's resources."

Li Qing was taken aback for a moment, then frowned: "Why are you helping our Li family? There's no such thing as a free lunch. What do you want?"

“What I want is very simple.” Liu Yang looked at Li Qing with a hint of temptation in his eyes. “I know the secret of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison. As long as your Li family helps me find the entrance to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison and assists me in entering it, half of the treasure inside will belong to your Li family after the matter is accomplished.”

"What?!" Li Qing's eyes lit up instantly, and she excitedly grabbed Liu Yang's arm. "Are you telling the truth? You really know the secret of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison? And you're willing to share half of the treasure with our Li family?"

“Of course it’s true.” Liu Yang pulled his arm away and said calmly, “I have the Ice Thunder Token, which is the key to enter the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison. Without my help, even if you find the entrance, you won’t be able to get in. Moreover, the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison is extremely dangerous. With the strength of your Li family alone, you simply cannot cope with the crisis inside. Only by cooperating with me can you obtain the treasure inside.”

Li Qing's breathing became rapid. He knew that the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison was a legendary secret realm, containing countless rare and precious materials and ancient inheritances. If he could obtain the treasures inside, the Li family's strength would definitely surpass that of the Wang family, making them the number one family in Qingyang City!

"Alright! I agree!" Li Qing gritted his teeth and said resolutely, "However, I can't make this decision myself; I need to discuss it with my father. Come back to the Li residence with me, and once my father sees you, he will definitely agree to cooperate!"

Liu Yang nodded, stood up and said, "Alright, I'll go to the Li residence with you. But let me make this clear: if your Li family dares to play any tricks, you'll bear the consequences."

Li Qing nodded quickly: "Don't worry! Our Li family has always kept its word. As long as you can help us obtain the treasure of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison, we will definitely keep our promise and never go back on our word!"

With that, Li Qing led Liu Yang and Su Qingyao towards the Li residence. He secretly rejoiced, never expecting such a huge windfall to fall from the sky. As long as he cooperated with Liu Yang, the Li family could rise to the top and become the overlord of Qingyang City!

Liu Yang followed behind Li Qing, a cold glint in his eyes—he knew the Li family had agreed to cooperate so easily only out of greed. Once they obtained the treasure of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison, they would definitely find a way to eliminate him and seize all the profits. But he didn't care. As long as he could use the Li family to find the entrance to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison, the Li family would have no reason to exist afterward.