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

"The power of the Foundation Establishment stage is indeed pathetic." The Shadow Spirit's tone was full of disdain. She raised her hand again, and this time the black claw that she conjured was three times larger than before, and it also carried a faint corrosive aura. "Hand over the spirit core obediently, and I can give you a quick death. Otherwise, I will make you sink into endless illusions for eternity."

Liu Yang didn't answer, but quietly placed his hand on his dantian—he knew that a direct confrontation was hopeless, and he could only rely on the power of the Ice-Fire Spirit Core. Although the spirit core was not yet fully refined, the primal power contained within it might temporarily boost his cultivation and allow him to fight the Shadow Spirit.

He took a deep breath and activated the "Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Technique," actively guiding the Tai Chi pattern within his dantian to rotate faster and absorb energy from the spiritual core. In an instant, an even more powerful ice and fire spiritual force erupted from his body, and his cultivation level broke through to the late Foundation Establishment stage. The spiritual energy fluctuations around him also became extremely violent, making him completely different from before.

"Oh? You can forcibly increase your cultivation level?" A hint of surprise flashed in Yingling's eyes, but then she resumed her cold smile. "Unfortunately, even if you break through to the late Foundation Establishment stage, you are still no match for me!"

The black claws descended again, this time even faster, arriving in front of Liu Yang almost instantly. Liu Yang's eyes narrowed, and he simultaneously threw the Crimson Flame Sword and the Mystic Ice Mirror into the air. The two magical artifacts crossed in mid-air, forming an ice and fire barrier. At the same time, he concentrated all his spiritual power into his right fist and slammed it fiercely towards the black claws behind the barrier.

"Ice and fire unite as one!"

Black and white spiritual energy swirled around his fist, resonating with the ice and fire power within the barrier to create a force far exceeding the previous one. The moment his fist collided with the black claw, the surrounding space seemed to freeze, followed by an even more violent explosion. The black claw was instantly shattered, and the violent energy shook the entire stone chamber, causing the ice and fire spiritual core on the jade platform to tremble violently, nearly falling off the platform.

The Shadow Spirit was jolted back two steps by the shockwave of the explosion, its black aura fading slightly, clearly indicating it had also suffered minor injuries. It looked at Liu Yang, a hint of fear appearing in its eyes for the first time: "You've actually managed to fuse the power of ice and fire to this extent… However, you're forcibly increasing your cultivation; you won't last long. This spirit core will ultimately be mine!"

As it spoke, the Shadow Spirit suddenly transformed into a wisp of black smoke and flew toward the Ice and Fire Spirit Core on the jade platform. It knew Liu Yang's weakness; as long as it seized the spirit core, Liu Yang would lose his energy support, and his cultivation would immediately decline. At that time, it would be easy to deal with him.

"Don't even think about it!" Liu Yang's expression changed. He was indeed running out of spiritual energy, and the backlash from forcibly increasing his cultivation was beginning to show, with a sharp pain coming from his dantian. But he absolutely could not let the Shadow Spirit take away his spiritual core, otherwise not only would he lose all his previous efforts, but Su Qingyao would also be in danger.

He gritted his teeth and chased after the Shadow Spirit, simultaneously hurling the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Tokens at the jade platform. The two tokens transformed into a red and white light shield in the air, enveloping the Ice and Fire Spirit Core within. The Shadow Spirit crashed into the light shield and was thrown back, the black aura around its body fading further, revealing a blurry face—seven-tenths similar to the white-robed guardian in the mural!

"So you are the guardian's inner demon in disguise. No wonder you can control the restrictions of the secret realm." Liu Yang instantly understood. The guardian left behind the shadow spirit to protect the secret treasure, but he did not expect that the inner demon would gradually grow stronger and become the greatest threat to the secret realm.

When Shadow Spirit's identity was exposed, a glint of madness flashed in her eyes: "That's right! I am his inner demon! He has pursued the balance of ice and fire all his life, but he has never been able to completely get rid of his inner demon. Now I will take his place and use the power of this spiritual core to let the entire cultivation world know of my existence!"

It gathered its power once more, this time not with black claws, but by converging all the black energy around it into a black longsword. The sword was shrouded in an aura that corroded everything, clearly indicating that it was using its full strength. The Shadow Spirit slashed at the light barrier with the sword. The moment the black sword energy collided with the light barrier, the patterns on the barrier began to dissipate rapidly, clearly indicating that it could not hold out for long.

Liu Yang knew that once the protective barrier shattered, he would be powerless to resist. In this critical moment, he suddenly remembered Su Qingyao—she was still on the stone platform, and if Yingling broke through the stone chamber, she would be the first target. A strong obsession surged within him, and the Tai Chi pattern in his dantian suddenly accelerated its rotation. His spiritual power, which was about to be exhausted, erupted again, and his cultivation even showed faint signs of breaking through to the late Foundation Establishment stage and touching the threshold of the Golden Core stage.

"I will never let you hurt Qingyao!" Liu Yang roared, forming hand seals and condensing all the ice and fire spiritual power within his body into a huge Tai Chi diagram, which he pushed towards Ying Ling. The Tai Chi diagram continued to expand in the air, and wherever it passed, the black sword energy was instantly swallowed up, and even the black aura around Ying Ling began to dissipate.

The shadow spirit's expression changed drastically. It tried to retreat, but found itself firmly locked in place by the power of the Tai Chi diagram, unable to move at all. Looking at the approaching Tai Chi diagram, fear appeared in its eyes for the first time: "Impossible! How could a Foundation Establishment cultivator possess such power!"

"This is not power, but the determination to protect." Liu Yang's eyes were firm, and the Tai Chi diagram finally completely enveloped the Shadow Spirit. With a shrill scream, the Shadow Spirit's body gradually dissipated within the Tai Chi diagram, turning into wisps of black energy, which were absorbed by the Tai Chi diagram and eventually merged into the Tai Chi pattern in Liu Yang's dantian—although the Shadow Spirit was a demon, the millennia-old spiritual power contained within it became the final boost to Liu Yang's breakthrough.

As the shadow spirit completely dissipated, the Tai Chi pattern within Liu Yang's dantian suddenly erupted with dazzling light, instantly breaking through to the late Foundation Establishment stage and reaching its peak, just one step away from the Golden Core stage. Simultaneously, the restriction on the stone chamber entrance was lifted, and the communication jade returned to normal, transmitting Su Qingyao's anxious voice: "Master, are you alright? I sensed a strong fluctuation of spiritual energy just now; I thought you were in danger!"

Liu Yang took a deep breath, suppressed the surging spiritual energy within his body, and walked towards the entrance of the stone chamber: "I'm fine, I just encountered the final test of the secret realm, but it's been resolved now. Let's quickly re-embed the two Yin-Yang Tokens into the stone platform, open the final door to the core secret treasure, and see what the guardian left behind."

Hearing his voice, Su Qingyao finally felt relieved and quickly nodded, "Okay! I'll get ready right away!"

Liu Yang exited the stone chamber and reunited with Su Qingyao. The two then once again embedded the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Tokens into the groove in the center of the stone platform. This time,

The Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams pattern burst forth with an unprecedentedly brilliant silver light, which spread along the edge of the stone platform to the entire cloud sea platform, even tinging the floating clouds in the air with a faint silver glow. As the two Yin-Yang tokens were fully embedded in the grooves, a muffled "boom" suddenly came from the center of the stone platform, and the entire stone platform slowly sank, revealing a circular passage hidden below—the inner walls of the passage were engraved with spiritual energy patterns of the same origin as the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison, and a warm energy fluctuation faintly emanated from the bottom, completely different from the scorching heat of the Fire Prison and the bitter cold of the Ice Prison.

"Is this the true entrance to the core secret chamber?" Su Qingyao approached the edge of the passage, probing downwards with her spiritual sense, only to be blocked by a gentle barrier of spiritual energy. She could only sense a vast secret chamber about a hundred feet below. She turned to Liu Yang, her eyes filled with curiosity, "Master, can you break through this barrier?"

Liu Yang raised his hand and pressed it against the patterns on the inner wall of the passage. Ice and fire spiritual energy flowed from his fingertips into the patterns—unexpectedly, the spiritual energy was not blocked; instead, it resonated with the energy within the patterns, causing ripples to spread across the barrier at the bottom of the passage before slowly dissipating. He withdrew his hand, a smile playing on his lips: "The barrier left by the guardian was meant to be a 'door' for those who pass the test, not an 'obstacle.' Let's go down and take a look."

Having said that, he leaped into the passage first, with Su Qingyao following closely behind. There were no steps in the passage; the two relied on their spiritual power to levitate and descend. The patterns on the inner walls continuously released gentle spiritual power, supporting their bodies as they slowly descended, without any sense of weightlessness. About an incense stick's time later, their feet finally touched solid ground—the secret chamber before them was much larger than they had imagined, several tens of feet square. The ceiling of the chamber was inlaid with countless glowing crystals, illuminating the entire space as if it were daytime.

In the center of the secret chamber stood a three-zhang-tall white jade statue, the very one of the white-robed guardians. He held the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Token, sat cross-legged, his eyes slightly closed, and a faint aura of spiritual energy surrounded him, as if he had never left. In front of the statue was an ancient stone table. On the table, besides a yellowed thread-bound ancient book, there was a palm-sized bronze box. The surface of the box was engraved with intricate Yin-Yang patterns, perfectly matching the patterns on the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Token.

"Master, look!" Su Qingyao walked quickly to the stone table and her gaze fell on the cover of the ancient book—there were no words on it, only a Tai Chi pattern drawn with spiritual power. When touched lightly, the pattern would glow, obviously requiring specific spiritual power to activate.

Liu Yang walked to the stone table and placed the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Tokens on either side of the bronze box. The tokens instantly released red and white light, echoing the Yin-Yang pattern on the box. As the light gradually intensified, the bronze box opened automatically with a "click." Inside, there were no gold or silver jewels, only a completely transparent jade slip. Sealed within the jade slip was a wisp of pale golden spiritual power, the legacy mark left by the guardian.

"This is... a jade slip of inheritance?" Liu Yang picked up the jade slip, and the moment his fingertips touched its surface, pale golden spiritual energy surged into his sea of ​​consciousness. The next second, the white-robed guardian's voice rang out again, this time not as an image, but echoing directly in his mind, so clear it seemed almost within reach:

"I am Mo Chen, the third-generation guardian of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison. This secret treasure is not for wealth, but for inheritance—I have devoted my life to studying the ice and fire cultivation techniques, and finally comprehended the state of 'the unity of the two elements,' but due to the approaching end of my lifespan, I was unable to pass this path on to future generations. Now, seeing that you can see through illusions, refine spiritual cores, and suppress inner demons, I know that your temperament and talent are both excellent. Therefore, I have sealed the 'Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Unity Technique' and my cultivation insights into this jade slip."

After a brief pause, another explanation of the secret treasure came: "The ancient book on the stone table is the 'Secret Realm Record,' which records the origin of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison and the deeds of its guardians throughout the ages. This secret realm was originally created by a powerful being of both ice and fire elements in ancient times to store his cultivation insights. Later, it was hidden from the world due to war, and our generation of guardians has passed it down through generations, waiting only for someone who can inherit this path. In addition, on the jade shelf on the west side of the secret chamber, there are three 'Heart Protection Pills' and a 'Yin-Yang Sword.' The Heart Protection Pills can stabilize the mind and repair the meridians, while the Yin-Yang Sword can change according to the user's spiritual power, releasing both ice and fire elemental attacks simultaneously. Both will help you refine your spiritual core and cultivate new techniques."

After digesting the information in his mind, Liu Yang was filled with shock—he had originally thought the secret treasure was just ordinary magical artifacts and books, but he never expected to obtain such a precious cultivation technique inheritance. He looked at Su Qingyao and found her holding the "Secret Realm Records" and carefully reading it, occasionally letting out a gasp of amazement, clearly also attracted by the contents of the book.

"Qingyao, come and take a look at this." Liu Yang handed the inheritance jade slip to Su Qingyao. Although she cultivated a pure ice-type technique and could not cultivate the "Ice and Fire Unity Technique", the insights about spiritual power control in the jade slip might be helpful to her cultivation.

Su Qingyao took the jade slip, infused it with her spiritual sense, and opened her eyes a moment later, her eyes filled with surprise: "Master, this inheritance is too precious! The 'Way of Spiritual Power Balance' mentioned inside, although it is for the ice and fire elements, if applied to ice-type techniques, it may make my spiritual power more condensed!"

"I'm glad it can help you." Liu Yang nodded with a smile and turned to walk towards the jade shelf on the west side. As Mo Chen had said, the jade shelf contained three pure white Heart-Protecting Pills and a longsword about three feet long. The sword's blade was light silver, and the hilt was engraved with a Tai Chi pattern. The moment one grasped the hilt, one could feel the ice and fire elemental energies contained within the sword, gentle and without conflict. It was clearly a rare and top-grade magic weapon.

He picked up the Yin-Yang Sword and infused it with a wisp of ice and fire spiritual energy. Immediately, the sword glowed with red and white light, and a wisp of flame and a piece of ice crystal condensed at its tip. The two forces intertwined without any repulsion. "A fine sword!" Liu Yang couldn't help but exclaim. This sword suited him better than the Crimson Flame Sword he had used before. With this sword's assistance, his future cultivation of the "Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Unity Technique" would surely be twice as effective.

Just then, Su Qingyao suddenly asked in confusion: "Master, look at what this 'Secret Realm Record' says—the guardians of all generations have mentioned that the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Prison has a 'gateway' that leads to a space called the 'Yin-Yang Secret Realm,' which is the best place to cultivate the 'Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Unity Technique.' Moreover, the conditions for opening the gate are to refine the Ice and Fire Spirit Core and possess two Yin-Yang Tokens."

"A Boundary Gate?" Liu Yang's heart skipped a beat. He quickly walked to Su Qingyao's side and looked at the "Secret Realm Records"—the book indeed contained information about the Boundary Gate: Located behind the stone wall on the north side of the secret chamber, the Boundary Gate requires the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Token as a key, along with the power of a refined Ice and Fire Spirit Core, to open. The Yin-Yang Secret Realm behind the Boundary Gate has a spiritual energy concentration fifty times that of the outside world, and possesses natural Ice and Fire Yin-Yang spiritual veins, which can accelerate cultivation. More importantly, there is no danger within the secret realm; one only needs to focus on cultivation.

"If I can enter the Yin-Yang Secret Realm to cultivate, I will definitely be able to break through to the Golden Core stage in less than half a year!" A hint of anticipation flashed in Liu Yang's eyes. He was already at the peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage, only one step away from the Golden Core stage. If he had the help of the secret realm, the breakthrough would be just around the corner.

Su Qingyao saw through his thoughts and said with a smile, "Master, let's go open the gate now! Although I can't enter the secret realm to cultivate, I can protect you in the secret chamber and leave together after you break through."