After being reborn, the villain comes with a spoiler tag.

"Master, may I try it?"

The one transmitting the message was none other than the mixed-blood dragon that had been listlessly clinging to Huo Yu's wrist as an ornament ever since they left the Nine Star Secret Realm, a creature Huo Yu had almost forgotten about.

After listening to the hybrid dragon's telepathic message, Huo Yu took out the Hundred Soul Banner he had previously refined from his storage bag, and a black streak of light followed closely behind as it entered the bag.

Long Yucheng, with his sharp eyes, spotted something within the escaping light and asked curiously:

"Isn't this Senior Brother's eel spirit beast? Why is it able to enter this Hundred Soul Banner when it's a living creature?"

Huo Yu was somewhat surprised. Long Yucheng, who was at the first level of Qi Refining, was completely unable to detect the traces of the hybrid grain dragon, but now Long Yucheng, who was only at the fourth level of Qi Refining, could already see the figure of the hybrid grain dragon from the escape light.

Although the mixed-blooded dragon had not replenished its spiritual energy for too long, resulting in a decline in its strength, Long Yucheng's five senses were indeed exceptionally sharp.

"It is not a creature of this world and is not bound by the rules of this world."

Huo Yu explained.

Upon hearing this, Long Yucheng suddenly realized what was happening and focused his attention on the Hundred Soul Banner.

The Hundred Souls Banner, now possessed by a hybrid grain dragon, appeared unchanged but seemed to have gained a touch of liveliness, with a faint dragon-shaped shadow reflected on its surface.

Huo Yu then cast a soul-controlling spell, targeting the wandering soul that had been in a state of blank disarray ever since Huo Yu's attack.

The wandering soul was bewildered by the black, soul-capturing light emanating from the Hundred Soul Banner, but just as it was about to enter the banner, it seemed to be repelled by some kind of rule-based power.

The previously still wandering soul began to struggle violently, trying to get away from the soul banner. As it struggled, the speed at which its soul disintegrated accelerated.

Just then, the hybrid grain dragon inside the Hundred Soul Banner exhaled a breath of spiritual energy.

The wandering soul enveloped by that spiritual energy immediately returned to a state of blank stillness, and the disintegration of its soul stopped. Then, it was absorbed into the Hundred Soul Banner without any hindrance.

When the wandering soul completely disappeared, a storage bag fell out of its body and was retrieved by Huo Yu along with the Hundred Soul Banner.

Huo Yu casually tossed the storage bag to Long Yucheng behind him, then held the Hundred Soul Banner and probed its interior with his divine sense.

Two dark figures appeared inside the previously empty soul banner. One of them was the hybrid grain dragon, and the other was naturally the wandering soul.

However, although this wandering soul was inside the Hundred Soul Banner, it still appeared to be without consciousness, wandering aimlessly back and forth, uncontrolled by the Soul Banner formation, and unable to be used against enemies.

However, the hybrid grain dragon can refine and absorb it, which is why the hybrid grain dragon asked Huo Yu's subordinates to leave their souls intact.

In return, the hybrid dragon will provide some of the refined spiritual power to the array within the soul banner.

In this way, the Hundred Soul Banner no longer needs to consume Huo Yu's spiritual power to maintain the array's activation. With the hybrid grain dragon as a transit point, Huo Yu can completely capture wandering souls as the source of spiritual power to drive the Soul Banner.

However, Huo Yu did not intend to use this soul banner as his fighting weapon.

The greater value of this soul banner lies in providing a place for the hybrid dragon to cultivate its breathing techniques.

Although the hybrid grain dragon is weak, its special spiritual power can play a surprising role at certain crucial moments, especially when dealing with array restrictions.

As Huo Yu put away the Hundred Soul Banner, Long Yucheng also caught the storage bag. After a quick glance, his eyes lit up, and he dumped out everything inside.

This storage bag is probably the reason why the cave owner has been lingering here. This wandering soul was indeed quite wealthy in his previous life as a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

There were more than twenty Hundred Soul Banners alone. In addition to the banners, there were also several bottles of pills of unknown purpose in the storage bag, as well as hundreds of low-grade spirit stones, which were poured out and piled up into a small mountain.

What Long Yucheng coveted most was that there was even a mid-grade spirit stone among them!

This mid-grade spirit stone is dark green and only half the size of a low-grade spirit stone, but it contains a hundred times more spiritual energy than a low-grade spirit stone.

When used as currency, the exchange rate between mid-grade spirit stones and low-grade spirit stones is one to one hundred. However, in reality, the purchase price of one mid-grade spirit stone is often around one hundred and thirty low-grade spirit stones.

Although Long Yucheng coveted the mid-grade spirit stone, he generously let Huo Yu choose first.

After all, this treasure hunt was originally intended to repay Huo Yu for his repeated assistance.

Huo Yu only took those dozens of soul banners; his purpose in coming here was to obtain living souls. Moreover, within the Yellow Springs Sect, the combined value of the living souls within those twenty-odd soul banners far exceeded that of spirit stones.

However, Huo Yu's disregard for spirit stones still moved Long Yucheng quite a bit. He didn't refuse too much, after all, Huo Yu had previously given 105,000 spirit stones, and the spirit stones in front of him were not even a fraction of 105,000. It was understandable that his senior brother didn't care.

Huo Yu has no shortage of spirit stones, but Long Yucheng does. The Heavenly Dao System is like a bottomless pit that devours spirit stones, and there will never be enough of them.

Happily accepting the spirit stones and pills that Huo Yu didn't want, Long Yucheng calculated how many points he could get by selling these things to the system, while thoroughly searching the entire cave again to make sure he hadn't missed anything before leaving.

Both of them gained a lot from this trip. After leaving the cultivator's mansion, Huo Yu glanced in a certain direction again before quickly returning to the Yellow Springs Sect with Long Yucheng.

Meanwhile, in the direction Huo Yu had focused on twice, on a vast plain about a hundred miles away from the cultivator's ruins, five people were gathered together, their attention focused.

Suddenly, the void in front of the five people seemed to be torn apart, and a strange rift appeared out of thin air, its edges flickering with unstable light, as if it could heal itself at any moment.

Just then, Master Tianhe's eyes narrowed, and he made a hand seal. A blue jade ring flew out from his sleeve and shot towards the rift.

The moment the jade ring touched the crack, it suddenly expanded, creating a delicate balance with the crack's self-healing power. However, the crack's power was clearly stronger, and cracks began to appear on the surface of the jade ring, as if it might collapse at any moment.

Master Tianhe's expression was solemn. He snorted coldly and quickly formed hand seals. A continuous stream of spiritual energy surged into the jade ring like a tide, stabilizing it and forming a passage that could only accommodate one person at a time.

"This ring can only last for half an incense stick's time, Five-Colored Old Daoist, why don't you make your move quickly!"

While maintaining the input of spiritual energy, Master Tianhe urged him on.

Upon hearing this, the Five-Colored Taoist laughed heartily, raised his hand, and a five-colored ray of light flew out from his sleeve, instantly merging into the jade ring. On the ice-blue jade ring, the five-colored light flashed and disappeared in an instant, like a clay ox entering the sea, vanishing without a trace.

Master Tianhe's expression darkened slightly, but Daoist Wucai seemed oblivious, continuing to calmly unleash beams of five-colored divine light at the jade ring, stabilizing it after about half an incense stick's time.

At this moment, the jade ring was no longer a simple ice-blue color, but was changing with five colors.

Inside the ring was a void of spatial rifts, occasionally punctuated by spatial turbulence, making it appear extremely dangerous. However, everyone present looked into it with undisguised eagerness, clearly knowing what lay beyond the rift.

Master Tianhe withdrew the spiritual power maintaining the jade ring and quickly swallowed a pill. He glanced at everyone present and said in a deep voice:

"I and the Five-Colored Old Taoist have fixed this spatial rift. As for the restrictions we encounter inside, that will depend on you all."

Upon hearing this, the Six Desires Demon Lord, clad in a purple robe, curled his lips into a playful smile:

"That's natural."

With that, he flashed and was the first to step into the spatial rift.

Immediately afterward, an old woman with a full head of silver hair and a hunched back followed closely behind and stepped into that unknown territory.

The Five-Colored Taoist glanced at the Heavenly River Immortal, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes:

"Fellow Daoist Tianhe, would you like to rest and recuperate here for a while? Then I will go in first."

After saying that, he led the only Foundation Establishment cultivator in the area into the spatial rift.

If Huo Yu and Long Yucheng were here, they would definitely recognize the Foundation Establishment cultivator at a glance—this person is none other than Yun Liushui, who disappeared after the Qiongshan Sect was wiped out!

After watching everyone enter the spatial rift, Master Tianhe's eyes flickered for a moment, his expression changing repeatedly, before finally deciding to enter the mysterious spatial rift first.

On the empty plain, only a radiant jade ring remains.