I transmigrated to a chaotic world and became the sole player.

Inside the cave, time seemed to stand still. Only the "tinkling" sound of the spiritual liquid condensed at the tip of the stalactites dripping into the pool, and Lu Zhao's own heavy and suppressed breathing could be heard.

Despite his severe injuries, depleted spiritual energy, and exhausted soul, Lu Zhao's eyes remained sharp as a hawk's. He was not immediately blinded by the allure of the "Soul-Purifying Jade Marrow Mushroom," nor did he rashly approach the skeleton that exuded a faint Nascent Soul aura.

He endured the excruciating pain, sat cross-legged, and slowly closed his eyes. His divine sense, like the gentlest tendrils, under the precise control of the "Refining God Technique," mixed with a trace of the characteristics of the annihilating dragon energy (possessing both probing and erosion), cautiously and bit by bit spread towards the skeleton, the jade slip, the token, and the entire cave's rock walls, floor, and pool.

He needed to determine whether the place was truly as peaceful as it appeared.

When one's divine sense swept over the "Purifying Soul Jade Marrow Mushroom," one could clearly feel the immense and pure soul power contained within it, as well as a natural Daoist charm that was perfectly integrated with the spiritual veins of the karst cave and the jade marrow pool. There were no traces of any human intervention or dangerous aura.

A sweep of divine sense across the pool revealed its clear, cool water brimming with spiritual energy. It was no more than ten feet deep, and the bottom was covered with smooth pebbles and scattered fragments of jade, also imbued with spiritual energy. There was nothing unusual about it.

His divine sense swept over the skeleton. Indeed, the jade-like bones were devoid of any life force or soul energy fluctuations, only a faint, oppressive aura accumulated over the years and a sense of peace and liberation before death. The ground and jade platform surrounding the skeleton also showed no remnants of any array's spiritual energy.

When his divine sense touched the ancient jade slip and the broken token, Lu Zhao's heart leaped. He became even more careful, enveloping his divine sense with the aura of the Annihilating Dragon, and tried to touch the surface of the jade slip and the token extremely slowly and gently.

There was no counterattack, no fluctuation from the triggered restrictions. The jade slip and token lay there quietly, as if they were just two ordinary relics.

After checking several times to confirm there was no danger, Lu Zhao slowly opened his eyes, a thoughtful look flashing in them.

"It seems that this senior did indeed pass away here, without leaving any malicious plans. Perhaps, because this place is secluded, he didn't want his belongings and this 'Purifying Soul Jade Marrow Mushroom' to be easily obtained, so he didn't take any precautions and left everything to fate?" Lu Zhao speculated.

He struggled to his feet, forcing his weakened body to walk slowly but steadily toward the pool. Each step aggravated his injuries, but his eyes remained calm.

When Lu Zhao reached a distance of about ten feet from the skeleton, he stopped, bowed solemnly, and performed three salutations.

"This junior, Lu Zhao, has fallen into this place in misfortune and has presumptuously disturbed your peace, senior. I humbly accept your legacy and, if I achieve something in the future, I will certainly live up to your spirit of guarding this place after your passing." Proper etiquette is a basic sign of respect and also a sign of caution towards the unknown.

After performing the ritual, he stepped forward and carefully picked up the ancient jade slip.

The jade slip felt cool to the touch, with a delicate texture. Lu Zhao carefully probed it with a wisp of his divine sense.

There were no vast collections of martial arts techniques passed down, nor any earth-shattering secrets. The information recorded in the jade slip was more like a detailed "geographical exploration notebook" and "last words."

The recorder calls himself "Di Yuanzi," the last "guardian of the mountain" of the ancient sect "Di Yuan Sect." The Di Yuan Sect was an expert in geomancy and the art of finding dragon veins, and it was once very prosperous, but it declined for unknown reasons. Di Yuanzi was entrusted by his master to guard and observe the changes in the geomancy of the "Dragon Bone Wasteland Hill" area for generations.

The notes describe in detail the direction of the earth veins, the distribution of spiritual caves, and the gathering points of evil energy within a range of hundreds of miles around "Dragon Bone Hill". Among them is the earth vein node where Lu Zhao just escaped from the "Blood Dragon Evil Pool", which is marked as "Earthly Fiend Blood Eye, extremely ominous, suspected to be the leak of the ancient demon-sealing battlefield, evil energy is stagnant, and it is easy to breed evil spirits".

What alarmed Lu Zhao even more was that the notes mentioned that deeper within the "Dragon Bone Wasteland" ley lines, there seemed to be a weak point in the outer seal of the legendary "Ten Thousand Dragons Devouring the Heavens" ancient formation. Di Yuanzi, having exhausted his life's energy, vaguely sensed abnormal fluctuations at that weak point recently, as if an external force was attempting to impact and penetrate it. Its aura was sinister and filthy, quite similar to the "Soul Devouring" lineage recorded in ancient demonic cultivation texts. He suspected that remnants of the demonic path were plotting something sinister, trying to exploit that weak point, perhaps even attempting to unleash the residual power of the ancient formation and cause a catastrophe.

Di Yuanzi attempted to explore further but was attacked by an unknown force and severely wounded. He fled to this secluded spiritual cave, where he used his last strength to create a simple concealment. He relied on the "Jade Marrow Spirit Eye" and the nearly matured "Purifying Soul Jade Marrow Mushroom" to sustain his life, leaving behind this record in the hope that a destined person would see it, pass on the message, or stop the demonic conspiracy. Unfortunately, his injuries were too severe, and he ultimately did not live to see the "Purifying Soul Jade Marrow Mushroom" fully mature before passing away here.

"The Earthly Origin Sect... the Mountain Guardian... the 'Soul Devouring' lineage plots to exploit the weak point of the ancient formation..." Lu Zhao suddenly understood. So that's it! No wonder the "Soul Devouring Demon Sect" went to such lengths, setting up the "Blood Dragon Fiend Pool" and refining "Vengeful Dragon Soul Crystals" here. It was probably not just to control a "Blood Fiend Vengeful Dragon," but more likely, to use blood sacrifice and the power of the Vengeful Dragon to impact, corrupt, or even temporarily open the weak point in the outer seal of the "Ten Thousand Dragons Devouring the Heavens" ancient formation mentioned in the Earthly Origin Master's notes! Their ambitions are far greater!

This intelligence is priceless! It not only explains many doubts, but also points out the key to the Demonic Sect's possible next move.

Lu Zhao looked again at the broken token. At the end of his notes, Di Yuanzi mentioned that this token was a heirloom of the "Di Yuan Sect" and one of the "keys" to unlocking a hidden ruin of the sect. Unfortunately, the sect had long since vanished, and the location of the ruin was probably hard to find, left to fate.

"The key..." Lu Zhao put away the token. Although he didn't know its purpose for the time being, it was an ancient sect token and might be useful in the future.

After carefully putting away the jade slip and token, Lu Zhao's gaze returned to the "Soul-Purifying Jade Marrow Fungus" in the center of the pool. With Di Yuanzi's notes, he no longer had any reservations about this place.

He walked to the edge of the pool, reached out and gently plucked the palm-sized jade fungus with his spiritual power. The moment the fungus left the water, the spiritual energy of the entire cave seemed to pause slightly before resuming its flow.

Without hesitation, Lu Zhao broke off about a third of the sesame seed and put it in his mouth.

The Ganoderma lucidum melts in the mouth, transforming into a cool, sweet, yet incredibly powerful stream that instantly floods the body and reaches the mind!

"Buzz—!"

Lu Zhao felt a clear, resonant sound in his mind, as if he had been cleansed by the purest spiritual spring. The fatigue, shock, and hidden injuries to his soul caused by the battle, breakthrough, fusion of battle intent, and the impact of spatial turbulence were restored, calmed, and even made more refined and resilient under the nourishment of this clear stream! The Refining God Technique spontaneously operated at high speed, the strength of his divine sense steadily increased, and his perception of the surrounding environment became clearer and more acute.

At the same time, the pure spiritual energy contained within the Ganoderma lucidum was rapidly repairing the injuries to his body. Broken bones quickly healed, damaged meridians were widened and strengthened, and depleted spiritual energy was rapidly restored and replenished. The charred wounds on his body quickly peeled off, revealing new, healthy-looking skin underneath.

Within the short time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Lu Zhao's aura stabilized and strengthened at a visible speed. Although he was still some distance from fully recovering to his peak (after all, his physical body and spiritual energy had been greatly depleted), he was at least out of danger and his strength had recovered to about 60-70%. In particular, his spiritual state seemed to be even better than before he was injured!

"As expected of the 'Soul-Purifying Jade Marrow Ganoderma,' it truly has miraculous effects!" Lu Zhao thought with delight. He carefully put away the remaining two-thirds of the Ganoderma, for this item was too precious to be underestimated; it could save his life in a critical moment.

With his injuries and spirit greatly improved, Lu Zhao began to consider his next move. Although this place was pleasant and rich in spiritual energy, it was not a place to linger. He needed to find an exit and return to the surface.

Just as he was preparing to carefully examine the surrounding rock walls of the cave, searching for possible exits or crevices—

"BOOM!!!"

A deep, muffled roar, seemingly from a great distance, faintly penetrated the thick layers of rock and reached the cavern. Immediately afterward, a slight tremor emanated from the ground.

Lu Zhao's expression shifted, and he immediately extended his divine sense upwards (towards the ground) with all his might. Although the thick layers of rock and the earth's veins made the divine sense detection extremely difficult and blurry, he could still vaguely sense intense and chaotic fluctuations of spiritual energy coming from above, as well as... faint sounds of fighting, roars, and magical explosions!

The battle on the ground not only didn't end, but seemed to have intensified! Moreover, judging from the intensity and chaos of the spiritual energy fluctuations, the participants were probably quite strong, with at least several late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, and possibly even some pseudo-Core Formation cultivators fighting each other!

"Is it the Yunmeng Sect and the Xuantian Sword Sect fighting against the Blood Bone Demon and that out-of-control Blood Fiend Dragon? Or... has a new force joined in?" Lu Zhao's mind raced.

What chilled him even more was that amidst the chaotic fluctuations, he vaguely sensed that more than one powerful divine sense was subtly scanning the ground of the "Dragon Bone Wasteland," even... penetrating and probing underground! One of these divine senses was cold, sinister, and filled with bloodlust, possibly belonging to the Blood Bone Demon! Another was sharp and majestic, carrying sword intent, possibly belonging to Liu Jingyun or an elder of the Xuan Tian Sword Sect! And yet another divine sense was heavy and steady, carrying the murderous aura of a military formation, likely belonging to a master of the Great Jin army!

What do they seem to be searching for? Are they searching for their own escape? Or are they searching for traces left by the explosion of the "Wraith Dragon Soul Crystal"? Or... are they investigating the anomalies beneath this "Dragon Bone Wasteland"?

Although this place is secluded and has been simply concealed by the Earthly Elemental Master before his death, will the picking of the "Soul-Purifying Jade Marrow Mushroom" and the spiritual energy fluctuations emitted when I recovered attract investigation?

Should they remain hidden here, taking advantage of the arrangement of the Earth Element and the natural concealment of the cave, and quietly leave after the battle on the surface ends and the strongmen leave?

Or... while the battle on the ground is raging and in chaos, is this the perfect opportunity to fish in troubled waters and quietly slip away (or do something else)?

Lu Zhao's eyes flashed as he quickly weighed the pros and cons. The ground was dangerous, but there might be an opportunity. This place was relatively safe, but if a powerful expert locked onto it with their divine sense, they would be trapped like turtles in a jar.

He looked up at the stalactites hanging from the top of the cave, emitting a faint glow, as if trying to penetrate the thick rock layers to see what was happening on the ground.