Only three seconds? He's already the Lord of All Realms, so it doesn't matter.

Mo Chenling carried the cloth bag, feeling the faint warmth emanating from the remains inside. Just as he was about to light the talisman to escape, he suddenly sensed something was wrong.

The remains in the bag were so light, it was as if they were just hollow, dead wood...

"No, absolutely not."

Even if the bones of the ancient golden phoenix would lose flesh and blood after its fall, a skeleton of this size could never feel so light and airy.

His expression changed drastically, and he ripped open the bag.

At this moment, what was in the bag was not some dark golden remains, but clearly a three-foot-long piece of charred, withered wood!

The surface of the dead wood was rough, and the outline of a phoenix could be vaguely seen, but there was no spiritual energy fluctuation. It was clearly a crudely made imitation.

"Fake?!"

Mo Chenling's pupils contracted, and the moonlight around him burst out uncontrollably, illuminating the space at the top of the tower in a ghastly white light.

He suddenly looked up and surveyed his surroundings.

The space at the top of the tower remained tranquil, the white jade altar empty, with only a piece of withered wood lying quietly in the cloth bag.

"Alright, Jinluan Temple..."

Suppressing his anger, he threw the dead wood on the ground and began to carefully examine every inch of the space at the top of the tower.

However, apart from being affected by the spiritual energy of the outer array, there are no mechanisms, no hidden compartments, and not even any excess spiritual energy residue here.

The top floor of this tower is eerily clean, seemingly unlike the place where remains were supposedly enshrined, otherwise there wouldn't be a trace of the divine bird's aura left behind.

Mo Chenling became increasingly aware that something was wrong. No one had discovered his whereabouts yet, which meant he had been careless.

"The remains weren't even here..."

He swayed and returned to the hole on the side of the tower that had been created by the lunar eclipse talisman.

The holes in the barrier were slowly healing, but at an extremely slow pace, clearly indicating that the corrosive power he left behind was still at work.

Through the hole, he could clearly see the battle situation outside.

The three members of the Green Mountain Sect had broken through several barriers and were only thirty feet away from the altar, but they were blocked by two rogue cultivators and were locked in a stalemate.

Chaos reigned in other directions as well. Some tried to rush towards the tower, some wanted to launch a surprise attack, and others were so enraged that they attacked anyone they saw.

What about the abbot of Jinluan Temple and the three elders? They remained standing in the center of the altar, without moving an inch.

The abbot gently waved his jade whisk and chanted incessantly, focusing solely on maintaining the connection between the altar and the phantom of the golden phoenix atop the tower, completely oblivious to the fighting outside.

The golden phoenix phantom in the sky, though its form grew increasingly dim, still hovered above the plaza, occasionally intervening to disrupt the battle and making the battlefield even more chaotic.

At this moment, Mo Chenling noticed that the trajectory of the golden phoenix's illusory image seemed to always revolve around a certain spot in the center of the altar.

It wasn't the pagoda, nor the place where the abbot resided, but rather the indentation shaped like a phoenix on the altar floor.

"Could it be...?"

A thought flashed through his mind, and Mo Chenling suddenly stared at that spot.

The golden phoenix statue placed in the recess was carved entirely from dead wood, and its shape was exactly the same as the fake he had just seen at the top of the tower.

A perch! Yes, a perch!

He recalled more details he had seen in the library: "The golden phoenix, carrying pure yang divine fire, can burn mountains and boil seas with its wings. After it falls, its bones remain unburnt... However, the divine fire needs a tree to support it in order to survive."

It turns out that the piece of dead wood was not a statue for display, but a perch for the remains and divine fire.

The real remains were not in the Qita Tower at all. Mo Chenling's eyes suddenly sharpened as he looked toward the center of the altar.

Almost simultaneously, the abbot of the Golden Phoenix Temple on the altar seemed to sense something and glanced in his direction.

Their eyes met across the distance. The abbot showed no surprise, only a calm that he had already anticipated, and even a hint of mockery.

"Damn it, it's the one under the lamp that's blind!"

Mo Chenling gritted his teeth. He was always the one scheming against others; this was the first time he had been schemed against.

He no longer concealed his aura, unleashing his full Nascent Soul cultivation. Moonlight condensed around him into dozens of crescent moon phantoms, which spun and danced.

Wherever it went, the cultivators in the midst of the battle were forced to retreat by the moonlight and had no choice but to avoid its sharp edge.

It was Mo Chenling's almost domineering entry that inexplicably brought a moment of respite to the originally chaotic situation.

Everyone was puzzled when they saw his figure fly away and rush straight towards the altar.

On the altar, the abbot of Jinluan Temple finally changed his expression.

With a flick of his whisk, the three elders simultaneously formed hand seals, and the pale golden light shield suddenly thickened, its surface covered with dense phoenix runes.

"Young friend from Moon Eclipse Valley, why the haste?"

"Hmph, the abbot is quite cunning, using the remains as bait to lure cultivators from all directions to make offerings to the golden phoenix phantom."

But does your Taoist temple, which has been declining for a century, really think it can achieve its goals under the control of so many powerful forces today?

Mo Chenling stopped three zhang in front of the light barrier, and the moonlight phantoms around him all pointed towards the altar, indicating that he was going to forcefully break the formation.

At first, the Golden Phoenix Temple Master didn't care. After all, the formation in this tower had been passed down for thousands of years. How could it be broken by a mere Nascent Soul stage brat?

But the next moment, Mo Chenling suddenly smiled, and several crescent moon talismans in his sleeve lit up again.

However, the talismans did not shoot towards the light barrier. Instead, they exploded in mid-air, turning into countless threads of moonlight that began to spread in all directions, gradually enveloping the entire square.

Wherever the silk threads passed, the cultivators in the midst of the battle felt their spiritual energy stagnate, and then their strength began to dissipate.

"What are you doing?!"

Some were shocked and furious, while others, knowledgeable enough to recognize it as a secret technique of the Valley of Lunar Eclipse, prepared to break free with all their might.

Mo Chenling, however, only looked at the Golden Phoenix Abbot inside the light barrier and slowly said:

"Since the abbot wants the Golden Phoenix to draw out everyone's yang energy, then I will use the lunar eclipse secret technique to draw out their spiritual power in the opposite direction."

I wonder whether the Golden Phoenix Temple will succeed first, or whether my secret method is superior.

Inside the light barrier, the four people's expressions finally changed drastically. As they watched the increasingly brilliant moonlight gathering around Mo Chenling, they realized that if he were to truly draw upon the spiritual power of most of them, this attack would likely strike them.

If this continues, let alone supporting the illusory image of the golden phoenix, even maintaining the formation itself will become a problem.

When the formation dissipates, won't I be torn to pieces by these people...?

The abbot of Jinluan Temple stared at Mo Zhaoling for a long time before finally speaking:

"What do you want?"

"I will receive 30% of the inheritance of his remains."

"impossible."

"Then it'll be 20%."

"..."

The abbot remained silent, and Mo Chenling did not urge him. Instead, the moonlight threads around him became denser, and the speed at which he drew spiritual energy increased.

Some of the weaker cultivators on the plaza were unable to hold on and collapsed to the ground.

Even Zhen Yu and other disciples of the Green Mountain Sect felt their spiritual energy rapidly draining away, forcing them to stop fighting and fight back with all their might.

From the stone railing on the north side, Ye Xuan took in all of this.

He still had no intention of making a move; his eyes merely swirled with both blue and white energy as his senses quietly probed beneath the altar.

Sure enough, deep within the foundation of the altar, he sensed a scorching and ancient aura.

"So that's where it was hidden..."

Ye Xuan withdrew his senses and turned his gaze back to the arena.

At this moment, the Golden Phoenix Abbot and Mo Chenling were still locked in a stalemate, but the Golden Phoenix was clearly starting to feel the pressure.

Finally, the abbot took a deep breath and said in a solemn voice:

"One-tenth."

Mo Chenling raised an eyebrow. "One and a half percent."

"You! Fine."

The abbot gritted his teeth and agreed. Only then did Mo Chenling disperse the moonlight threads. The crowd in the square immediately felt the pressure ease, and they all breathed heavily, looking towards the altar with surprise and uncertainty.

From beginning to end, they had no idea what had happened. When they looked at the altar again, the figures of the Golden Phoenix Temple Master and Mo Chenling had disappeared, leaving only the three elders on the platform.

The three elders were now bearing the wrath of numerous cultivators alone. They wanted to escape, but it was unlikely.

"..."