The azure-robed man ignored the black-robed elder and his companions. He calmly walked to the massive head of the Five-Clawed Flood Dragon and, with a wave of his hand, made a grabbing motion in the air.

"Psh!"

A spot on the dragon's head exploded, and a black crystalline core, the size of a fist, shot out. Its surface was covered in mysterious black纹 (wen -纹 in this context refers to patterns or lines, but not translated). This was the demonic core of the Five-Clawed Ink Dragon.

The youth glanced at it expressionlessly before storing it away. Then, he formed a hand blade with his fingers and blurred slightly.

"Crack, crack," a series of crisp sounds rang out as the dragon's four massive claws were severed.

After putting away the claws, the youth's gaze shifted to the dragon's neck.

There, standing out amongst the surrounding black scales, was a pale silver scale nearly ten feet in size. Several pale silver bone spurs grew around it, radiating shocking spiritual power.

The scale and bone spurs had patterns similar to those on the demonic core.

The youth carefully removed the silver scale and bone spurs, then took some demonic beast materials from the dragon's body. He stood up and glanced at the black-robed elder and his companions nearby.

Although there was no malice in the man's eyes, the elder and his companions felt a chill run down their spines. Cold sweat poured down, and they became flustered.

The azure-robed man ignored them and quickly retracted his gaze. His figure transformed into an azure rainbow and shot off into the distance.

Only when the man had completely disappeared into the distance did the three of them breathe a sigh of relief.

"This... This dragon, could it be the Five-Clawed Ink Dragon we were just talking about?" The middle-aged Taoist looked at the remains of the black dragon and said.

"It should be. And judging by the looks of it, this dragon has likely advanced to the Grand Ascension stage!" The black-robed elder, his mood having calmed down slightly, nodded.

The green-robed young woman and the middle-aged Taoist gasped.

"That Senior was able to kill this dragon with his bare hands, and he didn't seem to expend much effort. Could he also be a Grand Ascension cultivator? I've seen images of Cold Flame Sect's Sima Senior and Mirror Origin Temple's He Shan Senior, but it doesn't seem to be either of them," the green-robed young woman said, still with lingering fear and a puzzled expression.

"Could he have disguised his appearance?" The middle-aged Taoist suggested a possibility.

"Probably not. Judging from the Ink Dragon's wounds, that Senior seems to be a pure strength cultivator. He's likely not either of those two Seniors," the black-robed elder shook his head.

"Not them? Are there other Grand Ascension stage existences in the Spirit Desolate World?" The green-robed young woman was surprised.

"There's one more... Have you forgotten about Wang Yu Senior, who annihilated the Heavenly Ghost Sect overnight a few years ago? He's also a strength cultivator!" The black-robed elder lowered his voice unconsciously.

"That legendary Wang Senior... That's right, rumors say he looks very young. Could it really be him!" The green-robed young woman's eyes lit up slightly.

"Rumors say this Wang Senior is a banished immortal from the Immortal World! He's a true immortal!" The middle-aged Taoist said excitedly.

As the three of them spoke, their gazes quickly landed on the body of the Five-Clawed Ink Dragon, their eyes glowing with fervent desire.

Although Wang Yu didn't think much of the dragon's remains and discarded them, even a small piece of the dragon's flesh would be enough to cause a stir among the three Transformation stage cultivators.

This was, after all, the flesh and blood of a Grand Ascension stage demon beast!

...

The Heavenly Crystal Sect had been founded for two to three hundred thousand years. Although its foundation couldn't compare to super sects like the Cold Flame Sect and Mirror Origin Temple, it had several Combination stage cultivators and its strength shouldn't be underestimated.

However, this sect had always been low-key, and its reputation wasn't very big in the Spirit Desolate World.

At this moment, in a large martial arts arena within the Heavenly Crystal Sect.

Blinding golden light flashed, accompanied by a thunderous roar!

A silver-robed elder flew out like a kite with a broken string, crashing into the restriction barrier around the martial arts arena. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining the front of his robes red.

A faint golden bowl rolled back, its surface dimmed, seemingly heavily damaged.

Opposite the elder, an azure-robed cultivator stood in the void, his face covered in a layer of azure light, making his features unclear. He slowly retracted his outstretched right hand.

Three Combination stage cultivators were also surrounding the arena. Seeing this scene, they were all horrified. They hurriedly dispelled the restriction barrier around the arena and flew to the silver-robed elder's side, staring warily at the azure-robed cultivator in the distance.

"Grand Elder, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. This fellow cultivator showed mercy," the silver-robed elder took out a golden elixir and swallowed it. His complexion gradually improved.

The surrounding three were stunned by this statement.

"Fellow cultivator's strength is extraordinary. This old man couldn't even withstand one of your moves. I'm ashamed," the silver-robed elder cupped his fist at the azure-robed cultivator in the air, and smiled wryly.

"Since you admit defeat, according to the agreement, hand over the Eight Treasures Exquisite Jade," the azure-robed cultivator said calmly, sounding as if he was not very old.

The silver-robed elder sighed helplessly and told a burly Combination stage man next to him.

Although the man was reluctant, he stomped his foot and flew out.

A moment later, he returned, holding a white jade box several feet long and half a foot wide. He handed it to the silver-robed elder.

The elder gently stroked the jade box, a hint of reluctance flashing in his eyes. Still, he waved his hand, sending out a golden light to wrap the jade box and passed it to the azure-robed cultivator.

The azure-robed cultivator reached out and caught the jade box, a flash of azure light on his finger, and tapped it on the box.

With a soft "crack," the white jade box slowly opened on its own, revealing several pieces of white jade stones of varying sizes. Although they seemed ordinary, eight colors of spiritual light flowed faintly on the surface, making them quite peculiar.

The azure-robed cultivator nodded, closed the lid, and flipped his hand to store it away.

"Our sect's Exquisite Jade Marrow mines have accumulated these top-grade Eight Treasures Exquisite Jade over ten thousand years. I hope fellow cultivator can make good use of them," the silver-robed elder sighed and said.

"Rest assured, I naturally won't let these Exquisite Jade go to waste," the azure-robed cultivator chuckled, then flicked his finger lightly.

A white light shot out, landing in front of the silver-robed elder. It was a storage bracelet.

"I won't take your sect's belongings for nothing. The things inside should be enough to compensate for these Eight Treasures Exquisite Jade," the azure-robed cultivator said indifferently. Then, his figure blurred into an azure rainbow and disappeared into the sky.

The silver-robed elder probed the storage bracelet with his divine sense, and his expression changed in shock.

Inside were vast amounts of spirit stones, a batch of ten-thousand-year-old spirit herbs, and some extremely precious demon beast materials.

In terms of value, it was indeed not below those Eight Treasures Exquisite Jade, even exceeding it by a bit.

...

In the span of a few months, strange events occurred one after another in various parts of the Spirit Desolate World.

The rare materials, secret arts, and sect books of several sects were taken away by a mysterious person.

No one knew where this person came from, and his cultivation was extremely high. However, he acted appropriately, and the sects that had their treasures taken away received considerable compensation. Therefore, it didn't cause public outrage among the major sects of the Spirit Desolate World. Instead, it amused many unaffiliated cultivators and sect disciples who were not involved.

This person appeared abruptly, was active for a few months, and then suddenly disappeared without a trace.

In the blink of an eye, another half a year passed.

In the southeast region of the Spirit Desolate World, there was a vast, scarlet mountain range called the Fire Cloud Mountain Range, stretching for hundreds of thousands of miles.

The most common thing in the mountain range was a series of huge volcanoes, constantly spewing scorching magma from the depths of the earth. The air was filled with a pungent smell of sulfur and was extremely hot.

All the mountains were almost black and red, like burning hot stones. Even the clouds in the sky were red all year round. Hence, the Fire Cloud Mountain Range got its name.

This was the largest fire spiritual land in the Spirit Desolate World, and also one of the famous dangerous places in this world. Even highly skilled cultivators rarely dared to venture deep into it.

Deep within the Fire Cloud Mountain Range was a huge abyss. At its deepest point was a magma river, flowing and rumbling.

The surface of the magma flickered with red light, like countless burning flames.

The high temperature there distorted the surrounding air, causing faint ripples.

Less than a hundred feet away from the magma river, a huge cave had been dug out of a cliff face. Inside, various colors of light flickered, and various sharp whistling sounds could be heard from time to time.

On this day, a dragon-like roar came from the cave, and then a thick white pillar of light rose from the cave, shooting straight into the sky.

Within the pillar of light, two flood dragons and a huge bone armor phantom could be vaguely seen. After a long time, they slowly dissipated.

Inside the cave, an azure-robed man sat cross-legged.

It was Han Yu. At this moment, he was full of joy.

In front of him floated two treasures that shimmered with spiritual light: a bone-white armor, simple and unadorned, with eight patterns engraved on it, seemingly shields, treasured umbrellas, halberds, and the like, and a pair of silver, fierce gauntlets, with silver-white bone spurs, looking like two flood dragon heads.

Both magic treasures emitted frightening spiritual power fluctuations.

Han Yu slowly scanned the two magic treasures, a hint of satisfaction flashing across his face.

The bone-white armor was called the Eight Treasures Exquisite Bone Armor, and the gauntlets were called the Sky Breaker Gauntlets.

He had found the methods to refine both magic treasures in the Heavenly Ghost Sect's books. They were not ordinary magic treasures. In a sense, they were magic treasures specifically tailored for strength cultivators, requiring extremely strong physical power to unleash their power.

Since Sima Jingming said that using this method of smuggled ascension was very dangerous, he had painstakingly collected countless rare and exotic treasures and refined these two magic treasures for insurance purposes.

Han Yu opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of azure light, putting away the bone armor and gauntlets. He then flipped his hand and took out a cyan jade scroll, which was a detailed map of the Spirit Desolate World.

Several places were specially marked on the jade scroll map.

These were the locations of several weak space nodes that he had found in the books of various sects, but he had not personally verified them yet.

After Han Yu pondered for a moment, his gaze landed on a marked point in the southeast region of the jade scroll map, and his eyes flickered slightly.

A moment later, an azure rainbow shot out from the canyon and flew away into the distance.