When the thought "Seeing an old friend behaving so shamelessly puts my mind at ease" occurred to Wang Qi, Ai Changyuan also felt a slight relaxation in his mood.

The initial developments were smoother than he had anticipated. To quickly rid themselves of the inexplicable curse, Nie Tianren had compelled all the cultivators to practice the Law Gate given by Ai Changyuan. This Law Gate required only a few hours of cultivation to create a "back door," placing the cultivators' lives in the hands of Ai Changyuan, allowing this enemy to control their mana. Seizing the opportunity, Ai Changyuan had promptly suggested "free my mana so I can help," arguing that "standing with an old geezer who might bite your ass at any moment feels very unsafe." Naturally, the result was another brutal beating. If it weren't for the possibility that Ai Changyuan might offer more miraculous Law Gates in the future, they probably would have simply killed him.

"Two Divine Separation Stage cultivators, slightly troublesome."

"The one who escaped from Dragon Five Island is slightly better off, afflicted by both Heart Demon Curse and Divine Plague Curse Technique, his Dao Heart no longer intact, even normal reasoning affected, with only a tenth of his strength remaining, but that witch isn't easy to deal with..."

"Using those trapped by my scheme as hostages... No. Those Ancient Method Practitioners might not care. Especially that witch, he's not even from the Overseas Ancient Cultivators... If he realizes that my power comes from that group of cultivators, he might just kill them all outright. Me, at the Foundation Establishment Stage, in terms of strength, I am far inferior to those two."

"However, what exactly is this group of cultivators here for? A hundred or two people. Such a big target, all coming to explore ancient relics? It doesn't seem normal... Opening relics? They need to start the relics in a short time, so they require a large number of cultivators to scout the path? Especially to test for dangers inside? Or is there something special about this relic that requires many people to unlock together?"

"Now it seems, these are the two most likely possibilities. Therefore, I must escape before they unlock the last layer. In that case, those Ancient Method Practitioners still have value, and those two Divine Separation Stage cultivators might not act rashly..."

"Moreover, the Primordial Demon Clan's lineage has continued for a million years. Even if their civilization is not prosperous, they can't be so weak. The things they have sealed with great fanfare cannot be underestimated..."

Perhaps the obviousness of Ai Changyuan's contemplation drew the dissatisfaction of those guarding him, "What are you thinking about, boy? I warn you, the West Sea Dragon King has already formed an alliance with us True Law Practitioners, and the great demons from the Sea Clan are with us. They may not easily come to this island, but even if you escape from us, there's no way you can return to Shenzhou. If you know what's good for you, you'll stay put."

At this time, Nie Tianren personally suppressed the other cursed cultivators to prevent them from losing their minds and attacking randomly. Meanwhile, Wang Tugen stayed by Nie Tianren's side, ready to fend off any loss of control by Nie Tianren. The other cultivators followed Nie Tianren's orders, searching the entire maze for something. The Law Gate provided by Ai Changyuan greatly increased their search efficiency.

This Golden Core Cultivator was the only one responsible for guarding Ai Changyuan. The news that an "Heterodox Foundation Establishment defeated a True Law Divinity with external force" had severely shaken his worldview. While lamenting that "heterodox is still heterodox, actually relying on Outer Objects," he also developed a new fear of the heterodox cultivator before him. Without Ai Changyuan having done anything, he was already resorting to threats.

Ai Changyuan sneered, "A single Dragon King of the West Sea is enough to eradicate all of you, isn't it? What alliance can you speak of? And does the West Sea Dragon King need to bolster his combat power?"

"The Hongyuan Divine Sect pulled the strings, and now we, the True Law Practitioners, are acting together with the great demons from the Sea Clan, whether you believe it or not. Moreover, the West Sea Dragon King is now preoccupied with his own troubles..." That cultivator seemed to continue more to reassure himself. He didn't realize Ai Changyuan could extract so much valuable intelligence from these seemingly insignificant details.

"Oh, so the Hongyuan Sect has become that strong? They secretly control the West Sea Dragon King? Such strength is beyond imagination. Their leader, is he a Carefree level existence?" Ai Changyuan pondered secretly, but he said aloud, "I'm just worried that your grand exploration of the relic might provoke its Guardian. What then?"

The Golden Core Cultivator kicked Ai Changyuan fiercely, "Don't worry about what doesn't concern you, just think about your own life!"

Ai Changyuan pretended to be in pain and curled up, but in his mind he was still thinking, "'What doesn't concern you'? Judging by his attitude, it seems that this relic poses no danger? Oh, right. The Primordial Demon Clan dates back tens of millions of years. Anything that has survived to this day is either indestructible, or something that has grown over time. The former is definitely of Immortal Artifact Level, while the latter would also have reached the Immortal Artifact Level after millions of years of growth. And Restrictions are something that will decay unless set by an Immortal. In that case, the bindings here are not something that mere Divine Separation Stage could breach..."

"That means, there is no Guardian inside this relic. The seal is maintained by this special architectural structure and the force of the ley lines. To unlock the relic, many people must do it together."

After a while, he asked another question, "Since you've formed an alliance with the Sea Clan demons, why not let the Sea Clan demons come over?"

"The Dragon Clan issued a death order who knows how many years ago, forbidding any Sea Demon from entering this sea area." The Golden Core Cultivator was still worried about Ai Changyuan planning to escape and talked more than he should have, "And though Sea Demons are strong, their wisdom is very low; in front of the Dragon Clan, they amount to nothing. There used to be a giant dragon's cave here, with a giant dragon dwelling in it. Heavenly Master Wang and another dragon dealt with that one..."

"The two dragons I saw when I arrived, one of them was the original Guardian here? And the other is the one that came with Heavenly Master Wang?" Ai Changyuan grasped the precious information, delving deeper into thought: "A Transformation Stage Dragon Clan's combat power is comparable to the Primordial Spirit Stage. Divine Separation Stage at most, could only preserve their life in front of a Divine Separation Stage Dragon Clan. We were ambushed... ambushed... Eternal True Color? Did he use 'Eternal True Color' to take advantage of the fight between the two dragons to ambush them? No, the severity of the Eternal True Color affliction on those two dragons was clearly different. Maybe he conspired with other companions to ambush one dragon first, then brought the one afflicted with Eternal True Color, driven to madness, over here to attack the Guardian?"

"That makes sense now. No wonder there aren't many guards inside. The dragons outside are the real guardians! At least the Transformation Stage dragons can already be counted as the strongest individuals on this planet, and even a Mahayana Cultivator would find it difficult to capture them. Furthermore, the West Sea is the dragons' domain. If there weren't civil unrest amongst the Dragon Clan, this place wouldn't be in trouble!"

Affected by the chaotic power of the Eternal True Color at its peak, nothing could guarantee it would never deteriorate. "Internal Guards" or "Defensive Arrays" could all possibly be eroded. The only right approach was to eliminate all enemies outside the ruins.

"The Dragon Clan civilization suddenly erased their own traces two hundred million years ago, but it has persisted until now... Have they been maintaining the stability here with prohibitions? For tens of millions of years, have they been sending dragons to guard this place? It seems that many of our long-standing beliefs need to be reconsidered. The connection between the Dragon Clan and the Primordial Demon Clan is tighter than we imagined! At least, it shows that the Primordial Demon Clan trusts the dragons so much that they are willing to entrust such an important task of external protection to them!"

Meanwhile, on Dragon Five Island, Wang Qi stroked his chin, pondering, "I heard from a Nascent Soul before that the West Sea Dragon King eliminates dissidents... which dragon were they referring to? The guardian? Is it 'unorthodox' in the eyes of the West Sea Dragon King?"

The Dragon Clan and the Primordial Demon Clan shared the same goal, to eternally seal away the True Color Sin. Teacher Feng once said that such a thing could destroy the world. Are the Hongyuan and the West Sea Dragon King with a changed stance aiming for the Destruction of the World?

And... the Hongyuan Divine Sect getting in touch with the Overseas Ancient Cultivators? A power capable of overpowering a Mahayana dragon, why would they need to court the Overseas Human Clan, which only possesses a single Mahayana Ancient Cultivator, unless they had other motives. If those Ancient Cultivators had something special...

Wang Qi thought of two possibilities.

First, the Ancient Method Practitioners do not reject the Divine Tao. Perhaps the Hongyuan hopes that the overseas population can all be incorporated into their Divine Sect.

Furthermore...

"The most special individual among those Ancient Monkeys is the Holy Emperor Venerable, and perhaps there are other Banished Immortals. That Mahayana, who originated from the Divine Capital, wanted to abduct all the Banished Immortals... Zhao Qingfeng absorbed several other Banished Immortals of the same origin as him..." Wang Qi thought, "Could it be that the Hongyuan's body is also a Banished Immortal? A Banished Immortal who follows the path of the Divine Tao? Is Holy Emperor Venerable their target?"

One answer leads to many more questions.

The Golden Core Cultivator remained calm and collected, oblivious to how much intelligence his few words had revealed. He knew too little, which impaired his judgement of the value of information. Ai Changyuan tried to ask a few more questions but failed to obtain the information he wanted; instead, he got beaten a few more times. Realizing he could get nothing more out of him, he closed his eyes, carefully exercised the tiny amount of Gravity Magic Power within his body, and sensed the ruins themselves, feeling for other Ancient Cultivators practicing Gravity Magic Power.

Gravity defines mass, and different "masses" accumulated to form "lumps" in Ai Changyuan's mind. He also felt countless anomalous sources of Gravity. These were Gravity Magic Power cultivated by others. To Ai Changyuan, this was easier to grasp than the gravity of planets.

Just as he had speculated, there were a total of two hundred forty-three nodes on this seventh layer. Two hundred forty-three people were needed to simultaneously activate the nodes and cease the operation of the Restrictions.

At the nodes, two hundred forty-three people would forever release their own mana. This was just a simple Bursting Energy technique that anyone could use. Its effect was to enhance one's own aura, with a slight disturbance to nature's spiritual energy around them. But, as if calculated with intricate Mathematics, the fluctuations from the two hundred forty-three nodes converged and then expanded continuously within the maze of this layer. Then, the spiritual energy circulation of the seventh layer became imbalanced.

With the collapse of this spiritual energy circulation system, a stone platform in the center of the seventh layer was revealed. It was originally wrapped in thick walls of Spiritual Power, and no one knew what would happen if someone touched the wall without authorization. In the center of the platform was a musical instrument, akin to an ancient xun. It wasn't a Magic Artifact, but its material was very precious, being of Immortal Artifact Level Refining Materials.

Immortal Artifacts were rare in the world, and though Immortal Artifact Level Refining Materials were also scarce, they were easier to find than Immortal Artifacts. The forger of this instrument had exerted great effort, hoping it would last a bit longer.

This instrument was the "Array Plate" of this great array. Once its sound resonated within the ruins, it could restart the entire Array's Law within a short period. Fearing that the Restriction and the Magic Seals might dissipate over time, the builders resorted to this cumbersome method. The instrument of the first layer could only restart the Laws of the first layer, whereas the instrument of the second layer could instantly restart both the first and second layers, and so on. The instrument of the seventh layer could rapidly restart the Laws of all levels up to the seventh.

Everything in this ruin seemed to exist solely for the "Eternal Suppression of Disaster." It was not precise, but it had enough tolerance for errors.

Heavenly Master Wang took the instrument and then pushed the stone platform aside. Beneath it was the solution leading to the eighth level.

Nie Tianren let out a relieved sigh, "Finally... we've reached the last layer..." (To be continued. If you like this work, please consider casting your recommendation votes and monthly tickets on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)