More than his own defeat and injuries, what truly shook Ling Que was the Great Luo Sword Embryo. He seemed to know the sword embryo's origins, which explained his reaction.

He looked at Lu Yuan, and his expression turned fierce. "Tell me! Where did you get that Eternal Divine Gold? Hand it over! Otherwise, you'll bring down a catastrophe beyond anything you can imagine."

Ling Que did his best to stabilize his aura. His injuries were severe, and his very foundation was damaged, but he was not in danger. Killing a Sage was no easy feat.

However, it seemed he got so distracted that he forgot the fact that his foe was an extremely formidable opponent. He even demanded that Lu Yuan surrender the Great Luo Sword Embryo to him.

"How absurd." Lu Yuan shook his head at those words and took a single step forward. The aura rolling off of him intensified, surging outward like tidal waves.

Upon hearing the words "Eternal Divine Gold," the Spirit Clan members seemed to have forgotten their predicament. Every last one of them focused on making Lu Yuan hand the Great Luo Sword Embryo.

"Do you have any idea what Eternal Divine Gold is? Now, you've offended not just my Spirit Clan but beings far more powerful as well. Stop now, or you'll go past the point of no return. By then, you will be destroyed in both body and soul."

"Enough with the nonsense." Lu Yuan had no interest in wasting another word. He raised the Great Luo Sword Embryo and brought it down, ignoring their reactions.

A supreme sword intent gushed out of the sword, creating a piercing sword light that annihilated everything in its path.

Squelch!

The Spirit Clan members were obliterated one by one. As for the so-called third-ranked Ranker of the Spirit Clan, he was slowly being torn apart. He could smell death closing in on him, and his face twisted in hatred. "You'll regret this! In the future, you will encounter an existence you cannot even hope to stand against!"

Then Ling Que vanished. It was like he had never existed at all.

Meanwhile, Lu Yuan reined in his aura and turned his gaze to the Great Luo Sword Embryo. He extrapolated a few pieces of information from what his opponent had said just now.

Apparently, the Great Luo Sword Embryo was of a material called Eternal Divine Gold, and judging by their reaction, it was very important. It seemed connected to an extremely powerful existence, or perhaps an entire group of them.

Otherwise, why would Ling Que disregard his own injuries and place the Great Luo Sword Embryo above all else?

Eternal... Eternal... Lu Yuan suddenly remembered that Jiang Ningxian had mentioned something related to it. Could it be connected to the Eternal Clan?

If so, the Great Luo Sword Embryo had to be important even among the Eternals themselves. Otherwise, it would never have the word "Eternal" in its name. But what exactly was Eternal Divine Gold? Why did the Spirit Clan know about it? What was its connection to the Eternals?

It seemed that all his questions would have to wait until he could ask Jiang Ningxian. For now, the priority was the task at hand. The Golden-Winged Great Peng and the Nine-tailed Fox King approached him.

"Are you two all right?" Lu Yuan asked them.

"We're fine, Master. Just some minor injuries. We'll recover soon enough," the Golden-Winged Great Peng replied, and then it added with undisguised confusion, "But what was the deal with those people just now?"

It couldn't understand why those invaders had refused to back down even after learning of its master's identity. Even if they had just descended, they ought to have remained low-key. And where had they even come from?

"Those invaders are employing some secret technique to open a passageway to Earth," Lu Yuan answered. "Those were only the first batch. More will come after them."

He knew that the folded spaces hidden within these blessed lands were ideal locations for constructing such passages. Unfortunately, he couldn't really stop them from doing such a thing.

Shaking his head, Lu Yuan pushed the thought aside. "Let's go."

The two beast kings snapped to attention and pointed toward the tallest mountain in the distance. One of the Nine Tripod Cauldrons was inside.

Lu Yuan nodded and headed toward it with the two beast kings in tow.

"Master, we know it's in there, but we don't know its exact location," the Golden-Winged Great Peng said, sounding helpless. "That mountain is ten thousand meters tall, and it's full of interconnected caves. It could take quite a while to find that cauldron."

The mountain was just too big, and finding just one cauldron inside it would surely be akin to trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Lu Yuan just smiled. Then a divine light bloomed in his eyes. Now, it seemed like his gaze could see through all things. It was the Martial Dao Heavenly Eyes, and it allowed him to see through illusions.

"That's..." The Golden-Winged Great Peng couldn't help but lower its head. How had it forgotten about that?

Lu Yuan opened his Martial Dao Heavenly Eyes and examined the massive mountain before him. Everything appeared in his line of sight. He even located several divine materials as well as quite a few spiritual fruits and exotic herbs.

Unfortunately, they were no longer effective for him. The divine materials, on the other hand, could still be useful. I guess I really am in the Hengduan Mountains.

Just then, Lu Yuan detected an indescribable aura that actually blocked the Martial Dao Heavenly Eyes. He pushed harder, but he still couldn't see through it. In all likelihood, one of the Nine Tripod Cauldrons could be beyond it.

Without a word, he stepped forward and sized up the mountain. He estimated that it was halfway up. He could tear through the void to reach it, but he decided against it, as there was no telling what could be inside.

He waved his hand, and the Heaven-Flipping Seal appeared. He poured his Sage power into it.

Boom!

In an instant, the Heaven-Flipping Seal expanded to at least a thousand meters in size until it looked like a mountain on its own. The next moment, Lu Yuan slammed it straight into the mountain.

Rumble!

The world shook as the mountain split apart at its midpoint. Its rock face shattered, and countless boulders tumbled down. The scene was the epitome of "earth-shattering destruction," yet Lu Yuan had done it almost casually.

I guess there's nothing special about moving mountains.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng and the Nine-tailed Fox King looked at him in awe. When they turned their gazes to the shattered mountain, they saw a platform that seemed to be supporting some ruins.

They saw crumbling walls and broken foundations. Undoubtedly, these were the remnants of a cluster of buildings that had long been lost to the passage of time.

More importantly, a modest altar stood at the center of the platform. Nine colors shimmered across its surface, and it emanated an indescribable aura.

Another nine-colored altar? Lu Yuan had expected to see something like this here, but seeing it with his own eyes still caught him off guard. He understood the significance of these nine-colored altars.

Most likely, they were instruments the sages of ancient times had used in their battles against their unknown, powerful enemies. It was the same as the one in Kunlun's secret realm.

Lu Yuan's figure blurred as he moved forward and landed on the platform. His Martial Dao Heavenly Eyes had already confirmed that there was no danger here. The collapsed buildings looked extremely old, and the patterns carved on their surfaces appeared quite basic and simple.

Lu Yuan didn't have much expertise in this area, so there was no way for him to determine what era they belonged to or who they depicted. He made his way to the base of the nine-colored altar. There was no sign of a Tripod Cauldron, but it wasn't a problem.

He took out the small bronze cauldron and sat down cross-legged. The Golden-Winged Great Peng and the Nine-tailed Fox King immediately took up positions on either side as guards, ready to act the moment any danger was detected.

Lu Yuan dripped his blood into the small cauldron, and streams of light poured from within it, which flowed directly into the nine-colored altar.

Rumble!

The Hengduan Mountains trembled. Within the nine-colored altar, the phantom of a cauldron slowly materialized. Lu Yuan watched it with curiosity in his eyes and murmured softly to himself, "Which one will it be?"