CRUNCH—!

Once Zhong Ming had his Divine Monarch chew up and swallow the Flame Demon that Divine Heir Wu Yu had transformed into, the rest was simple.

"No, spare me!"

"I—I’m innocent! I was only joking before..."

Drained of most of their power by the Divine Heir, Liu Yu and Yuan Rong were no match for Zhong Ming, let alone daring enough to even try.

As they faced Zhong Ming’s towering Divine Monarch, their eyes filled with nothing but terror.

Zhong Ming didn’t even have to act. Having lost all courage, the pair was quickly finished off by Qin Zhou, Ruan Shi, and the others.

In the end, of all the Cultists left in the Star Secret Vault, only Meng You remained.

SWOOSH—!

When Zhong Ming directed his Divine Monarch’s gaze toward her, she instinctively took a small step back. But she quickly composed herself, her voice as gentle as moonlight. "Young Master Zhong Ming, we are not enemies. You must have realized that I came here to save you all."

Before Zhong Ming could even respond to her words, Yi Yunya sneered, "Don’t flatter yourself. We didn’t need your help."

"And you never had any intention of helping Zhong Ming, did you?"

"..."

Her words left Meng You at a loss. She had come to the Star Secret Vault intending only to rescue the children of Prince Qinghe. At most, she would have also saved the True Inheritance Disciples and Daoists of the six Major Sects along the way. Whether Zhong Ming lived or died had never been part of her considerations.

After a moment of silence, unwilling to let her Divine Thought perish here, she spoke up. "We truly are not enemies. My Youtan Celestial Lineage has always been willing to cooperate with humanity... Besides, Young Master Zhong Ming, you are in a very dangerous situation. Divine Heir Wu Yu only lost a single wisp of Divine Thought. His true body still exists, and he now hates you to the bone..."

Meng You spoke at length before Zhong Ming, trying to explain herself.

After their conversation, Zhong Ming contemplated for a moment. He decided not to kill her, instead handing her over to Ji Qingyue to await Prince Qinghe’s judgment.

This wasn’t because Zhong Ming had gone soft.

He was in terrible shape.

Although Zhong Ming’s Dominating Thought and Purifying Flame had a powerful suppressive effect on the Flame Evil Spirit that Wu Yu had become, swallowing it whole had still inflicted immense damage upon him.

Right now, half the muscle and bone inside his body had been reduced to charred fragments. His meridians felt as if they’d been seared by molten iron, and every breath he took was laced with sparks and the stench of blood.

Not to mention, the strain of sustaining the Hundred-Meter Divine Monarch had pushed his physical body to its absolute limit, and he desperately needed to recuperate.

Of course, his injuries alone wouldn’t have been enough to make him spare her. Since she hadn’t performed a sacrifice, she was even weaker than Divine Heir Wu Yu. Destroying this wisp of her Divine Thought wouldn’t have taken much effort.

The real reason Zhong Ming stayed his hand was that Meng You, in a bid to preserve her Divine Thought and apologize, had offered compensation.

It was a Youtan Flower seed, floating in a jade box and swirling with a misty, divine radiance.

"This is a seed from the Divine Flower that grows beside our god. It is nearly at the Divine Treasure Level," Meng You said, her voice full of sincerity. "Consume this seed and allow it to bloom, and your Soul Spirit will be imbued with the Youtan attribute. My clan’s Divine Techniques, such as Vaporization and Illusion, will all be at your disposal."

"You need not worry about any hidden tricks within the flower, Young Master Zhong Ming. After you leave, you can have Prince Qinghe inspect it thoroughly before you consume it."

Having said this, Meng You apologized sincerely once more. "My clan truly had no intention of harming you. This incident was purely the personal action of Li Ye and a certain Chief Priest. As for them, Youtan Heaven will see that they are severely punished."

"..."

The offer was a Divine Treasure First Level item. Furthermore, Zhong Ming and his sect-mates had made it through the Star Secret Vault relatively unscathed. The true masterminds of this incident were indeed not connected to Meng You, and she had never attacked him directly.

After weighing the pros and cons, Zhong Ming decided to leave the matter to Ji Qingyue and Prince Qinghe. He himself closed his eyes, activated Demon Star Tai Sui, and began to tend to his injuries.

’We survived...’

With Meng You’s surrender and compensation, the harrowing expedition into the Star Secret Vault finally came to a close.

This caused the surviving Cultivators to breathe a collective sigh of relief, their gazes toward Zhong Ming now filled with adoration and fervor.

Even Qin Zhou, Ruan Shi, and the others were no exception.

At the same time, countless others were filled with gratitude, solemnly promising, "Lord Zhong Ming, thank you for saving us! If you ever have need of us in the future, we would go through fire and water for you."

Zhong Ming accepted their gratitude but didn’t pay them much mind, leaving Ji Qingyue and Yi Yunya to handle everything.

With his eyes closed, he spent a full day and night just to soothe the churning flame toxins and stabilize the trauma within his body.

’To recover so quickly from such severe injuries... As expected of Demon Star Tai Sui. It truly is a power that breaks the norms.’

After that moment of reflection, Zhong Ming wasted no time. While there was still a chance, he made a run through the Tower of the Morning Star inside the Star Secret Vault.

There wasn’t much to say about the process. With his three norm-breaking abilities, he advanced with unstoppable momentum and reached the top of the tower.

To his disappointment, few of the resources within the Tower of the Morning Star were worthy of his attention.

It wasn’t that the resources in the Tower of the Morning Star were bad. It was filled with Star Sand, various mid- and high-grade Magical Artifacts, Elixir Pills, and star-related Secret Techniques.

It was just that while these common or Rare Level resources would be a huge boon to Cultivators from smaller sects, to him, they were all rather useless.

Even before this, he could have easily obtained such resources through Ji Qingyue.

And now that he had saved Ji Qinghui and Ji Qingkang, Prince Qinghe would surely grant him a boundless supply if he simply asked.