Mor Wuji crawled out of the pool, soaked to the bone. He noticed that the lotus flowers on the pool were missing a large portion, the missing ones already stuffed into his storage bag like messy straw.

"Gotta go, this is no place to linger."

Mor Wuji sprinted even more frantically. It seemed he had been constantly running ever since he entered the Five Elements Desolate Domain. This time, he ran for three days and three nights straight before finally stopping. It wasn't that he didn't want to run anymore, but that he simply couldn't. In these past few days, he had consumed an unknown number of pills to restore his vitality.

He took several deep breaths, swallowed a Grain Pill, and began to survey his surroundings.

Ahead lay a stretch of low, uneven hills, extending seemingly endlessly. To his left was a rocky desert, dotted with dilapidated stone carvings and toppled columns. To his right was a swamp, with only occasional bubbles rising from its surface, devoid of any other signs of life.

Mor Wuji noticed the remnants of abandoned buildings in the rocky desert. Having endured countless millennia, only the sandy outlines were barely discernible.

Mor Wuji entered the rocky desert, found a relatively open area, and hastily dug a shallow cave to take shelter in. Once inside, he realized how disheveled he was. After running for three days and nights without rest, and struggling in the pool's mud for so long, he was covered in dust and mud residue.

Despite having reached the eighth level of Vein Opening, Mor Wuji knew no spells whatsoever. He could only use drinking water to give himself a simple scrub and change into a clean set of clothes.

He didn't care about these things. His priority was to take out the six lotus roots from his storage bag.

He had forcibly pulled these roots up and thrown them into his storage bag, with the lotus flowers still attached.

The lotus's fragrance reassured Mor Wuji that his efforts over the past few days had not been in vain. He carefully plucked the six lotus flowers, placing them in individual jade boxes, and then carefully wrapped the root stems and leaves. Even if Mor Wuji didn't know what kind of lotus this was, he could tell it wasn't ordinary. Otherwise, its aroma wouldn't be so refreshing and invigorating.

What Mor Wuji was most concerned about were the lotus silks. He didn't know the grade of the lotus, but anything guarded by a Tribulation Transcending demon beast was bound to be extraordinary.

Mor Wuji cleaned the first root, revealing its purple flesh. He gently peeled back the section, and a refreshing fragrance wafted up once more. Mor Wuji was delighted to see five or six lotus silks. These silks were incredibly clear. Unlike the Blood Treasure Lotus Root silks, these were azure, as clear and translucent as the finest jade. They also seemed to possess a life of their own, emanating a dense vitality.

Ordinary lotus silks were interconnected, thin, and easily broken, making it difficult to pull out a single strand. The Blood Treasure Lotus Root silks had already formed independently, with distinct shapes and colors. But these lotus silks were not only clearly defined in shape, but also carried a fragrant aroma.

"This is indeed no ordinary thing." Mor Wuji placed several strands of lotus silk into a jade box and took a bite of the lotus root.

A stream of vitality, both icy and fiery, surged from his throat. That vitality seemed to elevate his entire body to its peak performance.

Mor Wuji had a sudden inspiration. He quickly took out several Earth-grade spirit stones, held them in his hands, and began circulating his cultivation technique. In just half an incense stick's worth of time, Mor Wuji clearly felt his cultivation base steadily increasing.

He had only recently broken through to the eighth level of Vein Opening, and now he was already showing signs of breaking through to the ninth level.

The few Earth-grade spirit stones quickly turned to dust, and Mor Wuji took out a few more. Time passed quickly in cultivation. Mor Wuji himself didn't know how much spiritual energy he had absorbed. At this moment, the spiritual power in his body was surging, almost bursting through his dantian. However, his cultivation no longer continued to rise, as if a bottle were full and could hold no more.

Mor Wuji exhaled a mouthful of turbid air and stopped cultivating.

He was all too familiar with this situation. He had reached another bottleneck. To continue advancing, he needed to find a place with lightning arcs to open up more meridians.

Mor Wuji sighed. If he wanted to advance to the Spirit Building realm using the rich cultivation resources here, he had to find a place with lightning origins to continue opening meridians.

"Dong Lun, I've already yielded the place to you. Must you be so ruthless?" A sorrowful and indignant voice rang out, causing Mor Wuji, who had been about to come out, to stop in his tracks. He crushed a stone in his hand with force.

If there was another name, besides Xia Ruoyin, that Mor Wuji would never forget until his death, it would be Dong Lun.

Upon hearing this name, Mor Wuji couldn't help but tremble. Not only were his hands trembling, but his whole body was shaking. It was a feeling of extreme anger. At that moment, he wished he could rush out and devour this Dong Lun character piece by piece.

After a while, Mor Wuji forced himself to calm down. He wasn't sure if this Dong Lun was the young city lord of Extreme Sword City that Ding Bu'er had mentioned.

"Only the dead are reliable." A voice devoid of emotion replied.

Mor Wuji cautiously peeked out from the crack in his hiding place. Two men stood facing each other. One was wearing a gray Daoist robe, exuding great confidence and a profound aura. The other man's robe was tattered and bloodstained. There seemed to be a bloody hole in his chest.

But they were a bit far away, and Mor Wuji didn't dare to break open his hiding place, so he couldn't see their faces clearly.

"Extreme Sword City is still a famous sect, and your father, City Lord Falling Flower, is a respected senior with great prestige..." The heavily injured man, while wary of the gray-robed man, didn't stop trying to reason.

The gray-robed man didn't wait for him to finish. His hands crossed, he unleashed dozens of beams of light that enveloped the speaking man.

Under the dazzling light, Mor Wuji couldn't clearly see what was happening to the injured man.

"Looks like I'm not mistaken. This man is indeed Dong Lun, the young city lord of Extreme Sword City."

Mor Wuji quietly took out the Heavenly Mechanism Staff from his storage bag and took another deep breath. From Dong Lun's actions, he could see that he and Dong Lun were worlds apart. But now that his enemy was right in front of him, he would never be willing to give up the blood feud for killing Yan'er.

"Boom boom boom..." The two men were completely engaged in battle in the distance. Mor Wuji could only see a vast expanse of white, unable to clearly see the details of their fight.

Mor Wuji clenched his fists helplessly. If his cultivation base were just a little higher, he would definitely rush out and join forces with the other man to deal with Dong Lun. But with his current cultivation base, going out would be suicide. Even if they managed to kill Dong Lun together, he wouldn't survive.

The other guy would definitely silence him, not letting him know who killed Dong Lun.

"Wait," Mor Wuji quickly realized that something was wrong with the fight. The two men were moving towards him while fighting.

Mor Wuji instantly understood that even though he was hiding in the corner, the two men had detected him. It must have been because he was too excited after hearing Dong Lun's name.

Sure enough, just as Mor Wuji thought this, the man being chased by Dong Lun gasped and shouted, "Friend, if I am killed by Dong Lun, do you think you can survive alone? Dong Lun is already at the first level of Transcending Mortality. After he kills me, he will definitely come for you. Why not come out and join forces with me to deal with this man?"

"What a vicious guy!" Mor Wuji cursed inwardly, but he didn't respond. Instead, he carefully held a fifth-grade Ice Burst Talisman in his hand. A fifth-grade Ice Burst Talisman could even stop a True Lake realm expert, so it shouldn't be a problem to deal with Dong Lun, who was only at the first level of Transcending Mortality, right?

Mor Wuji's biggest concern was how to ensure that Dong Lun couldn't avoid his Ice Burst Talisman.

"Idiot, even I, at the third level of Transcending Mortality, am no match for this Dong, yet you still won't come out and fight... Ah..." The man being chased by Dong Lun was still angry that Mor Wuji was hiding and not helping, when a beam of light pierced through his heart.

Mor Wuji stood up and said in a panicked tone, "Seniors, I'm only at the Vein Opening realm. This has nothing to do with me. I don't know anything..."

The reason he stood up was because Mor Wuji wanted to let the two men know that his cultivation base was low and that they didn't need to worry about him. If Dong Lun continued to be wary of him, he would have no chance at all.

"Dong Lun, I'd rather die than let you have it easy..." Under the serious injuries, and suddenly realizing that Mor Wuji was not someone who could help, the man knew that he was doomed. Even if he died, he wouldn't let Dong Lun have it easy. After saying this, he suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a stream of blood arrows.

The blood arrows shot straight towards Dong Lun's throat. Even Mor Wuji, standing at a distance, could smell the extremely pungent odor of the blood arrows.

Dong Lun's face changed. He obviously knew the power of these blood arrows. He didn't dare to touch them at all and leaned back to avoid them. Almost simultaneously, another beam of red light was shot out by the severely injured man, aimed at the direction where Dong Lun was dodging the blood arrows.

"Pfft..." The red light flashed, and Dong Lun staggered back dozens of steps, right towards Mor Wuji.

Originally, Mor Wuji had planned to use the opportunity of offering the lotus flower to activate the Ice Burst Talisman. Mor Wuji had been hesitant to use this plan, as a ruthless guy like Dong Lun might not even wait for him to speak and would just kill him.

Mor Wuji was certain that he had no power to resist a Transcending Mortality first-level expert. Now that Dong Lun was staggering towards him, clearly backlashed by the other party's dying attack, Mor Wuji didn't hesitate at all. He poured his divine sense and spiritual power into the Ice Burst Talisman simultaneously.

In the shortest amount of time, the Ice Burst Talisman transformed into dazzling white light, engulfing the staggering Dong Lun. Mor Wuji was overjoyed. His trick of revealing his low cultivation base had worked. Dong Lun dared to retreat towards him, which meant that he didn't take Mor Wuji seriously at all.

"Just what I wanted!" After activating the Ice Burst Talisman, Mor Wuji frantically swung the Heavenly Mechanism Staff, following the white light of the Ice Burst Talisman and smashing down.

(The third update is here. Please support with monthly tickets before good night!)