Chapter 585: Ancient Heavenly Mystery Palace

Seeing that the situation was under control, Qiu Weizhi breathed a secret sigh of relief and turned to leave.

Before leaving, he cast a look of slight pity at Ye Lin.

If nothing went wrong, this kid definitely wouldn't survive the night; the other ascenders wouldn't let him off.

Sure enough, after Qiu Weizhi left, the other ascenders subtly began to isolate Ye Lin.

They each occupied the mine tunnels with the best resources and highest ore yield, leaving only the most barren ones for Ye Lin.

Even Kuai Yan, who had been relatively friendly to Ye Lin at the start, fell silent and distanced himself.

However, this was exactly what Ye Lin wanted; if he didn't distance himself from the others, how could he sneakily devour the Immortal Source Ore?

Ye Lin rubbed his hands together and walked toward an empty mine tunnel.

When his figure disappeared into the tunnel, the other ascenders began to whisper among themselves.

"Hmph, another idiot trying to suck up to the team leader!"

"The tunnel he entered has an extremely low yield; sometimes you can dig for a whole day and not find a single piece of Immortal Source Ore. What a moron."

"Serves him right! Being an ascender himself, yet he betrayed us to curry favor with that bastard Qiu Weizhi. People like that are better off dead and out of the way!"

Seeing this, Kuai Yan sighed inwardly.

He was partly to blame for this; he had been so focused on warning Ye Lin not to offend the team leader, Qiu Weizhi, that he forgot to tell him not to suck up to Qiu Weizhi in front of the other ascenders.

Such behavior would be viewed as betrayal by the other ascenders.

Ye Lin could no longer hear the gossip outside; he had now reached the deepest part of the mine tunnel.

What met his eyes was pitch-black ore, still bearing the marks of blades and chisels.

Ye Lin certainly knew that the ascenders had left him the most barren tunnel.

But that didn't matter; he didn't need to dig it himself—he had plenty of free labor.

Ye Lin took out the Human Emperor Flag directly; looking at the cracks covering it, he felt a pang of heartache.

When fighting the Brahma Cultivators, the Human Emperor Flag had endured too much energy to protect the living beings of that world, and now it was on the verge of collapse.

He could only hope that after recovering his strength, he could find stronger materials on the Longevity Continent to repair the Human Emperor Flag.

Ye Lin did not summon the entire army of souls, only bringing out the hundred or so powerful souls like Ban Muming and the Soul-Sacrificing Maiden; the tunnel wouldn't fit any more than that.

"Master, who are we killing this time?!"

Ban Muming's soul body was glowing; clearly, he had lived quite well inside the Human Emperor Flag over these past thousand years.

"No killing this time. You go keep watch; if anyone comes, alert me immediately. Don't let anyone discover you." Ye Lin pointed to the tunnel entrance behind him.

"Understood, Master!" Ban Muming immediately stood guard at the entrance.

At the same time, under Ye Lin's command, the other souls began an orderly mining operation.

Although they had no pickaxes and had to claw at the ore with their bare hands, the souls could resurrect infinitely, and their sheer quantity brought about a qualitative change.

To prevent anyone from noticing anything amiss when entering the tunnel, Ye Lin deliberately had the souls dig a side tunnel and filled the previously excavated areas back up with rubble.

As for himself, to keep up appearances, he swung a pickaxe and began digging forward.

Openly repair the plank road, secretly march to Chencang!

The tunnel Ye Lin chose was poor, but it couldn't withstand the speed at which the souls dug.

Soon, Ye Lin saw the first piece of Immortal Source Ore. Although it was only the size of a thumb, for the penniless Ye Lin, even a mosquito's leg was meat.

Without hesitation, he activated Endless Devour, refining the piece of Immortal Source Ore in an instant.

A moment later, the previously fluorescent Immortal Source Ore turned into a pile of stone dust.

After refining this small piece of Immortal Source Ore, Ye Lin felt a slight change in his body, as if long-sealed shackles had suddenly been shaken.

"At this rate, it'll probably take a long time to complete the body reshaping Kuai Yan mentioned..."

Ye Lin narrowed his eyes, then released more souls without hesitation.

Dig!

Dig through this mining area!

Just as the army of souls was diligently mining, atop a mountain peak that towered into the clouds on the Longevity Continent sat a palace like a behemoth.

In the core area of the palace, eight white-haired elders sat on the ground.

The eight were a mix of men and women, and each of them radiated an ancient and mysterious aura.

The origin of the Ancient Heavenly Mystery Palace was long in history.

In the ancient era, it was founded by the Ancient Heavenly Mystery Emperor and was a true Imperial-lineage Immortal Sect.

It was just a pity that as time passed, the Ancient Heavenly Mystery Palace gradually declined, becoming a fifth-rate small power.

Everyone on the Longevity Continent thought the Ancient Heavenly Mystery Palace would completely disappear into the long river of time.

But a thousand years ago, a turning point appeared.

The Ancient Heavenly Mystery Palace successfully recruited an ascender who possessed the Nine-Trigram Exquisite Heart.

As soon as this ascender entered the Ancient Heavenly Mystery Palace, it caused a tremor throughout the entire sect.

The Ancient Heavenly Mystery Emperor's long-lost life-bound imperial artifact, the Eternal Star Disk, awakened on its own and flew back to the Ancient Heavenly Mystery Palace!

The Ancient Heavenly Mystery Palace immediately revered this ascender as their Goddess, and the Goddess did not disappoint them.

Under her leadership, in just a thousand years, the Ancient Heavenly Mystery Palace returned to its peak, becoming one of the most terrifying legacies on the Longevity Continent.

Not only did they recall their missing imperial-lineage heritage, but they also obtained countless opportunities, and experts began to appear like a fountain.

The eight people sitting in the hall before us were the eight strongest experts currently in the Ancient Heavenly Mystery Palace.

"In the eastern part of the Longevity Continent, abnormal soul fluctuations have appeared, as if many soul bodies have gathered," one of them said in a deep voice.

"Before the Goddess stepped onto the Ancient Path of Heaven, she said that if abnormal soul fluctuations appeared after the disappearance of the Extraterritorial Heavenly Demons, we must inform her immediately."

"No! The Goddess's future is the top priority of the Ancient Heavenly Mystery Palace! Nothing must disturb her!"

"Then how do we handle these abnormal soul fluctuations in the east?"

"Strike first to gain the advantage; find the source of the soul fluctuations directly and wipe them out."

"Fine, I will go myself."

"No, if you go, the target is too conspicuous. Send your subordinates. Remember, be clean about it; don't let the Goddess discover any clues when she returns."