Whoosh whoosh whoosh
Several firebirds spread their wings and soared through the air above the lava, darting back and forth, activating the array's restrictions while responding in sync with other puppets stationed on the nearby islets.
As they shifted positions, a blazing crimson formation began to unfold with fluid motion.
The lava surged forth, cloaking every puppet within the array in a mantle of flame.
Simultaneously, streams of scorching fire flowed with the formation's transformation, morphing into restrictive bindings that vaguely suppressed the flame beasts and fire puppets within the formation.
Some of the raging flames burning on these fire creatures were even siphoned off and absorbed by the puppets, transformed into energy for the array.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With the formation suppressing their foes and amplifying their power, they were able to divide and conquer the formidable creatures one by one.
Even though these Tier-2 puppets were no match individually for the fire beasts and fire puppets, their coordinated maneuvers allowed them to eliminate the threats while sustaining only moderate damage.
One by one, the flame beasts' bodies disintegrated into black ash, revealing fiery-red crystalline cores.
As the formation faded, a firebird puppet swooped down, picking up each core and swallowing them into its belly.
Then, with a graceful spin in midair, it turned back and flew into the red-silver light curtain overhead.
Li Ye raised his hand gently, catching the firebird and retrieving the glowing flame beast cores from its abdominal storage compartment.
He then turned his gaze forward. Beyond the shroud of flames and arrays, his next target the Assessment Hall was already faintly visible in the distance.
"It's been over a year..."
A trace of emotion flickered across Li Ye's face. "I've finally gotten close to the Assessment Hall!"
Guided by the principle of caution and never putting himself in unnecessary danger, he had spent the past year steadily advancing.
Only after thoroughly clearing each area of its islets, neutralizing all array traps and flame beast threats, and setting up his stable formations, would he push further to extend the range of his puppets' activities.
The deeper he ventured, the more powerful the restrictions and flame beasts became. First-tier threats had practically disappeared, replaced by an increasing number of formidable Tier-2 enemies.
Progress became harder and harder, and each visit yielded only small advances.
On top of that, Li Ye had his cultivation schedule and numerous spirit fields to tend personally, so the time he could afford to spend in the lava palace was quite limited.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken so long just to get this close.
Looking back now, he realized he'd been a bit too harsh in criticizing the sects that had originally cleared out this mechanical hall.
True, they hadn't taken the time to purify and eliminate lingering malice, leaving behind future troubles, but those Heavenly Craft Hall disciples had certainly stripped the place clean of valuables.
Even after all this time, aside from the flame beast cores, Li Ye had found barely a handful of decent treasures.
It seemed that if he truly wanted to find anything worthwhile, he'd have to reach the core area of the lava palace.
What remained were mostly those broken, half-identifiable functional islets scattered around.
Li Ye had been focused on reaching a particular islet suspected to be part of the ruined Mechanism Pavilion, so he hadn't explored many of the other functional structures on the map.
It was only recently that he suddenly discovered two islets that resembled the Foundry Pavilion and the Assessment Hall.
But since he hadn't even reached this current Assessment Hall yet, the other one naturally held little interest for him.
The Foundry Pavilion, on the other hand, a place responsible for refining tools and manufacturing standardized puppets and their components piqued his curiosity.
If he could successfully explore both the current Assessment Hall and the Mechanism Pavilion without triggering any dangerous entities, that would be his next destination.
"My spiritual sense is starting to tire. I'll stop here for today…"
Li Ye controlled his puppets to search the islet they had just secured when his expression suddenly shifted.
"Hm… this disciple token seems different."
Gathering everything they'd found, he recalled the puppets and took the token into his hand. As he examined it closely, a look of surprise appeared on his face.
"This… looks like a Core Disciple Token!"
The scattered disciple tokens Li Ye had previously picked up had already given him a decent understanding of the Heavenly Craft Hall.
Though he had never seen a genuine Core Disciple Token before, the intricate engravings and the unique array patterns on this token, far more elaborate than those on ordinary ones, were enough for him to make an accurate judgment.
"With a sect of Nascent Soul-level power, their Core Disciples must be at least late Foundation Establishment, if not outright Golden Core cultivators…"
A gleam lit up in Li Ye's eyes as he immediately poured his spiritual power into the token.
Perhaps due to the passage of many years, the imprint left by the original owner had long since faded. Like the other tokens he'd found, the restrictions within were easily refined by Li Ye.
As the token responded with feedback, a look of delight spread across his face.
While it didn't contain any techniques or important information just a blank slate with only basic data recorded that was enough.
He hadn't been mistaken. This token did indeed belong to a Core Disciple, one whose status was second only to a select few true inheritors.
The level of authority this token granted was far greater than that of an ordinary disciple.
Back before the Lava Palace had fallen, a Core Disciple wielding such a token would have been able to access many of the important areas within the palace without obstruction, along with usage rights to various tools and mechanisms.
Li Ye didn't know how much of that remained usable now, but even so, holding this token would affect many of the now-chaotic restriction arrays. While it might not allow full control, it would certainly make cracking them much easier!
That meant he could now access more places than before...
Especially with the Assessment Hall and Mechanism Pavilion right ahead if the token was still effective, it could be a tremendous help!
"But if the token is here… where is the Core Disciple's body? Was he killed, and his possessions scattered here afterward?"
Li Ye frowned slightly.
After all, the token's original owner was a Golden Core cultivator. Could he have become one of those fire beasts? If so, would he have retained the power of his former realm…?
If he'd simply been one of the Foundation Establishment fire beasts or fire puppets Li Ye had just defeated, then there was no issue.
But if he'd turned into a Golden Core-level fire beast… would the token have any influence over such a creature?
Thinking this through, Li Ye casually tossed the token back to his heavily armored puppet.
"Unless necessary, it's better for the puppet to hold onto this thing."
He then directed his puppets to return to the previously explored areas, testing the token against restriction arrays of various states and tiers.
The results were highly encouraging!
Except for a few arrays that were completely jumbled and beyond recognition, most responded to the token's presence with a faint resonance, opening pathways in response.
Even the chaotic and dangerous arrays showed signs of reaction, creating exploitable gaps that Li Ye could use alongside his puppet formations to dismantle them.
At this point, it was safe to say that as long as he wasn't dealing with Tier-3 arrays or above, nothing here could stop him!
Even with higher-tier arrays, if their structure remained intact, the token might still exert some influence and potentially allow him to control them.
"A whole year of exploration didn't bring half the breakthrough this one token did… As expected, the deeper you go, the better the treasures!"
Shaking his head, Li Ye suppressed the urge to keep exploring.
"Next time, I'll take both the Mechanism Pavilion and the Assessment Hall in one go!"
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