Amidst the sandstorm, that person, agitated, wanted to pursue. The monster, seeing someone charging with a sword, instinctively blasted forward.

“Get lost!” That person shook off the monster, trying to pursue again, but the entrance had already closed.

“Damn it!” That person was absolutely furious. They couldn’t fathom how the second-level entrance had opened and closed so perfectly, as if it were helping Lu Xingzhou, who seemed to have known about it beforehand…

But then they thought again, that’s not right. The second level was so dangerous; could Lu Xingzhou and his two companions really “tour” there?

Lu Xingzhou had known this was the second-level entrance, of course, because Sheng Yuanyao had informed him, reminding him that this battleground had a second-level entrance and to be careful not to enter. But even Sheng Yuanyao hadn’t expected Lu Xingzhou to act as if he were waiting for it to open, enthusiastically diving inside.

“I’ve never been to the second level, I’m not familiar with the terrain down here!” As soon as they descended, Sheng Yuanyao grew anxious. “These are all grade three monsters. Even if their strength is diminished, they’re still at a grade four level, and there are many of them, unlike the sparse ones on the first level. I told you to be careful not to come down, so why did you jump in yourself?”

“If we hadn’t jumped in ourselves, we wouldn’t have been able to handle this grade three sword cultivator. In the sandstorm, with no visibility, it’s extremely easy to suffer casualties. It’s safer down here,” Lu Xingzhou said. “Besides, a place with grade four monsters is what I consider suitable for A’Nuo and me to train. Heavenly treasures are found in dangerous places; what training value could there be from the sparse items on the first level?”

Sheng Yuanyao was speechless. She hadn’t realized before that Lu Xingzhou was essentially a crazy martial arts fanatic at heart. This theory would make sense coming from Dugu Qingli, but she never thought it would come from Lu Xingzhou’s mouth.

No wonder your relationship has also become strange.

Of course, she herself was someone who didn’t shy away from trouble. If it weren’t for the mission she was on, she might have been even more excited about the adventure than Lu Xingzhou.

Lu Xingzhou said, “Let’s go, let’s move first, and talk as we go. It wouldn’t be good if they chased us down… Let’s just change places randomly first; it’ll be harder for them to find us if they pursue.”

A’Nuo quickly pushed the wheelchair and ran off.

Sheng Yuanyao trotted along beside him and asked, “How did you seem to know that this second-level entrance was going to open?”

“I didn’t know in advance. It’s just that since you all said there are many surviving monsters on the second level, it’s highly likely that monsters would be lurking around the entrance, and once it opened, they would rush out to escape. If someone wanted to set a trap for me, seeing me near the entrance, the possibility of it suddenly opening and a monster rushing out to attack me would be quite high. I simply took such precautions. Hmm… The person who opened this entrance is most likely Chen Yu, and they are not aligned with this sword cultivator.”

Sheng Yuanyao was speechless.

“Since I was prepared in advance, I could naturally use these highly likely monsters to help us hold back the enemy. Then, with the sandstorm obscuring visibility, Chen Yu wouldn’t know we were facing a grade three sword cultivator who wanted to flee. Seeing us go down ourselves, he would most likely be ecstatic, assuming that by sealing the entrance, we would be signing our death warrants on the second level. See, the entrance is sealed, isn’t that helping us block the enemy? Chen Yu is such a good person!”

Sheng Yuanyao looked at Lu Xingzhou as if he were a monster.

She had originally thought that losing visibility in the sandstorm would be extremely disadvantageous to their side, but Lu Xingzhou, on the contrary, utilized this obscured visibility, which instead caused the opponent to misjudge the situation.

Given that Chen Yu was known to be lurking, analyzing these things wasn’t particularly difficult. But in an extremely chaotic battle, while focusing on manipulating the Flamewraith to seize fire, how could his mind process so much? Sheng Yuanyao was fully focused on the tense battle situation in the moment; how could she possibly distract herself to think about these things!

She had previously thought that being hit by the scattered monster energy was utterly unlucky, but now it seemed that might not be the case…

She asked somewhat cautiously, “So, whose side is this grade three sword cultivator on?”

“Most likely a retainer of the Huo family. No other force would be so ruthless in wanting my life. Old Huo is truly ruthless this time. On the surface, he used Xuanqing as bait to make me think the opponent was nothing special, but in reality, he had another trump card hidden to take my life.”

Sheng Yuanyao breathed a sigh of relief. This judgment was the same as her own; thankfully, it was alright. There wasn’t another existence that exceeded her judgment, otherwise, she would question whether she was an imbecile.

As a result, Lu Xingzhou added, “But it’s also possible it’s an unknown force… the kind that fundamentally doesn’t want Shen Tang to have any assistance. Their target is Shen Tang, not me.”

“Prince Jin?”

“Not like Prince Jin. Prince Jin doesn’t hide things so deviously. We didn’t know Chen Yu was his person before this; that was already hidden, and now to hide a double layer… Besides, this person doesn’t seem to be working with Chen Yu.”

Sheng Yuanyao’s expression turned very grim.

It wasn’t that she was afraid of becoming an imbecile; she was afraid that if this conjecture were true, then the matter would be far more serious than the internal conflict of the Huo family! Were there other forces besides Prince Jin?

“Sigh, this has nothing to do with you. Why are you looking so pale?” Lu Xingzhou chuckled. “Look, monsters are coming…”

Two shadowy figures silently attacked from the left and right.

The shadowy figures were entirely black, but their eyes were bright red, seemingly fleshless, soul-like beings.

Shadow monsters.

Sheng Yuanyao drew her waist saber, about to chop at one, when with a “bang,” A’Nuo smacked out a large flatbread. The shadow monster on the right directly hit the flatbread, emitting a strange roar.

On the other side, a ball of black flame silently wrapped around another shadow monster. Seemingly a convergence of compatible attributes, the next moment, the dark monster hissed and smoked all over, roaring earth-shatteringly, “What kind of fire is this?!”

“Newly fused fire, I haven’t thoroughly studied it yet,” Lu Xingzhou said, grinning. “Just in time to use you two as offerings.”

The shadow monster was about to flee, but Yin spirits surged from all directions, entangling it tightly in the center.

Black flames ascended, the shadow twisted, and its bright red eyes gradually dimmed. Before long, it was refined into a shadow crystal.

Turning to look, A’Nuo had already pressed the other shadow monster to the ground with a flatbread and was jumping on it, stomping heavily. “You ambushed me! Let me ambush, ambush, ambush you!”

The shadow monster quickly grew faint. Black flames swept over from beneath, likewise refining it into a crystal.

Sheng Yuanyao’s waist saber was half drawn; she didn’t get a chance to strike from beginning to end.

Who exactly were the monsters here? These two were clearly grade four shadow monsters, and they used to be grade three, yet in a few breaths, they were refined into crystals. This master and disciple didn’t even break a sweat.

*I* think I should suppress you two master and disciple first!

Lu Xingzhou, on the contrary, frowned and shook his head. “The effect of this black flame after fusion isn’t as good as expected. The fire seed absorbed just now might not be suitable for the black flame. Later, if there’s a suitable place, I’ll have to separate it and study it further. Perhaps it’s unexpectedly more suitable as alchemical fire…”

As he spoke, he gestured, and two crystals appeared in his hands. “These shadow-condensed monsters, if they are of grade three or higher, can be refined into shadow crystals, similar to demon cores. Fortunately, although the monsters here have fallen to grade four in strength, they were originally grade three.”

Sheng Yuanyao asked, “Can they be used for artifact refining?”

“Yes, they can also reinforce and strengthen my soul banner. Also, they’re good for refining A’Nuo’s flatbread, replacing some lower-grade materials inside.” Lu Xingzhou looked at Sheng Yuanyao’s waist saber. “Your saber, is it a standard issue from the Demon Suppression Division?”

“The style is standard issue, but the quality of the distributed sabers varies depending on official rank.”

“So, ultimately, it’s still a standard issue item, not a custom-made good saber?”

Sheng Yuanyao chuckled, “What, do you want to refine an artifact for me?”

“Yes, although I’m an alchemist, I know a little about artifact refining. After all, both involve playing with fire. If there are suitable materials here, I can refine something for you.”

“But my true life-bound weapon isn’t this kind of waist saber.”

“What is it then?”

Sheng Yuanyao touched her ring and pulled out a long, wide, thick-backed saber. Grinning, she said, “This. It’s for fighting. The ancestral grade one saber is with my father; mine is also grade three.”

A’Nuo stumbled, almost pushing the wheelchair away.

Sheng Yuanyao glared. “What, you’re small and can throw a discus, so I can’t use a thick-backed saber?”

“You can, you can,” A’Nuo flinched, smiling apologetically. “Your Majesty, spare me.”

“Hmph hmph,” Sheng Yuanyao pinched A’Nuo’s face. “If I were a bandit queen, I’d tie you up and make you my chieftain’s wife.”

Though her hand was pinching A’Nuo, her eyes were subtly glancing elsewhere.

Lu Xingzhou merely smiled and no longer sat in his wheelchair. He put the wheelchair into his ring and walked around, observing and collecting any potential herbs.

It was obvious that many more things grew on the second level than on the first. Just by casually moving in one direction, they found quite a few special materials suitable for alchemy along the way, and their quality wasn’t low either.

But similarly, they encountered more and more monster attacks along the way, and dealing with them was no longer easy.

“Swish!” Sheng Yuanyao sliced open a long-horned monster with her saber and sustained a few minor injuries herself. “Walking blindly like this isn’t a solution; we’ll eventually get tired. We need to find a specific location, preferably with defensible terrain, to hunker down and guard. After some time, when people realize we’ve entered the second level, someone will come to rescue us.”

The second level also had different special terrains and landforms formed by the long-term evolution of various monsters. In terms of terrain alone, it wasn’t more complex than the first level; it was just a few types. Lu Xingzhou gazed into the distance for a moment and chuckled, “Almost there. See the smoke over there?”

“A volcano?”

“Yes.” This time, Lu Xingzhou genuinely wanted to go to the volcanic magma terrain. Such places were indeed likely to harbor fire seeds; the first level likely had none, but the second level most likely did. As for fire seeds, Lu Xingzhou could never have enough of them. Moreover, A’Nuo was now independently refining pills, so she also needed them.

The three quickened their pace towards the volcano and slammed to a halt just as they reached the edge.

A monster rose from the magma. Its body was about a *zhang* high, shaped like black steel, but with cracks, from which magma-like “blood” flowed. Its bloody maw opened, and magma flowed from its mouth, emitting “ho ho” sounds while exhaling scorching fumes, looking extremely terrifying.

This creature, rather than a magma demon, was more like a type of iron demon; its so-called flowing “magma blood” was actually molten liquid metal.

It was unable to endure the special power of the Demon Subduing Domain, which was wearing it down, so it hid in the magma, trying to blend with the environment to prolong its survival. To some extent, this place was also its claimed territory after wars with other monsters.

The problem now was, it wasn’t just one monster.

The three stared dumbfounded at the rock pillar behind it, where an alluring, naked, long-horned woman was bound tightly with iron chains.

Looking at the woman’s seductive gaze, the flirtatious way her tongue licked the corner of her mouth when she saw Lu Xingzhou, and the obvious grade four aura about her… the so-called tight binding, rather than being captured, seemed more like a form of intimate play.

Lu Xingzhou was visibly stunned. “Did I cross into the wrong place? Why are there succubi in this world too?”