The immortal city has fallen! What beauty can compare to the allure of a puppet?

The moment the protective barrier of Lanyue City vanished, in the dense forest on the south bank of the Blood River.

Ye Youmeng, reclining on a scorpion-venom cushion, suddenly opened her soul-captivating phoenix eyes. A heart-stirring smile finally blossomed on her lazy face.

"Pass on my order!"

She slowly rose to her feet, her voluptuous and enchanting figure exuding a deadly allure under the moonlight.

"The entire army is to attack, level Lanyue City! Remember, try to capture them alive; I have great use for hostages!"

Inside the Moon Gathering Pagoda.

Lan Caier was completely exhausted; her legs went weak, and she collapsed onto the cold floor.

She gasped for air, her chest heaving violently, her eyes filled with the relief of having survived a disaster. At the very last moment, she had truly thought she was going to die.

Her beautiful eyes, still filled with lingering fear, subconsciously looked toward Lin Yuan.

Yet, she saw that Lin Yuan had already arrived in front of her.

Lan Caier felt a warmth in her heart, thinking Lin Yuan was coming to help her up and show concern for her, a contributor who had almost perished.

Who would have thought, Lin Yuan didn't even glance at her. He walked straight past her and grabbed the silver-armored Puppet that was lying motionless on the ground, hoisting it up.

He tapped it on the left, inspected it on the right, and probed it with his Divine Sense. After a thorough examination, an undisguised expression of joy appeared on his face.

"Not bad, not bad. The core drive Formation only lost its Spiritual Qi supply; it isn't damaged. The main body is made of excellent refined Black Iron. With a little modification, it will be a major lethal weapon!"

As he spoke, he acted as if he had found some peerless treasure, excitedly stowing the tall Puppet into his Storage Pouch.

Lan Caier: "..."

She looked at Lin Yuan's back, speechless. In this man's eyes, was she, a delicate and beautiful woman who had just returned from the gates of hell, and Mu Wanqing, the pitifully injured woman in the corner, really not as good as a cold, broken piece of scrap metal?

Did this man have a problem with his priorities?

Having secured his spoils, Lin Yuan turned around, satisfied. He helped the collapsed Lan Caier to her feet and finally cast his gaze toward the corner, where Mu Wanqing was struggling to get up.

"Pfft..."

As soon as Mu Wanqing moved, she aggravated her injuries, spitting out another mouthful of fresh blood. Her already pale face now lacked even a trace of color. The wind from the Puppet's punch earlier had nearly shattered her shoulder bone completely.

Lin Yuan flickered, appearing before her like a ghost.

"Don't move."

His voice was steady, carrying an unquestionable command.

As he spoke, Lin Yuan flipped his palm, and a round Medicinal Pill, radiating a flowing luster and emitting a rich medicinal fragrance, appeared in his hand.

It was the supreme grade Blood-Melting Muscle-Regenerating Pill he had refined in Black Stone City.

Mu Wanqing and Lan Caier's eyes both lit up when they saw the Medicinal Pill.

They naturally recognized this pill and were well aware of its effects. In the Sect, seeing even a Medium Grade or High Grade Blood-Melting Muscle-Regenerating Pill was considered rare; they hadn't expected Lin Yuan to casually produce a supreme grade one.

For a moment, a warm current surged through Mu Wanqing's heart, and her gaze toward Lin Yuan became complex.

"Open your mouth," Lin Yuan said concisely.

Mu Wanqing subconsciously opened her full, red lips.

Lin Yuan did not stand on ceremony; he flicked his finger gently, sending the Medicinal Pill into her mouth.

The Medicinal Pill melted upon contact, turning into a warm and majestic medicinal force. Like streams of warmth, it instantly flowed through her limbs and bones, rushing toward her shattered shoulder bone.

The excruciatingly painful injury immediately felt a tingling comfort, and her pale complexion regained a hint of rosiness at a visible speed. Her aura stabilized, and it was estimated that it wouldn't be long before she fully recovered.

All of this fell clearly into the eyes of Lan Caier, who was standing to the side.

She watched Lin Yuan's focused and gentle profile, then looked at Mu Wanqing's cherished appearance, her heart filled with mixed emotions; she couldn't tell if it was envy or something else.

"Kill!"

"Charge in! The Misty Immortal Sect's treasury is ours!"

Just then, earth-shaking shouts of battle finally came from all parts of the city. Accompanied by the roaring of Magic Treasures and screams, the entire Lanyue City completely fell into a carnival of war.

Lan Caier's eyes brightened: "It's my Master and the others! Now we..."

Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by Lin Yuan.

He glanced at Mu Wanqing, whose injuries were rapidly recovering in his arms, and said to Lan Caier in a deep voice: "Wanqing is injured; I will stay to take care of her. You go out of the pagoda immediately and assist your Master. Don't let those big fish escape; they must have plenty of loot on them."

Upon hearing this, a sharp glint flashed in Lan Caier's beautiful eyes.

"Alright! Then I'll go outside to assist Master first!" Hearing this, Lan Caier didn't act coy. She nodded heavily, then her figure flickered and vanished.

"I'm fine; my injuries are already more than half healed." Mu Wanqing leaned in Lin Yuan's arms, feeling the warmth and strength radiating from his chest, and said softly, moved.

Lin Yuan, however, insisted without question; he reached out his arm, wrapped it around her soft waist, and steadied her firmly.

"You say, this Moon Gathering Pagoda is built so tall, yet it's empty inside, just to place a broken ball; don't you think it's a waste?" Lin Yuan looked around the empty pagoda, smiling pointedly.

"This is the location of the City Protecting Grand Array's Formation Eye; naturally, it is the place with the strictest defense and the most abundant Spiritual Qi in the entire city. Besides being the Formation Eye, what else could it be used for?" Mu Wanqing leaned against him, a bit puzzled.

"The safest place..." The corners of Lin Yuan's mouth curled into a fox-like smile. "You tell me, would a Sect put its most important items in a heavily guarded treasury, or would they put them in the place universally recognized as the safest, the place where it's least likely to hide anything?"

Mu Wanqing was as clever as snow; she instantly understood Lin Yuan's meaning, and her beautiful eyes lit up: "You mean... the treasury is right here in this pagoda?"

"But we fought from the first floor to the ninth floor; besides the Formation Eye and the Puppet, we didn't see anything!"

"Just because it's not on the ground," Lin Yuan's gaze slowly shifted downward, landing on the mirror-smooth white jade floor beneath their feet, his eyes flashing with greed and intelligence, "doesn't mean... it's not underground!"

The two ignored the earth-shaking shouts of battle outside and, supporting each other, returned to the first floor of the Moon Gathering Pagoda.

The first floor hall was equally empty, with only a few huge jade pillars supporting the tower.

Lin Yuan didn't rush to act; instead, he closed his eyes, his vast Divine Sense pouring out like mercury, scanning every floor tile and every inch of the wall in the hall.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and walked straight to the center of the hall.

He stretched out his foot and gently stomped on the ground three times.

"Thud, thud, thud."

A dull, solid sound came back; the floor tiles beneath his feet were no different from the others.

Mu Wanqing looked puzzled, but Lin Yuan smiled.

He crouched down, his fingers gently brushing over that floor tile, his fingertips circulating mana, carefully sensing the flow of Spiritual Qi below.

"Found it."

He raised his head and flashed a triumphant smile at Mu Wanqing.

"An extremely clever concealment Formation, integrated into the structure of the entire pagoda, its aura completely covered by the City Protecting Grand Array. If I didn't happen to know a thing or two about the Dao of Formations, I really would have been fooled by it."

As he spoke, he pressed his fingers together like a sword, condensing an extremely pure strand of mana at his fingertips. Without the slightest hesitation, he struck seven times in rapid succession, as fast as lightning, at a spot three inches to the left of the floor tile beneath his feet!

The seven positions he struck appeared chaotic and disorganized, but they secretly corresponded to the alignment of the Big Dipper.

"Click..."

A barely audible mechanical sound came from deep underground.

Immediately after, the huge circular ground beneath their feet, accompanied by a teeth-grinding friction sound, slowly slid open to both sides, revealing a bottomless, spiraling, dark staircase!