After observing, Bai Pu felt a sense of clarity rise in his heart. He had a profound impression of those peculiar "Golden Patterns" and knew how to outline these patterns on the surface of his body.

[You have comprehended the Four-star Secret Technique: Melt Gold Armor.]

[Melt Gold Armor (Level 1): Passive, reduces (31) points of physical damage. When activated, Melt Gold Armor causes enemies’ close combat attacks to suffer from retaliating scorching energy, inflicting (124) points of scorching damage per attack (up to 10 accumulations). You can detonate the accumulated scorching damage at any time.]

[The scorching damage caused by Melt Gold Armor’s counterattack will detonate inside the target, ignoring additional magic resistance and shield skills.]

"Worthy of a Four-star Secret Technique, even at Level 1, it can inflict nearly two hundred points of scorching damage per counterattack. If accumulated 10 times before detonation, that’s close to two thousand points of damage."

Bai Pu thought about his Three-star Skill [Steel Skin], then checked:

"Can the damage reduction effects of Steel Skin and Melt Gold Armor stack?"

The Spirit Realm Will quickly responded:

[No, the fixed damage reduction effect will only take the highest value between the two.]

This was normal; otherwise, an Awakened with combat specialization, cultivating seven or eight skills with fixed damage reduction, would be invincible.

Bai Pu pondered these two skills and realized that there was a significant similarity in execution.

Suddenly, Bai Pu had a spark of inspiration: "Can I utilize their similarities to fuse them into a single skill?"

The more Bai Pu thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

At the level of an Advanced Awakened, as the comprehension of Mystical Arts increases and deepens, the understanding of skills becomes more profound.

Especially the trials of the Professional Plane and the experiences of the Active Cultivation Advanced Method, have made Bai Pu’s understanding of cultivation methods and skills more comprehensive and profound.

If Bai Pu were given enough time and some inspiration, he was confident he could fuse the two skills into one, which would neither be Steel Skin nor the Melt Gold Armor of the Gilder, but a self-created skill unique to Bai Pu.

After comprehending Melt Gold Armor, Bai Pu spent the subsequent time alternating between cultivating Melt Gold Armor and Steel Skin, the two major protective skills.

It’s undeniable that the Spiritual World opened by the combined efforts of the four Bishop’s Servants is very practical for cultivation, surpassing Bai Pu’s Talent: Genetic Heart Image. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Currently, the Genetic Heart Image can only cultivate Combat Specialization, whereas the Spiritual World opened by the Bishop’s Servants can also enhance Skill Proficiency and Mystical Arts level in addition to cultivating Combat Specialization.

This benefit can only be achieved by Bai Pu lighting up the second item of the Evolution Heart Talent: Enhanced Meditation. Now, with the help of the four Bishop’s Servants, he can already enjoy this in advance.

Bai Pu also used his spare time to retrain [Demon Refining Sand]—at that time, to quickly kill the Two-Faced Man, he exploded half of the Magic Sand, which now urgently needs replenishing.

Unfortunately, the refining of Magic Sand is too slow. After spending two days of spare time, Bai Pu only refined two portions, while he originally exploded no less than ten portions of Magic Sand.

While Bai Pu was cultivating, Bonnie and others came to knock on the door of his secret chamber.

...

"All the current records regarding the Lost City are here."

Black-robed Neil said, "According to the Thorn Church’s assertions, the Lost City is a very peculiar existence, as if it has self-awareness. It actively appears once in a while, each time accompanied by signs of heaven and earth, but its location is not fixed."

"It seems that this city harbors a mysterious power capable of nurturing Holy Artifacts! The longer it remains dormant, the more artifacts are nurtured upon its next appearance, and the heavenly signs become more intense. For instance, last time, the Lost City nurtured seven Holy Artifacts, and the location of its appearance experienced a severe earthquake, causing a vertical collapse of the area within a hundred miles into a deeper heavenly pit," Bozo added.

Bai Pu methodically leafed through the records with a speed akin to "quantum reading."

Soon, he had perused all the recorded materials.

"What you have described is merely the surface. Now, I plan to personally explore and unveil the veil of this mysterious place." Bai Pu said upon opening his eyes.

"Personally explore? Where to explore? The materials only say the ’Lost City is hidden deep underground,’ without specifying its true location." Bozo said, puzzled.

"You only focused on geography and overlooked another crucial piece of information—time. Treat the Lost City as an entity constantly moving beneath the earth. By using the appearance times and locations as parameters, you can calculate its movement trajectory. By combining the recent appearance times and locations, you can determine when it might pass through a specific point next!"

Bai Pu waved his hand, and his Spiritual Power strand moved through the void, using Sandfall Demon Fighting Qi to draw a 3D macro model of the Original Sin Continent in the air.

Several locations where the Lost City had appeared were prominently marked.

A small green dot moved among these locations.

"Last time, the Lost City appeared at the Divine Gifted Heavenly Pit in the Southwest Jungle, less than a hundred kilometers south of Farie City. Based on my calculations, its next appearance should be seven months later, in Asoro City, Central Original Sin Continent."

Bai Pu paused to say: "Knowing its trajectory, we don’t have to wait seven months. We can directly determine its current location and look for any potential heavenly pits or earth vein corridors nearby. Let’s delve underground and find it!"

The others didn’t completely understand.

However, having witnessed Bai Pu’s capability firsthand, seeing how confident he was, and having no other options, they had no choice but to trust Bai Pu and follow his actions.

Bai Pu holds an adoration-level reputation within the Thorn Cutter, able to exert maximum influence on their decision-making. This is determined by the Spirit Realm Will’s rules of "Reputation and Affection."

...

East of the Southwest Jungle.

At the foot of the mountain in front of the Rocky Sheep Corridor, there lies a vast marsh.

An underground river rushes out from a pond accumulating at the foot of the mountain.

Standing in mid-air, Bai Pu could see this pond at the mountain foot’s accumulation site. Water from the underground river forms a spring several feet higher than other water surfaces.

"Master, do you really intend to attempt entering underground? After all, all these are just speculations, unverified." Bonnie expressed some concern.

"No, I have evidence. The evidence is the existence of the Lost City itself." Bai Pu asserted, "I believe there definitely exists navigable ’Earth Vein Corridors’ or similar passages beneath the Original Sin Continent! Otherwise, the Lost City shouldn’t exist."