Instantly, a silver gray light flared up and covered his entire body.

After a short while, the light gradually receded.

Xiao Shou took a blink and let out a breath of relief.

It was not as dangerous as he had imagined.

What remained within the palm imprint was not the divine sense of the cave’s owner, but rather a remnant consciousness of the treasure itself.

Through receiving that fragment of awareness, Xiao Shou learned that this cave residence was actually a damaged pseudo-spirit treasure that had regressed in rank.

Its true form was a nine level tower called the Fate Turning Pagoda. It was a natal treasure that was personally refined by an ancient great cultivator with a magnetic spiritual root known as Patriarch Huyan Yunming.

During a battle with enemies, the Fate Turning Pagoda was severely damaged.

Its spirit was extinguished, the nine levels split apart and scattered in all directions.

The lowest level of the Fate Turning Pagoda, which served as the core of the treasure fell here.

When it plunged deep underground, the Fate Turning Pagoda’s remaining instinct caused it to strike this spirit vein and settle its core directly at the very center of the vein.

This single remaining level of the Fate Turning Pagoda still contained many valuable items by the standards of the current era.

Most important of all was the small nine level tower located at the very center of the base. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

That miniature tower was where the spirit of the Fate Turning Pagoda resided.

As long as it was not destroyed, there was still a chance for the tower spirit to recover.

The remnant consciousness there was far stronger than the one here.

What existed here was merely a fragment, like a divided projection formed when the Fate Turning Pagoda was still intact.

Furthermore, during the period after the tower spirit was extinguished, the cultivators who entered this ancient cave residence through proper means, essentially entering the Fate Turning Pagoda, would, after passing the outer formations, be drawn by the residual spirituality into the small nine level tower where the spirit resided.

Those who successfully passed the trials would receive certain rewards.

Those who failed would be transported back outside.

That Golden Core cultivator had only passed two levels, gaining some rewards and the method to use the Fate Devouring Array.

According to the residual memory of the tower spirit, only by clearing the ninth level of the small nine level tower could one obtain the core token.

The core token symbolized the identity of a direct disciple of Patriarch Huyan Yunming.

Only by possessing the core token and completing the binding process could one truly become his direct disciple and gain partial control over the Fate Turning Pagoda, becoming the temporary master of this broken spiritual treasure.

Of course, the true control of the tower had always belonged to Patriarch Huyan Yunming.

As for the conditions required for the tower to recognize a new master after his death, Xiao Shou did not obtain any information about that.

To the east of the small nine level tower was the Fate Devouring Array, which absorbed the power of the sun and had extremely powerful healing effects for many kinds of injuries.

To the south was a vast medicinal garden.

To the west were treasure chambers filled with gleaming artifacts, along with stone residences once used by the direct disciples of Patriarch Huyan Yunming and the servants who attended them.

Now, those places were being used to imprison children and captured cultivators.

To the north was the Fate Devouring Array that had appeared in the book Longevity Love.

It was filled with sinister energy and absorbed the power of moonlight.

Centered around these, the surrounding area was laid out like a small town, with houses and streets that had once housed the followers and servants of Patriarch Huyan Yunming.

Now, after nearly a hundred thousand years, only ruined remains were left.

The people who had died within the Fate Turning Pagoda had long since decayed, their flesh and bones completely gone.

After understanding all the details, and having read Longevity Love about various immortal artifacts, treasures, and even divine weapons, combined with his own Absolute Fusion ability, Xiao Shou had developed rather high standards despite limited means.

He actually looked down on this damaged spirit treasure.

Even though he did not currently possess a single magic treasure, he was confident that he would have them in the future.

He had no interest in a broken spirit treasure like this, especially after learning that it contained something as sinister as the Fate Devouring Array.

The only thing here that truly sparked his desire was the Celestial Nail.

The moment he saw it, he had already begun thinking about how to use it to transform Snowy Cave Mountain into a floating mountain, turning it into a unique cave residence in this world that could teleport and fly.

Fortunately, Celestial Nail were designed to be easily installed and removed.

They could be freely stored in spatial storage items, originally set up to make it convenient for the female lead Xiao Ran to steal one.

Now, it conveniently benefited him instead.

Faced with something he wanted, Xiao Shou did not hesitate.

He placed his hand over it again, covered the entire pillar with his divine sense, and with a single thought, stored the Celestial Nail into his storage belt.

After putting it away, Xiao Shou felt a bit embarrassed as he remembered his original purpose for coming here.

He had come to rescue those children, destroy the Fate Devouring Array, and prevent the rise of the Nine Abyssal Gate.

Seeing that both the children and the captured cultivators were still relatively safe, and that there was still time before the full moon, he carefully recalled the remaining memories of the Fate Turning Pagoda’s spirit and identified the correct and safe routes in and out.

According to his plan, he would first go near the Fate Devouring Array and set up traps. Then, by creating disturbances while sabotaging the array, he would lure over the Golden Core cultivator and kill that inhumane man using the traps.