Please enter the text. Amidst the boundless sandstorm, the closer one gets to the city's edge in the distance, the fiercer the sandstorm becomes. The wind sweeps the fine sand like knife blades, easily slicing through the clothes.

"Brother Lin Tanyu, the sandstorm becomes more dangerous as we get closer to the city here. Stay close to me, and I'll use my True Essence Barrier to shield these sands." At this moment, Xue Chen spoke with a grave expression, transmitting his voice through Divine Thought.

Lin Mo paused for a moment, nodding to Xue Chen, feeling a bit more fondness for the latter. Seeing Lin Mo struggle against the erosive force of the sands with High-level Star Sea Level Cultivation, Xue Chen compassionately released a powerful condensed True Yuan from within, enveloping Lin Mo and the others.

within.

With the True Essence Barrier blocking the sand intrusion, the four of them immediately felt relieved. "The closer to the city's edge, the fiercer the sandstorm becomes here. Even some fierce beasts dare not easily approach the city, forming a natural barrier of sorts, making it relatively safer to stay in the city," Le Qian said with a clear, sweet voice.

"But in this area, beasts aren't the most terrifying; people are..." Jing Xiao spoke slowly, with a solemn expression. Lin Mo nodded lightly; this gray area is the Ancient Secret Realm, not to mention other treasures, solely killing beasts would bring worthwhile gains. Without sufficient strength to encounter other enemies, killing for treasures is as commonplace as dining.

"Our Hexagram Sect still holds considerable strength in this area, and most cultivators dare not provoke us when they encounter us," Xue Chen said proudly, a trace of arrogance emerging quietly on his face. Indeed, the Hexagram Sect has strength comparable to the Refining God Pavilion, Netherworld Sect, and Five Primus Sect. Moreover, Xue Chen is a Star System Level Beginner Strongman, possessing such prideful capital. With the prowess of people like Xue Chen, it's enough to compete with individuals like Yan Tian from the Refining God Pavilion, so it's

likely these are Hexagram Sect's genius disciples.

"Hmm, Brother Lin Tanyu, as long as you're with us, no one dares to bully us at will," Le Qian said, laughing sweetly.

"I'm afraid I'll be troubling three of you," Lin Mo said lightly.

"Brother Lin Tanyu, don't be a stranger. You have been kind to us, and I, Xue Chen, love making friends. If you don't mind, consider me your friend," Xue Chen laughed heartily.

Friends? Lin Mo thought of Lang Ya Jun, once his best brother and friend, who conspired with his most beloved woman to betray him. Since then, Lin Mo had been preoccupied with bias, never truly opening his heart to make friends, except for a few in his previous life after embarking on the cultivation path.

"Hmm, then we are friends." Lin Mo smiled lightly. While they were chatting, they had already entered the city, which was an extremely large city, as vast as a first-tier city by area; the buildings mostly stone-built, though weathered by countless years of sandstorm erosion, the city had turned into ruins.

"Not Li Ling and the Netherworld Sect Great Elder." Approaching the city, Lin Mo finally perceived clearly that the two Intermediate Star System Level auras weren't them, which relieved him. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Encountering Li Ling and the Netherworld Sect Great Elder here would surely lead to a battle, and he doesn't have enough capital now to counter the two joining forces.

"Brother Lin Tanyu, our Hexagram Sect has a gathering point here, our senior brother is also here. Why don't you come with us first to discuss strategies?" Xue Chen said as they entered the city.

Lin Mo furrowed his sword eyebrow; he bore secrets, and wanted to ascertain some matters, surrounded by many people. Hesitant, he said: "Brother Xue, why don't you go ahead, I'd like to wander around here, I'll find you later." Xue Chen glanced at him, didn't ask much; cultivators all have secrets, and it seemed Lin Mo had other things to attend to, so he simply nodded: "Then, Brother Lin Tanyu, after you finish your business, find us, and if encountering some undesirable individuals in the city, feel free to invoke the name of the Hexagram Sect, I think the name of the Hexagram Sect carries some deterrent power."

"Okay, thank you, Brother Xue." Lin Mo nodded, bowing heavily.

Then Xue Chen, Jing Xiao, and Le Qian turned into three streaks of flowing light, shooting towards the northern part of the city, while Lin Mo took a deep breath, and found an empty building to enter.

This was an ordinary house, already in shambles inside, uninhabited. Lin Mo found a room, took out the Xuanyuan Sword, and then set up a defensive formation. After completing the arrangements, Lin Mo cautiously took out the Nether Origin Stone, walnut-sized, emitting a mysterious purple aura. Simultaneously, an extremely fierce and violent aura surged, even Lin Mo was startled by

this ferocious aura.

"It seems Brother Xue was right, if directly absorbing the energy from the Nether Origin Stone, even the fierce aura inside might enter the body. If not careful, it might lead to Demon Transformation, corroding the mind, resulting in eternal torment."

The Netherworld Power contained within the Nether Origin Stone is ten times that of ordinary Netherworld Stones; one Nether Origin Stone equals ten Netherworld Stones, but it requires refining through arrays to remove the violent aura before absorbing the pure Netherworld Power.

Lin Mo pondered silently, but a streak of bright light flashed across his eyes.

"Others might need arrays to slowly eliminate the violent power within the Nether Origin Stone, but my mysterious Black Snake Totem may have a unique effect!" Thinking so, Lin Mo felt a surge of fervent thoughts and immediately sat down, suspending the Nether Origin Stone before him. Then he gently used Spiritual Power to manipulate a thread of Netherworld Power inside the Nether Origin Stone. A strand of light purple aura was carefully absorbed by Lin Mo

into his palm, and instantly a violent aura invaded his body, startling Lin Mo, who immediately steadied his mind.

With the fierce aura from the Nether Origin Stone, Lin Mo dared not rashly absorb it all, and thus extracted a thread first, attempting to operate it through his meridians, gathering it towards the 'Black Snake Totem' on his back. Carefully maneuvering the purple Netherworld Energy within his meridians to the vicinity of the 'Black Snake Totem', the 'Black Snake Totem' began to squirm, then exploded with a devouring force, as if encountering a delicious meal, abruptly engulfing this thread of Netherworld Energy.

After the Black Snake Totem swallowed the Netherworld Energy and spit it out again, the Netherworld Energy had become extremely refined, devoid of any vicious aura. What astonished Lin Mo the most was... the power of the Netherworld Energy had been forcibly enhanced by onefold.

This discovery greatly excited Lin Mo's spirit, as he then focused his mind to begin absorbing the power within the Nether Origin Stone. Initially, Lin Mo cautiously devoured the threads of Netherworld Energy, but later, he became more adept, the speed continuously increasing, and within an hour, he had devoured all the Netherworld Energy from the Nether Origin Stone, which transformed into a transparent crystal, shattered into powder, scattering down lightly.