“Fellow Daoist Sha, can you tell me the secret of this stone fragment now?”

Yang Che estimated the distance to Zi Tian City at this moment, then stopped his advance and halted his figure.

The tall Sha Rou suddenly released her Divine Sense and cast a sound-insulating Spell.

After transmitting a message to Yang Che with an extremely faint sound transmission technique, she then departed in a flash of light, with a faint, almost imperceptible smile.

Yang Che stood stunned in place for a while before letting out a helpless, bitter smile.

Then, without further delay, he directly transformed into a streak of light and flew towards Zi Tian City.

This time, Yang Che did not make the same mistake as before; he continuously teleported without stopping, entering the ‘Intercontinental Great Array’ of Zi Tian Oasis at the fastest speed.

He had personally participated in the setup of this Intercontinental Great Array, so even though the array was active, he could easily enter.

He went directly to the City Lord’s Mansion and found the Protectors of Zi Tian City, the three Nascent Soul cultivators, the Hong clan’s three brothers.

After exchanging greetings, Yang Che learned from Hong Que, the youngest of the three brothers and a Protector, that after he left Zi Tian City, Sand Sea City had sent people to collect ‘taxes’.

They said that as long as Zi Tian City was willing to pay three times the previous tax, the Ancient Remnant Alliance would recognize Zi Tian City’s renaming and status in the Ancient Remnant Sand Sea.

City Lord Sha E consulted with Tianxie Ziyin and then directly refused.

Consequently, the people from Sand Sea City stationed themselves outside the city and periodically launched attacks on Zi Tian City.

The strong Cultivators sent by Sand Sea City this time were indeed formidable.

Among them was a black-faced old man known as ‘Old Ghost Sha’, who was far more powerful than Tao Hua, the Soul Transformation Middle Stage Cultivator.

City Lord Sha E and Dongmen Lang, two Soul Transformation Initial Stage Cultivators, teamed up but still couldn't defeat this black-faced old man.

Fortunately, the Intercontinental Great Array set up by Tianxie Ziyin was truly miraculous; the Cultivators from Sand Sea City, even when working together, failed to break through this array.

This time, Old Ghost Sha and Tao Hua came to attack again, and Tianxie Ziyin led them somewhere unknown; even the Hong clan’s three brothers couldn't sense any fighting Qi.

...

Yang Che knew he couldn't be of much help, so he directly entered the Purple Heaven Secret Realm and returned to the Bronze Hall where he originally lived on Jie Tian Peak.

Having been away from Zi Tian City for more than half a year, heading to the Dark Abyss, the sudden recollection felt somewhat dreamlike.

Sitting cross-legged inside the Bronze Hall.

Yang Che held Spirit Stones, absorbing and Cultivating, while carefully pondering the ‘secret of the stone fragment’ that Sha Rou had told him earlier.

Yang Che had originally anticipated that he might have to engage in a life-and-death battle with Sha Rou.

However, to his surprise, Sha Rou was very straightforward.

The words she transmitted to him seemed to have no intention of being hidden or concealed whatsoever.

But precisely because of this, Yang Che needed to consider carefully whether or not to cooperate with her next.

According to Sha Rou, this stone fragment is one of the ‘keys’ to entering an ‘Ancient Remnant’.

She specifically emphasized that it was an Ancient Remnant, not an ancient ruin.

This Ancient Remnant is shrouded by an Ancient Remnant Array, and to enter it, one can only rely on this ‘stone fragment’.

As for how many such stone fragments exist, she was also unsure.

And if anyone knew the number of these stone fragments, it would only be the ‘Wan Family’ of Wanxing City.

Because this Ancient Remnant was first discovered by the Wan Family.

And this Ancient Remnant is located in a rather peculiar place near Wanxing Oasis.

The Wan Family would certainly not have leaked the news of this Remnant to anyone, intending to monopolize its resources.

However, after the Wan Family explored this Ancient Remnant, they reluctantly discovered that they needed similar ‘stone fragments’ like the one in his hand to enter.

So the Wan Family began to search for such broken ‘stone fragments’ everywhere in the Ancient Remnant Sand Sea, guided by the text on a stone tablet outside the Remnant.

As a result, some Cultivators who originally possessed such stone fragments somehow bribed certain individuals in the Wan Family and gradually learned of the Wan Family’s intentions.

The news leaked, and the Wan Family Head was furious.

Therefore, he dispatched all the core direct descendants of the clan who originally knew about the Remnant, instructing them to find ways to seize as many of these stone fragments as possible, to atone for their mistakes.

Thus, many direct descendants or core clan members of the Wan Family left Wanxing City and frantically searched for more such stone fragments throughout the Ancient Remnant Sand Sea.

Since the Wan Family members had hints from the ‘Remnant Stone Tablet’, they could vaguely sense the approximate location of exposed stone fragments.

This also made Yang Che understand why he had encountered people from Wanxing City in the desert near the Dark Abyss back then.

Evidently, the beautiful woman and several people from Wanxing City were also there for the ‘stone fragments’.

However, why that beautiful woman was being pursued by that young man, he did not know.

Speaking of this Ancient Remnant, according to Sha Rou’s account, very few Cultivators actually knew about it.

And the Sha Family of Sand Sea City, who were descendants of Ancient Cultivators, happened to possess five broken ‘stone fragments’ that their ancestors had obtained.

After Sha Rou learned of this secret, she even managed to enter the Remnant once by herself, avoiding the Wan Family’s surveillance.

Unfortunately, she found that she couldn't delve deep into it with her strength alone; aside from constantly encountering strange Yao Beasts in the outer areas, she gained almost nothing.

Furthermore, Sha Rou had also discovered that Soul Transformation Cultivators could not enter the Ancient Remnant Array of that Ancient Remnant.

And Nascent Soul cultivators who wished to enter could only suppress their Cultivation to Core Formation Great Perfection; otherwise, they also couldn't enter.

As for Core Formation and Foundation Establishment Cultivators, there were no Restrictions.

This also made Yang Che recall the Restriction in the Dark Demon Valley that suppressed Nascent Soul cultivators, and he couldn't help but wonder in his heart if that place was also an Ancient Cultivator’s Remnant.

After pondering, Yang Che continued to think deeply.

Sha Rou said that the reason she sought him out was an impromptu decision.

It was only after discovering that Yang Che’s strength was comparable to hers, and that Yang Che’s Cultivation Technique was somewhat special and he possessed that miraculous and terrifying strange insect, that she conceived the idea of cooperating with Yang Che to enter the Remnant.

After all, neither of them could defeat the other.

They could maximize their cooperation and also obtain their respective greatest benefits, without having to worry about the risk of being killed and having their treasures seized after cooperating with a Nascent Soul cultivator.

And finding someone with lower Cultivation to cooperate with would also require considering whether they would be a burden in the Remnant.

Of course, Sha Rou was even more direct at the end, saying that she and Yang Che had a common enemy, Sha Jin.

Although Sha Jin was dead, the clan members of Sha Jin’s lineage would never give up.

She said that if they cooperated, she would even help Yang Che kill the people of Sha Jin’s lineage.

Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, Sha Rou believed Yang Che was her ideal partner.

However, Yang Che did not agree on the spot, saying he needed to consider it.

But before Sha Rou left, she said something that greatly moved Yang Che.

She said that within that Ancient Remnant, they would definitely find some extremely rare Heaven And Earth Treasure.

Perhaps it would be of great help for condensing a Nascent Soul in the future.

These words greatly stirred Yang Che’s heart.

He recalled his blood oath with Tianxie Ziyin, to help her find the nine-colored fire lotus and the hell dark phoenix feather, thinking that if he was extremely lucky, he might actually find them.

And even if he couldn’t find them, finding treasures that would be of great help for condensing a Nascent Soul was also extremely tempting.

Although Yang Che understood that Sha Rou definitely had an ‘enticing’ intention, after much thought, he felt it would be truly regrettable not to enter this Remnant and explore it.

However, even if he was inclined to cooperate with Sha Rou to seek treasures, he must first wait for Tianxie Ziyin to return before deciding.