61: The ancient land opens its forbidden gates, and the ironclad armor begins to display its might.

The morning mist in the Star Moon Sect's back mountain Forbidden Ground was as thick as undissolved milk, condensing into tiny water droplets on clothes, carrying the unique damp cold of the mountains and seeping into collars. Lin Yang stood before the stone wall, the secret transmission token in his palm glowing with a faint silver light—this was the Ancient Land of Starfall access token the Sect Master had given him overnight. The Star Moon totem carved on the token's edge resonated subtly with the space stone in his embrace.

"As the Sect Master instructed, we need to use the token to activate the space stone's Star Power to open the Ancient Land's entrance." Lin Yang pressed the space stone against the cold stone wall. As the faint purple star patterns touched the silver marks on the wall, they spread and intertwined like living spirit snakes. "Wanqing, use the ice soul pearl to protect our Divine Souls. The Ancient Land has heavy Evil Qi, which might disturb one's Sea of Consciousness. Senior Sister Qingyue, please use the ice silk to create a protective layer to prevent spatial fluctuations from harming us."

Bai Wanqing responded and stepped forward, the ice soul pearl on her fingertip emitting a warm blue light. A faint blue Soul Shield slowly unfurled, enveloping the three of them—this was an advanced application of her ice element talent, capable of resisting most Divine Soul impacts. Previously, in the cold pond Restriction, she had also used this move to protect Lin Yang. "Don't worry, the Soul Shield can block the Ancient Land's Evil Qi. If any soul threads approach, the pearl will give an early warning." Her voice carried a hint of coolness, yet it couldn't hide her concern for Lin Yang, her gaze unconsciously falling on his knuckles, which were white from gripping the token.

Su Qingyue was also not slow. The ice silk flowed between her fingertips, instantly transforming into three translucent ice shields, layered around the trio. "The ice shields can buffer the impact of spatial distortion. I tried this move during a Secret Realm teleportation last time, and it worked." The ice silk glowed with a silvery-blue light, its surface covered in tiny ice flowers—a result of her infusing Lin Yang's escaping liquid True Essence into it, making it several times tougher than ordinary ice silk.

With all preparations complete, Lin Yang activated his Chaos True Essence, and a faint golden Qi flow injected into the token. "Boom—" The stone wall suddenly vibrated violently, and a ten-foot-wide silver-patterned light pillar shot into the sky. The space within the light pillar twisted like water ripples, and a dark mist, carrying the smell of rust and dried blood, surged out from the cracks. Its pungent, fishy odor instantly withered the surrounding vegetation—this was the entrance to the Ancient Land of Starfall. The Evil Qi remaining from the ancient battlefield was so powerful it could even erode life force.

"Go!" Lin Yang was the first to step into the light pillar. The chaos star core automatically activated, forming a faint golden protective shield around him, blocking the erosion of the dark mist. The moment he passed through the spatial barrier, an intense suffocating sensation struck him, as if an invisible large hand had gripped his throat. When his vision cleared again, the scene before them made all three hold their breath:

Beneath their feet was cracked black earth. With every step, they could hear the "creak" of rusty iron fragments embedded in the soil. Faint gray Soul Power flickered in the dark brown cracks, like countless eyes peering from the shadows. On the distant broken walls and ruins, half of a rusty bronze sword was stuck, its blade entwined with faint gray residual souls, emitting a "wuwu" sound when the wind blew, like the wails of departed spirits, making one's scalp tingle. Further in the distance, the sky was lead-gray, devoid of sun, moon, or stars, with only sporadic Soul Power sparks flickering in mid-air, making this ancient battlefield appear even more desolate and dead.

"This is the Ancient Land of Starfall... It's even more dangerous than what was written in the Scripture Pavilion's records." Bai Wanqing's ice soul pearl suddenly shone with a dazzling red light. Her expression changed slightly, and her fingers gripping the pearl turned white. "There are strong Soul Power fluctuations about fifty meters away, quite a lot of them, like... the 'Iron-Armored War Souls' mentioned in the records!"

Su Qingyue immediately unfurled her ice silk, transforming it into dozens of ice threads woven into a dense net to block their front. The silvery-blue light on the ice threads collided with the faint gray soul mist, stirring up tiny ice shards. "Follow the tactics we practiced before. I'll handle defense and entanglement, Wanqing, you use the ice soul pearl to lock onto the War Soul's soul core, and Lin Yang, you focus on attacking and devouring. Let's finish this quickly." No sooner had she spoken than a "clank clank" of metal collision came from behind the distant broken wall, and three War Souls, clad in tattered black iron armor, slowly walked out.

Each War Soul was ten feet tall, its iron armor covered in deep, bone-visible sword marks, some places even embedded with half a broken arrow shaft. They wielded rusty greatswords, their blades condensed with faint gray soul fire, and scarlet light flickered in their eye sockets—these were indeed the "Iron-Armored War Souls" described in the 'Ancient Land War Soul Compendium', known for their formidable defense and astonishing strength. Ordinary Xiantian Realm Cultivators would take half a day just to break their armor.

"The soul core of the War Soul on the left is under its left shoulder plate. The soul cores of the two on the right are hidden in the gaps of their chest armor!" Bai Wanqing's ice soul pearl shot out three slender blue lights, accurately landing on the War Souls. The moment the blue lights penetrated the iron armor, they revealed the faint gray outline of the soul cores, like targets painted on the War Souls.

Su Qingyue seized the opportunity. The ice silk suddenly tightened, wrapping around the greatsword of the leftmost War Soul like a spirit snake. Ice True Essence rapidly spread along the blade, freezing the War Soul's arm into an ice lump. "Lin Yang, the one on the left is yours! I'll entangle its weapon, you directly attack its soul core!" The moment the ice silk collided with the greatsword, it made a crisp "clang" sound, making Su Qingyue's arm tingle—this War Soul's strength was actually 30% stronger than she had anticipated.

Lin Yang pushed off the ground, his body shooting out like an arrow from a bowstring. Chaos True Essence condensed into a fist in his palm, with a hint of faint green (Clear Heart Art runes) within the golden Qi flow—this was his preparation to prevent True Essence agitation when devouring Soul Power. He dodged the greatsword's slash and slammed his right fist heavily onto the War Soul's left shoulder plate. Gray-gold True Essence instantly erupted, forming a strong suction force.

"Sizzle—" Faint gray Soul Power surged into his body through his palm. The chaos star core in his Dantian suddenly rotated violently, breaking down the Soul Power into fragmented energy and integrating it into his Sea of Consciousness. Lin Yang felt a sudden clarity in his mind. The range of his previously Awakened "Soul Power Perception" instantly expanded from fifty meters to eighty meters. He could even clearly sense the two reserve War Souls hidden behind the distant broken wall, and even "see" the flow path of Soul Power within the War Souls' bodies.

"It works! The Soul Power purity of these Iron-Armored War Souls is very high. Devouring them greatly benefits the Sea of Consciousness!" Lin Yang was overjoyed and was about to increase his devouring intensity when he saw the two War Souls on the right suddenly swing their greatswords, slashing towards Su Qingyue. The greatswords cut through the air with a sharp whistle, and the dense ice silk net woven by Su Qingyue was instantly cleaved with two cracks, sending ice shards flying.

"Senior Sister Qingyue, be careful!" Bai Wanqing immediately activated her ice soul pearl. Blue light transformed into two ice thorns, accurately piercing towards the chest soul cores of the War Souls on the right. Although the ice thorns didn't break through the armor, they caused the War Souls' movements to momentarily stiffen. Su Qingyue took the opportunity to retreat, and her ice silk abruptly transformed into an ice wall in front of her. With a "bang," the greatswords slammed into the ice wall, causing her to stagger back repeatedly, a trace of faint blood spilling from the corner of her mouth.

Seeing this, Lin Yang immediately turned, Chaos True Essence wrapped in Star Power, and slammed a palm onto the chest of the War Soul on the right. The Star Power, with its metal-softening properties, actually left a shallow mark on the iron armor. Chaos True Essence surged in, forcibly tearing out the War Soul's soul core. "Woo—" The War Soul let out a silent roar, its soul fire flickering violently, its body gradually becoming transparent, and finally turning into a wisp of gray Qi that was devoured by Lin Yang.

The last War Soul, seeing its companions successively destroyed, actually tried to initiate a "Soul Explosion" to perish together. Bai Wanqing was quick-witted. The blue light of her ice soul pearl flared, firmly locking onto the War Soul's soul core. "Lin Yang, it's going to self-destruct! Quickly devour its soul core!"

Lin Yang didn't hesitate. Chaos True Essence once again unleashed suction, devouring the War Soul's Soul Power along with the Soul Explosion energy. The star core rapidly dismantled the energy, converting the harmful explosive force into gentle Soul Power and integrating it into his Sea of Consciousness. The War Soul's body completely dissipated in the suction, leaving only a "Soul Power Crystal" glowing with faint gray light on the ground—this was the essence of Soul Power condensed by the War Soul, purer than the energy of ordinary demon cores, and could be directly absorbed to enhance Soul Power.

Bai Wanqing bent down to pick up the crystal and handed it to Lin Yang. "This crystal can help you stabilize the Soul Power you just enhanced. Let's take a short rest now, and then we'll head towards the starship wreckage as quickly as possible." Her fingertip accidentally brushed Lin Yang's palm. Both paused subconsciously. Bai Wanqing's ear tips reddened, and she quickly withdrew her hand, turning to check Su Qingyue's injuries.

Su Qingyue was rubbing her numb arm. Seeing Lin Yang approach, she smiled and shook her head. "It's nothing, just a bit exhausted from the shock. I'll be fine after a short rest. As for you, the True Essence fluctuations when you devoured the War Soul just now were even more solid than when you first Broke Through. It seems the Soul Power of this Ancient Land is very beneficial to you." She looked towards the distant Meteorite Crater, where the Soul Power fluctuations were strongest. "According to the map, the starship wreckage is at the bottom of the Meteorite Crater. We need to hurry to avoid being preempted by other forces."

Lin Yang took the Soul Power Crystal. As Chaos True Essence injected into his fingertips, the crystal instantly transformed into a gray light and merged into his body. A sense of clarity once again came from his Sea of Consciousness, and a faint layer of gray patterns appeared on the surface of the chaos star core, as if preparing to unlock new abilities. He carefully collected the iron armor fragments left by the other two War Souls—these fragments could absorb Soul Power and might be given to the Sect's Artifact Refining Pavilion to forge protective gear against soul attacks.

The three rested behind the broken wall for half an incense stick's time. Su Qingyue took a healing pill to restore her True Essence, while Bai Wanqing used her ice soul pearl to purify the surrounding dark mist. Once their condition returned to Peak, Lin Yang held the space stone, sensing the direction of the starship wreckage, and led the way towards the Meteorite Crater. The wind in the Ancient Land grew colder, and the Soul Power mixed in the dark mist became denser. Dried bloodstains began to appear on the distant broken walls, some even congealing into dark red ice crystals—clearly, a fierce battle had once taken place here, and their journey had only just begun.