The metallic dust from the pulverized giant guardian statue still drifted through the air of the Ancient Tomb's Main Hall. Held within Ye Tian’s embrace, Lady Mei could feel the steady, powerful thrum of his heartbeat—a pulse driven not by the flow of Qi, but by an overflowing, pure physical vitality.

"Let me go," Lady Mei whispered, her voice—usually cold as ice—trembling slightly. Guilt and the pride of a prodigy clashed within her chest.

Ye Tian casually released his hold, allowing Lady Mei to stand upright atop the stone altar. However, before they could exchange another word, the altar floor beneath their feet suddenly caved in.

CLICK.

A far deadlier ancient mechanism was triggered by the removal of the Sky-Severing Scripture. From the ceiling of the hall, hundreds of prehistoric black iron chains coated in God-Devouring Soul Flames plummeted down like famished serpents. Simultaneously, a transparent, blood-red formation barrier surged up from the edges of the altar, locking Ye Tian and Lady Mei inside a cramped, three-meter-high space, isolating them entirely from Senior Huo's group outside.

"The Ancient Soul-Crushing Formation!" Lady Mei’s eyes widened in shock.

She instantly swung her Silver Lotus Sword, unleashing a dense wave of frost to ward off the approaching flaming chains. Yet the moment her ice contacted the chains, it evaporated into thin air. The God-Devouring Soul Flames were the natural enemy of cultivators; they did not burn the physical frame, but directly incinerated a person's spiritual energy and Dantian.

"Argh!" Lady Mei groaned in pain as a wave of searing heat seeped through her Qi shield, turning her face instantly pale. Her power drained drastically in a matter of seconds.

Seeing a flaming chain poised to impale Lady Mei's chest from behind, Ye Tian stepped forward without hesitation. Defying all magical laws, he clamped his bare hands directly around the fiery chain.

SZZZZT!

The faint smell of scorched skin drifted through the air, yet what occurred next nearly drove Lady Mei out of her mind. Ye Tian’s skin, hardened like steel after consuming the Soul-Cleansing Fruit, refused to break. With a low growl, Ye Tian yanked his arms, snapping the ancient chain to pieces through sheer muscular strength alone.

"You... you are completely unaffected by the Soul-Devouring Flames?" Lady Mei stared at him blankly.

"The flames devour spiritual energy. I have no spiritual energy to devour," Ye Tian replied calmly, brushing the residual ash from his hands. He turned, looking straight into Lady Mei’s clear eyes. "Besides, I can't let you die here. You owe me an explanation regarding the path back to the lower realm."

Hearing the words "lower realm" spoken at such close range, combined with the way Ye Tian focused intently on her, a buried memory suddenly flashed through Lady Mei’s mind. The incident at Qingxi City Square... a tattered youth recklessly leaping from a rooftop to escape soldiers while clutching a cloth bag...

Lady Mei stared at the old, blood-stained hemp bag tied to the waist of Ye Tian’s gray robe. The grains of pure rice peeking through a small tear in the fabric served as absolute proof.

"You... are that rice-stealing boy?!" Lady Mei gasped, her hand trembling as she held her sword. "How is this possible... In less than a few months, you went from a dying mortal to physically stepping directly into the True Immortal Realm?!"

This was utter madness that violated every law of cultivation she had studied since childhood. People spent centuries, sacrificed thousands of medicinal pills, and gambled their lives just to touch this realm. Yet the youth before her had bypassed every obstacle with nothing more than a pair of bare fists.

"This world forced me to adapt, Lady Mei," Ye Tian said, a faint, bitter smile touching his handsome face. "My little sister is starving down there. I don't have centuries to spend meditating like you."

A profound sense of awe gradually welled up in Lady Mei’s heart, replacing every trace of her past disdain. This youth was no longer a pest; he was a walking miracle driven by an unyielding, pure resolve.

"If you wish to return home... we must first unseal the mechanism beneath this altar," Lady Mei said, her eyes shifting toward a cogwheel-shaped keyhole in the center of the platform. "The scripture you hold contains the clues, but activating the core mechanism requires a combination of raw physical power to turn the lower iron wheel, and the pure frost energy of my ice element to freeze the circulating flame traps."

"An alliance?" Ye Tian raised an eyebrow.

"An alliance," Lady Mei answered firmly, giving a respectful nod as an equal.

Outside the blood-red barrier, Senior Huo continuously struck the formation wall, roaring in fury, "Ye Tian! Release Sister Mei! Do not lay your filthy hands on her!"

Ye Tian ignored the barking outside. He squatted before the ancient iron wheel embedded in the altar floor. The wheel weighed tens of thousands of tons, coated in prehistoric rust that locked its movement.

"Begin!" Ye Tian called out.

He gripped the rim of the iron wheel. The muscles in his arms and back swelled densely, golden veins flaring beneath his jade-like skin. Ye Tian exerted the full force of his peak-tier Mortal Body Cultivation.

"MOVE!"

CREEEEAK... BOOM!

The prehistoric iron wheel was forced to turn under Ye Tian's colossal strength, giving off a deafening screech. As the wheel turned, thousands of hidden flame needles prepared to shoot from the altar walls to obliterate them.

At that critical juncture, Lady Mei leaped into the air. She inverted her Silver Lotus Sword and thrust it straight into the center of the formation, channeling every remaining drop of her pure frost Qi.

"Arctic Thousand Freeze!"

WHOOSH!

An extreme wave of cold air erupted from Lady Mei’s blade, spreading rapidly to freeze the entire network of flame mechanisms before the lethal needles could launch. It was an absolute synthesis: Ye Tian’s unstoppable physical force combined with Lady Mei’s deadly ice precision.

CLICK!

The sound of a massive mechanism releasing resonated from deep within the earth. The blood-red barrier trapping them shattered into a shower of light particles. In the center of the altar, a small black jade box rose slowly, opening to reveal an ancient compass engraved with the eight cardinal symbols, emanating an intensely dense spatial energy: The Boundary-Piercing Compass.

Ye Tian instantly grabbed the compass, his eyes gleaming. Together with the Sky-Severing Scripture in his left hand, the puzzle of his return home was complete.

He turned toward Lady Mei, who appeared exhausted, leaning lightly on her sword. "Thank you for the cooperation, Mei Ling."

Mei Ling wiped the sweat from her brow, looking at Ye Tian with a gaze that had completely softened. "Be careful, Ye Tian. You have obtained what you sought, but the people outside... will not let you leave so easily."

Ye Tian glanced toward Senior Huo and the geniuses from rival sects, who were now glaring at him with bloodshot eyes full of greed and hatred. Ye Tian tucked the compass and scripture into his robes, securing them right above his sister's rice bag.

"Let them step forward," Ye Tian said coldly, squeezing his hands into fists until the air inside the hall creaked under the pressure once more. "I have found my way home, and not a single god in this sky will stop my stride."