With puppets leading the way, Li Ye advanced slowly, exploring bit by bit.
Though the progress was indeed slow, it was relatively safe.
This lava tunnel might very well have been a path carved out by Xu and Ma themselves to reach the deeper parts of the Lava Palace Secret Realm.
After proceeding for a while, apart from needing to avoid the scorching heat from the earth fire, there were no other immediate dangers.
That was until Li Ye once again dispatched a team of puppets beyond the range of his divine sense.
Not long after, he suddenly felt a strand of his split divine sense being extinguished. A sharp pain stabbed through his sea of consciousness, and Li Ye's expression turned grim.
"This distance… doesn't match up with the intel they left behind…"
"Has the formation in this Lava Palace Secret Realm expanded again, or… did Xu and Ma deliberately provide misleading information? But would the two of them coordinate that well?"
Li Ye's eyes flickered with suspicion, and he immediately retreated some distance, waiting for the puppets to return.
Soon, a tiger-leopard puppet and a humanoid puppet came dashing back but the bird puppet that had gone with them was nowhere to be seen.
According to their assigned roles, the bird puppet was supposed to fly in the lead as a scout.
Li Ye recalled his divine sense and the gu worms embedded in the puppets, following his usual routine to review the situation ahead.
But after absorbing the information carried by his split divine sense and reviewing the projected images, his expression changed on the spot.
"How could this be?!"
In the footage projected by the gu worm, the bird puppet flew ahead of the others, seemingly passing through a harmless area until, out of nowhere, a hidden restriction was triggered, trapping it within.
Moments later, the restriction flared with destructive power, burning the bird puppet to ashes on the spot!
That alone wasn't quite enough to cause Li Ye to lose his composure.
What truly shocked him was what came next in the footage, as the puppet was destroyed, a flame-wreathed beast, feline in shape, suddenly appeared, snatched up the puppet's remains, and vanished.
"A fire beast… Didn't they claim that these things were only stirred after they broke through a few restrictions and went deep enough to claim some treasure?"
"If their records weren't falsified… why have the restrictions expanded outward, and these fire beasts started roaming outside as well?"
Li Ye's expression darkened, and a sense of unease crept into his heart.
If Xu and Ma had been telling the truth, then this could only mean one thing: their activities had already disturbed the balance of the Lava Palace Secret Realm and triggered a transformation within it!
Based on current information, the formations within this secret realm were already chaotic. If a chain reaction occurred especially with fire beasts thrown into the mix it wouldn't be impossible for the effects to reach the surface!
If that happened, the Lava Palace Secret Realm wouldn't just be a danger in itself it would also become impossible to hide, drawing the attention and greed of surrounding powers.
The Chidi Mountain Range had managed to remain a neutral no-man's-land only because it straddled the borders of three nations, and its rugged terrain made it strategically insignificant.
More importantly, it only contained a few scattered spirit veins, with only one and a half second-grade ones and no noteworthy resources.
That was the only reason powerful factions didn't bother interfering in the region.
Only a top-tier local force like Pingyang Mountain home to Foundation Establishment cultivators had managed to maintain business ties with powers from all three nations.
But if the Lava Palace Secret Realm underwent a dramatic transformation and could no longer be concealed… everything would change.
The Chidi Mountains would inevitably become a target for all!
"Damn it… Did I just get screwed over by two dead guys?"
Li Ye cursed under his breath, the situation so ridiculous it almost made him laugh.
"But this expansion alone doesn't mean everything's going to hell. Let's keep investigating a bit more before jumping to conclusions…"
Letting out a breath, Li Ye ordered the two remaining puppets to continue scouting ahead, while he followed from a safe distance, moving cautiously toward the spot where the bird puppet had triggered the restriction.
"It's getting hotter…"
As he delved deeper, Li Ye's body was enveloped in a thick layer of spiritual light, doing its best to shield him from the external heat but the effect was mediocre at best.
Even with his formidable physique, sweat began to bead and roll down his skin, the scorching heat becoming nearly unbearable.
His wood-based cultivation method was clearly at a disadvantage in this environment.
He had already loosened his robes, baring his crystal-clear, muscular chest, and repeatedly activated cold breath talismans in an attempt to lower the surrounding temperature.
Just then, he suddenly halted, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes as his divine sense stretched to its limit, probing the faintly visible formation restriction not far ahead.
"Damaged… unstable… and it seems to tend to expand in a chain reaction…"
Muttering under his breath, a growing sense of unease welled up inside Li Ye.
At this point, he could already glimpse the tip of the iceberg that was the Lava Palace Secret Realm.
What appeared to be buildings either ruined or intact constructed from obsidian-like material stretched continuously, half-submerged in molten lava, like a lonely island.
Shrouded in formation barriers, faint crimson runes flickered in and out of sight, emanating an aura of unfathomable depth.
A closer inspection revealed that among the dilapidated structures were what looked to be alchemy labs and forging chambers...
If ancient magical tools or pills had been preserved inside what an extraordinary stroke of fortune that would be!
"But I fear I might have the luck to find them, but not the life to make it back!"
Li Ye gave a self-deprecating chuckle, tamping down the fiery excitement in his heart.
In truth, he had already dismissed the idea of personally entering to investigate.
The formation here was chaotic, yet perhaps due to the profound legacy of this Lava Palace Secret Realm, the formation arts were so deep and complex that even with Li Ye's knowledge, he couldn't make full sense of many parts.
And aside from the allure of the ruined buildings, the fire beasts lurking around weren't exactly rare sights either.
If he did enter personally, even if he managed to gain something through luck and a bit of formation knowledge, he might still fall victim to a seemingly harmless restriction just because of one wrong judgment!
Right now, Li Ye didn't lack lifespan, and with enough time, he could slowly gather opportunities one by one. So why risk everything for this unknown and unstable situation?
Of course
Just turning around and leaving? He couldn't bring himself to do that either.
Whether it was to fully understand the situation in the Lava Palace Secret Realm, or to see if there was a chance to pick up some leftover fortune around the edges it was worth a try.
But he'd let the puppets do it. As for Li Ye himself? No thanks.
He decisively made enhancements and repairs to the two puppets he already had.
Then he released another firebird puppet, along with a humanoid puppet clad in heavy armor and wielding a shield.
He split off a portion of his divine sense once more, focusing entirely on controlling them as they headed toward the flickering formation-restricted zone ahead where lava occasionally bubbled up making their way toward the Lava Palace Secret Realm.
Although these puppets were only first-tier and fragile in the face of these formation traps…
With his divine sense attached, the spirit stones embedded in the puppets could provide spiritual energy, allowing them to use storage pouches, activate talismans, and so on without issue.
Each puppet had already been outfitted with a variety of talismans some reactive, some proactive that would trigger if anything seemed off.
They could even be used in combination with formation tools to try breaking through the traps.
Among them, the heavily armored puppet, with all its enhancements, could potentially withstand two or three attacks at the Foundation Establishment level.
So long as Li Ye controlled them remotely and carefully disarmed the formation traps along the way, this puppet squad might just be able to reach the Lava Palace Secret Realm's edge and pick up a few scraps.
"Still… these formations are so interconnected that one wrong move could trigger everything. Best to avoid setting anything off if possible…"
Li Ye murmured, eyes focused, pouring all of his attention into the puppets ahead.
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