Saido's strength was one Great Realm higher than Duan Gujin and Qing Lian. Here, his combat power was weakened much less than Duan Gujin and Qing Lian.

Thus, he was able to travel farther than Duan Gujin and Qing Lian here, and he might even encounter attacks from demons.

Crackle! Crackle!

From the void came a series of rapid crackling sounds. Saido frowned, widening his eyes as he tried to locate the source of the noise.

A moment later, he discovered that the sound was coming from a skeleton not far away.

It was a totemic skeleton, standing three meters tall and stretching seven or eight meters long, with each bone emitting an eerie white glow.

Saido gasped, his eyes flickering as he pondered for a few moments before swiftly retreating.

"This place is too bizarre! I can't confront these skeletons head-on. I should have my subordinates come here to destroy these bones!"

Saido glanced around and found over thirty skeletons surrounding him, each exuding a cultivation equivalent to at least the Martial Saint Seventh Realm.

His current cultivation was only at the Shattering Void First Layer. If he were to fight these skeletons one-on-one, he believed he could defeat them.

But if those thirty skeletons charged at him together, surrounding him, he believed that unless he could fly, he would find it impossible to escape.

Due to one of the rules here, he was unable to unleash his full power.

After weighing his options, he felt he had no chance of defeating those bones, so he immediately fled.

Upon returning to the entrance of the Ancient God Ruins, he ordered his subordinates to guard the entrance, while he went to the sea demon army to find help.

This time, Saido dispatched a large number of sea demon experts to pave the way for him.

However, before those sea demons could charge in, they were all frozen in place.

Saido frowned, carefully examining the situation of those sea demons.

After a while, he realized that those sea demons' forces hadn't reached the Shattering Void Realm, so they couldn't easily break the ice as he could.

Realizing this situation, he thought that if those sea demons ventured into that strange tomb inside, they'd likely face total annihilation if they encountered the demons within.

Considering this, he first helped thaw the ice on the sea demons, then led a group of sea demons with different cultivation levels to venture inside with him.

After numerous attempts, he finally discovered that to pass through the tomb area ahead, a cultivation of at least the Martial Saint Eighth Layer was best.

However, he didn't have that many sea demons above the Martial Saint Eighth Layer under his command.

Frustrated, he had no choice but to prevent his subordinates from venturing in.

"Why is this place so dangerous?"

He racked his brains for a long time but couldn't figure out why.

He asked the sea demons who had previously been sedated by Duan Gujin, hoping to learn how they fainted.

After fainting, those sea demons had no awareness or memory of the time. They only remembered feeling drowsy after eating and drinking, then quickly falling unconscious.

"Could they have been drugged?"

Saido pondered for a moment before his eyes suddenly brightened.

He immediately ordered the sea demons to bring out the uneaten food and have them eat it.

The sea demons, upon hearing this, immediately followed Saido's instructions.

Moments later, the sea demons who ate the food began to faint one by one.

"They really did poison the food!"

Seeing this, Saido and the sea demons realized the truth.

Next, Saido ordered his sea demons to check all the food to prevent any sedatives from being mixed in.

Meanwhile, Saido also strengthened his forces, stationed at the Ancient God Ruins for protection.

"Even with my Shattering Void Realm cultivation, I can't handle our ancestral land. Those humans surely can't either!"

Saido reckoned that to enter the ancestral land, he might have to seek help from other Nine-headed Snakes, but he didn't trust them at all.

Helpless, he had no choice but to have his subordinates guard the Ancient God Ruins.

"If those humans truly can break through this Ancient God Ruins, should I let them in on purpose? Once they come in and break the array inside, I'll strike!"

He pondered for a long time before finally coming up with this plan.

After deliberating, he felt it was a rather good plan.

"Those humans are skilled at strategizing. If they can break the defensive array that almost had me defeated, maybe they can also break the strange tomb-like area ahead! Once they break it, I'll swoop in and capture them all at once! If I can capture them all, all the treasures will be mine! If those humans steal what's mine, I'll use everyone here to force them to return my treasures!"

Saido thought to himself, weighing the pros and cons, and finally decided to let the Human Clan warriors from Yuanzhen Continent infiltrate the Ancient God Ruins.

He hoped that the Human Clan warriors from Yuanzhen Continent could help him break through the tomb array, but they must not take any treasures inside the Ancient God Ruins.

In his heart, all treasures inside the ancestral land belonged to the Nine-headed Snakes.

Thus, Saido changed his previous decision, withdrawing most of the sea demons stationed at the Ancient God Ruins, leaving only a group of ordinary-strength sea demons.

Meanwhile, he dispatched many sea demons with strong spiritual power to keep an eye on every move at the Ancient God Ruins.

"As long as those humans want the treasures inside, they'll come back! Then, I'll capture them all in one fell swoop! Yes, I should blend in with the guarding sea demons!"

He took a deep breath and activated his demonic power.

Moments later, he transformed himself into an ordinary-looking little fish sea demon.

Previously, he had used the Transformation Technique to turn into a Little Shrimp Sea Demon and had fooled Zhan Huantai.

Meanwhile, Duan Gujin and Qing Lian returned to a nearby city and found Zhan Huantai; the three of them then set out together to gather information on the Taihuang Immortal Sect.

Their method of gathering intelligence was simple and direct: capturing a few lone Taihuang Immortal Sect Disciples and forcibly reading their memories.

By doing this, they could easily obtain genuine information.

They also knew that the information gathered this way usually wouldn't be the Taihuang Immortal Sect's confidential information.

To acquire the Taihuang Immortal Sect's confidential information, they would need to capture high-level members of the sect.