No need to say much more.

Jiang Ye knew exactly what was on her mind—

That Jiang Wenxing was still hiding underground beneath the Formless Tree.

What if they bustled about preparing for the Court Session, only for Jiang Wenxing to reap the rewards without lifting a finger?

After faking his death, that guy could have left the Court of Disorder at any time.

Yet he deliberately hid underground beneath the Formless Tree, clearly brewing some scheme!

However...

At this moment, Jiang Ye suddenly discovered another Key Point.

He immediately looked toward the ground as well and quickly asked Zhou Yuling:

"Are there any other people around Jiang Wenxing that you can sense?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yuling also realized that Key Point!

"No!" Her tone rose slightly as she answered quite decisively.

And this was precisely the problem!

The effect of the Nomadic Merchant's SSS-level Ultimate Ability, Free Movement, allowed him to appear arbitrarily near any living being.

So, with no other creatures underground, how did Jiang Wenxing get there?

Moreover...

Based on the different prompts from the Permission Iron Piece dropped by Jiang Wenxing at that time and the one dropped by Zhou Yuling...

When Jiang Wenxing actively died, the identity he replicated using his Privileged One status wasn't the Nomadic Merchant, but rather SVIP?

Perhaps this SVIP permission identity also possessed extremely powerful spatial displacement abilities?

Various thoughts flashed through Jiang Ye's mind.

Suddenly, he asked Zhou Yuling another question:

"From the moment you sensed Jiang Wenxing until now, has his position moved at all?"

Zhou Yuling was slightly taken aback before replying: "It hasn't moved..."

They exchanged another glance, then said no more.

One after another, Zhou Yuling's followers arrived.

Jiang Ye naturally arranged for them, one by one, to bind ownership of the Formless Leaves...

This "struggle for the Court Session" endeavor was proceeding with blazing intensity.

And outside the Court of Disorder...

Lin Ling, who had sealed herself inside a mini Small Wooden Doll using a talisman, was successfully found by Jiang Ye's clone along with the "Safe Exit" hidden in the red-lit elevator...

Afterwards, under the effect of the milky-white gas, that particular clone and Lin Ling, transformed into the Small Wooden Doll, entered a state of lost contact;

Meanwhile, on the chessboard layout set by Lin Ling, through the combined efforts of the Giant Shadow Phantom, the Card Grandmaster, and the Guiwen Grandmaster...

Jiang Ye obtained a forcibly mutated pure black clone. This pure black clone was like the yolk of a fried egg, enveloped by the Giant Shadow Phantom on the outside, allowing it to sustain life stably;

Additionally, at the radiation soil on the outskirts of the Abyss Restricted Zone, the little old woman with a hunched figure similar to the Guiwen Master, who was beside Yuan Qiu, successfully located the Ghost Valley Soul Shepherd Formation hidden beneath the radiation soil...

After easily pacifying those Defender players who had developed various mutations from exploring the radiation soil, the little old woman signaled that the White-Robed Woman could continue leading the team to explore deeper into the Abyss Restricted Zone.

However, the White-Robed Woman didn't act immediately.

She politely probed the old woman: "While you were entering the radiation soil to find the formation-breaking array disk, the Left Alliance reached a transaction with a certain chubby senior..."

As she spoke, the White-Robed Woman's gaze subtly glanced at the array disk in the old woman's hand before continuing:

"The chubby senior wants the Ghost Valley Soul Shepherd Formation array disk in your hand, while also expressing his intention to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone together..."

Upon hearing this, the air above the radiation soil fell silent for a moment.

However, no particular emotion could be discerned from the old woman's deeply wrinkled face.

Only her turbid eyes seemed to be pondering something.

The "chubby senior" mentioned by the White-Robed Woman had actually traveled with their batch of Defender teams exploring the forbidden zone for a stretch.

It was just that at the time, he blended into the crowd completely inconspicuously, with very low presence.

It was only during the exploration of the radiation soil, when everyone else entered the soil, that the chubby guy and Zhang Minghan not entering the soil drew attention.

So, this little old woman had actually seen the chubby guy before.

And her current expression seemed to directly match the "chubby senior" mentioned by the White-Robed Woman with a specific person.

The little old woman's hoarse voice suddenly uttered: "She agreed?"

The White-Robed Woman was stunned for a moment before understanding, nodding: "The Left Alliance agreed to the chubby senior's transaction..."

Which meant...

The Ghost Valley Soul Shepherd Formation array disk that this little old woman retrieved from underground had to be handed over to that chubby senior...

Hence the White-Robed Woman's cautious tone.

If someone else had found the array disk, she could have directly confiscated it and taken charge of the transaction with the chubby senior.

But unfortunately, this array disk was found by this old woman...

The White-Robed Woman was somewhat worried that the old woman would refuse to hand over the array disk, thus preventing Lin Ling and the chubby senior's transaction from proceeding?

However...

What the White-Robed Woman didn't expect was—

This old woman didn't make things difficult for her.

She glanced at the double-layered array disk restrained by iron wires in her right palm.

After a moment, she directly stated:

"In that case, then give it to him..."

As she spoke, the five slightly curved fingers of her right hand instantly straightened.

And the array disk upon them emitted a more urgent buzzing sound.

As if at any moment, it would break free from the iron wire restraints.

However...

The iron wires emerging from between the old woman's fingers suddenly snapped.

But the iron wires wrapped around the array disk still restrained it.

Even, as the old woman uttered "Go"...

The entire iron wire-restrained array disk shot forth like a flying wheel toward the direction of the Abyss Restricted Zone!

This...

Jiang Ye, borrowing Xiao Hei's body, also shared the White-Robed Woman's perspective.

Witnessing this scene, he couldn't help but feel secretly astonished!

After all, the Abyss Restricted Zone and the chessboard where the chubby guy was located, though both within the 0000 Apartment, weren't on the same floor at all!

This little old woman could actually transmit the array disk to the chubby guy's location without using the red-lit elevator?

The White-Robed Woman and the other mutated Defenders present were equally shocked.

However, none of them could see the outcome.

Only Jiang Ye.

Relying on his clones, he possessed both the perspective of the Abyss Restricted Zone and the perspective above the chessboard.

And his clone located above the chessboard saw the iron wire-restrained array disk, as if tearing through the void, flying from afar into the space above this chessboard just seconds after the old woman threw it.

Both the chubby guy and the Little Old Man above the chessboard showed little surprise at this.

Even, the Little Old Man casually raised a hand...

Iron wires flew out from between the five fingers of his right hand, swiftly connecting to the iron wire interfaces restraining the array disk!

In the blink of an eye, the double-layered array disk, round on top and square below, landed squarely in his hand!

Not long before this, Jiang Ye had just felt—

The aged, hunched appearance of this Guiwen Master bore an uncanny resemblance to that old woman.

Witnessing this scene now made him increasingly suspect that this pair of Little Old Man and little old woman might truly share some hidden connection!

However, as a mere small Calamity, he naturally didn't dare question the big shots.

He then saw the Little Old Man holding the array disk, casually fiddling with it a few times. The array disk, which had been constantly emitting a "buzzing" sound, gradually quieted down, ceasing to make any noise at all.

After this, the Little Old Man withdrew all the iron wires and tossed the array disk toward the chubby guy's direction.

The chubby guy caught the array disk, his face filled with satisfaction.

His smile grew even more simple and honest as he held the array disk and said to Jiang Ye:

"Since we've obtained the array disk, and your clone has mutated..."

"Then it's about time we head out to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone :)"

What the chubby guy had previously agreed to was allowing Jiang Ye's mutated clone to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone.

But now, the situation with this mutated clone was truly bizarre.

Jiang Ye secretly attempted—

Fusing other discarded clones into that pure black mutated clone.

The result was—

This entire clone still couldn't move anything except its left hand.

However, he could barely also access this mutated clone's perspective.

Only...

Jiang Ye stared at the mutated clone and deliberately frowned:

"This clone can't move;

doesn't seem very suitable for exploring the Abyss Restricted Zone, right?"

But the chubby guy smiled even more amiably, pointing at the Giant Shadow Phantom:

"Your pure black clone indeed can't move."

"But isn't it enveloped by our shadow phantom brother on the outside?"

"Come on, shadow phantom brother, show him how you can move around with this mutated clone :)"

"......"

The Giant Shadow Phantom had been exceptionally silent ever since being tossed into the air and having his Glyph Pattern Ability forcibly extracted by the Little Old Man.

So much so that Jiang Ye almost thought he had completely shut down.

Unexpectedly, when called upon by the chubby guy now, the shadow phantom actually obediently cooperated.

He let out a grunt to indicate he had heard.

Then, the entire shadow phantom began to move.

And as he moved, he indeed carried the mutated clone resembling a "yolk" along.

Emmmmmm...

Jiang Ye watched this scene, naturally finding it hard to describe his feelings.

He wanted a complete, controllable clone to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone...

But now, control over this mutated clone lay in the hands of the Giant Shadow Phantom.

This way, even if he followed to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone, his actions would be very passive!

Jiang Ye couldn't help but suspect...

This chubby guy might have anticipated such an outcome from the start.

That's why he agreed to let him use the mutated clone to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone.

While analyzing the chubby guy's psychology and trying his best not to offend this big shot,

Jiang Ye pretended to be naive and asked:

"Is this shadow phantom voluntarily taking my useless mutated clone to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone?"

"If he originally didn't want to explore the forbidden zone personally, but now has to go because of me... I'd feel quite bad about it."

This was pure nonsense, of course.

Sure enough, he saw the chubby guy smile at the shadow phantom and politely ask: "Does shadow phantom want to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone himself?"

"......"

The shadow phantom soon grunted: "...Want."

The chubby guy then looked back at Jiang Ye.

Jiang Ye thought for a moment, then probed:

"Given the current situation, I feel like this clone mutation was quite a failure..."

"He can't even move on his own. Does that mean he'll have to rely on shadow phantom for survival from now on?"

"So I'm thinking, maybe I should just abandon this mutated clone and try mutating again, to see if I can produce a mutated clone capable of free movement?"

"......"

As soon as he said this, it was visibly apparent that the looks the chubby guy and the Little Old Man gave him both gained a touch of strangeness.

Their eyes held a subtle, hard-to-describe expression.

But soon, the Little Old Man said unhurriedly:

"If you abandon this mutated clone, achieving a second mutation will likely be very difficult."

"After all, this shadow phantom no longer has extra Glyph Pattern Ability or Mist Monsters to support your mutation."

Both the chubby guy and the Little Old Man had inexplicably adopted the "shadow phantom" address used by Jiang Ye.

Hearing this, Jiang Ye felt the Giant Shadow Phantom's entire form seemed to stiffen.

Clearly, the Little Old Man was right.

He could no longer support Jiang Ye attempting a second mutation.

In that case...

It seemed Jiang Ye had no choice but to accept sending this immobile mutated clone to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone.

But it wasn't a huge problem.

After all, besides this mutated clone, he still had Xiao Hei hidden on Xiao Bai, who would also follow to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone.

And beside Xiao Bai, there was also a mirrored clone of Zhou Yuling that he could utilize at any time.

Effectively, for the Abyss Restricted Zone exploration line, he had three operable units.

Besides these, there was also the mutated Yu Mo.

Although Yu Mo, after mutation, was no longer controlled by the Guiwen clone's heart demon nest.

Yu Mo's face had been fixed to resemble Jiang Ye's face.

So currently, Yu Mo was equivalent to Jiang Ye's Fake Clone.

A single application of the clone kills clone technique could completely transform Yu Mo into a real clone!

This situation was already quite favorable.

So Jiang Ye stopped hesitating and immediately agreed to set off to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone right away.

Once confirmed here, the chubby guy took the Giant Shadow Phantom and left the chessboard, heading toward the Abyss Restricted Zone.

As for the Little Old Man, he and one remaining Jiang Ye clone stayed behind on the chessboard.

Jiang Ye originally wanted to seize the chance to ask this Little Old Man for some information.

However, the Little Old Man completely ignored him.

In the blink of an eye, his figure vanished.

From then on, only Jiang Ye's clone remained on the entire chessboard.

Oh right, and one more—Lin Ling's mirrored clone, used for supervision.

This particular clone of Jiang Ye didn't leave the chessboard either.

Instead, he took this opportunity to conduct research on the chessboard.

Naturally, his main research focus fell upon the chess grid from which the Three Life Stone Staff had originally emerged.

Meanwhile, roughly several minutes later.

The chubby guy appeared with the Giant Shadow Phantom on the radiation soil of the Abyss Restricted Zone, reuniting with the little old woman, the White-Robed Woman, and the mutated Defenders.

The mutated Defenders had also seen the chubby guy before.

Now, all of them had become barely recognizable from exploring the radiation soil, yet they saw the chubby guy completely unharmed...

Combined with what the White-Robed Woman had just said about the "chubby senior"...

They could all guess that this chubby guy was likely a big shot playing dumb and eating the tiger!

The Giant Shadow Phantom following behind this big shot was equally eye-catching.

These Defenders didn't understand the situation, only assuming the black humanoid form within the Giant Shadow Phantom was this shadow phantom's true appearance.

The White-Robed Woman, who had seen the shadow phantom's original form and knew about Jiang Ye's mutation, gazed thoughtfully at the Giant Shadow Phantom now carrying the black figure, but she wouldn't ask anything inappropriate.

After seeking instruction from the little old woman with a glance and receiving confirmation, she stated directly:

"Since the array disk has been dealt with and everyone is assembled, let's continue exploring deeper into the forbidden zone next."

The other mutated Defenders naturally nodded one after another, not daring to object.

However, the chubby guy took this opportunity to release Xu Gou, Peng Gu, Yu Mo, and Tao Sheng—all whom he had previously dismissed as "idle personnel."

Xu Gou could be considered the chubby guy's man.

Peng Gu, roughly speaking, barely counted as following Xu Gou.

Tao Sheng saw his father, the shadow phantom, and immediately felt reassured.

Only Yu Mo...

Although he had some connection with Tao Sheng,

Later, he was forced to mutate by Jiang Ye.

Now, suddenly seeing such a large gathering of people, he clearly seemed a bit dazed.

For a moment, he didn't know whether to reestablish ties with Tao Sheng or make other plans...

And just as everyone prepared to set off again, suddenly another figure—that of a gentle, refined young man—appeared on this patch of radiation soil...