Cultivation of immortality begins with an eighty-year-old eunuch.

With life hanging by a thread, the Fire Source itself let out a deafening roar, like a trapped beast.

He bit his already withered tongue hard, ignoring the frantic sucking of the "Zhenyuan Nail" inside his body, and forcibly squeezed out the last trace of the original source of the law from his dantian!

"The Ring of Purgatory, lawless and unrestrained!"

A ring of intensely dark fire suddenly exploded out from the center of him!

This was no ordinary spiritual fire, but the pure law of fire! Wherever the fire ring passed, the void twisted and collapsed like molten glass, forcefully creating an absolute defensive circle ten feet in diameter around the altar.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The Ironclad Corpse King's heavy punch, the Xuan Gu Shangren's bone rain, the Thousand Poison Old Woman's poison dragon, and the Ghost-Faced Scholar's Hundred Ghosts Parade all crashed heavily against the dark ring of fire, unleashing a deafening roar.

Flames soared into the sky, and spiritual energy surged wildly.

The violent recoil force actually forced the Ironclad Corpse King and Xuan Gu Shangren, who were at the forefront, back dozens of steps!

"Cough cough..."

In the center of the ring of fire, the Fire Source itself coughed up mouthfuls of black blood. The five dark gold nails on its body had been deeply embedded in its bone marrow due to its forceful application of the law, producing a series of teeth-grinding friction sounds.

But he managed to withstand the fatal blow.

"Old dog, you still have energy left?" The armored zombie king steadied himself, a hint of fear flashing in his crimson eyes, but more so a bloodthirsty frenzy. He shook his scorched fist and grinned maliciously, "I'll see how long your turtle shell can hold out!"

"Fellow Daoist, hold your hand." The masked scholar waved his folding fan, stopping the armored corpse king from charging again. His eyes, hidden behind his mask, were fixed on the fire source on the altar as he sneered, "Senior, you're fighting so desperately, surely you have some last words to say?"

The source of fire was panting heavily, its chapped lips curving into a grim smile.

He knew that the four ferocious beasts at the half-step Void Refinement stage had seen through his weakness.

If I continue fighting, I will surely die.

The only way out is through negotiation.

"Four fellow Daoists..." The Fire Source True Body suppressed the anger and humiliation in his heart, speaking in a hoarse voice, his tone unusually carrying a hint of negotiation, "You've been so desperate to kill me, simply to seize the source of the laws within me and break through to the Void Refinement Realm. But have you ever considered how many complete fragments of laws would remain within a dried corpse that has been sealed and drained of seventy percent of its cultivation?"

Upon hearing this, Xuan Gu Shangren and Qian Du Lao Nu, who were about to make their move, paused slightly.

"What do you want to say?" the old woman with a thousand poisons asked in a sinister tone, leaning on her cane, the surrounding poisonous miasma flickering like venomous snakes.

Seeing this, the Fire Source True Body secretly breathed a sigh of relief, gritting his teeth as he continued, "Killing me will at most grant you some incomplete Fire Laws. Not only will they not help you break through, but they might even cause you to suffer a qi deviation due to the incompatibility of the attributes! But... if you are willing to help me escape, I can grant you a truly earth-shattering opportunity!"

"A world-shaking stroke of luck? Heh heh heh..." Master Xuan Gu seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world, the ghostly fire in his eye sockets flickering violently. "I've been trapped underground for over two thousand years, what kind of stroke of luck haven't I seen? Stop with your sweet talk!"

"The Secret of the Immortals!"

The Fire Source itself suddenly raised its head, its eerie green eyes fixed on the four people, and uttered five words, one by one.

The moment those five words were uttered, the vast Black Stone Plaza fell into a deathly silence.

Even Chen Fan, who was secretly observing from inside the golden bowl, couldn't help but slightly shrink his pupils.

"What do you think this altar is for? Why do you think this forbidden zone exists?" Seeing that he had the four intimidated, the Fire Source True Body pressed his advantage, his voice filled with seductive power. "Beneath this, a true ancient immortal is suppressed! And I, nailed to this altar for three thousand years, suffering the backlash of the formation day and night, have also thus uncovered a trace of the core secret of this sealing formation!"

He struggled to raise his withered fingers and pointed to the ground:

"If you can remove these five 'Suppressing Yuan Nails' for me and help me escape, I can swear an oath to the Heavenly Dao to take you to the deepest part of the immortal's seal! There are ancient immortal pills and immortal cultivation techniques there; any one of them would be enough to allow you to instantly break through to the Void Refinement stage, or even reach the Body Integration or Mahayana stages! What's more, I know the exit from this underground space!"

"An elixir? Exported?"

The armored zombie king's breathing became noticeably heavier, and its crimson eyes were filled with greed.

The Thousand Poison Old Woman and the Mysterious Bone Master exchanged a glance, a hint of hesitation flashing in their eyes. For them, who had been trapped here for thousands of years, the temptation of breaking through and the desire to leave were more deadly than anything else.

Inside the golden bowl.

Because Chen Fan used the water-reflecting mirror to display the outside commotion, even Eunuch Wei, who was squatting by the spirit field, could see it: "This old monster is quite the smooth talker, he's got a whole set of tricks up his sleeve. Even I might have been swayed. Eunuch Chen, do you think these four big oafs will fall for it?"

"Won't."

Chen Fan sat cross-legged on the stone steps, his gaze cold as ice, and gave his answer without hesitation.

"Oh? Why?" Eunuch Wei asked curiously.

"Which of these old monsters who can cultivate to the half-step Void Refinement stage and survive for thousands of years in this man-eating place is not a cunning fox?" Chen Fan's lips curled into a mocking sneer. "The benefits are certainly tempting, but the prerequisite is that you have to be alive to enjoy them."

really.

After a brief silence in the outer square, a crisp sound of folding fans clapping rang out.

"Slap, slap, slap."

The masked scholar waved his folding fan, the bronze mask on his face shifting from a smile to a cry, exuding an extremely twisted and sinister aura.

"Senior, your words have indeed greatly impressed me."

The masked scholar stepped forward, his voice low and chilling, yet as piercing as ancient ice, "It's a pity... you've mistaken us for three-year-old children."

"What do you mean?" The Fire Source's true form's expression darkened.

"The meaning is simple." Master Xuangu coldly picked up the conversation, his murderous aura surging once more. "A vow to the Heavenly Dao? In this isolated forbidden zone, even the Heavenly Dao cannot be sensed. What difference is there between a vow and farting? Once you escape and recover your Void Refinement cultivation, killing the four of us will be as easy as crushing four ants."

"Thousand Poisons Girl, Ironclad Old Ghost, stop listening to this old dog's nonsense!" Master Xuan Gu roared. "Letting him escape is our death! Kill him, extract his soul, and we can search it ourselves to find the immortal's secrets and the exit!"

"That's right! Kill this old dog! Eat his flesh and drink his blood!" The armored corpse king roared, and his corpse aura once again soared into the sky like smoke.

Seeing the renewed killing intent in the eyes of the four, the Fire Source True Body knew that his delaying tactic had completely failed.

A deep sense of helplessness and sorrow flashed in his eyes, which then transformed into hysterical madness.