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

You must know that Master was able to reseal it back then thanks to array techniques, that supreme treasure, and a bit of luck. Now Master is far away on Tiannan Star, his fate unknown, and his return date uncertain.

In this sealed land, who can withstand this demonic calamity?

"Strengthen surveillance. If there is any unusual activity, immediately report it to the capital via a communication talisman." Emperor Jianwen only gave this order in a deep voice before turning into golden light and leaving.

Qingyizi watched the Jianwen Emperor's departing light, opened his mouth, and finally let out a long sigh. He hunched over and walked back to the desolate and dilapidated main hall.

On the way back, Emperor Jianwen fled slowly, his heart heavy.

Looking down at the mountains and rivers below, one can see that the Great Abyss covers a vast territory, with cities and villages scattered like stars in the sky. The people live in peace, and cultivators follow their own paths, presenting the scene of a newly emerging cultivation kingdom.

This situation was achieved through the secret planning and single-handed efforts of his master, who had been the emperor of the Xiao family for five generations.

However, this seemingly solid foundation was built on a volcano that was about to erupt.

The patriarch of the Soul Refining Sect is like magma, capable of burning everything.

"Master, when will you finally return..." Emperor Jianwen gazed at the hazy sky, the boundary of the sealed land, the direction Chen Fan had departed from years ago...

……

The eighth year.

Chen Fan has been in this wasteland for eight years.

The relentless killing day and night turned him into a numb, mechanical machine as he swung his sword.

In the endless slaughter, he gained a deeper understanding of the essence of killing, and even condensed killing runes!

At the foot of a mountain of bones, Chen Fan held eleven fingers, pointing diagonally at the ground.

It was faintly visible that the blood groove on the blade had been filled with dried dark red blood.

His breathing was steady and slow, with very little rise and fall of his chest.

The green robe he was wearing had long since been torn to shreds, which he casually tore off and put on a gray outfit that he took out from his storage bag.

But after only three months, the new clothes were soaked in layers of blood and dirt, becoming as hard as armor.

Not far from Chen Fan, another army of undead, numbering over 100,000, appeared.

Unlike the scattered soldiers encountered in previous years, this undead army retained the remnants of their former battle formations and even deployed a rudimentary attack formation.

Shield bearers in the front, spearmen in the rear, and light cavalry flanking them. In the outside world, such an army would be enough to terrify any mortal kingdom.

However, here, they are merely targets for Chen Fan to practice his swordsmanship.

Chen Fan made a move.

Without any buildup or warning, his figure vanished from his spot and appeared in the very center of the undead army formation in the next instant.

Eleven drew a gray-white arc in the air, and the sword light enhanced by the three gates of intent shattered all the undead within a hundred feet.

Before the mist formed from the remains could recombine, Chen Fan made a hand seal with his left hand, and the blood cocoon-like killing aura around him suddenly spread out, like an invisible maw that devoured all the mist.

To stop killing with killing.

This is Chen Fan's first true understanding of the essence of killing in his eighth year.

While ordinary undead will also dissipate after being killed by the three realms of intent, it is only because the foundation of their existence has been severed by the power of cause and effect, and they are passively annihilated.

When the intent of killing is attached to a sword, the slain spirits do not merely perish.

The last trace of killing intent within them would also be extracted, devoured and assimilated by Chen Fan's killing aura, becoming nourishment for his own killing intent.

This kind of devouring is the biggest difference between the Killing Intent and the other three Intents.

The concept of cause and effect emphasizes understanding the laws of nature; the concept of life and death emphasizes controlling the cycle of reincarnation; and the art of fixed characters emphasizes order and stillness.

These three realms of understanding all pertain to the Dao. They allow Chen Fan to comprehend the rules governing the operation of heaven and earth, but they do not alter his own essence.

However, the intent behind killing is different.

The intent to kill is a double-edged sword.

As it slashed at the enemy, it also slashed at the swordsman himself. Each time it devoured the killing intent within the undead, Chen Fan could feel a cold, violent killing intent surging into his mind, almost overwhelming his reason.

That murderous intent didn't belong to him, yet it tried to become a part of him.

Chen Fan didn't like this feeling.

Throughout his cultivation, he has always acted with reason and caution. Even when facing a Void Refinement Realm expert like the Fire Source True Body, he has never let his emotions cloud his judgment.

Every choice he made, every strike of his sword, was the optimal solution made after calm calculation.

But now, the intent to kill is eroding his composure.

However, Chen Fan also knew that this was neither a demon nor a curse.

This is the essence of the killing intent.

Go kill them.

Go and keep killing.

Go and turn all living things in front of you into dead things.

With his thoughts churning, Chen Fan, after fighting for countless hours, suddenly stopped and sat down cross-legged.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, eight killing runes were slowly rotating.

Each of the eight runes emitted a faint, blood-red light, and they seemed to resonate with each other.

Chen Fan could sense that above these eight runes, a core rune was taking shape.

It was an extremely thin line of blood that ran from top to bottom through the entire sea of ​​consciousness, connecting the eight runes together.

Although the bloodline is still very unstable, appearing and disappearing intermittently, its direction is already clear.

This means that Chen Fan is about to touch the threshold of the killing intent realm.

But the closer they got, the stronger that feeling of unease became.

Chen Fan sat there for a long time.

For the first time, he began to seriously consider a problem.

After comprehending the essence of killing, is he still himself?

Is he still the same Chen Fan who embarked on the path of the Cultivation Alliance to save Tian Xiangzi?

Is he still that old eunuch who has endured decades of hardship in the Zhao Kingdom's palace?

Chen Fan couldn't help but recall what Luo Sha had said.

"The true way of killing needs no reason."

It's not about achieving a specific goal or purpose; it's simply about killing itself.

Just as water flows downhill, fire leaps uphill, and wind blows between heaven and earth, the way of killing is to kill continuously, relentlessly, until all that can be killed is wiped out.

But Chen Fan is not that kind of person.

He always had a reason for killing.

To protect myself, to protect the people I care about, to fulfill my promise, and to survive.

Every killing he committed had a clear purpose; he never indiscriminately killed innocent people, nor did he kill for pleasure.

This restraint, this rationality, is the biggest difference between him and those insane demonic cultivators.

This made Chen Fan feel a deep sense of vigilance.

He doesn't mind becoming cold-blooded in battle, and he doesn't mind going on a killing spree to survive.

But he didn't want to become the second Scattered Demon Master, nor did he want to become one of those madmen who went insane and became demons in this underground ruin, living by preying on others.

However, this contradiction itself is quite interesting.

Chen Fan was wary of the side effects of the killing intent, yet he still needed to immerse himself in killing to comprehend its essence.

He disliked the feeling of being overwhelmed by killing, yet he had to repeatedly and deliberately experience that feeling.

It's like someone who hates drinking but forces themselves to drink every day, just to taste the true flavor of the wine.