The Longevity Family: Starting from the Foundation Establishment Ancestor

"Give me back my timeline...beacon!!"

The vengeful roar of the withered skeleton exploded in his mind, carrying a chaotic and violent shock to his soul. Han Mu groaned, feeling as if his primordial spirit had been pricked by a needle, causing his already injured soul to tremble. But he was prepared; the laws of time flowed slightly within his sea of ​​consciousness, slowing down and dispersing the "speed" of the shock, preventing it from causing any real damage.

"It really is related to the Spacetime Beacon!" Han Mu's eyes narrowed, and he retreated rapidly, his hand already reaching into his robes. The broken Spacetime Beacon he had obtained from the Netherworld Abyss was now slightly warm, as if it had resonated with the approaching skeleton.

The skeleton's movements appeared stiff, but its speed was extremely fast. The bone claws, wrapped in dark resentment and deathly light, instantly reached Han Mu, their five fingers like hooks, aiming straight for his heart! The pressure was indeed terrifying, far surpassing that of a Golden Immortal. Although it was just a corpse driven by remnant spirit, with only one-tenth of its power remaining, it was still something that Han Mu, who currently only had the combat power of a late-stage True Immortal, could not withstand head-on.

"Time...slows down!"

Silver ripples spread out from Han Mu, enveloping the withered bones. The bones' forward momentum abruptly halted, and although the delay was only brief, the resentful death light on their bone claws noticeably dimmed and became chaotic. It seemed that the laws of time were effective against this aggregate of resentment, but only slightly.

In that brief moment of hesitation, Han Mu had already dodged to the side, and at the same time, he pulled his hand out of his robes, revealing in his palm the bronze fragment that emitted a faint light and was engraved with intricate patterns—the Time-Space Beacon.

"You want this?" Han Mu said in a deep voice, not immediately activating the Dao Beacon, but instead pouring a wisp of immortal power into it. The Dao Beacon's light intensified slightly, emitting clearer spatial and temporal fluctuations.

The ghostly green flames in the skeleton's eye sockets suddenly surged, staring intently at the beacon, emitting an even sharper and more chaotic roar: "My...my! Beacon...my opportunity! Come back!!!" It seemed completely attracted by the beacon, abandoning the woman in green and turning back to Han Mu. The resentment on its bone claws was even stronger, and there were even faint silver spatial rifts wrapped around the tips of its claws, indicating that its power had obviously increased a lot.

"Fellow Daoist Han, be careful! Its obsession runs too deep. Stimulated by the Dao Beacon, its power is increasing!" The woman in green hurriedly warned. She had stabilized her injuries and was holding a broken flute. Waves of sound rippled out, trying to interfere with the withered bones, but the resentful death light seemed to have a strong corrosive effect on the sound waves, so the effect was minimal.

Han Mu didn't reply. He moved quickly, dodging the increasingly swift and ferocious attacks of the skeleton, while carefully observing it. Although the skeleton's aura was close to that of a Dao Venerable, its attack method was singular, seemingly driven entirely by instinct and resentment. Its intelligence was chaotic, and its target was very clear—the spacetime beacon. Its desire for the beacon even surpassed its killing intent towards the "intruder."

"Perhaps we could give it a try..."

Han Mu's mind raced, and he narrowly avoided another tearing blow. The force of the bone claws ripped several holes in his robes. He then forcefully hurled the spacetime beacon in his hand towards the side and rear of the skeleton, near the still-open silver light gate (the entrance to the cave opened by the Void Ring)!

"for you!"

The bronze fragment traced an arc.

Without any hesitation, the skeleton immediately abandoned its pursuit of Han Mu, turned around and pounced on the Dao Beacon. Its bone claws precisely grabbed at the bronze fragment flying in the air, and the ghostly fire in its eyes flickered violently, filled with greed and desire.

"Now!" Han Mu shouted, his hands quickly forming hand seals, his remaining immortal power surging wildly and pouring into the Law of Time.

"Time... Rewind! Target: Three feet ahead of the beacon's flight path!"

This time, he didn't use a large-scale, high-consumption time reversal. Instead, he compressed the scope and time to the extreme, targeting only the spacetime beacon and its extremely small surrounding area, reversing back to the "point" three feet away from the withered bone claw after it was thrown!

hum!

A flash of silver light disappeared just as the beacon was about to fall into the bone claw. The next moment, the beacon vanished into thin air and then abruptly reappeared where it "originally" should have been three feet away! The bone claw, however, grasped at empty air, because the beacon had suddenly "receded"!

The skeleton was clearly taken aback, its flickering will-o'-the-wisp momentarily blank, and its movements faltered. It seemed unable to comprehend why the "thing" it had obtained had suddenly vanished.

"Seal!" Although the woman in green did not understand exactly what Han Mu had done, her combat awareness was excellent. Seizing this fleeting opportunity, she poured all her spiritual power into the broken flute. A solid, tangible azure sound wave halo suddenly spread out. It was not an attack, but rather a azure light shield that temporarily trapped the withered bones within it! Runes flowed on the light shield, emitting a soothing sound that suppressed resentment to a certain extent.

The skeleton, trapped by the cyan light barrier, became even more enraged. Its bone claws frantically tore at the barrier, causing it to shake violently and flicker unpredictably, clearly unable to hold out for long.

In that instant, Han Mu appeared like a ghost below the signpost's "New" location and snatched it back into his hand. His face paled even more; that extremely compressed time reversal had taken a greater toll than he had anticipated, given his current poor condition.

"What... what kind of technique is this?" The woman in green looked at Han Mu with undisguised astonishment in her eyes as she struggled to maintain the light barrier. She had never heard of a supernatural ability that could make objects "reverse."

"A little trick, it won't last long." Han Mu said quickly, his gaze sweeping over the withered bones and the teetering blue light shield, then looking at the spacetime beacon in his hand that was getting hot again, and the Void Ring on the withered bones' fingers that was also faintly glowing, with silver light flowing through its cracks. A bold idea emerged.

"Can the sound waves from your 'Soul-Stabilizing Flute' temporarily disrupt or even suppress its resentful spirit? It won't take long, just a moment!" Han Mu spoke very quickly.

The woman in green gritted her teeth: "I can try, but in my current state, even if I go all out, I can only affect it for half a breath at most, and I'll be temporarily exhausted!"

"Half a breath is enough!" A fierce glint flashed in Han Mu's eyes. "On my signal, suppress it with all your might!"

At this moment, the skeleton finally tore through the cyan light shield and charged again with overwhelming resentment. This time, it seemed to have learned its lesson or was completely enraged. The resentment, death light, and spatial rifts wrapped around its bone claws were even denser and more terrifying, and its power was several times stronger than before. It seemed to have a tendency to break through the limitations of the skeleton itself and touch the threshold of a true Dao Venerable!

"Now!" Instead of retreating, Han Mu charged towards the withered bones, raising the Spacetime Beacon high and injecting a wisp of immortal power into it once more! The beacon shone brightly, and spacetime fluctuated violently.

The skeleton was indeed drawn to the signpost again, its movements instinctively slowing down as all its attention was focused on it.

"Suppress the Soul!" Without hesitation, the woman in green spat out a mouthful of blood essence onto the broken flute. The flute shone with a bright green light, and a beam of green light, condensed to the extreme and almost transformed into a tangible sonic blade, accompanied by a piercing shriek that went straight to the soul, crashed into the ghost fire of the withered bone skull!

"Awooo—!"

The skeleton let out a piercing scream, the eerie green flames in its eye sockets flickering violently, its entire frame trembling, its movements completely frozen. The woman in green, on the other hand, was deathly pale, staggering backward, almost unable to stand, clearly having exhausted herself in this attack.

"Go!" This was the moment Han Mu had been waiting for! He did not attack the skeleton, but instead used all his strength to throw the brightly shining Spacetime Beacon in his hand at the equally silver-glowing Void Ring on the skeleton's finger!

The fragment of the beacon collided violently with the Void Ring!

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a crisp "crack" like glass shattering. Immediately afterward, a dazzling silver light erupted from the point of impact, instantly engulfing the withered bones, the beacon, and the ring! Within that light, fragments of the laws of time and space surged, collided, annihilated, and were reborn in a frenzy!

Han Mu had already retreated the moment he threw the beacon, simultaneously covering himself with the last bit of temporal power and accelerating his backward flight. He was betting that the spacetime beacon and the Void Ring, both items containing powerful spatial forces and seemingly connected in some way (the skeleton's obsession with the beacon), would create uncontrollable spacetime disturbances upon violent collision and the activation of the beacon's power! This disturbance would be most damaging to the skeleton, a "thing" that acts based on lingering resentment and weak instincts!

"Aaaaah—! No! My beacon! My… path…" The skeleton's screams twisted and distorted in the silver light before finally coming to an abrupt end.

The silver light lasted for several breaths before gradually dissipating.

Han Mu and the woman in green stared intently at it.

The skeleton still stood in the same spot, but the eerie green flames in its eye sockets had been completely extinguished. The skeleton itself seemed to have endured the erosion of countless years, becoming even more gray and cracked, as if it would turn to ashes at the slightest touch. Its outstretched bone claws remained in a grasping posture, but there was nothing in front of the fingertips.

The "Void Ring" lay quietly at the feet of the skeleton, its surface cracking more noticeably and its silver light dimmed. The Spacetime Beacon, on the other hand, lay not far from the ring, its light also dimming, reverting to its unremarkable bronze fragment appearance, except that its surface seemed to have a finer crack, different from the one before.

The skeletons lay still and silent. The chilling resentment and oppressive aura emanating from them had vanished without a trace. Only lingering, chaotic fluctuations in spacetime remained, slowly dissipating in the air.

Succeeded?

Han Mu didn't immediately step forward. Instead, he cautiously observed for a moment, confirming that the skeleton was no longer moving. He then quickly scanned his own status using the system panel, confirming that there were no new anomalies, before finally letting out a slight sigh of relief. He looked at the woman in green, who was also looking over. Both of them had a hint of relief and lingering fear in their eyes.

"What...what was that just now?" the woman in blue asked breathlessly, her gaze complex as she looked at the road sign and the ring on the ground.

"Just a clash of spacetime forces." Han Mu didn't explain further, stepping forward and carefully picking up the spacetime beacon. The beacon felt slightly cool to the touch, and the newly appeared crack was very subtle, but Han Mu could sense that some kind of balance had been broken inside. The spacetime forces it contained seemed to be more active, but also more unstable. He put the beacon away.

Then he looked at the "Void Ring." This time, he didn't touch it rashly, but looked at the woman in green: "This ring..."

The woman in green silently approached, her sorrow deepening as she gazed at the skeleton. She bowed respectfully to the bones before bending down and carefully picking up the ring. The ring was icy cold to the touch, its cracks shocking to behold.

"Master..." she whispered, trying to probe the ring with her divine sense. This time, no cold, resentful energy rushed out, but it was still very difficult for her to enter. The inner world of the ring seemed to be severely damaged, and the space was extremely unstable.

A moment later, she withdrew her divine sense, her face even paler, filled with shock and a hint of bewilderment. "The inner sanctum of the ring… most of it has collapsed, corroded by a terrifying, deathly aura. But I found a relatively intact side hall, containing some jade slips left by my master, and… a fragment of a map, seemingly marking a certain place, with words beside it… 'Ruins of the Time-Space Palace'?"

The Time-Space Palace? Han Mu's heart stirred, connecting it to the Time-Space Beacon. It seemed that this skeleton, who was the woman's master in life, was indeed related to the Time-Space Palace, and might even have perished here because of the Time-Space Beacon.

"Furthermore," the woman in green paused, looking at Han Mu with a complex expression, "in a jade slip, my master mentioned that he came here to track down an injured 'Black Water Serpent.' This serpent was suspected of having devoured a 'core fragment' of the 'Time-Space Palace.' He wanted to seize that fragment to forge a supreme treasure to fight against the 'great enemy.' But in the end… he failed, swallowed by the serpent. He only managed to survive for a while thanks to the Void Ring, but ultimately he was consumed by death energy and resentment…"

Core Fragment? Han Mu immediately thought of his own fragment of the spacetime beacon. Could that beacon beacon be part of the so-called "core fragment"? Is that why the resentment of the withered bones is so fixated on it?

"Furthermore," the woman in green hesitated for a moment before continuing, "the information left by my master was fragmented, but it mentioned that before he was devoured by the Xuan Snake, he seemed to sense another powerful spatial fluctuation near the Xuan Snake's lair, possibly... the activation of another 'Dao Beacon,' but the location was very vague. Also, he vaguely mentioned that besides him, there seemed to be others also investigating the whereabouts of the Time-Space Palace and the core fragments, one of whom was surnamed Han..."

Surname Han? Han Mu raised an eyebrow. Is it Han Li? Or just a coincidence? However, the traces of another beacon being activated? That's an important clue.

Just then, the entire mezzanine space trembled violently once more, more violently than ever before! Tiny cracks even appeared in the fleshy dome above, and a dark green, highly corrosive liquid was seeping down! Outside, the Black Water Serpent roared in pain and rage, as if it had suffered a severe blow, and it was writhing wildly!

"Not good! The spacetime disruption caused by the collision between the spacetime beacon and the Void Ring may have affected or even damaged the Xuan Snake's internal organs! It has gone berserk!" The woman in green's expression changed.

Han Mu also sensed it; the "ground" beneath his feet was violently undulating, and the surrounding fleshy walls were writhing and squeezing wildly. The interlayered space they had used as a refuge was rapidly collapsing! Worse still, through the faint fluctuations emanating from the fleshy walls, he sensed that it wasn't just the Xuan Snake that was going berserk outside, but also two familiar and terrifyingly powerful auras that were rapidly approaching!

It's those two Dao Venerables, Hei Tian and Bai Yuan! They've caught up with us! And it seems they've engaged the berserk Xuan Snake?

"Let's go! Inside the Ring Cave!" Han Mu made a decisive move, pointing to the Void Ring in the blue-clad woman's hand. Outside were the enraged Xuan Snake and two Dao Venerables; staying meant certain death. Although the Ring Cave was damaged and unstable, it was at least a temporary refuge.

The woman in green knew the situation was critical, so she immediately activated the Void Ring with all her might. The silver light on the ring shone again, and the small silver light gate reappeared, but it was more unstable than before, and the light flickered.

The two dared not delay and rushed toward the light gate one after the other.

Just as Han Mu was about to step into the portal, he inexplicably glanced back at the skeleton about to turn to ashes. At the skull's location, before the last glimmer of light completely dissipated, a blurry, incomplete image seemed to coalesce and vanish in an instant. Han Mu's pupils constricted sharply. He vaguely saw that the image seemed to contain… an incomparably majestic, shattered bronze palace. Deep within the palace, there appeared to be… the outline of a coffin? Around the coffin, countless scenes of stars rising and falling were depicted, and above the coffin, hovered a bronze fragment remarkably similar to, but far more complete than, the one in his hand…

That's... the Time-Space Palace? And that coffin...

Before he could take a closer look, the image vanished completely, and the withered bones turned to ashes with a whoosh.

"Hurry!" the woman in green urged from inside the portal.

Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, Han Mu stepped into the silver light gate.

The portal flickered a few times after they entered, then abruptly closed. The ring's silver light receded, and it fell to the ground. Almost simultaneously, the mezzanine space they were in was completely submerged and torn apart by dark green gastric juices and violent spatial turbulence.

Meanwhile, outside, the massive body of the Blackwater Serpent writhed wildly at the edge of the Shattered Void Stream, stirring up the black water and spatial rifts, fiercely clashing with two figures, one black and one white, each with overwhelming auras. The roars and the deafening roars of colliding laws shook the heavens and the earth...