The Longevity Family: Starting from the Foundation Establishment Ancestor

"They're here!"

Han Mu let out a low shout, his whole body tense, the Bursting Yuan Pill in his palm almost crushed. Yun Li also suddenly stood up, her broken flute held horizontally in front of her, her face solemn as she stared at the increasingly chaotic and violent scene outside the collapsed wall.

The resonance of the spacetime beacon was extremely strong. The bronze fragment vibrated in Han Mu's hand, and the silver halo it emitted almost solidified into a pillar of light, piercing through the dome of the dilapidated palace and pointing straight to a certain location outside the cave wall, deeper inside the body of the Xuan Serpent! This was like a clear signal flare, not only pointing the way to the rapidly approaching unknown entity, but also probably attracting the attention of Hei Tian, ​​Bai Yuan, and the Xuan Serpent who were fighting outside!

Sure enough, the next instant, a piercing shriek, seemingly capable of tearing apart the soul, came from outside, filled with pain and extreme rage! It was the Blackwater Serpent! Its massive body writhed wildly in the external void currents, its enormous tail lashing fiercely at the area near Han Mu and the others' cave space!

boom!!!

The entire Void Realm Cave Heaven was struck as if by a devastating blow, the earth trembled violently! The already dilapidated palaces collapsed in sections, countless jagged cracks appeared in the ground, and subterranean fire mixed with spatial turbulence erupted from the fissures! In the distance, the ashen, deathly aura surged towards the core area like sharks smelling blood! The cave heaven's walls groaned under the strain, more cracks spreading like a spiderweb. Through these cracks, one could clearly see dark green gastric juices, pitch-black spatial rifts, and fleeting glimpses of terrifying, scaly serpentine bodies!

"The cave is about to collapse!" Yun Li exclaimed urgently. The Void Ring in her hand was also shaking violently, and the cracks on its surface were increasing. Clearly, the ring itself, which served as the carrier of the cave, had reached its limit.

"Have you found a way to stabilize or conceal the cave heaven?" Han Mu asked quickly, struggling to steady himself, his gaze fixed on the direction the Dao beacon's resonance was pointing. He could sense that the entity causing the resonance was moving incredibly fast, almost ignoring the raging spatial turbulence and corrosive tissue within the Xuan Serpent's body, approaching in a terrifyingly rapid, straight-line manner! This was something no ordinary Golden Immortal could accomplish; it required at least a Dao Venerable proficient in spatial power, or possession of a special spatial treasure!

"Yes! But it takes time to set up, and it can only be maintained for a very short time, at most thirty breaths!" Yun Li spoke rapidly, the information she gleaned from the jade slip making her expression even more grim. "It's a forbidden technique that forcibly activates the Void Ring's essence, temporarily 'etherealizing' it and merging it into the surrounding spatial turbulence! Once cast, it will be difficult for those below the Dao Venerable level to detect within thirty breaths, but after thirty breaths, the ring's essence will be more severely damaged, and the cave heaven will collapse more rapidly!"

Thirty breaths! Too short! And the cost is enormous. But it's currently the only way to temporarily hide and buy some breathing room.

"Let's gamble!" Han Mu decided immediately. "Make arrangements immediately! I'll stall for time!"

Delay? How can you delay? Yun Li looked at Han Mu, only to see Han Mu's eyes harden. He stopped suppressing the violently trembling spacetime beacon in his hand and instead actively channeled the little immortal power he had left into it!

Om-!

The fragment of the spacetime beacon shone brightly, and the highly directional silver beam suddenly grew several times larger, with the spacetime fluctuations it contained becoming violent and chaotic! Not only that, Han Mu deliberately guided these fluctuations, causing them to spread and impact simultaneously in three directions: the direction of the external Xuan Snake's body, the battle between Black Heaven and White Abyss, and the direction in which the unknown entity was approaching!

He wanted to deliberately intensify the resonance, stirring up the waters completely! Since he couldn't hide it anymore, he would draw everyone's attention, making the Xuan Serpent even more ferocious, the Black Heaven and White Abyss even more confused, and exposing the approaching unknown entity even more thoroughly! Chaos was the only chance for the weak like them!

"Are you crazy!" Yun Li gasped. This was practically dancing on the edge of a cliff—no, it was like having a rave on the edge of a volcano! One wrong move and they would become the first victims of a three-way (or even four-way) attack!

"Quickly!" Han Mu's forehead veins bulged as he fully activated the Dao Beacon, while simultaneously diverting a sliver of his divine sense to monitor the system panel. He still had 502 points of immortal spiritual energy left, and he had to use them wisely.

Yun Li gritted her teeth, refusing to say another word. Her hands moved swiftly, forming hand seals like butterflies flitting among flowers, and a series of profound silver magic seals were cast into the Void Ring in her hand. The ring vibrated even more violently, and specks of silver, mercury-like liquid began to seep from the cracks on its surface—the ring's essence! The flowing liquid outlined a complex and illusory array in the air, slowly enveloping the dilapidated palace area where the two of them were.

Meanwhile, external reactions confirmed Han Mu's "crazy" actions.

The black serpent's hiss grew more painful and furious. It seemed to sense a "little worm" wreaking havoc inside its body, disrupting its already chaotic internal space and injuries caused by the great battle. The massive serpent body writhed even more violently, even temporarily abandoning some of its attacks on Heitian and Baiyuan, instead using its immense demonic power and the power of its internal space to try to suppress and crush the "glowing" foreign object within its body (the cave where Han Mu was located).

This gave Heitian and Baiyuan a chance to catch their breath and observe.

"Hmm? What kind of fluctuation is that?" Black mist churned around Hei Tian, ​​his tone tinged with surprise. He dodged a sweeping attack from the Xuan Snake and turned his gaze to a certain spot in the middle of the Xuan Snake's body. There, a faint but exceptionally pure silver beam of light, filled with chaotic spacetime fluctuations, was faintly visible, standing out against the backdrop of the Xuan Snake's dark green body and the chaotic energy storm.

"Spacetime power? It's very pure, but chaotic. It seems to be a treasure containing the laws of spacetime being passively activated, or... actively issuing a warning?" Bai Yuan's figure moved like lightning, calmly analyzing the situation while slashing open the incoming spatial rifts and gastric juices with his sword. A strange light flashed in his eyes. "Could it be that kid's doing? Does he have something like this?"

"It doesn't seem like it." Hei Tian shook his head. "If that kid had such a treasure, he would have used it long ago. Although this fluctuation is pure, it feels... very ancient, and there's more than one of them, as if they are resonating and attracting each other."

"Resonance?" Bai Yuan frowned, sensing not only the silver light emanating from the Xuan Snake's body, but also a similar, but more subtle, spatial fluctuation rapidly moving in another direction, near the Xuan Snake's head, its target pointing directly at the silver light! "There's a third party? Also within the Xuan Snake? Or is it something inherent to the Xuan Snake itself?"

The two exchanged a glance, both seeing the solemnity and a hint of greed in each other's eyes. A treasure containing the laws of spacetime was extremely attractive even to Dao Venerables like them! Not to mention it might be related to the "core fragment" within the Xuan Serpent's body!

"Take down the Xuan Snake first, and the item won't escape!" Hei Tian said in a deep voice, his attack intensifying threefold, countless black chains coiling towards the Xuan Snake like poisonous dragons. Bai Yuan's sword light also surged, coordinating with the attack.

Inside the belly of the black serpent lies the Void and Darkness Cave Heaven.

"Forbidden spell complete! Invisibility for thirty breaths!" Yun Li's face was deathly pale, and she spat out a small mouthful of blood onto the nearly shattered Void Ring. The silver array enveloping the two of them suddenly brightened, and then, along with the entire ruined palace area, began to blur and become transparent, as if merging into the surrounding turbulent spatial currents. The speed of the cave's collapse seemed to slow down slightly, and the suppressive power of the Xuan Snake and the aftershocks of the great battle outside also seemed to be separated by a layer, becoming blurry and distant.

It works! But only for thirty breaths!

Han Mu immediately stopped activating the spacetime beacon. Its light dimmed, but the resonance didn't completely disappear; it simply became weak and difficult to pinpoint accurately. He quickly put the beacon away and looked at Yun Li: "How do I sense the location of the Xuan Serpent's 'Reverse Scale'?"

"Master's jade slip mentions a method of sensing, but it requires the spatial power of the Void Ring to carefully search within the Xuan Snake's body, which will take time!" Yun Li said urgently, maintaining the formation while closing her eyes to sense, cold sweat dripping from her forehead. Thirty breaths—too short!

Han Mu closed his eyes and carefully tried to sense the outside world through the blurred barrier of the cave. After the cave became blurred, his perception of the outside world became blurry, as if he were looking through a thick layer of frosted glass. He could only vaguely feel the writhing of the Xuan Snake's enormous body, the scouring of violent energy, and... two terrifyingly powerful auras colliding wildly.

About ten breaths later, Han Mu suddenly opened his eyes and looked towards the other side of the cave's barrier! It wasn't the direction of the Xuan Snake's suppressing power, nor the direction of the battle between Black Heaven and White Abyss, but rather the direction that the Dao Beacon had previously pointed to—the deeper part of the Xuan Snake's body!

There, where there was originally chaotic spatial turbulence and dark green gastric juice, a point of silver light appeared! The silver light was initially only the size of a pinhead, but it quickly expanded, as if ignoring the extremely harsh environment inside the Xuan Snake's body, and "crashed" straight toward the illusory cave where they were!

The speed was too fast! It was faster than Han Mu had expected! That was definitely not just an ordinary spatial escape technique!

"It's here!" Han Mu shouted, his muscles tensing, the Exploding Yuan Pill and a small teleportation talisman already prepared in his palm. Yun Li also suddenly opened her eyes, looking at the rapidly enlarging silver light, her eyes filled with vigilance and unease.

The silver light abruptly stopped before the ethereal barrier of the cave, not forcibly forcing its way in, but instead transforming into a stable silver vortex passage, just wide enough for one person to pass through. Beyond the vortex, a relatively stable space filled with soft moonlight could be vaguely seen, a stark contrast to the filth and chaos within the surrounding Xuan Snake's body.

A young Taoist priest, dressed in a moon-white robe, with a handsome face but a deep weariness and a hint of surprise in his brows, stepped out of the silver vortex and appeared at the edge of the soon-to-be-completely ethereal cavern. He held a silver whisk in his hand, the whisk's strands emitting faint, yet more complete and vast, spacetime fluctuations, the same as those in the fragment in Han Mu's hand. His gaze swept across the ethereal cavern interior, past Yun Li, and finally settled on Han Mu, especially lingering for a moment on the spot in Han Mu's arms (where the spacetime beacon was located).

When the young Taoist saw Han Mu's face clearly, his pupils shrank slightly, and his face showed an extremely complex expression: surprise, doubt, wariness, and a trace of... disbelief and realization.

"Is it you?" the young Taoist priest asked, his voice clear but weak and panting, clearly indicating that traversing the body of the black serpent had taken a heavy toll on him.

Han Mu was taken aback when he saw the newcomer. He recognized him! Although they had only met once, long ago, at a secret auction in the lower realm! This person, using the alias "Yu Chenzi," had purchased a broken ancient treasure, seemingly related to space, displaying great wealth and mysterious origins. Han Mu had only noticed the man's extraordinary bearing at the time, never expecting to encounter him again in the Immortal Realm, under such dire circumstances! Moreover, the aura emanating from the whisk in the other's hand… was it another spacetime beacon? Or something more complete?

"Fellow Daoist Yu Chenzi?" Han Mu asked tentatively, his entire body on high alert. Whether this person was friend or foe, and what his purpose was, was completely unknown. Moreover, the fact that the other party was able to open a stable passage to find him in such an environment meant that his strength was absolutely unfathomable, at least at the Dao Venerable level! Although he seemed to be in poor condition, he was definitely not someone that Han Mu and Yun Li could contend with in their current state.

"Yu Chenzi..." Upon hearing this address, the young Daoist's lips seemed to twitch slightly, whether in a bitter smile or something else, it was unclear. He neither confirmed nor denied it, his gaze quickly sweeping over the crumbling cave, over the Void Ring in Yun Li's hand, over Han Mu's wary posture, and finally landing on Han Mu's face, as he spoke rapidly:

"There's no time to explain. You're trapped here too? Relying on this dilapidated cave and the fragment of the Dao Beacon? I have a method that might help us escape, but it requires your cooperation, especially that fragment of the Dao Beacon you have! This place is no place to linger. The Xuan Serpent has been thoroughly enraged, and those two Dao Venerables outside are no pushovers either. I sense they're about to unleash their thunderous power! Come with me to my 'Minor Heavens' for temporary refuge, and we'll devise a plan to escape later!"

As he spoke, the silver vortex passage began to ripple slightly, clearly difficult to maintain. He reached out his hand to Han Mu, his eyes urgent and unwavering.

Go with him? To hell with his "Minor Heavens"? Han Mu's mind raced. This man's timing was too perfect, his purpose unclear. Although they had a past connection (if it could be considered an old acquaintance), in such a dangerous place, trust was the most precious thing. Moreover, the other party's strength far surpassed his own. Once he entered the other party's territory, his life and death would be completely out of his control.

But what if they don't leave? The ethereal cave has less than twenty breaths left before it completely collapses, exposing itself to the Xuan Snake's body and the two Dao Venerables—a certain death awaits them. This person before them, though suspicious, seems to be the only chance of survival that could potentially bring about change.

Yun Li also looked at Han Mu, her eyes filled with questioning and nervousness. She also didn't believe this strange Daoist who had suddenly appeared.

Just as Han Mu hesitated, the entire illusory cave trembled violently once again! This time, the tremor did not come from the rolling of the Xuan Snake or the aftershocks of an external attack, but from the core of the cave—the Void Ring in Yun Li's hand!

Click...click!

A soft cracking sound rang out, yet it sent a chill down Yun Li and Han Mu's spines. The already cracked Void Ring, at Yun Li's fingertip, shattered with an even larger crack, its silver primal power rapidly draining away! The light of the illusory array flickered erratically, the entire illusory state of the cave heaven began to destabilize, and the outside world became clear once more!

"Oh no! The ring is about to give way! The ethereal transformation is about to end prematurely!" Yun Li exclaimed in alarm.

At the same time, a cold yet excited shout came from outside: "Found it! It's there! Bai Yuan, join forces, break through this tortoise shell first!"

The terrifying pressure and chilling killing intent of the Dao Venerable level, as if they were tangible, pierced through the dissipating illusory barrier and locked onto the three people inside the cave!

Ahead lies a wolf (a strange Daoist master), behind lies a tiger (Black Heaven White Abyss + Mysterious Serpent), and home (Cave Heaven) is about to collapse.

Han Mu's gaze swept over the anxious Yun Li, then over the rapidly enlarging terrifying attack light and shadow outside, and finally landed on the face of "Yu Chenzi" in front of him, whose brows were furrowed and whose hand was outstretched in anticipation.

There is no time.

To gamble, or not to gamble?