The Longevity Family: Starting from the Foundation Establishment Ancestor

The six-man patrol marched in a loose formation along a fixed route. The two True Immortal Peak cultivators at the head of the group chatted casually, completely unaware of the hunters lurking in the shadows.

"Now!" Han Mu transmitted his voice, his figure flashing out from behind the ruins of the base like a ghost, leaving only afterimages. He pointed his fingers like swords, and two extremely refined gray-white sword lights shot out instantly, accurately piercing the back of the heads of the two peak True Immortals. The two men stiffened, their eyes quickly dimmed, and they silently collapsed.

At the same time, Zhou Meng moved. He charged out like a raging bear, unleashing both fists with the heavy power amplified by the "Time Guardian Mark," slamming them into the chests of two late-stage True Immortal guards. A cracking sound rang out as the two men coughed up blood and flew backward, crashing into a third guard, the three of them tumbling into a heap. Zhou Meng followed up closely, delivering two more kicks to finish him off.

Just as the last guard, a late-stage True Immortal, was about to cry out in alarm, Han Mu appeared in front of him as if by teleportation, placing a palm on his crown. The power of time decay invaded, and the man instantly turned into a skeleton.

The entire process took no more than three breaths; all six patrol members were wiped out, without even having time to issue a single effective alarm.

"Quick, change your clothes and clean up the traces," Han Mu shouted, quickly stripping off the gray robes and token of a True Immortal at the peak. Zhou Meng did the same. The two dragged the corpse deep into the ruins of the base. Han Mu flicked out a few sparks, and the corpse quickly turned to ashes, completely covered by the chaotic spatial fluctuations.

Changing into gray clothes, putting on masks to conceal their aura, and suppressing their own fluctuations, Han Mu and Zhou Meng exchanged a glance and blended into the patrol route, heading deeper into the prison array.

Along the way, they encountered several patrols of guards. Han Mu and Zhou Meng kept their heads down, mimicking the other patrols, and silently proceeded, occasionally responding with simple hand gestures they had learned from the prisoners' memories. They passed through several checkpoints without incident.

Finally, they approached the coordinates given by Yun Ya Zi—the 74,521st cage. It was a crystalline cage located at the edge of the array, its light dimmer than the other cages. Inside, a blurry figure was curled up, its breath as faint as a candle flickering in the wind.

Han Mu signaled Zhou Meng to be on guard around, while he cautiously approached the cage. The fragment of the "Coffin of Origin" in his arms and Zhou Meng's "Time Guardian Mark" both sensed a faint but shared aura emanating from inside the cage.

"It's here..." Han Mu gathered a wisp of "Source Coffin Mark" power at his fingertips and gently touched the surface of the cage. The cage trembled slightly but did not trigger the alarm. Following the method transmitted by Yun Ya Zi's divine sense, he injected a specific "Time Guardian" Daoist charm into an extremely hidden rune node at the bottom of the cage.

*Snap.* With a barely audible sound, a small crack, about the size of a fingernail, popped open at the bottom of the cage, and a dusty, seemingly fragile jade pendant fragment fell out. Han Mu caught it; the jade pendant was warm to the touch, engraved with four ancient characters: "Time Guardian · Cloud Cliff," radiating the pure aura of the "Time Guardian" lineage, faintly resonating with the mark between Zhou Meng's brows.

It's true! Yun Ya Zi's identity has been confirmed! The tokens match!

Han Mu put away the jade pendant, nodded slightly to the blurry figure inside the cage, and sent a divine thought: "Senior, please rest. We will first destroy the node and create chaos, and then try to save you." The figure inside the cage seemed to move very slightly.

Without further delay, Han Mu and Zhou Meng immediately followed the coordinates and stealthily made their way towards the "backup energy node." The node was located below the outer perimeter of the cage array, in a hidden space concealed by numerous energy pipes and discarded debris.

The two slipped past several patrol teams and quietly infiltrated. The node was located in a small, circular metal chamber. At its center floated a slowly rotating, complex energy core composed of dark gold runes, constantly emitting streams of gray energy that connected to the cage array above and the surrounding monitoring array. The chamber was empty, save for a low hum.

"This is it! Zhou Meng, guard the entrance, warn us immediately if anyone approaches!" Han Mu quickly gave the order, and at the same time walked to the energy core, took a deep breath, and reviewed the "Time Reversal" hand seal taught by Yun Ya Zi in his mind.

He raised his hands, his fingertips glowing with a grayish-white light, and began to outline complex and profound runes in the air in a specific order and trajectory, while slowly injecting the power of the "Source Coffin Mark" and his own understanding of the laws of time.

As the hand seals were cast, the rotation speed of the dark golden energy core began to become unstable, and the light of the runes flowing on its surface began to flicker and become chaotic. In the cage array above, the light of some cages also flickered erratically, the rate at which they extracted life energy slowed significantly, and even paused briefly. Some of the imprisoned creatures seemed to sense the anomaly, emitting faint ripples.

"It's done! The seal is effective!" Han Mu was overjoyed and his hands moved even faster. He wanted to completely close this node within thirty breaths, creating the biggest chaotic "blind spot".

Twenty breaths... twenty-five breaths... the light of the energy core had dimmed considerably, its rotation had almost stopped, and the energy flow connecting it to the top had become intermittent. Large areas of the prison area began to lose power, and the light of the monitoring array also began to go out in large swaths.

However, at the twenty-eighth breath, a sudden change occurred!

Waaah—!

A sharp, piercing alarm suddenly blared simultaneously in multiple areas surrounding the "Abyss of Silence"! It wasn't triggered by Han Mu destroying a node, but rather from a more central area! Immediately afterward, a violent, furious, and terrifying will, seemingly capable of tearing apart the starry sky, swept out like a storm from the deepest part of the "Abyss of Silence," instantly engulfing the entire area!

It is the will of the "Time Lord"! It seems that some more serious change has occurred at the core of the "Abyss of Silence," alarming him ahead of time!

"Damn it! We've been discovered! Speed ​​up!" Han Mu's expression changed. Ignoring the energy consumption, he completed the last two hand seals in one go and slammed them hard onto the almost stagnant energy core!

Boom! The energy core exploded completely, turning into countless points of light! More than a third of the cage array above instantly lost its light, and the extraction completely stopped! The large area of ​​monitoring arrays connected to it also failed at the same time! A huge, undefended "blind spot" formed on the outer perimeter of the "Abyss of Silence"!

"Let's go! Let's rescue Senior Yun Ya Zi!" Han Mu shouted to Zhou Meng, and the two turned to rush out of the cabin.

However, at the cabin door, three figures had silently appeared. The one in the middle wore a dark gold robe, his face was cold and stern, his eyes were like ice, and he exuded a terrifying, suffocating pressure—a peak Golden Immortal! The two behind him were also late-stage Golden Immortals, their auras sharp and fierce.

"Tsk, still a bit slow. It seems the Lord's will was disturbed by the changes in the core experimental field, allowing these two little rats to get away with it and cause such a commotion." The Golden Immortal peak cultivator spoke coldly, his gaze sweeping over Han Mu and Zhou Meng as if they were dead. "Team 3 of the 'Heaven' class, Heavenly Fiend. I'll give you three breaths to commit suicide, leaving your corpses intact."

"I'll give you a full-face splatter first, Fatty!" Zhou Meng roared, about to charge forward.

"Step back!" Han Mu grabbed Zhou Meng, his eyes extremely serious. Facing a peak Golden Immortal and two late-stage Golden Immortals from the "Heaven" team, deep within the enemy's lair, they, who had just exhausted themselves, had almost no chance of winning.

He quickly summoned the system panel, preparing to unleash his trump card. Meanwhile, the fragment of the "Coffin of Origin" in his arms resonated with an unprecedented intensity and... a yearning for the will of the "Time Lord" emanating from the core of the abyss.