Nine Desolate Records

main hall.

The bone spikes on the palms of the three dinosaur puppets extended fully, each gleaming with a dark red glow. Venom dripped onto the floor tiles, corroding them and producing wisps of white smoke. They did not attack immediately, but maintained their encirclement, their hollow, distorted faces "watching" Lu Li and his companions, as if awaiting orders, or perhaps enjoying the prey's final struggle.

Zhou Xuan stood at the edge of the rain curtain outside the doorway, his black clothes completely dry, as if an invisible barrier had shielded him from the wind and rain. He leisurely observed Lu Li, his dark eyes devoid of any human emotion, displaying only the pure interest of a researcher observing an experimental sample.

"Let me guess," he tilted his head, his tone light, "you should have the 'tyranny' essence within you, hmm... about forty percent of your humanity remains? Not bad, much more stable than those failed attempts in the sect. Xun Wenruo's skill in 'container balance' is indeed stronger than those old fogies."

Lu Li felt a chill run down his spine. Not only did the other party know him, but they had also estimated the proportion of his humanity so accurately! This was a conclusion that could not be drawn solely from external observation.

"Are you reading my aura?" Lu Li asked in a deep voice, while simultaneously suppressing the violent power within him that was stirring due to the threat. Every agitation of his origin was consuming his already fragile humanity.

"Reading?" Zhou Xuan smiled, revealing a set of white teeth. "No, no, no, it's not reading. It's 'resonance'."

He gently patted the Sword Tomb Token at his waist. The blood-red patterns on the token's surface wriggled as if alive, emitting a soft, grating sound, like insects gnawing at something.

"This token contains a 'fragment of spiritual awareness' that seals the origin of 'fear,' a tiny bit of 'perception' authority stripped from the Dragon-Locking Well. It can sense the activity level of concepts of the same origin, the depth of contamination, and... the fusion ratio between the container and the concept." Zhou Xuan patiently explained, like a teacher instructing a student, "The tyranny and fear within you belong to the nine major concepts, and there is a faint connection between higher-level concepts."

Zhou Xuan's gaze swept over Lu Li's chest, where the three daggers were sealed: "I also got a few interesting little toys. This is truly... a surprising and delightful twist."

"Puppet soldiers..." Lin Qingyuan gritted his teeth, the black lines on his left arm spreading rapidly with anger and fear, already approaching his shoulder. "You're using living people... as weapons to forge them?!"

"Otherwise what?" Zhou Xuan retorted matter-of-factly. "A perfect conceptual container, stable and controllable, powerful, and without the exorbitant price of cultivators. Isn't this the most efficient way to acquire power? It's much better than you cultivators toiling away to hone your bodies and comprehend the Dao, spending decades to reach the Divine Treasure Realm, isn't it?"

He paused, a hint of sarcasm in his voice: "Oh, I forgot. Zhou Duan Yue, the commander of the Heavenly Punishment Team of the Demon-Slaying Guard, isn't he at the peak of the Divine Treasury Realm? Unfortunately, in the face of true 'power,' he's nothing more than an ant casually banished by the Sword Tomb Array."

Lu Li's pupils contracted sharply. The other party also knew Zhou Duanyue's whereabouts!

This Zhou Xuan, or rather the "Turbid Abyss Cult" behind him, has an extremely deep understanding of the movements of various forces in the Nine Provinces and everything related to the prisoners. This is something that a suddenly emerging cult could never achieve.

"What is your relationship with Xun Wenruo?" Lu Li suddenly asked. "Or rather, what is the relationship between Xun Wenruo and your sect leader?"

Zhou Xuan's smile faltered slightly before returning to normal: "A smart question. However... the answer will require you to exchange your freedom. How about it? Come with me, and I guarantee you'll know everything, including the whereabouts of your father, Lu Mingxuan."

Father!

These two words struck Lu Li like a hammer blow. He gasped for breath, almost unable to resist asking more questions.

But the next second, he forcibly suppressed his impulse.

You can't trust them. At least you can't trust them completely. They're attacking him psychologically, using what he cares about most to undermine his will to resist.

"What if I refuse?" Lu Li's voice turned cold. His hand, which had been resting in his robes, now gripped the hilt of the Dragon-Suppressing Dagger. A warm touch, carrying the deep roar of the dragon soul, barely suppressed the restlessness of his violent nature. Humanity percentage: 40%. The intense emotional fluctuations just now had further eroded his prisoner's power.

"Refuse?" Zhou Xuan sighed regretfully. "Then we'll have to enforce it. Although the leader demands that you be brought back as intact as possible, breaking your limbs, gouging out your eyes, and cutting off your tongue—as long as your core and brain remain intact, shouldn't that count as 'intact'?"

The moment he finished speaking, the three dreadnoughts moved.

Without warning, without a roar, three twisted black shadows pounced at a speed defying the laws of physics. Their movements were perfectly synchronized, attacking Lu Li's head, chest, and abdomen respectively, sealing off all escape routes. Bone spikes on their palms tore through the air, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound.

"retreat!"

Lu Li let out a low roar, and instead of taking the hit head-on, he suddenly retreated rapidly, while simultaneously drawing the Dragon-Suppressing Dagger from his robes with his right hand.

"Clang!"

A dark gold dagger was drawn from its sheath, accompanied by a sudden dragon's roar.

It wasn't the previous low, resonant sound, but a true roar filled with rage. The dragon patterns on the dagger seemed to come alive, and a dark golden light rose up like tangible flames, illuminating the dimly lit main hall. A vast, ancient, and domineering aura, carrying the power to suppress everything, suddenly spread out!

The foremost monstrous puppet froze abruptly the moment it came into contact with the golden light. The dark purple core of terror within it trembled violently, and even fine cracks appeared on its surface. The puppet let out a silent roar, and the writhing on its body intensified abruptly, as if something was about to burst forth.

The other two dinosaur puppets were also affected, their speed noticeably slowed down.

"The Great Yu Dagger... the Dragon Suppressor!" A hint of seriousness finally flashed in Zhou Xuan's dark eyes, but it was quickly replaced by an even stronger greed. "As expected, it's in your hands! The sect's deduction was correct! Good, good, good! Having captured you, this dagger is mine too!"

He stopped watching, and with his right hand pointing like a sword, he pointed at Lu Li from a distance.

"Buzz—"

The sword at his waist caused a surge of blood-red light, and a dark red, viscous, blood-like sword aura condensed out of thin air and shot towards Lu Li. Wherever the sword aura passed, the air seemed to be polluted, leaving a long-lasting dark red trail and emitting a nauseating stench of fishy sweetness and decay.

This is not sword intent, but corrupted sword intent. It is a filthy power twisted and formed from the Sword Tomb Token and fragments of the source of fear.

Lu Li's pupils contracted. He dared not take the strange sword energy head-on. He shifted his feet and slid to the side. At the same time, he made a fist with his left hand, and the meager spiritual power in his body surged wildly, outlining the simplest "御" character in front of him.

"puff!"

The dark red sword energy struck the pale gold runes, corroding and penetrating them as easily as a hot knife through butter. The remaining sword energy grazed Lu Li's right shoulder, instantly turning his robes to ashes. A burning pain shot through his shoulder, and a chilling, terrifying aura tried to seep into his body through the wound.

The golden light of the Dragon-Suppressing Dagger automatically protected its master, flashing at the wound and forcing out the aura. But in that brief delay, the three terrifying puppets had already surrounded them again.

"Lu Li! To the left!" Lin Qingyuan's hoarse voice rang out.

Although his left arm was corroded and his eyesight was impaired, his combat instincts remained. In the instant when Lu Li was forced back by the sword energy and his old strength was exhausted and new strength had not yet been generated, he saw a tiny flaw in the attack trajectory of the dinosaur puppet on his left. It was the stagnation of power caused by the fluctuation of the fear core within the dinosaur puppet due to the suppression of the Dragon Suppressing Dagger.

Without any hesitation, Lu Li completely trusted Lin Qingyuan's judgment. He twisted his waist, ignoring the attacks from the right and front, and the Dragon Suppressing Dagger transformed into a dark golden stream of light, piercing straight into the chest of the left-side terror puppet, precisely where the core of fear lay!

"laugh--!"

The dagger pierced the grotesque puppet's twisted chest without any resistance.

There was no blood, only large plumes of dark red, viscous, gelatinous mist gushing forth. The mist contained countless tiny, distorted phantoms resembling human faces, emitting silent, shrill cries.

The dinosaur's movements froze completely. Its pulsating core was pierced by the Dragon-Suppressing Dagger, and the dark red light quickly dimmed and dissipated. Its body began to collapse, slumping down like a skeletal shell with its skeleton removed. The surface pulsation stopped, and its skin cracked inch by inch, revealing an empty black cavity beneath.

One strike, one kill!

But the cost was immediately apparent.

At the instant the Dragon-Suppressing Dagger pierced the core of fear, Lu Li clearly felt a cold, violent, and destructive intent surge along the dagger into his arm and head straight for his consciousness.

It was the highly concentrated aura of fear remaining within the puppet's body, mixed with the pain, despair, and madness it suffered during its death.

"Ugh—!"

Lu Li groaned, his vision instantly overwhelmed by countless shattered illusions: burning villages, distorted faces, the feeling of falling into an abyss, the suffocating sensation of being dragged into darkness by countless cold hands... These fragments of memories that did not belong to him pierced his consciousness like poisonous thorns.

Suddenly, his left eye blazed with golden light, becoming intensely fiery. It was the violent source of his being stimulated by the external "fear," boiling over on its own, wanting to devour and crush these "intruders." Two negative concepts of the same origin but different nature clashed within Lu Li's body, and a tearing pain came from the depths of his soul.

The proportion of human nature fluctuates dramatically: 39%... 38%...

"Lu Li!" Shi Yong roared and charged forward recklessly. The moment he approached the other dinosaur puppet, his muscles bulged, and faint, bronze-colored strange patterns appeared on his skin. He threw a punch at the puppet's head!

"Thump!"

A dull, drum-like thud resounded. The dinosaur's head was thrown back, its neck emitting a teeth-grinding "crack," but it didn't break. On the contrary, Shi Yong's fist felt a sharp, recoil-like pain, as if his finger bones were about to split.

The dinosaur turned its head, its empty "gaze" locking onto Shi Yong. It abandoned its attack on Lu Li and struck Shi Yong's chest with a palm, the bone spikes in its palm gleaming with a deadly eerie light.

Shi Yong had no time to dodge and could only cross his arms to block.

"Pfft!"

The bone spur pierced the muscle of his forearm, instantly injecting dark red venom. Shi Yong felt a numbness throughout his arm, followed by excruciating pain, as if countless ice needles were coursing through his veins. He screamed, staggered backward, and his face turned ashen at a visible speed.

"Shi Yong!" Lin Qingyuan's eyes were bloodshot, but his left arm was immobile and his right eye was blurry, so he couldn't help at all.

At this moment, Lu Li was still battling the illusions in his mind and the violent turmoil within his body. The third terrifying puppet and Zhou Xuan's next attack were about to arrive.

A desperate situation.

At this critical moment—

"Buzz..."

A deep, heavy tremor, as if coming from the depths of the earth, came from the direction of the secret passage.

It's not a sound, it's a kind of "resonance".

The tortoise-suppressing dagger in Lu Li's arms suddenly began to tremble violently and uncontrollably, breaking free from his restraints. With a "clang," it was unsheathed on its own and hovered in mid-air!

The dagger was a dark bronze color, its blade thick and blunt, engraved with patterns of mountains and rivers. At this moment, these patterns emitted a warm yet firm yellow light, the light not dazzling, but carrying a vast and unyielding aura of "unchanging through the ages, suppressing all directions".

The Turtle-Suppressing Dagger flew towards Shi Yong on its own, hovering above his arms pierced by bone spikes.

Yellow light shone down.

The dark red venom that was spreading wildly from Shi Yong's arm wound solidified rapidly, turned black, and then turned to ash as soon as it encountered its nemesis. His bluish-black complexion also began to fade. Even more strangely, the bronze-colored patterns on his skin became clearer under the yellow light, faintly outlining a blurry, towering phantom.

Shi Yong groaned, feeling a heavy, warm, and earth-like power surge into his body from the dagger's light, temporarily suppressing the poison and excruciating pain. He barely managed to stand, staring at the suspended dagger with suspicion and uncertainty.

Zhou Xuan's expression changed for the first time.

"The Turtle-Suppressing Dagger... protects its master on its own? No, not protects its master, it's... 'sensed a shared bloodline'?!" His dark eyes were fixed on the blurry giant phantom on Shi Yong's body, his voice filled with disbelief, "The Kuafu bloodline?! A descendant of the ancient Kuafu clan, long since extinct?! How is this possible! Just how many secrets are still hidden in Yun Potian's secret chamber?!"

His shock lasted only a moment, before turning into an even more intense greed.

"Good, excellent! A stable container, the bloodline of Kuafu, and three Great Yu daggers... This harvest is enough to allow me to advance three ranks in the sect!" Zhou Xuan grinned, raising both hands simultaneously, his five fingers like hooks, reaching out to grab the Sword Tomb Token.

"Sword Spirit! Go all out! I want him alive, but he can be crippled!"

The Sword Tomb Token trembled violently, and a burst of blood-red light shot into the sky, staining half of the main hall a dark crimson. The overlapping roars within the token grew increasingly frenzied:

"Power... dagger... are all mine... offered to the leader... as a reward... freedom..."

A terrifying pressure descended.

It wasn't a suppression of cultivation level, but rather a pollution and erosion at the "conceptual level." The air became viscous, each breath carrying the stench of blood and fear. Light distorted, shadows writhed, as if the entire world was sliding into some indescribable abyss of terror.

Behind Zhou Xuan, a huge, blurry, dark red phantom slowly emerged. The phantom had a humanoid outline, but where its head was was a constantly rotating dark vortex, and deep within the vortex, countless open eyes filled with pain and madness could be vaguely seen.

A fear projection... a clone!

Although it was far weaker than the original body beneath the Dragon Locking Well, its status was still above everyone present!

Lu Li finally broke free from the illusion, his face ashen. He glanced at the floating Turtle-Suppressing Dagger and Shi Yong, who was barely standing, and then at Lin Qingyuan behind him, who was struggling to breathe due to the oppressive fear, with black lines on his left arm spreading to his neck.

There is no way out.

He took a deep breath, gripped the Dragon-Suppressing Dagger tightly in his right hand, and slowly reached his left hand into his robes.

There, too, was a dagger, the Phoenix-Suppressing Dagger, which burned away all filth with the fire of desire.

At the same time, the meager spiritual power of his literary and martial meridians began to operate wildly in a near-self-destructive manner, attempting to activate the most dangerous third force that he had been trying his best to avoid: the secret techniques of the strange meridians, and the violent origin sealed within his body.

Even if humanity falls to the lowest point, even if we sink into depravity.

Also...

"Oh? Finally, it's time to fight to the death?" The dark red phantom behind Zhou Xuan let out a gleeful hiss. "Yes, that's it. Release it, let me see the true form of the 'Tyranny' vessel..."

Just as Lu Li was about to take that irreversible step...

That's enough.

An aged, calm voice, yet containing an indescribable resolve, came from the entrance of the secret passage.

Uncle Chen carried the still unconscious Yun Jin step by step into the main hall.

The old man's face was expressionless, only showing a detached indifference that suggested he had seen through life and death. Between his withered fingers, he held a warm, smooth jade talisman.

The surface of the jade talisman was covered with fine cracks.

"When Lord Yun Potian left this to me, he said," Uncle Chen's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly drowned out all other noise, "'Old Chen, this manor, this secret room, and Jin'er are all in your care from now on. If one day things get so bad that they can't be salvaged, use this. Take the enemy with you, at least give the children a chance to survive.'"

He raised his cloudy eyes, looked at Zhou Xuan, at the terrifying dark red phantom, and at the three terrifying puppets (two remained).

"For thirty years, I've guarded this empty manor, kept the master's secret, and waited for Jin'er to return." The old man's tone was as calm as if he were telling someone else's story. "Today, Jin'er has returned, and the master's will has been carried on. My old life has been worthwhile."

Zhou Xuan's pupils contracted: "Old man, what do you want to do?! Put that thing down!"

He sensed something was wrong. The fluctuations emanating from the jade talisman weren't aggressive, but rather a kind of... "extreme stability and compression," as if a raging ocean had been forcibly compressed into a single drop of water. This stability precisely foreshadowed the terror that would follow.

Uncle Chen ignored him, instead turning to look at Lu Li, grinning and revealing an ugly smile with a missing front tooth:

"Kid, take Jin'er and your two friends and go through the secret passage. At the very back of the secret room, behind the medicine cabinet numbered C, there's a hidden door that leads directly to the abandoned mine in the back of the manor. After you get out, head south and don't look back."

"Uncle Chen!" Lu Li said urgently.

"Go!" the old man roared, his voice filled with unprecedented authority. "Lord Yun Potian is watching! Don't let his sacrifice be in vain! Don't let Jin'er suffer any more! Go—!"

The moment he uttered the last word "go," he crushed the jade talisman.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling light.

Only an absolute, all-consuming darkness spread silently from Chen Bo's center.

Where darkness passed, light, sound, smell, and even... the "concept of space" were erased. The two monstrous puppets, touched by the darkness, vanished without a trace, like pencil marks erased by an eraser.

The dark red phantom behind Zhou Xuan let out a terrified scream, and the blood light surged wildly in an attempt to resist, but when it touched the edge of darkness, it also began to disintegrate and dissipate inch by inch.

"No—! This is... the 'Return to the Void Forbidden Talisman'?! How could Yun Potian possibly have such a thing?! This is overseas..." Zhou Xuan's scream came to an abrupt halt.

His body, the Sword Tomb Token at his waist, everything about him, was swallowed up by the encroaching darkness.

The darkness continued to spread, heading towards Lu Li and his group.

However, the rate of diffusion slowed significantly, and the edge of the darkness began to become unstable, flickering unpredictably. Chen Bo was, after all, just an ordinary person without cultivation; forcibly activating this forbidden talisman, which clearly required specific conditions or a massive amount of spiritual power to fully activate, was already at his limit. He was using his entire life and soul as fuel to ignite this final flame.

"Go—!" came the old man's last hoarse, desperate urging from the darkness.

Lu Li's eyes were bloodshot, and he clenched his teeth so tightly that blood seeped from his gums.

There was no time to hesitate, no time to grieve.

He scooped up the floating turtle-suppressing dagger, rushed to Lin Qingyuan and Shi Yong, grabbed them by the arms, and charged towards the entrance of the secret passage.

"Take Miss Yun with you!" Lin Qingyuan called out weakly.

Lu Li didn't stop, rushing into the secret passage. As he passed the unconscious Yun Jin, he bent down and picked her up with his free right hand. The girl's light body was slightly warm, and the Soul-Stabilizing Needle between her brows still emitted a faint but tenacious clear light in the oppressive darkness.

The four stumbled down the stone steps and rushed into the secret chamber.

Following Uncle Chen's instructions, Lu Li headed straight for the medicine cabinet labeled "C". Pushing open the heavy cabinet, he found a narrow stone door, just wide enough for one person to pass through. The door was unlocked and opened easily, leading to a bottomless, downward-sloping dark passageway filled with the damp smell of earth and minerals.

"Go inside!" Lu Li handed Yun Jin to Shi Yong, who could barely walk. "Brother Lin, follow me!"

He was the last to step into the passageway, and tried to close the stone door behind him, only to find that the door opened from the outside and could not be closed from the inside.

Just then, from the darkness above the main hall came Zhou Xuan's frantic and venomous roar, faint yet clearly penetrating the air:

"Lu Li—! You can't escape! The Turbid Abyss Sect has laid a trap! Though the Nine Provinces are vast, there is nowhere for you to hide! I will find you and drag you and everything you cherish into the abyss—!!!"

The roars were drowned out and swallowed by the even more turbulent darkness.

But that deep-seated malice remained in the air like a brand.

Lu Li took one last look at the secret room, at Yun Potian's animal hide scroll on the stone platform, and at the bookshelves filled with notes that represented thirty years of investigation.

Then, he turned around, leaned against the wall, and walked with difficulty but determination into the depths of the dark passageway.

Behind it, a silent flower of darkness blooms, burning with life.

Ahead lies an unknown, thorny path of escape.

The three daggers in his arms were slightly warm, as if they were resonating or mourning.

The proportion of human nature remains at 37%.

Cold and glaring.