Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

A strong wind cuts through the air.

Bones shattered and fell.

Chen Xuan tightened his arms, protecting Su Chang'an tightly against his chest.

He used his back to withstand the surrounding spatial turbulence.

In the darkness, the Nine Nether Hound roared in fury.

It tumbled in mid-air, its eighteen blood-red eyes fixed on the two of them.

The body fell, creating a sonic boom.

Nine heads opened, spewing forth black flames. A web of fire intertwined, sealing off any life below.

Chen Xuan clenched his left hand, his protective aura enveloping the two of them. He gripped the heavy sword in his right hand, channeling his killing intent into the blade.

"break!"

A sword thrust out, striking the intersection of the fire net.

A sword aura swept across, tearing open a crack. The two passed through the sea of ​​fire and continued their descent.

The Nine Nether Hound swung its right claw, striking directly at Chen Xuantian's skull.

Chen Xuan flipped his wrist, and the heavy sword slashed diagonally upwards.

clang!

Blade and claw clashed, sparks illuminating the darkness. A shockwave rose into the air, shattering the surrounding bones.

The reaction force slammed into his internal organs along the sword hilt, causing blood to gush from Chen Xuan's throat, which he then swallowed back down.

The Nine Nether Hound roared in pain, its other heads spewing venom and white vapor.

Wherever the venom passes, bones melt. Wherever the cold air reaches, space freezes.

Chen Xuan twisted in mid-air to avoid the venom, and swung his heavy sword to shatter the frost.

The two humans and one beast fought each other as they fell.

With each impact, Chen Xuan's hand would split open. Blood slid down the sword and dripped into the darkness.

Su Chang'an pressed her face against Chen Xuan's chest, listening to his heartbeat. She mobilized the primal power within her body and channeled it into Chen Xuan's meridians.

A red light flowed, protecting his heart and repairing his torn muscles.

call!

The Nine Nether Hound's massive tail lashed out at his waist. With nowhere to gain leverage in mid-air, Chen Xuan held his heavy sword upright in front of him to block the attack.

boom!

A muffled thud rang out. Chen Xuan, sword and all, was smashed and plummeted downwards.

Half an incense stick's time has passed.

A red light shone down below; it was an ancient array pattern.

"Hold on tight!"

Chen Xuan twisted his waist in the air and placed his feet on the black stone ground.

Boom!

A tremendous force erupted, sending up dust and smoke. Chen Xuan slammed one knee into the ground, using his back to absorb the recoil and protect Su Chang'an in his arms.

boom! boom! boom!

The Nine Nether Beast crashed dozens of steps away, crushing large pieces of the white bone statue. Chen Mu, Chen Fan, and the others also fell one after another, coughing up blood from the impact.

The goddess of the Wang family crashed into the edge of the array. All the protective magic treasures on her body shattered, and most of her guards were killed in the fall.

The Nine Nether Hound swayed its body and got up again. Its eighteen blood-red eyes stared at Chen Xuan.

The group took in their surroundings.

This is a circular plaza, flanked by bone totems. The patterns on the ground are glaring, the engravings filled with flesh and blood.

Directly ahead is a passageway, the only way out.

The Nine Nether Beast, drooling, approached step by step.

The goddess of the Wang family got up from the ground. She was clutching Chen Tianyou's severed arm in her hand.

She stared at Chen Xuan and said, "Chen Xuan, you are indeed a capable fighter. But in Zhongzhou, collateral branches are nothing more than dogs treading the path for the direct descendants. Now, take your men and clear the way ahead; that's your only value."

The few remaining Wang family guards drew their swords and approached Chen Mu and his group.

Su Chang'an dusted off her skirt and spoke up: "All your scouts are dead. You're not even as good as a dog now. Coming here to act crazy?"

The goddess of the Wang family twisted her face: "Don't be so arrogant, you vixen. Once I obtain the opportunity from the main tomb, I'll skin your fox cubs alive first."

At this moment, the Nine Nether Hound smashed through the rocks and pounced again.

Being attacked from both sides, it's a dead end.

The goddess of the Wang family raised a talisman and threatened, "What do you think I did by severing my arm? Chen Tianyou's imperial blood mark is on it. This passage is riddled with killing formations. Without the array diagram in my hand to guide you, you would all die inside."

Chen Xuan slightly raised his eyelids and with a backhand slash, he knocked back half a step of the Nine Nether Hound's front claws as it pounced forward.

He spread out his left hand.

A jade ring stained with blood lay in his palm. This was the spoils he had taken when he severed Chen Tianyou's arm.

Chen Xuan's voice turned cold: "You mean this?"

The goddess of the Wang family looked down and saw that the fingers on her severed arm were bare. Her face turned pale.

Chen Xuan infused the killing intent into the jade ring.

hum!

A pattern of array formations was projected into the air.

The inscription above describes how the direct descendants of the Chen and Wang families planned to use the lives of their collateral relatives to fill the killing array surrounding the Emperor's palace.

Chen Xuan shoved the array diagram at the face of the Wang family goddess and said, "Using your own people's lives to fill the array, this is your Central Continent's trick. Unfortunately, your Central Continent's rules have come to an end today."

He brandished his broken sword, his gaze sweeping across the entire area: "In this underground realm, I, Chen Xuan, am the rule!"

The goddess of the Wang family crushed the life-saving talisman, erected a light shield, and roared at her subordinates: "Force them to clear the way. If they don't leave, kill them all now."

Chen Xuan ignored him and stared at the passage ahead.

Combining the array diagram in the jade ring with the killing intent within his body, he saw through the logic of this great array. The intersection of the array patterns was a dead end, but at the edge of that dead end lay a path to survival.

Live to death.

Chen Xuan put away the jade ring and grabbed Su Chang'an's wrist. He turned to Chen Mu: "Carry Chen Fan on your back and follow in my footsteps. One wrong step and not even ashes will remain."

After saying that, Chen Xuan stepped into the passage.

The Wang family guards brandished their knives, forcing Chen Mu and the others to follow. The Wang family goddess hid at the very back.

The air pressure inside the passage is extremely low.

Chen Xuan took three steps to the left and half a step back to the right.

laugh!

A black thorn shot out from beside his feet and pierced the dome.

At the rear of the group, a Wang family guard forcefully shoved a member of the collateral branch who was walking slowly. The member slipped and veered off the safe path.

Chen Xuan stopped in his tracks.

Swish!

Without turning around, he unleashed a sword aura that slashed along the ground.

"what!"

The guard screamed in agony. His right hand, which was gripping the knife, was severed at the wrist, and blood gushed out.

Chen Xuan turned his head and stared at the Wang family members behind him: "If you touch them again, your entire family will die first."

The air was deathly still; the Wang family members stood frozen in place, not daring to utter a sound.

Chen Xuan snorted coldly and continued forward. But in the blind spot, he secretly fired several sword energies into the ground, severing the array nodes of the safe route behind him.

Just as the two elite members of the Wang family at the end of the procession were about to catch up, something unexpected happened.

The array patterns beneath their feet lit up.

The ground exploded. Dozens of bone spikes pierced through from all directions.

The protective magic weapon couldn't even last a moment.

puff!puff!puff!

The two were pierced and pinned in mid-air.

Fresh blood flowed down the bone spikes into the array's core, causing the array's brightness to surge.

The goddess of the Wang family retreated, activating the light shield around her.

Just then, the Nine Nether Hound crashed into the passage.

Sparks flew as its scales scraped against the stone wall. It bit down on the still convulsing Wang family guard, its fangs snapping as it chewed him to pieces, bones and all, spraying blood all over the stone wall.

Eighteen eyes were fixed on Chen Xuan and Su Chang'an at the front.

The goddess of the Wang family collapsed and shouted, "Quickly, step on the mechanism! Clear a path for me!"

Chen Mu, who was walking ahead, ignored him.

Chen Xuan stopped in his tracks.

He turned around and drew his sword.

Instead of striking the goddess of the royal family with his heavy sword, he smashed it against the stone pillars on both sides of the passage.

Boom!

The stone pillars collapsed. The ancient killing formation was fully ignited.

The entire passageway's floor, walls, and dome erupted with sword nets.

In a flash, Chen Xuan grabbed Chen Mu by the collar and dragged everyone into a recess in the stone wall. This was the blind spot he had identified as the core of the formation, the only chance of survival within the great formation.

Sword energy raged in the outer passage.

The sword energy has no blind spots; it severs anything that comes into contact with living things.

"He has never done any good deeds in his life, only loved killing and arson." Chen Xuan looked at the tragic scene outside.

Limbs and severed arms flew about, and the sounds of shattering magical artifacts were mixed with wails. One of the elite members of the Wang family turned to flee, but after taking two steps, he was pierced through by more than a dozen sword energies and turned into a bloody mess.

The goddess's protective aura cracked under the sword energy, threatening to shatter at any moment.

The Nine Nether Hound was strangled until its skin was torn and its flesh was ripped open. Black blood gushed out, and in pain it pounded against the stone wall, attracting an even denser backlash from the array.

Its eyes were fixed on Su Chang'an in the blind spot, struggling to squeeze in.

Chen Xuan raised his heavy sword. The baleful energy from the array within the passage converged onto the blade of his sword.

"Sending you on your way!"

A sword strike was unleashed.

The sword's edge shattered the void, heading straight for the face of the Nine Netherworld Hound.

puff!

The leftmost beast head was severed by a single sword strike. Black blood splattered as the head rolled to the ground.

The Nine Nether Hound let out a miserable howl, its ferocity shattered. It smashed through the stone wall behind it and fled back to the Abyss Hall, not daring to step into the passage even half a step.

The roar subsided.

The killing formation's energy was exhausted, and its patterns dimmed.

The passageway was silent, save for the scattered pieces of flesh and blood. The stench of blood was overwhelming.

Chen Xuan sheathed his sword, his right hand trembling slightly as he held it.

A hand covered it.

Su Chang'an didn't look at the corpses scattered on the ground; instead, he channeled his primordial power into the man's meridians to smooth his muscles.

The collateral descendants of the Chen family slumped in a dead corner.

Chen Mu looked at that figure from behind, his eyes filled with awe.

Chen Xuan rotated his wrist, and the bloodstains on his tiger's mouth dried.

In the passage behind them, in a pool of blood, the goddess of the Wang family lay paralyzed on the ground.

Her protective aura shattered, and the tendons in her limbs were severed by the sword energy, leaving her a cripple.

She coughed up blood and looked at Chen Xuan.

"Walk."

Chen Xuan ignored her, took Su Chang'an's hand, and led the Chen family members across the mess to the main gate of the Emperor's Palace.