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

The seventh array rune was still flashing. The black iron door made a dull thud. The door was pushed open from the outside.

There was no loud noise. The heavy iron door felt surprisingly light in the hands of the newcomer. The crack in the door widened. The scent of sandalwood wafted into Guiyuan Hall. This fragrance masked the original chill in the hall.

Li Changgeng stepped across the threshold. His gray Taoist robe was very clean. His white hair hung down to his shoulders.

The door locked shut. A protective array of light sealed the entire hall shut. A golden barrier of light blocked out all outside sounds.

Chen Xuan stood in the center of the main hall. His right hand was clenched into a fist, his knuckles turning white. The spiritual power of a Great Sage Realm expert surged through his meridians, causing his bones to crack repeatedly.

Li Changgeng turned around. His gaze didn't fall on Chen Xuan's face. He looked at the space between Chen Xuan's brows.

"You had Chen Daolin deliver a message, outlining your conditions," Li Changgeng said softly. "I agreed. I've come specifically to protect you."

Chen Xuan did not relax. Fine cracks appeared in the floor tiles beneath his feet.

"The formation of the three ancestors of the Chen family cannot defend against you," Chen Xuan said.

Li Changgeng looked at the array patterns on the floor tiles. "Chen Daolin thought this Guiyuan Hall could trap everyone. He's too arrogant, just like the other imperial clans."

Li Changgeng took a step forward.

Chen Xuan's aura instantly surged. Black killing intent overflowed from his body.

"Don't move." Su Chang'an's voice echoed in his mind. "You can't beat him. He's a quasi-emperor."

Chen Xuan did not retreat. He stood between Li Changgeng and the underground spiritual vein.

Li Changgeng stopped in his tracks. "I'm not here to kill anyone."

He looked at Chen Xuan, his gaze calm. "I've only come to see an old friend."

The words "old friend" fell to the floor. Chen Xuan moved.

He did not draw his sword. The heavy sword lay outside the hall. He concentrated all his Great Saint Realm cultivation into his fists.

He stepped forward with his left foot. The floor tile shattered.

Chen Xuan's body left a black afterimage. The force of his fist tore through the air, emitting a sharp whistling sound.

He stepped forward with his left foot. The floor tile shattered.

He didn't charge straight at Li Changgeng. Instead, the shattered paving stones he stepped on stirred up a storm of gravel, which, imbued with the spiritual power of a Great Sage, rushed towards the nodes of the spiritual vein array.

"If we can destroy the foundation of the formation—" Li Changgeng raised an eyebrow.

The pebbles came to rest three inches from the array pattern.

It felt like being gripped by an invisible hand. Chen Xuan used the moment the rubble concealed his movements to throw a punch. The first punch aimed for his face. The second punch aimed for his chest. The third punch sealed off his escape route.

A black aura of killing intent stirred up a storm within the Guiyuan Hall. The golden array patterns on the walls flickered violently.

Li Changgeng did not retreat. He stood still. Not even the hem of his gray Taoist robe fluttered.

He raised his right hand, pointing his index finger slightly forward.

A single finger met Chen Xuan's three punches.

The force of the punch stopped an inch in front of Li Changgeng's fingertips.

The black killing intent crumbled inch by inch. The difference between the Great Sage and the Quasi-Emperor was the difference between man and heaven.

Li Changgeng's finger continued forward, landing on Chen Xuan's fist.

There was no loud roar. Only a crisp cracking sound.

Chen Xuan's hand bones were shattered. His wrist was broken. The sleeve of his clothes on his arm was torn to shreds.

A tremendous force slammed into Chen Xuan's chest through his arm.

Chen Xuan took three steps back. Each step left a deep dent in the paving stones.

He did not fall. He swallowed the blood in his throat. He formed a sword shape with his left hand, fingers together. A black sword aura shot out from his fingertips, aiming straight for Li Changgeng's throat.

Li Changgeng did not dodge. His quasi-emperor aura erupted in full force.

The air in Guiyuan Hall became viscous. Gravity increased a hundredfold.

The black sword energy stopped in mid-air, shattering into countless black specks of light.

Chen Xuan's body froze in mid-air. His left hand stopped half a foot away from Li Changgeng's throat. He could not move forward an inch further.

His knees were bearing an immense weight. His bones were groaning.

"Kneel down," Li Changgeng said, his voice devoid of emotion.

Chen Xuan gritted his teeth. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He stubbornly held his knees, refusing to kneel.

Su Chang'an watched all of this from within his sea of ​​consciousness.

She knew Chen Xuan couldn't hold on. She turned and glanced at the red-clad inner demon in the corner.

"Stay inside. Don't come out," Su Chang'an instructed.

The red-clad inner demon trembled in the corner. She didn't dare to utter a sound.

Su Chang'an activated the essence of the Heavenly Fox. Her nine tails glowed red. She prepared to break free from her sea of ​​consciousness.

"Don't come out!" Chen Xuan's thoughts entered his mind. They carried the scent of blood. "I can handle him."

He's lying. He can't even move.

Li Changgeng sensed the fluctuations in his sea of ​​consciousness. A glint of fanaticism flashed in his eyes.

He walked up to Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan's eyes were bloodshot. His eyelids were split open, and blood was flowing into them.

Li Changgeng raised his hand. He put two fingers together and pointed them at Chen Xuan's brow.

"What's inside you doesn't belong to you," Li Changgeng said.

Chen Xuan struggled frantically. The oppressive force rendered him immobile. He could only watch as the two fingers approached.

Place your finger on your forehead.

An unparalleled suction force rushed into Chen Xuan's sea of ​​consciousness.

Su Chang'an's soul was locked by this power.

Li Changgeng's Quasi-Emperor Law transformed into chains, binding Su Chang'an's nine tails.

"Come out." Li Changgeng's voice echoed in his mind.

Chen Xuan let out a roar. He sensed Su Chang'an leaving.

He abandoned his defenses. He gave up resisting the quasi-emperor's oppressive aura. He used all his power to seal his own sea of ​​consciousness.

The black spiritual energy built a high wall at the edge of the sea of ​​consciousness.

"Get out!" Chen Xuan roared.

Li Changgeng frowned. He increased the pressure on his hands.

Chen Xuan began to bleed from his seven orifices. Cracks appeared in the barrier of his sea of ​​consciousness.

The cracks widened rapidly. The high wall collapsed.

Su Chang'an looked at Chen Xuan's sea of ​​consciousness, riddled with holes. She knew that if she continued to pull it apart, Chen Xuan's sea of ​​consciousness would completely collapse. Chen Xuan would die.

"Let go," Su Chang'an transmitted to Chen Xuan.

"No!" Chen Xuan's answer was just this one word, a single word that contained all the resentment he had felt since he was five years old.

Su Chang'an looked at Chen Xuan's sea of ​​consciousness, riddled with holes. The cracks were widening.

Each crack carries away a fragment of a familiar memory.

That bowl of incredibly salty porridge. That line, "I only eat from this one family."

She's been calculating her whole life. She's been calculating ever since the day she transmigrated.

Favorability rating, mission rewards, and survival strategies.

She never does business at a loss.

Su Chang'an closed his eyes.

She withdrew her resistance. Following Li Changgeng's pull, she willingly walked away. This was a fair trade.

Chen Xuan's blockade failed. He couldn't catch her.

Li Changgeng pulled his finger out.

A red phantom was pulled out from between Chen Xuan's eyebrows.

A red phantom solidified in the air.

Su Chang'an's soul was exposed to the lights of Guiyuan Hall.

Red clothes. Silver hair. Nine tails fluttering behind her.

Li Changgeng looked at her. The calm in his eyes was completely shattered.

He reached out, wanting to touch that face. His fingers froze in mid-air. He dared not bring them down.

His lips trembled slightly. Three thousand years of time lost their meaning at that moment.

"Master," he called out, his voice hoarse and trembling with emotion.

Su Chang'an stared at him coldly. She didn't say anything.

Chen Xuan's body was no longer restrained by the oppressive force. He fell forward, his hands bracing against the floor tiles.

He raised his head, looking at Su Chang'an in mid-air, then at Li Changgeng.

"Give her back to me." Chen Xuan's voice was squeezed out from deep in his throat.

He struggled to his feet. His hand was broken. He braced himself on his elbows.

Li Changgeng did not look at Chen Xuan. All his attention was focused on Su Chang'an's soul.

"You're just a soul now." Li Changgeng looked at Su Chang'an's transparent body. "That idiot Chen Daolin wanted your life. I won't let him have it. No one in this world can hurt you. No one."

Su Chang'an spoke up: "What do you want to do?"

Li Changgeng smiled. His smile held a hint of obsession.

Li Changgeng did not look at Chen Xuan. All his attention was focused on Su Chang'an's soul.

He reached out his hand. His fingertips were half an inch away from the face.

He stopped. As if afraid of breaking it. "Master." Then he turned and glanced at Chen Xuan on the ground.

The warmth in her eyes vanished completely.

Chen Xuan didn't speak. He braced himself on his elbows. Blood gushed from his mouth. He crawled forward inch by inch. His eyes were fixed on Su Chang'an.

Li Changgeng lifted his foot and stomped heavily on the floor tiles.

The ground of Guiyuan Hall shook violently.

The floor tiles, engraved with array patterns, shattered one by one, revealing the abyss beneath.

There was no light in the abyss. Only the dense aura of celestial foxes churned within.

Su Chang'an lowered his head. There was light at the bottom of the abyss.

Red. Very dark. Like embers about to go out.

What she saw first were nine tails.

It lay on the stone platform, its hair dull and lusterless, stained with dried blood.

Then came hundreds of chains.

Thick chains engraved with runes pierced flesh and bone from all sides.

Piercing through the ribs. Piercing through the spine. Each chain connects to the main root of the spiritual vein at the other end.

Finally, she saw a face. Or rather, she saw her own face.

Su Chang'an's nine tails trembled violently behind him. Not from fear. It was because of tear stains at the corners of the body's eyes. Tears dried over three thousand years.

Li Changgeng stared into the abyss. "Master, wait for me, I'll see you soon."

He raised his hand. The laws of a quasi-emperor enveloped Su Chang'an's soul.

Su Chang'an was unable to resist. In her divine soul state, she possessed less than one-tenth of her power.

Li Changgeng swung his hand forcefully.

Su Chang'an's soul was violently pushed into the abyss.

A feeling of weightlessness washed over him. Su Chang'an began to fall.

The chains in the abyss rattled. The body beneath sensed the approaching soul and emitted a faint red glow.

Su Chang'an raised his head as he fell.

She saw the edge of Guiyuan Hall.

Chen Xuan climbed up there.

One of his hands reached out from the edge of the abyss. His fingers clawed wildly in the air.

His eyes were wide open. Blood was still flowing from the cut at the corner of his eye. Blood dripped down his cheek and into the abyss.

He looked at Su Chang'an, his mouth agape.

Su Chang'an couldn't hear his voice, but she understood his lip movements.

He was calling her name.

Su Chang'an had seen that look before.

In the sealed cave, the first look he saw when he opened his eyes at the age of three was this same look. Only then, it was fear. Not anymore.

He dragged his battered body forward. He wanted to jump down too.

Li Changgeng stood on the edge of the abyss.

He stepped on Chen Xuan's back, and a crisp cracking sound came from his spine.

Chen Xuan was pinned to the ground. His hands scratched ten bloody marks into the broken bricks.

His fingernails curled up. But he didn't stop. He braced his chin against the ground and continued to move forward using the strength of his neck. An inch. Blood stained the path he crawled red.

He stared intently at the falling Su Chang'an, his eyes bloodshot with rage.

Su Chang'an looked into those eyes. A sharp pain shot through his heart.

It's clearly a spirit, so why does it feel pain?

Her vision began to blur.

The red light at the bottom of the abyss grew brighter. The runes on the chains flickered. The red light enveloped her soul.

Darkness swallowed the light. It swallowed Chen Xuan's face.

He was calling her name.

Su Chang'an looked into those eyes. A sharp pain shot through his heart.

It's clearly a spirit, so why does it feel pain?

In a corner of my consciousness, the system panel flickered.

The handwriting was so blurred it was almost illegible. "Detected... host's soul... highly compatible with an unknown origin... currently synchronizing..." The red light engulfed everything.

Her last thought was not fear.

It was a sentence that was never spoken.

Darkness swallowed the light. It swallowed Chen Xuan's face. Su Chang'an's consciousness sank into chaos.