Alert! The Dragon Lord has emerged from seclusion!

Qin Yurou was not present, but she had previously made it clear that she would not leave.

Now, the pressure is on Luo Yunyi.

Luo Changfeng looked at his daughter and said gently, "Yunyi, choose according to your own heart. Whatever decision you make, Dad will support you."

Luo Yunyi remained silent for a long time.

She recalled Lin Chen's back as he stood in front of her between the star cores.

She recalled his resolute willingness to sacrifice his very essence to save her.

I recall the painful yet resolute look in his eyes when he merged the seven origins.

He also recalled the way the five women looked at Lin Chen along the way—there was concern, trust, reliance, and... feelings he couldn't quite describe.

Finally, she asked softly, "Mr. Lin, if I choose to annul the engagement, will you still protect me? Like you protected them?"

Lin Chen answered without hesitation: "Yes. You can contact me anytime you need me."

Luo Yunyi smiled.

That was the first genuine smile she showed after stepping out of the Star Core, like the first melting of ice and snow.

"Then I won't untie the knot," she said. "But I need time. Three years... no, five years. For the next five years, we'll remain friends."

"Five years from now, if I'm willing to honor the marriage agreement, we can talk again."

"What if you still refuse five years from now?" Ye Qingcheng asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Then I'll break off the engagement, but we can still be friends." Luo Yunyi looked at Lin Chen. "Is that alright?"

Lin Chen nodded: "That's very fair."

This result seemed to have brought a sigh of relief to everyone.

Luo Changfeng smiled and said, "Alright, it's settled then. Yunyi, you'll come back to the research institute with me to recuperate for a while. Once you've recovered, we'll decide where to go next."

Just then, footsteps could be heard outside the camp.

Ling Feng hurried in with an ice guard, his face grave: "My lord, urgent news from Xiaoyao Valley."

He handed over a jade slip.

There is no cell phone signal here.

However, jade slips can be used to transmit messages.

Lin Chen took it, probed it with his divine sense, and his expression immediately changed.

"What's wrong?" Shen Qingqiu asked.

"The message came from the three elders." Lin Chen put away the jade slip, his tone heavy. "When they were purging the remnants of the Netherworld Sect, they discovered a top-secret file."

"According to the records, in addition to the 'Seven Stars Return to Their Positions' plan, the Netherworld Sect also has an even more secretive 'God-Making Plan'."

"The core of the plan is to use the origins of the seven Nine Yin Bodies as a guide and the Nine Yang Burning Heaven Bodies as a furnace to refine a 'Chaotic Godhead'."

"Those who consume divine essence can instantly become immortals and shatter the void."

Everyone gasped.

Ye Qingcheng gritted her teeth: "These lunatics! They can't even rest in peace after they're dead!"

"What's even more troublesome," Lin Chen continued, "is that the files mention that the 'God-Making Project' was not an original creation of the Netherworld Sect, but rather something they obtained from an even older organization."

"The name of that organization is—"

He paused, then spoke slowly and deliberately:

"Heaven, the Way, the Alliance".

The unfamiliar name caused a drastic change in the expressions of several older people present.

Luo Changfeng sat bolt upright: "The Heavenly Dao Alliance?! They...they really exist?"

"Dad, do you know about this organization?" Luo Yunyi asked.

Luo Changfeng's face was pale: "I've only seen scattered records of it in ancient books."

"It is said that the Heavenly Alliance was founded in the pre-Qin period by the alchemists, Mohists, and Yin-Yang masters from the Hundred Schools of Thought at that time. Its purpose was to 'act on behalf of Heaven and supervise the human world.'"

"But after the Han Dynasty, this organization disappeared. Most later scholars believe that it was just a legend."

"Now it seems," Shen Qingqiu calmly analyzed, "that the Heavenly Dao Alliance not only exists, but has been lurking in the shadows of history."

"The Netherworld Sect is very likely just one of their peripheral pawns."

Chu Ling'er suddenly covered her forehead, her expression pained: "I...I sensed some fragments...about the Heavenly Dao Alliance..."

"They...they're looking for something..."

"What is it?" Lin Chen pressed.

Chu Ling'er closed her eyes, trying to make out the blurry images: "A...seed..."

"The seed of chaos..."

"They say... only by gathering the Seven Stars and Nine Yangs can the seed sprout..."

Before she could finish speaking, she swayed and nearly fell over.

Mu Qingyao quickly helped her up.

"Ling'er's spiritual power is exhausted." Shen Qingqiu quickly checked. "She needs to rest."

Lin Chen looked at everyone: "Things are getting more and more complicated. The Heavenly Dao Alliance, the Chaos Seed, the God-Making Project... all these clues point to us."

He made a decision: "Let's go back to Xiaoyao Valley first. The three elders need to know everything that happened in Death Valley, and we also need to gather all the information and formulate our next plan."

"Then... what about me?" Luo Yunyi asked.

"You and Uncle Luo go back to the research institute first," Lin Chen said. "Keep in touch. We'll decide how to deal with them after we find out the details of the Heavenly Dao Alliance."

He looked at Luo Yunyi, then at the other five women:

"Remember, from this moment on, the fates of the seven of us—no, the eight of us, including Stardust—are now intertwined."

"No matter what the future holds, we must fight side by side."

……

Xiaoyao Valley.

Council Hall.

After hearing about Lin Chen and the others' experiences, the atmosphere in the hall became heavy, so heavy you could hear a pin drop.

At the head of the table, the three elders of Xiaoyao had solemn expressions.

Lin Chen, Su Qingxue, Ye Qingcheng, Shen Qingqiu, Chu Ling'er, and Mu Qingyao sat on either side.

Qin Yurou also rushed over from the herb garden and sat down next to Shen Qingqiu, looking at Lin Chen with concern.

"The Seed of Chaos..."

Master Xuanbing slowly stroked his white beard, his eyes flashing with an unusual solemnity.

Before him lay a tattered scroll, a copy of a secret file from the Netherworld Sect. On the yellowed paper, the ancient seal script characters were mottled and difficult to decipher.

"When I was young, I saw relevant records in the sect's forbidden scriptures," Granny Cihang continued, "Legend has it that when the world was first created, primordial chaotic energy condensed into a 'seed of origin'."

"This thing is neither gold nor jade, it has no form or substance, yet it can give rise to all things, and it can also devour all things."

Qingyang Sword Master snorted coldly: "The confession of the remnants of the Netherworld Sect states that the Heavenly Dao Alliance believes that this seed is hidden in the present world—it requires the gathering of the primal power of the 'Seven Stars' and the 'Nine Suns' to awaken and subdue it."

"Therefore," Su Qingxue's cold voice rang out, "our seven bodies have always been prey."

"The Netherworld Sect is merely the visible catcher; the true hunter remains hidden in the shadows."

Ye Qingcheng chuckled and toyed with the short sword in her hand: "Then let them come. It'll be a good opportunity to test my newly mastered 'Seven Frost Slashes'."

"We must not underestimate them." Shen Qingqiu adjusted his glasses, his tone rational. "The Heavenly Dao Alliance has been able to lie dormant for thousands of years without leaving a trace. The depth of its power and the scale of its schemes are far beyond what the Netherworld Sect can match."

"We need to plan this carefully."