Alert! The Dragon Lord has emerged from seclusion!

She looked at Lin Chen: "And you?"

"I'm fine." Lin Chen stood up and looked at the bridge. "There are no guards on the eighth floor, which means Jiang Wuyai no longer cares whether we can get up there or not."

"He's waiting for us on the ninth floor."

Su Qingxue also stood up, her icy blue eyes looking at the golden gate at the end of the bridge: "The bookworm said that the seventh floor and above are traps."

"Now that the seventh floor is breached, what about the bridge to the eighth floor...?"

"This is the final test." Lin Chen walked to the bridgehead, looked down at the chaotic abyss below, and said, "Below the bridge lies the true 'Core of the Ruins'."

"Once they fall, even a Nascent Soul cultivator will not escape."

"And there must be restrictions on the bridge."

He stepped onto the bridge.

The first step was taken, and nothing happened.

The second step was that the bridge trembled slightly.

In the third step, a sudden change occurred.

Suddenly, countless pale hands reached out from the chaotic mist on both sides of the bridge!

Those hands included human hands, beast hands, ferocious hands, and crippled hands... They reached out to grab the bridge surface and Lin Chen's ankles.

At the same time, countless voices echoed in Lin Chen's mind—

"Help me...help me..."

"It hurts so much... let me out..."

"Why are you still alive... to come down and keep me company...?"

"Lin Chen... I'm your master... lend me a hand..."

That last sound made Lin Chen abruptly stop in his tracks.

He looked down and saw an old hand gripping his ankle.

The owner of the hand was a semi-transparent figure—none other than his third master in Kunlun Heavenly Prison!

"Third Master?" Lin Chen's pupils shrank suddenly.

"Chen'er...it's your master..." The illusory figure of the Third Master was filled with pain. "Back then, to protect you, your master was captured by the Heavenly Dao Alliance, and my soul was cast into this Abyss of Return to Nothingness...Save your master..."

Lin Chen's hands trembled slightly.

Su Qingxue and Ye Qingcheng, who were behind him, also witnessed this scene.

"Lin Chen! That's an illusion!" Su Qingxue shouted urgently.

Ye Qingcheng wanted to speak too, but a voice also echoed in her mind—

"Qingcheng... Big brother, it's so cold... It's so cold down here..."

That was the voice of her deceased older brother!

On the other side of the bridge, Su Qingxue also froze.

She saw the phantom of her grandfather, Su Zhenbang, struggling in the abyss: "Qingxue... Grandpa was wrong... I shouldn't have forced you... Pull Grandpa up..."

All three were trapped.

It is not the physical body, but the mind.

The restrictions imposed on this bridge strike at the deepest obsessions and guilt within our hearts.

Looking at his "Third Master's" pained face, Lin Chen suddenly closed his eyes.

"Third Master, I'm sorry."

He said.

Then, he stepped down.

The chaotic energy erupted, shattering the hand and its illusory form.

"The real Third Master would rather be destroyed than let me risk my life to save him."

Lin Chen's voice was icy as he continued forward.

With each step, more illusions appeared.

The hallucinations of deceased relatives, missing friends, and even... the tragic deaths of Su Qingxue, Ye Qingcheng, and others.

But Lin Chen's steps never faltered.

The primordial spirit of chaos opened its eyes between its brows, its gaze clear as a mirror, piercing through all illusions.

"My path is to protect. But protecting is not about dwelling on the past, but about seizing the present and creating the future."

"If we can't even protect those in front of us, how can we talk about redeeming the deceased?"

He walked to the middle of the bridge and turned back.

Su Qingxue and Ye Qingcheng are still struggling.

The icy blue light in Su Qingxue's eyes flickered uncertainly, and the illusion of her grandfather was clinging to her legs and begging.

Ye Qingcheng bit her lip hard, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, clearly fighting against her elder brother's illusion.

Lin Chen did not turn around to help them.

Some hurdles you have to overcome on your own.

He addressed the two women, saying only one sentence:

"They are fake. But we are real."

His words were like thunder, exploding in the minds of the two women.

Su Qingxue suddenly opened her eyes, the last trace of confusion in her icy blue eyes dissipating.

"Grandpa...won't beg me."

The Xuan Yin sword energy erupted, shattering the illusion.

Ye Qingcheng sneered, "When my older brother died, he said, 'Girl, live well,' not 'Save me!'"

The Frost Soul Sword struck down, and the illusion vanished like smoke.

The two caught up with Lin Chen.

The three of them held hands.

Then, they walked side by side across the rest of the bridge.

The Golden Gate at the end of the bridge opened silently.

Behind the door, there is light.

Intense, pure light, as if it could purify everything.

as well as--

A towering altar that reaches into the clouds.

At the top of the altar, seven soul lamps surround the central disc, where a sleeping girl lies.

—Luo Yunyi.

Before the altar, a figure dressed in white robes stood with his hands behind his back, his back to them.

"It's finally here."

The man turned around.

A face that bore a striking resemblance to Lin Chen was revealed.

He was just more mature, more weathered, with eyes as deep as the starry sky, and a gentle yet distant smile on his lips.

Let me introduce myself.

The man in white robes—Jiang Wuyai—nodded slightly.

"I am your father."

"Lin Chen".

The three of them were all shocked upon hearing this.

Lin Chen looked up.

What struck me most was not the shock, but the light.

The light emanating from the top of the altar was not warm-colored, but rather a kind of pure white light stripped of its temperature.

It flowed quietly, reflecting Luo Yunyi's sleeping figure as if it were an ice sculpture.

Jiang Wuyai—the man who claimed to be Lin Chen's father—stood at the edge of the altar.

His white robe was spotless, his face was gentle and refined, but his eyes were like a deep pool, calm and undisturbed.

The way he looked at Lin Chen was not like a father looking at his son, but more like a craftsman examining a work of art that was about to be completed.

"Father?"

Lin Chen repeated the word, his voice terribly dry.

His mind was in complete chaos.

"Impossible." Su Qingxue stepped forward, her ice sword held horizontally in front of her, the chill instinctively gathering. "Xiaoyao Valley has investigated Lin Chen's background."

"His parents were probably wandering monks who died in an accident more than 20 years ago, and their remains have not been found."

"No trace of their remains?" Jiang Wuyai chuckled, the smile not reaching his eyes. "Because those two corpses were actually substitutes I arranged."

"It wasn't difficult to use a simple 'substitution trick' to deceive the then-nascent intelligence network of Xiaoyao Valley."

He looked at Lin Chen, his tone as calm as if he were stating the weather: "You were born on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Jiazi year, at the third quarter of the hour of Zi, in a temporary cave dwelling on the eastern foothills of the Kunlun Mountains."

"Your mother suffered a great loss of vital energy when she gave birth to you. I used my life essence to build the foundation of the Nine Yang Burning Heaven Body for you, but I also sowed the seeds of your early death."

"So, you knew about the backlash of the Nine Suns Burning Heaven Body from the very beginning?" Lin Chen asked, his voice becoming steady.

The initial shock receded like the tide, leaving behind only cold, hard rocks.

His chaotic nascent soul slowly opened its eyes, and the seed in his arms emitted a warm and gentle ripple, calming his mind.

"I know," Jiang Wuyai said frankly. "When the Nine Yangs are at their peak, without balance, they will surely incur the wrath of Heaven."

"I secretly arranged for Xiaoyao Valley to arrange seven marriages for you and search for the Nine Yin Body, all for this day."

He raised his hand and pointed to the seven soul lamps surrounding the altar.