Swordholder

"Golden flames burn the phoenix tree!"

Just then, Chen Yuan's cold shout rang out.

With a loud boom, a golden phantom of a crow rose up behind him and flew forward, burning all the paper money to ashes in the blink of an eye!

Even the baby puppets were completely swallowed up in the flames.

The piercing screams grew increasingly shrill, but were quickly dissipated under the intense heat of the golden flames, eventually subsiding into silence.

"Golden Flames Burning the Wutong Tree? This is a destructive and offensive technique based on the True Fire of the Sun. When did you learn it?"

Chen Zhaoning, Chen Jianming, and other core disciples were completely dumbfounded, staring at Chen Yuan as if he were a monster.

They were quite certain that Chen Yuan had only been in the Chen family ancestral hall and had come into contact with the Chen family's treasure, the Yuanyang Pearl, for a little over two months.

"I just learned it recently."

Chen Yuan glanced at everyone, offered no further explanation, and said, "Bring the survivors along and come with me."

With that, he quickly ran up the stone steps.

Because he had seen Nuomi run up there and into the cave where the wooden puppet ghost baby had come out.

Chen Zhaoning, Li Wei, and the others quickly called out to the others, helping their surviving and injured companions to catch up with Chen Yuan.

"Nuomi, where are you?"

Chen Yuan stood in front of the dark cave entrance and shouted into it, his eyes extremely gloomy.

"Hehe, Brother Yuan, I'm here!"

Nuomi emerged from the black hole, carrying a large pile of paper money, and even some ingot-shaped candles.

Everyone gasped in shock, a chill ran down their spines, and they staggered backward.

Therefore, at this moment, Nuomi is happily eating a candle and a piece of paper money.

"Little Nuomi, why are you eating all this?"

Li Wei asked in alarm, feeling a sensation of his tailbone contracting.

"It's delicious."

Nuomi chewed heartily, waved the candle in her hand, and offered it to Li Wei, "Brother Li, do you want some?"

"Ugh, I don't want to eat it! I don't want to eat it!"

Li Wei shook his head like a rattle drum.

"Sister Ning, do you want her?"

Nuomi handed another candle from her arms to Chen Zhaoning, who shook his head. Then she grabbed a handful of paper money.

Chen Zhaoning shook his head even faster.

The other members of the Chen family looked at Nuomi with horror, as if they were looking at a little evil spirit.

Chen Yuan's gaze turned somber as he looked at the paper money.

On each piece of paper money is a child's face.

However, the children's faces were now filled with extreme terror, and they kept emitting silent screams!

Nuomi, with an air of superiority that none of you understands good food, excitedly gnawed on the candle-shaped ingots in her arms and swallowed pieces of paper money.

"Young Master, she..."

Chen Jianming looked at Chen Yuan, his expression hesitant.

The affection between Chen Yuan and Nuomi is evident to all.

But now it seems that glutinous rice is like a little evil spirit!

Do I still need to bring it?

"She won't hurt you."

Chen Yuan knew what they were thinking, so this was the only guarantee he could give.

"Nuomi, let's keep going uphill. Don't run around unless I'm holding your hand, okay?"

Chen Yuan took Nuomi's hand, gave her some instructions, and continued walking up the stone steps.

Nuomi's mouth was bulging as she ate, and she nodded obediently.

The others took a deep breath and dared not say anything more, following suit.

She ate the glutinous rice very quickly, and also finished off the candles, paper money, and other items in her arms.

Then his big eyes darted around, looking at his surroundings, while he kept licking his lips and swallowing.

"Brother Yuan, it smells so good! I feel like there are lots of delicious things around here."

Nuomi opened her mouth with a greedy look on her face.

The expressions on Chen Yuan and the others' faces grew increasingly strange, and at the same time, a hint of vigilance appeared.

It's obvious that glutinous rice senses that many of its kind are here.

"Little Nuomi, how do you feel after eating those things?"

Li Wei asked curiously.

Nuomi thought for a moment and said seriously, "It tastes delicious."

Li Wei, "..."

Chen Yuan said in a low voice, "The evil spirit power within her body has become incredibly strong."

Everyone, "..."

Zhang Shan and the others looked at the little girl beside Chen Yuan and touched their chins.

"This Chen Yuan is amazing, he actually raises a minor evil spirit?"

Li Shouren spoke in a low voice, his tone extremely powerful.

Zhang Shan and Tang Hu exchanged a glance but remained silent.

The group continued upwards.

Along the way, we saw stone steps leading in all directions to many caves.

Besides the cave from which they had emerged from the infant puppet, the group also saw many other caves with different purposes.

The more they looked, the more shocked they became, as they saw caves such as the training cave, the miscellaneous storage cave, the reception cave, the alchemy cave, the puppet cave, the little ghost cave, and the great evil cave.

This underground cave is so vast, winding and full of all kinds of cave dwellings, it's like a complete gathering place for a cultivation force.

"Where exactly is this place?"

Chen Jianming was completely dumbfounded, and even Zhang Shan, Tang Hu and others looked puzzled.

Where exactly were they teleported to?

Why were only members of the Chen family teleported here?

Chen Yuan turned around and looked at the group of people following behind him, all of them covered in blood and looking disheveled.

The original group of two hundred people had lost more than fifty people in the struggle with the baby puppets and paper money.

Such losses were too devastating, and even though Chen Yuan had anticipated them, he was still burning with rage.

"It's obvious we've been set up."

Chen Yuan spoke with murderous intent, his anger barely contained.

In the past two months, he broke through to the Yellow Court Realm and upgraded his mortal-level Crimson Flame to the spirit-level Golden Pattern Flame.

Furthermore, he cultivated the offensive technique from the "Golden Crow Burning the World Codex"—Golden Flame Burning the Wutong Tree!

They even had Zhang Shan forge forbidden magical artifacts... All of this was done to minimize the losses suffered by the Chen family members.

But he never expected that a small trick by the enemy would kill so many of his people.

"If it weren't for your mastery of such powerful fire attack techniques, we would all be dead here."

Chen Jianming said with lingering fear.

Those evil spirits were too strange and impossible to guard against.

Even a Daoist at the Yellow Court Realm might perish here.

Chen Yuan's gaze grew increasingly cold.

He walked ahead, cautiously exploring and constantly alert to any movement around him.

The dimly lit tunnel walls exuded a chilling aura. As the group passed through the forks in the road, they could see passages extending downwards into unfathomable depths, each one shrouded in an eerie atmosphere.

"Da, da, da..."

The footsteps of Chen Yuan and the others echoed in the quiet tunnel. Although they tried their best to keep their footsteps light, they still sounded jarring in the silent space.

Everyone remained vigilant.

Especially for Chen Yuan, his right hand cannot be constantly enveloped in flames, as it would consume a great deal of magical power.

So he simply took out the iron spikes, held them in his hand, and stared warily ahead, ready to unleash flames and attack at any moment.

The others followed suit, with the disciples who knew fire control spells walking on the sides and back, protecting the disciples who did not know fire control in the middle.

Suddenly, Chen Yuan, who was walking at the front, stopped in his tracks, his expression becoming increasingly cautious, and he dared not move forward rashly.

"What's wrong?"

Chen Zhaoning asked with a solemn expression, and the others also tensed up, their eyes all turning to Chen Yuan's back.

"Something's not right. With such a commotion earlier, why haven't we seen any other evil spirits?"

Chen Yuan spoke, his gaze carefully examining the dimly lit passage.

The passage was about ten meters wide, and the stone steps under his feet continued to wind upwards. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep going.

"Keep going. Perhaps those evil spirits are frightened by your flames and dare not come out."

Chen Zhaoning comforted her softly.

Upon hearing this, everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief; perhaps it really was true.

"Okay, let's keep going."

Chen Yuan nodded and continued walking forward.

Suddenly, his gaze fell on the dimly lit ground illuminated by the luminous pearl. He glanced back and gasped in shock…

After losing about fifty people, the Chen family should have had more than one hundred and forty members left.

But now, the crowd following him is dense and numerous, far more than 150 people, probably several hundred!

At first glance, in the dim light, there were only dark figures with their heads down, and you could only see their blurry outlines. You couldn't see their faces or tell who was who!

"What's wrong?"

Noticing Chen Yuan's unusual behavior, Chen Zhaoning gripped her longsword tightly and asked nervously.

Chen Yuan pointed behind him.

Chen Zhaoning looked in the direction he pointed. At first, she thought it was normal, but after taking another look, she felt a chill run down her spine, and her heart seemed to stop for a moment.

"Ah, this, this, this..."

Li Wei, Zhang Shan, Chen Jianming, and others standing nearby also looked over and all gasped in shock.

A chill ran from the soles of my feet straight up to the top of my head, making my scalp tingle.

Even Chen Yuan, who had experienced many dangers, couldn't help but get goosebumps!

What exactly is following behind them?

There are only a little over a hundred people?

How did it become hundreds?

"Hurry up!"

Chen Yuan took a deep breath, not having time to think, and stepped aside to make way for Li Wei to hold Nuomi's hand, leading the group to run forward first.

He stayed behind to check the situation...

He absolutely cannot allow the Chen family members to suffer further losses here.

"I'll stay with you!"

Chen Zhaoning spoke, staying close to Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan nodded, telling everyone to leave first, and reminding them to look up at him as they passed by.

Everyone nodded in agreement, especially the people behind him. Although they didn't understand why, they still looked up at Chen Yuan as they passed by.

The group of people walked past Chen Yuan one after another, and he and Chen Zhaoning watched each face they passed with nervousness.

At first, all the faces were familiar.

The two observed and secretly counted, but when they reached 130 people, there was still a steady stream of people coming from behind them.

Their hearts tightened, and their eyes turned cold.

One hundred and forty...

141...

One hundred and forty-two...

······

Finally, Chen Yuan and Chen Zhaoning's pupils widened suddenly!

After a series of familiar faces passed by, a deathly pale face suddenly appeared before them!

It was a man who glanced at Chen Yuan and Chen Zhaoning, revealing a strange and sinister smile, before trying to continue following behind the crowd.

Fuck you!

Chen Yuan felt a chill run down his spine, but he still reacted extremely quickly!

boom!

Suddenly, a burst of brilliant fire erupted from his palm, and with a bang, he slammed it hard onto the dead man's face!

At the same time, Chen Zhaoning also saw it clearly!

The people following behind him all had deathly faces!