Devouring demons, I attain immortality.

Lin An's blade grazed Blood Prince's neck, drawing blood from his face.

The Valley of Burial Swords suddenly trembled, and the third fragment of the Chaos Bell burst forth from the earth's veins.

"You deliberately lured me into triggering the sword formation!"

The Blood Prince wiped the blood from his face, and twelve blood talismans flew out from his sleeve.

The talisman exploded into a bloody mist in mid-air, and the broken sword in the valley emitted a mournful shriek.

The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade hovered in the air on its own, while the phantoms of the Winged Fire Serpent and the Chamber Fire Pig intertwined to form a crimson vortex.

The moment Lin An grasped the hilt of the knife, the Hunyuan Golden Core shattered completely, and golden true essence poured into his meridians like magma.

The Blood Prince sacrificed his Blood Marrow Staff, and the skull at the staff's head spewed out a foul-smelling poisonous mist.

Instead of retreating, Lin An advanced, his blade cleaving through the poisonous miasma, carving out stark white bones from the opponent's chest.

"Are you insane? With your Primordial Golden Core shattered, even if you've reached the Refining Spirit stage, you're doomed!"

Blood Prince staggered backward, and a star map suddenly lit up beneath his feet.

Three explosions simultaneously came from the twenty-eight constellations—the very locations where he had buried the explosive talismans.

Lin An, despite bleeding from all seven orifices, grinned coldly and used the tip of his knife to pick up a blood-stained floor tile.

The dark patterns on the brick base perfectly matched the blood talisman left by Su Yingxue, and the entire Burial Sword Valley began to collapse towards the center.

The illusory image of the Chaos Bell rose from the bottom of the valley, and half of the Blood Prince's body was sucked into the vortex.

Taking advantage of the moment, Lin An severed his right hand that was holding the staff. The moment the Blood Marrow Staff fell into the crack in the ground, a loud earth-shattering sound came from the direction of Crimson Sky City.

"There are three main altars remaining."

Lin An leaped out of the deep pit, stepping on the remains of the Blood Prince. His Primordial True Essence was re-condensed within the shattered Golden Core, becoming three times more abundant than before.

The underground palace of the city lord's mansion had been transformed into a pool of blood, with forty-nine bronze pillars covered in fleshy growths. When Lin An cleaved open the seventh bronze pillar, three vertical pupils suddenly opened at the bottom of the pool.

"Human, your blood is special." The hoarse whisper shook the underground palace, causing rocks to fall. Countless tentacles emerged from the tumor, each one covered in barbs.

The Winged Fire Serpent Blade Soul ignited with azure flames, and Lin An spun around, severing seventeen tentacles. The foul-smelling slime corroded the ground, but evaporated upon touching the illusory image of the Chaos Bell.

Blood tears suddenly streamed from the vertical pupils: "The aura of chaos...you are his successor!" The entire blood pool boiled and surged, and the bronze pillars exploded one after another.

Lin An was thrown by the shockwave and crashed into the palace wall, breaking three of his ribs. The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade slipped from his hand and plunged into the center of the blood pool, the Chaos Bell mark on the hilt suddenly shining brightly.

An ancient demonic roar echoed from the depths of the earth, and the walls of Crimson Sky City collapsed with a deafening roar. Lin An coughed up blood and laughed—the location of the last three altars was right beneath the foundation of the city walls.

The remnant soul of the Blood Prince possessed the body of the city's defending general, commanding the silver-armored guards to form a sword formation. Lin An charged forward, stepping on the fallen bricks; wherever his blade passed, soldiers' necks burst open in a spray of blood.

"You can't stop it..." Before Blood Prince could finish speaking, Lin An had already shattered the altar's array core.

Seven children suddenly rushed out of the ruins, holding hands to form a star lock formation.

The remnants of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion descended from the clouds, and twenty-eight streams of star power poured into Lin Antian's spirit. The illusory image of the Chaos Bell solidified as if cast in gold, crushing the last half of the altar into dust.

A resentful roar echoed from the depths of the earth's veins, and the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade suddenly trembled violently. Lin An gazed towards the far north, where the fifth sword soul was flickering within the thunderclouds.

Lin An stepped over the corpse of the Blood Prince and pulled out the Nine Revolutions Demon-Slaying Blade, its blade still dripping blood. In the distance, half of the Crimson Sky City Wall had collapsed, and three streaks of blood-red light shot into the sky from the dust and smoke—the remaining three Blood Altars.

"Three left."

He wiped the blood off his face and pulled the storage bag from the Blood Prince's waist.

The twenty mid-grade spirit stones were immediately absorbed into dust by the Nine Revolutions Demon-Slaying Blade.

The third star on the star map of the blade lit up, emanating a wave of hunger.

A beastly roar echoed from the depths of the Fallen Star Swamp. Lin An squinted at the poisonous miasma-filled jungle.

The system light screen suddenly popped up:

[Slaying an elder of the Blood Marrow Sect (1/1)!]

[Gained 300 Essence Points!]

[Unlock the third level of the Hunyuan Technique!]

His true essence surged and boiled, and golden liquid seeped from the cracks in his golden core.

Lin An swung his knife to test it, and a dead tree a hundred meters away exploded into wood chips.

A corpse lay on the edge of the swamp, dressed in black with a blood scorpion embroidered on its chest.

Lin An kicked the corpse aside and found that he was clutching half a map in his hand.

The location marked with a red circle is on the north side of the swamp, next to which is written crookedly, "Poisonous Dragon's Nest".

The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade suddenly trembled, its tip pointing to the location marked with an X on the map. Lin An checked the star chart; that was precisely the location of the fourth sword soul, "Ji Shui Leopard."

A three-eyed venomous crocodile suddenly sprang out of the swamp and was cleaved in two by his backhand.

The foul-smelling blood splattered onto the black robe, immediately corroding it and creating more than a dozen holes.

[Slay the Three-Eyed Poison Crocodile (1/1)!]

[Gained 50 Essence Points!]

Lin An simply ripped off his tattered outer robe, revealing his muscular upper body.

The primordial energy flows across the skin's surface, turning poisonous insects into minced meat before they can even get close.

As we passed through the poisonous miasma, we heard sounds of fighting ahead.

Five rogue cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage surrounded and killed a Heavenly Spirit stage armored rhinoceros. The burly man leading them wielded a mountain-splitting axe, the blade of which was already chipped.

"Get out of here!"

As Lin An approached, the burly man threw out three poisoned darts.

Lin An stomped his foot on the ground, and the shockwave knocked over the two rogue cultivators who had launched a sneak attack.

With a gentle slash of the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade, the armored rhinoceros's hard skull was sliced ​​open like tofu.

[Slay the Armored Rhinoceros (1/1)!]

[Gained 80 Essence Points!]

The remaining three turned to flee, but their legs were severed by the blade's energy.

Lin An stepped on the back of the screaming rogue cultivator and picked up the jade bottle they had dropped—it contained realgar powder to counteract the poisonous dragon.

Thanks.

He crushed the jade bottle, and the powder sprinkled on the blade emitted a bluish light.

The venomous dragon's lair is hidden in a cave deep within the swamp.

As soon as Lin An stepped into the cave, a foul stench hit him.

The dragon's tail, as thick as a water bucket, swept across, but he caught it with one hand, grabbed its scales, and slammed it against the stone wall.

The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade plunged into the dragon's head seven inches deep, and poisonous blood gushed out.

The blade greedily absorbed the dragon's blood, and the fourth star on the star map began to twinkle.

Slaying the Hundred-Year-Old Poisonous Dragon (1/1)!

[Gained 500 Essence Points!]

[Unlock Superpower: Immunity to Poisonous Miasma (12-hour period)!]

Lin An kicked aside the poisonous dragon's corpse and found a bronze tablet deep inside its lair.

The inscription was covered with moss. When the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade scraped away the moss, the surface of the stele suddenly emitted a blue light.

The fourth sword spirit of the Jishui Leopard broke through the monument, but Lin An, who was prepared, slapped it to the ground with the back of his sword.

The sword spirit struggled to escape, but the illusory image of the Chaos Bell on the hilt descended upon it.

It took half an hour to fuse the sword soul. When Lin An opened his eyes again, he was surrounded by a light blue mist, which dispelled the poisonous miasma of the swamp upon contact.

It was already dark when we returned to the ground, and the system's light screen suddenly started flashing wildly:

[WARNING! Abnormal energy fluctuations at the Blood Sacrifice Altar in Crimson Cloud City!]

[Time remaining: 2 hours!]

Lin An spat out a mouthful of blood, then slung the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade over his shoulder.

He channeled his inner energy into his legs and sped towards Chixiao City, stepping on the treetops.

The East City Altar is built on ruins, and thirty-six people in blood-red robes are reinforcing the formation.

Lin An descended from the sky, his blade carving out a ten-foot-long ravine, instantly turning the six blood-robed men into a bloody mist.

"Stop him!" the old man in charge of the formation shouted, his bone staff emitting green flames.

Twenty blood golems crawled out of the ground, their joints inlaid with blood marrow crystals.

Lin An neither dodged nor evaded, but activated the Water Leopard Sword Soul, and the water mist around his body condensed into ice armor.

Sparks flew as the blood golem's claws gripped the ice armor, and Lin An seized the opportunity to slash horizontally with his blade.

The Primordial True Essence, carrying the remnants of the Poisonous Dragon's poison, instantly melted the blood puppets it touched into blood.

Seeing the situation was dire, the old man crushed the escape talisman, but Lin An swung his sword and pinned him to the stone pillar at the center of the formation.

After absorbing the blood energy, the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade had lit up four stars on its star map.

[Destroy the East City Altar (1/1)!]

[Gained 1000 Essence Points!]

Lin An sat cross-legged on the ruins, regulating his breathing. The cracks in his Hunyuan Golden Core doubled in size.

However, the surging true essence became even more viscous.

The system notification indicates that the Hunyuan Technique is about to break through to the fourth level and requires the collection of another 2000 essence.