Devouring demons, I attain immortality.

The altar in the south city was located in the dungeon of the city lord's mansion.

Lin An fought his way through three layers of guards, killing over a hundred people.

Finally, blocking the altar was a two-headed monster, the left head of which belonged to the Wan Du Men elder who had escaped.

"Kid, this time you..."

Before he could finish speaking, the blade had already sliced ​​off half of his skull.

Lin An stepped over the headless corpse and entered the core of the altar. As the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade was plunged into the array's eye, the entire dungeon began to collapse.

As they escaped to the ground, the main building of the city lord's mansion collapsed with a roar, stirring up clouds of dust.

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

[Gained 1200 Essence Points!]

The last altar in the western city was built on the site of the old city wall.

When Lin An arrived, the blood had already illuminated half the sky.

The black-robed man who was in charge of the formation turned around, his face wearing the same bronze mask as the Blood Prince.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time."

The man in black robes lifted his hood, revealing a face that bore a striking resemblance to the Blood Prince.

"You killed my brother, so I'll use your Primordial Golden Core to complete the final array!"

Lin An shook his numb hand.

In the exchange just now, the opponent was at least at the Great Perfection of the Void Realm.

The blood marrow crystal sword in the black-robed man's hand gleamed with an evil light, its blade engraved with patterns of marrow-extracting nails.

"You talk too much nonsense!"

The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade suddenly flew out of his hand, and four sword souls appeared at the same time.

The winged fire serpent coiled around the blood crystal sword, while the fiery boar burned through the protective aura.

The water leopard transformed into ice spikes to block the retreat, and the last phantom of the fire tiger bit off the black-robed man's left arm.

The man in black robes screamed and retreated violently, crushing the jade talisman to summon ten golden-armored corpse puppets.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lin An lunged forward, and just as the blade pierced his dantian, a system notification rang out:

[Breaking through to the fourth level of the Hunyuan Technique!]

[Unlock the Divine Power: Four Symbols Formation!]

Four illusory figures formed an array, and the golden-armored corpse puppets within the array were killing each other.

Just as Lin An snapped the black-robed man's neck, the West City Altar exploded, and the shockwave sent him flying into the moat.

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

[Gained 1500 Essence Points!]

When Lin An climbed out of the river, Chixiao City had already become ruins.

The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade is stuck on the shore, its blade adorned with a star map extending northward.

A new notification popped up on the system screen:

[The Twenty-Eight Constellations Sword Soul Quest has been updated!]

[Next target: Doumu Xie, one of the Seven Mansions of the North!]

Location: Northern Desert Wilderness!

He drank a mouthful of murky river water, tore off a strip of cloth to bandage the deep, bone-revealing wound, and his primordial energy surged within his body, healing the cracked wounds.

Lin An walked across the Gobi Desert for three days, wearing two holes in the soles of his boots.

Suddenly, a sand dune in the distance exploded, and five earthen-yellow Heavenly Spirit Realm sand wolves pounced, their fangs dripping with foul-smelling slime.

Too lazy to draw his sword, he kicked the leader of the sand wolves, smashing its head in the process.

The remaining four heads had their internal organs shattered by the force of the punches and lay convulsing on the scorching sand.

[Slay the Sand Wolf (5/5)!]

[Gained 50 Essence Points!]

The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade suddenly trembled, its hilt pointing at the corpse of the Sand Wolf.

Lin An cut open the wolf's belly and found a bronze piece engraved with runes—it was a map of the Northern Desert.

At noon, they encountered a caravan from the Northern Desert on the Lin'an Road.

More than thirty camels knelt in the sand pit, with goods scattered all over the ground.

A bandit in leather armor was interrogating the caravan leader with a knife, the tip of which was pressed against the throat of a seven or eight-year-old girl.

Lin An slid down the sand slope, and the sand he kicked up blinded the bandits.

The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade swept across, sending seven heads soaring into the sky.

The remaining three bandits had just raised their scimitars when their throats were pierced by boulders.

The caravan leader trembled as he offered a water bag, which Lin An drank in one gulp. He then picked up the terrified little girl and threw her back into the caravan.

Two bags of gold dust were found on the bandit's corpse. Lin An weighed them in his hand and estimated that there were several hundred taels of gold. He then casually stuffed them into his own bundle.

Find the oasis at sunset.

Lin An jumped into the spring water to wash away the blood clots, and his Hunyuan True Essence evaporated the water droplets.

A three-zhang-long Heavenly Spirit Realm sand python emerged from the poplar forest on the shore. He grabbed it by its seven-inch mark, pressed it into the sand, and smashed its head with his fist.

[Slay the Sand Anaconda (1/1)!]

[Gained 200 Essence Points!]

Snake meat was roasting over a campfire, and the sound of camel bells could be heard in the distance.

The camel caravan they had rescued during the day caught up with them. The caravan leader knelt and presented a jade box: "My benefactor, this is the key to the bandits' lair..."

Lin An kicked the jade box away. The lid shattered, and dozens of blood-red scorpions crawled out.

"It's a fake!"

The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade plunged into the leader's heart, its blade trembling with pleasure.

"A gang of bandits?"

He crushed the last poisonous scorpion, and his Primordial Chaos True Essence swept across the camel caravan.

The twelve knife-wielders hidden inside the cargo exploded and died simultaneously.

On the seventh day at noon, a sandstorm blotted out the sun.

Lin An squinted at the rocky mountain in front of him, the Chaos Bell mark on the hilt of his sword burning hot—the Soul of the Doumu Xie Sword was inside the mountain.

Two stone giants, each five zhang tall, stood guard at the entrance of the cave, their fists larger than millstones.

Lin An took a running start and leaped up, stepping on the stone giant's arm to climb onto its shoulder, and cleaved the top of its head with a hand chop.

Slay the Stone Giant (2/2)!

[Gained 800 Essence Points!]

Deep inside the cave, bones were piled up, and a bronze sword was stuck in the center of the stone platform.

Just as Lin An was about to draw his sword, a hundred thorny vines sprouted from the ground.

The phantom of the winged fire serpent roared out, burning the vines to ashes.

The mountain shook violently the moment the bronze sword was in hand.

The sword spirit of Doumu Xie transformed into azure light and disappeared into the hilt of the sword, and the fifth star on the star map lit up.

Lin An crashed through the mountain wall and burst out, the entire rocky mountain behind him collapsing with a deafening roar.

[Obtained the Doumu Xie Sword Soul (1/1)!]

[Unlock the fifth level of the Hunyuan Technique!]

The golden core within his body shattered completely, and a golden infant phantom sat cross-legged in his dantian.

Lin An roared to the sky, the sound shattering the cacti three miles away.

With a light swing of the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade, a hundred-meter-high sand dune was leveled by the blade's energy.

Under the scorching sun, Lin An left a trail of footprints on the sand dunes.

The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade suddenly hummed, its tip pointing to a black dot on the horizon—the ruins of an ancient city eroded by wind and sand.

A dried-up corpse lay sprawled at the site of the collapsed city wall, a jade pendant at its waist inscribed with "Outer Sect Steward of the Blood Marrow Sect".

Lin An kicked aside the dried corpse and found half a sheepskin map in a crack in the wall.

The location marked with a red cross is underground in the ancient city, next to which is written in haste, "Soul-Devouring Sand Ant Nest".

[Side Quest Triggered: Exterminate the Soul-Eating Sand Ant Swarm!]

[Reward: Chaos Bell Fragment x1!]

The entrance to the underground palace was buried by quicksand.

Lin An stomped his foot, shaking apart the sand layer, and his Hunyuan True Essence transformed into a ball of light that hovered above his head.

The stone steps were covered in slime, and they made a crunching sound when stepped on.

Three sand ants, each the size of a calf, swooped down from the shadows, spraying corrosive acid from their mouthparts.

Instead of retreating, Lin An advanced, smashing the head of the sand ant in the middle with the back of his knife, and kicking off the limbs of the other two with his left and right feet.

[Slay the Soul-Devouring Sand Ants (3/50)!]

Exploring a hundred meters deeper, we encountered a swarm of ants, their countless compound eyes glowing red in the darkness.

Lin An grinned, activated the Doumu Xie Sword Soul, and a blue light flowed across the blade.

With each horizontal and vertical slash, sand ant remains mixed with sticky fluid splattered, and system notification sounds rang out one after another.

[Slay the Soul-Devouring Sand Ants (27/50)!]

[Gained 270 Essence!]

The queen ant hides in the deepest part, her abdomen swollen like a house.

Lin An leaped up, stepping on the ant corpses, and thrust the blade into the gap in the carapace, forcefully lifting it upwards.

The green liquid poured down like a torrential rain, but was blocked by the protective aura formed by the primordial essence.

[Slay the Soul-Devouring Sand Ant Queen (1/1)!]

[Gained 1000 Essence!]

The underground palace suddenly shook, and a bronze door was revealed where the sand ant nest had collapsed.

Lin An cracked the lock, and the fragments of the Chaos Bell that had been floating on the stone platform in the center of the secret chamber flew over automatically and merged with the mark on the hilt of the sword.

[Collect Chaos Bell Fragments (5/9)!]

[Unlocked Divine Ability: Beginner Time Freeze (3 seconds/day)!]

They encountered a sandstorm upon returning to Earth.

Lin An hid inside the dilapidated pagoda and discovered a gilded Buddha statue enshrined in the center of the pagoda.

The relic inlaid between the Buddha's eyebrows is the "Vajra Buddha Bone" as labeled by the system.