Devouring demons, I attain immortality.

Lin An stepped over the broken pieces of the collapsed cauldron and hurled the poisoned head of the Nine Nether Island Lord at the golden statue.

The moment the head touched the glass surface, countless scarlet demonic eyes opened on the rock walls surrounding the Demon Abyss, each pupil reflecting a pulsating ball of sword-piercing light.

Lin An stepped on the falling fragments of the bronze cauldron and suddenly laughed.

He reached into his dantian and forcefully pulled out the shattered light sphere. The surface of the light sphere was covered with blood vessels, exactly the same as the scarlet demonic eye on the stone wall of the Demon Abyss.

"Xie Jinghong, you've been playing this game for quite a while."

He crushed the ball of light, and the bursting black blood condensed in the air into a black-robed scholar's phantom, which was none other than the Xie family patriarch who had betrayed the Star Palace three hundred years ago.

At the same time, the demonic eye shot out red light, revealing a shocking truth: the "Sword Break" awakened by each cultivator was a demonic seed planted in their soul by the Xie family!

"It's too late to know now."

Xie Jinghong's illusory figure raised his hand, and the golden body of the Star Palace Ancestor suddenly stood up. When the glazed palm struck, Lin An advanced instead of retreating, stuffing the Horned Wood Dragon Sword Soul into his chest.

The sword-spirit dragon scales sliced ​​through flesh, and the spray of blood mist caused the Demon Abyss to boil.

The sword marks of the Twenty-Eight Constellations flew out from the Chaos Bell and formed a star map behind Lin An. The remnants of ancestral corpses that had been drained by the Devouring System now became his fuel.

"You use living people to refine demonic seeds, I'll use dead people as firewood!"

Lin An shattered Xie Jinghong's illusory image, and the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade pierced through the glassy golden body.

The golden statue's chest cracked open, and a bronze ledger fell out, densely covered with the names of various prodigies, dating back as far as eight hundred years!

The Demon Abyss began to collapse, and the remnant body of the Lord of Nine Nether Island suddenly sprang to life.

He tore open his spine, from which crawled a centipede covered in human faces: "You think I'd really lose? These faces are from various factions..."

With a flash of light, the centipede was severed in two.

Lin An stepped on the island owner's head and sneered, "Too much nonsense."

The Chaos Bell suddenly emitted a mournful cry, and cracks appeared on its body.

Lin An then realized that the Xie family elders were remotely controlling the Star Palace Altar.

He slammed the account book onto the clock face with his backhand, and the sword marks of the Twenty-Eight Mansions suddenly reversed.

"You like to smoke? Smoke as much as you want!"

The demonic energy of the entire Demon Abyss was drained by the sword formation and poured into the altar along the star map.

At the Star Palace Ancestral Land, thousands of miles away, the twelve Xie family elders who were casting a spell simultaneously exploded into a bloody mist.

The Horned Dragon Sword Soul suddenly spoke: "Boy, your heart has stopped beating."

Lin An looked down at the bloody hole in his chest and grinned.

He unleashed the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade one last time, its blade plunging into the rift in the Chaos Bell. As the bell tolled, the Abyss of Demons collapsed completely, and the seawater, carrying countless secrets, sank forever into the Earth's core.

As the sun rose over the sea, seagulls spotted a young man lying on a piece of driftwood. A miniature dragon was perched on his chest, using its tail to catch crabs.

"Hey, you really aren't going back for revenge?"

"What's the rush?" Lin An took a swig of wine. "The Xie family still has thirty-six branch jars left, enough for me to play with for three years!"

The dragon rolled its eyes and flicked its tail, sending up a large fish.

As the waves splashed, a star map could be vaguely seen flowing in the young man's dantian. It was a pattern reassembled by the sword souls of the Twenty-Eight Mansions, more dazzling than any other light.

Lin An threw the wine jug into the sea, then flipped over and jumped onto the back of the dragon.

The Horned Wood Dragon cursed and grew larger, carrying him eastward.

The waves split open below, revealing an abandoned dock on the seabed.

"The third branch altar is in the cave ahead," the dragon pointed to the cliff with its tail. "There are twelve poison puppets at the entrance; their eyes can spew out Gu worms."

Lin An took out a piece of grilled fish and threw it over; the poison puppets immediately pounced on it to grab the food.

He seized the opportunity to slip to the gate and inserted the scabbard into the mechanism slot.

As soon as the stone door opened a crack, three poisoned crossbow bolts shot out from inside.

The crossbow bolts struck the dragon's scales, emitting blue smoke.

Lin An grabbed a poison puppet as a shield and charged in, only to run into an old man wielding a hoe.

The old man paused for a moment, then turned and shouted, "Quickly report to the altar master!"

The altar master was a woman wearing a bronze mask and holding a white bone whip in her hand.

The whip lashed out, sending up a foul stench. Lin An dodged to the side, and the whip tip immediately corroded a large hole in the stone wall it touched.

"Is this all the Xie family is capable of?"

Lin An swung his scabbard to catch the whip.

The woman suddenly ripped off her mask, and countless silver threadworms crawled out from under her skin.

The horned dragon spewed out a blast of cold air, freezing the swarm of insects.

Lin An stomped through the ice shards and rushed forward, pressing the tip of his knife against the woman's throat: "Where is the core of the formation?"

The woman smiled, black blood trickling from the corner of her mouth: "Guess?"

After he finished speaking, his entire body exploded into poisonous mist.

Lin An held his breath and retreated to the corner, hearing the sound of gears turning from under the floorboards.

"It's a self-destruct mechanism!"

The dragon's tail slammed into the ground, revealing a pool of blood beneath. Hundreds of unconscious cultivators were submerged in the pool, each with a transparent blood vessel connected to their head.

Lin An slashed the copper pipe by the pool, spraying him with a foul-smelling liquid. A bronze plate floated to the surface of the pool, engraved with the locations of the other branch altars.

The dragon scraped away the surface grime with its claws: "The seventh branch altar is in a desert oasis..."

An explosion was heard overhead, and the cave ceiling began to collapse.

Lin An carried the two nearest cultivators and ran outside, when the poison puppets suddenly self-destructed.

The blast wave threw him into the sea, and the bronze plate slipped from his grasp and sank underwater.

Three days later, at a tea stall on the edge of the desert.

The old tea seller secretly sprinkled medicine powder into Lin An's bowl, but was knocked unconscious by a dragon's tail.

Suddenly, the swordsman at the next table drew his sword, the blade of which was engraved with the Xie family's hidden patterns.

Lin An kicked the table over, splashing hot tea all over the other person's face.

"Is this all the lackeys in the Seventh Branch are capable of?"

He stepped on the swordsman's chest and pressed him for answers.

The other person bit through the poison sac and committed suicide. A map fell out of their sleeve, marking the entrance to the oasis.

In the dead of night, the oasis pool was suddenly drained.

Lin An followed the dragon into the underground palace and bumped into an alchemist in white robes in the tomb passage.

The alchemist was pouring the hearts of living people into the furnace when he saw them and was so frightened that he overturned the furnace.

"The core of the formation is the furnace!" The dragon crashed into the alchemist, sending him flying.

Lin An cleaved the alchemy furnace in two with a single stroke, and half of a register fell out from the bottom of the furnace, recording the names of the spies from various factions.

Suddenly the entire underground palace began to shake.

Before dying, the white-robed alchemist activated the trap, allowing layers of sand to pour in, carrying poisonous sand.

When Lin An leaped out of the pool with the roster in his hand, the oasis had already turned into a quicksand pit.

Over the next two months, Lin An established nineteen branch altars.

The Xie family began offering a reward of 100,000 spirit stones for his head, attracting a large number of desperate criminals.

One day in a tavern, three bounty hunters surrounded him.

The one-eyed leader swung his Binding Immortal Rope: "Kid, you..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin An had already broken his wrist.

The remaining two released poisonous bees, which were frozen into ice sculptures by the ice shards sprayed by the dragon's sneeze.

He found a secret order from the Xie family on the one-eyed man, which read "The main altar shall be moved to the Northern Wilderness Snow Mountain".

At the foot of the snow-capped mountain, the Xie family disciples on patrol were all wearing white cloaks.

Lin An knocked out a lone person, changed his clothes, and blended into the group.

When the sentry was checking the waist tag, Jiaolong slipped into his sleeve and pretended to be a jade pendant.

The entrance to the main altar is a crack in the ice.

The guard captain suddenly drew his sword: "You smell of blood!"

Lin An crushed his throat first, snatched the key, and opened the ice door.

Inside the door was a huge ice cave, with a white bone altar standing in the center.

The current head of the Xie family is addressing his disciples: "If we sacrifice another three thousand people, our ancestor will be able to..."

Lin An interrupted the speech by throwing out the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade.

When the blade was plunged into the altar, the Twenty-Eight Mansions constellation automatically unfolded, freezing all those who tried to escape.

"I've long since exiled your ancestors."

He stepped on the head of the family and pressed him for answers.

The opponent grinned maliciously and exploded into a bloody mist, while a piece of meteorite iron covered in runes fell from the top of the ice cave.

The dragon stared at the meteorite and said, "This is extraterrestrial black iron; it can break through your star map defenses."

Just as Lin An was about to grab it, the meteorite suddenly cracked open, and a spider with human hands emerged.

The spider sprayed out a sticky web that trapped the dragon.

When Lin An cut off the spider's legs, the slime corroded the blade.

He simply grabbed the spider's head and slammed it against the ice wall. On the seventh slam, the spider's abdomen split open, and a bronze key fell out.

Insert the key into a hidden compartment in the ice wall, revealing a secret passage leading downwards.

Lin An walked to the end and saw three hundred iron cages containing elders from various factions.

The innermost cage held the Heavenly Sword Pavilion's leader. The old man shouted at him, "Watch your head!"

When the rain of ice spikes came crashing down, the dragon coiled into a shield to block them.

Lin An severed all the chains, and the sect leader handed him a jade slip: "The Xie family's true grand formation lies in the Ruins of the East Sea..."

Suddenly the entire ice cave exploded.

Lin An protected everyone as they rushed out of the snow-capped mountain, and when he looked back, he saw a mushroom cloud rising.

The Xie family's main altar was destroyed, but the jade slip in his hand began to heat up, projecting a diagram of the underwater formation of the Ruins of Return.

"There are only seven branch altars left."

He wiped the ice crystals off his face.

The dragon, perched on his shoulder, muttered, "Next time, can you eat your fill before fighting?"