Cultivation of immortality begins with an eighty-year-old eunuch.

There was still only deathly silence all around.

There was no response, no change in atmosphere.

If Huo Yuan himself hadn't been certain of his intuition, he might have even suspected that the swordsman had already left.

The masked scholar's eyes flashed wildly as he listened to the furious roar of the Fire Source's true form.

"Is that guy named Guimu still lurking in the shadows?"

He took a deep breath, enduring the excruciating pain of his torn meridians, when suddenly his legs gave way and he collapsed to his knees with a thud.

"Senior...this humble one...this humble one knows his mistake...please, senior, spare my life..."

The masked scholar coughed up mouthfuls of blood, his body trembling violently like a leaf in the wind, as if he were about to breathe his last.

As he pleaded, he secretly gathered his last bit of spiritual energy between his brows, ready to launch the final attack at any moment.

The masked scholar is feigning death.

Since there is an extremely cautious hunter lurking in the shadows, he absolutely cannot show any room for resistance now.

He had to pretend to be on his deathbed, wait for the person hiding in the shadows to appear, and then look for an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow, or seize the chance to escape!

The Fire Source True Body glanced coldly at the Ghost-Faced Scholar. With his experience of living for thousands of years, how could he not see that the scholar was acting?

However, he didn't expose him, and he didn't even have the interest to add insult to injury.

Because he, like the scholar, was also waiting!

The Fire Source True Body slowly closed his eyes, letting the five Zhenyuan Nails frantically drain his life force. His aura grew weaker and weaker until even the slightest pressure from the Void Refinement stage completely dissipated.

He was like a real corpse, nailed to the altar, motionless.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

In the ruins, only the occasional hissing sound of spatial turbulence remained.

……

Inside the golden bowl, in the quiet room.

Chen Fan sat cross-legged on the futon. His face was still as pale as paper, but his injuries had been barely stabilized thanks to the large amount of Rejuvenation Pills he had taken.

With his left hand forming a hand seal, a mirror of water floated in front of him, projecting everything that was happening in the square outside into the quiet room with perfect clarity.

Eunuch Wei squatted down next to Chen Fan, holding a handful of melon seeds, staring dumbfounded at the scene reflected in the shimmering water.

"Oh my, these two dogs, they're really good actors!" Eunuch Wei spat out the melon seed shells on the ground, clicking his tongue in amazement. "That old dog Huoyuan is one thing, he was already half dead. But that scholar, with such a big hole in his chest, he can still endure it without making a sound. His endurance, tsk tsk, it's a waste of his talent not to work in the Imperial Household Department."

Chen Fan ignored Wei Gonggong's teasing, his dark eyes, as calm as still water, fixed on the two people in the picture.

"Eunuch Chen, they're all waiting for you. Aren't you going out to say hello?" Eunuch Wei nudged Chen Fan with his elbow.

"Going out to die?" Chen Fan's voice was cold and emotionless. "Which of these two isn't an old monster who has lived for thousands of years? Although that old dog Huo Yuan was backfired by the Zhenyuan Nail, there is definitely still a trace of power left in the source of the laws within him. That is his last trump card. As long as we dare to show our faces, he will definitely not hesitate to drag us down with him."

"As for that scholar..." Chen Fan's gaze fell on the masked scholar, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "The fact that this person survived Huo Yuan's fatal blow means he definitely has a trump card to save his life. He's pretending to be dead now, hoping that I'll go out and fight Huo Yuan to the death so he can reap the benefits."

"They want to go fishing, so we'll just wait it out with them. Let's see who gives in first."

Chen Fan closed his eyes and continued to refine the medicinal power within his body.

He possesses the extraordinary treasure of the golden bowl, and time is the one thing he has no shortage of.

One day outside the bowl, ten days inside the bowl.

He had enough patience to watch these two old monsters slowly walk towards death.

……

Outside, in the ruined square.

The oppressive atmosphere was suffocating.

One day passed.

The Fire Source and the Ghost-Faced Scholar remained in their previous poses, motionless.

If it weren't for the occasional extremely faint breathing sounds, one might even think they were corpses.

The masked scholar began to panic.

His chest wound was too severe. Although he used his remaining spiritual power to forcibly seal the blood vessels, the residual fire elemental energy at the wound site was constantly eroding his life force.

"That guy named Guimu, is he really gone?"

The masked scholar roared inwardly, but dared not make the slightest move. He knew that although the Fire Source was also dying, if he dared to get up, that old dog would definitely unleash a power that could instantly kill him.

The next day passed.

The Fire Source's condition is even worse.

The five Zhenyuan nails were like greedy leeches, relentlessly draining the last bit of his life essence. He could even feel his lifespan slipping away at an alarming rate.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

The Fire Source itself cursed Chen Fan in its heart.

In all his years of life, he had never seen such an exceptional and cautious person! He had already revealed so many flaws, even removing the most basic defenses, yet that person still didn't appear!

"Could it be that he really saw through my trump card?" The Fire Source True Body felt an unprecedented sense of defeat.

Day three.

The atmosphere in the square had become extremely tense.

The masked scholar felt his consciousness beginning to blur. Excessive blood loss and the erosion of the laws had brought his vital signs to a freezing point.

He knew that if he didn't get treatment soon, he would definitely die here today.

The situation of the Fire Source itself was not much better than his.

The backlash from the Zhenyuan Nail had penetrated deep into his bones. If he didn't use his spiritual power to suppress it, not only would his original body be completely annihilated, but even the wisp of his soul hidden within his clone would suffer irreversible damage.

Both of them, whose life cultivation was being consumed at an alarming rate, had reached their limits.

However, knowing that they were still alive, they dared not make the first move!

The Ghost-Faced Scholar feared the fire source's true form's dying counterattack.

The Fire Source True Body feared that after he used his last bit of power to kill the scholar, Ghost Wood would suddenly jump out and take advantage of the situation.

The three of them formed a bizarre and absurd balance in this ruin.

……

A month has passed inside the golden bowl.

Chen Fan's external injuries had mostly healed, and his severed meridians had been reconnected. He changed into a clean blue robe and stood quietly in front of the water mirror.

"Eunuch Chen, it's been three days, and they still haven't made a move. Could those two old fellows really be dead?" Eunuch Wei yawned and said listlessly.

"Soon."

Chen Fan's gaze was sharp as a knife. "Their vitality has been exhausted to the extreme. Whether it's the source of fire or the scholar, they have reached a point where destruction is necessary for construction. Today, there will inevitably be a result."