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

In the perception amplified countless times by the Word Fixation Technique.

Chen Fan could clearly see that the Fire Source's withered middle and index fingers were still in an extremely small, overlapping position!

That sinister technique, which had been held back but not yet unleashed, had not dissipated at all!

"He's playing dead. He's still playing dead!"

Chen Fan took a deep breath and felt a chill run down his back.

Even after such a brutal battle, when he was completely exhausted and his vital signs had completely disappeared, this old monster was still able to maintain his last bit of sanity and set up this final deadly trap!

He's taking a gamble!

I'm betting that the hidden self will eventually emerge out of greed to pick up the pieces!

As long as Chen Fan dares to get close!

This deadly blow, poised to strike, will definitely drag him down to hell!

"What a ruthless old dog. Ruthless to himself, and even more ruthless to others." Chen Fan thought to himself, secretly alarmed.

If it weren't for his extraordinary investigative abilities, such as the Word-Finding Technique, and if it weren't for his extremely cautious nature...

Any Nascent Soul cultivator, or even a Void Refinement cultivator, would have rushed out to pick up the pieces without hesitation after witnessing that tragic scene of mutual destruction.

But once they go outside, they will die.

"Eunuch Chen? What are you looking at?" Eunuch Wei asked again when Chen Fan didn't move for a while.

Chen Fan slowly loosened his grip on the sword hilt, a chilling smile curving his lips.

"He's waiting for our family."

Chen Fan's voice was soft, yet it carried an absolute rationality.

"What are you waiting for? Isn't he dead?" Eunuch Wei was completely bewildered.

"Wait until our family goes out to die." Chen Fan closed his eyes and cut off the image on the water mirror.

"Since he enjoys playing dead so much, let him keep doing it. Eventually, his fake death will become real."

Chen Fan sat up straight on the futon again, made hand seals, and completely immersed his mind in his body.

His decision was simple.

hold on!

……

Three more days passed outside the bowl, while a month passed inside the bowl.

For the entire month, Chen Fan never stepped out of the meditation room.

He sat cross-legged on the futon, his face as cold and stern as ancient ice, his deep black eyes fixed on the water mirror floating in mid-air, without blinking.

The image projected in the mirror was still that desolate and appalling Black Stone Square.

The ground was littered with dried corpses and scattered stones.

On the towering, dark red altar, the Fire Source himself, like a truly dried-up corpse, was firmly nailed to his spot by five dark golden Zhenyuan nails. His withered right middle and index fingers still maintained that barely perceptible overlapping position!

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

But for a Void Refinement stage old monster whose lifespan was exhausted, whose origin was sealed and frantically drained, and who had suffered repeated severe injuries, every minute and every second of these three days was no different from being slowly tortured to death.

"Eunuch Chen, this old dog really knows how to hold on."

Eunuch Wei squatted down next to Chen Fan, a handful of sunflower seeds he'd somehow acquired, cracking them open and spitting the shells out onto the ground. His tone was full of impatience. "It's been a month already, doesn't his two fingers get tired? He looks like he's practically dead. Should we just go out and give him a quick death with a sword?"

"Shut up."

Chen Fan didn't even turn his head, his voice cold and flat, "He's still breathing. As long as that aura of law remains, if you go out now, you'll be offering yourself up as food."

"But what if he just keeps dragging this on? Are we supposed to hide in this bowl forever?" Eunuch Wei pursed his lips.

"He can't afford to waste time."

Chen Fan's gaze was sharp as a knife: "Zhen Yuan is constantly draining his life force. He's currently only clinging to life by relying on the Void Refining Law. This state is like boiling oil over a raging fire; the longer it goes on, the more gruesome his death will be. He's waiting for us to lose patience, and we're waiting for him to run out of steam. It's a contest of who can hold their breath longer."

Eunuch Wei rolled his eyes and fell silent.

He was utterly impressed by the old eunuch's almost obsessive caution.

Finally, in the outside world, it was the morning of the fourth day.

In the scene, the Fire Source itself, which had remained completely still, suddenly underwent an extremely subtle change.

"Click..."

The two fingers, tightly intertwined, produced an extremely dry, bone-grinding sound.

Then, I let go, feeling utterly helpless.

The incantation has been dispelled.

Immediately afterwards, the Fire Source's true form slowly opened its deep-set eyes. The originally eerie green ghost fire had dimmed to the point of being like a candle flickering in the wind, with only a tiny spark remaining.

He did not fly into a rage, nor did he roar, nor did he even try to struggle again.

Yes, but only a deep numbness and despondency.

The true form of Fire Source could no longer maintain the facade.

He felt his soul beginning to disintegrate, and the sealing runes on the five Zhenyuan nails, like bloodthirsty leeches, had completely drained his marrow. His proud Void Refining Law was now like a dried-up riverbed, unable to squeeze out a single drop of water.

His lifespan is about to end.

The shadow of death, with unprecedented clarity, enveloped this once mighty being who roamed the star field.

"Hehe...haha..."

A desolate, hoarse laugh rolled out from the Fire Source's withered throat. He tilted his head slightly, looking at the gray dome of the underground space, his eyes filled with endless complexity.

"You didn't come...you still didn't come..."

The Fire Source itself faced the empty ruins and began to talk to itself. Although its voice was weak, it carried a kind of dying embers.

"Ghostwood... What a sword cultivator at the late Nascent Soul stage. I have lived for four thousand seven hundred years and killed countless geniuses and prodigies. I thought I had no flaws. But I never expected to be defeated by a mere brat like you today."

"You're too cautious. Excessively cautious, to the point of being outrageously cautious, so cautious that even I, a cultivator at the Void Refinement stage, feel a chill!"

As the Fire Source itself coughed up black blood, it spoke haltingly, its tone devoid of resentment, instead tinged with a strange admiration.

"Faced with a priceless treasure, you remained ungreedy; faced with a heavily wounded enemy, you did not act rashly. Even though I had revealed my weaknesses to this extent, even shown you my last trump card for a counterattack, you still managed to refrain from making a move. This composure, this forbearance... I lost fair and square, without any regrets!"

Inside the golden bowl, upon hearing these words, Eunuch Wei was so startled that he dropped the melon seeds in his hand.

"My goodness! Eunuch Chen, this old monster is actually praising you? This...is this a case of 'a dying man's words are kind'?"

Chen Fan remained expressionless, his eyes chillingly cold, and he didn't utter a single word.

In the scene, the voice of the Fire Source True Being grew increasingly low, carrying a strong sense of entrusting his fate to others: "Ghost Wood, I am finished... My lifespan has come to an end, and there is no way to save me. In this life, I have used any means necessary to seek the path to immortality, but in the end, I am trapped and die in this dark and sunless underground altar. This is also the retribution for karma."

You're a smart person, and a ruthless one too. The cultivation world is a dog-eat-dog world; only someone like you can truly reach the end, even stepping into the legendary Mahayana or Tribulation Transcending realms!