Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

Su Chang'an's words, "Get out if you don't fight," still hang above the ruins of Guiyuan Hall.

The nine tails of the phantom fire fox slowly contracted in mid-air, and the temperature of the white flames gradually decreased. Li Changgeng stood still, his right hand raised in mid-air trembling, and the golden aura of a quasi-emperor flickered like a wick about to burn out.

He didn't move.

Su Chang'an's chest heaved violently.

That attack almost completely emptied her newly merged essence, leaving her limbs numb and the tips of her nine tails trembling uncontrollably.

But she didn't back down.

Chen Xuan was right behind him.

The rebellious son was still lying in a pool of blood, one hand clutching the hem of her clothes so tightly that the fabric was twisted into a rope. If she took even half a step back, he would have to face the quasi-emperor's oppressive aura.

Refund my ass.

Li Changgeng's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

He was looking at Su Chang'an's face.

There was no fear or scheming on that face, only something all too familiar to him—a fierce, reckless protectiveness of his own.

Three thousand years ago, on the wasteland outside Luoyan Town, when the Iron-Horned Bull charged over, the woman in the gray robe was just like that.

The same.

Li Changgeng's hand dropped an inch.

"division--"

He had just uttered a single word when footsteps echoed outside the Guiyuan Hall.

Taking his time, he stepped on the broken bricks, with each step spaced almost evenly.

Su Chang'an's tail twitched.

This is not Li Changgeng's footsteps.

Li Changgeng's steps carried the unique rhythm of a quasi-emperor, producing a subtle resonance in the ground with each step. This footstep, however, was different. Clean, steady, and exuding the composure of an observer.

—The visitor is not friendly.

Chen Daolin walked in through the collapsed iron gate frame.

His greyish-white robe was spotless, so clean it didn't look like he'd just walked through ruins. With his hands behind his back, he walked slowly, skirting the broken iron plates and fractured stone bricks, stopping three zhang away from Li Changgeng.

He didn't look at Su Chang'an.

He didn't even look at Chen Xuan.

He was looking at Li Changgeng.

"Fellow Daoist Li."

Two words, neither too light nor too heavy, yet they stood out remarkably clearly amidst the ruins.

Li Changgeng's hand stopped.

Chen Daolin's gaze swept across Li Changgeng's face, lingering for a moment on those bloodshot eyes.

"Three thousand years."

Chen Daolin took a step forward. His steps were so slow that Su Chang'an could count how many bricks he broke with each step.

"You have guarded this Guiyuan Hall for three thousand years. You have altered the course of the main spiritual vein several times, and you have reinforced the sealing formation several times."

He paused for a moment.

"The chains on the body underground have increased from the initial thirty-six to the current three hundred and seventy-two."

Li Changgeng's body stiffened.

Chen Daolin's tone was completely flat, as if he were reciting an old debt that had been stored up for three thousand years.

"For each chain added, you will need to spend ten years of your cultivation to stabilize the foundation of the array. More than three hundred chains, more than three thousand years."

He paused for a moment.

"You should have reached the Great Emperor realm two thousand years ago."

Su Chang'an caught his breath.

Great Emperor.

Li Changgeng should have been the Great Emperor.

"But you didn't." Chen Daolin stopped. "You poured all your cultivation into that seal."

Li Changgeng's fingers curled up.

"You are capable of breaking the formation."

Chen Daolin's voice wasn't loud, but each word struck like a nail into flesh.

"You don't dare."

"You're afraid that once you break it open, she'll already be dead."

"You're more afraid that she's still alive—but doesn't recognize you."

Li Changgeng's lips turned white.

"So you chose the dumbest way."

Chen Daolin took his hand out from behind his back and pointed to the abyss beneath his feet.

"You locked her there. You neither let her die nor let her wake up. You spent three thousand years trapping yourself in a cage where you would never have to face any answers."

Su Chang'an stood three zhang away, his nine tails tucked behind him, protecting Chen Xuan.

She didn't interrupt.

Because every word Chen Daolin uttered was like nails being driven into the cracks of Li Changgeng's Daoist heart.

That's more effective than a hundred punches from her.

Li Changgeng's golden aura began to flicker violently. The Quasi-Emperor's Laws were disrupted, and fine black lines cracked open in the surrounding space, like a parched riverbed.

"Shut up."

Li Changgeng squeezed out three words through gritted teeth.

Chen Daolin didn't shut up.

"Now someone who looks like her has arrived."

He tilted his head and finally looked at Su Chang'an.

"You're crazy."

He withdrew his gaze and turned it back to Li Changgeng.

"Fellow Daoist Li, I have a question for you."

Li Changgeng did not answer. His chest heaved violently, and his white hair was scattered by the chaotic power of the laws.

"You just pulled her soul out of that child's sea of ​​consciousness and threw it into the abyss."

Chen Daolin's speaking speed remained unchanged.

"You saw her face. You saw her nine tails. You even smelled her scent."

"and then?"

Chen Daolin took another step forward.

"Did you recognize me?"

Li Changgeng's body was trembling.

"Is she your master?"

These words shattered a layer of Li Changgeng's protective aura.

"no."

Chen Daolin answered for him.

"You know it in your heart. From the first moment you saw her, you knew it. There are traces of your master in her soul, but she is not."

His voice was lowered slightly.

"You said it yourself—no two flowers are alike."

Li Changgeng's knees bent slightly.

It only bent slightly before holding on again.

Su Chang'an watched this scene from three zhang away. Her hand was still on Chen Xuan's back, and the Heavenly Fox Essence continued to flow into his body. Two vertebrae of Chen Xuan's spine had been reconnected, but his meridians were still a mess.

She didn't take the opportunity to make a move.

It's not that I don't want to.

She saw it—this old man was breaking down Li Changgeng's defenses. Each word he uttered was precise, stabbing into the old wounds of three thousand years ago, sharper than a knife.

Chen Daolin did not come to rescue anyone.

He's here to clean up the mess.

Su Chang'an's pupils contracted slightly.

In the Chen family's ancestral land, the only person who could remain so stable amidst the uncontrolled storm of laws raging at the Quasi-Emperor level was Chen Daolin, the pillar of the imperial clan. That name was followed by four words—"Not to be provoked."

Li Changgeng has lost control; the disorder of the Quasi-Emperor's laws will affect the entire Chen family ancestral land.

Chen Daolin needed him to calm down. And the quickest way to calm down a quasi-emperor who had been tormented by love for three thousand years—

It's not about hitting.

It's to make him face reality.

"The person you've guarded for three thousand years has been lying underground for three thousand years."

Chen Daolin's voice was devoid of sympathy or sarcasm, as dry as sand that hadn't seen rain in three thousand years.

"And the woman standing in front of you doesn't know you."

She was protecting that child.

"When she rushed in and banged on the door, all she could see was that child."

"You are in her heart—"

Chen Daolin paused for a moment.

"It's nothing."

Li Changgeng's protective aura shattered completely.

Golden light flakes peeled off his body piece by piece, landing on the broken bricks and extinguishing.

He stood there.

His white hair fell to his shoulders, and several black holes were burned into the hem of his gray Taoist robe by true fire. The quasi-emperor's aura of three thousand years vanished completely in this moment.

He was someone who was abandoned.

Su Chang'an watched his retreating figure.

A scene flashed through my mind—Gu Tianhu sitting opposite the campfire, drops of blood from his sleeve falling onto the snow, a perfectly controlled smile on his face.

the same.

They were all abandoned.

Su Chang'an dismissed the idea.

She doesn't have time to care about others.

Chen Xuan was still lying at her feet, his clothes were clenched into a ball, and the veins on the back of his hand were still throbbing.

Chen Daolin turned around and faced Su Chang'an.

His gaze finally settled completely on her. It swept from her red dress to her nine tails, and from the tails to the hand she was pressing on Chen Xuan's back.

"Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox. Peak Great Sage."

He spoke, his tone as if he were taking inventory of goods.

"The origin is impure, the traces of fusion are obvious, and the realm is superficial."

Su Chang'an's tail twitched.

Are you going to recite the menu?

"At most, you can withstand three of my moves."

Chen Daolin raised his right hand.

Spread your fingers and place your palm down.

An even more profound and ancient pressure descended from his palm than Li Changgeng's. It wasn't the power of a quasi-emperor's laws, but a pure, overwhelming difference in cultivation level.

One by one, the remaining floor tiles of Guiyuan Hall shattered. Su Chang'an's nine tails were bent under the weight, their tips touching the ground. Her knees ached, and her spine creaked.

Chen Xuan suddenly raised his head at her feet.

The bloodshot left eye stared intently at Chen Daolin's hand.

His lips were moving.

Su Chang'an couldn't hear what he was saying.

But she glanced down at it.

The hand that was gripping her clothes had all its knuckles turned outwards, and was covered in blood and flesh.

They absolutely refused to let go.

Su Chang'an raised his head.

She looked at Chen Daolin's hand, which was suspended in mid-air, and her lips twitched slightly.

"Three moves?"

She lifted her left hand off Chen Xuan's back. The essence of the Heavenly Fox condensed at her fingertips, and the white light of the Phoenix True Fire seeped out from between her bones.

"Then let's give it a try."

Chen Daolin pressed his palm down three inches.

The ground of Guiyuan Hall exploded.