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

The dark red beam of light clashed with the gray-white law.

Da Yin Xisheng.

The remaining half of the Guiyuan Hall's dome was blown away like paper by this terrifying shockwave. Scrap stones mixed with metal fragments transformed into a hail of projectiles, indiscriminately sweeping into the night of the Chen family's ancestral city, stirring up towering dust.

Su Chang'an's seventh tail, with its dark red fur, stubbornly resisted Chen Daolin's barrier of law. The two forces, red and white, clashed violently at the point of contact, producing ear-piercing sonic booms, and even the surrounding air smelled acridly burnt.

The dignified quasi-emperor Chen Daolin's boots slid back half an inch.

Just this half inch.

His protective aura remained intact, as did the barrier of laws. But he retreated.

Su Chang'an twitched the corner of his mouth. This old fox wasn't losing, he was just chickening out. What he feared wasn't her, the Great Sage, but the violent "cheat code" source within her tail.

The crimson light at the tip of the tail exploded with a bang, and a blinding burst of blood light violently pushed back the barrier of law light!

The next second—the red light suddenly went out.

From the tip of the tail to the tailbone, the light abruptly receded. Su Chang'an's body stiffened abruptly.

pain.

A sharp, excruciating pain shot from her tailbone straight to the top of her head. The borrowed cheat code had expired, and the ancient celestial fox's essence began to backfire wildly within her.

The seventh tail's fur was peeling off in clumps, floating in mid-air like a tragic red snowfall. The flesh beneath it was a deathly bluish-black, and spiderweb-like cracks were spreading relentlessly.

Su Chang'an's knees buckled. He couldn't hold on any longer.

Its five tails were completely destroyed, lying on the rubble and emitting black smoke. Its cultivation at the peak of the Great Sage realm was like water bursting its banks, flowing uncontrollably. The Phoenix True Fire in its chest cavity was also compressed to the size of a fingernail, barely clinging to life.

Black blood mixed with bits of flesh splattered onto the broken bricks from a deep burn wound on his right shoulder that exposed bone.

At the edge of the pit, Chen Daolin stood with his hands behind his back.

He didn't finish the job. He just watched coldly as the red light on Su Chang'an's tail dissipated, like a shrewd butcher assessing the quality of his prey.

"The essence of that celestial fox underground has willingly recognized you." Chen Daolin's tone was completely calm. "Incomplete, ownerless, and extremely unstable. Your soul has synchronized with her body."

He took a step closer.

Su Chang'an's remaining five tails instantly bristled, and he entered a defensive stance.

Chen Daolin stopped, putting his hands behind his back: "Don't be nervous, I'm not fighting anymore."

Su Chang'an forced out a cold, hard sound through his teeth.

"Once it's broken, it's worthless." Chen Daolin stared at the smoking broken tail. "When you die, the essence she possessed in you will dissipate."

Su Chang'an's mind was racing.

Old Deng has finally seen the light. His first three moves revealed her true strength and forced out the hidden "blind box"—the origin of the Ancient Celestial Fox. He no longer wants a broken container; he wants a living, intact creature.

"The Chen family isn't after just this kid's physical body." Chen Daolin glanced at Chen Xuan, then his gaze greedily locked onto Su Chang'an. "The essence within you is far more valuable than his cultivation."

Su Chang'an dug his fingers into the broken bricks.

That same look again. Chen Daolin was lusting after Chen Xuan's physical body, Li Changgeng was eyeing her soul, and now they had another deal to make with the Heavenly Fox Origin. So, these two were just the ultimate blood bags in the eyes of these big shots.

Three parties were vying for her. She wanted to sneer, but the twitch of her lips aggravated the injury on her right shoulder, causing her to gasp in pain.

Suddenly, a sickening sound of bones grinding together came from behind me, mixed with the sound of fabric tearing.

Su Chang'an turned around abruptly.

In the pool of blood, the man whose health bar had long since run out moved.

Chen Xuan released his grip on her tail. His twisted, deformed fingers pressed against the shards of brick scattered on the ground, his bloodied palms gripping the earth tightly. His arms trembled like withered leaves in the autumn wind, his bones groaning under the unbearable weight.

Elbows on the ground. Knees on top.

The fractured spine emitted a sudden, muffled thud at the moment of impact, like a dead tree being forcibly snapped.

Su Chang'an's heart clenched suddenly: "You lie down!"

Chen Xuan turned a deaf ear.

He knelt on his right knee, followed by his left, like a dying lone wolf, his back hunched, his head drooping between his arms. Large gulps of blood gushed from his mouth and nose, pooling on the ground in a shocking red stain.

But he insisted on standing up. Despite having two broken vertebrae, he was determined to stand.

Chen Daolin stopped in his tracks.

Su Chang'an watched helplessly as Chen Xuan's legs spasmed and straightened, each inch his fractured spine straightened accompanied by a chilling, dull thud. She tried to stop him with her tail, but Chen Xuan had already passed her.

His back was hunched, and the broken bones prevented him from straightening his back. His feet sank into the broken bricks, leaving a bloody mark on the ground with each step.

As they brushed past each other, his crippled right hand lightly touched Su Chang'an's shoulder. It was chillingly cold.

He stood in front of Su Chang'an.

He was only four zhang away from Quasi-Emperor Chen Daolin. For a Great Sage to attack a Quasi-Emperor was already a matter of dimensional reduction, let alone the fact that Chen Daolin was now just a battered and crippled cripple.

But he just stood there, stubbornly refusing to move.

Even if my foundation is destroyed and my spine is broken, I can still shield you from this boundless calamity!

"Get out of here," Chen Daolin uttered two words without any emotion.

Blood bubbles rose in Chen Xuan's throat as he made gurgling, labored gasps. His right eye was sealed shut by a blood crust, and his remaining left eye, like an icy knife, stared intently at Chen Daolin.

Chen Daolin pulled his hands out from behind his back: "I said, I won't kill her."

Chen Xuan didn't let him pass. His broken body tilted to the left, completely blocking Chen Daolin's view of Su Chang'an.

Chen Daolin's fingertips twitched slightly.

Su Chang'an, his eyes bloodshot with rage, desperately tried to prop himself up with his tail: "Chen Xuan, you fucking get out of my way—"

"No."

The two words, mumbled and tinged with the smell of blood, landed on the ruins with a resounding thud.

Chen Daolin stared at the face stained with blood and dust. With a mere flick of his wrist, this frail body would be reduced to dust. But he withdrew his hand.

It wasn't out of pity. He keenly sensed that every time the red dot remaining on Su Chang'an's tail flashed, a very faint, synchronized vibration would emanate from deep underground.

The ancient celestial fox's body, sealed for three thousand years, is responding!

If Su Chang'an dies, this source will dissipate, and the seal will close again. But as long as she lives, the synchronization rate will continue to rise, and sooner or later it will be able to disintegrate the great formation from within.

He didn't want a dead body, but a usable living key.

"The matter of Guiyuan Hall ends here." Chen Daolin turned around decisively.

Su Chang'an's tail twitched suddenly. Something was wrong; this old dog retreated too quickly.

"From the moment you smashed open the gate, the protective formation of the Chen family's ancestral land was fully activated." Chen Daolin stepped over the twisted iron gate frame, his back disappearing into the night, but his voice fell like a death knell.

"Within a radius of three hundred miles, there is no escape. You are locked up."

Guiyuan Hall fell into a deathly silence. Cold wind poured in through the hole in the dome, stirring up echoes all over the ground.

Su Chang'an gritted his teeth, dragging his crippled right arm, and scrambled to Chen Xuan's back. His left hand just touched Chen Xuan's lower back.

Chen Xuan's body, which had been taut to the extreme, completely relaxed the moment he felt her body temperature. His knees buckled, and he fell straight backward.

Su Chang'an pulled him into her arms.

Her left hand gripped his waist tightly, and her five tails wrapped around him from behind. His broken bones pressed painfully against her collarbone, but she held on tightly.

Chen Xuan leaned his head back against her shoulder, his only remaining left eye gazing at the thick, dark clouds in the night sky.

"We've been surrounded," Su Chang'an said hoarsely. "He's sealed off the ancestral city."

Chen Xuan remained silent. His left eye slowly closed, his pulse so weak it seemed it might stop at any moment.

Just then, a strange movement came from the direction of the abyss.

Su Chang'an turned his head warily. Li Changgeng, dressed in a tattered gray robe, stood at the edge of the abyss. He didn't look back at them, but stared intently at the bottomless black abyss.

From the deepest depths of the abyss, piercing through layers of runes and chains, a faint yet perfectly resonant aura rose:

"Chang...Geng..."

Li Changgeng shuddered. He clenched his fists tightly, then released them, then clenched them again. He repeated this three times.

The next second, he leaped into the air!

Without the slightest hesitation, his gray robe billowed as he was completely swallowed by the abyss.

At the bottom of the ruins, the cold wind was biting.

The last glimmer of red light on the seventh tail completely went out, returning to Su Chang'an's original crimson color.

In his mind, the system panel glowed dimly, the text clearer and more glaring than ever before:

[Destined Death Tribulation Progress: 92%]

Su Chang'an glanced at it coldly and turned off the panel. She lowered her head and hugged Chen Xuan, whose body temperature was constantly dropping, even tighter. Blood mixed with cold sweat soaked through their clothes.

"Listen carefully, you unfilial son," Su Chang'an whispered, his lips brushing against his earlobe, his voice barely audible to the two of them, "Your death is not over yet."

Chen Xuan's blood-stained eyelashes trembled slightly.

"The city is sealed off, and the great formation is activated. In your current weakened state, even a random minion can make you drop gold coins."

Her free left hand slid down and forcefully squeezed into his bloodied right hand. Their fingers intertwined, blood mingling.

"But I still have five tails to fight. In this high-level game, we haven't lost yet."

Chen Xuan's shattered finger bones moved with difficulty.

The only finger that could still exert force was the ring finger, which was bent and hooked tightly into Su Chang'an's palm.