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

The white light on the stone wall was dazzling.

Within the array's grooves, Su Chang'an's remaining blood boiled like water, hissing and bubbling. The raging energy was trapped at the central point, unable to find an outlet, causing the entire stone wall to bulge outwards at a visible speed.

Blood was still seeping from Su Chang'an's left palm. The torn piece of flesh remained on the array patterns, becoming a medium for the array to absorb blood.

Fortunately, the connection has been lost.

The bad news is that this wall could blow up at any time.

The goddess of the Wang family stepped onto the third step. Three assassins at the Pifu Realm stood on either side, their swords drawn, exuding murderous intent.

She held Chen Tianyou's severed arm in her right hand. The golden light of the Emperor's blood flickered in the dark waterway, casting an uncertain shadow on half of her face.

"You've come at the right time." Su Chang'an's voice floated up from the mud pit. His throat was completely hoarse, and it carried a strong smell of blood and rust.

Even she herself didn't expect her voice to be in such bad shape.

The goddess of the Wang family did not act immediately. Her gaze swept over the stone wall behind Su Chang'an, and the blinding white light made her subconsciously squint.

"A discarded array core." The goddess of the Wang family narrowed her eyes. "You actually activated it."

Su Chang'an took a step forward.

Her feet sank into the mud with a dull thud. Her right arm hung limply at her side, the flesh from her shoulder to her elbow charred and lifeless.

Blood dripped from his left palm, trickling down his fingertips and into the mud.

Behind him, three fox tails fiercely protected Chen Xuan.

"How long have you been squatting outside?" Su Chang'an asked coldly.

The goddess of the Wang family avoided answering. Her gaze shifted from the stone wall to Su Chang'an, from his crippled right arm to his exhausted tail, and finally settled on his pale face.

This is clearly a person who is about to die.

"I've been here since the Guiyuan Hall collapsed." The goddess of the Wang family switched her severed arm to her left hand. "The noise you made when you banged on the door was too loud; half of the ancestral city heard it."

Su Chang'an's lips twitched. He couldn't laugh out loud; his facial muscles were already out of control.

"Then you should understand by now." Su Chang'an tapped the stone wall behind him with his chin. "Once this thing explodes, the lousy steps you're standing on, along with you, will all be blasted to dust."

The goddess of the Wang family suddenly tightened her grip.

Of course she could see it. The energy expansion speed of the array's core far exceeded expectations. When this stone wall exploded, nothing would grow within a radius of ten feet.

The steps she stood on were only eight zhang (approximately 33 meters) away from the stone wall.

"So what?" the goddess of the Wang family asked indifferently, "Trying to drag me down to a one-for-one trade?"

Su Chang'an didn't respond.

She tilted her head, her gaze fixed on the severed arm that the goddess of the Wang family was holding in her right hand.

Imperial bloodline essence.

This is her last trump card.

"The imperial blood in that arm can suppress the array's core for three breaths." Su Chang'an's voice was hoarse, each word squeezed out from the bottom of his throat. "For those three breaths, the energy won't explode randomly, but rather explode in a targeted manner."

The goddess of the Wang family gasped for breath.

"You want to use this opportunity to blow up the spiritual vein passage behind you?"

Su Chang'an raised his bloodied left hand. With his fingers spread, the horrifying crater in his palm was exposed to the eerie green light of the luminous pearl.

"The spiritual vein connects to the outer edge of the abyss. The great formation has been torn open from the inside, and the clan's protective formation will be paralyzed for at least a quarter of an hour."

Su Chang'an paused for a moment.

"A 15-minute window is enough for you to run away. You've made a killing on this trade."

The goddess of the Wang family fell silent.

The underground sewers were deathly silent. The white light from the array's core continued to surge wildly, and the stone walls bulged larger and larger. Stone dust fell in a flurry, crashing into the silt.

"What do you want?" the goddess of the Wang family finally asked.

"Lend me your severed arm once. I'll return it to you after I'm done."

The goddess of the Wang family pinched the severed arm twice with her fingers, and the golden essence blood light flickered on and off.

Do you think I'd believe that?

"You have no choice." Su Chang'an's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a ruthless edge. "If this wall blows up, you'll be shattered into pieces too."

The goddess of the Wang family stared intently at her.

Su Chang'an met her gaze without flinching.

Between the two were seven steps, half a meter of silt, and a stone wall that could send everyone flying into the sky at any moment.

The air was filled with the acrid smell of overloaded spiritual energy, mixed with the stench of rotting flesh and blood.

"Have your men retreat to the stairwell," Su Chang'an said coldly.

The goddess of the Wang family did not move.

The three assassins behind her exchanged a glance, and the one on the far left took a half step forward, his long sword pointing directly at Su Chang'an's throat.

"Hand over Chen Xuan first," the goddess of the Wang family said coldly, "and then I'll consider doing this deal with you."

Su Chang'an's tail tip twitched suddenly.

Her Celestial Fox essence was reduced to less than half a percent, and her Phoenix True Fire was completely extinguished. Her right arm was crippled, her left hand was missing a piece of flesh, and of her nine tails, only five were still functional, two of which were needed to sustain Chen Xuan's life.

A direct confrontation? We absolutely cannot win.

Normally, she could easily slaughter three Wang family goddesses at the Foundation Establishment Realm and one at the Profound Cave Realm. But now, her health bar is even lower than Chen Xuan's.

"You can create an opening in the great formation," the goddess of the Wang family pressed closer, "but you can't escape."

She raised her chin high.

"That half-dead good-for-nothing behind you is dragging you along; you won't even be able to get out of this alley."

Su Chang'an's left hand hung limply at his side. Blood seeped through his fingers and dripped onto his shoe.

"It would be better to leave him here," the goddess of the Wang family softened her tone. "Your chances of escaping alone are much greater than dragging along a burden. If I don't kill him, he'll still be useful to the Wang family—he's a direct descendant of the Chen family, with the body of an imperial being—"

"Are you trying to bargain with me here?"

Su Chang'an interrupted her directly.

There were no questions, no sarcasm, and the tone was as calm as reciting a menu.

"How much is that arm you're holding worth? How much are the three living people behind you worth? What level of status do you have in this game?"

The goddess's fingers stiffened, and the golden light on her severed arm dimmed for a moment.

"You're arguing with me verbally, but you're really calculating in your mind. Are you wondering if your three henchmen will have enough time to rush over and subdue me?" Su Chang'an spat out a mouthful of blood and sneered, "And then you realize, not enough. The wall blows up, and we all die together."

The white light on the stone wall surged again, and large areas of gravel began to fall off the top of the waterway.

"You can't afford to drag this out," Su Chang'an said, emphasizing each word. "Neither can I."

Dead silence.

A dull cracking sound came from the stone wall. From the center point of the array pattern, three spiderweb-like cracks instantly burst forth. The cracks expanded wildly, their speed increasing rapidly.

The goddess of the Wang family finally couldn't hold back any longer, and her expression changed drastically.

"How much longer?"

"Guess."

The goddess of the Wang family glanced down at the severed arm in her hand. Golden light flowed between her fingers; although the essence of the imperial bloodline was waning, its residual power remained.

Her Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty.

"After you're done using it, the severed arm is mine."

"If you like collecting junk, then go ahead."

The goddess of the Wang family suddenly threw her severed arm forward.

The golden light drew an arc and paused in mid-air for a moment.

Su Chang'an's left hand shot out with lightning speed, grabbing the wrist of the severed arm. The congealed black blood at the stump pressed against his fingertips, icy cold. But the warmth of the imperial blood essence seeped out through the bone marrow, climbing all the way up the forearm.

It's warm.

It was so warm. The warmth was so comforting that her muscles were trembling.

The moment the Heavenly Fox sensed the scent of the Imperial Clan's essence blood, it instinctively wanted to pounce and drain it dry. Su Chang'an gritted his teeth, forcibly suppressing his dantian and extinguishing the impulse.

Now is not the time to enjoy yourself.

The spiderweb pattern on the stone wall had exploded to the edge of the array pattern. The entire wall emitted a continuous low-frequency hum, as if something terrifying was frantically ramming against the stone from behind.

Li Changgeng smashed it again.

The aftershocks traveled along the spiritual vein channel, causing a terrifying resonance with the energy accumulated in the array's core.

Su Chang'an felt the entire underground sewer system shaking violently.

Ripples spread across the mud beneath our feet.

She lifted the severed arm in front of the array pattern, pressed her left hand firmly against the largest bone section at the cut, and pressed down hard on the center point!

The essence of the imperial bloodline collided violently with the remaining blood of Su Chang'an in the array pattern grooves.

The white light suddenly dimmed.

It darkened by a factor of three.

The rampaging energy cycle of the array patterns was forcibly suppressed by the Emperor's blood. The expansion slowed down, and the stone wall stopped cracking.

Three breaths.

Su Chang'an started a countdown in his mind.

One.

With a forceful push of her left hand, she pressed her severed elbow firmly against the most densely packed cracks in the stone wall. Golden imperial blood seeped wildly into the cracks, spreading along the dried-up spiritual veins.

The passageway was lit up.

The pent-up energy finally found an outlet.

two.

Su Chang'an turned around abruptly.

Chen Xuan lay prone in the mud, his three tails tightly wrapped around him. His left hand was supporting him in the muddy water, his body trembling like a leaf, yet he didn't utter a sound.

His left eye was fixed on Su Chang'an.

Without hesitation, Su Chang'an retracted his two extra tails and draped them over Chen Xuan. The five tails wrapped him up in layers, turning him into an airtight cocoon of blood from head to toe.

Chen Xuan's lips moved slightly.

Su Chang'an didn't listen. She suddenly turned around.

three.

The suppression of the Emperor's bloodline has expired.

The white light surged back to ten times its original brightness! The central dot of the array pattern exploded with a deafening roar. Su Chang'an threw away his severed arm and slammed his left hand hard on the ground.

The last remaining trace of power from the Celestial Fox's origin was frantically poured into its five tails.

The entire waterway was instantly engulfed by white light.

The explosion wasn't a deafening roar. There was only a muffled thud, most of its power swallowed up by the rock walls and the earth.

It lacks a bit of grandeur, but its main focus is practicality.

The stone wall crumbled outwards from the center. Countless fragments of stone were carried by a directional torrent of energy and slammed into the spiritual vein passage behind it like cannonballs. The passage walls were scraped so hard that deep, bone-revealing ravines were carved into them.

The passage has been completely opened.

Scalding hot air poured back into the waterway from the cave entrance, carrying with it the smell of sulfur and rust from deep underground.

There was also an aura etched into Su Chang'an's very bones.

The Origin of the Celestial Fox.

Ancient, decaying, dying.

But, he is still alive.

Su Chang'an's seventh tail began to tremble wildly again. She gritted her teeth, suppressing the instinctive urge to resonate.

The aftershocks of the explosion were still raging. Half of the overhead waterway ceiling had collapsed, and rubble splashed into the mud, splattering Su Chang'an's face with mud.

She didn't even bother to wipe it.

Rapid footsteps came from the direction of the steps. The goddess of the Wang family, accompanied by three assassins, rushed down like arrows released from a bow.

She moved extremely fast, bypassing Su Chang'an and heading straight for the cave entrance.

As she passed by Su Chang'an, she casually scooped up the severed arm from the mud. Her movements were fluid and effortless, without even a stumble; her skill was nauseating.

Three assassins followed closely behind, filing into the spiritual vein passage in single file.

Su Chang'an did not stop him.

She had no intention of stopping her at all.

The goddess of the Wang family was the stepping stone she threw out. Whoever was the first to rush into the spiritual vein passage had to traverse all the restrictions and traps inside for her.

High-level hunters often appear as prey.

She, Su Chang'an, never does a losing business.

"Let's go," Su Chang'an said in a low voice.

Five tails coiled around Chen Xuan, dragging him with difficulty toward the cave entrance.

Chen Xuan was tightly wrapped in the tail, his vision completely black. His breath hit the fur inside the fox tail, drawing away the heat and leaving it completely cool when it came out again.

He could smell the strong stench of blood on Su Chang'an.

The tail was wrapped so tightly that even his spine, which had just been violently joined, was forcibly fixed in place. Chen Mu, clutching the medicine box, scrambled and crawled after him.

The spiritual vein passage was extremely narrow, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side. The walls were riddled with craters from the earlier explosion, and the ground was covered with rubble and scorch marks.

Su Chang'an stepped on the gravel, and he had to grit his teeth and exert force with every step to keep his footing.

The passage descends downwards, with the slope becoming increasingly steep.

The smell of sulfur in the air was so strong it was pungent.

After walking down about three hundred steps, the voice of the goddess of the Wang family came from ahead. It echoed hollowly from afar.

"There's no end in sight."

Su Chang'an paused in his steps.

Chen Xuan stirred slightly within the tail. His left hand laboriously emerged from the gap in the fur and touched Su Chang'an's waist.

"It's not that it's blocked," Chen Xuan's voice muffled in the fox fur, "it's a seal."

Su Chang'an didn't say anything and continued to walk forward fifty steps.

The passage has ended.

Blocking their path was a pitch-black stone wall. Unlike the abandoned array points above, this stone wall was covered with densely packed chain runes.

The arrangement of these runes is exactly the same as the chains that pierced through the body of the ancient celestial fox at the bottom of the abyss.

This is the outermost edge of the seal.

The goddess of the Wang family stood three zhang in front of the stone wall, with three assassins behind her spreading out in a fan shape to keep watch.

She turned around and stared intently at Su Chang'an.

"You did it on purpose."

Su Chang'an placed Chen Xuan in a recess in the wall of the passage to make sure he was secure. His tail was not fully extended, leaving two tails to hold his upper body in place.

"From the very beginning, you never intended to run away." The goddess of the Wang family held her severed arm, her knuckles turning white. "You were going to go down."

Su Chang'an ignored her.

She walked straight forward and placed her left hand on the sealed stone wall.

The blood from his palm touched the runes.

There was no suction, and no echo.

This seal cannot be opened from the outside.

But Su Chang'an's seventh tail stood up uncontrollably once again. The dark red light at the tip of the tail flickered for a moment, then went out.

From the other side of the stone wall, an extremely faint sound came.

It wasn't a collision of chains, nor was it a violent smashing of the wall.

It's breathing.

Extremely slow and heavy. Bearing the rust and vicissitudes of three thousand years.

Su Chang'an pressed her palm against the stone wall. Through the cold stone, she could clearly sense the frequency of that breath.

The entire stone wall trembled along with that breath.

The system panel was flashing wildly in the corner of my consciousness.

[Destined Death Tribulation Progress: 96%]

Su Chang'an withdrew his hand from the stone wall.

She glanced back into the depths of the passage, listening to the faint rumbling coming from above—the great formation was forcibly closing from the point of explosion.

A quarter of an hour.

She tricked the goddess of the Wang family by saying there was a 15-minute window of opportunity, but in reality, she only had half a 15-minute window left for herself.

Chen Xuan leaned against the groove, his left hand reaching out from the seam of his tail, groping blindly in mid-air.

Su Chang'an walked up to him.

His fingers touched her wrist. His fingertips, stained with mud and blood, precisely placed on her pulse and stopped.

"My heart is beating too fast," Chen Xuan said in a hoarse voice.

Su Chang'an squatted down and tucked his hand back into the tail.

"Save your energy, don't move around."

Chen Xuan stubbornly stretched out his hand again.

This time, instead of grabbing her wrist, he precisely seized the piece of fabric on her collar that he had torn out of shape. It was the same old spot.

"Your heart is beating too fast because you're afraid."

Su Chang'an's fingers froze on the back of his hand.

The breathing sounds from behind the stone wall returned, this time with a different rhythm. They carried a chilling allure.

Her seventh tail was incredibly hot.

"What are you afraid of?" Su Chang'an said irritably, prying his fingers apart and stuffing them into the fox tail one by one.

When you break off the third one.

Her movements stopped.

Chen Xuan's index finger hooked tightly around her little finger. He didn't need to use much force; even his shattered bones couldn't exert any strength.

But its main characteristic is its stubbornness; it simply refuses to let go.

The breathing on the other side of the stone wall suddenly became rapid.

Immediately afterwards, the chains clanged loudly!

The crisp sound of the chains clashing pierced the seal and crashed straight into the passage.

Li Changgeng was inside, still violently breaking the lock.

Su Chang'an abruptly released Chen Xuan's hand.

Get up.

Turn around and face the dark stone wall.

Her left hand pressed against it again. Blood gushed from the wound on her palm, the blood mingling with the runes once more.

This time, things have changed.

The two runes at the bottom of the stone wall went out completely.

Li Changgeng unleashed a barrage of attacks from inside, shattering the internal structure of the seal.

Su Chang'an's heart was pounding wildly in his chest.

Half an hour.

She only had a quarter of an hour left.

Chen Xuan leaned against the recessed area, his gaze fixed on Su Chang'an's back.

Her spine, from neck to waist, was taut like a fully drawn bowstring. Five crimson fox tails moved erratically in the still, windless passage.

And at the tip of that seventh tail, there was a dark red light.

Once again, it lit up.